Your 2023 Flower Show Calendar

Click the month to skip ahead

• April: Glyndebourne Open Garden
• May: RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Chelsea in Bloom, Belgravia in Bloom
• June: Royal Windsor Flower Show, Blenheim Palace Flower Show
• July: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, Chorley Flower Show
• September: Strawberry Hill House (TBC)

Flower Shows To Visit In 2023

Image courtesy of Glyndebourne. Photography by Vicky Skeet.

Glyndebourne Open Garden

Where? Lewes, East Sussex BN8 5UU

When? 22 April 2023

If you’ve ever been to Glyndebourne festival, you’ll know that luxuriating in the gardens with a picnic tends to be the star of the show. One of the world’s most famous opera houses, in its off-season, Glyndebourne sometimes opens up its gardens this year out of season, unveiling their stunning grounds to gawp at. glyndebourne.com

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth views the Peter Beales Roses exhibition at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 in London Monday, May 21, 2018..RHS / Luke MacGregor

RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Where?Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3 4NE

When? 23–27 May 2023

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the most famous and prestigious event of its kind. It has taken place in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea every year since 1913 – apart from gaps during the two World Wars, and in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, wild plants and naturalistic spaces took centre stage, with garden designers encouraged to use plants that promote biodiversity, including wildlife-friendly hawthorn, hazel and woodland trees such as crab apple and sweet chestnut. rhs.org.uk

Chelsea In Bloom

Where? Across Chelsea, London

When? 22–27 May 2023

Running in tandem with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the annual sister showcase, Chelsea in Bloom. The 2023 Chelsea in Bloom theme is ‘Flowers on Film’, encouraging participants to draw inspiration for their displays from characters and storylines that have graced the big screen, as well as cinematic awards and the neighbourhood’s cinematic heritage. Read all about it in our 2023 guide.

Matt Crossick/PA Wire

Belgravia In Bloom

Where? Across Belgravia, London

When? 22–29 May 2023

Another celebration of the RHS festival, but this time in pretty Belgravia, expect more incredible floral displays in Belgravia this spring. Belgravia in Bloom’s 2023 theme is ‘Into the Wild’, celebrating all creatures great and small, from majestic tigers to delicate butterflies, with an expected focus on Charles’ coronation. Read all about it in our 2023 guide.

Royal Windsor Flower Show 2022

Royal Windsor Flower Show

Where? The York Club, Windsor SL4 2HT

When? 10 June 2023

The Royal Windsor Flower Show, the biggest annual event of the Royal Windsor Rose & Horticultural Society, returns on Saturday 10 June 2023, a one-day boutique event, set in the prestigious grounds of Windsor Great Park. A celebration of gardening, nature and traditional crafts, expect stunning showcase gardens, fabulous British plant nurseries, artisan producers, a dedicated children’s area, talks, craft demonstrations and traditional competition classes. With Alan Titchmarsh as the Honorary Chairman and host for the day and a special royal opening of the show, it’s not to be missed. There will also be a stunning central garden called The Kings Maze, designed and created using Chelsea Flower Show plants and trees by multi gold award winning Chelsea garden designers Mark Gregory and Alan Williams. rwrhs.com

Blenheim Palace Flower Show

Where? Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1PP

When? 23–25 June 2023

Blenheim Palace is a beautiful sight year-round, but even more so when hosting its annual flower show. Explore show gardens, browse the Outdoor Plant Village and get inspired on a stroll down Floral Street – plus horticultural experts will be on hand to answer all your burning gardening questions. blenheimflowershow.co.uk

RHS and Luke MacGregor

RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival

Where? Hampton Court Way, Molesey, East Molesey KT8 9AU

When? 4–9 July 2023

The world’s largest annual flower show takes place against the backdrop of one of London’s most historic royal palaces, Hampton Court. Also run by the RHS, the festival offers plenty of inspiration for both budding and experienced horticulturalists, with a new allotment area offering advice and tips on all things grow your own. rhs.org.uk

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RHS Flower Show Tatton Park

Where?Tatton Park, Knutsford WA16 6SG

When? 19–23 July 2023

RHS Flower Show Tatton Park will return to Cheshire’s picturesque 1,000 acre deer park again this summer, with family fun, insightful talks, and gorgeous gardens galore. A popular feature of this show is the Flower School, which offers floral demonstrations from top gardeners like Jonathan Moseley alongside eye-catching displays. rhs.org.uk

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Chorley Flower Show

Where? Astley Park, Chorley PR7 1DP

When? 28–30 July 2023

A relatively new addition to the floristry events calendar, Chorley Flower Show will return to Astley Hall for its eighth edition in 2023. The centrepiece for 2021 was the Mayflower 400 garden, featuring indigenous British and American plants including an oak tree and a maple tree. A gardening theatre, meanwhile, hosts demonstrations from top gardeners – this year that included Jonathan Moseley and Martin Fish. Visitors can also enjoy food and drink from a range of traders, as well as live music and walkabout acts. chorleyflowershow.com

