The Royal Horticultural Society is launching National Gardening to get the nation growing.
The RHS is calling on nurseries, plant centres, gardeners, clubs, charities, schools and media to join in and celebrate the week by opening gardens, holding events and providing advice. National Gardening Week wants to encourage everyone to take part and grow flowers, shrubs, trees, fruit, herbs and vegetables.
Over National Gardening Week, the RHS will aim to share its wealth of knowledge with every gardener across the nation. Anyone will be able to use its border-boosting service for advice to brighten and enhance borders, speak to the Compost Clinic for solutions to compost problems, and get in touch to find the perfect climbers and shrubs for walls or fences. There will be a daily Facebook question time where any problem will be answered by the RHS science and garden teams.
The charity will also be offering 20,000 starter packs with seeds, organising a career day at all four of its gardens and holding masterclasses, including a workshop on seed raising. The week will coincide with the launch of the charity’s nationwide RHS Britain in Bloom campaign, when millions of people get together to improve community spaces.
RHS Vice President, Alan Titchmarsh, told The Landscaper, “This week is about highlighting the importance of gardeners and gardening. I hope that all areas of the gardening world, from industry and horticultural colleges to charities and gardeners, embrace the opportunity and use it to promote the importance and joy of growing plants.
”It’s also a chance to get the nation to consider just what part growing things can play in society.”
To join in visit www.rhs.org.uk/NationalGardeningWeek
nationalgardeningweek@rhs.org.uk
(National Gardening Week 16 to 22 April 2012)