Askham Bryan College Gardening Club

Did you know the College has its very own Gardening Club? The club meets once a month on a Tueday at 7.30pm and is great for anyone who has an interest in the outdoors. There is a different expert speaker each month.TV gardener Matthew Wilson will be holding the special annual Geoffrey Smith Memorial Lecture on Tuesday 22nd October.

The club is open to anyone but students get special membership rates.

You can also welcome to attend talks as a non-member for £5 on the door.
For more information on the club please visit the website: www.abcgardeningclub.org.uk, e-mail anne.peter@ntlworld.com or telephone The Chairman on 01904 795059

More success for Jamie Butterworth

Jamie Butterworth who completed a Level 3 Diploma in Horticulture in July, is going from strength to strength and seems to be becoming a bit of a gardening celeb! Here's a recent BBC article featuring Jamie discussing his love of gardening and allotments: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23963575

Jamie has now started his dream job studying and working for the RHS at their Wisley garden.

Orchard Apples

The apples in our orchard are thriving this year due to the weather doing the right thing for once! The wet weather last year meant that what fruit there was was extremely small and rotted very quickly.
This year however, we have a bumper crop. Our apples (both cookers and eaters) are for sale from the main College reception and the GreenHouse Shop at the horticulture department.

Newly planted trees are doing well and we hope to add more varieties of apple, pear and plum in the coming year aswell as more soft fruits and some exciting nut trees.

British Geological Survey Fantastic FREE Soil App

mySoil is a new free smartphone app from the BGS and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
mySoil lets you take a soil properties map of Britain with you wherever you go, helping you learn about the soil beneath your feet.
And with your phone's GPS you'll know exactly where you are.
Soil information for Europe is also now included.

For more information got to: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mysoil/

Sucess for Askham Bryan Sports Turf Student

Sports Turf Student Ben Burrill has been given the opportunity to work at the prestigious USGA open at Merion, Pennsylvania. The course has been in the news recently due to torrential thunderstorms. It's a fantastic opportunity for Ben and a success story for his tutors.

You can see short clip of Ben discussing his work in the following video 

 

http://www.usopen.com/en_US/video/index.html

 

 

Potato Blight Research

Scientists have identfied the cause of the Irish Potato Famine of 1845.

Read more here

Congratulations to Horticulture Student Jamie Butterworth

 

A young Askham Bryan Level 3 Extended Diploma Horticulture student is making a splash at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Jamie Butterworth (18) was invited to assist in the Gold medal award winning Hillier's stand in the Great Pavillion this year. Jamie also made time to record some pieces for BBC Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time, and met his hero Alan Titchmarsh.

This September, Jamie is due to start an illustrious RHS apprenticeship at RHS Wisley.  John Hillier was so impressed with Jamie's enthusiasm and hard work that he has already booked Jamie to work with him at Chelsea next year, to the disappointment of the RHS team!

The photos show Jamie with Horticulture tutor Sarah Owen-Hughes's son Toby. Toby has won the RHS Young School Gardener of the Year and attended the Press Day at Chelsea along with Jamie and Sarah. A future student in the making!