Latest news with #Darius
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
How I turned a drab garden into the perfect hosting space
Jess Alavi-Ellis had only ever been a balcony gardener until she moved to a house in north London with a 98ft-long garden. 'I'd really wanted to grow stuff, but had struggled to keep things alive,' admits the journalist and designer. The outside space she inherited was severely neglected; half concrete, half dumping ground, it was the ideal blank slate for her to start from scratch and give gardening a serious go. A keen traveller, she wanted to bring in Mediterranean influences to create a holiday feel in the suburbs. But with a gut renovation and a costly kitchen extension under way in the house, she and her husband Darius had to roll up their sleeves in order to make over the space. Five years on, it's now a lush retreat that's perfect for entertaining, with a games area and multiple spots for al fresco eating; and it also provides an abundance of fresh produce for the family to eat. Here, Alavi-Ellis explains how the transformation took place. Plotting, levelling and making good 'The garden is long and thin, but it feels really big for London and I feel so lucky to have it,' says Alavi-Ellis. She decided straight away not to entertain the idea of a lawn: 'We didn't want the maintenance of mowing and thought we could do something else.' Removing the concrete was a must, but a Herculean task, so she took advantage of having builders on site while the house renovation was being done, and paid them to break it up and remove it. She then hired a rotavator and spent a month clearing and levelling the land as much as possible. The self-build shed One of the first things the couple did was build a shed – from scratch. It started with a set of uPVC doors which someone locally was giving away, and which Alavi-Ellis spray-painted black. They bought a pair of cheap windows, bags of concrete, and timber from a local yard, and set about erecting what is more akin to a garden office. 'Before this renovation, my husband would go on [home services marketplace] TaskRabbit to find someone to put up a shelf,' laughs Alavi-Ellis, 'but out of a financial necessity we watched YouTube videos and learnt to do all sorts of stuff.' The shed is watertight, provides invaluable storage space and cost around £4,000 in materials, compared with the tens of thousands an off-the-peg design would have cost. The fun factor 'We love playing petanque on holidays in France and so we thought having our own court would be really fun,' says Alavi-Ellis. Actually creating the court, or piste, was less fun, however: 'It was a huge undertaking because we had to dig out drainage so that it wouldn't flood, as that area was quite waterlogged.' The piste required varying sizes of gravel, and as there is no side access through the Victorian terrace house, it meant bringing 18 tons of the stuff through the house. 'We roped in friends, asking them to come and help us move it in return for a barbecue and a beer,' she laughs. A petrol-powered vibrating plate and a roller were rented to finish the piste off. Alavi-Ellis now has two small children and sometimes questions the lack of lawn in the garden, but her four-year-old enjoys biking up the gravel and has her own mini set of boules. 'We often play together as a family and I love that,' she says. The cooking and dining area Making use of the builders once more, Alavi-Ellis specified a bench, fire pit and kitchen-style island, built out of breeze blocks, to create a convivial area for eating and relaxing. She estimates the cost for all three was around £1,500. The bench was rendered and Alavi-Ellis painted it using leftover limewash from the kitchen walls. But it wasn't comfortable, so she had seat pads and cushions made using a bespoke striped fabric from Colours of Arley. 'I used yacht foam for the inners, which I ordered online and had cut to size; that way it's not the end of the world if they get left outside in the rain,' she explains. Installing the terrazzo tiles from Otto Tiles on the island was a memorable job undertaken with her dad, Mike. 'In four years I've never had to jet-wash it as, amazingly, the grout has stayed green,' she says. There's space for three bar stools on each side, so she uses it to serve food from the nearby barbecue, or to position a portable pizza oven away from small hands. The sunshade Realising just how much of a sun trap the south-west-facing seating area was, Alavi-Ellis later added a pergola. 'I wanted it to feel like Greece or Italy, where there are always vines growing around something,' she explains. She opted for a simple square arch, and trailing around it are vines probably put in by the previous owners, who were of Greek-Cypriot heritage. 'It makes the most out of something which was once lovingly planted, and we get early flowers followed by grapes which hang down,' she says. She also has future designs on a 'really comfy sofa or rocking chair' for sinking into on the patio. The planting Alavi-Ellis is a member of her local garden centre, The Gardening Club in Crews Hill, Enfield, which gets her discounted prices off the already inexpensive plants. 'It's a garden centre dream, and a fraction of the price of most London garden centres,' she says. She sweated her plant budget by buying perennials early in the spring that would look pretty and bulk out quickly, such as Geum 'Totally Tangerine', quick-growing Verbena bonariensis, Sambucus nigra and lots of grasses. To complement the existing apple and fig trees, she bought an almond tree for £60: 'It has a lovely blossom, but the squirrels mostly steal the almonds.' A fern tree was the single largest investment, 'but I love it, and it's already come on quite a lot', says Alavi-Ellis. The book A Year Full of Flowers by Sarah Raven became Alavi-Ellis's springboard for what to plant to create a wild, naturalistic look with flowers spilling over the borders. A 'bulb lasagne' in raised beds yields narcissi and alliums, which Alavi-Ellis likes to cut and bring inside. She also has a small cold frame on the patio where she grows cosmos, sweet peas and scabiosa cheaply from seed. 'My daughter really loves flowers and she's often out in the garden with her own scissors, picking herself a bunch,' she says. The veg patch The raised beds provide the family with fruits such as gooseberries, raspberries, whitecurrants and rhubarb. In raised metal beds on the patio (from £150, Harrod Horticultural), the family grow 'instant gratification' produce such as courgettes, climbing beans, strawberries and rainbow chard, which get regularly picked and eaten. Alavi-Ellis now counsels friends seeking gardening and plant advice, 'which is always a shock to me, but I've learnt so much', she says. A sanctuary fit for entertaining in warm weather, the garden also acts as a mood-booster on the greyest of winter days: 'Seeing the pink of the bench and the green island from the kitchen always reminds me of being on holiday.'
