The current UK lockdown means that seeds, plants, gardening tools and equipment can be harder to source. Many garden centres are closed, travel is limited to essential journeys only and online companies are struggling to meet the surge in demand. On the upside, this can encourage us to be more creative, to “make do and mend” and to have a good look around our homes to see what we can repurpose for the garden. With a thrifty approach and a bit of help from friends and neighbours, it’s perfectly possible to carry on gardening and even start a new one during the lockdown. Much of what you need, you already have, it’s just waiting to be transformed.
Here are my top tips on how to be a thrifty gardener during the lockdown which I hope will also be useful at any time, for gardeners on a budget and for anyone interested in self-sufficiency and sustainability issues.
10 positive life-long habits to adopt while in lockdown
In every situation there are silver linings. While many of us may not be using our time indoors to write the next great novel or master an instrument, there are gentler ways of finding potential in the pandemic. With a slower pace comes an opportunity for discovery and the realisation that, often, we don’t have to go very far at all to feel the enrichment of the world around us. By connecting with it, we naturally fall in love with it, which invigorates the conservation and sustainability movements, too. Here are the 10 things we’re learning in lockdown – positive habits to start now and not give up.
Read 10 positive life-long habits to adopt while in lockdown on CondéNast Traveller
Cook what you have in your fridge
In these days of lockdown you might not be able to get to the supermarket as much as you like, so how can you rustle up something just using what you have in your fridge? Supercook has the answer.
Just add your ingredients and Supercook instantly finds matching recipes from the most popular cooking websites!
Go to SuperCook
Help NASA map the world’s coral reefs
If you’re looking for something more interesting to do in quarantine than restream a show on Netflix, consider helping scientists map the world’s coral reefs. In a new video game from NASA called NeMO-Net, you can virtually dive in waters around the world, classifying corals in 3D images from satellites to help train a NASA supercomputer to map the rest of the world’s coral at a scale that’s never been done before.
Find out more in Bored at home? This game lets you help NASA map the world’s coral reefs
Find out How Busy your local Store Is Right Now
Now more than ever, we all want to go to grocery stores and other essential businesses when it’s not crowded. With a few taps, Google Maps can tell you how busy a store, restaurant, park, or other location is right now
Find out more in this article, How to See How Busy a Store Is Right Now with Google Maps
5 TED Talks That Will Make You Better at Remote Work
We’ve all had to make lots of jarring adjustments in the last week. For many, suddenly working from home has been one of the hardest, at least on the professional front. But help is available. Over the years plenty of remote work veterans, as well as experts on the various challenges of leading a team from your living room, have shared their wisdom from the TED stage. Now is the perfect time to check out their advice.
Take a look at the article, 5 TED Talks That Will Make You Better at Remote Work on Inc
Find out about life in the trenches in World War I
Trench warfare in World War I was employed primarily on the Western Front, an area of northern France and Belgium that saw combat between German troops and Allied forces from France, Great Britain and, later, the United States.
Although trenches were hardly new to combat: Prior to the advent of firearms and artillery, they were used as defenses against attack, such as moats surrounding castles. But they became a fundamental part of strategy with the influx of modern weapons of war.
Take a virtual tour of the Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. The museum is particularly famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons and ornate architecture—sometimes dubbed a cathedral of nature—both exemplified by the large Diplodocus cast that dominated the vaulted central hall before it was replaced in 2017 with the skeleton of a blue whale hanging from the ceiling.
Take the virtual tour here > Natural History Museum
10 epic novels to read
There are those great epics, old and new, that we all plan on getting around to at some point. Many of us have considered tackling these thousand-page Russian and French classics of literature, but often convince ourselves that it’s too much of an undertaking, timewise. Well, now is the time. Here are ten suggestions both classic and modern.
Take a look at 10 epic novels to read in self-isolation
