Joint workday with Shropshire & Staffordshire NTV at Biddulph on Sunday 31st May 2026

It is now an established tradition that MNTV visit Biddulph at least twice a year to put in and then remove the stakes along the iconic Dahlia Walk.

This year to make things a little different we met up with our sister group SSNTV (Shropshire & Staffordshire group).  This is where our territories overlap and we have worked with them on our weekend away at Calke Abbey.  So there were a total of 25 willing volunteers descending on Biddulph Gardens at 10am.  They had arranged a few tasks to keep us all occupied: 

1. Planting ivy - a few in the group thought this was a rather alien concept, as they spend a lot of time in their own gardens removing ivy. 
2. Putting in the dahlia stakes and forking over ready for planting. 
3. Clearing the banks of the ”long walk” so they remain bluebell banks and not choked with other things.

We split into three teams, the larger team doing the most urgent task of dalhia stakes.  We gathered together for elevenses and lunch on the old croquet lawn in the private garden.  A setting a little grander than we are used to!

After lunch we all went up to the “long walk” which is an avenue of Giant Redwood trees planted only 30 years ago.  They grow about a metre per year.  We all worked removing vegetation from the steep banks.

Between us we cleared around 200m of bank, which is about half of the work needed, removing small and large saplings with tree poppers and brambles and other “weeds” with forks and spades.

On the way back to the cars I admired the rhododendrons around the fishpond.  Nice to see some in flower that we haven’t demolished!

We left tired but happy to have done a good job, spent time with our friends in SSNTV and eaten lots of delicious cake :-)

Jenny

Halloween at Biddulph Grange Gardens

You find me on my way home to Edinburgh I'm currently on train bound for York as with the West Coast Main Line is closed between Preston and Carlisle due to a train derailment at Shap, in the early hours of this morning I'm heading for the East Coast Line.

I was in Manchester to join the group for a workday at Biddulph Grange Gardens. I was joined by 8 others on a chilly but sunny Sunday morning, for our annual task for taking out the Daliahs. This task involves cutting down the Daliahs, taking out the stakes which we had put in earlier in the year, making sure to keep a hold of the labels so that they can be tied on to the tubular and then put in a crate with other plants of the same name. There were names such as Boom Boom Yellow, Edinburgh, Purple Gem and Golden Sceptre. Some of the Dahlias were still looking good but it was time for all of them to come out.

Before we started we were asked if anyone wanted to cut a bunch of Daliahs for the cafe so I offered…you can see my arrangement below.

We had our coffee break at outside tables that belonged to the cafe and although it was in the shade and a little chilly it was great to be able to enjoy being outside with nature, Robin Redbreast joined us in the hope of getting some crumbs leftover from our Mr Kipling cakes Sue had provided. 

Work carried on and some of the daliah beds were in sunshine which was actually quite warm and others were in the shade and coats were needed. But we worked away at our different tasks wherever we were. Lunch was eaten near to the worksite some of us in the sunshine others not. It did make me smile that out side the gardens was a sign that said no picnics and there we were eating our picnics. Whilst working we had been passed by many visitors asking for advice about Daliahs also saying how much they had enjoyed seeing them on previous visits. We even got asked about the group, hopefully they will join us on future workdays. 

Many of the visitors to the gardens were families on the look out for Halloween related objects, we found this chap working hard near the truck and trailer where we were putting the cut off dahlias, he was dead pleased to see us as his heart was no longer in it. His name badge told us he was called Albert Spinestein....

We finished our day at about 3.15pm we didn't quite manage to take out all the Daliahs but Gardeners Holly and Jack were delighted with what we had got done.

Afterwards Sue, Jean and I went in search of a Red Maple Tree in the China Garden, Sue had been told about. It was fabulous to see, particularly with the colours of the Chinese Garden.  

Sue and I also followed a sign I had seen on the way in, it was an arrow with Kitchen Garden painted on so we went exploring....

Thanks to everyone who joined Me we had a great day...and yes I made it back to Edinburgh

Staking out the dahlias at Biddulph Grange Gardens on Sunday 1st June 2025

I could just refer you to a previous blog for Biddulph...late spring, but that would be unfair.

