Garden Organic
Encyclopedia
Garden Organic, formerly known as the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA), is the UK's leading organic growing charity dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming
and food
.
, and food
. The charity was renamed Garden Organic in 2005 and is now the UK’s leading organic growing charity.
It was founded by horticulturist and freelance journalist
Lawrence D Hills
and originally named after Henry Doubleday
, an Essex
-based Quaker smallholder who had a particular interest in the properties of comfrey
.
The organisation was first based at Bocking
near Braintree, Essex
hence the name of Bocking 14, a variety of comfrey
bred by Hills for its useful properties. A sister organisation was also formed in Australia, the Henry Doubleday Research Association of Australia Inc.
Jackie and Alan Gear took over management of the charity in 1976, and in 1985 the organisation relocated to its present 22 acres (89,030.9 m²) headquarters site at Ryton-on-Dunsmore
near Coventry
in the West Midlands
. The Gears retired in 2004, when Dr. Susan Kay-Williams became the chief executive and the charity changed its name to Garden Organic. Dr. Kay-Williams left in the summer of 2007 and the charity appointed Myles Bremner, former Director of Fundraising at children’s charity, NCH.
movement and to this day has over 40,000 supporters. It has trained over 600 Master Composter volunteers from around the UK to spread the home composting message and runs major research and international development programmes that help commercial growers across the UK and overseas adopt organic methods.
It actively campaigns on issues vital to both people and the environment including health, sustainability, and climate change, and helps children in over 15% of the UK's schools learn about food and organic growing through its free education programme, Garden Organic for Schools and through its work on the Food for Life Partnership.
. Here the organisation not only leads its charitable delivery activities, but also runs over 30 individual gardens in 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of beautifully landscaped grounds open to the public.
As well as boasting the world’s first public biodynamic
garden, the site is also home to the Vegetable Kingdom, extensive conference facilities, an award-winning organic shop and cafe and the charity’s renowned Heritage Seed Library, which conserves over 800 endangered varieties of rare vegetable
seeds under threat from extinction.
As well as Garden Organic Ryton, the charity runs a second site, the walled kitchen gardens at Audley End, Essex
in association with English Heritage
.
Audley End is a Jacobean
stately home owned by English Heritage and in 1999 Garden Organic painstakingly restored its walled kitchen garden from an overgrown, semiderelict state using organic methods.
A demonstration garden
in Yalding
, Kent
, showing organic growing techniques in fourteen individual gardens was closed in 2007 after 12 years' development because of financial unviability, but reopened in 2008 under the ownership of Maro Foods.
In addition, members gain unlimited free admission to the two demonstration gardens together with the Royal Horticultural Society
gardens at Wisley, Harlow Carr, Rosemoor and Hyde Hall, plus over 20 other gardens across the UK.
Garden Organic’s patron is HRH The Prince of Wales. The organisation's President is Professor Tim Lang and Vice Presidents are Raymond Blanc
, Thelma Barlow
and Susan Hampshire
. The charity reaches more than three million beneficiaries across the world.
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
and food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
.
History
The Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) was founded in 1954 to research and promote organic gardening, farmingOrganic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
, and food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
. The charity was renamed Garden Organic in 2005 and is now the UK’s leading organic growing charity.
It was founded by horticulturist and freelance journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Lawrence D Hills
Lawrence D Hills
Lawrence D. Hills was a British horticulturalist, journalist, and writer, founder of the Henry Doubleday Research Association Bocking, near Braintree, Essex in 1954, now Garden Organic...
and originally named after Henry Doubleday
Henry Doubleday (1810-1902)
Henry Doubleday was an English scientist and horticulturist of Coggeshall in Essex.Henry Doubleday was the son of William Doubleday and his wife Hannah Corder. His father was a shopkeeper in Coggeshall; the family were all Quakers...
, an Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
-based Quaker smallholder who had a particular interest in the properties of comfrey
Comfrey
Comfrey is an important herb in organic gardening. It is used as a fertilizer and also has many purported medicinal uses...
.
The organisation was first based at Bocking
Bocking
Bocking can refer to:*Bocking, a village near Braintree, Essex*Bocking 14, a cultivated strain of the plant Comfrey*Powerbocking, the use of powered stilts patented by Alexander Böck...
near Braintree, Essex
Braintree, Essex
Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...
hence the name of Bocking 14, a variety of comfrey
Comfrey
Comfrey is an important herb in organic gardening. It is used as a fertilizer and also has many purported medicinal uses...
bred by Hills for its useful properties. A sister organisation was also formed in Australia, the Henry Doubleday Research Association of Australia Inc.
