UK Ideas, Tips & Guides

Last week, Thales UK and Thales Alenia Space announced their MARSBalloon 2021 project. They plan to launch more than 150 experiment capsules on high altitude balloons 30km up into the Earth’s atmosphere in June 2021. At those altitudes, the gas pressure, temperature and radiation are very similar to those on the surface of Mars. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this project is that UK students will fill those experiment capsules. School students and science clubs can carry out Mars-analogue science experiments, with no costs beyond materials and postage. The only catch? It has to fit into a plastic Kinder Egg™ capsule.

Header image: Lettuce in a grow room. Image credit: University of Western Australia (UWA).

Header image: UK astronauts Rosemary Coogan, John McFall and Meganne Christian. Image credit: UK Space Agency

Mainland UK is home to many natural treasures. While many are world-famous and are visited by millions of people each year, there are several that many haven’t even heard of, including some locals.

While we’re waiting for Tim Peake to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin his Principia mission, I thought it might be fun to have a look at the first Briton in space – Helen Sharman, who was also the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in 1991.

Header image: Phil Sellens, CC BY

When someone says orchid, what springs to mind? Probably the beautiful and showy hybrid orchids you can buy in the garden centre, or possibly the tropical orchids Kew does such magnificent displays with during its annual orchid festival. The cultivation of tropical orchids became popular in Britain in the seventeenth century. At the time, no one knew how to propagate orchids from seed, and wild plants were dug up and imported en masse, devastating their native habitats. By the nineteenth century, people had realised that the common British wildflowers they had been overlooking were also orchids. They too became popular with collectors, with some species being driven to the brink of extinction by over-collection and the intensification of agriculture.

The year is 2022, and all across the United Kingdom, something extraordinary is afoot. Ten awe-inspiring projects are coming together in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of creativity, many of which involve space or plants! In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener is joined by Prof Fiona Burnett, the horticultural lead for Dandelion. Dandelion is an amazing Scotland-wide grow-your-own project this summer, bringing together art and music, harvest and cooking, and community spirit. Learn about the Cubes of Perpetual Light, the Unexpected Gardens springing up across Scotland, the Big Tattie Experiment and more!

The UK Space Agency has launched a new mission for the UK’s children to design a logo for the first small satellite launches from the UK next year.

An extraordinary apple tree in a garden in Lincolnshire is 400 years old. It inspired Sir Isaac Newton to think about gravity, and in 2015 British astronaut Tim Peake took its pips into space. In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks with Jeremy Curtis, Head of Education and Skills at the UK Space Agency, about sending Newton’s apple seeds into space. She finds out what’s happened to the space saplings and has a close encounter at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

In January 1992, Space Shuttle Discovery took the first-ever British plant experiment in microgravity into space.

As a nation mourns the death of its queen, I thought I would celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong love of plants and gardening.

Today I learned about the social media phenomenon that is #FingerpostFriday. It involves people posting images of fingerposts. But I’d never heard that name used for the things I simply call signposts.

For those of us in the UK who can’t attend the launch of NASA’s Artemis I mission in person, the easiest way for us to watch it is via NASA’s YouTube channel.

Jill Edmondson, University of Sheffield and Jonathan Leake, University of Sheffield

Gardening for some provides the daily bread, for others, it’s an escape from reality and for you, it might be your favourite hobby. Nevertheless, a garden decorated to your own preferences will act as a source of inspiration and will provide you a place to gather up your thoughts.

A butterfly garden (or butterfly habitat) is a place dedicated for butterflies to feed and hydrate. It also helps butterflies find shelter, as many of their natural habitats are being lost due to human activities and urbanisation.

In their original environments, invasive plants are restrained by their natural adversaries, with whom they co-evolved. However, when they are introduced to a new environment without these natural enemies, some plants can flourish and spread uncontrollably, ultimately becoming invasive.

Have you ever wondered which flower best reflects your personality? Fantastic Gardeners just made a quiz which aims to define exactly your inner soul flower, based on your answers in a quest-like scenario. Let’s dig deep into psychology!

Outdoor Christmas decorations are key in creating a cheerful and festive ambience during the holiday season. Whether you’re going all out, making your house and garden the envy of the street with elaborate light designs and displays, or you just want to welcome your guests with a simple hand-made wreath and some soft candle glow, we offer you suggestions on how to decorate a garden for Christmas to lift spirits and make warm memories during the cold days and nights.

What brings the biggest joy to a person is seeing they helped someone be happy, too. In Fantastic Gardeners’ case, it was the creation of a spot for the children of the Acol Nursery school to play, explore and feel more homely. In our previous session we set the stage for the stars of the show to appear – it was already March and it was high time for flowers to march forward.

Yes, we’re talking about mint! The breath-saving, tummy-taming, taste-boosting mint. At Fantastic Gardeners, we love this refreshing plant, and why wouldn’t we? It is fragrant, easy to grow, and has many beneficial uses in culinary arts, medicine, and cosmetics.

With spring coming to its peak, we at Fantastic Gardeners decided to take a look back at the beginning of this jolly and fresh season and at one recent good deed. The Acol Nursery in London reached out to us back in February with the little asking to help them get their outdoor gardens in order.

If you’re anything like us, then you love your dog and want to include them in as many of your daily activities as possible. Every dog owner has experienced the joy, frustration, and laughter caused by our four-legged friends who decide to help us complete a task and, in most cases, create even more chaos as a result.

The idea of growing our own vegetables and herbs is gaining popularity in the UK (possibly thanks to Felicity Kendal and ‘The Good Life’ circa 1975). However, not all of us have access to a garden, especially in large cities. So, what can you do if you would like to grow some veggies at home, but don’t have a garden or much space to work with? Don’t worry, you can still put those green fingers to good use!

Most of the time, overgrown or sick trees are simply a nuisance, an eyesore in your otherwise impeccable garden. Sometimes, however, they can also mean trouble and your best course of action will often be to contact a specialist.

Are you dreaming of an exotic garden full of flowers with hard to pronounce names that will awe your guests? An understandable dream. But most tropical green life are not meant to grow in the weather conditions that the UK offers.

Regardless of whether you are just starting your gardening journey or are already a gardening pro, the question of how to stop detrimental pests from destroying your hard work will inevitably arise.

Have you recently cut a tree in your garden and are now left with a stump to deal with? If so, you’re in luck, as in this post, you’ll learn of all the effective ways of removing a tree stump. These include using your hands, digging, burning, grinding or applying a chemical stump remover.

Window boxes are a fast and easy way to update your exterior and add a pop of colour to your walls. You can plant various types of plants and flowers and impress your guests and neighbours. If you were wondering what to put in a window box and what types of window boxes you can have, then continue reading our article.

Ask a gardener of any skill level what the hardest part of having a garden is and they will all tell you the same thing – getting rid of weeds.

Hedera, which we commonly refer to as English Ivy (pl. Ivies), is a family of around 20 species of evergreen perennial plants. Depending on their surroundings, these woody plants can be both ground creeping or climbing nearby trees, rocks, buildings, and pretty much anything they can lay their stems on.

By V J Matthew/ Shutterstock

If there’s one thing which can help your garden stand out from all the rest, it’s a neatly kept and luscious green lawn. Grass is a fragile family of plants and as such requires a great deal of care and patience. If everything is done right, it will grow to become an incredible sight to behold. That’s why it’s important to have basic knowledge of how to take care of your lawn. For that reason, we’ve prepared a handy-dandy lawn care calendar just for you.

Spring is finally here and so is warmer weather, as well as the urge to open every window to let fresh air inside your home once again. For one in five people in the UK, however, the latter presents a dilemma.