Past Newsletters

Dear Gardening Friends

We hope that your gardens large and small are weathering the recent spate of stormy weather.  At Amisfield, the storm damage has been very limited – just the odd branch or two from the highest trees.  No doubt good luck, the high walls and trees in the neighbourhood provided the necessary protection.

As recent visitors will have noticed, there have been great developments on the greenhouse front.  We have been keen to replace our old greenhouse which was no longer safe to use, and thanks to numerous generous donations and to grant funding from Haddington and Lammermuir Area Partnership, the Mushroom Trust and the Finnis Scott Foundation, our dreams have now become reality.

The old greenhouse was dismantled with hours to spare before Storm Arwen made its presence felt.  A big thank you to all the volunteers who helped to move the glass to safety before it could be showered across the garden by the gale force winds.  Since then, the new greenhouse has arrived and is under construction.  It has already weathered Storms Corrie, Dudley and Eunice without damage – a testament to the expertise of the volunteers who have put it together!  We look forward to using the new space and to welcoming visitors into it. 

We continue to progress a number of other projects:
 
Centre circle –The paths are now complete.  The herringbone pattern has been a great success – please do walk on them and admire the handiwork!  Soon we’ll be starting to prepare the beds for planting.  We plan to plant them as potagers with mixtures of herbs, fruit bushes, ornamental vegetables and flowers.  Meanwhile we wait with anticipation for the cherry trees which we planted last year to come into blossom this spring.
 
Large Grass triangles – a generous donation has allowed us to progress our plans for the triangles.  We are creating a new woodland space as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative for the jubilee year celebrations. So far we’ve planted 20 new silver birch trees and 1000 native bluebell bulbs. We will progress work on new vegetable and cut flower gardens to complement the ones under the North wall.
 
Whilst it may be winter, there’s lots to do in the garden!  Trees have been pruned, beds cut back and weeded, willow cut and leaves swept.  There’s plenty to see too – the winter garden is full of colour and spring bulbs are beginning to flower in all corners of the garden.  A timely reminder that spring is around the corner and that we should be ordering seeds and potatoes for the new season!

Some dates for your diaries – we plan to hold an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday 9th April and an Open Garden on Saturday 11th 2022.  We will be serving teas, coffees and cakes.  Further events are planned for the summer and autumn, but we’ll advertise them in due course.

For those interested in our local wildlife, we are collaborating with the Council’s ranger service on two events:

• On Wednesday 20th April from 2-4pm – A bat workshop, including talks, the chance to make a bat box and a garden trail to explore ways to make your own garden bat friendly;

• On Friday 22nd April at 8pm – a guided walk after dark to detect and identify bats within the garden.

More details, including how to book for these events, will be published on our website shortly.

As last year, we will soon be selling plants, vegetables, cards and T-towels at the garden gate.  Please feel free to peruse.  There is an honesty box or pay via your phone using the QR code.

We look forward to seeing you soon.