HOME & GARDEN

Once upon our time wallpaper £98

mineheart.com

Purple iris floral art print £15

florarozita.com Harris Tweed Notebooks £27.99

bertiegirl.co.uk

Pooky chukka table lamp £116

pooky.com

Very Peri Pantone Colour of the Year 2022

The Pantone Colour of the Year 2022 is here and, for the first time in the history of the Pantone Colour of the Year, they have created an entirely new colour: Pantone 17-3938 Very Peri. The combination of violet red undertones and blues represents the transformation of the physical and digital world. This transformation has emerged following lockdowns and isolations which has meant the digital world has taken a new place in our lives. This shift is seen in many areas including in digital art, the NFT phenomenon (Google it!) and the rise of the metaverse. We are breaking new frontiers and with them come new possibilities and transformations. Pantone 17-3938 Very Peri is described by Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, as conveying a 'Spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expressions'. We have combined a range of products to represent this beautiful colour. We think it's going to be a hit!

Purple agapanthus stem £7.50

giselagraham.co.uk

Small cushion vase amethyst £27

dartington.co.uk

Old lilac purple storm lamp £25

scaramanga.co.uk Dogrobe purple dog drying robe £21.95

dogrobes.co.uk Flower bottle anemone amethyst

£49 dartington.co.uk

FEATURED BRANDS... If you would like to see your brand or business featured in Pulse, in print or online get in touch: nnpulse@pulsegroupmedia.co.uk

Catana retro round table £99

outandout.com

Jacobsen style egg chair - purple cashmere £679

DIGGING DEEP

Gardening with Pulse

Thoughts will soon turn to freshening up the home after a December of festivities, and the garden needs your attention too – putting in the work now helps set you up for a blooming good year ahead, and besides, the crisp fresh air will do wonders for the senses!

The new year is a time for fresh starts, and preparing for the months to come, and that means ensuring you have the tools to hand. Are yours rusty and worn? Go treat yourselves to replacements.

If you have tired netting, or fences that have fallen during the harsh winds that have battered the outdoors in recent months, now is the perfect time to repair or replace. Check to see if your climbers are still safe and sturdy, and boost their support as necessary, and also confirm compost levels and identify the seeds you want to sow – preparation is key.

Remember to keep feeding the birds visiting your garden over the winter

Top Tip...

Letting the eyes enjoy a heavily flowering English garden during summertime is a joy for the soul, but to ensure that petal power is plenty when the sun shines, you need to get to work now. January is the ideal time to plant seeds for sweet peas, begonias, petunias, geraniums and dahlias. A cosy windowsill with a balanced temperature is a good spot to use. Reach for the seed trays and use new compost. Checking them often will prevent any problems from taking hold. If you want a different sort of heat, now is also a time to plant chilli seeds – they will be ready for harvesting from July.

We mentioned last month that if snow should arrive, you need to deal with the aftermath; that means clearing heavy bursts from greenhouses, and from conifers and hedges. Excessive amounts of the white stuff can damage and snap branches. If we are lucky, we’ll escape a snowstorm and this advice won’t need to be heeded!

Perhaps you have grand plans for your outdoor spaces in 2022 – a redesign, adding a water feature, or establishing a new flower or vegetable patch. Start thinking about how you want it to work, and what you need to achieve the results.

If you have wisteria, rose bushes, or overgrown honeysuckle, now is the time to prune them, and pay attention to the constant problem of weeds. It pays to keep on top of chores.

A reinvigorated attitude means new energy in the garden and if you surrender the time now, you will reap the rewards all year long.

Do continue your support of our wildlife. Leave some areas of your outdoor space uncut until warmer weather comes in, and supply food for our feathered friends who currently have twice the woes to contend with – less readily available food, and a real chill factor.

How does your garden grow?

