Make | A Jam Jar Garden

You’ll need:
Glass Mason jars or ordinary jam jars; a bag of hyacinth bulbs; a bag of gravel.

To make:
1 Give the jars a good clean and dry, then add gravel up to the shoulders of each jar.

2 Fill with water to above the top of the gravel in each one and place a hyacinth bulb on top of each jar.

3 You’ll need to keep the water topped up as the bulbs sprout. Just gently move the bulbs to one side and top up with a jug.

4 Gather all your hyacinth jars together on an old tray, in a small wooden crate or any other receptacle to make a centrepiece for a dining or coffee table, or simply line them up on a windowsill, or anywhere that catches your eye and create your own indoor jam jar garden to remind you that spring is just around the corner.

This is just one of the ideas for things to note and notice, plan and do from our Almanac pages. Find more seasonal inspiration in the February issue, in shops now or available to order from our online store.

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Almanac | A simple, seasonal idea for every month

We include an ‘almanac’ in every issue of The Simple Things, with a few ideas of things to note and notice, plan and do each month. We thought we would start 2025 in a similar way, with an idea for something seasonal you could do each month. We hope you like them and perhaps think up a few of your own, too…

January - Hunt for snowdrops. You may even discover a new species.

February - Light a candle to mark Candlemas.

March - Pick a clear night to try stargazing. 

April - Pack up a picnic and some outdoor games for a day in the fresh air.

May - Visit a fete or fayre. Bonus point if you bring home a coconut.

June - Host a midsummer meal for friends outdoors. 

July - Head to the coast and try rockpooling.

August - Go on a bramble ramble (blackberrying).

September - Toast bread over a bonfire for a simple supper.

October - Mark National Bookshop Day by buying a book of ghost stories to tell with friends.

November - Bake Soul Cakes for All Souls Day.

December - See some winter lights, even if it’s just in your neighbourhood streets.

The January issue is out now, and in it you’ll find lots more seasonal things to do. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our Almanac pages…

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Make | A Beetle Bucket

This simple back garden project means you can offer a safe haven for beetles and other bugs

You’ll need: a plastic bucket, a drill, a spade, some logs or branches (shorter than the bucket), stones of varying sizes, bark chippings, leaves.

1. Drill holes of different sizes (for different beetles) in the sides and bottom of your bucket.

2. Dig a hole slightly bigger than your bucket and a couple of inches deeper.

3. Place the bucket in the hole and put some stones in the bottom, then carefully place the branches or logs in, in an upright position.

4. Use more stones, bark chippings and leaves to fill the rest of the space and cover with some of the soil you removed when digging the hole.

5. Wait for your six-legged guests to move in.

This project is taken from our August Almanac pages, by Iona Bower, where you’ll find seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do each month.

More from our August issue…

More ideas from our Almanacs…

November | Things to Appreciate

A few things to see this month, and a thing to do, too

They say it’s not about where you go; it’s about the journey. A day out spent on a train is very much in that spirit. There’s something a bit romantic about a train journey, whether you do it alone or take a friend along for the ride. All you need is some good scenery, a travel board game (we favour Travel Scrabble) or a book and a train picnic. And we’re talking a Proper Picnic, here. Hamper, flask of tea, cake, sausage rolls, the lot. Perhaps leave the hard-boiled eggs at home for the sake of your fellow passengers, though.

A steam train journey brings instant atmosphere, with the sound of whistles, heavy carriage doors slamming and the smell of the coal. Almost wherever you are in the country there will be a steam railway near you, from the Bluebell Railway in West Sussex to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. But you don’t have to step back in time to enjoy a scenic rail route. Londonderry to Coleraine is arguably one of the prettiest train journeys in the UK, with fabulous sea views. An equally lovely coastal trip is the newly reopened Exeter to Dawlish line. Find a scenic rail route near you, but make sure you leave just enough time for tea and a scone in the station café at the other end before the whistle blows for the return leg. 

This idea for a day out was featured on our Almanac Pages, where each month we collate a few seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do. The nature table image above was taken by Alice Tatham of The Wildwood Moth who takes a photograph for our back cover each month, featuring things to appreciate in nature. She also runs workshops on seasonal photography and publishes seasonal journal stories from her home in Dorset.

