Garden News - October 2025

This year’s phenomenal crop of apples, together with the warm sunshine on the day, meant a brilliant turnout for our popular open day.

Volunteers went above and beyond, baking delicious cakes, preparing hearty soups, and keeping the stalls and apple press running smoothly.

We had a record number of visitors, reflected in the takings (almost double compared to last year!). Mary Tobin from Mary Makes Jam sold out of her produce, as did all the food and juice.

She generously donated half her takings to the garden and half to a local women’s shelter.

Charlotte from Earthlings Outdoor Learning (pictured on the left below) provided a peaceful space for the younger children to play and create away from the hubbub.

Both our presses were flat out all day, producing bottle after bottle of juice. Mark at the bottling station did a fantastic job keeping up with demand.

Thanks to all the lovely people who made this a very special day.

Cheers!

What Happened Next…

We like to make the most of our presses, so this year we lent one to the first Shalford Orchard Apple Day and we also hosted the Camberley Nepalese group for a fun-filled extra pressing.

And the sixth-formers from RGS and GHS enjoyed processing the last of the windfalls during their volunteer shift.

Kate caught her chickens that she brought up for the day to clear the fruit cage.

And local pigs have tucked into the apple chips.

More pics and pigs from “Apple Pressing & Open Afternoon” over on our Instagram and/or Facebook page.

🌱GARDEN NEWS

by Clare Millington

It’s starting to feel really autumnal now, and the late warm weather and soft rains have given the garden a boost, producing some gorgeous blooms for the pollinators. The sedums, sunflowers, geraniums, and cosmos are particularly striking.

We still have a decent amount of apples and pears in the orchard, and the dye bed just keeps on flowering! We’re definitely going to thread the coreopsis and dyer’s chamomile through the other beds next summer, they are just incredible.

In the polytunnel, the winter salads are very well established and, with this continued warmth, we’ll be getting small harvests before the days get too short. There will hopefully be bumper amounts in the spring.

This time of year we can take a step back, look at what we’ve learnt, and make plans for the winter. We are busy collecting and saving seed for planting or sharing, cutting back dead stalks, and clearing, weeding, and covering the beds.

The perennial broccoli is ready to be planted into its final place. This variety ‘Nine Star’ produces huge yields and forms a large bush, so we’ll make a clump in the forest garden. It’ll need protecting from the birds over the winter, as they tend to strip the brassicas when food is scarce.

The raised beds have done well this year and are now ready to be cleared and topped up with manure and compost. Ann has planted green manures in one of them, and we can plant the broad beans once the others are clear.

Mike has started scything the orchard, so we’re using the cut grass to cover some of the beds. This worked well last year and kept the weeds down until we plant again in the spring.

John Draper, one of the spoon carvers, has donated a lovely piece of stained glass for the window in the Hub. It’s great to have some colour there, especially on grey, wintry days. John also made our much-admired wooden sign outside the Hub.

Thanks, John!

👩🏻‍🌾OCTOBER JOBS AT THE GARDEN

• Collect, save and label dry seed on dry days

• Cut down spent plants - clear beans, squash plants, asparagus etc

• Harvest raspberries and apples and pears

• Collect manure from next door

• Cover empty beds with mulch and cardboard 

• Water salads and plants in poly-tunnels if dry