News from the gardening world
New RHS venue’s design set to inspire home gardeners
The vision for a kitchen garden at the new RHS Bridgewater venue near Salford, Manchester, has been revealed after a national competition was staged to find a fitting plan. Winners Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, of the Harris Bugg Studio, came up with a design for the 11-acre walled garden that’ll push the boundaries of what can be grown in the region and showcase innovative ideas and practices.
Their proposal will make it one of the largest gardens of its kind in the UK. The historic heritage of the Worsley New Hall estate and the surrounding agricultural landscape has influenced the team’s design. Navigation around the site has been inspired by the network of canals and rivers that powered the industrial revolution of Greater Manchester, with water an important part of the design, while the arrangement of beds has been influenced by the 19th century field system.
A permaculture garden, classic fruit and vegetable patch and an ornamental productive garden will form three distinct but interdependent spaces, where instantly recognisable fruit and veg varieties will rub shoulders with more unusual varieties.
Supporting the needs of crop-plant pollinators in plantings will also be an integral element throughout. After they’re restored, the Victorian brick walls will sport a wideranging collection of fruit trees and climbing plants, pruned and trained in a variety of forms.
“Our aim is that this garden will be inspiring on many levels, with plenty of take-home ideas,” said Charlotte.
Sitting alongside the kitchen garden will be a well-being garden, community teaching allotments and Paradise Garden designed by the venue’s master planner Tom Stuart-Smith. l RHS Garden Bridgewater is scheduled to open in 2020.