The Edible Open Garden scheme promotes the growing of fruit and vegetables for everyone in whatever space you may have. It aims to encourage a sense of community, sharing and enjoyment by all those taking part both now and in the future.

Due to the pandemic, our plans to open the gardens for people to visit had to be put on hold. However, we are now showcasing them across our social media platforms. There are some wonderful gardens to see, all offering inspiration, tips and advice.

Garden 1: Yatesfield, a South West facing garden in Watledge

This is a southwest facing garden in Watledge. The soil is steep, stony and very alkaline. Nearer the cycle track it changes to a heavy clay. There are several natural springs in the lower garden where water soaking through the porous brash meets the impermeable clay. Raspberries, wisteria and maize all require extra iron to avoid leaf yellowing despite not being classified as ericaceous. Watledge has some natural shelter from high winds and snow from it's position on the side of a valley. The relative warmth of the spring water coming out into the lower garden also produces a small micro climate where tree ferns are particularly happy.

Above: Wildflower meadow at Yatesfield

Above: Kat shows how to start gardens with guttering

Above: 3 Sisters Companion Planting

Garden 2: small walled garden in Minchinhampton

For the first time in years I’ve had a little more time this year to devote to it. I’ve tried to use the space to grow both herbs and vegetables and decorative flowers and shrubs. Nearly everything is grown in pots 

Garden 3: Hillside garden in Washpool, Horsley

My garden in Washpool, Horsley is a mixture of unruly flowers, vegetable beds and wild unkempt bits. We have a flat lawn and then the rest is set into the hillside. I try to grow as much as possible from seed, but this takes a lot of time and effort and I am normally over ambitious. I grow veg that we eat as a family, so various types of tomatoes, green beans and spinach. It cuts down on air miles and a lot of packaging. I have a greenhouse which was given to me by a neighbour and compost bins made from old wooden packing crates. I try not to buy plants, but to swap or grow them myself. This year, with more time on my hands at home, I have really felt the benefit of the garden giving you jobs to do, to have to look after things and to be outside watching the bees and butterflies buzzing around.

Garden 4: Raised bed garden in Watledge

Like many in Nailsworth, our garden is mostly on a slope, but we do have a flat area where we have put 4 raised beds and a greenhouse, with our dodgy backs, it was a little treat in our retirement. We have planted a range of veg some very easy to grow like spinach, swiss chard, courgette and radish, and others that take a little more care, like peas, broad beans and broccoli. We have started to grow from seed, and swap seedlings with friends. We used horticultural fleece until the seedling got to big to protect from insects, deer or pigeons, and cats using the bed as a litter tray. We didn't have space to grow potatoes so used old compost bags, which we can tuck into odd corners in the garden, and keep adding soil to. Our grandchildren love to sample the produce. Nothing beats a fresh pea fresh from the pod.

Garden 5: Floris House, Nailsworth

Passionate organic gardener Elly has used large pots to grow a mixture of salads, edible flowers, rainbow chard and runner beans. She decided to try salads in window boxes, as well as carrots and beetroot: all have been quite successful. Every year she grows tomatoes in pots on her terrace, including heritage varieties from seeds she saves or swaps. Her favourite is 'Gardeners Delight'. Elly has a small area in the garden where she grows raspberries,  horse radish and pears, mixed in with herbs and flowers and the secret to her success is organic home made compost.

Garden 6: The ‘no dig’ garden

It's been a very strange year in the garden. We have tried to operate by ordering nothing online or from garden centres during lockdown and just making do with seeds we already had and using our own compost. We've also used coffee grounds from local cafes with our compost, which are great and contain many natural nutrients.

This has meant far far less variety and borders not as interesting or colourful. However, we have borders and a polytunnel in our compact little garden bursting with potatoes, onions, tomatoes, squash and almost year round cut and come again salad. We also have blueberries in pots and a herb garden with Lemon Balm, Sage, Rosemary, Fennel, Mint, Lavender, St Johns Wort and Marjoram.

We bought Pink Fir Apple and Swift seed potatoes from the Stroud Valleys Project Potato Day in February, which we would personally recommend as they are a mine of spud based information.

The garden is run on a ‘No Dig’ basis, using the Charles Dowding approach, including applying a thick layer of compost to borders annually. The worms do the rest and having done this for a few years now, the soil is well structured and very friable, with improved drainage and water retention. I was lucky to go on a ‘No Dig’ course with Charles Dowding last year and it was one of the most interesting garden days I have ever had.

We harvest lots of rainwater and have anything up to 200 gallons stored at any one time, with water taken from the house, canopy and garage roofs. Aside from the saving of water and being able to use rainwater for the garden, we also get a reduction in our water rate for doing this.

The polytunnel was erected by the previous owners of our home and below is a video of a talk given by Jeff Green, who built it from largely upcycled materials for the last Edible Open Gardens held event in 2012. This is why we were so keen to revive the event, it is so worthwhile and folks get so much from it in many respects.