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Wild Waters | Dipping Your Toe In

If wild swimming is on your could-do list for 2023, don’t just dive right in. You need to have been going regularly as the waters get colder through autumn, or the temperature may be too much of a shock. If you’re a newbie, instead of taking the plunge, start January by finding a swim buddy. Wild swimming is safer and more fun with two.

For January, a swim at Loughrigg Tarn in the Lake District is a great shout. It’s said to be one of the warmest lakes locally to swim in as no rivers feed into it, and a little path running alongside, plus a car park, make it really accessible for beginners.

Stay at the Three Shires Inn nearby (threeshiresinn.co.uk) or head there for a hot coffee to warm up after your swim.

In January the average sea temperature is 6.5° in Airth, and 10.7° in Torquay.

Wild Waters is a new regular slot on our Almanac pages. Find suggestions for wild swim locations, sea temperatures and more each month, alongside other seasonal things to note and notice,
plan and do.

More wild swimming inspiration…

More from our January issue…

Birdwatch | The Skylark

Known for their spring song as they soar high into the sky, skylarks just say ‘spring’ and have captivated many a poet, from William Wordsworth to Ted Hughes

Look for: A small, light brown bird, streaked with darker brown and a dark brown tail with a white side tail and white undercarriage. They also have a crest that stands up when they are excited.

Spot them: In open fields and grassland, and nesting on the ground between April and August.

Listen for: A fast, chirruping ‘Preet, preet, preet’ sound. Skylarks are also excellent mimics so you may hear them making a noise reminiscent of other farmland birds and waders.

We visit the Simple Things bird hide each month on our Almanac pages, where we also have lots more seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

The frost report

The Simple Things’ Lia Leendertz talks us through frost in all its forms

We’re unlikely to have snow at this time of year (though never say never) but what we can enjoy is the delicately beautiful arrival of frost. Read on for an explanation of the different types and how and why they occur.

Hoar frost

From ‘hoary’, meaning aged and whitened, in reference to the shaggy and feathery coating that hoar frost leaves. It occurs under calm, cloudless skies, when there is no (or very little) wind, and under ‘inversion’ conditions: when cold air is trapped under warmer air.

Advection frost

Strong, cold winds prettily rim the edges of objects and plants with tiny spikes of frost, usually pointing in the direction of the wind.

Window frost

Also known poetically as fern frost or ice flowers, this is the frost that creeps across window frames forming swirls, feathers and other patterns, caused by the difference between the very cold air on the outside of the glass and the warmer, moderately moist air on the inside. The growth of the patterns responds to imperfections on the glass surface.

You can read more about Lia’s winter adventures in her veg patch in our December issue. Follow her on instagram @lia_leendertz. You can buy Lia’s book The Almanac: a seasonal guide to 2019 (Hachette Books) in shops now.

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How to create a personal almanac

In January, we look forward and our diaries become our close companions. But, poised between two years, it’s also a time to look back, and diaries, journals and almanacs are also a tool for reflection. As we turn the first page of a new year, we explore their history, purpose and what they mean to us on page 80 of January's The Simple Things.

How to create a personal almanac

Cover your own local area, festivities and personal celebrations, and use it as a guide through your own year. Buy a notebook, mark out the months and divide it into topics that interest you, perhaps...

1 Look up dates for local festivities and fetes and mark them in their correct month in your almanac. Add family birthdays, personal traditions and anniversaries.

2 Are there recipes that you revisit every year? A special birthday cake recipe? Your mum’s twist on marmalade? Even a recipe from a cookbook that you return to again and again for a summer barbecue or an autumnal dinner. Pop it in so that it is easy to find.

3 Moon phases, and moon and sun rises and sets will vary – if only by minutes – by area. Find yours. A great source is timeanddate.com.

4 Leave space to note the flowering of bluebells in your local woods, the arrival of the swifts, and the first touches of autumn on the trees.    

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View the sampler here.

More from the January issue:

More seasonal inspiration: