Many of us are familiar with the Yeo Valley Organic brand, decking our supermarket shelves with its natural healthy food products. We may also have been lucky enough to pay the Yeo Valley Organic Garden a visit in Blagdon, Somerset, open seasonally to the public and showcasing organic gardening at its finest. This year, for the first time, Yeo Valley Organic is launching its garden festival, a three-day event with talks and panel discussions, hands-on workshops and demonstrations. All photos taken by Jonathan Buckley.
The festival takes place from September 18-20 and offers the chance to immerse yourself in all things gardening, while enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the gardens. Whatever your levels of experience or interest, there promises to be something for everyone, including music, entertainment, plenty of locally sourced food and drink options, and specialist nurseries offering seasonal plants and bulbs for sale.
The aim is to provide inspiration, information and real-life practical solutions to suit every garden and budget, and one of the highlights of this festival will be the extensive line-up of gardening experts visiting the show to share their knowledge and enthusiasm. Each day has a theme and a line-up of guest speakers, the first of which is ‘Seeds of Change’ on the Thursday, when BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Arit Anderson will take up the trowel in her talk about gardening with climate change in mind. Friday’s theme is ‘People and Pollinators’, when Alys Fowler will be among the experts, and will discuss perennial vegetables that benefit soil, pollinators and human health. On Saturday the focus is ‘Mission Possible’. Frances Tophill will be visiting and hopes to inspire new gardeners and growers. Speaking ahead of the show, she says, “I am passionate about finding and encouraging a new generation of gardeners to dig in and get their hands dirty, which really starts with the reminder that there is no right or wrong way of creating a garden.”
Other Saturday speakers include designer Tom Massey, who is well-known for his medal-winning gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and television appearances on BBC’s Your Garden Made Perfect. A strong advocate of sustainable gardening, he’ll be bringing his water-wise approach to planting design to the festival. “Gardening with nature is something we can all embrace, observing and celebrating seasonal changes, harvesting rainwater to reduce our reliance on mains water, and nurturing healthy soils,” he says.
Also joining the event will be the no-dig gardening pioneer Charles Dowding, National Trust’s head of gardens and parks Sheila Das, Becky Searle, Georgie Newbery, Jason Williams and Mark Diacono.
Yeo Valley Organic Garden covers more than six acres, and includes colour-themed borders, a tranquil grove of silver birch trees, ponds, gravel garden, wildflower meadow and garden sculpture. The garden has plenty of late-summer and autumn interest, with ferns, dahlias, wildflowers and ornamental grasses that link the garden to the landscape beyond. Planting is largely naturalistic and pollinator friendly. For more than 25 years garden creator Sarah Mead and her team have championed an organic, climate-conscious and soil-friendly approach to gardening, meaning it thrives even when rain levels are low.
One of the features of the show is the Compost Campus, and composting has always been a huge endeavour at these gardens. All the cuttings and leaves are shredded, plus there is an ample supply of farm manure from the dairy herds. This is a garden that is managed with dry weather in mind. With reference to the hosepipe bans this year, Sarah comments, “Dry spells don’t mean dull gardens. Mulching is one of the best things you can do. It locks in moisture, suppresses weeds and feeds the soil as it breaks down.”
Full festival details (18-20 September) and tickets are available from yvogardenfestival.co.uk. For more information about the gardens and visiting times, go to yeovalley.co.uk
Elly West is a professional garden designer, working in and around the Bristol area | ellyswellies.co.uk
