A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved

October 31, 2024

* I was invited to the press preview of Gardeners’ World Live and provided with a pair of tickets to visit the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This beautiful border is one that I featured briefly in my highlights post, so it feels right to share more about it in a separate post - though I’m not sure that any beautiful border really fits into the problem category!

And it doesn’t, it’s designed as a space for sharing problems and thoughts while surrounded by nature. The Yin/Yang paving reflects opposing forces and these colours are fed through into the planting in a way that makes this a very special place indeed.

The deeper tones change to lighter colours signifying how our moods can lift, and together it's such a calming, welcoming space - that, as I said earlier in the post it’s hard to imagine a better place for taking a raincheck on our wellbeing and being at peace within its space.

I loved how the planting was so distinct, and while white plants are much more easy to find and use in our gardens, there were some surprises there too - just look at the pale, almost white fatsia by the chair leg. I’m a fan of the fatsia’s more usual green cousin, but this one was just beautiful - and it’s one I’m seriously thinking about for our garden, or at least working out how I can fit one in, if it’s something that will suit the space we have. I’ve too often in the past gone for plants that might just work, but they haven’t really been happy, so I’m not sure it’s really worth it - however beautiful they are!

And don’t you just want to reach out and touch the velvety dark petunias? They look great alongside the dark leaved heucheras (bottom right of the picture - just), which I already have a pot of. Petunias are one of those bedding plants that seem to have fallen out of fashion, but this dark version could just change that I think.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was just as good as I expected! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to the show - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Magic Moments Border aiming to spark a love for gardening

August 22, 2024

I’m not sure how we’re already mostly through August and how this is the first in my regular series of showing the gardens from this year’s Gardeners’ World Live show since my highlights post. It’s the same every year, though this year does feel slightly busier, perhaps because both of us are no longer working and while our days have some structure, they are much less structured than when we were working full time (obviously). And there’s so much still that we want to do, and go and see and of course everyday life still needs to happen, I just need to get myself more organised to make room for as much as possible in every aspect of our lives, while making sure we don’t wear ourselves out in the process!

Anyway, back to the gardens - this one is one of the showcase gardens, where the show’s blurb promises that we will ‘discover creative and clever design ideas’ which can be adapted for our own home garden.

I think this one caught my eye, not just because of the teddy bear’s picnic, but because at the show I was intent on looking at greenhouses and small sheds in all their guises, and this one has both of those, so it’s an ideal place to start.

Looking into the centre of the showcase garden and the teddy bear's picnic on the grass

The garden designed by Stef Haydon tells ‘the story of many generations, where simple magic moments in backyards and parks have sparked a love for gardening’ - and isn’t that true. I imagine each of us have a happy memory from childhood which when we’re gardening we’re reminded of, for me it could be the trailing lobelia plants tumbling out of small brick wall, or looking in awe at dad’s greenhouse - from the outside of course!

The plants in this garden tell stories of cherished memories, hunting for frog-spawn, making rose perfume (yeap, I think I probably tried that one!) and tasting sun-ripened tomatoes - and doesn’t it just look wonderful?

One of the raised borders filled with flowers such as pink roses and other purple flowers

Viewing the garden from the side shows the small greenhouse with tomato plants in pots

For my own garden I was keen to explore greenhouses and a small storage ‘thing’ (a thing as I was open to ideas - it’s purpose is to store/hide opened, and not yet opened bags of compost keeping them out of sight, but still secure. And in true goldilocks fashion, the ones in this garden are probably a bit too small for what I had in mind, though I do like the compactness of the greenhouse, but I’m after one I can get into and continue gardening if/when it rains. You’ll hear more on my search for the perfect sized greenhouse and storage I’m sure in future posts!

And one of the best bits about this garden - alongside the calming pebble pond, and the memories I’m sure it has evoked - is that it will be relocated to a Women’s Aid domestic abuse refuge after the show, so it can continue to give and inspire future gardeners.

