After 30 years as a teacher, retirement has finally enabled Annie Bruckner to combine a lifelong  passion for gardening and her much loved Morris Minor Traveller (called Polly) and set up in business as The Travelling Gardener.

Originally from the Borders, where her grandfather was head gardener at Peel Hospital, Annie’s green-fingered expertise is backed by an encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject. Now living in Haddington, Annie’s services can be tailored to suit individual requirements, with work charged either on an hourly basis or a complete project cost.

Annie provides free estimates and advice and her service covers everything from mowing and general lawn maintenance, to border renovation, weeding, pruning, planting and hedge trimming. She has a particular interest in organic gardening and helping to design low-cost, low maintenance gardens. She can also provide  bespoke hanging baskets and containers.

Adopting an organic approach that ensures minimum use of pesticides and herbicides, Annie also specialises in incorporating herbs into garden schemes for both culinary and medicinal use. Estimates and advice are free and plants can be supplied as required. In addition to creating new schemes, Annie will also undertake a complete assessment of what is already growing in a garden, which is useful if you move house and inherit an established garden. And if you are planning to sell a home or property, Annie’s knowledge of annuals and bedding plants, container planting etc can ensure a garden is looking its best when it matters most.

Projects can be one-off or scheduled regularly for long-term benefits – lawn maintenance, for example, can involve the control of weeds and moss, scarifying in spring and autumn and aerating to improve drainage, while regular pruning not only benefits trees and shrubs, it can also increase the flowering capacity of perennials, annuals and bedding plants.

Annie and her distinctive classic car are set to become a familiar feature throughout East Lothian – the Travelling Gardener duo is in business!