Magic of the Walled Garden

 My name is Christopher Raymont and I’ve been growing food organically for more than 30 years. In 2008 I was working one day each week in the Newbold Garden and now for 2009 that increases to two and a half days. After all these years I feel a very real sense of coming home to this garden and am completely inspired by the opportunity to explore the potential of this wonderful space simultaneously as a place of production and of deep healing and peace.

We celebrated the first sign of the return of Spring at the Celtic festival of Imbolc on February 1st and used it to mark the first big stepping stone on the path of renewing the walled garden. This is the completion of the restoration of the garden’s glasshouse originally used for cucumbers and grapes. Now it will be the heart of the garden’s life housing the plant propagator which will supply seedlings to fill the garden with the maximum range of seasonal produce as well as summer crops like tomatoes and cucumbers.

One of the best things about working here is the regular local volunteers and visiting Newbold working guests who between them make the whole project possible. I’m also really excited at the thought of running gardening courses in the garden and supplying produce for local consumption to support the aims of our new “Transition Town Forres” group.

At this moment having cleaned and cleared and rebuilt the infra structure we are having an enforced pause as the garden is frozen solid under a beautiful coating of snow. There is a palpable feeling of waiting and a good feeling that the Spring will be all the more dynamic and healthy after a good period of intense cold.