Today much attention is paid to the development and organisation of leisure activities for kids in the family. The bulk of entertainment activities are intellectual and mobile games. If the family has a dacha or a homestead plot, you can organise active entertainment. This is very useful not only for children, but also for adults. The latter today prefer to spend most of their free time at the computer and other gadgets. One of the favorite ways to brighten up leisure time is gambling. In many states they are legalised. The most popular in different countries around the world, including the UK, are free 20 no deposit casino. To prevent children from getting addicted to gadgets, it is necessary to diversify home leisure time with active, exciting games.
Marchelle Farrell on coming from a Caribbean childhood to an English allotment | House & Garden
11.06.2024 - 10:23 / houseandgarden.co.uk
Marchelle Farrell
The allotment is not what I expected. There are no neat rows of plots, some with small sheds or twee seating areas at the end. There is no committee, no signs up declaring the site’s rules or advertising upcoming community events. There is simply a padlocked gate onto a field, as anonymous as any other privately demarcated plot of land in the surrounding countryside patchwork. We go through the gate from the village car park on a dull, early spring morning, having been granted the code for the lock. A thrill to be let into this secret space. We walk down the lightly trodden path through late winter-brown, knee-high grass, past curious chickens in an enclosure under just-leafing trees next to a full-height vegetable cage full of purple sprouting broccoli. The plot that is to be partly ours is at the end, an empty pig shed in the space beyond it. A rickety fence surrounds the whole area. An overgrown hedge, still largely bare of leaves, lies at the back of the plot, which seems to be mostly made up of bits of old carpet and tarpaulin in between a sea of nettles.
We go through the listing gate and stand uncertainly, looking at the space. I tread down a couple of nettles and scuff up some earth with the toe of my wellies. Stooping, I pick up a handful of soil; it is dark brown and crumbles between my fingers, a reassuringly rich loam. I brush off my hands and turn away from the flat, weedy patch we have inherited to look at the valley falling away from it to the brook out of sight and earshot below, and then rising again beyond. With loamstained fingers, I shade my eyes as I squint up at the overcast sky. Apart from a strip sheltered by the hedge rapidly turning into trees at the back, this plot is in full
The plants that stole the show at this year's Chelsea Flower Show | House & Garden
This year Chelsea Flower Show was full of interesting trees and shrubs with lots of dreamy woodland-edge planting in dappled light underneath leafy canopies. Native trees such as hawthorns, hazels and silver birch were the favoured choices in many of the show gardens, with a mixture of native and non-native ornamental plants selected for resilience and sustainability. In Ula Maria’s Forest Bathing Garden, white foxgloves, cow parsley and other umbellifers like Baltic parsley (Cenolophium denudatum) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis) were mixed with the simple shade-loving grass Melica altissima ‘Alba’ while Tom Stuart-Smith showcased intricate tapestries of interesting foliage in different shapes and textures. In other gardens, orange was a popular colour in many shades, from deep rusty orange irises to pale orange geums, especially in Ann Marie-Powell’s exuberant Octavia Hill Garden. As always, the Grand Pavilion is the ideal place to discover new and interesting plants showcased by some of the country’s leading nurseries.
13 best barbecue tool sets to buy now | House & Garden
Certain sounds fill the heart with the joys of summer, but the season's undisputed high note has to be the sizzle of a garden barbecue. Beyond clear blue skies, and an excellent potato salad recipe, what more could a griller want besides first-rate barbecue tool sets?
Angel Collins' perfect planting scheme for summer borders | House & Garden
For Angel Collins, putting together a palette of plants either for herself or a client is one of the most pleasurable parts of designing a garden. ‘Making that initial list and then finally laying them out in the garden, seeing how they all work together, is something that I will never tire of,’ she says. ‘I make mood boards for my clients and provide them with a list. But I never draw out a rigid plan, as I prefer to set the plants out by eye and play around with the balance.’
The best summer honeysuckles for scent | House & Garden
Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is one of the easiest plants to find in the wild, since its strong, sweet scent hangs on the air. Native to most of Europe, it is a common sight and smell in our woodlands and hedgerows in summer, twining itself around trees and scrub and luring a wide variety of wildlife. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon describes Titania's sleeping place as 'quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine'. It is certainly a plant fit for a queen, since each of the flowerheads resembles a crown of cream and gold, formed of a ring of tubular blooms.
The Best UK Cities for Gardeners
It’s official, the UK is a nation of gardeners! With recent Census figures showing that 87% of UK households have a garden, many Brits are now beginning to embrace their green thumbs.
How to grow fuchsia flowers | House & Garden
Fuchsias originate from South America
What every Irish garden needs: exceptional but hardy and resilient plants
Life, as I like to remind my sons, isn’t always fair. All things are not equal, no matter how much we’d like them to be and some are in fact far better than others, a truth brought home to all of us eventually. Hence the expression “garden-worthy”, that brilliantly concise description used to sum up a particular cultivar or variety’s outstanding qualities.
GPOD on the Road: Assiniboine Park Gardens, Part 2
Happy Friday, GPODers!
21 Best Indoor Vines for Room Decor from Instagram
Craving some Instagram-worthy greenery for your home? Indoor vines are trending as the best plants to decorate your home with! Make your drapes, walls, columns, and windows come to life with climbing plants, and replenish your selfie deficit with these easy green home decor hacks!
A look at Cutter Brooks' new ivy-adorned homeware range in collaboration with Chatsworth | House & Garden
The napkins, cushion cover and table cloth seen here in Ivy Green