How can it be legal to chop down trees? | Letters

Cath Attlee and Nancy Clarke are both suffering from what Damien Gayle calls ‘solastalgia’ after their gardens were torn apart by others

Oh how I recognised and felt what Damien Gayle described in his article (My neighbour tore down the hedge outside our window – and I learned what ‘solastalgia’ feels like, 23 September). Our house used to have four mature trees, including two lilac on one side and an apple tree and beautiful bushes on the other. The area where our gardens met was full of birds, insects and squirrels, and provided a great play area for our cats. Like Damien, we came back from holiday to find the trees cut down and bushes cleared.

A few weeks later, a similar slaughter happened on the other side. Discussion with the council confirmed that there is nothing we can do to prevent such destruction on privately owned land, unless it is a conservation area. This, despite the council’s commitment to improving our environment and air quality. While they plant trees in the street, absentee landlords cut them down in urban gardens. I weep!
Cath Attlee
London

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Is it okay to take home wedding centerpieces? An expert gave flower tips.

The floral designer will take reader questions about choosing and displaying flowers for weddings and parties.

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How to investigate your house’s history

Even if it’s not historic, your home could have a fascinating background. Here’s where to look for the records and clues that may tell its story.

* This article was originally published here

How do you choose art and accessories? Ask a hip design historian.

How do you choose art and accessories? Ask a hip design historian.

* This article was originally published here

Silent Sundays: should we swap our lawnmowers, leaf blowers and power tools for peace?

Gardener and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh is calling for hush, so at least once a week he can listen to a blackbird rather than a Black & Decker

Name: Quiet Sundays.

Age: Ancient. Some say since the very beginning … as the passage from the King James, rather than the Phil Collins, version of Genesis puts it: “On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it …”

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As autumn arrives, it’s good to take stock of a wondrous year on the plot

Towering flowers, plants spilling on to the paths and a kestrel keeping an eye on proceedings…

It is the weekend of the equinox. Autumn is undeniable now. Darker days will soon start to restrict early-morning and late-evening allotment visits.

Our bean poles have been taken down and tied up until next year. Allowing in more air and light. The smaller pea/sweet pea tipis are still standing for now. One is barely holding up a smothering, rampant heavy squash. The others we hope will be home to late-sown Grandpa Ott morning glory.

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AUGUST.....

So where have I been...not really anywhere since my trip to Nantucket in May but I have been busy working! I do have to say that August is not a fun time for me because some crappy things happened in that month.  In 2019 my husband of 27 years walked out on me and 2 years later my youngest sister passed away after a 5 month battle with lung cancer. I know....both kind of sucky things to go

* This article was originally published here

I knew moving and renovating while parenting would be hard. It was

During her five-month renovation, Kelly Eng learned how to play Tradie Tetris and discovered wisdom in the ‘unattainable triangle’

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We had to move home. It’s never fun, is it? So we decided to minimise the stress by finding somewhere close. We bought an apartment 15 metres up the hallway. The new abode was, in real estate agent parlance, a renovator’s dream. Or, as others pointed out, parts of it resembled a public toilet. It needed a serious spruce and we had five months to do it.

I knew moving and renovating, while working and parenting, would be challenging (it was). But surely there was plenty of time and there’d be many eager tradespeople ready to help us transform the apartment (there weren’t). But many lessons were learned, which I will share in the hope of helping others.

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How to remove water stains on ceilings? A Glidden paint expert answers.

Erin Lageman-Louies of Glidden joins Jura Koncius to take reader questions about DIY furniture painting.

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What to plant in your fall garden — besides mums

There are plenty of options for adding late-season color and interest to your garden, including many perennials that will return to jazz up future falls.

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Cat litter shortages hit brands like Fresh Step. Here’s how to adjust.

A cybersecurity attack on the company Clorox has led to shortages of cat-litter brands Fresh Step, Scoop Away and Ever Clean.

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Making a splash: the paint guru who wants us to fall in love with colour

Bright and bold paintwork is on the raise. Meet the expert taking the fear out of decorating, one step at a time

Joa Studholme’s job title at paint company Farrow & Ball is “colour curator”, which makes her sound like a hipster doing something groovy and opaque, or a rare breed of fine art specialist. In practice, she is something altogether more down-to-earth: a paint and colour consultant with a large dollop of Mary Poppins empathy, pragmatism and cheeriness mixed in for good measure.

Over the past 25 years, Studholme has parachuted into upwards of 4,000 homes to advise daunted newbies, or fraught couples, on their colour schemes. “They don’t know where to begin,” she says, as we sit in the bay window of her partially decorated new flat in London’s Notting Hill. The walls and woodwork, including the shutters, are painted in Dead Salmon in a dead flat finish. “Or there’s a marital issue,” she continues, invariably over the choice of palette. One half hankering after something daring and fun, the other wanting safe neutrals frequently results in complete deadlock.