Jackie and Alan Gear took over management of the charity in 1976, and in 1985 the organisation relocated to its present 22 acres (89,030.9 m²) headquarters site at Ryton-on-Dunsmore
Ryton-on-Dunsmore
Ryton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, and is south-east of Coventry, England. The 2001 census recorded a population of 1,672 in the parish. The A45 dual carriageway passes through the village....
near Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
in the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
. The Gears retired in 2004, when Dr. Susan Kay-Williams became the chief executive and the charity changed its name to Garden Organic. Dr. Kay-Williams left in the summer of 2007 and the charity appointed Myles Bremner, former Director of Fundraising at children’s charity, NCH.
Services
In 2008, the organisation celebrated 50 years at the forefront of the organic horticultureOrganic horticulture
Organic horticulture is the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants by following the essential principles of organic agriculture in soil building and conservation, pest management, and heirloom variety preservation....
movement and to this day has over 40,000 supporters. It has trained over 600 Master Composter volunteers from around the UK to spread the home composting message and runs major research and international development programmes that help commercial growers across the UK and overseas adopt organic methods.
It actively campaigns on issues vital to both people and the environment including health, sustainability, and climate change, and helps children in over 15% of the UK's schools learn about food and organic growing through its free education programme, Garden Organic for Schools and through its work on the Food for Life Partnership.
Facilities
The charity's headquarters are based at its Garden Organic Ryton site in WarwickshireWarwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
. Here the organisation not only leads its charitable delivery activities, but also runs over 30 individual gardens in 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of beautifully landscaped grounds open to the public.
As well as boasting the world’s first public biodynamic
Biodynamic
Biodynamic may refer to:*Biodynamic agriculture, a method of farming based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner*Biodynamic craniosacral therapy, based on the teachings of William Sutherland...
garden, the site is also home to the Vegetable Kingdom, extensive conference facilities, an award-winning organic shop and cafe and the charity’s renowned Heritage Seed Library, which conserves over 800 endangered varieties of rare vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
seeds under threat from extinction.
As well as Garden Organic Ryton, the charity runs a second site, the walled kitchen gardens at Audley End, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
in association with English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.
Audley End is a Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
stately home owned by English Heritage and in 1999 Garden Organic painstakingly restored its walled kitchen garden from an overgrown, semiderelict state using organic methods.
A demonstration garden
Yalding Organic Gardens
Yalding Gardens are demonstration gardens open to the public near Yalding, Kent.Originally established by the organic gardening charity HDRA , the gardens were established to show a range of more than 10 different organically maintained kitchen gardens and other garden types throughout history.In...
in Yalding
Yalding
Yalding is a village and part of Yalding civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England.The village is situated six miles south-west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, showing organic growing techniques in fourteen individual gardens was closed in 2007 after 12 years' development because of financial unviability, but reopened in 2008 under the ownership of Maro Foods.
Financing and membership
The charity relies on funds from its supporters and members to carry out its work and, in return, offers a quarterly magazine, members only web pages and information sheets, as well as access to the charity’s dedicated team of advisors who answer more than 5,000 organic gardening queries every year.In addition, members gain unlimited free admission to the two demonstration gardens together with the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
gardens at Wisley, Harlow Carr, Rosemoor and Hyde Hall, plus over 20 other gardens across the UK.
Garden Organic’s patron is HRH The Prince of Wales. The organisation's President is Professor Tim Lang and Vice Presidents are Raymond Blanc
Raymond Blanc
Raymond Blanc OBE is a French chef, born in Besançon, France. Today he is one of the Britain's most respected chefs. Blanc is the owner and chef at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the...
, Thelma Barlow
Thelma Barlow
Thelma Barlow is an English television actress and writer, most famous for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the sitcom Dinnerladies....
and Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, OBE is an English actress, best-known for her many television and film roles.-Early life:Susan Hampshire was born in Kensington, London, the youngest of four children. She had two sisters and one brother...
. The charity reaches more than three million beneficiaries across the world.
Videos
- Short DIVERSEEDS video on Garden Organic and the Heritage Seed Library
- Video guide on how to compost