Dried flowers decorate the library of Strawberry Hill House. Photograph: Emma Spowage

Strawberry Hill House

Where? 268 Waldegrave Road, Twickenham TW1 4ST

When? 22–24 September 2023

Four it’s fourth iteration, Strawberry Hill House, famous as a feat of Gothic Revival architecture, played host to the very best of home grown British flowers, and we expect the same in the 2023 edition. Typically, for three days, dried blooms line the intricate, beautiful rooms of Strawberry Hill House. In 2022, the florals were curated by Leigh Chappell and Janne Ford, in association with Flowers From the Farm – and there was much more going on than just exploring the space, including guided tours and floral demonstrations. strawberryhillhouse.org.uk

Glyndebourne Garden. Photo: James Bellorini

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While they’re available year-round in the UK, peak season runs from 29 May until 11 June, otherwise known as British Tomato Fortnight. There’s no better time to get started on growing your own at home – here we share some top tips from Mimi Morley, head chef at HelloFresh.

British Tomato Fortnight: Top Tips For Growing Your Own

Start with healthy soil

‘Tomatoes require well-drained, nutrient-rich soil to thrive. Before planting, amend your soil with organic matter like compost, aged manure, or leaf mould. This will help improve soil structure, fertility, and water retention, providing a healthy growing environment for your plants.’

Use a drip irrigation system

‘I promise, it’s not as complicated as it sounds and will benefit the quality of your tomatoes massively! Tomato plants need consistent moisture, but wet foliage can promote diseases like blight and leaf spots. Using a drip irrigation system that delivers water directly to the soil around the plants can help minimise disease risks and reduce water waste.’

Prune and support your plants

‘As tomato plants grow, they can become heavy and prone to tipping over. Using sturdy cages or stakes to support your plants and pruning away excess foliage can help prevent this. It can also improve air circulation around the plants, reducing disease risk and promoting fruit growth.’

Choose the right variety

‘There are many varieties, each with unique characteristics like flavour, size, and growth habit. Consider factors like your climate, available space, and intended use (e.g. slicing, sauce, cherry tomatoes) when selecting a variety. Indeterminate varieties, which continue to grow and produce fruit throughout the season, are a good choice for home gardeners.’

Rotate your crops

‘Growing tomatoes in the same spot year after year can lead to soil-borne diseases and nutrient imbalances. To maintain soil health and avoid problems, rotate your tomato plants to a different part of the garden each year. Ideally, wait at least three years before planting tomatoes in the same spot again.’

Find out more at britishtomatoes.co.uk

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How To Create A Haven For Bees In Your Garden

‘Bees (divided into seven families and approximately 20,000 species) play an essential role in our ecosystem and everyday life, which regularly goes unrecognised,’ says Filipe Salbany, Bee Conservationist at Blenheim Estate. ‘Sadly, their populations have been threatened due to habitat loss, pesticide use, disease, invasive species, and climate change all over the world. Fortunately, there are simple and easy steps we can take to help save the bees from the comfort of our homes.’

Filipe lists five ways you can get involved below…

(c) Krzysztof Niewolny, Unsplash

1. Plant Bee-Friendly, Habitat Specific (Native) Flowers

Bees are attracted to flowers with bright colours and sweet fragrances. Planting flowers like lavender, sunflowers, and daisies can provide a natural habitat for bees in your garden. It may be tempting to remove those weeds and wildflowers, but these are also fantastic for our miniature heroes!

Rowse has put together a handy pollinator calendar to help guide you on the best pollinator-friendly plants for every season.

May is a great time to plant Lavender, Honeysuckle, Sedum and Dahlias which will bloom in late summer throughout early autumn, while Hellebores are also lovely to plant in June and July.

2. Avoid Using Pesticides

These can be harmful to bees and other pollinators. Try using natural pest control methods like companion planting or spraying a solution of water and dish soap instead to help control pests without harming bees.

(c) Sandy Millar, Unsplash

3. Provide A Water Source

Bees need water to stay hydrated, especially during the upcoming hot summer months. A shallow water source like a bird bath or a tray with pebbles is the perfect way to provide a safe drinking spot for bees.

4. Plant Fruit Trees And Vegetables

Many fruit trees and vegetables rely on honeybees for pollination. By planting these crops, you can help ensure that honeybees have a reliable source of food and help grow your fruit and veg at the same time.

5. Educate Your Friends And Family

Spreading awareness and education about the simple ways everyone can help is vital; World Bee Day is about all species of bee, from the smallest at 2 mm to the largest at 40 mm. Rowse’s Hives For Lives programme has a range of vital initiatives to help protect bees and beekeepers but also shares many ways that all of us can get involved at home.

Featured image: Krzysztof Niewolny, Unsplash

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Highgrove: A Visit To The Royal Gardens

Robert Smith Photography

Debs Goodenough breaks off in mid-sentence and drops to the ground. She has spotted something I cannot even see. ‘It’s a twayblade!’ she exclaims of the tiny greenish-yellow wild orchid. ‘I must show it to His Royal Highness – he will be delighted.’

