Gardening

7th April is World Health Day, and also celebrates the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Since 1950, this day highlights an area of concern for WHO, calling for education and awareness on a worldwide scale. This year’s World Health Day focuses on vectors - organisms that transmit infections from one host to another – with the emphasis on ticks, mosquitoes and other bugs such as sandflies. Though we are fortunate in the UK not to have to worry too much about diseases transmitted by these creatures, for some countries they pose serious risks to the nation’s health.

Spring heralds a time of change. In the world around us, we see the wheel of the year continue on its cycle and enter a new phase and, whether we like it or not, we’re going along for the ride! Sometimes it can feel like we need just a few more winter weeks to really gather our thoughts and ideas before we bring them into the light. But spring comes leaping and bouncing into our lives with the energy of the lambs, and demands that we shake off the cobwebs and dance into the warmer, brighter days.

Sometimes we are forced to address how much water we use through circumstance. It might be that our water is temporarily cut off, or we are camping or away from a reliable source. The results can be surprising. Just how much water we use when rinsing dishes, for instance, or waiting for water from the hot tap to warm up. My partner and I discovered this when we lived on a boat. All our water came from a tank in the boat’s hull which we had to refill as needed.

Orange pomanders are not only beautiful decorations, they also act as natural room and cupboard and drawer fresheners. Smaller fruits like kumquats can be used to create simple tree decorations. Making a pomander is a fun activity for children, and they make lovely gifts to share with friends and family. Hang them up around the house to enjoy that fresh citrus and clove scent, and after Christmas hang them in your wardrobe to keep your clothes smelling fresh and moths at bay.

Lazy, nature-loving gardeners take note! Turning part of your garden over to wild flowers is one of the best things you can do for wildlife, looks amazing and, best of all, requires little or no maintenance. I am an all or nothing kind of gardener; one day I’m leaping about in green-fingered glee tending to all my little seedlings, the next I’m looking gloomily out the window at beds overrun with weeds. As I have been told umpteen times, the kind of gardens I pore over in pictures and gaze at in envy over garden walls, require attention – and not just a monthly frenzy of activity.

If you’ve been far more diligent in your garden than I have this year, it should now be bursting with produce. There have been many years when we’ve had a total glut of courgettes and tomatoes in late August, and we have marvelled at how those tiny seedlings we planted out became rapacious monsters heaving with fruit! When faced with a glut of anything, I always turn to my trusty Leith’s, which lives up to its bible title, in my opinion.

However big or small your garden is, there are plenty of changes you can make to ensure that it is an attractive location for all manner of wildlife. Simple things such as choosing wildlife friendly plants and leaving dead flower heads as food for birds in the winter can make a difference. Here are ten small things you can do today to create a garden positively humming with life:

Recently, I took a break from my writing for a couple of weeks to enjoy the beautiful weather and to focus on my girls who have been through some significant developmental leaps recently. But, as a fairly typical type A personality I soon found myself immersed in yet another project. This time, however, it was a full family activity. Our lovely garden, that became hidden under an embarrassingly large collection of weeds when I became too large and lethargic to even consider touching them in my last pregnancy, has kept us busy for almost 3 weeks now.

I wish I was one of those green-fingered people who are permanently itching to sink their fingers in to the soil, who walk past weak looking plants and want to immediately transplant them, who take cuttings and know the names of shrubs and flowers. Truth is, I’m not. I want to be, but more often than not, my garden looks more on the wild side (read: neglected). But when I really get stuck into tending to it, I feel good. I get into the swing of weeding and planting, and enjoy all the fruits of my labour as they grow.

Epsom Salt baths have long been hailed as an easy, relaxing way to detoxify the body and boost health due to the easy absorption of magnesium and sulphate. Those of us who enjoy a regular Epsom Salt bath may be missing out on many other benefits as it appears they have a wide variety of health and beauty based uses. Check out our top 10 uses for Epsom Salt to see how you could be getting more out of yours: