Victoriana Nursery Gardens Welcome You

The Shirley family and their staff welcome you to this true working production nursery and plant centre situated in the heart of Kent - The Garden Of England. Victoriana Nursery Gardens is not a garden centre and proudly never shall be.

With nearly fifty years experience of supplying seeds and plants to the Nation's gardeners it really is true to say we are passionate about gardens and gardening! Unlike some web-based mail order 'nurseries' and 'seed merchants' we actually grow most of what we sell - rather than simply acting as a distribution house for bought in goods - and what's more we welcome visitors.

If you are unable to visit our nursery we can of course arrange home delivery of all our produce. Our online catalogue lists our full range of products including fuchsias, gardening books, vegetable seeds & vegetable plants, pond plants, aquatics & pond liners, medicinal & healing plants, gardening tools, fertilisers, organic pest control, perennials & garden plants, hedging, fruit trees, fruit bushes and much much more.

Are Victoriana Organic?
To answer this question one first has to ask the most basic question of all - what is organic?

Look up organic pesticide on a search engine such as Google (research last checked 18/02/07) and not only will you get results for natural methods of pest control but you will also find DDT listed there - why? Because scientifically speaking DDT is an organic compound! Our simple comment to this (and it has been for many years since Mr Shirley senior first started writing for Chase Organics in the 1950's) - is organic the correct word for produce grown or reared without the use of nasty chemicals or artificial fertilisers?

We do not in any way wish to upset the likes of The Soil Association, Garden Organic (formerly The Henry Doubleday Association (HDRA)) or any other similar organisation or publication - but this really does need thinking about! What we in the United Kingdom may consider to be the definition of organically produced is not necessarily the same definition accepted by others around the world, perhaps even in some parts of Europe - something that should perhaps concern us all considering the amount of imported 'organic' produce.

Whilst we do not hold any formal organic certification or recognition we ask you to draw your own conclusions:
The land upon which Victoriana Nursery Gardens is built and upon which we grow our produce has been in the Shirley family's ownership since 1972 and during that time we have never used any chemical pesticide, fungicide or artificial fertilisers. Put simply we have never used any 'nasties' and never will. Prior to our ownership the land was owned by a local farmer and used for cereal crops - and similarly we are not aware anything of a noxious nature was used during his and his forefathers ownership.

Our water supply to the nursery is drawn from a borehole 130 metres deep (450 feet) so even the water we nurture our plants with is as natural and pure as it can be (the Environment Agency test our borehole at least four times a year).

We are proud of the abundance of nature we have on the nursery - from the welcome frogs, toads, newts (including crested), slow worms, lizards, bats and a diverse range of birds to the less than welcome mice, rabbits and pigeons! Even more important is the fact that we can (as can the younger members of the family) pick and eat any of our vegetables or fruit we grow on the nursery safe in the knowledge that it is entirely natural. And this is probably one of the most important things about growing your own produce.

Grow Your Own - Know What You Are Eating !

For more information and history on the nursery visit our About Us page and if you would like to meet us in person our Visiting Us page will provide you with directions and opening times.

Our commitment to quality is second to none - As is our commitment to value!