Tickets are now on sale for what promises to be a very enjoyable evening of gardening and entertainment when Tim Crowther and Graham Porter from BBC Radio Leeds’s Sunday Gardening programme join us on Thursday 14th March 2019 at 7.30 pm for a Gardeners' Question Time - and more!  The event will take place in the Methodist Church (not at Salem Church Hall) on Main Street, Burley-in-Wharfedale.

 As can be seen from the new image at the top of the page, the Ilkley Gardener's Association website has a new name. As the Association closed at the end of 2017 following our 50th year due to lack of members, having to close the Stores Sheds and over the last year we have donated what funds were left to many local horticultural projects around Ilkley, it's time to "close the books" on the old Association.

Hence the new name for this site, "An Ilkley Gardener" which is in fact our...

Following the closure of Ilkley Gardeners' Assocation, here are a few local Groups catering to Gardeners around and about.

Addingham Allotments and Gardens Association

Burley Gardeners' Association

Menston Gardening Club

Skipton Gardeners Club

If you help run/organise such a group and would like to be added here, please get in touch. Thank you.

Way back in 1967 a group of Ilkley allotment holders where encouraged by the then Ilkley Urban District Council to get together initally as a means of communication between the allotment holders and the council. The group had use of a building in Cemetery Road with the blessing of Ilkley Council. Later that year the Association agreed a suggestion that members would pool their resources in order to buy horticultural supplies in bulk, and thus was born the Ilkley Allotments and Gardens...

Give your plants a caffine boost with spent Ground Coffee. Well, so long as you apply it sensibly seems to be the consensus of opinion.

Don't apply as a thick mulch around your plants, rather use a thin layer and top off with bark or leaf mould. It is probably better to mix in with your compost heap and let it rot down alongside your grass cuttings and other plant materials. Like grass cuttings, too much spent coffee grounds can result in a gooey, slimy mess, so mix it up with stuff like...

How I make a tower of bedding Begonias. Well, obviously I need a number of plants and I get mine from Jersey Plants early in the year and grow them on until they are big enough to plant out when the frosts have finished.

Rather than fill a large tub with a mixture of potting compost and soil, I first put a pot upside down in the large tub, then fill around this with my compost mixture, then plant my Begonias around the side of the tub. Next I place a similar size pot, the right way up, on...

Ilkley Gardeners' Association have now held their last meeting and this was hailed a great success. Some 30 people braved the cold weather and collected their bags of fifty free "Golden Anniversary" daffodil bulbs and stayed to enjoy a Christmas Horticultural Quiz, warmed with a glass of Prosecco, mince pies and great company.

Although the meetings normally start at 7.45pm, it was nearer 8pm when the Chairman called us to order as everyone was simply enjoying the company of friends. He...