India.com
16-05-2025
- India.com
The depth of Indus River is 17000 feet at this place; The name will leave you in shock
Indus River depth: The issue related to the Indus River has prominently overshadowed the tension between India and Pakistan. But do you know where this river, which flows through India, Pakistan, and China, is the deepest? If you don't know, we will tell you here. The Indus River is one of the most important and ancient rivers in the world. This river flows not only through India and Pakistan but also through Tibet. The Indus River starts from the northern part of the Himalayas, passes through Jammu and Kashmir in India and Pakistan, and finally merges into the Arabian Sea. The length of the Indus River is recorded at approximately 3180 kilometers. But, have you ever wondered how deep the Indus River is at its deepest point? If you don't know, the answer today will really leave you astounded. First of all, know that the Indus River is deepest near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit-Baltistan. Here its depth ranges from 4500 to 5200 meters, or 14800 to 17100 feet. Historically, the Indus was important to many cultures. The 3rd millennium BC saw the rise of Indus Valley Civilisation, a major urban civilization of the Bronze Age. Early historical kingdoms that arose in the Indus Valley include Gandhāra and Sindhu-Sauvīra. The Indus River came into the knowledge of the Western world early in the classical period, when King Darius of Persia sent his Greek subject Scylax of Caryanda to explore the river, c. 515 BC. (Disclaimer: The above information is collated from various sources. does not independently verifies these claims.)
USA Today
10-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Washington Football Offers Rising 2027 Recruit, Son of Former UW Cornerback
Washington Football Offers Rising 2027 Recruit, Son of Former UW Cornerback The Washington football program extended a scholarship offer to Darius Johnson, the younger son of former UW star and San Francisco 49ers defensive back Derrick Johnson Sr., on Thursday. It's Jedd Fisch and secondary coach John Richardson's second run at trying to continue the Johnson family lineage on Montlake after missing out on his older son, Derrick Johnson II, in the 2026 recruiting class. Darius, a 6-foot-1, 160-pound cornerback, is considered a four-star prospect in the 2027 class by 247Sports' Composite rankings from Murrieta Valley High School in California, is now up to 14 scholarship offers going into the summer before his junior season with many more expected to come in over the next 12-18 months. The Huskies join Arizona State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Oregon and several others to enter the race early for Darius, unlike their pursuit of his older brother Derrick who didn't receive an offer from UW until this February. Johnson is coming off a strong first season on varsity as a sophomore for Murrieta Valley — where his father is the school's defensive coordinator — with 24 tackles, 2 passes defended, and an interception in 10 games in 2024. The 247Sports Composite ranks Darius as the No. 269 overall recruit in the 2027 class and the No. 28 cornerback prospect in the cycle.
USA Today
21-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
USC women's basketball 2026 roster begins to take shape
USC women's basketball 2026 roster begins to take shape USC women's basketball transfers make way for incoming players as 2026 roster begins to form around JuJu Watkins USC women's basketball is set to kick off what it hopes will be a lengthy NCAA Tournament run on Saturday. However, they will be doing so without a noted depth piece on their bench. Last week, Talia Goodman of On3 Sports reported that USC guard Dominique Darius will be entering the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. After starting her college career at crosstown rival UCLA, Darius transferred to USC ahead of the 2022-2023 season. She sat out her first season at USC due to NCAA transfer rules, before appearing in 19 games off of the bench last year. In those contests, she averaged 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. This season, Darius elected to redshirt in order to preserve her final year of eligibility. It had been widely expected that she would enter the portal in order to look for a school that could potentially offer her more playing time. The USC roster surrounding JuJu Watkins is already changing and taking shape next season. USC will need players who can reliably play at least 10 to 12 minutes so that the Trojans can go nine or 10 deep, withstand the rigors of the full season, and give JuJu Watkins the help she needs. USC will open the NCAA Tournament Saturday at noon local time at the Galen Center against UNC Greensboro.
