A big thank you to Furness Building Society for their continued support.

A great start to the year courtesy of a "Furness 150 Community Giveaway" award we have received from Furness Building Society. Thank you.

What to do in the garden in December?

There is always something to be doing in the garden, whether it's pruning, tidying or sowing, so Thompson and Morgan put together their top gardening tasks for December.

For full details please visit the Thompson and Morgan website here.

Time to try our new incinerator bin

Maintaining our wildlife boundary

There are still a few leaves left on our shrubs

Installing edging to some of our lawned areas

Topping up the raised planters with fresh top soil

Winter colour under our hedging borders

Carry on growing in the poly tunnel

Winter crops surviving the storm weather

Preparing mondo grass in the poly tunnel

Early morning webs

Growing well in October

Growing crops in containers and small spaces

We don’t all have the space for a vegetable patch or an allotment, but many varieties of salad, vegetable and fruit will flourish in containers and it doesn’t take up much space. There is plenty of free information and expert advice (following the links below) if you want to grow crops in containers or raised planters:

Royal Horticultural Society - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=527#section-3

BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_cropsinpots1.shtml

Vertical Veg - http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/ten-great-crops-to-grow-in-containers/

Thompson and Morgan - http://www.thompson-morgan.com/top-10-easy-to-grow-vegetables

Wild About Gardens Week Monday 26th – Friday 30th October

Wild About Gardens Week Monday 26^th – Friday 30^th October, is an initiative designed to encourage people to support local biodiversity in their gardens. This year's focus is on what you can do to encourage hedgehogs into your garden! 

Visit the Wild About Gardens website here to find out what you can do to help and to download free information, ideas and advice.

Autumn butterflies

Top 10 winter vegetables - Free advice from Thompson and Morgan

There is no need to let your vegetable plot stand empty over the winter months, there are plenty of vegetables that can be grown throughout the colder months. Most winter vegetables are fully hardy and can be planted or sown outdoors.

Thompson and Morgan have produced a list of their top ten vegetables which can be grown over the winter months. For more details please visit their website here.

All the leaves are brown.........

Autumn colour

Slow worms taking advantage of the autumn sun

Time to build another mini beast hotel

A hoverfly enjoys our late flowering calendula

Autumn leaves

Strawberries taking advantage of the autumn sun

A most welcomed visit

A welcomed visit of students and support staff from George Hastwell and Sandside Lodge schools.

The visit had been arranged to allow the students the opportunity to have a look around the garden and take some photographs, so they can get some ideas about what they could do with a planned garden area at college.

Feels like summer........looks like autumn

Berries and musk mallow on our wildlife banking areas

Shades of autumn

Our phacelia continues to attract pollinators

Nominations for the 2016 Love Barrow Awards are now OPEN!

Our friends from Cadas preparing winter crops

Harvesting tomatoes in the poly tunnel

Adding colour to the grow your own scheme courtesy of Greengate Junior School

Preparing for the cooler weather

Now that colder weather is approaching there's plenty to be doing in the garden, whether it's planting bulbs, harvesting vegetables before the first frost, sowing hardy annuals, or pruning and tidying, so Thompson and Morgan have put together their top gardening tasks for October.

For free information and advice please visit the Thompson and Morgan website here.