Blooming May!

What a difference a month makes. The hunkered-down flower beds responded to the warmth of the past month and burst out with an exuberant display that we know will continue all summer. Here is a selection of photographs taken in the past week.

The two plant sales tables (top and bottom of the garden) are now stocked full so do come and see what is happening and take some of our garden home with you. You can book a visit here.

The auricula theatre blew down in one of the spring gales, taking with it all the terracotta pots (smash!). We repaired and reinforced it and the theatre now shows off our summer-time display of succulents (and a few repurposed terracotta pieces). The second half of our photographic tour takes you behind the scenes - to some very murky places! Everyone has been working hard, as usual, though in sunhats this week rather than weatherproofs - we are definitely all-weather volunteers.

Geoff's new dahlia bed was filled with our own compost, which was an impressive consequence of careful management. For the past few months we have been soaking roots, weeds in trugs hidden behind the compost bins. This is an experiment devised by our organic gardener Sarah. Recently she decanted the Weed Soup, as she has dubbed it, and poured the resulting juice on to the compost heap. Thick, black, smelly, and full of goodness. Sarah's advice has transformed the way we work and the garden's organic fruit and veg will be on sale as the summer progresses.

Happy Gardening, from the Walled Garden Volunteers