A GARDENING duo from Musselburgh have become internet sensations with their video blogs offering horticultural tips to other green-fingered enthusiasts around the globe.

Eli Appleby-Donald, 47, and wife Kathryn (Kate) Appleby-Donald, 53, have created a YouTube channel and website – The Kitchen Garden with Eli and Kate – aimed at making gardening “simple, easy and fun for everyone”.

From the garden in the Honest Toun, Eli, a digital teaching specialist at the University of Edinburgh, and Kate, head of collections at the Scottish Parliament, have produced more than 200 videos which focus on gardening, growing food and flowers.

Their YouTube channel now has 10,500 subscribers, attracting about 900,000 views from 120 countries.

Eli said: “We had a website and blog that we started back in 2012 when we moved into this house.

“Although, to be honest, we did it for family to keep them updated and never expected anyone other than our family to read it.

“Kate’s mum had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, so the blog was meant as a way for her to see what we were doing.

“We were really surprised when we started getting messages from folk who had found it and enjoyed it.”

She said: “We started making videos to share on the blog, again thinking only a few folk who read the blog would watch them.

“But towards the end of 2019, we started to get a lot more people watching the videos than reading the blog, so I tried to learn a bit more about making videos to make them better.

“When Covid hit and we all went into lockdown, I really missed being in the classroom but I had been working with students who don’t normally delve into the digital world and I’d been teaching them to make videos and blog.

“I was hearing from them about how much that meant to them to have this outlet while they were locked down and I realised that I was getting something similar from YouTube.”

Eli said they had done a lot on greenhouse growing because, when they started, they were growing tomatoes and peppers.

She added: “I also talk about how to grow from seed to save money because it’s a lot cheaper than buying plants.

“We’ve done some cooking videos, too – things like making passata with the tomatoes you’ve grown or we did easy sourdough during lockdown.”

She added: “The videos are meant as a ‘friend in the garden with you’ idea.

“We only make videos about what we are doing in the garden and specifically for growing in Scotland.”

The couple, who got married in their garden, have covered topics such as mulch, how to sharpen your garden tools, how to get your tomatoes to ripen, how to monitor greenhouse temperatures and composting.

Eli said: “It wasn’t until we moved to Musselburgh that I fell in love with gardening.

“When we bought the house, there weren’t really any gardens. The front had been paved over and the back was just a lawn. So, I think we were maybe lucky that we got to design our garden to suit us and start from scratch. It helped fire the passion for gardening, I think.

“I’ve been absolutely astounded at how many amazing folk watch our videos every week. We have had loads of lovely messages from folk saying how much they’ve enjoyed learning to garden with us over lockdown and beyond, and how we’ve taken the fear out of it.

“There were even a few messages that made me cry where people have talked about their personal situations and what joy they get from our videos, and how they have made me a part of their weekly ritual.

“Folk from all over the world seem to really connect with what we are doing and how we are teaching in our videos, so it’s lovely when we get messages telling us what it’s been like in their towns and countries, and we’ve made some lovely friends from the US and Canada to Australia, India and even Thailand.

“I’m so, so glad that folk have found happiness and comfort in our daftness.”

Catch up with Eli and Kate at youtube.com/c/TheKitchenGardenwithEliandKate or thekitchengardenwitheliandkate.com