Latest news with #Gardener
Daily Mirror
19-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Gardeners urged not to throw away grass clippings in July
During summer, lawns can quickly turn from a lush green to a dry, brown hue as a result of sweltering temperatures. However, a gardening expert has shared a simple tip to ensure your grass stays healthy and verdant The blistering heat of summer can take a toll on our gardens, turning once lush lawns into dry, dull patches, but there's an easy trick to keep your grass green and thriving. The solution is hiding in plain sight: the grass clippings you usually collect after mowing can double as a natural fertiliser, providing essential nutrients as they break down. Gardening expert Larry Hodgson, known to many as the Laidback Gardener, has shared this clever method called 'grasscycling'. This technique not only feeds the lawn but also helps it hold onto moisture for extended periods. He said: "In times of drought, a grasscycling lawn stays green longer than a lawn whose clippings have been collected, because by forming a thin mulch, they reduce evaporation and maintain soil moisture." He's a big advocate for the practice, adding, "In other words, weedcycling has nothing but advantages and almost no inconvenience. What are you waiting for to put it into practice?" Grass clippings are superb at retaining moisture, which means less water evaporates and your lawn stays hydrated during hot summer spells. These cuttings are also packed with nitrogen, a key nutrient that encourages dense, robust growth, keeping your lawn vividly green, reports the Express. For the best results in summer, ensure you mow the lawn regularly, creating short grass clippings that decompose quickly and nourish the lawn more efficiently. Larry explained: "Longer clippings tend to accumulate, forming unsightly clumps that don't decompose easily and must be broken up and spread with a rake. Herbicomposting is more effective and easier if you mow frequently." For those eager to make the most of their grass cuttings in the garden, it's recommended to maintain the lawn at 10 to 12 centimetres during mowing and not let it grow beyond 15cm. If you're dealing with an overgrown lawn, set your mower to the highest notch and pick a dry day for cutting. It's crucial not to cut more than a third of the grass height at once; doing so can stress the turf and sap soil moisture. Once you've gathered your clippings, choose a sunny spell to scatter them lightly, allowing them to settle between the blades of grass. Steer clear of laying down thick or wet clippings as they can cause matting, preventing sunlight, air, and moisture from reaching the root system. By spreading a thin layer of fine, short clippings every two weeks, you're paving the way for a verdant, vibrant lawn throughout the summer.
Time Business News
26-06-2025
- Business
- Time Business News
Simplifying Complex Cloud Operations: The Business Case for Managed Kubernetes in Private Cloud Environments
Every IT leader knows how it starts. A few containerized workloads run successfully. Teams grow comfortable with microservices. Soon, new applications, more clusters, and expanded environments appear. Before long, what began as a promising modernization project turns into an intricate web of dependencies, configurations, and management burdens that stretch your teams thin. Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for orchestrating containerized applications, but managing Kubernetes at scale is anything but simple. This growing operational complexity is exactly why enterprises are increasingly turning to Managed Kubernetes as a Service for Private Cloud to regain control, simplify operations, and unlock real business value. Kubernetes offers extraordinary power, but introduces challenges that directly affect business performance: Manual cluster management drains valuable engineering resources. Upgrades, patching, and version compatibility become time-consuming. Security configurations across multiple clusters grow harder to maintain. Downtime risks increase as complexity expands. These operational pressures shift focus away from core innovation and product delivery. The result is slower time-to-market, rising operational costs, and frustrated teams. This is where Managed Kubernetes as a Service with Gardener offers a different path. Providers like Cloudification deliver fully managed, GitOps-driven Kubernetes environments that help businesses regain operational clarity and confidently scale without sacrificing control. Enterprises often believe that to simplify Kubernetes operations, they must give up control to public cloud providers. This is a false choice. With Managed Kubernetes as a Service for Private Cloud, businesses retain full data ownership and governance while outsourcing the day-to-day operational burdens of Kubernetes management. By partnering with experts like Cloudification, you benefit from: Fully automated cluster provisioning, upgrades, and maintenance Consistent security policies applied uniformly across environments Immediate response to incidents without draining internal teams Freedom from vendor lock-in with open-source technology foundations Your engineers stay focused on building and delivering value, not maintaining complex infrastructure behind the scenes. Every hour spent troubleshooting Kubernetes clusters is an hour not spent delivering customer value. Internal Kubernetes management often leads to hidden operational costs that quietly accumulate: Increased staffing requirements for specialized skills Delays caused by troubleshooting complex deployment issues Long-term expenses tied to poorly optimized resource usage Managed services convert unpredictable operational overhead