Our Animal and Garden teams have been working tirelessly since our last update, preparing for the upcoming spring and summer seasons. From painting to planting, volunteer stories, new menus and events – we have lots of wonderful insight here in the Walled Garden Blog for March 2025.

March is upon us, and after a dingy February the sunshine has really made this past week feel like Winter is finally in the rearview. Recent visitors to the gardens will have noticed plenty of work happening – including some new residents and site updates in the animal area.

The arrival of three new chicken families—Lavender Araucanas, Golden Dutch Bantams, and Polish Chickens—has resulted in the construction of a brand new enclosure.

There’s been a lot of painting going on across the whole animal area. Animal Care Technician Chrissy, complete with turquoise finger-prints on her face shared:

“We wanted to make sure the enclosure was ready and that the new chickens settled in first. Now we’re brightening things up with a fresh coat of paint. We’ve already finished the Bug Shed and the nearby smaller sheds, and we’re starting on the rabbit enclosures and the Goat House too – which is a fun task to manage when you have our little herd running around you. It’s going to make a huge difference for our animals and visitors alike. We hope people like the improvements.”

Spring Gardens

Meanwhile, the Garden Team has been making steady progress on the Bog Garden. They’ve added a few more plants and tackled some weeding, but as the area begins to wake up for spring, they’ll pause this work and pick it back up again next winter. It may not look very striking right now, but the plants are beginning to grow and this space will be bursting with various kinds as we move deeper into the new season. They grow up so fast!

Elsewhere in the gardens, we’re seeing more early signs of spring with our Camellias, Hellebores, and Primroses popping up, as well as Daffodils and Periwinkles. While the Crocuses and Snowdrops gave us a lovely glimpse of colour and interest, they’re now retreating underground, getting ready to bloom again next year.

Students and volunteers all digging in!

As mentioned in previous blogs, the EMA students have been doing a lot of work out of view in the polytunnel, and we’re excited to update you that they’ve already grown a vast number of crops. Head Gardener Martin Mellersh gave an update:

“The polytunnel is full of young crops ready for the Kitchen Garden. The students have been growing broad beans, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, and cucumbers in there – and plenty more. Most of these are ready to be planted outdoors when the risk of frost has passed. We also have a good number of Sweet Peas in the polytunnel right now. Some will be planted in the gardens, while others will be available for the public to buy very soon.”

Throughout March, Martin and the students will begin digging trenches in the Kitchen Garden and planting the early potatoes, which have had a good head start in the polytunnel.

“We’re expecting to see our Rhododendrons and Azaleas bloom over the next month or two, along with the Viburnums and flowering cherries. All of these will bring some much-needed colour around the gardens as we head into summer. We’re also starting new work on the long border – more details soon.” Martin added.

The garden staff here in Moreton are often joined not only by EMA students, but EMA social care services completing work experience with the team, along with former students who still volunteer with us today!

Sonny graduated EMA in 2023 and has been volunteering in the gardens for a couple of days a week ever since. Sonny also has paid work over at Carey’s Secret Garden, utilising the skills he gained at our college, and he also volunteers with The Dorset Rangers, who recently wrapped up work for the season, leaving Sonny with a free day in his week. Rather than sit at home, he expressed interest in getting stuck in with the garden team here for another day, allowing him to continue developing his skills, confidence, and to stay busy.

“Everything’s going really good. I’ve been here for a while now but I still enjoy it, even if I did have a little trouble with the mower this morning. The grass wasn’t going as short as I’d like, but a quick adjustment and all was ok. It’s especially good here when the weather is nice!” Sonny said.

Mark from the garden team offered a little more insight into having the former student helping out.

“Sonny is enthusiastic, keen, turns up on time first thing in the morning and really is a good lad to have around. We’ve helped him work on his concentration, and with a job such as mowing, this is a great way for him to maintain his focus.”

“We also have Adam from EMA Social Care join us for work experience, and he’s come such a long way since he first started in the gardens. He’s more confident, and is able to crack on with jobs given to him.” – Martin.

Elsewhere on site…

This month saw the Dovecote Café’s new menu launched which has seen the return of our much-loved burgers! We also introduced a selection of children’s books for families to enjoy together over a drink and a snack, so if you’re stopping by with little ones, hopefully this can help keep them occupied. We’ll be offering colouring sheets from Easter as well – anything we can do to help you relax while visiting! 😉

Looking ahead to May, we’re all very excited to be hosting our second Spring Plant Fair in our event field. Early Bird tickets are on sale now! At present we are on the lookout for raffle prizes for this, and our popular Dog Show in July. All proceeds from the raffle will be donated to Dorchester County Hospital’s Children’s Services. Please contact events@walledgardenmoreton.co.uk if you would like to donate!

But that’s not all… stay tuned, as we will be announcing our Easter events very soon! We can’t wait to welcome you back to The Walled Garden as Spring arrives – The Easter holidays will be here before we know it.