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* This article was originally published here

* This article was originally published here

Making a splash: the paint guru who wants us to fall in love with colour

Bright and bold paintwork is on the raise. Meet the expert taking the fear out of decorating, one step at a time

Joa Studholme’s job title at paint company Farrow & Ball is “colour curator”, which makes her sound like a hipster doing something groovy and opaque, or a rare breed of fine art specialist. In practice, she is something altogether more down-to-earth: a paint and colour consultant with a large dollop of Mary Poppins empathy, pragmatism and cheeriness mixed in for good measure.

Over the past 25 years, Studholme has parachuted into upwards of 4,000 homes to advise daunted newbies, or fraught couples, on their colour schemes. “They don’t know where to begin,” she says, as we sit in the bay window of her partially decorated new flat in London’s Notting Hill. The walls and woodwork, including the shutters, are painted in Dead Salmon in a dead flat finish. “Or there’s a marital issue,” she continues, invariably over the choice of palette. One half hankering after something daring and fun, the other wanting safe neutrals frequently results in complete deadlock.

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* This article was originally published here

Bloomcore: the floral homeware trend taking root in our living rooms

With online searches for ‘floral aesthetic’ doubling, UK homes are ripe for rewilding. And it can boost your mental health too

Poppies, hollyhocks and the lesser known moon carrot are spreading their way across rugs, fabrics and furniture this autumn as a national obsession with rewilding plays out in living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens across Britain.

Cottagecore – a loose term covering fashion, interiors and gardens which evoke an idealised vision of country life – has been a dominant lifestyle trend for a while. Floral homeware – bloomcore if you must – gives a hit of botanic style without going for the full rustic aesthetic.

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* This article was originally published here

Yes, you can paint vinyl windows. That doesn’t mean you should.

Painting vinyl windows creates extra upkeep and could void the warranty. But if you decide to do it, take care in choosing your paint and color.

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Our part in creating the Libyan disaster | Brief letters

Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow | Old advice on moles | Pickled onion failure | Goldilocks misgendered | A singular arse

Are we proud of our victory in helping to overthrow the dictator Muammar Gaddafi? After 12 years, Libya still has no government that can maintain critical dams. No one asked the Libyans if chaos was better than Gaddafi. Our success in promoting misgovernment has now cost many thousands of lives (‘Sea is constantly dumping bodies’: fears Libya flood death toll may hit 20,000, 13 September).
Joseph Hanlon
London

• Re deterring moles with a pickled onion (Letters, 12 September), my family copy of Markham’s Farewell to Husbandry, dated 1660, says this: “An excellent way to take Moals, and to preserve good Ground from such annoyance: Put Garlick, Onions, or Leeks, into the mouths of the holes, and they will come out quickly as amazed.”
Richard Norman
Canterbury

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5 ways to use dish soap to clean your home

Dish soap is the multitasking secret weapon of cleaning pros — and you can put it to use in almost every room of the house.

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Plagued by moles? Try a pickled onion | Brief letters

Tackling moles | History now | Chip confusion | Other ranks | Barring the Tories

Claire Ratinon doesn’t need to dance round veg beds with a rake to deter moles (I’m proud of my wildlife-friendly patch, but I really don’t dig this mole, 8 September). Brush the soil off the molehill, find the mole hole and drop in a pickled onion. Cover up the hole and relax while the moles go to your neighbour’s garden. Children find this an entertaining thing to do, and it works.
Helen Keats
Brighstone, Isle of Wight

• In the correspondence sparked by Adrian Chiles (I love history programmes. But there’s one trend that makes my blood boil…, 6 September), the offending tense does not appear to have yet been described as the “historic present”, as it was when I was being taught grammar in the middle of the last century.
Hannah Kent
Kingston upon Thames, London

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* This article was originally published here

How to save on appliances, without sacrificing quality

New appliances are a major investment. These tips and tricks can help you get the most for your money.

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Adrift in a fragrant garden

I’m trying to retrain my senses so I can once again pause to smell the sweet peas

I lost my sense of smell. At least, I think I misplaced it. Probably post Covid, certainly post sinus surgery. I would bury my face in a large bank of jasmine. Henri would be reeling back from the intensity. I would be bewildered. The scent only of absence.

We’ve always grown sweet peas on the plot. Memories of childhood carried by my favourite flower scent. I brought a bunch, fresh-cut, home the other week. Henri smiled, commented on their stunning smell. There was nothing there for me, though I tried repeatedly.

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Turf war: fake grass is growing in popularity in Australia, despite concerns about its impact

Environmental groups say the allure of evergreen synthetic turf contrasts to its microplastic pollution levels and heat absorption.

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For those living in small spaces, artificial grass has its upsides. It’s uniformly green, year round, without the need for watering, mowing or any other upkeep.

The allure of evergreen sporting fields has also seen synthetic turf become an increasingly popular surface, driven by constraints on open space while population density increases.