into transparent service costs. This allows for: Lower total operational expenses over time More predictable financial planning Better resource utilization and cluster optimization Cloudification's GitOps-driven automation ensures that your clusters remain consistent, efficient, and fully aligned with best practices, minimizing waste and maximizing performance. Security remains one of the most challenging aspects of Kubernetes management, especially in regulated industries. Each new cluster introduces potential configuration drift and access control inconsistencies. By choosing managed Kubernetes services, you gain: Consistent role-based access controls across all environments Automated patching and vulnerability management Centralized audit logging for compliance reporting Full visibility into cluster health and security posture Instead of constant firefighting, your security and compliance teams operate from a position of confidence, knowing that policies are enforced uniformly at every level. In competitive markets, the speed at which you can bring new features and services to market directly impacts your business growth. Complex Kubernetes operations often become bottlenecks to this agility. Managed Kubernetes simplifies deployment pipelines, reduces downtime during upgrades, and eliminates many of the manual steps that slow release cycles. This allows your development teams to: Deploy new features more frequently and safely Experiment with new services without infrastructure concerns Recover faster from failures or performance issues Not every organization needs a massive Kubernetes footprint on day one. Managed Kubernetes supports gradual adoption. Begin with a few key applications or business-critical workloads. Gain confidence as you see operational stability improve. As needs grow, easily scale clusters horizontally without adding complexity to your internal operations. Cloudification's consulting and workshop services help teams build internal Kubernetes skills while maintaining operational stability throughout growth phases. Even with careful planning, Kubernetes containerization projects can encounter unexpected challenges. In-house teams may struggle with: Complex multi-cluster networking Storage integration for stateful workloads Performance tuning under heavy load When these issues arise, having experienced Kubernetes experts readily available makes a significant difference. Cloudification's managed service model provides immediate access to certified professionals who help resolve problems quickly while empowering your team to learn and grow. Keeping Kubernetes environments healthy long-term requires consistent operational discipline. Fortunately, managed services simplify much of this by design. To keep your private cloud Kubernetes environment optimized: Review cluster resource utilization periodically Conduct security audits on role-based access configurations Validate disaster recovery processes regularly Encourage cross-functional feedback between development and operations These lightweight habits ensure that your managed Kubernetes deployment continues delivering value sustainably over time. At its core, adopting Managed Kubernetes as a Service with Gardener is not just a technology decision. It is a business strategy to reduce operational burdens, control costs, strengthen security, and empower faster innovation. By simplifying the most complex aspects of Kubernetes management, enterprises regain focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional products and services to their customers. With open-source foundations, GitOps automation, and expert guidance, Cloudification provides businesses with a Kubernetes platform that balances power and simplicity. You maintain full control over your data and systems while eliminating the daily operational headaches that slow progress. If you are ready to simplify your cloud operations and turn Kubernetes into a true business enabler, Cloudification is here to help you design and operate a private cloud environment that finally works for your business, not against it. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
The Guardian
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The grand tour: one playwright's quest to set foot in every African country before turning 60
At 53, I made myself a promise. Having built a reputation as the go-to authority on African culture in UK theatre, I realised with uncomfortable clarity that my knowledge barely scratched the surface of the continent's vast complexity. What followed was an extraordinary seven-year quest to visit all 54 African nations before my 60th birthday – a journey that would ultimately transform into my ambitious new theatrical project, 54.60 Africa. The catalyst came during a 2015 world tour with theatre company Complicité that took me to Cape Town. Standing in the shadow of Table Mountain, I confronted a paradox that had long troubled me: despite my Nigerian ancestry and theatrical expertise, my understanding of Africa remained frustratingly limited. Cape Town offered me an opportunity to begin addressing that knowledge gap, and one I was determined to seize. The journey that followed defied every preconception I held. In a hotel lodge in Mbabane in what was then Swaziland, a receptionist's eyes widened with incredulity at my arrival – a reaction that spoke volumes about the rarity of Black guests. Yet it was the gardener the next morning who provided the trip's emotional core, abandoning his work to sit beside me, explaining how long it had been since he'd conversed with another 'brother' on the premises beyond his own visiting family. These encounters multiplied across 54 nations, each challenging global narratives of crime, instability and