🌹 Our Rose Harvest Wraps Up
This year’s rose harvest is complete, and the drying room is bursting with the scent of summer. We collected kilos upon kilos of vibrant, fragrant petals, now carefully dried and stored for use in our beautifully balanced award-winning Secret Garden Rose Gin.
As with last year, our rose bushes will receive a well-earned prune after flowering. This post-bloom care helps keep the plants strong and flourishing for seasons to come and ensures a reliable supply of petals for our botanical gin.
🪻 Lavender Season in Full Swing
With the roses done, attention turns to the lavender harvest - perfect timing, as both crops share drying space in the distillery and we would run out of room. The garden blooms in waves and so does the work of harvesting and drying.
For our Lavender Gin, we hand-harvest the buds just as they begin to flower—right when the essential oils are at their most potent and the flavour is at its peak. This is what gives our gin its floral, aromatic character—natural, never artificial.
🐝 Thoughtful Harvesting for People and Pollinators
Lavender doesn’t bloom all at once, which means we harvest over a longer period rather than taking everything in one go. Not only does this staggered approach help us manage production, it’s also better for the pollinators, the plants, and the appearance of our garden.
After flowering, we gently prune back the stalks to encourage healthy new growth—ensuring next year’s crop is just as lush and fragrant.
✂️ Summer Pruning & Garden Maintenance
Even with harvest season in full swing, garden care continues. We’re staying on top of the weeds and have given the fruit trees a careful summer prune - cutting back the new growth to just a few buds. This helps concentrate the plant’s energy and supports a more productive growing season next year.
🍇 Looking Ahead: Grapes & Vermouth
Next up? The grapes in our glasshouse are ripening slowly but steadily. These will form the heart of next year’s release of our award-winning Pinot Noir Gin, as well as both our Rosso and Bianco Secret Garden Vermouths.
Meanwhile, last year’s grapes have been steeping in our base gin for months, and our distiller believes they’ll be ready in the coming weeks. The upcoming release - particularly of the Vermouth Rosso - will be welcome news for Edinburgh bars and our online fans, as we sold out over six weeks ago due to high demand. So with the new release coming in autumn expect something rich, complex, and garden-grown, as always.
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