It is 25 years since the organic gardens of the Prince of Wales at Highgrove opened to the public, raising over £7m for his charity, the Prince’s Trust. I am one of the 37,000 visitors who come each year, being given a guided tour around the 15-acre property by Goodenough, the charming head gardener, who has a soft Canadian lilt and an encyclopaedic knowledge of plants that is matched only by her enthusiasm for her job and deference to her employer. ‘What I always stress to visitors is that when the Duchy of Cornwall purchased this house [in 1980], there was virtually no garden. It was a blank canvas.’

It’s a good metaphor, given the Prince’s artistic predilections. He has covered this particular canvas in colour – not only in the choice of flowering plants, but in the gates and benches, beckoning in playful blues, pinks and yellows. In this detail, he was influenced by the vibrant palette of the Jardin Majorelle, restored by Yves Saint Laurent, in Marrakech. ‘He is always seeing new things and bringing items back from his travels, such as these wooden doors from India,’ says Goodenough. ‘It used to be called the Indian Gate, but was renamed the Shand Gate, in honour of the Duchess’ late brother.’ Next to it stand an elephant and her calf in box topiary – a gift from the Duchess of Cornwall.

Robert Smith Photography

I am struck by the cosiness and lack of pomp – the puckish humour, even. This is no Versailles (ironically, the kitchen garden, with its serried ranks of perfect vegetables in plots bordered by marigolds and crab apple trees, struck me as the most formal area). Rather, tended by a team of 11 gardeners, this is the horticultural equivalent of a high-maintenance woman who spends hours in front of the mirror to achieve that casual, just-out-of-bed look.

There is a theatrical sense of anticipation as you progress through a succession of secret gardens, as though through an enfilade of rooms, each one surrounded by walls of warm Cotswold stone or sculpted hedges. The aforementioned gates, each one unique, give access to a different world, that begins for visitors with the orchard. Here, along with heritage varieties of apple and pear, is a Glastonbury thorn, a gift from the Abbot of Glastonbury and a descendant of the original tree allegedly brought by Joseph of Arimathea. Grazing peacefully are sheep and deer made of woven willow by sculptor Emma Stothard, a beneficiary of the Prince’s Trust, who also presented him with a likeness of his beloved Jack Russell, Tigga.

Robert Smith Photography

We continue into the Cottage Garden, for which the Prince, as a novice gardener, sought the advice of Rosemary Verey. The hebe she planted is flowering, and all around is a riot of pink and blue, with martial delphiniums towering proudly to nine foot ten inches. A heady scent issues from plump, blush-tinged ‘Jude the Obscure’ roses – a leitmotif in the gardens – and also from a bed of carnations. Or, as I learn to call them, pinks. Even if they are yellow. These, however, are indeed pink – dianthus ‘Devon Wizard’ to be precise, and the Prince’s favourite, worn in his buttonhole.

I learn also that, in this predominantly alkaline environment, growing rhododendrons – which form the basis of the new Buttress Garden – is no mean feat. Acid soil has to be created for them, by composting the right components.

This is down to the wizardry of Goodenough: ‘His Royal Highness is the design element,’ she says. ‘My job is to get the horticulture right and do it in a sustainable, organic way.’ This applies equally to the kitchen garden, where ‘good horticultural practice helps keep pests away’. Apparently roses and garlic spray make good bedfellows.

Robert Smith Photography

The first thing the Prince sees on returning home, however, is the meadow of some 130 species of wildflower (including the wonderfully named ‘Farmer’s Nightmare’ seed mix). Conceived with the help of Dame Miriam Rothschild, an early proponent of organic gardening, it’s alive with birdsong and butterflies. ‘When I moved here, in 1980, I already felt passionately about the destruction that had been, and was still being, wreaked on our countryside since the 1960s,’ explains the Prince in his video introduction to the gardens. ‘Hedgerows were being ripped out, ancient woodlands lost, wildflower-rich meadows devastated and the excessive use of chemicals on both land and gardens was commonplace. At last, at Highgrove, I had an opportunity to work with Nature, rather than against her.’

Organic, sustainable, recyclable – everything is done in harmony with the soil and with the seasons, the principles environmentally friendly, down to water harvesting and special slow-release water bags, like whoopee cushions, to conserve water. Heritage varieties are propagated. Traditional skills, such as thatching and drystone walling, are championed. Even tree stumps, surrounded by ferns and hostas, reappear upturned to artistic effect in the famous Stumpery – a mysterious haunt where you might imagine dryads emerging at night. It put me in mind of The Castle of Otranto. This is where Hollyrood House – a thatched treehouse (with holly-shaped door), built for the seven-year-old Prince William – is to be found, along with the Wall of Gifts, where presents from students of stonemasonry find their resting place, in a kind of neo-gothic tribute. Gifts, in fact, are in evidence throughout the gardens – from the Indian bean tree in the Cottage Garden, given by Elton John, to the sundial offered by the Duke of Beaufort in the Sundial Garden – the latter originally designed by Lady Salisbury and surrounded by scalloped yew hedges that shield it from the wind and muffle street noise. I wonder what’s done with less welcome gifts. ‘The secret is to put the right piece in the right place, to be shown to best advantage,’ replies Goodenough, with unenlightening diplomacy.