Our annual pilgrimage to Biddulph to put the stakes in for the Dahlias along the famous Dahlia walk.   

The day started well with some sunshine poking between the clouds.  The Biddulph gardening team had organised everything with the end stakes in each bed set out, and the right number of stakes set out by each bed.  

 We had to put a line across between the stakes measure the gap divide the gap by the number of SPACES required in the map. Then place the stakes equal distance apart.   It turns out that despite my maths degree, arithmetic  is harder than it looks. But we did get the hang of it eventually.  The stakes were hammered in to make a solid support for the Dahlias.   

 We had a break for 11's when the local church bells peeled. 

                                                            

We went back to work and managed to get all the stakes in by lunch time. 

We just about managed to dodge the short shower. After lunch we set about digging holes in front of each stake so the gardeners could easily plant the Dahlia corms out this week.  We met a lots of members of the public during the day. We often paused to explain who we were and what we were doing, despite our earnest efforts no one  believed that the stakes would bloom once watered. 

We plan to be back in the autumn to take the stakes back out and label up the Dahlias ready to rest for the winter. 

7 Go to Biddulph for the annual Dahlia clear up - Sunday 3rd November

On Sunday 3rd November, 7 of us met in the Biddulph carpark ready to tidy up the Dahlia beds, preparing for tulip bulbs to be planted. 

We were surprised to see the Dahlias looking so good, it’s been a mild October.

Although there weren’t many suitable for putting in a vase, we did salvage a few flowers for Visitors to take home. 

Holly and Jack had it all well organised, they had already been through the plants and checked that they matched the labels, some were diseased so were left unlabelled and to be thrown away. Some were labelled “unknown” as they were pretty but the variety couldn’t be identified, they will be planted in one of the other beds for interest next year.  I couldn’t help thinking of Donald Rumsfeld and his speech about “ known unknowns”, and “unknown unknowns”.

We spent the day chopping off the vegetation, leaving enough to keep the label in place. Pulling up the Dahlia corms and loading them into labelled boxes, ready for cleaning.  Working at Biddulph has its fun side (lots of people walking past to say hello) and it’s challenges (the only access to the dahlia walk is via steps so all the waste and Dahlia corms have to be carried in baskets to the vehicle)   

I didn’t count how many loads of compost we walked to the vehicle but I think the back of the little truck was emptied about 10 times.  We must have packed up  60 different varieties of Dahlia. By the end I was tired but happy, we almost got the whole walk done, just one bed left at the end. 

Thanks to the Biddulph team for looking after us so well, and good luck washing down all those corms without losing the labels.  

Clearing undergrowth below the Giant Redwoods at Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 22nd September 2024

Seven from MNTV met ranger Holly and Biddulph volunteer Nigel on a damp Sunday morning in the main car park at Biddulph Grange Garden near Congleton.

This was an 'extra' workday for MNTV at Biddulph Grange as usually we only visit in the Spring to stake out and plant the Dahlia tubers and in late Autumn when we dig up the tubers so they can be stored for the next year.  Sadly though, we never get to see the dahlias at their best, in full bloom, unless we visit the garden independently between times.

For this workday, we'd asked if we could view the dahlias before we started the task(s) for the day and, although it started raining on us, it didn't deter our delight at seeing the different varieties, colours and shapes of the dahlia blooms.

We'd already dropped our rucksacks off in the volunteer room, so after seeing the dahlias we walked to the Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Redwoods) on Wellingtonia Avenue (Long Walk) where we met up with Holly, who had brought all the tools we needed in the NT vehicle.  We then started clearing the brambles and small trees from under the Giant Redwoods using shaped hoes, loppers and tree poppers.  The poppers helped to get up the roots of the small trees and large brambles.  Some of us also scraped the weeds from the edges of the path to tidy it up.

It drizzled and rained on us most of the day, so we went back to the house for our morning break and our lunch to sit indoors, in the drawing room.

