It’s time to plant... spring flowering bulbs! Now is the perfect time to get bulbs planted in your garden. Whether it be for beds or pots, we have a fantastic selection available. Pop in and have a chat with our staff if you need any pointers on what to plant and where.

We're proud to be a dog friendly garden centre. Dogs are always welcome and we are always delighted to meet our customers four legged  fury friends! Recently, Carolyn Spray was asked to write a piece for a well known pet publication, so we thought we'd share a few snippets with you as to how our dog friendly garden centre has evolved over the years... 

'I have had dogs all my life and get really frustrated that so many places don't allow them. Although it’s improved in recent years, there’s still far too few places you can take dogs in the UK. I spend my life looking for shops and cafes to take my Beardies to! I’m off on a motorhome tour of the North Coast 500 - around the top of Scotland in October, and hope to take the dogs to as many venues as possible during my holiday.

I feel there should be absolutely no reason you can’t take dogs into shops and cafes, it should be entirely up to the owners to make that decision. I think a lot of garden centres and other shops don’t realise you can have dogs in restaurants and cafes just not in places like kitchens where food is actually prepared.

At Pentland Plants we have lots of dogs visiting on a daily basis and we love it! In the cafe there is an area for dogs, a play area for children and that leaves plenty of space left for those who want to avoid either, or both! We understand that some of our customers are a bit scared of dogs or even allergic so it’s only fair to have designated areas.

We have lots of goodies in the cafe on our doggy menu so that owners can treat their dogs! We have Snuffledog beer, Barking Bakery cakes and cookies, Kelso & Titch biscuits, Petface bone shaped biscuits, Frozzys frozen yoghurt - and we sell lots! How could you bring your dog out with you to a cafe and not include a wee treat for them? :)

Our lovely pet area is filled with a large collection of different biscuits, chews and treats, toys for outdoor and indoor play, beds and coats, basically all the accessories a dog could need!
I guess a lot of what drives our pet department's success is that I buy what I want and need for my own dogs, which is always a good way to run a business I think!  If the owner/ buyer is passionate about a product it really shows.

We run lots of events at Pentland throughout the year, including festive dog photography sessions at Christmas time, where we have Nadia from Yellow dog photography attend. She comes along for a day or two and we create a lovely festive backdrop for people to have photos of their dogs taken. It’s grown in popularity year on year. I think last years was the best, so I'm looking forward to coming up with a new idea this year! We also had a selection of taster sessions at the garden centre this spring including basic obedience, trick training, brain games, reactive dog and agility. They were all sold out very quickly, which was great and we had huge waiting lists!

I'm so pleased how our business has evolved over the years to enable us to become one of Midlothian's go to dog friendly destinations. We're looking forward to hosting more fun events in the future and continuing to develop the range in our pet department. Exciting times ahead for sure!'

Fancy something tasty for dinner? Why not try making this week's recipe at home? Or, pop into Cafe Panola - it'll be on the menu today and tomorrow! 

Homemade Moroccan beef meatballs with a spicy tomato sauce

Meatballs

Ingredients:
750g of beef mince

1 x onion finely chopped

2 x cloves of crushed garlic

1 x tsp cinnamon

1 x tsp cumin

1 x tsp paprika

1 x tsp turmeric

1 x tsp mixed herbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and combine. Divide into 50g portions and roll into balls.

Fry for 2-3 minutes to seal, then place on a baking tray and cook in an oven for 8-10 minutes (or until cooked).

Spicy tomato sauce
Ingredients:

1 x tin of chopped tomatoes

1 x red chili

1 x onion

1 x tsp mixed herbs

1 x tsp brown sugar

1 x tsp sherry vinegar

1 x tsp ground coriander

Method:

Chop the onion and chili and place in a pan. Gently fry until soft. Add the tomatoes, sugar, herbs and vinegar. Simmer and reduce to a sauce like consistency.

Serve with freshly made cous-cous.

Saturday Barista