In 2021, I spent almost a month at Hampton Court Palace, when I designed the RHS No Dig Allotment Demonstration Garden together with Charles Dowding (KG August 2021). What a fantastic experience! This year I was delighted to have been invited to speak at the Market Theatre, opposite the River Cottage Garden, giving talks about no-dig gardening and growing your own food and, most importantly, exploring this vibrant show.
It’s exciting to explore RHS shows before they are officially open to the public as final touches are made to the show gardens, plants watered so they look in the peak of health and the air of anticipation increases.
Press photographers, who will have arrived hours before to capture the gardens in the early morning light, set up incredibly complicated-looking equipment alongside camera crews filming famous TV presenters for the BBC.
As a keen grow-your-own enthusiast, I headed straight for the River Cottage Market Garden, one of the key RHS Feature Gardens. Designed by head gardener Adam Crofts, this impressive walk-through garden was based on the productive market garden at River Cottage HQ in the Axe Valley in Devon.
My eye was immediately drawn to a curious thatched roof structure on three wooden legs, underplanted with a range of pollinator plants: a ‘rocket hive’. Designed by Matt Somerville, and used across River Cottage, these ‘bee kind’ freedom hives mimic the natural habitat of bees and offer a safe, well-insulated space for these crucial pollinators to thrive. Practical, sustainable and charming.
Denne historien er fra October 2022-utgaven av Kitchen Garden.
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Denne historien er fra October 2022-utgaven av Kitchen Garden.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
SEPTEMBER SPECIALS
This month, with sweetcorn, figs and blackberries on the menu, Anna Cairns Pettigrew is not only serving up something sweet and something savoury, but all things scrumptious
FLAVOURSOME FRUIT AUTUMN RASPBERRIES
September - is it late summer or the start of autumn? David Patch ponders the question and says whatever the season, it's time to harvest autumn raspberries
SOW GREEN THIS AUTUMN
Covering the soil with a green manure in winter offers many benefits and this is a good time to sow hardy types, says KG editor Steve Ott
A HISTORICAL HAVEN OF FRUIT AND FLOWERS
KG's Martin Fish takes time out from his own plot to visit a walled garden in Lincolnshire which has been home to the same family for more than 400 years
RESTORING THE BALANCE
The phrase regenerative gardening is often heard in gardening circles, but what is it? Can it help you to grow better veg? Ecologist Becky Searle thinks so, and tells us why
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
Garden Organic's Anton Rosenfeld shares his expertise on using compost made from green bin collections with handy tips on getting the right consistency and quality
Celebrating Organic September!
In this special section we bring you four great features aimed at improving your crops and allowing nature to thrive
SEEING RED
Do your tomatoes have a habit of remaining stubbornly green? Or perhaps you're lucky to enjoy lots of lovely fruits - just all at once. Either way, Benedict Vanheems is here with some top tips to ripen and process the nation's favourite summer staple
NEW KIDS ON THE BROCCOLI!
Rob Smith is talking broccoli this month with a review of the different types available and suggestions for some exciting new varieties to try
A NEW kitchen garden
Martin Fish is getting down to plenty of picking and planting on the garden veg plot, while Jill is rustling up something pepper-licking good!
