Sunday 3 April 2011

Spring is in the air and the Secret Garden is open.





The Secret Garden has been asleep over the winter but now that Spring is here, we are opening again. From Thursday 7th April the garden will be open to all from 2pm - 6pm, and will be open every Thursday. We will hopefully be open on Saturdays as well.

Last year we achieved a great amount. The garden was completely reformed and we held several events over the year. During the D'Eynsford estate fun day there was a barbeque in the garden with samples of food from the veg patch and healthy chicken replaced burgers and sausages.

We also had a very sweet evening of carols, mince pies and mulled wine at Christmas, with the a small concert by the Pop-Up Choir www.popupchoir.co.uk.

And finally, the bulbs we planted around the garden and all over the estate last autumn are coming up and are looking fantastic. The hops and hostas are starting to come through as well in the garden. (I personally, am looking forward very much to the hops)

Informally, some people have been coming in and doing a lot of weeding and tidying up. In fact, the garden is starting to look great, even if I do say so myself. James' mum and dad came over a month or so ago and did a lot of weeding and clearing up so thank you to them. Many thanks too and a big welcome back go to Carlo and Kasia- and Sara and Eric (the viking) of course- who have spent the last few days blitzing the garden and getting the front section looking a little more presentable. We have also been cleaning up the greenhouse and the area around the water but and the willow gazebo which was getting a bit shabby.

Laura is planning a planting scheme for the vegetable beds that will provide us with lots of food, we hope, and be a bit more organised than last year! It will be based on crop rotation so as not to drain the nutrients in the soil and prevent disease.

There are also plans in place for activities over the summer. We have received funding for some training seminars on sustainable gardening that everyone will be welcome to attend. Talking of funding, we are planning some events over the summer. We are looking to have a pop-up tea shop on several afternoons and hopefully some open air cinema screenings. The idea is to raise money to help pay for new plants and other bits and pieces we need.

So watch this space, and please come and visit. No experience is necessary.