Find out what Brian Cunningham, Head Gardener at Scone Palace and Presenter on ‘Beechgrove’; Liz Stewart, Chief Executive of Scotland’s Gardens Scheme; and Helen Cross, Podcast Host of ‘Grow, Cook, Inspire’, offer as their best advice.
“I probably used to say, just take it slow and easy, don't take on anything too big, just take your time, and don't take on any massive projects that are going to need maintenance every weekend if you just don't have the time.
“I think now, though, I'm going to say, get used to gardening sustainably. Now, that might sound daft, but I started just over 30 years ago, so we were quite happily going around spraying everything, trying to kill anything that moved that was bad for the plants.
“We've learned a hell of a lot, especially in the last few years, about the benefits of wildlife and nature in the garden. We need them: we need the bees, and the wasps, and the hoverflies, and the ladybirds.
“So feed the soil. Instead of chucking fertilisers down every five minutes, start feeding the soil. Leave a bit of grass to grow long and use the nettles that grow to feed for your plants.
“Fit a water butt, get out of the habit of just going to the tap, and start using more rainwater. Get into the habit now because the older you get, it's too easy just to then go and turn on the tap.
“If I could only have one garden tool, it would be the hoe. I think on days where it's sunny and it's windy, you should really just go around your beds where all the weed seedlings, all the weed seeds, come to the surface. They then get fried by that wind and sun which saves you hours of back breaking on your hands and knees, pulling out weeds.”
“I would look over the garden fence, not just to have a look and see what's growing, but to ask for some advice as well about what your neighbours are growing successfully. They will be very happy to tell you what to grow, what they enjoy growing.
“I would recommend going along to some open gardens, look out for the yellow signs, because there are lots of plants that you can buy and they will have been grown locally to you, so if they're happy in a garden nearby, they'll be happy in your garden too, and you'll get a bit of advice along the way.
“I just would say don't be frightened to have a go. I think people can be quite intimidated, but I would say just give it a go. There's lots of advice online, you might be an instagrammer and there's some really nice things, by people of all different levels of gardening experience there. It's a great place to go and be inspired by what you'll see. And you'll get some really good tips and ideas of things to try.
“I think it's about what you enjoy growing as well. I'm not a vegetable grower, I sometimes wish I was, but it's just not really my love. But I do really enjoy growing herbs because I do get that edible thing, I get the interest of things that are beneficial. You can eat them, you can use them for flavouring, obviously they've got medicinal properties, and I find them fascinating, but they're not as labour intensive as vegetables. So I think that's a really nice place to start because you can be productive with herbs, you can be beautiful with herbs, and they're not too heavy on the maintenance.”
“You don't even really need to have a garden, I guess. Don't be scared and don't be put off. We learn through mistakes. You could just start off with a big container and you can start growing things like sunflowers and nasturtiums and calendulas, which can all be grown from seed, because if you don't have the space inside to bring on seeds that can be quite off putting. There's so much we can grow from seed so don't be scared, give it a go. It probably will grow if you stick it in the ground and water it from time to time.
“There's also lots of great resources online as well now and so many great resources with people doing things in inventive ways. If you do have an area of ground near you that's been a bit neglected, then get together with some friends or family and do a bit of guerilla gardening. And if you start taking responsibility for it and people see something grow, then you might encourage more people to get involved. It might even evolve into your own sort of community gardening group.
“I would look for a community gardening group as well. And if there's not one, then why not grow your own community gardening group? It attracts different people from different backgrounds and different ages and they all bring a different skill set and different knowledge, and you'll probably end up gardening in different ways as a consequence.
“I definitely would try and encourage a local gardening group in your area if you don't already have one, or if you're a parent and your school doesn't have a gardening group, then approach your school and, if you've got the time and energy, see if you can get one growing there as well, because that is a really worthwhile thing to do. It just needs somebody just to get the ball rolling.”
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