By Nick Condron
As always, our hearts were tremendously warmed to be joined by so many friendly faces, both familiar and new, for our Autumn Falling Leaves Open Day on the afternoon of Saturday October 28th. Amidst all the Margherita and Lentil Dahl topped pizzas; warming pumpkin soup; freshly pressed Brogdale apple juice; teas, coffees and a host of delicious cakes; plants and various hand crafted gifts for sale, it was wonderful to see everyone enjoying the Garden so much in spite of the rain.
A huge thank you to Sara, our deputy Garden manager and the team for organising such a wonderful afternoon, and everyone who helped to make it all run so smoothly. We raised a grand total of £1,700, which will possibly go towards installing a new kitchen cabin once our lease is successfully secured.
Going forward, this will better enable us to prepare and cook our delicious produce, and make it easier for Garden members to learn and improve their kitchen skills in a safe environment and thus enrich their lives in the Garden as well as at home. We look forward to seeing you all again at our next open day in the spring.
Over the past month, Sara tells me that we have already been thinking about things to grow next year. Our bedding plan for spring 2024 is complete, the garlic bulbs have been planted and the broad beans will soon follow suit. In the large polytunnel, our incredibly bountiful tomato vines have been enjoyed to the fullest and have now been cut down to make room for winter salad and other vegetable sowings.
Our decorative pots have all been tidied up, deadheaded and had their compost refreshed. Where possible, spring bulbs such as narcissus, tulips and muscari, and bedding plants such as winter flowering pansies, polyanthus and forget-me-nots have been added to provide cheerful colour later in the season. In many ways, this is the very beginning of the annual cycle of growth in the Garden, and we’ve made sure to give everything the best chance to provide us with something to look forward to.
Anyone who knows our Garden well will know that as we head into November, and the weather becomes even more autumnal and the temperature drops further as the sun lowers in the sky, we take great pleasure in utilising our log burners in our main cabin, the art and craft cabin and our project space.
Our ready supply of repurposed kindling from donated wooden pallets and the tree logs provided by the management of our host of trees, certainly do an effective job of keeping us all warm and happy on even the coldest of days when it might not be possible to be outside working in the Garden as much as we might otherwise like. A bowl of soup or stew, cooked up by members of the team for one of our special Friday lunchtimes, is certainly all the more delicious when we’re all glowing from the heat of the fire.
We all wish you well with your own garden tidy ups, leaf raking and pruning during the dormant season and hope that you too stay as warm as we intend to as we begin our annual hibernation. If you’d like to pop in and visit us, please remember that we’re open weekdays from 10 am until 3 pm and that hot drinks are readily available to greet you. Happy gardening!