By the time we had to leave, we'd tidied up the Long Walk path edges and had cleared the brambles and small trees from under more than half of the Giant Redwoods.  Although it was disappointing not to have been able to finish it all before we left maybe, if we get a good turnout when we're back in a few weeks to lift the dahlia tubers, we may have enough people spare to finish today's task as well,

Sue

Staking the dahlia walk at Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 2nd June 2024

Today nine of us met up with Holly for our annual task of staking out the dahlia walk at Biddulph.  It was a beautiful day for the task ahead.  We had been led to believe we would be taking out the tulips prior to staking out the beds, but this had been done earlier in the week.

As all but Gaynor had done this job [staking] before we had it finished by lunchtime so in the afternoon we pre dug holes in front of each stake ready for the dahlia tubers to be planted, which will be in the next week or so.

We had lots of visitors asking what we were doing and thanking us for our hard work.  We also had questions for directions, not quite so good on that one though.

Thanks to my colleagues for their hard work and good company.  Also thanks to Holly who took over admirably from Leslie, who has left to become a postie!

Christine

Dahlias, tulips and a table - 10 go to Biddulph Grange Garden - Sunday 29th October 2023

On Sunday 29th October after remembering to put the clocks back, nine volunteers met at Biddulph Grange Gardens.

Upon meeting in the carpark at Biddulph we met up with Gardener Leslie and apprentice Holly.  Leslie asked us if any of us had forgotten about the hour changing we were able to inform her that no we hadn't, she had!

After a talk through of the Risk Assessment we headed into the gardens.  We knew what our task would be but because we weren't all experts Leslie talked us through it.  It was a task I had never done before and seemed pretty straight forward.  Cut the dahlia stems, take out the stake holding them up, dig out the remaining dahlias and get rid of as much soil as possible and tie them up with the name label attached with string.  There were a lot to get through.  I started with the cutting of the stems.  If there were any flowers still in bloom and looking good we could pick them to make a bunch of flowers which Jenny did.

The Gardens were very busy with visitors and there were lots of families with small children.  The children wearing wellies enjoyed jumping in the puddles and some of the adults stopped to speak to us or ask Leslie questions about dahlias or gardening in general.

At 11 we stopped for elevenses and had Jenny's delicious Bakewell Tart and Ally's very gooey Millionaire Shortbread.  They both went down a treat.  After the cake Jean unfortunately had to retire home due to an ongoing injury.

After elevenses we carried on our task and got most of the dahlias and stakes out.  The stakes were ones we had put in back in June.  It is a task we have done for a number of years so I was keen to see what it was all about.  Lunchtime was called and Leslie had lined up a treat for us ...  RANGERS TAKE NOTE ... she provided us with a table and chairs to sit round, very posh for us when we are used to eating sitting on the floor or on a rock!

After lunch we finished tying up the last of the dahlias and turned over the beds for our next task  tulip bulb planting!  Just before we started on this task Sue B arrived to say hello and to see me as I have not seen her for at least a year.  She partook in a small amount of bulb planting. Biddulph had 5,000 bulbs to plant in different locations around the gardens.  Where we were there were five beds to be filled.

The way to plant the tulip bulbs was to throw handfuls of them from an allocated box, each bed having a a different box.  After they had been thrown they then had to be buried under the soil using trowels.  The planting was an important task if a little tedious.  We managed to get two and half beds done and then decided to call it a day.  It was starting to get dark and we were all tired.  We had a group photo and headed for home.  Leslie was very pleased with what we had done and is looking forward to our next visit there.

It was a fantastic day and it didn’t rain.  It lovely to see you all.  Here's to next time.

The advice I will take away from this day is tulips don’t need to be planted a particular way up so just plant them any which way you like.

Ally

Staking the dahlia beds at Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 4th June 2023

We had another glorious day at Biddulph today.  MNTV are now the NT experts at putting in the stakes for the autumn dahlias.  Each time the process gets a little better.  The Garden had been on TV recently so was quite busy so lots of time to chat and promote MNTV. 

We had a “cream tea” at break and there were leftovers for lunch time. 

The sun shone and the Rangers Holly and Leslie looked after us well, supplying us with several cups of water so we didn’t dehydrate.

We even had time at the end to fork over the ground in front of the stakes ready for the plants to go in.  And those new to the Garden had a wander round.

