The Big Back Garden

IT first made its appearance just a few short years ago, but it has put down roots so firmly that without The Big Back Garden there wouldn’t be a Show.

Part family fun area and part eco-plot, it brings together everything that many people want from their garden at home – a place for the kids to play on swings or kick a football, room for a barbecue, somewhere to relax on warm days, and space to raise a few vegetables for the pot.

This year it brought together the flamboyant skills of barbecue chef, Billy Walker, with demonstration beds from the Fairlie Organic Growers project – a pioneering community gardening project based on the Clyde Coast.

And there were more eco-conscious ideas in The Earthy Green Garden where STV’s garden guru, Pete Jackson, had invited along some of his friends and colleagues from the worlds of organic growing and recycling to show how the Good Life needn’t, literally, cost the earth.

Also on hand were Ayr & District Beekeepers with their demonstration hive as well as breathtaking birds of prey from Cumbernauld Activity Centre who were offering close encounters with eagles and owls.

And proving that having kids needn’t mean filling up the garden with brightly coloured plastic toys, Caledonia Play brought along some of their high-quality play equipment, including wooden swings.

Gardening Scotland Photos