Robert Smith Photography

The eclectic gardens reveal not only the Prince’s personal taste and passions, but also friends and important influences in his life. Familiar figures peer at you from hedges, pedestals and gateways – composer John Tavener, Miriam Rothschild and ‘Debo’ Devonshire perch atop the Egyptian gate; mentor Laurens van der Post resides like Saint Simeon on a pillar; poet Ted Hughes nestles in a wooden neoclassical tempietto – designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman from green oak cut to look like stone, its pediment filled with Scottish driftwood. Eventually a roundabout route returns us to the Thyme Walk and the view of clipped golden yews leading from the Borghese Gladiator and the lily pond up towards the house itself – a beautiful but understated 1790s mansion. ‘All the experts advised His Royal Highness to remove the yews, which were part of the original garden,’ says Goodenough. But the Prince, ever his own man, decided to keep them, instructing his gardeners to create unique shapes from each one. Formerly neglected, these eccentric, living sculptures, architecturally regimented within stilt hedges of hornbeam and surrounded by a shaggy carpet of lavender, agapanthus and thyme, have become the iconic view of the estate.

Just visible from this angle is the spire of the oak pavilion, a memorial surrounding the stump of a felled 200-year-old cedar – one of the trees with which the Prince became enamoured on first seeing Highgrove. Nearby, new life is represented by a young balsam poplar, which the Prince of Wales planted with his grandson, Prince George, in 2015.

Birdsong, scented flowers, luscious fruits, colour and texture – Highgrove is a paean to the five senses, a Wagnerian gesamtkunstwerk. If it’s true that the Prince of Wales talks to his plants, it certainly seems to work. Just 40 years on from being a blank canvas, this much-loved garden looks as though it might have been here forever.

This article was first published in September 2019.

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Boodles British Craft Garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2023

It’s the event the green-fingered among us wait for all year long: Chelsea Flower Show, which will be held this year, as ever, at Royal Hospital Chelsea, from 22-27 May.

Top of C&TH’s list to catch in 2023 is the Boodles British Craft Garden, created with award-winning garden designer Thomas Hoblyn, who last year won a gold medal for his creation of the Boodles Travel Garden.

His theme for 2023 is the ‘Best of British’, and this time around Thomas was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites’ stylised depiction of woodlands in art. ‘In particular Woodland Glade by William Trost Richards, Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais and The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse,’ he explains. ‘I like the way they interpreted nature in a stylised way, and I thought it could translate well into a garden.’

Thomas was inspired by Pre-Raphaelite artworks Sir John Everett Millais’s Ophelia

Thomas will create a romantic woodland glade for the show, filled with plants like the rambling rose Félicité Perpétue, the feathery Alnus Imperialis alder tree, and weeping silver birches. But, ‘the weather can often work against you in May,’ he hedges. ‘This year’s palette requires a cool spring, so let’s hope that’s what we get.’

The garden will also be a celebration of British craftsmanship, with an arbour created by furniture designers Cox London, rustic-yet-refined paths by stonemason Jake Catling of Landscaping Consultants using Chatsworth stone, and furnishings curated by interior designer Rachel Chudley.

At the heart of the garden will be a floating pool created by water sculptor Bamber Wallis; it’ll ripple as if raindrops dance across the surface, and was inspired by Boodles’ new Raindance jewellery suite, which will also be unveiled on the opening day of the show.

Garden designer Thomas Hoblyn

‘The Raindance special release for Chelsea Flower Show explores two ideas,’ explains Boodles’ head of design, Rebecca Hawkins. ‘The first of these is rainfall: if looking directly upwards, raindrops radiate out and towards you from a central point.’ In the resulting new  suite, the ‘smaller diamonds are set further back and towards the centre, and the larger ones are set higher and further from the centre to give a sense of perspective. Pink diamond accents dance amongst the white brilliant cuts.’ The other design is based on a raindrop making contact with water: concentric circles of smaller diamonds form around the larger individual stone.

Pieces from the Boodles Raindance Chelsea Flower Show Suite

For those who are inspired by romanticism of the Boodles British Craft Garden, Thomas has some sage advice for his fellow gardeners. ‘Analyse the colours in a natural landscape and then mimic how they are put together,’ he recommends. ‘Mother Nature does not make mistakes and comes up with the most wonderful planting combinations.’

rhs.org.uk; boodles.com

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What Is No Mow May?

