Blackshaw Optimistic Gardeners

Added Tuesday, 8 May 2007

BOGs Plant Sale on Saturday, 12th May

Gardening "on the tops" at a thousand or more feet above sea level presents its own set pf problems. Quite apart from the obvious ones of extreme weather and exposure, there are particular difficulties if, for instance, you don’t have a mains water supply and every drop of spring water is a precious reserve for which the garden has to be the last in the queue, or you start to dig a new vegetable plot only to hit bedrock about six inches down!

In Blackshawhead, Hebden Bridge, a group of enthusiastic gardeners have begun meeting every month to share their experiences of growing against the odds. BOGs (Blackshaw Optimistic Gardeners) get together on the third Wednesday of each month at eight, usually in the New Delight Inn, where they exchange advice, ideas and cuttings, and invite speakers on a range of gardening topics.

During the summer they plan to visit each others’ gardens to see at first hand how their neighbours manage to cope with the conditions. The next meeting is on Wednesday 16th. May when main topics will be flowers, herbs and companion planting. For further information call Phil on 844871.

In the meantime, this coming Saturday (12th May) they will be swapping plants big-time at the annual Plant Sale and Craft Fair at Blackshawhead Chapel from 12 noon till 4. All the plants on offer are locally grown and generously donated by local gardeners, and therefore known to survive and thrive in Blackshawhead conditions. Always a popular event, the fair also includes exhibitions by local artists and crafts-workers, and the renowned Pats’ Pantry lunches and teas, and is to raise funds for the next stage of the renovation of the Chapel. Pay them a visit; who knows - the weather could be glorious, the plants, artwork and food is  bound to be!