The Herald - The Herald Magazine
Growing trend Find peace and hope at the bottom of your garden
ONE year on, this dreadful pandemic persists and at the time of writing the disease has killed 7,461 people in Scotland. We owe a debt of gratitude to The Herald for taking the initiative to launch a national campaign to commemorate each and every one of those deaths.
To mark the first anniversary, a memorial garden is being opened at Pollock Country Park next Tuesday, 23 March.
This is thanks to the sterling work of Glasgow City Council and enjoys the support of the Scottish Government and many of this country’s charitable organisations.
A garden embodies what we all need just now: hope as reflected in the birth and continuity of plants, the tranquil peace of plants and living creatures, and the restorative power of caring for living plants.
Last year demonstrated the importance of gardening to so many of us.
If, like me, you’re working at home, your garden has become a haven for a break, either to clear the heid or after yet another time-wasting Zoom meeting, and especially at the end of the day when you need to unwind.
A garden is much more than another room in the house or a concrete corner fully equipped with a shiny new barbecue and garish Zinnias or gaudy Calceolarias.
And many victims of lockdown have come to recognise the importance of gardening.
The Horticultural Trades Association has reported there was a 69% increase in February sales compared with the same, preCovid month last year.
Most encouragingly of all, 18% of gardeners said they would do more gardening after lockdown.
Every kind of gardening brings pleasure, from planting a tree or shrub to choosing a loved one’s favourite rose. But grow your own has come into its own with many new to gardening.
I was delighted to see that the sale of vegetable seeds went through the roof last spring and was selfishly relieved I had bought mine in January as usual.
A lot of folk found GYO was a family affair. Children are always delighted to see seeds burst into life and peas do this almost before their eyes. They can put some peas in a dish and cover with water to rehydrate the seeds.
Within a day or two, tiny shoots break though, the start of roots. This month, they’d then put seeds in pots to start growing and plant out when the soil warms up.
But from next month, they’d place the seeds along a prepared drill in the veg patch and wait for the tiny plants to poke through the soil.
And you don’t have to be a child to enjoy the magic of growing. Compact, quick-growing sugar peas reward you with tasty little pods within weeks and, if you’ve limited space, you could grow Spring Blush sugar peas, up a tall fence or wall.
Enjoy delightful flowers that rival sweet peas followed by tasty, pink-streaked pods.
And why not let life go full circle? Leave a few pods to fully ripen and become brown and dry. Shell out the hard, dried peas and store in a cool, dry, mouse-free drawer and you’ve got next year’s seeds. This cycle of life and rebirth is what gardening is all about.
There’s such a choice of fruit and veg – tomatoes, broccoli, courgettes, strawberries and lettuce.
You’ll never look back: fresh is tastiest and a stone’s throw from the kitchen door. No need to run the risk, however tiny, of frequent visits to the supermarket.
As well as a crisp flavoursome lettuce leaf in a sandwich, make the most of garden herbs. Let fresh fennel, chives and parsley add zest to a meal. They’re so easy to grow.