They are amongst the easiest of all foods to grow and some of the healthiest too. Berries of all kinds are ripening at the moment, ready to sprinkle on breakfast cereals, be turned into pies and crumbles or preserved for later enjoyment.
Alison Swanson offers suggestions for keeping allotments and vegetable gardens productive in the months ahead.
When Neil Ferguson was two years old, his family took him to an Indian restaurant in Glasgow and from his first bite of curry he was hooked on the hot sensation that only chillies can deliver. Even when he was working as a scientist, becoming a senior lecturer in biophysical chemistry first in Cambridge and then in Dublin, his love of chillies led him to experiment with growing his own. So when he decided to make a radical change in order to spend less time travelling the world and more time at home with his young family, growing chillies seemed like an ideal option.
Head east from Edinburgh along the Forth and you find yourself amidst rich farmland, picturesque villages and sandy beaches. The coastline is bright and bracing and the air that blows in is freshly scrubbed by the North Sea.
Hydrangeas are indispensable in the garden in late summer and there is a wide range on offer, from classic ‘mop heads’ and ‘lace-cap’ varieties, to ‘arborescens’ types, which include the popular ‘Annabelle’ variety, which has huge, white heads.
A farm that was saved from developers could become one of Scotland’s largest new allotment sites.
A pink camellia, purchased from Dobbies Garden Centre in 1995, has been named ‘Threatened Plant of the Year’ by horticultural conservation charity Plant Heritage.
Over the next decade 18 million ten trees will be planted in Glasgow and surrounding areas as part of a new urban ‘forest’ to tackle climate change.
In summer you don’t need to look far to find beautiful flowers. They burst from borders and spill from hedgerows.Here Emilia Robledo of Narcissus Flower School in Edinburgh shows how to use this abundance to create a beautiful arrangement for your home.
The garden has reawakened after winter, so why not celebrate its return to life by creating a beautiful arrangement for your home.
