Ryton Gardens

Since learning of its existence while studying an organic growing module on my horticulture course four years ago, I've wanted to visit the Garden Organic garden at Ryton. Last weekend, having travelled up to Rutland for a friend's wedding party, we took the opportunity to pay Ryton Gardens a visit on the way home.

Luckily we arrived just in time to join a free tour of the gardens with the Head gardener Andy. This really made our visit as we had a proper introduction to various sections of the ten acre garden and the thinking behind the creation of each area. The gardens were quiet for a Sunday in June - the skies were overcast with the suggestion of imminent rain so our tour consisted of six plus Andy, which meant we could easily ask questions. Mostly those questions were about slugs and how to control them, with this being the wettest June ever recorded in the UK and slug and snail populations soaring.

We spent some time talking about how to use compost and how to make it, as well as looking at various (smelly) liquid feeds made by soaking bags of comfrey, nettles and manure in barrels of water. Then we moved on around the garden, from the herb garden to the tropical garden (a collaboration with local people based on plants grown in the gardens and allotments of  immigrant communities living in the UK), and on to the Biodynamic garden via a lovely small allotment-style plot and a fantastically useful Keder House, which is a kind of polytunnel made from insulating bubble wrap with drop-down sides for ventilation.

We talked about all sorts of organic growing techniques and tips, including the potential benefits of using a biodynamic sowing calendar, collecting water, the importance of crop rotation, encouraging beneficial insects, no-dig growing and seed saving, as well as the importance of wasps. We also had a satisfying scrumping session in the soft fruit garden, tasting some amazing raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries (some were just ripe enough to eat raw), blackcurrants and tayberries.

Everywhere we went, beds of vegetables and fruit bushes were surrounded by ornamental planting, sometimes subtly, sometimes in wide borders full of colour.

The rose garden was heady with fragrance at this time of year and there were lots of small greenhouses dotted around the gardens filled with tomato plants promising the riches of fruits to come. Beyond the cultivated areas were banks of nettles and other 'weeds' providing habitat for all sorts of beneficial insects.

I didn't necessarily come away from Ryton Gardens having discovered anything radically new to me as I've worked in organic growing and continue to try and expand my knowledge of organics through reading and in practice in my garden, but it is always inspiring and encouraging to visit gardens like this one and see what they do and how they do it. I came away especially inspired to collect more rainwater in the garden and make more compost! I also came away with a plant - comfrey Bocking 14, which I'll plant at the allotment for making liquid feed.