Category: LearningPage 17 of 19

Latest blog stories connected with learning at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Wildlife in the vegetable garden

It has been a week for wildlife in the vegetable plots. We like to encourage the birds and beasties as much as possible. Gardens are very important habitats…

Summer harvest from the garden, and hedgerow

I’ve been away on holiday for two weeks and was eager to get back to see how the edible garden was looking. I was very pleased to find…

Sowing wildflowers in the botanics orchard

Last week we sowed wildflowers round the base of our new orchard. This is a great way of helping to attract pollinators, a vital part of the edible…

Plant Science and Horticulture – Growing Opportunities

A short film made during a visit by Inverkeithing High School biology students to explore career opportunities in plant science and horticulture.

Summer vegetables in the Edible Gardening Project polytunnel

We’ve cleared the polytunnel of the last of the winter crops. The spinach was running out of steam and several of the plants had started to flower (also…

Edible Edinburgh, Breakfast at the Botanics

Wednesday was a beautiful sunny morning, just perfect for an early morning breakfast at the Botanics. Our Edible Edinburgh event took place as part of the Festival of…

Plot patrons

There are some new arrivals on student plots: Rory finally finished planting out his lettuce-made snail. Jessie and Roslyn brought in a pair of scarecrows. He and she…

Tomorrow is a viva day

Viva is just a day away and my plants are still pretty tiny! My great disappointment – sweet peas. Looking at them I cannot believe they will ever…

Jobs for June in the Edible Garden

We attended Gardening Scotland at the weekend and along with volunteers from the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society met Jim McColl. As  you can see we were pretty…

Fighting slugs organically

Slugs – one of the most hated pests in garden. Slugs – holes in plant leaves, eaten up seedlings. Slugs – slimy unpleasant surprise. How to get rid…

Plotting frenzy

With the arrival of warmer weather a lot of activity has been seen on student plots. We are all busy thinning, weeding, edging or building supports. Even some…

Time to plant out frost tender vegetables

The last frost date for the Edinburgh area is generally around May, just to be on the safe side though most local vegetable growers wait until June before…

Cocoa Tree

  Family: Malvaceae Description Cocoa is an evergreen tropical tree, usually 5 to 8m tall. The flowers are small, yellowish white to pale pink and grow directly from…

Space saving in the veg garden with double cropping

If you look very closely at the picture you will see that there are two different vegetable seedlings germinating in the same row. We sowed our parsnips in…

Quick plot manicure

One of the quickest way to improve the overall image of a plot or a garden is to mow, edge and top dress. This week I took on…

Pea and bean support

Most of last week I spent on building support structures for my peas, beans and sweet peas. I went for the cane and twine fence idea and constructed…

Communities in Nature – the social role of botanic gardens

Some weeks ago I mentioned that we received some funding through the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) and their Communities in Nature project. Communities in Nature is an…

Student plots and apprentices potager at the Botanics

The demonstration garden at the Botanics is a veritable frenzy of activity at this time of year. It is not just the Edible Gardening Project team at work…

Quick anti-slug action

Another unwelcome visitor appeared on my plot – slugs. This time the victim turned out to be Nemophila maculata ‘Five spot’ seedlings. Slugs munched on the cotyledons and…

Time to prick out

Pricking out can be either a relaxing or stressful activity. In my case it turned to be the latter one. I simply got overwhelmed by the task: three…