Sunday is the first of our four enchanting afternoons in the Gardens Over the last two days the willow and lighting gnomes … aka artist Sophie Handy and her hardy crew, have been busy making our wionderful garden into an evening delight. Come along in the afternoon tomorrow, make some easy lanterns form tissue willow…
The Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) is a easy tree or shrub to identify, having both flowers and fruit present at the same time. The strawberry (or I think more like lychee) like fruit take up to a year to ripen, so as last year’s fruits turn red, the flowers that will form next year’s…
We are looking for willing volunteers to be Stewards and servers of hot chocolate and marshmallows to visitors at our upcoming Lantern Festival! Here are some descriptions of the roles available (including other roles.) The Gardens are largely staffed by volunteers and we’re looking forward to putting on this great family oriented series of events…
Source: EU lawmakers demand five-year phase out of weedkiller glyphosate | www.gardenorganic.org.uk
This week I planted out 40 Kale plants in the Batty Langley vegetable garden that have been quietly growing along in the greenhouse since September. We are trying three varieties, ‘Red Russian’, ‘Cavolo Nero’ and ‘Borecole – Green Curled Dwarf’. Kale does well over the colder months, so will hopefully add some interest in the…
Help make our enchanted mushroom lantern village for christmas in the Gardens. We’re working with artist Sophie Handy to make 100 little mushroom houses from willow and tissue paper. A great family, club or class event. These workshops are free. Your creations will go into the Gardens to help make a magical, illuminated woodland walk ready for…
At this time of year a lot of plants are starting to go to seed, so it is a good time to go around and collect some of them so we can grow new plants for next year. Some can be sown straight away (as we are doing so in the greenhouses), others can be…
The Gardens are blessed with 2 apple and pear orchards and espaliered fruit fences all planted with over 60 heritage varieties dating back to the 1500s. Like many fruit growers we’ve had a mixed year. Normally we are able to produce a goodly number of single variety fruit juices for sale to our visitors. A…
If you take a walk along the top of the Upper Wilderness to the far end and gaze underneath the large Yew tree, you will see the tiny but perfectly formed Cyclamen hederifolium coming into flower. A mixture of pink and white, the tiny flowers appear before the foliage, which as its name suggests is…
Nearly time again for our amazingly popular low-tech family fun day. Skittles, sack races, hopscotch and egg and spoon races bring three – or more – generations together this Thursday (11-3.30pm). We run this event every year in conjunction with the local branch of the U3A (University of the 3rd Age) as a fundraiser for…