March – Page 2 – Nags Hall Gardener

A knife, a piece of string and a shilling

Posted on 29th March 202021st February 2022 by Geoff Stebbings

One of the many characters I remember from the old days at Knights was Bert. I don’t know if I ever knew his surname and I certainly can’t remember it now – perhaps one of you know. I was endlessly fascinated by his tales of life ‘in service’ when he worked in a private estate….

Rotovating in a tight spot

Posted on 17th March 202021st February 2022 by Geoff Stebbings

One of the first jobs I did when I started at Knights was rotovating. There was an old Howard Gem rotavator, a big orange beast with rotating blades at the front and two big wheels at the back. It seemed huge to me at the time but not impossible to manoeuvre, after all it had…

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My Grandfather walked the land here at Nags Hall for many years and my father still does. Life followed the ebb and flow of the seasons; that innate sense a market gardener has for sowing and reaping. Everything was carefully hand-written in a daily diary and what needed to be done was tuned in perfect harmony with the land.

Keeping one eye on the past but with our boots firmly planted in the modern world we approached Geoff Stebbings to become the author of Nags Hall Gardener blog. Geoff is part of the history of Nags Hall, working here for a time before and after his studies at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. Geoff is probably one of the most knowledgeable gardeners in the UK and communicates in a way that makes gardening accessible to all.