Happy New Year!

…and to start it off I want to give you two bits of important news about the blog and its future.

I’ve been writing the blog since 2013 and for most of that time have been doing so on behalf of the Gardens Trust where I was a trustee until the end of 2023. The Trust has recently introduced new guidelines for their digital content and they are currently auditing all their resources to make sure everything aligns with this. 

Since there are now nearly 600 posts and well over a million words and 20,000+ images its not a quick job, so to avoid the need to take down the posts while they’re audited we’ve decided temporarily remove the association with the Gardens Trust and rename it

Future posts will come from the new blog address https://thegardenhistory.blog

The plan is that when the audit and update is completed the blog will then move to a permanent home on the Gardens Trust website.  You may need to check your junk mail and update your email contact list to keep receiving your Saturday morning breakfast reading.   Searches for earlier posts should be redirected to the new address.  Please let me know if you have any problems with the changeover or want to get in touch about anything else.  

My new contact email will be

david@thegardenhistoryblog.org 

I will of course continue to support and promote what the Gardens Trust does, and likewise they will continue to support and promote the blog during this time too.   

If you’d like to help speed up the process, the Gardens Trust is currently searching for new volunteers to help with auditing and updating material on the blog. If you’d be interested in helping to do this (we can provide all necessary training and support) please get in touch with frankie.taylor@thegardenstrust.org.

The other bit of news is that I’ve been writing it all singlehanded.  I thought the change of title and URL would be a good opportunity to invite others to write the occasional post and offer a different viewpoint.  I’m open to almost any garden-related subject, although I like the unusual and off-beat as much as the serious, and a light touch rather than anything too dense and heavy. If you’d like to have a go at writing a post [although I obviously can’t promise publication] then the basic requirements are quite simple:  around 2,000-2500 words and a good number of appropriate images. I’ll do the layout/technical stuff but everything must be well referenced with links provided wherever necessary, and  careful attention must be  paid to credits and copyright especially of images.   I’d be happy to discuss ideas with anyone interested. 

There will be no other changes and the blog will remain as informative [I hope] and definitely as quirky as it is now, and still will arrive every Saturday morning in time for reading over breakfast.Thank you for your support – please keep reading and spreading the word!