St Chad’s Parish Centre -Otley Road, Far Headingley, LEEDS, LS16 5JT.

If you are interested in finding out more about the LHS please come along to one of our meetings.

Please find all details of our meetings and events on our Diary Page

Now is the time to start off your sweet pea seeds for good plants for a summer show.  Some people suggest that you soak the seeds overnight, others that you make a nick in the skin, others just plant them – it’s up to you.  I soak mine only for overnight – any longer is not good.  Sweet peas need a good root run so Root Trainers are good for them but deep pots filled with compost are satisfactory.  When sowed put them in a warm place until the shoots just appear then put them in a cool place – cold greenhouse or frame to grow on.  After two leaves have appeared nip out the growing tip so that the it branches out to give you a good strong plant.  These may be planted out in April in  well fed soil with a stake to support it them.

will be held once again at the Grammar School at Leeds on Sat August 4th and Sunday August 5th.

Further details to follow.

Trade Stands :

We welcome all enquiries for Trade Stands for the 2012 show especially Nurseries, Specialist Growers, Garden Centres, Seedsmen and Gardening Accessories.

Please contact us by email

Leeds Flower, Vegetable & Craft Show 2011 was held on Saturday 6^th /Sunday 7^th August at The Grammar School at Leeds.  Many colourful photographs on our website leedshs.org.uk taken by our photographer Robert McLoughlin give some indication of the variety of the entries.  Three large halls were full of display entries including vegetables of magnificent quality – grown by local amateurs, plants & flowers, crafts, photography and art. A large illustrated display stand from Leeds & District Gardeners Federation Allotments packed with informative slides on how to start ‘growing your own’ attracted a lot of interest.  Radio Leeds Gardener Joe Maiden was at the Show both days.  He encourages Class 500 which is an open display for groups or societies displaying breathtaking produce grown in our own Yorkshire earth.

The plants and flowers section was colourful, with terrific variety and staging. The West Yorkshire Fuchsia Society and the Yorkshire Rosarians held their annual Show within our Show – something well worth seeing. Our President David Lister, who is an expert rose grower, was on hand to answer any questions.   If you have ever thought about trying your hand at floral art – have a look at the website photographs – we had floral art demonstrations on each day and lots of entries in these classes with ‘polite’ judges comments for the passing public to read and discuss – out of earshot of the poor exhibitor!

The Northern Fruit Society showed perfect examples of items hard to believe were grown in our ever changing climate. Every berry- soft fruit etc, you will have heard about were on display – backed up by a talk from Hilary Dodson on ‘Growing Fruit’ and Chris Cole from Heirloom Tomatoes advising how to go about growing tomatoes.

For those who are not so enthusiastic about flower and vegetable growing there is a hall of craft work, art, and photography.  Demonstrations on spinning wool from raw fleece on ancient and modern wheels and frames were mind blowing, with finished articles produced from the spun and dyed wool to admire..  The Alwoodley quilters were demonstrating their skills along with embroidery, lace makers, jewellery and woodcraft work..  The art section attracted entries in oils, acrylic, water colours and pastels.  The children’s section had so many handwriting and pencil drawing entries and it must have been a difficult decision to choose a winner.  The edible monsters get weirder.    If you are keen on photography – why not have a look at the schedule for 2012 (due out in early Spring) listing 5 classes to see what takes your fancy.

The beekeepers were there with live bees and jars of light, medium, dark and soft set honey along with dry and sweet mead and honey cakes . The stalls were manned by experts keen and ready to answer any questions.  Maybe home baking is your thing – there were plenty of classes to choose from including, bread, scones, pies, sponge and fruit cakes, not forgetting homemade jams, marmalade and lemon curd.  Mustn’t forget the wine and beer section for the potential brewers amongst you  – it was all there white or red wine – sweet or dry. Beers, larger and stout.    Adult and children’s entries of a homemade scarecrow were so lifelike you could walk past them thinking they were real –in fact one of the scarecrows looked like she had sampled the odd glass.  Inside and outside were lots of different Traders selling plants, garden accessories, and jewellery for the ladies.  Don’t go away without a Dales ice cream !

Feeling like a sit down? – over to the refectory for a choice of cooked breakfast for the early attendees, hot lunches, salads, deserts, or just tea or coffee – all at reasonable prices – accompanied by a Brass Band on each day to tap your feet to.  We are 90% undercover so who cares if it rains!.

Date for your diary – Leeds Flower Show 2012 Saturday 4^th /Sunday 5^th August at The Grammar School Leeds.  Hope to see you there.

Pat Dixon.

Display in the Main ...

A high standard of e...

Lovely spuds!

An a colourful displ...

Beautiful 1st Prize ...

Eye-catching display...

Radio Leeds Live bro...

View of the Main Exh...

Class 290-Vase of Cl...

A winning entry in t...

The Bands were excel...

Arts & Crafts -A Glo...

Arts & Crafts - Just...

Superb craftsmanship...

The fascinating art ...

A Happy Trader!

The Knitting Ladies ...

The theme of this st...

A glorious display o...

A Cheerful trader de...

A fantastic range of...

Some of the Fantasti...

Class 234 - Winner

These excellent priz...

Adel & District Silv...

Paxton Horticultural...

Floral Art Section -...

A striking display

Floral Art Section -...

Floral Art section -...

Joe having a break f...

Some superb vegetabl...

Three Lovely prize w...

One of the speakers ...

A '99' please!

Leeds Flower Show 2010 from Rob McLoughlin on Vimeo.

St Chads Parish Centre, Otley Road, Far Headingley.

On Saturday May 7th  9.30am to 11.30 am.

Tickets £1.00 which includes Coffee.

A Great opportunity to stock up your garden with a wide variety of plants grown and contributed by our members.

There will also be a Sundries stall and a Secondhand garden equipment Stall.

The last show is often the best with an abundance of fruit and vegetables.

Autumn colours are lovely to see and flowers are usually having a last flush before the weather changes.

Look at the Schedule on your events card and I’m sure you will find something to bring along. It may also be 4 Cheese Scones.

Usual Raffle, tea and coffee.

(Meetings are held in St. Chad’s Centre, Otley Road, Far Headingley, Leeds. Meetings start at 8pm prompt.)

Extracts from – The Leeds Gardener Quarterly Bulletin – Editor Viv Caunt.

Contributors needed for our Quarterly Bulletin:

Write an article; send garden tips, puzzles, recipes, poems etc and send to:-

editor@leedshs.org.uk