Sun 10:30 to 4:30
Welcome to Little Dodd Garden Centre & Cafe.
Located just a short drive from Keswick and overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake to the Northern Fells, Little Dodd Garden Centre has the most amazing position of possibly any garden centre, anywhere. Admittedly, that may not be a reason to visit but when you can get all your gardening supplies in the same place as a great coffee, tea, ice cream or light lunch and be inspired by the sheer beauty of natures gardening skills, then that perhaps is!
As you would expect from an established garden centre, Little Dodd are able to supply a vast range of horticultural supplies. Besides the obvious goods such as plants, shrubs, trees, composts, pots, ornaments, netting, gravel, decorative stone, weed control, garden furniture, garden buildings, wood stores and pet supplies, we also offer a landscaping and garden maintenance service.
As part of our on-site facilities we have a lovely little tea room, The Woodhouse Cafe, where you can enjoy a light snack or refreshments. Or maybe pop in for an ice cream or takeaway coffee when you're passing.
As most of our regular visitors will know, Little Dodd Garden Centre has recently come under new ownership. We plan to develop the site to offer more facilities in the future, based around our tradtitional garden centre, supported by friendly, knowledgeable staff. Watch this space for an update on what's happening, when...
Why not call in and see for yourself? Enjoy a beautiful drive through the Northern Lake District and come and visit us, or grab a bite to eat in the Cafe. We look forward to meeting you.
News
Plans are being finalised for some really fantastic improvements to all our facilities. A greater choice of products, extended space and range of options in our cafe, with much more to come.
Houseplants
As we continue to improve and expand our stock we now have a new dedicated Houseplants section for you to see. There's an excellent mix of traditional flowering and interesting colourful annual and biennial varieties.
Even more reason to pop in and see us!
New Website planned
We're good with plants but maybe not quite so clever with technology, so we are having a local company plan our new web venture. It may take a while as we want to get all the building work finished first.
Wheels are in motion...
Directions
Finding Little Dodd Garden Centre & Cafe is really quite straightforward and a fabulous drive whichever way you come in!
Travel the A66 either West from Penrith or East from Workington until you reach a roundabout near Keswick that gives access to the A5271 and the A591. Turn along the A591, signposted Carlisle, and follow this road for approximately 1.5 miles. Little Dodd Garden Centre will be on your right.
There is plenty of parking space once you have turned through the main gate.
Gardening Tips - General
Autumn is the perfect time to planting trees, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, grass seed and turf. Due to cooler temperatures plants that are planted now enjoy ideal growing conditions, that allow the roots ample time to grow in to the surrounding soil. Use Bone Meal to aid root development when planting.
Ornamental Grasses and lots of perennials provide interest at this time of the year including Coreopsis and Scabiosa.
Plants that provide colour at this time of the year include Cotoneaster, Hydrangeas, Hypericum, Potentilla, Pyracantha, Cornus, Mahonia, Primulas and Viburnums.
Hardy 'Mums' are ideal for Autumn colour, flowering between early September and late October.
Do not prune Azaleas, Rhododendrons and other spring flowering shrubs as they have already set their buds for next year.
Now is the time feed your perennials, flowering shrubs, trees and evergreens with a slow-release nitrogen, sulphate of potash, iron and other micro-nutrients plant food, for overall plant growth and development.
Plant indoor bulbs for Christmas flowering
September is the perfect time to seed or over-seed your lawn. You can lime, feed and seed your lawn all in the same day, if needed. Aerating and de-thatching can be done, but should be completed before seeding. Remember lawns need to be rolled when re seeded.
Also during September start to replace summer flowering annuals with hardy varieties like Pansies, Violas, Primrose and Wallflowers.
If you plan to aerate or de-thatch, thoroughly soak your lawn the day before, or do it a day or two after heavy rain.
Thinking about weed killing your lawn?
If you plan to weed-kill, it should be done at least 3 weeks before you plan to seed. If you seed first, the seed will need to germinate and have been mown once or twice, before weed-killer should be applied.
Now is a good time to feed your lawn with a good quality, slow-release lawn feed. Applying at least two feeds between now and the end of the year.
House and non-hardy patio plants will need to be brought in soon to avoid the inevitable drop in temperature.
October is perfect for planting your spring flowering bulbs, like Crocus, Daffodils, Iris and Tulips.