Botanics will offer a fast track to 'the good life'

A DEMONSTRATION allotment is to be created at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh offering an introduction to "the good life" and the skills of growing fruit and vegetables.

The "edible gardening" project, which will act as a drop-in centre for gardeners exploring how they can grow their own produce at home, is a joint project to be run by the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society after winning 65,000 of funding from the People's Postcode Lottery.

Among the other projects awarded a total of 328,000 funding last night were plans to reinvigorate Edinburgh's cycle routes with the help of a London Underground-style map, a community project to tackle coastal erosion on South Uist and plans to restore a 90-year-old Micro Hydro in Kingussie.

Jenny Mollison, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society, said the project - which will use a currently under-used patch of land near the new John Hope Gateway in the gardens - would focus on fruit and vegetables which would grow easily in the Scottish climate.