Gardeners' Question Time may have been running on BBC Radio 4 since 1947 but rarely can it have inspired an event linked to a town’s first community-owned woodland.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 14 will see The Knaresborough Forest Park team at Long Lands Common hosting a "Green" Gardening Question Time from 7pm to 9pm at Centre On Gracious Street, Knaresborough.

The green-natured volunteers promise an evening of fun and learning all about sustainable gardening practices.

Long Lands Common, a 30-acre site between the Nidderdale Greenway and Bilton Lane, has gone from strength to strength since the land was bought in 2020 after a phenomenally successful community share offer which raised £400,000.

Supporters of Harrogate's Long Lands Common pictured at the recent Community Earth Day event where Forster Wood, its newly planted community woodland block, was unveiled. (Picture contributed)

Its founders’ vision is of “an accessible-to-all community owned woodland that will help protect and preserve the greenbelt between Harrogate and Knaresborough for future generations”.

The Long Lands Community is made up of three sites: Long Lands Common itself, Knaresborough Forest Park, and their next project, the Long Lands Community Food Forest.

Part of the aim is to create a green corridor stretching almost continuously from the River Nidd in Knaresborough to the Nidderdale Greenway near Bilton.

Between 2016 and 2019 the founder members of Long Lands Common spent much of their time campaigning against the proposed Inner Northern Relief Road.

Attendees at tomorrow’s Green Gardeners Question Time will receive advice from a panel including local horticulturalists with decades of gardening experience, from Harrogate Borough Council, Rudding Park, Horticap and RHS Harlow Carr.

There will also be a brief presentation by a member of Knaresborough Town Council outlining Knaresborough's biodiversity policy.

This will be a great opportunity to connect with fellow gardeners and gain valuable insights into how to create a more environmentally friendly garden.

There will be refreshments as well as a raffle and a plant stall.

The raffle prizes include vouchers from local businesses and a family pass to RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, which would be a wonderful opportunity to see the current display of magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons.)

Tickets are available from Castlegate Books in Knaresborough, cash only, the Red Box in Starbeck and online at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/green-gardening-question-time-tickets-1326192209599

Harrogate’s first community-owned woodland to host a 'Green' Gardeners' Question Time