How to get your garden ready for autumn: 17 expert tips you can do now – and what to skip

Dry herbs, sow green manure, catch the rain: garden professionals share the simple jobs that will make all the difference come next spring

• The best garden tools to make light work of autumn jobs

The nights are drawing in, TV programming is kicking back into gear and there are ominous warnings about “party season”. However, that doesn’t mean we should ascribe to horticultural tradition and “put our gardens to bed”.

There’s still plenty you can do in the garden to make the most of those crisp, bright autumnal afternoons and relish the offerings of the season to come. Whether squeezing some more joy out of the garden before it dies back for another winter or doing jobs your future spring self will thank you for, these are the things that define the season.

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* This article was originally published here

Yes, you should earthquake-proof your home. Here’s how to do it.

Simple steps to take now that will help keep your home — and you — safe in an earthquake.

* This article was originally published here

* This article was originally published here

Yes, you should earthquake-proof your home. Here’s how to do it.

Simple steps to take now that will help keep your home — and you — safe in an earthquake.

* This article was originally published here

Raccoons in the kitchen, bugs in the walls: Welcome to log cabin life

Rustic log cabins are part of the American psyche. I moved my family into one.

* This article was originally published here

Burford garden centre: how did it become the UK’s hottest celebrity haunt?

It sells £70 trowels and £3,000 trees – and with A-listers suddenly flocking to the Cotswolds, some of the most famous people on earth have been seen there

Name: Burford Garden Company.

Age: 49.

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Watch fire researchers burn down homes to show how to save them

How to protect your home from wildfires? It comes down to three simple, affordable things.

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Allotments are a safe space in times of crisis | Letter

Dr Hannah Connelly on why the government needs to recognise the value of having more allotments in cities

As a former allotment holder in Glasgow, I read Robin Tyne’s article with empathy (‘I joined every list’: the gruelling search for a Glasgow allotment, 2 September). I too joined every waiting list in Glasgow before I became a plotholder. There are not enough allotments in Glasgow and indeed across the UK. While the company Roots and other private allotments have a place, they can never be a replacement for local authority ones. Under the 2015 Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, Scottish local authorities have a duty to provide allotments. We need to find more space in our cities for them – spaces that have been proven to improve mental and physical health, at an affordable price.

In 1932, the Scottish allotment scheme for the unemployed was created. Plots were provided, as well as grants for seeds and tools. The scheme was not just to provide a place for growing food but also seen as preventing a mental health crisis, even though that would not have been said at the time. Plots were found on existing allotment sites, but the scheme also worked with local authorities to create new sites.

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* This article was originally published here