It’s right back to the 70s with avocado plants | James Wong

They’re selling for a premium in trendy shops, but you can easily grow your own. Here’s how…

It’s sad when you get to the age where you start seeing old trends coming around again, especially in the notoriously slow-moving world of horticulture. So when I walked into an achingly cool east London houseplant shop recently to see an enormous display of avocado seedlings, neatly potted up with avocado motif labels, I just had to crack a smile. Rather like buying old fashioned milk bottles to decant your supermarket-bought carton into for that added feeling of 1970s “authenticity”, buying a plant that was famously trendy to grow from kitchen waste is, I guess, peak hipster.

If any of you are keen on the look of their glossy, evergreen leaves, but frankly not the silliness of paying for something you can get for free, here’s my guide to growing this retro houseplant from the large seeds you save from your supermarket fruit.

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It’s right back to the 70s with avocado plants | James Wong

They’re selling for a premium in trendy shops, but you can easily grow your own. Here’s how…

It’s sad when you get to the age where you start seeing old trends coming around again, especially in the notoriously slow-moving world of horticulture. So when I walked into an achingly cool east London houseplant shop recently to see an enormous display of avocado seedlings, neatly potted up with avocado motif labels, I just had to crack a smile. Rather like buying old fashioned milk bottles to decant your supermarket-bought carton into for that added feeling of 1970s “authenticity”, buying a plant that was famously trendy to grow from kitchen waste is, I guess, peak hipster.

If any of you are keen on the look of their glossy, evergreen leaves, but frankly not the silliness of paying for something you can get for free, here’s my guide to growing this retro houseplant from the large seeds you save from your supermarket fruit.

Continue reading...

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As the days get longer, start chitting and composting | Allan Jenkins

Dig if the ground isn’t frozen, sprout potatoes, sow broad beans and soak up the last of the winter quiet

Finally, February! We will start to dig sometime this month where the soil is not too waterlogged or frozen. We will add in aged compost, maybe leaf mould and well-rotted cow muck from free-range farmer Tom. We will fork it in or just spread it around for worms to do the work. Whatever your choice, whether you prefer to no-dig or not, the soil is stirring now. It is also a good time to think about sowing hardy green manures.

Elsewhere, everywhere in the UK this month should be OK to chit – ie sprout – your preferred potatoes in a cool, light space. Blunt end up in egg boxes works best for me. Write names on a tag if you are mixing varieties, or first earlies with mains.

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As the days get longer, start chitting and composting | Allan Jenkins

Dig if the ground isn’t frozen, sprout potatoes, sow broad beans and soak up the last of the winter quiet

Finally, February! We will start to dig sometime this month where the soil is not too waterlogged or frozen. We will add in aged compost, maybe leaf mould and well-rotted cow muck from free-range farmer Tom. We will fork it in or just spread it around for worms to do the work. Whatever your choice, whether you prefer to no-dig or not, the soil is stirring now. It is also a good time to think about sowing hardy green manures.

Elsewhere, everywhere in the UK this month should be OK to chit – ie sprout – your preferred potatoes in a cool, light space. Blunt end up in egg boxes works best for me. Write names on a tag if you are mixing varieties, or first earlies with mains.

Continue reading...

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Buying or renting a listed building? Everything you need to know Nottingham Estate Agents

Owning a listed property can give a property an edge when it comes to selling. OnTheMarket.com reveals a guide to buying a listed building here. What does ‘listed’ mean? The property is on a national register of buildings with architectural or historical importance. To check if a house is listed, visit this website. What does this […]

The post Buying or renting a listed building? Everything you need to know appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

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Restoration dramas: inside the world of conservation artists

Naval figureheads, ancient art and even Spitting Image puppets are all being brought back to life by a team of crack conservators

There is a lot of talk about “loss” in the studio of Hans Thompson and Maxwell Malden. As art conservators, this is traditionally what they deal in: missing pieces that range in size, shape and form. Today, it’s a small chip of plastic from a conceptual sculpture belonging to a contemporary art gallery. Tomorrow, it’s the gilded oak finger of a 17th-century sculpture of St Catherine. Each “loss” comes with a fresh set of practical and ethical challenges.

Thompson and Malden founded their studio, Orbis Conservation, in 2013. The pair met at Goldsmiths and both went on to study conservation at City & Guilds of London Art School. “We’d always worked together on freelance jobs,” says Malden, who worked as a gallery technician from the age of 17. “We knew we’d work together at some point. We just didn’t think it would happen quite as quickly.”

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Restoration dramas: inside the world of conservation artists

Naval figureheads, ancient art and even Spitting Image puppets are all being brought back to life by a team of crack conservators

There is a lot of talk about “loss” in the studio of Hans Thompson and Maxwell Malden. As art conservators, this is traditionally what they deal in: missing pieces that range in size, shape and form. Today, it’s a small chip of plastic from a conceptual sculpture belonging to a contemporary art gallery. Tomorrow, it’s the gilded oak finger of a 17th-century sculpture of St Catherine. Each “loss” comes with a fresh set of practical and ethical challenges.

Thompson and Malden founded their studio, Orbis Conservation, in 2013. The pair met at Goldsmiths and both went on to study conservation at City & Guilds of London Art School. “We’d always worked together on freelance jobs,” says Malden, who worked as a gallery technician from the age of 17. “We knew we’d work together at some point. We just didn’t think it would happen quite as quickly.”

Continue reading...

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