As winter draws to a close and spring starts to make a tentative appearance, it is a good time to take stock in all kinds of ways.
Making plans for summer planting. Looking forward to what the year might bring. And, for the nursery, physically taking stock.
The Red Shed isn’t an ordinary nursery. We don’t have neat rows of identically sized plant pots. Here we do things differently, with the nursery stock spread around the forest garden. This makes visiting the nursery a much more natural experience, very different from visiting a plant supermarket, with their clothing store, gift shop and overpriced tea and cakes. Here visitors are offered a cup of tea, which they can enjoy while they stroll around the garden, see what the plants look like when they are growing rather than just in pots, and get real advice from Graham and the team.
The only drawback is that when the garden is in full bloom, it can be quite difficult for the Red Shed team to see exactly where the stock is! So late winter, before the leaves are on the trees and before the fruit bushes and shrubs burst into leaf, is the perfect time to take stock.
We had a great day for it, beautiful sunshine and a garden full of bird-song.
