EDITOR'S WELCOME
I get it, but when that early morning winter sunshine bursts through the mist to warm your cheeks, isn’t it lovely? And there’s word for that: apricity. Apricity is the warmth of the sun in winter, and we could most certainly do with a dose of that to encourage us to get outside for a hit of serotonin, even if that is to clear up the debris left in the recent wake of Isha and Jocelyn. Karen Stewart-Russell discusses this very topic and how she uses gardening to combat seasonal affective disorder during wintertime. It is good to be reminded that slow and steady is often the best way.
We've got features in this issue to inspire you to get outside and enjoy the late winter and early spring by getting to know Galanthus, tips for pruning roses, DIY makes for protecting plants for those without a greenhouse, and foraging for nettles with Janice Clyne to fill in the hungry gap. Janice has provided some tasty ways to use nettles and there is no better feeling than eating something green and full of goodness.
In fact, we’ve got pages of inspiration in this issue to encourage you to think about growing your own produce this year so if it is something you have never done before, read through our ideas to start small and learn from our top tips so you can grow edibles.
We’ve also got a grow-a-long this year with Eli Appleby-Donald leading the charge to grow a bell pepper or two. In this issue, she gives you her guide to getting started and will follow this up throughout the year so you will be led step-by-step to grow some mighty fine peppers.
And if this is the year where you are going to design or redesign your garden, or even parts within the garden, Katie Reynolds and Lynn Hill share their experience of what to consider in the garden design process, while our feature on Scottish company Livinggreen Design will inspire some rather gorgeous pot choices to fit and enhance every space.
We ran a competition at the end of last year with the next generation of horticultural students to win their own feature in this issue and I’m delighted to introduce you to Georgina Sillars who has written her first feature with us on adapting the way we think about plant choices when considering buying native or non-native species. This is such an important issue for so many reasons, not least of all for the survival of the plant, which Georgina beautifully explores in her feature.
Our readers have contributed their plant survivor choices in this issue: those plants in their gardens which they find pretty indestructible - it may inspire you to try a few!
If the weather though provides less than favourable conditions, and you want to keep warm, then Jordan Trainer has a deep dive in this issue into soil selection for your indoor houseplants to keep them happy and healthy.
Remember that Scotland Grows can be read on any screen size from a desktop or laptop, to a tablet or mobile phone size. The text and images automatically adjust to screen size so even if you normally read each issue on a desktop or laptop, you can always access it on your phone too to beat the boredom of a long queue or journey.
I am delighted to share with you a poem in this issue written about Scotland Grows by one of our readers David Gallacher who has also written many great features for us previously. I was totally blown away with this poem, and think I'll have to get it printed and framed for the office wall. As always, we love hearing from our readers and it is your suggestions which form the basis of many of our features so please do keep telling us what you would like to see inside Scotland Grows.
And as if that wasn’t enough, a new series of the Scotland Grows Show podcast has literally just launched where we’ll be talking about snowdrops, daffodils, and eating weeds amongst many other things. So many of our listeners tell us they pop the podcast on when they are pottering in the garden or greenhouse and I do hope you find lots of inspiration in it as well as hearing the stories and learning from those growing and gardening in Scotland.
Happy gardening,
M.T. O’Donnell
Editor
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