economic hardship that I had unconsciously accepted. Instead, I found peace in Ghana's bustling districts, tranquility along Tanzania's roads and avant garde modernity in airports across the continent; I was blown away by Mali's Modibo Keita International. Even in Khartoum, months before civil war erupted, I stood on Mac Nimir Bridge absorbing the capital's calm while admiring the translucent Blue Nile – a moment that would later haunt me as I processed how quickly human-made turbulence could create mass displacement. The process of transforming my personal odyssey into a theatrical production began with a conversation. In 2007, I accompanied my friend Ivan Cutting on a research trip to Kenya for a production that never materialised. A decade later, when I mentioned writing a book about my travels, Ivan immediately suggested a play should follow. What emerged at Omnibus theatre in south London, and later at the National Theatre Studio, was something far more complex than I had expected. Early workshops revealed a troubling tendency: the story centred on me rather than Africa. 54.60 Africa was completed on my 60th birthday – 31 October 2022 – in Bangui, Central African Republic – exhausted, but ecstatic and proud of the feat. This milestone intervened to shift the focus, transforming my production into an exploration of how Africa interrogated the African I claimed to be. This realisation led to a crucial creative decision: representing my journey through 11 fictional characters rather than direct autobiography. Africa is more than one person, and I should never be bigger than our mighty continent. The fictional ensemble allowed me to convey collective experiences while platforming Africa as a source of progress, inspiration and immense dignity. The production reunited me with performers from my previous collaborations, who brought not just talent but vast repositories of knowledge drawn from oral storytelling traditions. Ayo-Dele Edwards, the first Nigerian-descent female performer to infuse UK theatre with authentic Yoruba songs, joined Sierra Leonean animateurs Patrice Naiambana and Usifu Jalloh, whose contributions to UK arts education stretch back to the mid-90s. For the music I turned to the Ganda Boys, Denis Mugagga and Daniel Sewagudde, who I discovered were instrumental in shaping London's east African cultural movement. Their infectious compositions and melodious voices provided my production's sonic backbone while their advocacy for social justice aligned perfectly with my mission. 54.60 Africa arrives at a crucial moment for African representation in British theatre. Despite nearly three decades passing since I established Tiata Fahodzi in 1997, authentic African voices remain marginalised on major commercial stages. While regional theatres increasingly listen to their communities, the West End continues to shy away from genuine African stories, preferring sanitised interpretations such as The Lion King over authentic narratives. My central mission remains unchanged: debunking tropes associated with my continent. Through lighthearted dramatic construction accessible to all ages, 54.60 Africa offers audiences a fresh perspective on Africa's true standards and incredible human endeavours, far removed from problematic western media narratives. In doing so, it challenges not just theatrical conventions but fundamental assumptions about a continent too often reduced to simplistic stereotypes. 54:60 Africa is at the Arcola theatre, London, to 12 July. The Bee Keeper Women of Kitui, Kenya, 2007 (main picture, above) Meeting a bee-keeping group in a nearby village in the Kitui district of Nairobi. The villagers who manage colonies of honeybees to produce honey, beeswax and royal jelly are a particularly good example of the valiant low-income women who have contributed to the economy of their immediate rural community. Meeting Samora Machel in Maputo, Mozambique, 2015 Samora Machel was the country's first post-colonial and post-apartheid president, serving from 1975 until his tragic death in a plance crash 11 years later. This magnificent bronze statue is located in the centre of Praça da Independência in Maputo, the nation's capital. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Kigali Lion Boys, Rwanda, 2017 Walking back from the Kigali Genocide Memorial commemorating the Tutsi people killed in 1994, I popped into a grocery store to pick up essentials for my trip back to Uganda. Sitting on monuments outside were these young boys who offered to help carry my shopping bags. Overlooking the serenity of the Indian Ocean, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 2018 Lying on the sand on a line which marks the meeting point of British colonial Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. Behind me, young parents with their children play on the beach. In front of me, fishers, trawlers and ferries float on the bay between Kigamboni and nearby Zanzibar Ferry Terminals. Learning to play the Kora in Banjul, the Gambia, 2018 A day trip to Selety, Senegal ends in Bakau Craft Market, Banjul, where I receive my first lesson on a kora cello owned by master kora player Lamin Suso. I had always been fascinated with the kora, having been introduced to its finesse back in the UK by the celebrated Nigerian player Tunde Jegede. If there's one thing I regret about school, it's not mastering an instrument. Especially an African one. Last Days in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 2022 On my last day in Yaoundé, I made the long trek along the entire length of Tribune Présidentielle du Boulevard du 20 Mai which ends by Rond-Point J'Aime Mon Pays le Cameroun (I Love My Country Cameroon Roundabout). Certainly the most beautiful roundabout in the city.