No Mow May is an initiative calling gardeners to not cut their lawns during the month of May in order to allow wildflowers to bloom. Launched in 2019 by botanical charity Plantlife, since the first year, the number of people taking part has tripled – and it’s hoped that figure will increase even more in 2023.

Getty Images

Why Is It Important? 

The initiative aims to transform our gardens into havens of biodiversity. Since the 1970s, we’ve lost nearly 97 percent of flower rich meadows, which means far fewer pollinators, such as bees and butterflies. Gardening expert Sarah Raven explains: ‘We’ve already lost 23 bee species in England since 1800 – including 3 bumblebees – and in Britain 67 percent of our moth species have declined over the last 50 years, as well as 25 percent of hoverflies. If this carries on, our food resources will look drastically different, with most fruit and vegetables – which are pollinated by insects – disappearing from our supermarket shelves.’

Plantlife believes people can help reverse this by leaving their gardens to run wild for a few weeks – and the results are there to prove it. In previous years, No Mow May has shown changing our mowing habits can increase the amount of nectar available to bees and other pollinators. Last year, the most common plants recorded included daisies, yellow rattle, field forget-me-not, dandelion and oxeye daisy. Campaigners were particularly pleased with the presence of yellow rattle, as this plant is known to act as ‘nature’s lawn mower’, weakening more vigorous grasses and allowing more delicate wildflowers to grow.

How To Get Involved

Joining the movement is pretty simple: leave your garden unmowed for the month of May. You can sign up to register on the Plantlife website – this will help the charity see the impact of the campaign, plus you’ll get access to the Plantlife Expert Guide to Lawns. 

For those keen to identify pollinators in their gardens, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust has produced a handy guide here (there are around 270 different species in Britain). There’s also a Butterfly Conservation identification guide here.

While the campaign focuses on May, Plantlife is encouraging us to mow our lawns less generally. ‘Results from our previous No Mow May surveys show that keeping two to three different lengths of grass throughout the summer will maximise the diversity and quantity of flowers and the nectar they produce,’ says Plantlife. 

It also suggests leaving some areas of long glass completely unmown year-round to allow taller flowers like oxeye daisy and field scabious to bloom. For the rest of your lawn, the charity advises mowing it once a month to a height of around 1 or 2 inches. 

Find out more at plantlife.org.uk

Featured image: Getty Images

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Tips On Getting Your Garden Ready for Spring with Daisy Payne

Have a tidy up

When the days start to feel warmer and the sun shines, there’s no better way to get ready for spring than to get outside and get the garden all set. 

Remove dead leaves from the ground, cut down perennials, remove old growth of deciduous grasses, clean up paths and patios. Declutter, clear out your shed if you have one and give any areas that might be looking a bit green and mouldy a good clean up. Once everything feels fresh, that’s the foundation for a fabulous spring!  

Blooming flower meadow with bee-friendly plants in May. A beautiful strip of flowers to promote local biodiversity.

Plant summer flowering bulbs 

Prepare your garden to dazzle in summer – in the spring! Planting summer flowering bulbs and tubers is a cost-effective way of adding colour into your garden. Plant gladioli bulbs and dahlia tubers in pots or in your borders. Ensure you have planted them deep enough and keep them in a sheltered, sunny spot. By late spring they will start to bloom, and you’ll be glad you took the time to plant them.

Mulch your borders 

If you want a healthy, happy garden, it all starts with healthy, happy soil. I find mulching very satisfying and therapeutic – it’s the perfect gardening job for early spring. What is it? Well, it’s the spreading of a thick layer of goodness, such as compost or manure, to improve your soil. It helps to keep down weeds and prevents the soil from drying out too. There are lots of mulches you can use on you soil, but you can’t go too far wrong with a peat free multipurpose compost. 

Tend to your lawn

Is your lawn looking a bit tired? Does it have some bald patches? Mine certainly does. The frosts we have experienced may stressed out your lawn a little, so start planning now how you’ll bring it back to life. Aerate your lawn, rake away any moss, and add a layer of topsoil to any gaps. Keep your eye on the weather forecast and once the temperatures have risen a little, you can consider laying grass seed. Sprinkle on the seed and water it well. Keep off this patch of your garden, to give the seed its best chance of germinating. 

Add colour now 

Spring is the season of daffodils and tulips, and they bring pure delight to our daily lives after the gloom of the winter months. But, if you missed the boat and didn’t quite get around to planting them as bulbs in autumn, don’t stress. You can buy them in pots and still enjoy them in your garden. Another way to add colour into your garden is by filling your pots and containers with beautiful bedding plants. It’s easy, low cost and the colour will brighten your spring days. 

Plant and sow 

As we approach spring, why not try sowing or even growing your own? This is a garden project that you can embark on with just a window ledge. Grow lettuce leaves in long slimline plant pots, sow tomatoes indoors or in a small seed tray, try sowing sweet peas. I love growing from seed because it fills me with satisfaction and hope for spring and summer.

