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.

And there will be more eco-conscious ideas in The Earthy Green Garden where STV’s garden guru, Pete Jackson, has 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.

New this year is the ‘Grow Your Own Mini Top’, funded by EventScotland, and on the hour every hour something will be happening from musical performances to practical demonstrations.  Growing our own food is still proving popular with people of all ages so visit the Big Back Garden to find out the benefits of growing your own and learn how to create the perfect raised beds, even in the smallest of space .

Also on hand will be the Ayr & District Beekeepers with their demonstration hive as well as breathtaking birds of prey from Cumbernauld Activity Centre who offer 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 will bring along some of their high-quality play equipment, including wooden swings.

For the first time, Acitve Schools will have a large presence in the Big Back Garden with a variety of activities that should engage all family members from babies to grandparents that could easily be recreated in a back garden or even in the home (if you don't have a garden!). These activities include:

Willow den building - Using withies and other junk/materials to make dens and hideouts
Cress heads - Making cress heads with tights, and the cress grows out like hair
Sand play - Recreating a garden sand pit/beachy area
Water play - Splashing fun, using paddling pools, plastic tubing and piping and assorted toys, jugs and junk to have fun with water
Ball games - Range of balls for different games, footballs, boules, marbles.
Homemade skittles - Homemade skittles (using old bottles with a bit of sand or water in them, easy to do at home/in the garden).
Digging for treasure - Getting stuck into digging in mud looking for things

Gardening Scotland Photos