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Those tomatoes need pinching out, Adrian | Letter

Michelle Gibson offers advice to Adrian Chiles on his unruly plants

Adrian Chiles needs to take his tomato plants in hand (I have created a monster. Can nothing save me from the tomato plant from hell?, 7 September). If he has bush tomatoes, then their higgledy-piggledy shape is fine, although he ought to pinch out the growing shoots now or they will rampage until cut down by frost or old age. If they are the standard upright tomatoes seen in thousands of greenhouses, then he should have removed all the side shoots as the plants grew and pinched out the growing tips when five or six trusses of flowers had appeared.

As to keeping them indoors, if he isn’t living in some frosted hellhole, then the plants will be fine outside and the fruits should ripen soon. The internet is awash with instructions – why hasn’t he been more inquisitive?
Michelle Gibson
Balsham, Cambridgeshire

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* This article was originally published here

Cleaning your own jewelry is probably easier than you think

There are lots of ways to clean and polish diamonds, pearls and precious metals. But some methods are better than others, and some can even damage the finish.

* This article was originally published here

On par with plain water: testing reveals Australia’s best and worst laundry detergents

Omo blew the competition out of the water in a test of 70 detergents by Choice, but to get value for money the watchdog says using less is best

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Dazzling whites, or about as effective as plain water? A consumer watchdog has put laundry detergents to the test, and what came out in the wash was not as bright as some major retailers might claim.

Research by consumer advocacy group Choice found that of 70 laundry detergents tested on dirt and stains including grass, makeup, chocolate ice-cream, blood and baby food, five performed on par with plain water.

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* This article was originally published here

Why furniture got so bad

Furniture used to last generations. Now it barely survives a move. Industry insiders explain.

* This article was originally published here

The Guardian view on insects: gardeners can help reverse their alarming decline | Editorial

With different planting, and by rejecting insecticides, even small green spaces can promote biodiversity

Gardeners’ attitudes to insects, like those of humans in general, are a mixed bag. Butterflies’ brief, fluttering lives make them beloved wonders. Bees have long been a source of fascination as well as honey. But the reason why some creepy-crawlies have been classified as pests while others haven’t goes beyond appearances. Horticulturalists, like farmers, generally object to insects that eat what they grow.

This hasn’t saved the creatures that don’t consume crops or garden plants. Habitat loss resulting from urbanisation and deforestation, and pesticide use in agriculture, mean that global insect populations are in steep decline. In the UK, the number of flying insects is estimated – by looking at vehicle number plates – to have fallen by 58.5% between 2004 and 2021. Awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators has risen in the past decade. But human dependence on insects goes beyond this. They form a crucial part of multiple ecosystems.

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After party in Ibiza: inside a glorious island home

A bright and modern house in the woods is the ultimate chill-out zone on the island

Right at the centre of Ibiza, between Santa Gertrudis and San Rafael, a newly renovated house sits quietly under swaying forest trees. It’s not the typical kind of home in this area – and that was exactly what the owner, interior designer Rodrigo Izquierdo, was looking for.

Originally from Barcelona, and a resident of Milan in Italy for nearly two decades, he was the interior design creative supervisor for architect and designer Patricia Urquiola before going it alone and opening his own design studio in 2016.“Normally you would expect a house on an island to be close to the sea. Here you are surrounded by trees and there’s an amazing light,” says Rodrigo, whose love affair with the Balearic island has developed over many years, as he has spent time here in the company of friends or professionally. When the moment came for Rodrigo and his partner to invest in a property, they saw this unique opportunity and took the leap.

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* This article was originally published here

No mow: is Australia’s long love affair with lawn ending?

Over centuries lawn has come to dominate not just Australian cities, but cities around the world. Might we be ready for something else?

I am standing in a street not far from my home in Sydney. It is mostly unexceptional – a mix of redbrick detached and semi-detached houses, plantings of melaleucas and scrubby, dark-barked callistemons. Indeed, the only unusual thing is that whereas in most streets around it verges are grass, here there is a small stencil reading “no mow” on the footpath, and, behind it the verge is given over to an assortment of native grasses and low groundcovers instead of lawn.

This verge and others like it are the result of a program initiated by the local council, under which residents are able to ask to have the grass in front of their houses left uncut. That may seem a small change, but it is also symbolic of a larger shift with the place of lawn in Australian cities, and, just possibly, a deeper renegotiation with the relationship the landscape more generally.

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* This article was originally published here

* This article was originally published here

No mow: is Australia’s long love affair with lawn ending?

Over centuries lawn has come to dominate not just Australian cities, but cities around the world. Might we be ready for something else?

I am standing in a street not far from my home in Sydney. It is mostly unexceptional – a mix of redbrick detached and semi-detached houses, plantings of melaleucas and scrubby, dark-barked callistemons. Indeed, the only unusual thing is that whereas in most streets around it verges are grass, here there is a small stencil reading “no mow” on the footpath, and, behind it the verge is given over to an assortment of native grasses and low groundcovers instead of lawn.

This verge and others like it are the result of a program initiated by the local council, under which residents are able to ask to have the grass in front of their houses left uncut. That may seem a small change, but it is also symbolic of a larger shift with the place of lawn in Australian cities, and, just possibly, a deeper renegotiation with the relationship the landscape more generally.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here