Roots and Shoots, a hidden gem
Although not usually accessible to the public, Alnwick’s Roots and Shoots garden has none the less become a popular attraction through school visits and organised family activity days. Whenever I’ve taken visitors behind the scenes to see this vegetable garden and teaching resource, they too have been impressed.
In complete contrast to The Alnwick Garden’s exciting 21st century Garden landscape, the Roots and Shoots garden reflects the traditional kitchen garden which lay here once before. It is however infused with present day aids and is a place for gleaning ideas relating to good cultivation. There is much to see.
Raised island beds in solid timber, which almost reach waist height, could so easily be adapted for a disabled gardener intent on growing food crops. Smaller versions, set at ground level and only one metre square, are designated ‘lunchbox beds’ and planted up by children from schools throughout the North. What fun to grow a range of rapidly-maturing salad crops in them!
Innovation comes in the form of protective fleece, draped over the spot where carrots and parsnips have been sown. Both crops are traditionally plagued by the carrot fly whose resultant larvae ruin the roots. But not when the fleece is in place. It lets in light, air and water; everything but the pest. With a little adjustment the plants will accept complete cover from sowing to harvesting.
With chemical sprays a no-no, several green deterrents are in evidence. Most evident of these is the model eagle owl perched on a post. More effective are the compact discs dangling on strings and pungent tagetes (French marigold) used as companion plants.
Huge pumpkins, marrows, gourds and squashes are revealed as autumn winds decimate their leaves, and visiting children can see at a glance how these Halloween essentials are grown.
Then it’s onward to the poly-tunnel, and the countless delights within. “How novel it is to grow such a demanding crop as tomatoes in nothing other than straw bales,” one visitor remarked. But he had not noticed the network of pipes overhead that offered water and sustenance, nor the cucumbers, peppers, chilli, Chinese gooseberry and melons, all in rude health.
Some children, perhaps adults too, will not have seen so many sweetheart melons growing up a framework as there are here, or had the opportunity to handle them and experience the rich fragrance of ripening. The large poly-tunnel has been a success, bringing an extra dimension to the range of plants we can grow. That another of similar dimension appears to have sprung up alongside during summer, simply heightens the level of anticipation.
To say that the Roots and Shoots garden has been a success is an understatement. Wearing my Northumbria in Bloom hat, I have encountered photographic displays of visits in several schools throughout the region. They all speak warmly of the experience.
Of course The Alnwick Garden is a charitable trust, and it’s only thanks to generous donors like the Shears Foundation, Sanofi Aventis and the Northumberland Care Trust that projects like Roots and Shoots are possible.
By Tom Pattison, a garden correspondent, a member of The Garden Media Guild, a Northumbria in Bloom judge and a gardening volunteer at The Alnwick Garden