The Well Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith review – unwinding with nature

A life-affirming study of the pleasures of tending a plot or garden and soothing your mind

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel review – big questions about food

An ‘all-you-can-eat buffet of thoughts’

Country diary: my heart dances with the daffodils

Letah Wood, Northumberland: Sunlight slants through the beeches and the hillside is fresh and green with wild garlic

Country diary: there’s solace to be found walking down a rural lane

Crook, County Durham: It is impossible to overvalue access to nature in the edgelands between town and country

Country diary: the chiffchaff’s cheery seesaw lifts the spirits of a self-isolator

Sandy, Bedfordshire: On my carefully distanced walk I have sightings to report, joy to impart, a sharing slice of good news

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel review – a utopian vision that begins with food

We are out of step with our planet, so how should we live? Cheap food is an oxymoron and anarchism’s time may have come, argues this wide-ranging, stimulating book

Climate nightmares: how to reassure a child who is anxious about the planet

One in five children aged eight to 16 have nightmares about the state of the world. Here’s how adults can help

Ecological grief: I mourn the loss of nature – it saved me from addiction

I was struggling with my mental health when I started wandering daily on the marshes. The experience opened my eyes to the extraordinary healing power of the natural world

How did I become a person who gets excited about garden centres?

The popularity of pot plants may be mocked as a hipster affectation, but there’s a reason they appeal to generation rent

Almonds are out. Dairy is a disaster. So what milk should we drink?

A glass of dairy milk produces almost three times more greenhouse gas than any plant-based milk. But vegan options have drawbacks of their own