My highlights from Gardeners' World Live

July 3, 2024

I’m not quite sure where the past few weeks have gone - it’s nearly three weeks somehow since this year’s Gardeners’ World Live. I always seem to have an influx of photos of this time of year - usually with visits to Grand Designs and Gardeners’ World taking place within weeks of each other, but while we didn’t go to Grand Designs in May this year it’s our holiday to the Gargano Peninsular in Italy that’s adding to the photo overwhelm. It’s real - there are a lot of photos to ponder, but they are great records and memory prompts too, so it’s not all bad.

But anyway, this year’s Gardeners’ World Live Show was great - I had high hopes having visited in previous years, and it never fails to disappoint. Each year it manages to retain familiarity while avoiding being stale, and once again there was plenty of new ideas and inspiration to see.

It’s also good to see that corten steel - a favourite of mine - is still ‘on trend’ in terms of garden design, and that many gardens incorporated circles in their designs, and while I’ve ‘been there, done it’ they do look good in a garden, and there are so many ways they can be included, though sadly they’re not for our current garden.

I’m always pleased to see gardens that incorporate vegetables alongside flowers, and still make it look pretty - and that’s exactly what Adam Frost’s show garden titled The Chef’s Table did. It’s an aspiration of mine to have a productive space that looks as good as this, so to hear Adam talk about his plot-to-plate garden - and how he brought many of his hostas from his own garden - was the icing on the cake for me.

yellow chard - that matches my shoes - growing in rows alongside kale and lettuce — THE CHEF’S TABLE, ADAM FROST

It’s a great space isn’t it?

Clearly the best bit was the yellow chard matching my shoes! It’s hard to do any garden justice in just four photos so as last year I’ll be posting posts focusing on each garden, and once they exist you’ll find those either from the menus above, or follow the links on any post from this year’s show.

You’ll spot quite quickly that multi-purpose gardens is also a bit of a favourite of mine, though this is the first time I’ve seen a show garden complete with chickens and a chicken run. I loved the design, but don’t worry that’s not something I’m about to replicate - and yes there are chickens in there, they’re out of shot though under the green roofed ‘barn’ towards the back of the plot.

A chicken run around the garden with gravel and a seating area in the centre, surrounded by pots — A PLOT AMONG CHICKENS, BEN SHUTLER

The planting around this circular pond was just sublime and something that I’d be happy to replicate (but without the pond), and I’m still pondering if the reflect lettering and its reflection is the right way round - or maybe that’s the point?

STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS, JULIE HAYLOCK

This next garden - the Eco Oasis - was my favourite show garden this year and so it was really good to see this getting a Platinum award, along with the Best in Show award too. I know that the designer Dan Hartley was also keen to get the People’s Choice award, he definitely got my vote

As you can see from the photo above, and the one below, that the corten steel game is still strong. Talking to Dan Hartley and pointing this out he was honest enough to say that they hadn’t expected there to be quite so much, but hoped that their interpretation and use was different enough to stand out. It’s safe to say the judges thought it was.

I really liked the informal wooden bench seating in the ‘Costa Cadiz’ garden and we were able to get a much closer look at its construction. The designer also invited MOH to try it for size and comfort and it got a thumbs up - and it looks good too!

WEATHER IT ‘COSTA CADIZ’ GARDEN, ANNA HELPS

As well as the show gardens, and the showcase gardens, there’s also the beautiful borders - another part of the show which I love. I particularly liked this black and white garden and how the planting on each side reflected the colour scheme, and what’s more - the more you looked, the more you saw - it was very clever and an enchanting space.

A beautiful border of two halves - white and black split down the middle and reflected in the planting, surfaces and accessories — A PROBLEM SHARED IS A PROBLEM HALVED, SAMANTHA THEAKSTONE

For me though it isn’t always about the big things, it can be the small things too, like the hand painted pebbles in this beautiful border.

