As the weather shifts into autumn, those of us who love our gardens will be pulling up our wellies and getting stuck into those post-summer jobs.

It’s the perfect time of year to harvest this year’s crops…and to think about what preparations are needed for over the winter to get ahead for next year’s planting.

And the Bombus team love our farm and countryside location…but do they love to garden?

Gardening with the Bombus Team

Do you Garden?

Amber: Yes!

Alice: Unfortunately, it is very rare that I do gardening. I see gardening as outside housework, so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Nikki: In theory I love gardening, but we have a large garden which comes with The Vicarage and as a non-gardener before we moved here I am slightly overwhelmed by it all.

Alex: Sporadically.

Jo: All. The. Time. I love gardening. It is so satisfying to breathe life into plants that you’ve planted from a small seedling and see it flourish.

What is your favourite plant to grow?

Amber: Ferns. Ferns because they thrive in the shade and are very low maintenance. I also treated myself to a peony plant in May which bloomed 3 flowers, and I am excited to see how it does next year

Esther: Runner beans, they're so easy to grow and you get something to eat at the end!

Nikki: We have a beautiful wisteria and some amazing roses that I have managed to keep alive and even planted some new ones.

Jo: Apple trees. The reward is huge. And from just two trees in our garden I can keep our freezer stocked with crumble for the whole year.

Alice: The plant that I look after in the garden is my raspberry plant. I love picking the raspberries off the plant every summer and eating them, They are always so sweet! Also, it doesn't require too much maintenance.

Have you grown anything that you've gone on to eat?

Amber: Strawberries and tomatoes. I have some lovely neighbours who own an allotment spot and sometimes I am lucky enough to get seasonal drop offs when they have ample.

Jo: So much. Blueberries, tomatoes, garlic, spring onions, apples, cherries, chillies, carrots….but don’t ask about my broccoli catastrophe. I dream of having a small holding where we can be entirely self sufficient. But my prized edible plant is my Avocado plant that I’ve grown from seed. It’s now two year’s old and about a foot and a half tall…but apparently I have to wait another four years before it will fruit!

Esther: So we have a green house, a vegetable patch and lots and lots of plants! This year we've started growing carrots which we've never done before and sweetcorn. Last year the tomatoes were amazing…

Nikki: Vegetables not so much, after I spent a lot of time creating a vegetable patch one winter only to realise in the spring in was completely in the shade of large chestnut tree.  I did manage to grow some courgettes which were delicious, especially when bbq'd.

Do you have an essential gardening tip?

Esther: Well, it's not my tip it's actually a tip from my mum but she always says to put down thorns around plants when they're first planted in the ground instead of pesticides or anything nasty to stop caterpillars, slugs and snails. By using the thorns your using nature's way of protecting plants.

Amber: Start small, learn and grow ❤

Jo: Give it a go. What’s the worst that can happen? (Don’t ask about the broccoli…)

Love your garden, and nature

Whether you’re a gardener or not, it’s possible to enjoy a garden.

If you’re a bit like Alice and Alex, and aren’t one for working knee deep in mud in your own garden, there are plenty of people doing the work for us. Whether it’s visiting our National Trust Gardens, or taking the time to see local garden attractions on your holidays, there are so many ways to get out into nature…

Amber recently visited the Formby Red Squirrel Walk.

“It was wonderful! You can walk or drive through the woodlands surrounded by squirrels and end up at sand dunes with a huge stretch of beach.”

And if you’re lucky enough to be in France, for example, Louise recommends the Chateau Villandry in France.

“One gardens that I have visited that was amazing is the Chateau and Gardens of Villandry. When looking out the windows from the Chateau you could see that the gardens were so perfect and neat which I really appreciated!”

What about Bombus and our garden?

At Bombus we LOVE where we work. The Oast House is surrounded by Brenley Farm, and we can see nature out of every window.

And this year we’ve been involved more than ever. With our two campaigns to support the BBC Radio 2 Save the Bees campaign, and the Big Butterfly Count.

For both of these important issues we’ve run promotions, and sent out hundreds of packets of wildflower seeds to our customers to help promote bee and butterfly friendly gardens.

And we’ve done our bit at the Oast House too, by sowing our own seeds all around our garden.

We’ll keep an eye on how all of these new plants grow, and hopefully we’ll have even more flowers next year to add to the huge number of poppies that lined our garden this year!

What is the best gift for gardeners?

Do you know a keen gardener? Well if you do, there are a million things they’d love as a gift. Here are our top suggestions:

Luxury Natural Hand Cream, from Beauty Naturals: Beauty Naturals - Naturally European Verbena Luxury Hand Cream

Luxury (warm!) Woollen Socks, from the Yorkshire Sock Company: Alpaca Classic Walking Socks - Red (theyorkshiresockcompany.com)

Luxury Soy Candle – Green Tomato Scented, from Bombus:

Personalised candle gift | Green tomato scented candle (bombus.co.uk)

Sustainable and Plastic-Free Gardening Gloves, from One World: Fair Zone Green Gardening Gloves - Fair Trade & Sustainable at One World Shop

A Seed Subscription, from The Seed Pantry: Seed Pantry® Grow Food and Flowers

Gardening Seed Storage Box, from Bombus:

Gardeners gift seed box | storage box gardening gift (bombus.co.uk)