Buckingham Garden Centre

Garden Organic (formerly known as the Henry Doubleday Research Association) is the UK's leading organic growing charity. The charity has been at the forefront of the organic horticulture movement for 60 years and has more than 20,000 members across the UK and overseas.

Dedicated to promoting organic gardening in homes, communities and schools, the charity encourages people to grow the most sustainable way and demonstrates the lasting benefits of organic growing to the health and wellbeing of individuals and the environment.

Garden Organic is also home to the Heritage Seed Library - an innovative seed saving and conservation initiative that protects rare vegetable varieties that may otherwise have been lost forever.

Supported by more than 150 volunteers across the UK, the Heritage Seed Library grows and saves vegetable varieties that are no longer listed for commercial sale. Rather than simply storing them, like a seed bank, the Heritage Seed Library shares surplus seed with members, getting these precious varieties back out and growing in gardens and allotments up and down the country.

The charity also runs a number of local projects, supporting communities with organic gardening and composting, and campaigns on matters important to sustainable gardening.

For more information, or details on how to join the charity to access its wealth of organic growing advice, please visit www.gardenorganic.org.uk.

Garden Organic started life in 1958 as a result of the inspiration and initiative of one man, Lawrence Hills. As a horticulturalist he had a keen interest in organic growing, but he earned his living as a freelance journalist writing for The Observer, Punch and The Countryman.

The charity was conceived as a membership organisation - a club for experimental gardeners. Because Lawrence only had access to a limited amount of growing space at the headquarters in Bocking, Essex, members were encouraged to do experiments in their own gardens and report their findings back - creating one of the first examples of 'citizen science', which still forms an important part of the charity today.

The charity grew steadily in the 1960s, but really took off in the mid-1970s when 'growing your own' surged in popularity. The Heritage Seed Library was set up 1975 to protect hundreds of vegetable varieties endangered by new EU regulations.Garden Organic has been sharing best practice organic growing advice ever since, based on the findings of citizen science and formal research. Today, Garden Organic has 20,000 members based across the UK who all share the organisation's belief that following organic methods is the most sustainable way to garden and protect nature's precious biodiversity.

Garden Organic's Vision

Garden Organic's Vision is of a healthy and sustainable world that has embraced organic growing.

Mission

Garden Organic's Mission is to promote and advance the use of organic growing with its benefits for plants, people and communities.

Purpose

Garden Organic's Purpose is to get more people growing organically.

Visit Garden Organic

Garden Organic is based at Ryton Gardens, just outside Coventry. The charity maintains an organic demonstration garden designed to educate and inspire visitors, giving practical advice they can take back to their own growing spaces, whatever the size.

The charity runs garden tours throughout the year, from March to October, where visitors enjoy an exclusive tour around the garden from our Head Gardener, Emma O'Neill, or one of the garden team.

Garden Organic also has a series of practical organic growing workshops covering topics from creating a climate resilient garden and growing vegetables all year round, to a seed saving masterclass given by experts from the Heritage Seed Library.

For information and booking, visit www.gardenorganic.org.uk/events

Location

Address: Garden Organic, Ryton Gardens, Wolston Lane, Coventry, CV8 3LG

Tel. 024 7630 3517

Email: enquiries@gardenorganic.org.uk