Charles Dowding (my new gardening god) is running a course on No-Dig Vegetables at Great Dixter on February 13th (£120 incl. refreshments and lunch). It is a practical one-day course on the theory and practice of this method and is bound to be hugely inspiring. It is also an opportunity to see Great Dixter when it is closed to visitors. If you can’t make it there, I can recommend reading the book about the course ‘Charles Dowding’s Vegetable Course
Hastings Gardeners' Questions - your blogger is on the panel
There’s a chance to ask the experts about your gardening problems at Hastings Gardeners’ Question Time on Friday 11th March at 7.30 at All Saints Hall in All Saints Street. The panel consists of Fergus Garrett from Great Dixter, Helen Yemm from the Saturday Telegraph and your very own blogger. The event is organised by the Lower Torfield Allotments Association. Entrance is free.
Posted in Garden Shows and Events
Tagged Fergus Garrett, Gardeners question time, Great Dixter, Hastings, Helen Yemm
Seeds for next season
I’ve been out in the garden collecting seeds that are ripe and ready to harvest. The cornflowers sown last autumn excelled themselves, flowering from late spring, and still producing flowers now, so it is well worth propagating from them. Then there’s Silene ‘Blue Angel’ which was a gift from Fergus Garrett at Great Dixter and seemingly unavailable in this country, as well as Mina lobata and the Lab Lab bean – all three have performed well and I would like to grow them again next year. I will store them in brown paper bags to dry, then clean them and put them in packets.
Silene Blue Angel
Posted in Timely Advice
Tagged Fergus Garrett, Great Dixter, Seeds, Silene Blue Angel
Courtyard Garden
We’ve just been to a fund raising evening at Great Dixter in aid of a local charity. The garden was looking wonderful, especially in the soft evening light (after the thunderstorm had passed!) and brought home to me just how good the planting is in this very special garden. Head gardener Fergus Garrett gave a hugely entertaining illustrated talk showing how they assemble their magnificent arrangements of potted plants either side of the porch and in the Courtyard (it changes every 2 weeks). I woke up with a pulled muscle in my back the next morning – I think it was the thought of lugging all those pots around. If ever you see that Fergus is giving a talk, do go – his passion, enthusiasm and knowledge is second to none.
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