How to grow bugles | Alys Fowler

It’s a seriously good bee and butterfly plant that doesn’t mind poor soil, thrives in shade and grows quickly

I have fallen for a very ordinary sort of plant; the small woodlander, Ajuga reptans, or bugle. It’s a native that’s fond of damp forest floors, where it creates a dense carpet of small blue flowers that are delightful: not showy or spectacular, just rather lovely and flowering right through to early summer.

It’s not just any ajuga that has caught my eye. Ajuga reptans ‘Rosea’, as its name suggests, is a pale rose-coloured form. I have planted it under one of my apples, near a bench that catches the first of the morning sun and is perfect for a quick coffee as I take in the blossom before the day starts. The blush-pink apple blossom is mirrored in a pool of pink below; I have never been so shamelessly romantic.

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Gardening tips: plant pasqueflowers

Then invest in a Japanese gardening tool and prune winter shrubs

Plant this The purple goblets of the pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) start emerging now, bringing colour to gravel gardens and food for hungry pollinators. This British native with ferny foliage prefers chalky soil, sharp drainage and full sun. Height and spread: 20cm x 20cm.

Buy this Whether weeding, planting bulbs or transplanting perennials, I wouldn’t be without my hori-hori – a Japanese gardening tool that has become popular around the world. Its heavy-duty blade is serrated on one side for slicing through roots and soil, and is definitely not child-friendly. Available from niwaki.com.

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Britons go on shopping spree to ease grind of Covid-19 confinement

Online trade booms as people stock up with jigsaw puzzles, crafts and gardening gear

The prospect of weeks trapped at home has seen Britons embark on unlikely shopping sprees as they create home offices and gyms but also embrace hobbies ranging from dressmaking to jigsaw puzzling and growing their own veg.

With all non-essential high street shops and some websites now closed, what is left of high street trade is online as households hunker down and seek ways to keep themselves and their children entertained.

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Britons go on shopping spree to ease grind of Covid-19 confinement

Online trade booms as people stock up with jigsaw puzzles, crafts and gardening gear

The prospect of weeks trapped at home has seen Britons embark on unlikely shopping sprees as they create home offices and gyms but also embrace hobbies ranging from dressmaking to jigsaw puzzling and growing their own veg.

With all non-essential high street shops and some websites now closed, what is left of high street trade is online as households hunker down and seek ways to keep themselves and their children entertained.

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Country diary: sit down and let the wildlife come to you

Welburn, North Yorkshire: You’d be surprised what turns up if you just settle a while in your own back garden

I say it a lot, but don’t take my own advice enough. Experiencing nature is about slowing down – stopping, in fact. The stiller you stay, the more you see. Nature confides when you’re not blundering through it. But that’s only half the story. The rest is attention. It takes mental effort to stand, orient, step and not fall on your face. Backroom brainwork for sure, but it still absorbs neural capacity, and so the best way to see is to sit.

The bench under the kitchen window is as good a place for this as I know. Three metres from the bird feeder, a bed of overgrown lavender and rosemary, a backdrop of grass too scruffy to be called a lawn and a wooded slope that limits the horizon to less than 100 metres. We’re lucky, I know it. In this space, if need be, we can exercise the dog and ourselves. We can feel the sun, listen to the birds, sniff the wind without fearing what the air might contain.

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Country diary: sit down and let the wildlife come to you

Welburn, North Yorkshire: You’d be surprised what turns up if you just settle a while in your own back garden

I say it a lot, but don’t take my own advice enough. Experiencing nature is about slowing down – stopping, in fact. The stiller you stay, the more you see. Nature confides when you’re not blundering through it. But that’s only half the story. The rest is attention. It takes mental effort to stand, orient, step and not fall on your face. Backroom brainwork for sure, but it still absorbs neural capacity, and so the best way to see is to sit.

The bench under the kitchen window is as good a place for this as I know. Three metres from the bird feeder, a bed of overgrown lavender and rosemary, a backdrop of grass too scruffy to be called a lawn and a wooded slope that limits the horizon to less than 100 metres. We’re lucky, I know it. In this space, if need be, we can exercise the dog and ourselves. We can feel the sun, listen to the birds, sniff the wind without fearing what the air might contain.

Continue reading...

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Coronavirus: What it means for home buyers Nottingham Estate Agents

The coronavirus pandemic is having a drastic effect on the property industry. The certainty provided by the election of a majority government in December, which saw buyers and sellers who had been holding off amid uncertainty over Brexit getting busy again, feels like a long time ago. That renewed demand saw 103,870 homes sold in […]

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