by Mark Evans
Propagating plants from cuttings is one of the easiest and most common methods of plant reproduction. It’s also the quickest way to produce an exact clone of the parent plant.
Cuttings rely on the fact that plant cells are totipotent, meaning each cell has the potential to develop into a complete plant. A single plant cell can become either a root or a shoot, which is why when … Read more »
by Jente Posthuma
translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey
reviewed by Wendy Tucker
This is the second novel from Jente Posthuma, a Dutch writer, and was among the six novels shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024. The Booker Prize has had a few name changes and this has resulted in some confusion. The Booker Prize (now the new/old name) is for a novel published in English from writers in Commonwealth countries and Ireland. In 2005, the International Booker Prize was inaugurated for novels worldwide, that were published in English, including books translated into English, with the aim of promoting global literature. … Read more »
By Mark Evans
I’m no liquid luddite. Our thin boundary border beds and double arms-length wide vegetable rows all have a central snake of plastic dripper line to slowly soak the soil and if I was the lawn-watering kind I would naturally choose the efficiency of a sprinkler to cast a wide, even drink. But of all the forms of home irrigation, I find hand-watering the most satisfying.
Rain is the best way to water your … Read more »
by Tikka Wilson
Pulses, otherwise known as beans, are a wonderful food. Beans are legumes, meaning the seeds are produced in pods and I’ll focus on dried or tinned beans. For people who eat mostly plants, beans are a great source of protein. For those who treasure their microbiome, the little guys in your gut love beans!
The gas story
Let’s do the gas bit first. Beans contain a starch called raffinose. Humans can only … Read more »
reviewed by Wendy Tucker
by Lionel Shriver
I’ve been a fan of Lionel Shriver since the best-selling, prizewinning novel that made her name, We need to talk about Kevin, appeared in 2003.
Any woman who at 15 changes her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel and sticks with it, has got to be fierce. And fierce she is. We need to talk about Kevin examined maternal ambivalence and a high school shooting. … Read more »
by Mark Evans
Whether you subscribe to the meteorological view that it begins on the first day of the month or to the astronomical view that it begins on the vernal equinox on the twenty-third day of the month, September brings us into the season that many consider the beginning of the gardening year – … Read more »
