Be wary of gardening gimmicks that look too good

Grafted tomato-potato plants? Sounds smart, but the yield will probably be terrible

It might be an embarrassing thing for a plant scientist to admit, but I am a total sucker for a garden gimmick. I like to think it’s because I am open-minded or maybe just irrationally optimistic, particularly as many things in the plant world are often extremely counterintuitive. But I am not ashamed to say I have fallen for dozens of them over a lifetime in horticulture. While I firmly believe in the value of trying things out for yourself, if you don’t fancy learning the hard way, here are some of the most common garden gimmicks I have come across.

There's a lot of dodgy marketing imagery out there, I’ve seen roses Photoshopped sky blue

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Be wary of gardening gimmicks that look too good

Grafted tomato-potato plants? Sounds smart, but the yield will probably be terrible

It might be an embarrassing thing for a plant scientist to admit, but I am a total sucker for a garden gimmick. I like to think it’s because I am open-minded or maybe just irrationally optimistic, particularly as many things in the plant world are often extremely counterintuitive. But I am not ashamed to say I have fallen for dozens of them over a lifetime in horticulture. While I firmly believe in the value of trying things out for yourself, if you don’t fancy learning the hard way, here are some of the most common garden gimmicks I have come across.

There's a lot of dodgy marketing imagery out there, I’ve seen roses Photoshopped sky blue

Continue reading...

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The joy of blooms on a roof terrace | Allan Jenkins

While quarantined away from the plot, there is comfort to be taken from new flowers at home

Home after three weeks. And it seems the roof terrace plants have done just fine without me. Liam has been watering. Kala has been dead-heading. The sun has been shining. The geraniums are a riot of bubblegum pink. The new roses have filled out and are in bloom. The midsummer cranesbill is a cloud of delicate blue. The Welsh poppy I had given up on – had even made plans to replace – is covered in bud, delicate flowers of a deep lemon-yellow. I feel happy and ashamed. I talk to it – don’t tell anyone – singing its praises and apologising. I hope I have learnt a lesson. My impatience is deeply ingrained it seems.

We spend a happy hour – or more – moving various pots around, so many different combinations. After a while we settle, stop switching each other’s last move and stand back contented. It has been almost a life-saver this space, particularly through this strange spring and summer. We thank our stars to have somewhere quiet to be outside, access to plants, to the sky and birdsong.

Continue reading...

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The joy of blooms on a roof terrace | Allan Jenkins

While quarantined away from the plot, there is comfort to be taken from new flowers at home

Home after three weeks. And it seems the roof terrace plants have done just fine without me. Liam has been watering. Kala has been dead-heading. The sun has been shining. The geraniums are a riot of bubblegum pink. The new roses have filled out and are in bloom. The midsummer cranesbill is a cloud of delicate blue. The Welsh poppy I had given up on – had even made plans to replace – is covered in bud, delicate flowers of a deep lemon-yellow. I feel happy and ashamed. I talk to it – don’t tell anyone – singing its praises and apologising. I hope I have learnt a lesson. My impatience is deeply ingrained it seems.

We spend a happy hour – or more – moving various pots around, so many different combinations. After a while we settle, stop switching each other’s last move and stand back contented. It has been almost a life-saver this space, particularly through this strange spring and summer. We thank our stars to have somewhere quiet to be outside, access to plants, to the sky and birdsong.

Continue reading...

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How to move house sustainably Nottingham Estate Agents

If you’re looking for ways to reduce your impact on the environment, one area you can make changes is when you’re moving home. “In 2018, the transport industry as a whole was responsible for almost a third of all CO2 emissions in the UK, and moving house contributes to this total,” says Sam Rose, Company Director at ‘environmentally-aware’ removal […]

The post How to move house sustainably appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

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Hard to find: what the shortages in household items say about how we live now

If you’ve been on a fruitless search for weights, a bread maker or a sewing machine lately, you’re not alone

In early April, fearing his hard-won shoulders would shrink into nothing over lockdown, my husband attempted to buy some weights. He spent hours searching, online and in stores, and found no heavy things to lift. Even on Gumtree, where you’d expect an enterprising soul or two to be selling home gym equipment at jacked up prices, there was nothing.

In the end, he improvised, filling a gym bag with 40kg of sand.

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Hard to find: what the shortages in household items say about how we live now

If you’ve been on a fruitless search for weights, a bread maker or a sewing machine lately, you’re not alone

In early April, fearing his hard-won shoulders would shrink into nothing over lockdown, my husband attempted to buy some weights. He spent hours searching, online and in stores, and found no heavy things to lift. Even on Gumtree, where you’d expect an enterprising soul or two to be selling home gym equipment at jacked up prices, there was nothing.

In the end, he improvised, filling a gym bag with 40kg of sand.

Continue reading...

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