The Malvern Autumn Show is on the 25th and 26th of September at the Three Counties Showground.
The show is not just for garden lovers it is also full of everything we love about nature, including food and drink. And this year you could win a day at River Cottage when you book your tickets.
It is worth remembering that if you are a member of the RHS you can get discount on all the gardening shows throughout the year including the Malvern Autumn Show. Not a member? Join today.
There’s lots to do and see at the show this year, here’s just a small sample.
The ‘Good Life’ Pavilion introduces a taste of Italy with River Cottage head gardener Mark Diacono and BBC Gardeners World Presenter Joe Swift.
Gardens are great equalizers; they’re also places where people can get a second chance. Today was the annual harvest festival and graduation ceremony at the Cook County Jail’s garden. Really, they need to start calling it an urban farm, a working urban farm. As I blogged about last year, the jail garden constructed a greenhouse and moved ahead with plans to sell produce grown at the jail garden. Charlie Trotter’s and The Publican are two local restaurants that purchased produce grown at the jail garden this year. The bulk of the edible plants grown at the Cook County jail garden were started by detainees from seeds donated by Renee’s Garden, who sells culinary herb and vegetable seeds. Read more…
Deluxe Grow Box on the left, A Garden Patch’s Grow Box on the right. I am simultaneously a lover and hater of gimmicky garden tools, especially items that purport to make gardening easier. Gardening is already easy, so a lot of garden products get a big eye roll from me. Whenever I heard gardeners talk about sub-irrigation planters like the Grow Box I had to roll my eyes. I mean, just how bad of a gardener do you have to be that a traditional container, or even a repurposed one, doesn’t suffice? For a while I wondered just how easy this products made container gardening and growing vegetables. Read more…
Young and young at heart urban gardeners in North Lawndale garden tour
Last month I had the pleasure of attending the North Lawndale Greening Committee’s garden tour. It was a change from doing the North Dearborn Garden Walk. The gardens themselves weren’t much different, larger mostly, but the vibe was noticeably different. This garden tour was like visiting the gardens of friends you’ve known a long time. Among the gardens we toured where backyard gardens, a community garden, a garden built on an empty lot, the African heritage garden and the preSERVE garden. The preSERVE community garden in North Lawndale is a new urban greening effort. Read more…
This summer Chicagoans have been treating community gardens like personal food banks. After spending their summer carefully cultivating fruits, herbs and vegetables, some community gardeners are being beaten to the harvest by vegetable thieves. While not as expensive as rubies, diamonds and emeralds, these tomatoes, cucumbers and melons are just as tempting and pricey. Heirloom plants and seeds that are all the rage can be more expensive than recent cultivars. These plants that new community gardeners favor sell for top dollar at farmers markets around Chicago. Then th Read more…