Doorstep delights: why front gardens matter

A place to socialise, an oasis for wildlife, a gift to our neighbours – a front garden can be all of these things. Isn’t it about time we showed them some love,asks Clare Coulson

Last month, with more time at home than usual, Charlotte Harris, one half of the landscape design duo Harris Bugg, decided to dig up her paved front garden in Newham, east London. “It was a discussion we’d been having for a while,” says Harris, who gardens with her girlfriend Catriona Knox. They’d already removed the paving from the back garden of their house, which is in a densely populated area of the city undergoing vast amounts of regeneration. “Around here every bit of green space feels precious,” she says. “Obviously there are parks, but I think each of us has to take responsibility for any space we have.”

As you’d expect in a city, the new front garden needs to work hard to accommodate bins, bikes and a composting hot bin, but Harris is determined to plant as much as possible in the rest of the space, including a small tree (on the shortlist are a Sichuan pepper tree, hawthorn or a Chinese fringe tree) underplanted with perennials and bulbs.

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Doorstep delights: why front gardens matter

A place to socialise, an oasis for wildlife, a gift to our neighbours – a front garden can be all of these things. Isn’t it about time we showed them some love,asks Clare Coulson

Last month, with more time at home than usual, Charlotte Harris, one half of the landscape design duo Harris Bugg, decided to dig up her paved front garden in Newham, east London. “It was a discussion we’d been having for a while,” says Harris, who gardens with her girlfriend Catriona Knox. They’d already removed the paving from the back garden of their house, which is in a densely populated area of the city undergoing vast amounts of regeneration. “Around here every bit of green space feels precious,” she says. “Obviously there are parks, but I think each of us has to take responsibility for any space we have.”

As you’d expect in a city, the new front garden needs to work hard to accommodate bins, bikes and a composting hot bin, but Harris is determined to plant as much as possible in the rest of the space, including a small tree (on the shortlist are a Sichuan pepper tree, hawthorn or a Chinese fringe tree) underplanted with perennials and bulbs.

Continue reading...

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Gardens of the galaxy: can you grow vegetables on Mars?

With a mission to Mars on the horizon and astronauts spending longer than ever in orbit, scientists are looking for ways to grow vegetables in space...

In The Martian, the 2015 film directed by Ridley Scott, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is accidentally abandoned alone on Mars by his crewmates after an emergency evacuation, without enough food to survive. Mars is a tricky prospect for even the most red- fingered gardener: there’s almost no air, the “soil” has few nutrients and lots of heavy metals, and the temperature is typically around -60C. “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this,” Watney, a botanist, declares. He decides to grow potatoes, jerry-rigging a climate-controlled dome, burning hydrazine to make water and creating a growth medium from Mars dust supplemented by his crewmates’ faeces.

In Star Trek they just replicate food out of pure energy

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Gardens of the galaxy: can you grow vegetables on Mars?

With a mission to Mars on the horizon and astronauts spending longer than ever in orbit, scientists are looking for ways to grow vegetables in space...

In The Martian, the 2015 film directed by Ridley Scott, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is accidentally abandoned alone on Mars by his crewmates after an emergency evacuation, without enough food to survive. Mars is a tricky prospect for even the most red- fingered gardener: there’s almost no air, the “soil” has few nutrients and lots of heavy metals, and the temperature is typically around -60C. “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this,” Watney, a botanist, declares. He decides to grow potatoes, jerry-rigging a climate-controlled dome, burning hydrazine to make water and creating a growth medium from Mars dust supplemented by his crewmates’ faeces.

In Star Trek they just replicate food out of pure energy

Continue reading...

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Time to sow and soak in the glory of gardens

June is a busy month – a last chance to sow, and don’t neglect weeding and watering

June: month of gardening glory; of happy, heavenly growing. We are a week now into official summer with – hopefully – all threat of frost gone until towards the end of September. Gardeners know this is also the watershed time: a last chance to sow summer beetroot, autumn carrots and chicories. Even winter brassicas.

The good news is that everything can go into ground, including more delicate warm-weather crops, such as sweet corn, squash, courgettes, tomatoes, beans, aubergines, peppers, outdoor cucumbers.

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Indoor gardening? Just add flowers

Those of us with no garden can still learn from traditional outdoor techniques

It’s fascinating that in recent years the cultures of indoor and outdoor gardening have evolved along different lines, not just in terms of aesthetics, but in horticultural practice, too. As a new generation gets into gardening, inspired by recreating the indoor paradises on Instagram, many traditions of outdoor gardening are being bypassed – leading to a sort of parallel horticulture. This diversity is all part of the fun, but there are approaches one side can learn from the other – and two big tips indoor growers can pick up from outdoor ones.

One of the biggest trends you see on social media is collections of dozens of plants all in individual pots, shot against the obligatory white industrial wall. I can only imagine this is because indoor plant collections tend to start with a cautious one or two specimens, and quickly spin out of control when the horticultural bug bites. But there are downsides to this. Small pots have a larger surface area to volume ratio, so they dry out far more quickly. This means loads more watering effort, and a far higher risk of plant failure. Then there’s the nightmare of dusting and cleaning in the nooks and crannies between containers and, let’s face it, the cost of all those individual pots can add up.

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Five common mistakes first time buyers should try to avoid Nottingham Estate Agents

Buying a home is one of the most exciting and self-affirming life experiences but it can also be one of the most stressful. Martin & Co can help you stay one step ahead. Martin & Co has put together some of the most frequent mistakes that first time buyers continue to make to help you avoid them. 1. Becoming financially […]

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