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Preparing for Winter and Beyond. Sustainability in Harewood’s Gardens.

Photo credit Trevor Nicholson

Harewood’s Head Gardener Trevor Nicholson takes us through new processes and methods being implemented across the Gardens, as Harewood looks to the future and more sustainable ways of caring for its Gardens and Grounds. 

As autumn gives way to winter, the Grounds and Gardens teams have been very busy, ably assisted by our loyal and enthusiastic band of volunteers. For the grounds team this means the removal of a huge quantity of fallen leaves from Harewood’s verdant lawns. The collected leaf litter is a valuable source of leaf mould for the gardens.

Having made the decision a few months earlier to change the way we grow our vegetables in the Walled Garden to something approaching the ‘no-dig’ system, every leaf – in fact, every scrap of green garden waste – has become significantly more precious to us as a renewable source of organic matter to be re-purposed as a growing medium.

Although we’ve been making compost for many years, the real difference is in the way we now apply it – and why. Call it what you will: ‘no dig’, ‘no till’, ‘reduced tillage’ etc, there are numerous labels; but they all mean pretty much the same thing: put away the spade and stop turning over and chopping up the garden soil year after year!

Photo credit Trevor Nicholson

Regularly digging over and breaking up the soil impacts on the soil ecosystem by disturbing complex ‘food webs’ – interrelations between a multitude of soil organisms and mycorrhizal fungi, which live symbiotically with plants. Leaving the soil undisturbed and placing organic matter onto the surface not only prevents stored carbon from the soil being released into the atmosphere through digging, it also provides optimum conditions to enable the community of soil organisms to flourish.

The beneficial effect of these soil organisms includes increasing the fertility of the soil and improving its structure. One of the most important environmental benefits of adopting this method of surface ‘mulching’ is the retention of soil moisture, which not only saves water, but also reduces soil erosion and helps prevent the silting up of rivers and drainage systems.

Another added benefit to the gardener of applying organic matter to the soil as a surface ‘mulch’ is the control of weeds. This method need not be confined to the vegetable garden. We are experimenting in some areas of the Himalayan Garden with the use of waste cardboard re-purposed as a biodegradable ground cover, which is being placed between plants and topped off with sieved leaf mould.

The composting of our green garden waste and the recycling of biodegradable materials really underpins much of what we are doing in the gardens – now and in the future – as we set our focus on working in ever more sustainable ways and having environmentally considered methods at the forefront of our  thinking.

Getting Hands-On During National Volunteer Week

Volunteering at Harewood

There are over 200 active volunteers working in the Harewood House Trust, giving around 20,000 hours of free support each year to maintain and promote the House, the Gardens and the Bird Garden.

During National Volunteer Week at the beginning of June, members of the Harewood House Senior Management team turned their backs on their paperwork to get hands-on with the volunteers, and spent a half day working side by side in an area very different to their own.

Over ten members of staff took part, which included Trust Director Jane Marriott picking up a spade in the Walled Garden and putting in some of the groundwork ahead of the soon-to-open Seeds of Hope exhibition. Damian Clements, Head of Finance, cast aside his numbers to lead a new charge – that of the Shuttle bus that transports visitors around the Estate. And Trevor Nicholson, Head Gardener, buried his head in the Spanish Library, researching plants from 1918 together with weather conditions recorded in journals during that time, ahead of the new exhibition.

Many volunteers have been with the Trust for over ten years, with new volunteers joining all the time. They possess such a wealth of knowledge of the Collections, of stories relating to people and places and in addition to that, a real passion, dedication and commitment to their work.

The experience across National Volunteer Week was a huge success and the plan is to roll the opportunity out to further staff members across the Trust.

Volunteering at Harewood

Damian Clements, Head of Finance; “This was a great initiative. I had a fantastic experience with Skipper Tim. It was lovely to spend a couple of hours seeing what he gets up to on his rounds and there’s even more to it than I realised.”

Comment from Jules Caton, Interim Marketing Advisor; “I found it a real privilege to spend the time feeding chickens, meeting goats and collecting eggs and I very much enjoyed meeting the team who were working in the Walled Garden. This was a great experience.”

To keep up to date with news and behind the scenes from the Harewood House Trust, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Walled Garden update…heritage varieties and organic techniques to prevent pests

Since we’ve had all that rain and, now that the sun has come out, the vegetable crops are growing really well in the Walled Garden!

Releasing ladybirds
Simpson Lettuce
Carot-fly barrier protects crops without using chemicals
Globe Artichokes
Grape Vines in the Glasshouses (not currently accesible to visitor, but watch this space!)
Lettuce Rows
Onions growing well…

We’re using various organic techniques to prevent pests, including putting fine gauze around the carrot plots to act as a barrier against carrot root fly.

There are some interesting heritage varieties to be seen now too. On some of the indoor crops, instead of using chemicals to control pests such as ‘mealy bugs’ we are using a specially-bred ladybird which eats them!

Visit the Walled Garden at Harewood…

Read more about the Walled Garden including videos, recipes and more!

Strawberries on the way…!

In the strawberry patch in our Walled Garden there are absolutely loads of strawberries forming!

Strawberries – fruits flowering after pollination by the bumblebees!

There are only a few flowers left to be pollinated, the rest have been and the fruits are now forming and gradually dropping under their own weight down onto the straw mulch as they swell.

We just need the sun to come out and ripen them, then you’ll be able to buy your own fresh punnet from our shop…mmm!

Read more about our Gardens including videos and recipes on our website…

Developments in the Walled Garden at Harewood…

The ‘Dig for Victory’ bed is starting to show results…with peas, beans and potatoes looking promising…

As well as the three varieties we are growing as part of the ‘Dig for Victory’ plot, we have a further ten different varieties of potato growing in the Walled Garden.

Crops in the Walled Garden are all labelled so you can take a look for yourself and get tips and ideas for growing in your own garden!

Gardeners are always on hand and happy to answer questions too…

The Walled Garden is a hive of activity throughout the Summer months, harking back to its heyday when it would have been the centre of food production for the Estate.

Some of the varieties we grow…


Arran Victory was bred in the Isle of Arran by Donald Mackelvie. Victory, the oldest of the “Arrans” still grown, was named in 1918 in celebration of the ending of the war. It is rare and is one of only two blue skinned varieties still available for general cultivation. It is high yielding given a long season.


Home Guard. This first early variety was first introduced in 1942 and was grown by Jeremy Shirley’s father in the late 1940’s – the Dad’s Army Days!
Home Guard is a superior potato of excellent flavour that does not go floury like some varieties. Both the skin and flesh is pure white. High yielding and with good resistance to scab, this explains why this popular wartime variety found huge commercial success – and has continued to remain one of the gardener’s favourites since WWII.

Kelvedon Wonder has been a favourite with gardeners for many years. It is an early variety but is suitable for successional sowings throughout the season.

Bean, Broad
Green Windsor. Those of you old enough to recall those great old days of English gastronomy just after the last war will remember that the choice of starters for a 3-course, table d´hote (à la carte had yet to be invented) meal was either fruit juice or the ubiquitous Brown Windsor Soup. Introduced in 1831, this ever popular variety was once one of the main ingredients of said soup.


You can read more about the Walled Garden on our website, including the free beekeeping demonstrations run by the Harrogate & Ripon Beekeepers Association which take place in the Walled Garden on Saturdays from now for the rest of the Summer.

Enjoy the Gardens at Harewood this Summer!

Read more about the Gardens at Harewood here…