Darren T, Gardener

I do love Christy's version of 'Fairytale of New York' on that one.

My humble submission to the new Bank of England with concepts for the new bank notes to please both sides.

The BBC are really going out of their way to not call these The Peter Files.

Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’ Climate change committee finds move to renewable energy would also bring health, economic and security benefits

Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’

Crude oil prices, showing a very sharp increase in the last day, from around 65 to 101 dollars per barrel..

Oil prices wouldn't be all over the news today if more of our economy was powered by local, secure renewable energy.

This isn't an "energy crisis". It's a fossil fuel crisis.

44% of UK electricity came from renewables in 2025. More of that plus an electrified economy => no more oil shocks.

I do wonder what in the hell the free and single bikini bots think they're going to achieve by signing up to Bluesky. Nobody came here to meet free and single bikini bots. We came here to talk about interesting books and records and old rotting gates and discuss the downfall of civilisation.

Baffled by blackthorn We often learn best from our mistakes, and I thought I’d pass on a little learning from a mistake I made recently. The unseasonably warm weather brought out Spring in a rush, and I photographed thi…

Spring has sprung & buds are beginning to burst into #blossom. At least they are here in Cornwall

A good time to remind myself of the differences between Blackthorn & Cherry Plum...explained beautifully in this great blog post by @badbotanist.bsky.social 🌿

badbotanist.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/b...

Early blossom blooming on branches. Delicate white petals emerge against a blurred green backdrop.

Have you seen any early blossom blooming near you?
We'd love to see it, pop a picture in the replies.

#BlossomWatch
📷James Dobson

OPINION: BrewDog are the punk pioneers who went out of tune Pete Brown looks at BrewDog’s rise, rebellion and rapid decline that mirrored punk’s brief chaos, leaving staff, fans and the craft beer scene to reckon with its legacy.

The Morning Advertiser asked me for an opinion on BrewDog. I turned to Tasting Notes for inspiration. www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2026...

Calls for electoral reform were raised in the House of Commons during debate on the Representation of the People Bill. Do you think it is time for proportional representation in the UK?

Closeup of a whip and tongue graft of hazelnut. This is a Yamhill hazelnut grafted onto a seedling of Jefferson. The two varieties are pollen compatible, so with a successful graft, and if the seedling is allowed to sucker as hazels do, this should produce multi-variety, “self-pollinating” hazelnut bushes.

Pipe insulation with seedling trees sticking through slits every 2”

Playing with plants again! Getting the hot callus pipe going. This is pipe insulation with a heated cable inside, on a thermostat set to 78F. Used to maintain heat at graft unions so they callus while plants stay dormant, often for difficult to graft nut trees like hazel, walnut, pecan & more! 🐿️

10 of the best fruit and vegetables to plant now for a hassle-free harvest If you long for freshly picked produce but don’t know where to start, try these sure-fire winners

10 of my favourite hassle-free harvests to grow this spring, in The Guardian www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Two cordon apple trees in the process of being planted. A large blue trug behind them.

Focusing on the root system on a cordon apple tree in the process of being planted.

Our newly-planted cordon apple trees on an allotment site, with a concrete slab and a watering can in the background.

I've planted seven new cordon apple trees in the past couple of days. I'm planning to graft 40+ more new trees in the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll be planting a fair few more next year.

A pruning cut on a medlar tree.

Pruning cut. Large branch removed from a medlar. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

A 'Brown Turkey' fig tree, growing against a wooden shed in a garden, with lots of long branches, before pruning.

A 'Brown Turkey' fig tree, growing against a wooden shed in a garden, with fresh cuts showing where branches were removed during pruning.

A jumble of fresh 'Brown Turkey' figs. Yum!

A short post on winter pruning our back garden 'Brown Turkey' fig tree. Awkward branches removed, lengthier stems shortened, top-growth thinned a bit, last year's fruitlets stripped out, that sort of thing.

orchardnotes.com/2026/03/06/w...

A hoverfly on a white crocus

A hoverfly, sipping some sweet spring nectar from a white crocus 🌱

#Bloomscrolling #BugSky #insectThursday

Screenshot of a book cover showing an illustration of a crow perched on an "ICE" jacket lying in the middle of a snow-lined road under the light of a full moon. The cover reads "ICE Out " by Charles de Lint. Text to the right of the cover reads "ICE came to Newford. Big mistake." and "Download for free!"

Urban fantasy author Charles de Lint just published a new "novelet" and released it for free, his stories of myth and magic and community and found family are full of so much love and hope and we could all use some of that right now

www.charlesdelint.com/IceOut.html

For those who have missed it and are interested, my talk is now available online.

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

"The most effective consumer boycotts in history share two qualities: they are narrow and they are easy," writes @rutgerbregman.com

Labour could bring back our water into public hands but they care more about investors than they do about you

A 'Nine Square' apple tree, before pruning

A 'Nine Square' apple tree, after pruning to lift the canopy by removing lower branches

A 'Nottingham' medlar tree, after pruning to lift the canopy by removing the lower branches

A section of a 'Conference' apple tree, after pruning to reduce overcrowding by removing whole branch sections

Winter #pruning season is in full swing and today on the blog, I've discussed the significant alterations I've made to three trees - two canopy-lifts and a lot of canopy thinning - on a 'Nine Square' apple, a 'Nottingham' medlar and a 'Conference' pear:

orchardnotes.com/2026/03/01/w...

The UK can't be dragged into another protracted Middle Eastern war by a US President.

Cthulhu in foamed milk floating on a coffee cup

Having a writers coffee sesh and our coffee artist is knocking it out of the ball park (this was a request for Cthulhu):

The Pellicle Podcast Ep85 — How Thornbridge Saved The Burton Union — Pellicle In January 2024, co-founder of Thornbridge Brewery, Simon Webster received an email from Garrett Oliver. He’d heard a rumour that Carlsberg Britvic, the now owners of Marston’s Brewery in Burton-upon-...

How @thornbridge.bsky.social saved the Burton Union — Pellicle Podcast Ep85

www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/2/...

The small, white flowers, with yellow centres, of a Chaenomeles x superba, growing against a trellis, with a greenhouse in the background.

First #blossom of the year, out for a couple of weeks now, is on Chaenomeles x superba, in our case a white-flowered form of the hybrid Japanese Quince, or bush quince.

A ladybird is nestled amongst the fruiting spurs of an apple tree.

A nicely maturing fruiting spur system on apple 'Devonshire Quarrenden', with sun-warmed ladybird.

An advertisement from an 1873 horticultural newspaper, for R. Halliday and Co., Hothouse Builders and Hot-Water Engineers. Follow the link in the post for a text version on OrchardNotes.com if you're interested.

This 1873 advertisement is for a firm of Hothouse Builders and Hot-Water Engineers whose constructions included the vast orchard houses at Waddesdon Manor, and who were based not a million miles from where I live.

Text-only copy of the ad is on the blog: orchardnotes.com/2026/02/21/a...

It's almost bench grafting season. Here are my grafting plans for 2026:

orchardnotes.com/2026/02/20/a...

(TL;DR version: 48 new trees on M9 dwarfing rootstock, 2 each of 24 varieties, quite a few russets, three promising seedlings, a few backups...)

What are you grafting this year?

The Ships of Innsmouth print. Ten strange ship illustrations, drawn traditionally with ink) laid out on a page. A black and white border, similar to one you'd get in an atlas or on a map, surrounds the page.

Available from 10am tomorrow.

The Ships of Innsmouth - In All Their Splendour.

#Illustration #Innsmouth #ArtPrints

What a stunner! 😍