A DUMFRIES man who took up gardening during the lockdown and even appeared on television is continuing his new passion.
Graham Anderson, right, was worried that his family would struggle for basic essentials during the end of 2020 and began digging for potatoes and onions as a precaution.
He gradually grew more passionate about all forms of greenery and set up a polytunnel, as well as planting a pollinating garden of wildflowers earlier this year.
His green fingered efforts were also spotted by a TV show and Graham appeared in the second episode of BBC’s Beechgrove Garden programme last week, which showed him sowing the 2kgs of wildflower seeds.
He said: “I’ve already harvested a number of crops like potatoes, onions and tomatoes, but I’m especially looking forward to eating the sweetcorn I’ve grown this year.
“There have been a number of challenges, but none more so than the strong unseasonal winds that we experienced during May and June this year.
“The wind took a big toll on the sunflowers, and it got so bad that I had return from my holiday early to tie up and protect the flowers from being blown to the ground.”
Over the next year, Graham hopes to extend the wildflowers and rotate the garden about for the vegetables. He will also be planting green manure after the potatoes have been harvested to add an organic fertiliser to the soil for next spring.
He added: “I’ve started work again as a mechanical engineering lecturer at Dumfries and Galloway College, but after a hard day’s work I can still come home and relax in my very own nature retreat.”
