For flowers that last, the answer is cut and dried

It’s easy to grow your own flowers to dry – an affordable and sustainable way to create beautiful arrangements at home

My first exposure to dried flowers was as dusty, pastel-shaded posies on doily-covered tables. So when my floristry-expert mate Chanel told me that dried flower arrangements were back in vogue, my reaction was a judgmental eye-roll.

However, in their latest incarnation, dried flowers are simple and structural, in displays often of a single species, celebrating the forms of nature. The look is more “wabi-sabi” (the Japanese aesthetic appreciation for age and imperfection) than “potpourri” tweeness. Lasting for at least a year before they need replacing, they are, of course, far more sustainable, more affordable, and frankly less faff than buying fresh-cut flowers. I am now fascinated by the concept, especially as many species are at their most beautiful in their dried form. While the majority are bought ready-cut, most of them are easy to grow and dry at home, providing a steady source of new material with which to express creativity.

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Today sounds the starter’s pistol for spring | Allan Jenkins

An exciting day for gardeners, but go slow – it’s still mainly about preparation but you can start sowing inside

March 1! The start of meteorological spring, beginning of the month the clocks go forward. What we lose for a short while when we wake we gain later in the day. Good news for gardeners. I know I’m not normally one to call for caution, but a word here to try to hold back. At least a bit.

Sow stuff indoors. In greenhouses, on windowsills, somewhere with good light. Most summer-fruiting veg needs a long season to ripen, so you can start sowing chillies inside, though I’d leave any tomatoes until the end of the month. March is the prime time of the north/south divide when what to sow outside depends on where you live in the UK. Scotland and the north in March are usually cooler and darker than Cornwall.

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Today sounds the starter’s pistol for spring | Allan Jenkins

An exciting day for gardeners, but go slow – it’s still mainly about preparation but you can start sowing inside

March 1! The start of meteorological spring, beginning of the month the clocks go forward. What we lose for a short while when we wake we gain later in the day. Good news for gardeners. I know I’m not normally one to call for caution, but a word here to try to hold back. At least a bit.

Sow stuff indoors. In greenhouses, on windowsills, somewhere with good light. Most summer-fruiting veg needs a long season to ripen, so you can start sowing chillies inside, though I’d leave any tomatoes until the end of the month. March is the prime time of the north/south divide when what to sow outside depends on where you live in the UK. Scotland and the north in March are usually cooler and darker than Cornwall.

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How much value does a loft conversion add to a property? Nottingham Estate Agents

If we cannot build out sideways, perhaps we should try building upwards? That is the thought process which more and more British home-owners are going through. In a crowded urban environment, building a large lateral extension to a property can sometimes be impractical or unlikely to get planning permission. But a loft conversion – provided […]

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Making a splash: a rental flat that’s awash with colour

For designer Anna Jacobs, colour is an essential mood enhancer – and buoyant aquatics proved the perfect backdrop for her family

I am very conscious of how much colour affects my mood,” says artist and designer Anna Jacobs, sitting on her pink velvet sofa in a zebra-print T-shirt and shocking pink trousers. “I need it around me, it really improves my wellbeing.” Glancing around her three-bedroom rental flat in Crystal Palace, south London, which she shares with her son Zach, 13, daughter Coco, 10, and Zuchon dog, Duffy, it’s abundantly clear Jacobs is no fan of neutrals, preferring to surround herself with a zinging spectrum of vivacious hues – with an emphasis on aquatic shades for their “healing, calming properties”.

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Making a splash: a rental flat that’s awash with colour

For designer Anna Jacobs, colour is an essential mood enhancer – and buoyant aquatics proved the perfect backdrop for her family

I am very conscious of how much colour affects my mood,” says artist and designer Anna Jacobs, sitting on her pink velvet sofa in a zebra-print T-shirt and shocking pink trousers. “I need it around me, it really improves my wellbeing.” Glancing around her three-bedroom rental flat in Crystal Palace, south London, which she shares with her son Zach, 13, daughter Coco, 10, and Zuchon dog, Duffy, it’s abundantly clear Jacobs is no fan of neutrals, preferring to surround herself with a zinging spectrum of vivacious hues – with an emphasis on aquatic shades for their “healing, calming properties”.

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Why we fell out of love with home improvement shows | Sam Wolfson

The likes of Changing Rooms were a bulwark against consumer culture. With YouTube tutorials, we’ve lost that DIY radicalism

If I could go back in time and give the participants of 1990s home improvement shows one piece of advice, it would be this: never tell Carol Smillie about your hobbies. Give that woman the slightest inkling that you have a penchant for silent films and she’d turn your room into a monochromatic tribute to Charlie Chaplin. Mention you went on holiday once, and you’d find your house kitted out with deckchairs and beach balls.

The 1990s were a wonderful and bizarre period for factual television. Shows such as Changing Rooms, Ground Force and DIY SOS had, at their peak, millions of viewers. While many of the makeovers now seem horrifying and tasteless, the home improvement format showed how you could change your living space on a small budget – without needing to buy lots of new stuff.

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