After a period of time away, returning to the allotment feels more like catching up with friends and family
It can be an odd relationship, one with land, like with an awkward relative or friend. Sometimes the plot can feel almost absent-minded, needing reassurance, hand-holding, company. Though maybe that’s me.
I have been away, you see, on holiday following surgery, so I have been absent more than before.
Continue reading...After a period of time away, returning to the allotment feels more like catching up with friends and family
It can be an odd relationship, one with land, like with an awkward relative or friend. Sometimes the plot can feel almost absent-minded, needing reassurance, hand-holding, company. Though maybe that’s me.
I have been away, you see, on holiday following surgery, so I have been absent more than before.
Continue reading...Uniting the rooms of a bad conversion doesn’t have to mean knocking down walls…
Shortly after Kitty Jackson moved into this ground-floor flat in Harringay, northeast London, she met someone who described what their Victorian house had been like before it was split in two. “This older neighbour had lived over the road most of her life, while her sister lived in our house. In the 1970s, their children were always in and out of each other’s homes, but this was always known as the ‘big house’, where the kids loved running up and down the stairs,” says Kitty.
The story made Kitty realise that when the walls went up to turn the two-storey house into two flats, their home probably lost a lot of its old character. “The layout felt disjointed, but we didn’t have a clue what to do about it.” The front room, which Kitty and her partner Alex use as a home office/spare bedroom, is separated from the other rooms by a long corridor. This leads into the living room, with the kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom at the back. “While the living room was a good size, no matter how much I shifted our furniture around it looked cluttered and our big dining table dominated the space.”
Continue reading...Uniting the rooms of a bad conversion doesn’t have to mean knocking down walls…
Shortly after Kitty Jackson moved into this ground-floor flat in Harringay, northeast London, she met someone who described what their Victorian house had been like before it was split in two. “This older neighbour had lived over the road most of her life, while her sister lived in our house. In the 1970s, their children were always in and out of each other’s homes, but this was always known as the ‘big house’, where the kids loved running up and down the stairs,” says Kitty.
The story made Kitty realise that when the walls went up to turn the two-storey house into two flats, their home probably lost a lot of its old character. “The layout felt disjointed, but we didn’t have a clue what to do about it.” The front room, which Kitty and her partner Alex use as a home office/spare bedroom, is separated from the other rooms by a long corridor. This leads into the living room, with the kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom at the back. “While the living room was a good size, no matter how much I shifted our furniture around it looked cluttered and our big dining table dominated the space.”
Continue reading...Then put in shallots and save on house plants
Plant this Early spring blossom is manna for pollinators emerging from winter hibernation, so help them out by planting a Japanese quince (Chaenomeles). It will make a handsome thorny hedge or wall-trained shrub in full sun or partial shade, and it’s hard as nails. The yellow, perfumed fruits grow in autumn and make quince jelly, too. ‘Pink Lady’grows to 1.5m each way; for ground cover, try the white-flowered ‘Jet Trail’.
Try this Shallot sets (another name for small immature bulbs) offer a lot of bang for your buck: plant one set by the end of this month, and by summer it will have multiplied into a whole clump. They like well-drained soil and suit raised beds: try a banana shallot variety such as ‘Longor’ for the best flavour.
Continue reading...When I sat still, I decided a scented climber was what my garden needed
Gardeners rarely sit down, for long at least, in their gardens. Once you do, you spy an errant weed or a plant that needs staking or something else to do other than sit – and off you go again. But sitting is a good thing for both you and the garden. When you are always busy, you are not necessarily observing the bigger picture. Sitting down allows you to pull back from the detail and take it all in.
I have an iron bench that I have been dragging round the garden for years trying to find its perfect spot. Then a week ago, in some fine spring sun, I hauled it over to the furthest corner and, after the effort of carrying it, sat down immediately to catch my breath.
Continue reading...The seasons seem topsy-turvy, but this is still a time of new beginnings. Here’s how to help your flowerbeds and veg plots thrive
As soil warms, it’s time to plant perennials, but don’t just impulse-buy the first thing you see that promises pretty flowers on the label. If your garden got frazzled by the weather last summer, put drought-resistant plants that double as pollinator magnets to the top of your list. For sunny spots, hylotelephiums (aka sedums), verbascums, achilleas, eryngiums and osteospermums are among the best, while pulmonarias, bergenias, Japanese anemones, lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and lamiums (deadnettles) will thrive in shadier borders.
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