Secret Garden Update
Back in June, you might have seen that we acquired a new growing space for us to expand our flower production. It was a long and stressful journey to find a place for us to grow, so we were elated when we were offered a beautiful walled garden in Dore. It is approximately 1/4 acre with a small orchard at the bottom, a green house and three sheds. It is surrounded by a dry stone wall and has permanent beds and paths marked out. Since becoming guardians of this space, we have worked so hard getting it ready for its new life as a cut flower garden. This space will solely be used for the cultivation of flowers on a much larger scale than what we grow currently. Our aim is to increase our flower production so that we can expand our enterprise and the flowers that we have for sale each week. This would mean that we can deliver more groups and open days at our garden in Heeley to help support women in Sheffield and promote positive mental health through horticulture.
In its previous life, the garden was maintained and cared for by a local man who used it as his allotment. He obviously worked hard cultivating the land, as the soil is in excellent condition and there is evidence of planning and order in the layout that we inherited - we also keep finding the odd potato! When we got the keys in June, the garden was full of annual weeds. Even though there was a lot to clear, we were grateful that we didn’t find any bindweed. mares tail or couch grass (all of which we are plagued by in the Heeley garden.) Since the Summer, our dedicated team of regular volunteers have worked tirelessly to clear, dig and cultivate the new space. We have worked together to create a planting plan, collected car boots full of plants and planted hundreds of bulbs!
It truly is unbelievable how far we have already come with our secret garden. We already have masses of plants in the ground and have space ready for the seedlings growing in the greenhouse, that will be planted out in the Spring. I cannot wait to see it continue to transform and become a hive of industry and creativity in the years to come.