To see the dahlias in full bloom visit Biddulph between mid-August and mid-September.  If you do, send in the photos and we can add them to the blog.

Jenny

Digging up the dahlia beds at Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 30th October 2022

Eight volunteers met with Leslie and Holly, a recent apprentice recruit, for the task of cutting down and taking up the dahlia tubers plus taking out the stakes we had put in earlier in the year [29th May].

I admit I thought it was just a case of digging them up and putting them in a pile.  WRONG!  As the tubers are to be used next year we had to cut them down, gently fork them out, dust off as much soil as possible and tie the label that was with each plant around the tubers.  This is so they can be sorted by species to ensure they have a uniform display ready for planting next year.  It's a lot more detailed than that but that's the abridged version!

It was a lovely morning with lots of visitors due to the Halloween trail they were doing.  We had a lot of people interested in what we were doing and why we were doing it as there were still a lot of lovely dahlias on show.  Then, unfortunately, the heavens opened so obviously after getting quite wet we had an early lunch after which the sunshine came out and the gardens got even busier.

Thanks to Leslie and Holly for their hospitality and to my colleagues for their hard work and good company.

Christine

Staking the Dahlia Walk at Biddulph Grange Garden on 29th May 2022

Eight of us met Leslie in the Biddulph Grange car park at 10:00. Some were delayed a bit by the traffic jam of the classic car show at Capesthorne Hall - I’ve never seen a powder blue VW Beetle before! The job for the day was putting stakes in so the gardeners could plant up the Dahlia Walk, one of the major flower displays at Biddulph.

The gardeners had already done some preparation work for us. The tulip bulbs from the previous display had been dug up, the guide posts for the first row stakes were in place and the rest of the stakes needed were in bundles.

Stakes were hammered in and string used to ensure a straight line and a stick to evenly separate the rows.

Most sections have two tiers of three rows in a 9-8-9 pattern, the pattern ensuring full coverage when the dahlias are in flower.

The gardeners will plant the dahlias in a few days time so we ‘tickled’ or turned over the soil to make it look neat and easier to plant.

As a cook would say ‘here’s one I prepared earlier’. This picture shows the Dahlia Walk in full bloom in 2019.

We had a very enjoyable day and the weather was good enough to eat lunch outside, Leslie providing biscuits as she did last year. We had plenty of opportunity to talk to the visitors and some of those who had never heard of the Dahlia Walk were already planning a return visit.

Well done MNTV!

Jean

PS Paul Walton, Head Gardener, was please with our work. On the Thursday after our visit he wrote:

"Just a quick email to say a huge thank you for your help on Sunday, with all the stakes going in this allowed us to get the plants in on Monday/Tuesday

Please pass on my thanks to the team

very best wishes

Paul 

Head Gardener

Biddulph Grange Garden"

Staking the Dahlia Walk at Biddulph on Sunday 23rd May 2021

Nine of us ventured out to Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 23rd May.

The gardens are nationally famous and were created by James Bateman (1811-1897) for his collection of plants from around the world.  One of the main attractions in the summer is the Dahlia Walk.  Staking the Dahlia Walk has been an annual task which is meticulously done by working to a plan.  Each bed has three rows with stakes marked out evenly, the stakes increase in height from front to back.  

We worked in teams of 2/3 and by lunchtime had positioned all the stakes in the beds.

Despite the forecast looking like rain, it held off and we managed to eat our lunch outside and enjoyed some lovely biscuits provided by Leslie the gardener.

After lunch we were given a tour around the Pinetum, we saw the amazing coastal redwoods which are currently around 170 years old  and will live for many thousands of years, the trees are currently approx 70ft tall but will grow to around 300ft.  We also saw the Hemlock tree from North America, the Abies cephalonica from Greece and the Japanese umbrella pine which is very rate and only usually found in Japan.  Leslie then showed us the next part of the task which was footpath edging.

After the tour we split into two teams and team one 'tickled' over the soil by the Dhalia beds and team two started the footpath edging.

A good day was had by all, what a treat it will be to see the Dhalia's in full bloom in the summer months.