Liven up your patio

Does your patio feel bland and boring? We spend so much time on our patios, it seems a shame to have an unloved space! I find it really satisfying to sweep my patio and then clean it with a pressure washer – it freshens it all up as a start. Consider freshening up even further with some new furniture and add colour through accessorising to create a patio you feel proud of.

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A Guide To Composting

What is composting?

Composting is a natural process for recycling organic materials. Essentially anything that grows can be composted, from fruit to coffee filters – and although these products will all eventually decompose over time, it speeds up the process by providing an ideal environment for bacteria.

What are the benefits?

First and foremost, there are huge environmental benefits. By composting instead of throwing things in the bin, you’re allowing waste to return naturally to the earth instead of going to landfill. According to Recycle Now, doing so at home for a year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces annually.

The process will also benefit your garden, as compost (decayed organic matter) can be used as a nutrient-rich food product for soil. It can help improve soil structure, maintain moisture levels and ensure its pH is kept in balance – reducing the need for chemical fertilisers.

Getty Images

How do I compost?

Begin by investing in a compost bin, or by simply creating a heap. The RHS recommends placing it in light shade, and ideally directly in the soil to allow drainage. If you have to compost on a hard surface, add a spadeful of soil to the bin or heap.

In terms of what to put in it, aim for between 25 and 50 per cent soft green materials, such as vegetable kitchen waste or grass clippings. The rest should be woody brown material like paper, cardboard or wood chippings (more on this below). It’s also advised to avoid having one material dominate the heap. Once a month, the RHS recommends turning the heap to introduce air. You should water the pile regularly, but don’t add too much water as this can result in rotting.

What can be composted?

You can separate compostable products into two main categories: nitrogen-rich waste (green) and carbon-rich waste (brown). Here are some ideas.

Green:

• Grass clippings
• Annual weeds
• Nettle leaves
• Fruit and veg peelings

Brown:

• Cardboard
• Sawdust
• Prunings
• Paper/newspaper (loosely scrunched up)
• Paper towels
• Hedge trimmings

Don’t add:

• Cooked food
• Raw meat
• Diseased plants
• Dairy products
• Anything containing oil, fat or grease

When your compost is ready, you’ll have a soil-like layer at the bottom of your bin, which can be spread across your flowerbeds.

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Going Green: How to Create a Sustainable Garden in 5 Steps

Step 1: Vegetables, Fruit and Edible Plants

One way to build a more sustainable life is to grow your own food. The life cycle of doing so means you will never be left without healthy and nutritious fruit and vegetables. If you add to this with a herb garden, not only will your food be seasoned to perfection, but your garden will smell wonderfully fragrant too.

Fruit trees and vegetable plots are a mainstay of allotments, but if you have the space to plant your own in your garden, then why not go for it? Anything you don’t harvest will likely get eaten by animals, so you will also be contributing to the ecosystem of your surroundings.

The lack of chemical pesticides used on your own food also helps to decrease the pollutants and emissions involved in mass-production and farming, so you are doing your bit for the environment in ways which you might not have even considered.

Step 2: The Benefits of Water Features

Water brings a sense of calm and relaxation to your garden, whether it is running water found in small waterfalls or fountains, or still water in ponds. These features are known to feel soothing and have a positive effect on mental health. Plus, the positive environmental effects of water features really make a difference. 

Water helps to attract wildlife which will pollinate the other plants in your garden. All garden water features re-circulate their water, so there is no waste and very little maintenance required. They are also an effective way of purifying the air, as they attract bacteria and germs which are filtered through the water system.

Step 3: Fencing options for your garden

Using natural materials for the boundaries of your garden will help blend them with the surroundings, as well as being sustainable and easy to maintain. Growing hedges and conifer trees has been popular over the years, but the work involved in keeping them pruned on a regular basis  – alongside a view of them being slightly old-fashioned – has meant they are now seen as being less desirable.

However, composite fencing is a similarly sustainable product which is smart, hardwearing, and requires no maintenance whatsoever. Unlike standard wooden fencing which may need painting or varnishing to keep it in tip-top condition, composite fencing is highly resilient and won’t warp or splinter. 

Made from 95 percent recycled materials consisting of wood fibres and plastics, this type of fencing won’t absorb water or encourage mould and fungus growth, and its durability means it usually comes with a 20-year guarantee as standard. By not needing to replace it, meaning companies are not obliged to create even more products, the pollutants involved in the manufacturing process are considerably lessened.

Step 4: Composting garden and kitchen waste

Installing a compost bin or simply maintaining a compost heap is the perfect way to recycle kitchen and garden waste into a product that helps fertilise your garden, giving it the nutrients it needs to grow and thrive by improving the make-up of the soil.

Choosing a shady area to position your compost gives it the best chance of producing the micro-organisms required to develop the waste into the desired product for the garden. A mixture of green items such as grass clippings combined with brown items like twigs or wood chips makes for the best content for your compost.