The Journal
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
The physical and mental wellbeing of therapeutic horticulture
FIANN Ó NUALLÁIN, aka The Holistic Gardener, is a gardener, community activist, project facilitator and author. Fiann will be appearing on the Garden Stage at this week's Bord Bia Bloom as both speaker and MC. Ruth O'Connor speaks to Fiann about his own work and why gardening is so beneficial to our mental and physical wellbeing. Fiann Ó Nualláin, aka The Holistic Gardener. Fiann Ó Nualláin, aka The Holistic Gardener Fiann Ó Nualláin, aka The Holistic Gardener Tell us more about yourself? I'm a bit like Worzel Gummidge – a scarecrow with lots of different heads. On the one hand I write – I spend a lot of time researching about mental health and physical wellbeing and how to use the garden as a resource to support those things. My background is in social and therapeutic horticulture, so I am often working in the field (pardon the pun) working with different groups of people on projects that are not simply about the beautification of a space but about genuine community involvement. Describe a typical working day for you I'm an early riser. I'll usually do four or five hours of research then take a break for breakfast. I could be writing for the rest of the day or doing something where I don't know necessarily what the outcome will be. For example, I could be meeting a group for the first time – they could be into gardening or reticent about gardening. I could be working with TY students and will draw them in through their interest in the environment, beauty, sport or whatever they're into. I've learnt that human nature happens in nature – really we're just people gathered together doing what humans do which is communing with each other and with nature. I could be creating a garden based on story books at a school but really the focus is literary issues or I could be working with a mother and baby group to grow food and then bring in nutritionists to talk about good nutrition for young families. Sometimes the project centres simply around creating spaces where people can find stillness and take a break from their worries… So my role involves doing a lot of research and then putting my learnings into practice. Then there are all the other things that come with that – appearing at Bloom, doing some TV work and writing articles for the media. A previous show garden by Fiann Ó Nualláin at Bord Bia Bloom. Fiann Ó Nualláin Fiann Ó Nualláin How did you get into gardening initially? I've been hooked on gardening since I was a toddler dragging a watering can around the place. My father and grandfather gardened so I always assumed it was what people did. It was only in my teens when I had issues with depression that I found the garden was of solace to me. When I got a bit older I did other jobs but doing indoor jobs, absent from the green environment, I realised that my depression got worse. I realised that the garden was medicating me and I found that something I had discovered could also resonate with other people. When I realised that gardening and being in gardens transformed my life I wanted to be able to help other people realise that too. The wonderful thing that happens at Bloom is that people might want to have a nice outdoor space to have a glass of wine in, or they might want to improve the value of their home, but when they catch the gardening bug they realise that it brings them so much more. How important is collaboration to what you do? Collaboration is really important to what I do. I could go out and install something for somebody and there might be some pick up on it – I could petition for land, measure it up, plant out allotment plots and get five or six people interested. Within a year there might be one person left. However if I divide that same space up between a scouting group, the school and, say, a local community addiction programme and then I bring in additional people – a nutritionist, a flower arranger, a herbalist… it is more likely to be a success. A project like that has to involve people, experts, from within the community as well as outside of the community. Advertisement Fiann Ó Nualláin, aka The Holistic Gardener, on the Talks Stage at Bloom in the Phoenix Park. Fennell Photo. Fennell Photo. How have things changed since you started doing this kind of work? Years ago it was difficult to get things like community gardens and allotments to stick – people might set something up and then land would be rezoned and they'd have to move on. Now people are almost demanding green spaces as a service – people expect that they should have a green space in their area that they can walk their dog in but they are also starting to expect that the should have a space in which they can express themselves as gardeners or look after their own food security or even just unroll a yoga mat – people don't want to live in concrete jungles. On the other hand, to some people, nature can be the