Are you frightened of your garden? Terrified of killing your plants and overwhelmed by the sheer choice of species?

If you're yearning for all the gardening shows that have been cancelled, you can still be inspired by exploring gorgeous virtual gardens now and throughout the summer, from the comfort of your armchair.

During the present crisis, many more of us are turning to Grow Your Own. This lets us enjoy much fresher and tastier veg than from a weekly shop, especially if that languishes in the fridge for days. And we won’t be relying on imports that could become less accessible.

Inverness Botanic Gardens

Mercy Teams International (MTI) strives to see local workers in each ministry field trained and equipped as leaders. MTI Cambodia is one example.

The UEFA HatTrick programme has assisted in the construction of over 200 mini-pitches in Portugal since 2007, giving more youngsters the chance to play football in a safe environment.

St Kilda

YESTERDAY would have been your birthday. January 24. Six months older than me for six months, I’d remind you. Normally I would have spent the weeks between Christmas and now trying to think of something original to buy you. And then, at the last moment, I’d just buy you another book.

Edinburgh Rugby have announced the signing of three Scottish qualified youngsters in Nathan Chamberlain, Ben Muncaster and Dan Gamble on academy deals which will turn into full-time contracts next summer, and head coach Richard Cockerill has promised that three current academy prospects in Rory Darge, Connor Boyle and Sam Grahamslaw will soon be elevated to the senior squad ahead of next season.

SCOTLAND’S workers could stay put in rural communities in the post-lockdown world - boosting countryside economies and cutting commuter traffic, a Holyrood cabinet secretary has suggested.

Celtic Connections

IT is less than two months since Shelley Kerr and her backroom staff, along with the domestic players in Scotland’s squad, flew back from Alicante to Glasgow. On the very same day – March 11 – the World Health Organisation accorded Covid-19 pandemic status.

Speak to anyone involved in Scottish football and they'll tell you that the current crop of Under-16 players coming through the academy systems are among the best they've seen.

The great North-South divide in rugby was never more in evidence than when the votes were counted for the chairmanship of World Rugby last week. Sir Bill Beaumont stayed in the job, beating Agustin Pichot by 28 votes to 23, but wow, what an outcome in terms of who actually supported the former England and British Lions captain.

WOULD you still celebrate a cup final win for your team if you knew for absolute certain the game had been rigged?

Zinfandel Gastro Bar

The 2019 iPad mini with Wi-Fi and 256GB of storage normally sells for $549, but is available on Amazon right now for just $519. That's the lowest it's ever been on the site.

Grab a refurbished third-generation iPad Air or fifth-generation iPad Mini from Apple to save big while getting nearly the same experience new tablets offer.

IT’S strange the different things people took away from Theresa May’s teary goodbye in Downing Street yesterday.

Shortly before the second general election of 1974, the late John P Mackintosh attempted to explain the rise of the Scottish National Party to a predominantly left-wing (and English) audience in an essay for the New Statesman.

Chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association Karen Betts explains why she thinks the Scottish 'water of life' is so special.

YOU could call it state-sponsored sanctimony. In times of crisis or national emergency we’re all urged to pull in the same direction and put partisan politics behind us. How dare you talk about inequality and the plight of the disadvantaged at a time like this? Those who tend to be loudest in rebuking these social pariahs are often those who stand to benefit most from any suspension of scrutiny.

Readers have been quick to voice their opinion after it was reported that Nicola Sturgeon missed six emergency coronavirus Cobra meetings.

On Feb. 3, all students, faculty and staff members at every Penn State campus location will receive an email to take the Penn State Community Survey to share their attitudes and experiences of community, diversity and inclusion at Penn State. Every 100 survey takers will have a chance to win an Amazon or Starbucks gift card.

THE UK Government is “actively looking at” quarantining people arriving from abroad as criticism mounts over the country dragging its feet compared to other parts of the world.

Glasgow's Summer Nights at the Bandstand festival has become the latest major music event to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sharing moments of levity and hope from the education world amid the mass disruption of schooling and life from the coronavirus.

Nicola Sturgeon won plaudits from some unlikely quarters this week for her “grown-up conversation” on lifting the lockdown.

“It's not the end; it's not even the beginning of the end; but it is perhaps the end of the beginning”. Churchill's famous wartime speech after the battle of El Alamein in November 1942 was an ambiguous rallying cry. After all, by saying it was only the beginning, he was suggesting that there could be worse to come.

One of the biggest pieces of unfinished business for education groups when it comes to federal help with the coronavirus is connectivity and online learning. But what's the state of play?

Chief technology officers are facing an unprecedented test of digital preparedness due to the coronavirus pandemic, struggling with shortfalls of available learning devices and huge Wi-Fi access challenges.

E-learning may help some schools keep instruction flowing but major gaps in access and resources mean not all schools are ready to offer virtual classes, and not all students are equipped to learn online.

The Federal Communications Commission is engaging Congress to expand funding for in-home connectivity and devices for teachers and students grappling with the coronavirus crisis.

The director of teaching and learning for a Minnesota district talks about putting e-learning days into action under difficult circumstances.

The top technology official for Virginia's Fairfax County schools resigned after the district struggled to handle some major technical glitches in its e-learning platforms.

Northshore School District teachers, parents, and students practiced remote learning in advance of the district's closure for two weeks.

Schools and tech companies in the U.S. and abroad have experience deploying virtual learning should a coronavirus emergency arise.

Many parents are having to take on a variety of new roles, from playing IT help desk to becoming makeshift teaching assistants to supervising recess.

As millions of students nationwide start to settle into virtual learning programs to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a massive new research analysis sounds another note of caution about the effects of exposing significantly more screen time.

Schools and tech companies in the U.S. and abroad have experience deploying virtual learning should a coronavirus emergency arise.

K-12 teachers are faced with a question many likely thought they'd never have to ask: How often during the school day do my students need to see me and when?

States are adjusting the policies and strategies designed for short- term remote instruction—like snow day plans—to support students for the rest of the school year.

SCOTTISH Government ministers have appealed to Westminster for financial support to be handed over to universities during the Covid-19 pandemic amid a pledge that Holyrood is “ready to stand by” institutions.

SCOTLAND’S universities must play their part in adapting to the “new normal” amid warnings that institutions could be forced to merge in return for government support.

Schools in Wales could be allowed to reopen their doors next month in a phased approach, the first minister has said.

FIVE new nursery extensions being built at schools across Edinburgh have been thrown into doubt after the company building the facilities entered administration.

An internationally known gifted-education center is scouting—and helping to develop—gifted students in after-school programs and pullout classes in one of Maryland’s most challenged school districts.

The staff union for the National Education Association is threatening to strike over contract negotiations.

Blaming teachers unions for all the ills afflicting public schools does not stand up to scrutiny.

To the Editor: Education Week Teacher blogger Nancy Flanagan recently wrote about how some states require a higher score on state certification tests for teacher-licensing exams—which makes it "unreasonably difficult" to get into teaching—while others eliminate licensing requirements to fill classr.