Open garden days

[Cjk85]

In town here, a couple times every year we have open garden days for people to come and look around your garden, by and large I find them really productive, people always have thousands of questions about the Aquaponics system, I have a FAQ sheet near the system so I don't have to answer as many questions.

For me it's really great because I get to see how others are growing their vegetables, but many people get involved for the landscaping side and also flowers.

Unfortunately we don't have a website for it or I would share.. Does anyone else have anything similar?

 

[Trellum]

Open garden days sound like a wonderful idea, but sadly we don't have that over here. It would be amazing tho, because it sounds like it's a wonderful way to socialize and learn more about gardening and landscapping in general. I hope I get the chance to experience that one day; it sounds awesome

 

[firelily99]

Some of the local garden clubs will have open garden tours throughout the Spring and Summer. The members welcome the public to their homes to view their gardens and its a wonderful opportunity to see some beautiful gardens and get new ideas. I've gone to a few and really got a lot out of it.

 

[claudine]

No, we don't have open garden days in Poland. I'm pretty sure most people here wouldn't feel comfortable letting strangers to their gardens. I know I wouldn't. It just seems too risky. Also, I'm not friendly enough. I don't want anyone to touch my precious miniature roses

 

[cmckinney01]

We have something similar in my area here in Upstate New York. It's more of a tour than an open garden day. People can visit other people's gardens. This is a good opportunity to learn about gardening and to get some ideas from excellent gardeners. It's also quite a compliment to the gardener if your garden is chosen as one of the ones to feature on the tour.

 

[zigs]

We have an annual Garden open day over here, one of the UK forum members opens his Garden for a charity weekend. It's open to all but the forum members get a private tour on the first day.

There's a book stall, dancers, music & drinks, all the proceeds go to a local children's charity. He also grows loads of runner beans to sell and raise money.

Usually about 20 forum members and their spouses turn up from all over the UK.

Can't put a link as its from another forum.

We have a brilliant time though

 

[Cjk85]

@zigs Other than the beans is there any fund raising going on? We usually ask for gold coin donations at each garden, the vast majority seem to be quite happy with this..

Some of the gardens also have street performers doing their various acts in some of the busier ones, it really is quite an awesome day out.

 

[Mariam]

I am so jealous, as I love to see what other people do with their house/garden. We do not have anything like that here. We do have a living history farm that does everything like the old days. They open their doors once a year in October, for the public to visit and learn. There are crafters that come in and all kinds of people. I was rather fond of the guy who made bows. How I long to have a nice bow like he made or even the shell ax thing.

 

[zigs]

@zigs Other than the beans is there any fund raising going on? We usually ask for gold coin donations at each garden, the vast majority seem to be quite happy with this..

Some of the gardens also have street performers doing their various acts in some of the busier ones, it really is quite an awesome day out.

All the drinks and book sales go to the charity too, and the entrance fee

 

[Jewell]

Our little neighborhood association has people sign up to open up their garden for one afternoon in the late spring or summer. It is fun to see what others have done to their yards, talk about plants, chickens and garden related things. No matter how simple or how elaborate it is fun to get to share.

 

[zigs]

I forgot to mention the plant swapping that goes on too, lots of the members donate plants to be sold for the charity, but there are pm's flying left right & centre for weeks beforehand and most of us turn up with the boot (trunk) full of plants, and go home with a boot full of different plants

 

[Jewell]

We have a couple of local plant swaps. For us who seem to be perpetually potting up extras instead of composting them it is a great way to unload all those extra plants. Unfortunately I/we do seem to come home with way too many. I have a dozen or so potted up plants I got from the fall plant swap still waiting to find homes in the garden. The good thing is the house got decluttered of extra house plants and someone else got to winter over the tender perennials I didn't feel like finding space for this winter.

 

[Bootsy]

Hi @Cjk85

Other than the beans is there any fund raising going on? We usually ask for gold coin donations at each garden, the vast majority seem to be quite happy with this..

Zigs was talking about my garden. We open for 6.5 hours on the Saturday and 3 hours on the Sunday and raise over £4,000.

We charge a 'donation' entry of £1 per person (children free), sell plants (well over a thousand propagated by ourselves), tea/coffee and cake, second-hand books, crafts etc. and have entertainment all day long. All helpers and entertainers give their services free of charge.

On the subject of opening gardens: It's quite a normal thing here in England. Gardens are opened individually or in groups for about six months of the year. There's even a charitable organisation called the National Garden Scheme (ngs) and they publish booklets, in every county, of the gardens that are in the scheme. It gives a description of the garden, when they're open and how much they charge to enter.

The booklets are always printed with a yellow cover and are known nationally as 'The Yellow Book'. It's not particularly easy to get into the book. The have local inspection teams that check to see whether the garden is worthy of being in the book, and that they have sufficient interest to keep visitors interested for half an hour (not too difficult). They also check the gardens from a Health and Safety aspect.

There have even been television series about people trying to get into the book. You tour round the garden with the inspectors, hear their comments and suggestions and they almost always recommend some alterations before the garden can be put in the book. You're then taken back for the follow up inspection. It's a very good programme.

 

[Pat]

I wish we had something like that in my area, I would love to have someplace like an open garden to visit.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

We don't have open garden / tours any more because of the problems with some of the visitor to the gardens. I really don't want people walking all over my plants or taking free cuttings. I'm sure it can work for other people and can be lots of fun too.