Once you have created your composting site, be sure to turn the mulch mixture regularly – once a month is ideal – to ensure air flow and keep it moist. It can take between six months and two years for your compost to mature, so you will need to be patient. The benefits are well worth it in the long-run.

Step 5: Garden furniture ideas

If you’re keeping furniture in your garden all year round, you want to be sure it withstands all weather conditions. Standard wooden furniture can rot in wet weather unless you treat it properly with a wood stain or varnish. A great alternative is bamboo. This is a fast-growing material which reproduces quickly where it is grown, making it one of the most sustainable substances there is. Rattan is similarly eco-conscious, and an increasingly popular material for garden furniture.

Bamboo and rattan furniture is light, so it can be moved easily to different areas of the garden – perfect if you are following the sun – and it looks smart. Its smooth finish also means it is comfortable, especially when combined with some soft furnishings in materials such as cotton and hemp, to up the environmentally-friendly factor further.

For something even more hardwearing, furniture made from recycled plastics will repel wet conditions whilst ensuring a practical use for a material that is not naturally sustainable.

Final Thoughts

However you live your life, adding to your green credentials and improving sustainability is high on many people’s agendas. The garden is a great place to start, with so many natural materials and boundless ways of making the most of them.

Once you have learned about sustainability through your garden design, you can move forward with incorporating sustainability into other areas of your home. With the government’s commitment to Net Zero by 2030, get ahead of the curve and help to do your bit with these handy tips.

The post Going Green: How to Create an Eco-Friendly Garden in 5 Steps appeared first on Country and Town House.

Jo heads up the growing side, while Ballymaloe-trained chef Erin works her magic in the kitchen, and together they run supper clubs and workshops – all underpinned by a love and respect for nature. One of their big passions is cooking with edible flowers, which they talk about in a brand-new cookbook, The Edible Flower. It features more than 50 recipes, from courgette flower tacos to lilac panna cotta, but is designed more generally as a guide to connecting with the earth and living sustainably. We caught up with them ahead of the launch.

Q&A with The Edible Flower’s Jo Facer and Erin Bunting

Can you tell us a bit about your different careers and how you met?

Jo: Erin and I met at university back in 2002. I was studying engineering and went on to work in construction and property in London for a good chunk of time, and then in 2016 we decided to leave London and find somewhere with more space because we wanted to run our own business and grow our own food.

Erin: I’m from Northern Ireland originally and left to go to university when I was 18 – I studied history of art and architecture. I had a career in arts management and event organisation in London, but about eight years ago I decided my career wasn’t fulfilling me creatively and I wanted to explore some other avenues. I decided to retrain as a cook – I went to Ballymaloe in Cork and did a three-month course. We were running supper clubs in London before we moved to Northern Ireland.

Why do you think the format of supper clubs works so well?

Erin: We just really like the communal aspect: bringing people together over food. It’s so different from a restaurant experience – everyone eats the same thing at the same time, and we also try to weave storytelling into it. At the beginning of the supper club we talk about why we’re marking this moment in time – we do lots of supper clubs that mark the festivals of the Celtic Wheel (such as solstices and equinoxes). For me as a chef, it’s also amazing to be able to have control of the menu in that way and push people’s boundaries a bit. For example, we were using some smoked eel on our last menu. Lough Neagh eel is a classic Northern Irish product and it’s not really utilised here, most of it is exported, so it’s great to be able to weave those things in. 

Jo: If you don’t like something, your best chance of liking it is to come and eat it with a whole load of other enthusiastic people, where you can see it growing out the window, and it’s cooked well by a brilliant chef like Erin. Our customers trust her because they get to eat some more interesting things – things that are really easy to grow here, but because they are unfashionable people don’t buy them. 

The Edible Flower cookbook

What was your aim in setting up The Edible Flower?

Jo: We both really love food and we love cooking for people, and we wanted to run our own business where we got to share that love with people. We didn’t have any real plan as to what that business was going to be. We were initially doing supper clubs, then we ended up doing quite a lot of catering. Then we realised that although it was great fun, our heart wasn’t in it. We love telling stories with food and using the produce that is best in the garden that day and having control over the menus and not having six hour conversations about how to fold napkins or how long Uncle George’s speech is going to last. Over the last seven years I’ve been doing part-time studying on how to grow things – and this year we’ve finished the process of getting organically certified.

How did you find moving to Northern Ireland? What were the difficulties?

Jo: I was under the naive impression that I could give up a well-paid job in London and work really hard at something I was passionate about, and it would be relatively easy to make a decent living, but it turns out it’s actually really hard. You care about every detail, you’re building everything from scratch. So the reality is brilliant, but it’s hard to make it add up financially without compromising on what you want to do. We’re pretty rubbish at giving ourselves time off and getting away.

Erin: We both feel very lucky to get to do what we do everyday, but getting that work/life balance has been tricky – especially because we live where we work. This season we converted an out building into a separate kitchen, up until that point we’d been doing everything from our domestic kitchen. We also had twins four years ago, so getting that work/life family balance can be hard, but there are also benefits: because we’re here, we can work and bring up our children at the same time. I don’t know if that’s a benefit but it’s something we do all the time.

