Creating a Cutting Garden

with Becky Crowley

Thursday 12 March 2026

Friday 13 March 2026

10am - 4pm (arrive at 9.30 for coffee/tea)

£150

Group Size - 10 people

Learn how to plan and grow your own ornamental cutting garden, with cut flower grower, designer and artist Becky Crowley.  This one day workshop is taking place early in the year, to give you the inspiration, ideas and practical advice you’ll need for the growing season ahead.

Becky will show us how to plan our gardens for both beauty and productivity. She’ll give us an overview of the cutting gardens she has previously designed at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, Raby Castle in Country Durham and Floret Flower Farm in Washington state as well as those currently in the making.  She will share all her planning methods and tips for designing your own cutting garden.

We’ll learn about the practicalities of laying out a cutting garden and how to achieve a succession of flowers throughout the year.  She’ll walk us through key tasks for each season to ensure you have a clear idea of what you can do when for a year filled with flowers.

She’ll advise us on the seeds we can order and sow now for blooms later in the season.  Out in the garden and glasshouse we’ll take a look at a few jobs to be getting on with in March, such as dahlia dividing, different approaches to seed sowing and plant staking.

Becky is currently caring for a five acre walled garden at Raby Castle in County Durham where she has designed and planted a new cutting garden. She is passionate about gardening in a thoughtful way, using organic principles to create gardens that are welcoming and filled with life.  She is keen to share all that she knows to help others create their own beautiful and productive flower gardens.

Refreshments

Alison will prepare a delicous vegetarian lunch featuring produce from the garden and scrumptious savoury tarts made for us by Beth, the Freerange Chef. There will be home made biscuits on arrival and we will round up the day with tea and home made cake to ensure that your day will be as nourishing as it is informative. If you have any specific dietary requests do let us know on the booking form.

What to Bring

Check the weather forecast before you travel and ensure you bring appropriate clothing, whether that’s waterproofs or sun hats, or possibly both!  You may wish to bring a notebook, camera and water bottle too.

Getting Here

Directions will be emailed to you a couple of weeks before the workshop. Use Damson Farm rather than the postcode on Google Maps.

Cancellation policy

If you need to cancel your place up to 28 days before the event you will be offered a credit towards another workshop.   After that time, you’ll be offered a 50% refund if we’ve been able to re-sell the place. We are only able to promote places for re-sale up to 4 days before the event.