Bloom is a seasonal magazine for gardeners, plant admirers, nature lovers and outdoor adventurers. Each issue is packed with practical gardening projects, explorations of the natural world and celebrations of the beauty of all green spaces, whether they’re in the wilderness or on a windowsill. Beautiful and useful, Bloom inspires you to harness the power of nature and to get out there and be a part of it.
Nature is the future.
Bloom
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THE SEASON • What to forage, spot, harvest and grow this autumn
KISSING, COW FOOD & CELTIC DRUIDS • We all know what to do under mistletoe at Christmas, but this seasonally harvested evergreen is also a potent symbol in folk mythologies. Photographer Royston Hunt spent a day with a group of pickers in Somerset
FROM PLAN TO PLOT • Designing a garden can be daunting – but it’s also a chance to let your creativity flourish. To help you get started, six leading garden design experts share their hard-earned wisdom
JACK WALLINGTON • ‘Weeds have more to offer than we think’
MIRIA HARRIS • ‘Always factor in colour’
SID HILL • ‘Use edible plants throughout’
THE LAND GARDENERS • ‘Design to cut flowers from all areas of the garden’
JO MCKERR • ‘Create a nature-led design’
ISABELLE PALMER • ‘Think vertically for a balcony’
KNOW YOUR SOIL • All of the designers we spoke to highlighted the importance of healthy soil. It’s essential to consider and improve it before you start planning and planting. Here are some tips on identification of the main types, plus a little advice to get you started.
A GARDENER’S ESSENTIAL A–Z • The final part of Bloom’s dictionary of gardening vocab covers letters P to Z, helping you to master horticulture’s specialist lingo
HOW TO MAKE A LIVING ARCH • Woven willow doesn’t need to be confined to baskets – you can create a garden structure that will root, flourish and leaf. Willow-growing pro Richard Kerwood shows us how to branch out
FOUR WAYS TO COMPOST • Want to turn food waste into grower’s gold? Making your own rotted-down organic matter is easy – and there’s a method to suit every space, schedule and budget
A CUT ABOVE • Spades at the ready! Professional gardener Vicki Spong shares her guide to replacing a monoculture lawn with a colourful garden
MARGINAL GAINS • You don’t need a country pile and acres of land to accommodate a hedge, and they can be as useful to you and wildlife as any plant. It’s time to revisit the privet
pluck! pick! pull! snip! • You’ve successfully nurtured your veg to maturity, and now it’s time for the triumphant harvest. Stephanie Hafferty explains how to get your timing and technique just right
A NATURAL PALETTE • Homemade inks and paints in a rainbow of colours starts with food waste and foraged plants. Babs Behan, founder of a natural dye studio, shares three flexible recipes
‘Without the garden, I’d feel our home had lost its lungs’ • Charitable organisation the Lemon Tree Trust helps people in refugee camps to take up gardening – we speak to residents who are putting down roots
REPORTING FOR DUTY • Foreign correspondent and photojournalist Lalage Snow explains how gardens gave her a new way to tell the stories of people living through conflict
HOW NATURE BECAME A PLACE TO ESCAPE TO • Peaceful, restorative, unspoilt – the countryside has long been seen as a seductive refuge, but have we built it up to a fantasy?
LIFE + DEATH • In hectic cities, garden cemeteries are havens of calmness and quietude. Let’s appreciate these overlooked green spaces
CULTURE CLUB • Cultivating indigenous microorganisms may sound like the work of biologists rather than gardeners, but Korean natural farming is...