Aldi Is Releasing the Ultimate Stanley Tumbler Dupe—and It's Only $10

When I set about blogging The Peat-Free Diet it was an experiment, an journey into the unknown. My aim was to provide gardeners who want to garden without the use of peat with the information they need to do so, and the book evolved into a gardening primer that assumed peat was not on the menu. My love of science made more of an appearance than I had anticipated and there are plenty of big words to cope with, but it is my hope that they are presented in such a way that they are not hard to swallow.

Header image: Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right). Jonathan Clarke personal collection, Author provided.

Sowing seeds is often the first gardening task of the year, and a favoured way of propagating plants because it’s very cost-effective. It’s the first stage in many plants’ lives and seeds want to grow, it’s their reason for being. And yet some gardeners are intimidated by seed sowing and avoid it where possible and others struggle to grow plants from seed successfully in peat-free compost. So I’m going to begin The Peat-Free Diet with a look at what happens when we sow seeds, the best way to go about it, and how to achieve a good success rate.

Biochar

You might recall that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read one of my unread books every month this year, and to decide whether each one keeps its place on the shelf, or needs to be turned loose to find a new owner. In January I read The Gardener’s Year by Karel Čapek. February’s book was Minding my Peas and Cucumbers, by Kay Sexton – quirky tales of allotment life, it says on the cover. According to my notes it has been on the shelf, unread, since 2011.

Header image: Anastasiya (left) and myself working on the Haughton crater rim. Mars Society, Author provided.

Papa Johns is launching the world’s first-space-inspired pizza – a giant leap for pizza lovers everywhere.

Header image: Space Salad, credit: University of Adelaide

Collaborative post

It’s Christmas time! You have probably bought your Christmas tree already or you’re waiting for it to be delivered to your door and installed as well. Getting your house into the festive Christmas mood is the fun part of the holiday.

Photo by Agence Producteurs Locaux Damien Kühn on Unsplash

As the country begins taking stock of the damage caused by hurricane Ophelia and works to restore power to much of Scotland and Northern England, gardeners throughout the country are lamenting the destruction of their gardens.