Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog March 2026
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It’s mid-March in the Garden and there are fresh shoots everywhere. ‘Summoner’ (pictured), by the late sculptor Alan Thornhill, calls us in to see the first signs of Spring. There are splashes of colour in the beds now, as the garden begins to wake up after long months of grey clouds and rain. It’s a cheery sight!
We’ve had a fairly quiet time, jobs-wise, for the last few weeks - but now, the garden reminds it’s never really still...there are changes each day. And colour! Here are oranges and reds of hellebores and erysimums, yellow Emperor and Empress daffodils, and the bright white flowers of Magnolia stellata.
And so we’ve been trimming topiary, pruning trees, potting up seedlings, weeding and preparing beds for the veg.; Geoff has given the lawn its first trim of the year and Helen has ensured the apricot flowers have been pollinated, by using a paintbrush….
Meanwhile, in the Shed, Susan checks and stocks up the seeds. She quietly prepares them for sale, busy even as we pause for morning tea and biscuits…and she has shared her thoughts in this poem:
Susan in the shed
Seed Harvest
Stacked trays hold the drying bounty
Fingers run down stalks to detach dead heads
Multiple actions to empty seeds from pods
Squeezing, popping, scratching
And sieving to separate seeds from chaff
All satisfying sensations.
Transformed bounty emerges to store in marked envelopes
A snip at 50p, a wonder
For next year’s growth.
Visit the Museum regularly and follow the Walled Garden’s progress. In March, there are new flowers and scents very day….
