National Gardening Week 2024
RHS National Gardening Week has begun — and we couldn’t be more excited.
One of our favourite weeks of the year, National Gardening Week is the perfect opportunity to share your love of gardening, raise awareness of its health benefits and celebrate all things green.
Since 2011, NGW has helped spread the joy of gardening and bring communities together through garden development projects and educational workshops on everything from flower care to the best way to attract wildlife. Whether you’re a seasoned green thumb or a complete beginner, there are plenty of ways to get involved in the National Gardening Week festivities this year.
What is National Gardening Week?
Running from April 29th to May 5th this year, National Gardening Week is more than a reminder to water your houseplants, it’s a chance for people of all ages to get outdoors, develop new skills and connect with likeminded plant-lovers.
Across the country, schools, businesses and community centres invite local gardeners to get involved in re-wilding, pond building and planting projects, while sharing their own personal insights and experiences. Throughout the week, you can expect horticulture enthusiasts to share tips and tricks on transforming your garden, growing delicious fruit and vegetables and enjoying the wide range of perfectly cultivated gardens and nature walks you can visit.
This year, the RHS is celebrating National Gardening Week with the theme ‘Knowledge is Flower.’ Experts at the RHS will be debunking common garden myths and demystifying the wonderful, but occasionally intimidating, world of gardening. Get ready to learn about everything from innovative fertilisation tips to what makes a great homemade weed killer to the surprising benefits of slugs.
Where to celebrate National Gardening Week
There are so many ways to celebrate National Gardening Week.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) hosts a number of brilliant events, headlined this year by their Big Seed Sow.
The Big Seed Sow takes place throughout NGW, encouraging school and community gardeners to transform their local areas and build gardening groups to maintain them - this year with a focus on water-wise growing. There are lots of ways to get involved in the Big Seed Sow at home too, from neighbourhood projects to sowing 2024’s chosen seeds.
| Here at Agriframes, we’re celebrating NGW by planting in the latest additions to our Zinc Planter range and preparing for Chelsea Flower Show on the 21st May (click here for a full list of shows we’re attending this year - we'd love to see you there!) |
Of course, there’s more ways to get involved with National Gardening Week than through RHS events. Our friends at the National Garden Scheme have a great guide to finding stunning gardens perfect for a bank holiday walk, available to visit with or without a prior booking. Take a look at the gardens in your local area, and see whether they and other nature institutions are holding NGW-adjacent events.
Some of our favourite NGS walks
How to make the most of National Gardening Week at home
There are plenty of ways to get involved with National Gardening Week from the comfort of your own home. After all, why visit a garden when you can make your own as luxurious, colourful or wildlife-friendly as you want!
Working around the weather
It’s been a bit of a wet and windy Spring so far, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay indoors!
You might not have had the opportunity to properly get out in your garden or allotment this year, with April showers disrupting your flow and softening the ground. Now’s the time to clean away any remaining debris (dead leaves, branches and displaced soil) and have your brand new fruit cage installed before the sun settles into its summer groove.
As April turns into May, it’s a great opportunity to sow your hardy annuals and wild flowers. Ensure you’re keeping pesky weeds in check by hoeing the ground and digging them out this weekend. Likewise, overcrowded clumps of daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs will benefit from some delicate dividing.
Watch out for late frosts that might hamper the growth of tender plants — laying bark can help insulate these. Potato plants will need earthing up this month to protect early shoots from frost damage and avoid exposing developing potatoes to sunlight.
Take advantage of dry days to mow your lawn — but you might want to leave some areas uncut for wildlife to thrive.
Using structure to transform your garden
For many of us, space (or lack of it) is the main barrier to the garden of our dreams. We can’t all have grand estates with room for a fresh-to-the-kitchen vegetable patch. Garden structures offer a great way to maximise your garden and let your creativity shine this National Gardening Week.
Well-placed Metal Garden Trellises can turn an unsightly garden shed or weather-worn fence into a beautiful canvas for climbing roses. A simple way to experiment with the vertical potential of your garden while adding effortless elegance.
A Monet Arch can help you fully realise the growth potential and scope of your garden, achieving a 360 experience for visitors. Even the most compact gardens can be transformed into an experience with an extravagant entrance or walkway through your carefully cultivated flower garden.
Four easy things to do at home this weekend
National Gardening Week and a Bank Holiday go together like soil and water! Here are four easy ways to get your loved ones involved at home this weekend:
- Plant a tree: You might not have fully-grown oak by the time Monday rolls around, but planting a tree is a great way to mark National Gardening Week.
- Install a pond: Kids will love this nature-friendly project (not to mention the frogspawn and dragonflies it’ll attract throughout the year).
- Craft a wildlife sanctuary: Bird boxes and hedgehog houses give these wonderful animals somewhere to shelter and help your private garden feel more integrated with local wildlife.
- Plant a scented garden: Plan ahead for summer evenings ahead with the gift of a sweet scented flower garden (supported by traditional plant supports).
National Gardening Week is a time when everything we love comes into full view. Much like Spring blossoming before our eyes, it’s a thrill to see so many people coming together to experience the joy of gardening at once - whether it’s turning your local pond into a frog sanctuary, transforming your green space into a community kitchen garden or just growing your first rose from a sapling. Enjoy the rest of the week!
