Category: Homepage

A list of blogs from the home page David Domoney. David is a Chartered Horticulturalist with over 40 years of experience growing and caring for plants. David has also worked on UK national television for over 2 decades. As a garden designer, David has won over 30 RHS medals for his garden designs at leading UK gardening shows and events.

Cultivation Street 2015: Meet Winners Bedford Road!

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Meet the winners of our 2015 Cultivation Street competition!

A panel of judges, including leading figures from the horticultural and sustainability industries, as well as newspaper editors, judged our incredible community gardening entries. Read on to discover their story and see the photo gallery.

And they were bowled over by the incredible gardens that belonged to residents of Bedford Road.

Their area is made up of Victorian and Edwardian terraces that have little or no front gardens.

A few years ago, major roadworks turned the area into a building site for six months.

One of the residents, David Glanville, became so frustrated he decided to take action.

David Glanville

He encouraged his neighbours to start growing plants and flowers in pots to give the street a lift.

He organised a gardening competition and got a local nursery on board to support the project. Aylett’s Garden Centre offered residents discounts on plants to get them started.

Soon other streets joined in and the neighbours formed a thriving community group. They all come together for pub drinks and ‘meet the neighbours’ events.

David said: “I am absolutely delighted that practically every house in the road is taking part in this year’s competition!”

Read more about this on the Mirror’s website.

Judges were impressed by how the whole community had come together to make the street a nicer place to live.

And it also shows what can be done even without a proper garden! All these plants are grown in containers as the garden space has no soil.

Congratulations to David and everyone taking part in and around Bedford Road!

Discover the Cultivation Street regional winners and special category winners too.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
September 14, 2015
Appearance at Haven Holidays Norfolk: Judging the gardens

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I’ve teamed up with Haven for a gardening challenge!

Holiday home owners from Haven’s four parks in the region have been challenged with creating an innovative and creative garden feature and I’m going to judge and crown one lucky winner Turf Wars Champion 2015

The event will bring together holiday home owners from Haven’s four parks in Norfolk – Hopton Holiday Village, Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park, Seashore Holiday Park and Wild Duck Holiday Park.

Haven owners use their holiday homes at the weekends and quite often stay the whole summer. There’s a real community on the parks and there are events and clubs they can join including a gardening club.

They don’t own the land around their caravans so their only option is to do a lot of container gardening which they then place around the base or verandas if they have them.

Although they lack the space enjoyed by traditional gardeners, the owners are no less green-fingered and are extremely passionate about growing.

This year, all this passion is being channelled into the first ever gardening competition among Haven owners.

The challenge for entrants is simple: put your gardening creativity and skills to the test to create your interpretation of The British Seaside Garden. Entrants must create their masterpieces within the confines of a few seaside buckets and not forgetting the spades!

Watch this space and I will publish photos of the winning buckets next month. There should be plenty of creativity to inspire you!

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August 21, 2015
Herb and spice quiz: Test your knowledge of culinary plants

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Humans have flavoured food with herbs and spices for thousands of years.

The word herb is generally used to denote the leaves of plants, while spices are made from roots, bark, fruit, stems, seeds or berries. But both terms can be used interchangeably.

Some herbs and spices are native to Britain, but many are more exotic and were brought here during the spice trade between Europe, Asia and Africa.

A huge number of herbs and spices are now in everyday use in our cooking. But how well do you know them?

Test your knowledge with our herb and spice quiz!

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July 28, 2015