Tips and Inspiration from England’s Famed Great Dixter Gardens
Head Gardener Fergus Garrett talks with our correspondent about his life's work: the art of creating fine gardens, and fine gardeners.
Dear Friends,
With planting season now in full swing, many of us find ourselves itching to get outside and grow things. For inspiration, we looked to England’s 112-year-old, 6-acre Great Dixter Gardens, which is as renowned for its educational focus as for its diversity and beauty. In this week’s feature story, Dixter’s CEO and head gardener, Fergus Garrett—widely considered one of the finest garden-makers in the world—reveals some basic principles and techniques he uses at Dixter that can be applied to any garden, large or small.
Whether you’re starting your first container garden on a balcony, or running your local community plot, I hope you’ll enjoy reading “Tips and Inspiration from England’s Great Dixter Gardens,” by Thomas C. Cooper—longtime editor of Horticulture and a gardening expert in his own right. (And don’t miss the sidebar, which contains even more gardening resources.)
Our Spring Issue will continue through Memorial Day weekend, and then we’ll move on to our Summer collection. Each Friday, we release a feature story, short article, mini-documentary, or podcast related to some aspect of our theme, currently “The Soil Saviors.” We also try to offer a few stories on other topics each quarter so that there's something for everyone — currently free of charge, and always free of ads. So please, stay tuned.
In the meantime, I hope you'll always find something intriguing to read — or watch, or listen to — within our pages. We welcome your thoughts via email, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Thank you for reading and sharing our stories, for donating to our cause when you can, and for being such a loyal part of the Craftsmanship community.
Sincerely,
Todd Oppenheimer
Editor & Publisher, Craftsmanship Quarterly
Spring 2022: The Soil Saviors
One of biggest influences on our daily lives arises from a fundamental paradox: As the Earth's population continues to grow, its natural resources shrink. Foremost among our dwindling resources is fresh water, and the main resource that water feeds: the world's arable lands. With each passing year, we humans need to get more efficient — and more creative — with how we grow our food and tend the land. While industrial agriculturists have long tried to do just that, their methods have nearly killed the soil we all depend on.
Fortunately, a brighter path has opened up. From backyard composting and no-till farming to "carbon sequestration," our Spring issue covers some of the innovators who have arisen to literally save our soil, feed the world, and even slow climate change.