But sometimes it’s about the big things too! I loved the contrasts in the Eat the City garden with its dark timber structure and the green zingy planting. And those succulents which appear to be escaping, which had the designer in a small panic as they weren’t supposed to be like that - but as I said to her, no one knows that only you - which helped a bit, I think.

Inside the marquee I marvelled at the rows and rows of mini succulents, and marked this as somewhere to come back to once the show was open. Unusually this year we left with some plants, just some small ones, carrying them back to Nottingham carefully on the train.

rows and rows and blocks of mini succulents in the marquee

As well as some mini succulents I also left with a small Szechuan pepper plant - like the ones below. A huge hat tip to Jurassic plants for their information boards too, they were so informative about plants that aren’t the usual. And all being well in a year or two I’ll have my own Szechuan pepper to harvest, and while I’m not expecting a huge harvest a peppercorn or two would feel like quite an achievement.

A detailed information stand about the szechuan pepper plant

The marquee is as you’d expect full of everything you can ever think of, and some more you probably never would even contemplate - this pink tinged grass caught my eye purely for its unusual colouring. I’d not seen it before and with all the pots together it was truly striking, and who knew it’s called squirrel grass…

pastel pink tipped squirrel grass — SQUIRREL GRASS, AS YOU ASKED!

COSMOS CHERRY CHOCOLATE - HOT OFF THE POTTING BENCH

This year we spent more time than usual in the marquee - possibly because I’d already identified some plants to purchase, but it was also good to check out the ‘Hot off the potting bench’ area, which is where growers showcase their new-not-yet-on-the-market plants. Visitors are encouraged to vote for their favourite, and share why - my vote was for this Cherry Chocolate Cosmos. I’m a fan of chocolate cosmos and we used to regularly have these in our old garden, but these just had a bit more pep, which I think brings out the detail even more.

Back outside there were still a few beautiful borders and gardens to check out, and as I was keen to see as much as we could before the show opened to the public we cracked on after the awards had been announced.

You may have seen the Common Ground beautiful border by The Growing Project feature on the TV programme. It’s where they have adopted a stretch of canalside post-industrial land in Digbeth and together are breating new life into the space where surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) life - both plants and humans - flourish.

I couldn’t not include a gabion basket in this overview now could I - these are filled with the graffitied remains from the canalside land, and I love the colour that this brings.

COMMON GROUND, MATTHEW COX & KIERAN BIRD

Ah, another kitchen garden - I told you I was keen - this time the Kitchen Garden at The Pig, adorned spectacularly with an iron pig with his nose in the plot.

THE KITCHEN GARDEN AT THE PIG, OLLIE HUTSON & FRAN CHILET-OLMOS

The last of the gardens I’m sharing here is MOH’s favourite - it’s not what I thought he’d choose, but given that our past few summers have been sunny and dry it’s an interesting and informative choice. I think as gardeners we’ll all need to consider more drought tolerant plants, though this argument would be a lot stronger if the weather wasn’t quite so dreary at the moment.

It’s interesting because while I knew he was keen on the strong striking plants, it also gives me much more of an insight into potential ideas to included in our new garden.

A BRACE OF EMBRACES - SUNNY & DRY, CHERRY CARMEN

And that’s what Gardeners’ World Live does - it prompts ideas and conversations, and brings inspiration by the bucket load. Since the show I’ve given our new garden a lot more thought and ideas that were bouncing around are becoming slightly more fixed and thought through - I just need to get those onto paper and I think a moodboard will help bring further clarity, and definitely help MOH see more of my thinking, it’s a way off yet but there’s the startings of a plan!

HEALTH FOR LIFE SCHOOL WHEELBARROW COMPETITION

I couldn’t end this post without including the Schools Wheelbarrow Competition - or at least a couple of entries. Each year these are brilliant, and they’re a great way of inspiring and including local schoolchildren. I love to spend time looking at them, and seeing how they’ve each interpreted the theme, which this year once again had a ‘food and climate’ theme.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was just as good as I expected! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to the show over the coming weeks and months - I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.