alien environment. You can have people living on the outskirts of cities, beside industrial estates where there are no parks, no plants or trees and to them nature is an alien environment. In that case you have to get people used to the fact that, yes, there are birds, there are bees, there are flies and this is magic of the world – this the wonder we live in – we share this world with other creatures and that gives people an appreciation for all aspects of life and for living life. Fiann Ó Nualláin, aka The Holistic Gardener is keen to encourage people to explore the physical and mental benefits of gardening. Fiann Ó Nualláin. Fiann Ó Nualláin. What has been your proudest moment so far? I worked in a place years ago where I got to introduce teenagers, many of whom had lost their place at school or were young parents, into looking at gardening and horticulture and being outdoors. We'd also cover personal effectiveness, communication skills and a bit of maths by stealth – counting out seeds and figuring out how long it would take things to germinate. In the same area recently I was talking to a mother who I had taught and the one thing that gets him into school is doing gardening in the school garden before he goes into class. I'm proud of the fact that there's something of a legacy there. Another favourite of mine was done in conjunction with Dublin City Council and a number of artists. It was a project called Plant the Placename. We went into communities, say Bluebell, and we collected seeds with the youngest members of the community, who then brought the seeds to their grandparents who grew them on, and then the parents and children would plant them back into the environment. There were three generations of families involved and everybody got ownership of the project which is very important. Fiann Ó Nualláin's GIY (Grow it Yourself) garden at Bloom. Fiann Ó Nualláin. Fiann Ó Nualláin. If you weren't doing this what would you be doing? I don't think could do anything else. Sometimes when I'm bogged down for months writing a book or something I cannot wait to get back out into working in gardens again. A lot of people come to gardens later in life, often in retirement, but I don't need to retire – I've found my home and couldn't see myself doing anything else. What can people expect from you at Bloom? You'll get all your design ideas on how to pretty up your space but you'll then wander to the nursery village and talk to people who really know their plants and can advise you. Then you'll come over to the Talks Stage where I'll be introducing experts coming from many different disciplines. We are there so that people can ask questions and pick our brains – we want people to go home with information that they can put into practice. Two of Fiann's previous books. Fiann Ó Nualláin. Fiann Ó Nualláin. What's next for you? I'll be doing plenty of garden projects – after Bloom there's always a flurry of interest. I'm currently working on a book about traditional Irish cures – I've been researching it for five years and am currently putting it together for publication. Fiann Ó'Nualláin will be appearing on the Garden Stage at this year's Bord Bia Bloom which takes place May 29th to June 2nd 2025. Tickets are priced at €30 and up to two children (under 16) go free with every ticket purchased. Visit for further information.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Rochester Prep elementary students participate in Autism Awareness Walk
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Elementary students at Rochester Prep recognized Autism Awareness Month with an Autism Walk on Thursday morning. Students at the St. Jacobs Campus wore shirts for the event that celebrated 'minds of all kinds' to show their support and participate in a short walk in the area. Kelly Gardner, Rochester Prep Elementary School Principal, spoke to News 8 about the impact of students walking in the neighborhood with a message to share. LGBTQ visibility sparks debate at Waterloo School Board Meeting 'As an elementary school, we realize that we are a pillar in this community, so we wanted our students to be able to have their voices heard as well.' Rochester Prep acknowledged the walk as an event that supports not just the community, but students as well. The walk included a 'sensory tunnel' at the beginning, which school officials said brings attention to how individuals with autism may be more or less sensitive to sensory experiences with light, sound, movement, or touch. 'We have a lot of diverse learners at our school, and we have for many years.' Gardener said, 'We have a lot of different learners who have different needs, so, we like to bring awareness to our students even as early as kindergarten so that they understand why students are having maybe different accommodations in the community or learning differently, and to understand that everybody is an important part of our community.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