Bletchley Garden Club has been hosting Seed Swaps since 2009. “By saving and swapping seeds, gardeners help to keep alive the genetic diversity of flowers, herbs and vegetables. They also enjoy the adventure of growing something new or unusual,” explains Jan Taylor, chair of the Bletchley Garden Club (BGC). “Seed Swaps can also offer varieties that do well in the local environment. “Commercial seed companies must pay a fee to register each seed variety that they sell. Understandably, they choose to sell the seeds that will be most profitable. It is illegal to sell seeds that are not registered on the European or National Seed Lists. “It is also illegal for Seed Swaps to sell seeds as they are not registered, so instead we ask for small donations for packets of seeds. Organised Seed Swaps began in Canada in the 1980s, but gardeners have been swapping seeds informally for centuries. The first seed swap organised in England was in Brighton, in 2001, and, known as Seedy Sunday it has grown and flourished - rather like the seeds themselves, one hopes!” Jan added.

The 13th Bletchley Seed Swap takes place on Saturday February 12th 2022, between 10am and 2pm at Freeman Methodist Church Hall, Buckingham Rd, Bletchley MK3 5HH. Entry is £1.

How it Works Take along your home-gathered seeds and any unwanted commercial seeds. If you’ve no seeds to swap, the club suggests a donation of 50p for each packet taken home. There will also be a Gardeners’ Bric-a-Brac stall, plant stall and book stall. Refreshments will be served.

Local company wins national Best Fabricator of The Year award

Local family run business Emplas have been named Best Fabricator at this year’s prestigious G21 Glazing Awards.

Held at the Hilton Park Lane, London the Glazing Awards are a celebration of achievement and innovation in the window and door industry.

In a very challenging year for the industry, Emplas claimed the highly contested Best Fabricator Award, fighting off stiff competition from many of the industry’s top manufacturers, to bring the title home to Northamptonshire for the second time in six-years.

Collecting the award, Managing Director, Ryan Johnson, paid tribute to the team, its customers and supply partners. He said: “The last two years haven’t always been easy. We’ve faced some big challenges, but we’ve adapted, overcome problems and been agile in our approach, changing the way we have run our businesses, so that ultimately, we are stronger and better placed for the future.

“This award is testimony to the hard work of the whole Emplas and T&K teams. We are incredibly lucky in that we employ some the industry’s most knowledgeable, passionate and committed people.”

Although not immune from the severe disruption and demand that continues to hit the window, door and conservatory industry, Emplas has continued to invest in its offering. This year they launched a brand new aluminium range, which it’s retail business, T&K Home Improvements is already installing in local homes in Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes.

To win this award, Emplas had to be one step ahead of the competition. They significantly invested their IT systems, bringing new transparency to their offering, with real-time visibility of capacity, new lead generation tools and customer CRM.

“We didn’t really stop. We’ve just kept going through what have been some very big challenges”, continued Ryan.

“We are delighted to have picked up an award, but seeing so many colleagues from the industry, catching up in person, and letting our hair down with was great to do after all this time”

“We’re not out of the woods yet, there are more challenges ahead as an industry, however, we’ve demonstrated that we’re incredibly resilient. Customers are having to be a lot more patient now, as the supply chain has been badly affected this year and it looks set to continue”

However, with almost 43 years of experience, and another award to their name, Emplas and T&K are well placed to weather the storm.

>> T&K Home Improvements and Emplas have been providing quality Windows, Doors, Conservatories and Extensions since 1979 in the Northamptonshire and surrounding areas, to find out more visit www.tkhi.co.uk

TRANSFORM & BRIGHTEN YOUR OUTSIDE SPACE

Commercial & Domestic Grounds Maintenance

MK Ltd

We offer a full, extensive range of hard and soft landscaping services including: • hedge trimming • turfing & artificial grass

WE ARE COVID-SAFE

We are carrying out socially distanced quotes and do not need to come into contact with you when carrying out work in your garden. We can take contactless payment by bank transfer or card.

• decking & patios • block paving • fencing • regular commercial maintenance and grass cutting

Specialists in natural stone paving