Harvest Festival of Flowers

 
Our Floristry department was approached by Askham Bryan church to see if they could help with decorating the church and grounds in preparation for their Harvest Festival.

 

The Level 2 Diploma in Floristry students created some beautiful and imaginative Autumn-inspired displays including these fantastic pumpkins!

 

On Thursday they visited the church to install the decorations in preparation for the festival this Sunday. The church looked fantastic when they had finished and will be enjoyed by many people over the coming weekend.

Bouquets Galore!

Last week Floristry tutor Kate Pepper, along with the help of Glasshouse technicians Janet Newton-Storey, Aaron Hickman and Jo Untisz spent the day putting together 32 identical bouquets for a North Yorshire Coucil event that was being held at the College. The bouqets were to be presented to foster carers who had earned a 'long service' award for ther dedication to fostering. We wanted to make them look extra special as they were for such a worthwhile cause so chose bright cheery pinks complimented by zingy limes.

 

Aaron had never made a bouquet before and was very proud when he completed his first one!

 

As well as large orders like this, the floristry department can also make individual bouquets for special occasions. Just contact Tamsin on 01904 772308 or e-mail tamsin.hullah@askham-bryan.ac.uk with your requirements.

Ex-Horticulture Students Reunite

This weekend Askham Bryan College Horticulture from
40 years ago enjoyed re-visiting their old haunts during a tour of the campus by Horticulture & Landscape Industries Section Leader, David Campbell. 
A fantastic day was had by all. 

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/