Visit Richard 24 March 2013

On Sunday 24 March we visited Richard Kent's fig garden at Lindisfarne

In recent times we have had so much luck with the weather during our food garden visits that no one could complain when in the hours before the visit to Richard's garden it became windy, cloudy and it started raining. Add to this the fact that this was a food garden visit focused on one subject (figs) and I did not expect a big turnout.

It was therefore great to see around 25 people turn up for what became a really interesting morning about figs and so many other garden subjects that were discussed informally by those who came.

To newcomers our garden visits may seem to lack organisation, because no one opens or closes the meeting and makes any formal announcements or speeches. Often we find that even the garden host is seemingly ignored by some in the crowd. But herein may lie the key to the success of these visits. They are informal and allow networking and sharing of ideas and questions by anyone about anything.

Richard (red coat) shared with us his significant knowledge regarding the cultivation of figs and this was of great help to all of us. Richard has agreed to do a blog post on figs with me in the near future.

The first photo of this series shows in the background an enormous net over the biggest of Richard's trees. This tree is only around 12 years old.

Richard has a number of fig-tree varieties and sells fig trees and figs at the Farm Gate Market, various other markets and from his home at Lindisfarne. Some of us decided to buy a young fig tree from him there and then.

Many thanks to all those who brought garden produce and morning tea. It was all very yummy and many of us went home with something they had not brought. Also many thanks to Richard for hosting this visit and all his efforts for morning tea, and a special thanks to his Chilean friend Rosa, who was a wonderful help.

This text was previously published on the Food Garden Group blog. It was written by Max Bee.