I just got my hands on a small garden! But I have no idea where to start…

There are quite some plants already planted: an olive tree, some small palm trees (that I don’t like), a Japanese maple (?), a raspberry bush and some others I don’t recognize (mostly decorative). Most of the floor is lawn (that I am letting grow wilder). Unfortunately I am not able to include a photo, it’s not loading.

I am in a 9a/9b zone (I think: mild winters rarely if ever freezing, mild summers, quite wet the whole year, continental Europe).

My questions:

• what can I do to maintain the lawn walkable but let it get more diverse?

• what tools do I need for every-day maintenance of a small garden?

• do you have any advice on plants both perennial and annual for newbies? I’m in particular interested in small plants that produce something edible. Ideally would like to start with a small apple tree? And a pumpkin/zucchini plant next year?

I’m looking for a book that would explain the ideologies that played into the creation and development of the European Union. I’m less interested in the practicalities. Do you have a suggestion?

My kid is crawling all over the place and learning to stand. He is little less than a year. What are some games I can start playing with him? What games did you play with your little one?

Politically, Napoleon divides the history of Europe in “before” and “after”. He grabbed the power in France after the Revolution with such skills that he had virtually no opposition. From there he conquered everything, from Egypt, to Russia and Spain. His fall was equally momentous. And then he did it again, leaving everyone confused and the political board of Europe forever reshuffled.

Victor Hugo is a man of that time, trying to make sense of all of this turmoil while mainly talking about people and their inner worlds. In Les Misérables he concentrated on the lowest of the low, poor people making bad choices.

At the time, it was believed that crimes had to be punished, but there was no hope for the criminal to be reinstated into society as a fully functioning member. Hugo makes the opposite claim: criminals are just good people in bad situations. And he talks about them.

While the length can scare readers off, I would encourage anyone to start it. Every page is a little masterpiece of human perception and empathy, with an author taking his time to fully build up not only stages but also souls.

A bit criticism to the Silmarillion is that the style is very dry and the plot is disconnected.

This is by design. The Silmarillion wanted to be the creating work of the UK mythology. As such, it mimicked the style of other mythological sagas: the Mabinogion most notably, the minor Homer, the Eddas. Part of the idea is to create a shared well-know scene from which other authors can draw to set their own works.

In some ways, it was incredibly successful: nowadays it’s impossible to talk about Elfs without referencing Tolkien’s in some ways.

I read Plainsong by Haruf some two years ago, and I was immediately enamored with it. All characters are so easily relatable and the whole story unfolds along a sweet melody. While bad and sad things happen, you still feel lulled by the background song and you know things are going to get solved. For any fan of “slice of life” and small stories.