Bloom is a newish gardening magazine with all the trappings of the seductive modern indie. That is, eye-catching, crisp design with a premium feel to the production. And more importantly, from the walled garden to the window box, it delivers to readers at all levels of interest, ability and horticultural access.
'Gardening magazine' as a description is, however, way too reductive for a publication that caters not only for the green-fingered but for nature lovers, botanists, foodies the literary-minded, photographers, aesthetes and more. Not to be confused with the more trade-focused magazine of the same name from the Netherlands, Bloom is not overly technical but offers spades of useful advice on sowing, planting, growing and harvesting, both indoors and out. There's also foodie stuff to try out, equipment to oggle over and intiguing stories to read.
The idea for the magazine arose when the publisher (Zena Alkayat) moved to a house with a barren plot she wanted to convert into a garden but felt she lacked the experience and knowledge to do this. It seemed obvious there should a resource to help people to help tackle such such situations. Bloom was ‘the magazine I needed and wanted to read, and felt in my gut that others needed too’.
We're trying not to be corny, but we have to say that it's bloomin' marvellous.