Tell us about your new book…

Jo: We grow more than just edible flowers, but if you’ve got that environment where you’re growing stuff and then feeding people, edible flowers are brilliant. They’re great when they’re in the garden: they attract pollinators, they bring a lot of joy when they’re out there, and they’re so easy to elevate a dish from something that can perhaps look a bit ordinary. 

So in terms of what the book is, I feel like people who grow stuff might be pleasantly surprised that some of the random flowers they grow are edible and they could just start eating them. Then I’m also hoping that encouraging people to get the bug of growing some edible flowers and incorporating them into their food will be a gateway to growing maybe some herbs and some salad. Edible flowers are brilliant if you have a tiny garden or a balcony with pots, you can grow something that’s beautiful but also edible, and it doesn’t have to take up loads of room.

Erin: It’s not a particularly chef-y book. It’s not about using edible flowers in order to create a Michelin-starred shiny thing, it much more plays into our style of food which is hearty and wholesome, beautiful but in an unstructured way. It’s showing people the different ways they can use flowers: it covers things as simple as which flowers are edible, to different ways of using them longer term, like pressing them or drying them, infusing them in syrups or making jams and jellies.

What are some of the environmental benefits of growing edible flowers?

Jo: Encouraging pollinators into your garden – supporting the bees are the classic one, but there are all sorts of different bugs that go round pollinating flowers. And creating diversity among your garden, farm or kitchen garden.

Erin: And also, this is more of a mental health benefit, but I feel like flowers bring so much joy.

Jo: Flowers are designed to attract pollinators, and yet us humans come along and we’re quite different to a bee, but we’re obsessed with flowers too.

You also run a CSA (community supported agriculture scheme). What does that involve?

Jo: We’ve been growing produce for our own events, supper clubs and catering for six or seven seasons, and basically we always knew to have enough we had to grow too much. The question always was: what do we do with that extra produce? Do we sell it to a greengrocer or open a farm shop? We decided the best thing to do was set up a CSA – I thought I’d invented it but it turns out it’s actually a very common model. It’s a business model where the grower and the members of the scheme share the risks and rewards of growing produce. Members sign up at the beginning of the season, and if the produce is bountiful then people get a bit more, if there’s a terrible case of potato blight that year they get less potatoes or whatever.

We try to take it to the next level by sharing less of the risk but more of the rewards. Our members come here each week and pick up a load of vegetables, but they also come here once a month on a Saturday, and we do a big activity on the farm – whether that’s planting tomatoes in the polytunnel or creating a new pick your own edible flower bed. Then we all have a feast together, we have a lot of chat about the principles of growing organically, and they learn from Erin about how to cook different things. We also provide recipes each week to go alongside the vegetables. We’re all on a WhatsApp group.

Erin: Last year was the first time we did this scheme in its full glory, and we were both surprised about how much the people who joined this scheme became friends and wanted to help each other. 

Jo: We did a survey at the end of the year, and the feedback from members was mind-blowingly awesome – people saying: you’ve changed my life, my physical health, my mental health, my connection to the seasons. It’s a privilege to be able to offer that. 

That all sounds very wholesome! What are your favourite things you’re cooking with at the moment?

Erin: I’m cooking lots of dried lavender, which we grew over summer – you can hang up and dry it, and then use it all winter long to enhance flavour. It has quite a similar flavour profile to rosemary, so it’s great to use with lamb or with carrots or in desserts with chocolate. Then the other flower is magnolia – it will probably be almost coming out in London now. It has a delicious gingery citrus flavour, which is amazing made into syrup. I’m going to make a magnolia Moscow Mule for our next supper club. 

Jo: There’s not much growing in the garden at the moment, the one thing is Jerusalem artichokes. We dig those up in the middle of the winter, they are delicious roasted, in soup, or sliced up and eaten raw. 

Greenwashing is a huge problem across all industries. How can people spot the places that are doing things right? 

Erin: Try and look for places where, on the menus, they have chosen things that are in season – green beans and asparagus are a pet peeve for me, getting air freighted in. Get vaguely familiar with what’s in season in the part of the world you live in. And if you can, support restaurants that are supporting organic growers, and the ones that have a genuine connection with the producers they’re working with.

Jo: In some ways in Northern Ireland we’re very lucky because it is such a tiny place – it certainly struck me when we moved over that a year into running the business I felt like we knew everyone. We managed to make all these connections, and we’re lucky to have a network of producers doing good stuff round a small city like Belfast. Greenwashing is an issue in every industry. I was quite keen on the term regenerative agriculture, and then I saw it on a Guinness advert… I thought: it’s time to find a new term!

Featured image: The Edible Flower

The post Flower Power: Jo Facer and Erin Bunting on Cooking with Edible Flowers appeared first on Country and Town House.