A warm welcome
Growing together
Since re-launching this amazing magazine late last year it has been important to us that we strike the right balance with the content. This is, after all, the magazine for the people, for amateur gardeners everywhere and therefore your input and suggestions will always be of paramount importance. So thank you for all your wonderful letters, emails and other communications, laden with ideas, that I receive on a daily-basis - they really help to steer our good ship Amateur Gardening forwards.
I can’t do everything at once (if only!) but thanks to you I have lots of fantastic article suggestions stored away to be used sooner or later down the line.
The reader survey we carried out at Christmas indicated there was a very strong interest in more gardening and environmental news, so our news content has been extended to two pages as a result. There also continues to be a firm appetite for more content about vegetable growing, so we are putting in place more ways of fulfilling that interest. In this issue, for example, Bob Flowerdew and Andrew Oldham write brilliantly about planning your vegetable garden, while our new foraging pages from Anne Swithinbank cover the art of growing for taste and pleasure. Another new series, this time by floral fanatic, Liz Zorab, shows how edibles can be woven here and there into our flower beds, to stunning effect. I also talk about the importance of growing produce that you enjoy, in a way that works for you, instead of growing certain things because everyone else is doing so. That feels very apt right now.
Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to gardening because we live in a myriad different spaces, altitudes and climates. So it’s incredibly important to make gardening work for you and your garden, so it is personal to how you like to do things and what you like to grow and use your garden for. Is it for laid-back relaxation, so you can sit and watch the wildlife within your plot? Do you want space to grow food to bring to the table or is your garden centred around around lavish lavish ornamental flower-laden borders which you enjoy creating? Is it for luscious lawns that you enjoy mowing, for bountiful trees and colourful shrubs, or a bit of everything mixed in? There is no right or wrong way when it comes to using your precious outside space. We are all custodians of whatever patch we have access to, and it’s truly important to find and do whatever you most enjoy. This, in turn, can provide contentment, excitement, pleasure and maybe even an almost childlike-delight and meaningful joy.
Our merry band of brilliant AG expert contributors are here to offer ideas and inspiration to help you on your way. In this issue they include Ruth Hayes, Bob Flowerdew, Graham Clarke, Anne Swithinbank, Lucy Chamberlain, Val Bourne, Sue Bradley, Michael Perry, Beth Chatto Gardens, John Negus, Mike Palmer, Andrew Oldham, Adam Kirtland and Chris Collins. We also feature excellent contributions from Liz Zorab and Kelly-Jane Leach.
I hope you enjoy this issue.
Please do write in. I’d love to receive your ideas, letters, questions, musings and poems. The spirit of AG continues rejuvenated, for a brighter green future for us all, together.