'This is no damn hobby': the 'gangsta gardener' transforming Los Angeles

Lockdown is an unlikely ally for Ron Finley, who has set about revolutionising attitudes to gardening in inner city areas

• Read more stories from our wild cities week

“The garden seduces me,” says Ron Finley, who is known around the world as the “gangsta gardener”. “I’ll get out there at 9am and next thing I know it’s 7pm … gardening takes your mind off things. Everybody should have a garden to cultivate.”

English horticulturalists fiddling with well-maintained roses might know the feeling. But for Finley, gardening isn’t about producing the perfect floral pom-pom, it’s about growing people. Planting is his unusual form of protest, and having a garden stuffed full of beautiful plants and vegetables is a byproduct of that.

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'This is no damn hobby': the 'gangsta gardener' transforming Los Angeles

Lockdown is an unlikely ally for Ron Finley, who has set about revolutionising attitudes to gardening in inner city areas

• Read more stories from our wild cities week

“The garden seduces me,” says Ron Finley, who is known around the world as the “gangsta gardener”. “I’ll get out there at 9am and next thing I know it’s 7pm … gardening takes your mind off things. Everybody should have a garden to cultivate.”

English horticulturalists fiddling with well-maintained roses might know the feeling. But for Finley, gardening isn’t about producing the perfect floral pom-pom, it’s about growing people. Planting is his unusual form of protest, and having a garden stuffed full of beautiful plants and vegetables is a byproduct of that.

Continue reading...

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How do I get my home ready to sell?

The property market may be paused right now, but if you’re planning to sell after lockdown ends that doesn’t mean you need to postpone your preparation.

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'Nature survives in the tiniest corners': the City of London's wild heart

The Barbican is famous for its Brutalist architecture, but the concrete conceals a well-kept secret: a community garden where wildlife thrives

• Read more stories from our wild cities week

“There was literally a frog orgy in that one. There is no other way to describe it,” says Jules Waite, from the London Wildlife Trust, pointing at a pond in the Barbican wildlife garden, one of the few areas of London’s Square Mile whose inhabitants are not in lockdown.

In February, frogs are the first garden residents to feel their passions ignite as they emerge from compost heaps or log piles and slip into the ponds. Self-isolation is the last thing on their mind and by April, the hundreds of tadpoles whizzing around the pond are testament to their efforts. Songbirds are going berserk trying to impress one another and summer visitors such as blackcaps have arrived to set up nest.

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'Nature survives in the tiniest corners': the City of London's wild heart

The Barbican is famous for its Brutalist architecture, but the concrete conceals a well-kept secret: a community garden where wildlife thrives

• Read more stories from our wild cities week

“There was literally a frog orgy in that one. There is no other way to describe it,” says Jules Waite, from the London Wildlife Trust, pointing at a pond in the Barbican wildlife garden, one of the few areas of London’s Square Mile whose inhabitants are not in lockdown.

In February, frogs are the first garden residents to feel their passions ignite as they emerge from compost heaps or log piles and slip into the ponds. Self-isolation is the last thing on their mind and by April, the hundreds of tadpoles whizzing around the pond are testament to their efforts. Songbirds are going berserk trying to impress one another and summer visitors such as blackcaps have arrived to set up nest.

Continue reading...

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Can I use my tenancy deposit to pay my rent?

We answer questions from renters asking how the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent social distancing measures will impact them.

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Can essential moves still take place?

You may have an essential reason for needing to move, such as if you’re a key worker and you need to live away from your family right now.

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