Highlights from Gardeners' World Live

Last Friday MOH and I headed to Birmingham for this year’s Gardeners’ World Live show which celebrated 100 years of the BBC. I was given free tickets to the show and will be sharing more of the gardens and displays, but here I’m sharing my highlights from our visit.

We started our visit in the Floral Marquee, which was full of exhibits, plants and people - every sense was awakened as you stepped inside. Thankfully though there was also a healthy breeze, which was very welcome inside. There were a number of special features here to celebrate the BBC’s centenary year - and I’ve included a couple in this post - but there’s more to come.

The vegetable displays always fill me with awe - the giant onions caught our attention, but it was the loofahs (to the left of them) that were the real talking point. We’re not the only ones to be fascinated by them, as you may have seen that Monty Don is also growing some in his greenhouse this year - I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on.

We admired the eucalyptus, the carnivorous plants, alliums and more including the most beautiful acers - the colours were amazing.

The special features showcased popular BBC programmes, including a Pebble Mill inspired display designed by Peter Seabrook, who passed away earlier this year. The display was brought to life as a tribute to him and his long-running association with BBC Gardeners’ World Live, pays homage to the Pebble Mill at One show, which was filmed in Birmingham and hosted by Peter from 1975 until 1986.

As we walked around the floral marquee we didn’t know which way to head next, it seemed each display was calling us off our intended route around the space. Just like a garden which pulls you in different ways, calling you to explore it freely.

My final photo from the marquee also has something I’m sure you’ll recognise…

Outside we wandered along looking at the show gardens, spotting Joe Swift posing for photos in the Memories of Mountains Garden Retreat designed by Jonathan King, which was awarded a Silver Merit.

The Marshalls Food for Thought Garden had a garden shed and incredibly neat brassicas - something I can only aspire to!

Design inspiration

I particularly liked the raised borders in the Metamorphosis garden, with its “inlaid caterpillar pebbles” but when I pointed them out to MOH, I got the look that said not to be getting too many ideas!

Over in the Beautiful Borders section I was also very taken with the cork pathway in the Living the Wild Life garden by Charlotte Jones. I think we’ve probably got a good collection of corks already, and you know, I’m willing to put in more work to make sure we’ve enough to cover a decent sized area.

The Pretty Wild Beautiful Border showed how you can encourage more wildlife into your garden in ‘a classy and stylish way’ by selecting plants and a colour scheme to fit a garden’s style. I’m a big fan of corten steel in gardens, so this one was always going to be one of my highlights.

The other border that really caught my eye was this one titled Equatorial Suburbia, which incorporates plants you wouldn’t normally expect to see in a suburban space, and does it so well.

One of my favourite parts of the show is the School Wheelbarrow Competition which this year celebrates the arrival of the Commonwealth Games to Birmingham, with a theme of Commonwealth Countries in a Barrow!

My show highlight: Frances’ Garden

And I wasn’t the only one, this garden won the Best Show Garden & Showcase Garden Platinum Award Winner. It’s designed by Frances Tophill and has sustainability at its heart, inspired by the Bauhaus era of the 1920s when the BBC was formed alongside the naturalistic planting, lush greenery and rewilded areas supporting wildlife.

It wasn’t surprising that each time we walked past there was a queue of people wanting to get a closer look.

It’s easy to see why isn’t it?

Thank you to the BBC Gardeners’ World Live team who provided MOH and I tickets to attend this year’s show.

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Post Comment Love 17-19 June

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

Yesterday we finally got our trees cut. It’s been a while, and it’s been another while trying to find someone to do them. Our usual tree surgeon retired during Covid, and to be honest they were already due a cut back then. Joining forces with our neighbour, who also wanted some tree work done, paid off in the end - between us we found someone that would come and quote when they said they would, who’d put in the necessary paperwork with the council and actually turn up and do the work.

But what a day for it - the hottest day of the year so far - though today is forecast to be warmer. Between myself, my next door neighbour, the neighbour at the back and the garage shop we were keeping the team of six hydrated. It’s a seriously hard day’s work, between them they cut ten trees of varying sizes, and cleared up too. That’s the really hard part!

Our fruiting cherry tree was just starting to ripen, and they were appreciated by them too. I even managed to get a colander full as they assured me they were mostly ripe - we’ll see!

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Silly Greens on tour

This post contains items gifted from Silly Greens.

Did you know you can receive micro greens to grow at home by post? Me neither, but you can - and that’s where Silly Greens comes in.

Silly Greens post seeds that grow straight out of the box, the micro greens, which are seedlings of herbs and veg, and they add a burst of flavour to your meals. They’re short-lived crops, which cut and come again and arrive through your letterbox ready to go, no need to do anything other than open the box.

And it really was as simple as opening the box. In your first pack there’s a leaflet explaining more about the seeds, and the seaweed jelly that they grow in - that helps keep the seeds in place during their journey, and keeps them hydrated too - when they arrive they are well on the way to germinating so you don’t have too long to wait to see them spring into action. And when your micro greens are finished the jelly shrinks back and because it’s natural it can be composted, and the packaging can be recycled.

Radish, Rocket and Turnip

My box of micro greens arrived a week or so before we headed off to my brother’s wedding in Yorkshire last month, and so to get the most of them they came with us. Of course they did! MOH wasn’t sure I was serious to start with, but then remember he knows me well and realised I was serious. In the wedding hotel, they happily sat on the window ledge. They moved on with us when we headed for our week in the North East and were a great way to pep up salads, and even in our burgers - in fact, with less condiments available than we’d have at home it was a great way to add some zing.

The seeds in my first box were pungent, peppery radish, a classic rocket and an unexpected inclusion, turnip. The picture below was taken three days after they arrived, and as you can see they’re well on the way to growing into proper micro greens. You can probably also see some root hairs, or fluff - don’t worry - the booklet explained simply that “root hairs were good, mould was bad” so all is well.

Not unsurprisingly the radish were quick to get growing, much like when you plant them in the garden or vegetable plot. They’re a quick cropping crop which is why you can grow them alongside slower growing crops there.

The advice that comes with the seeds is to keep them covered until the seeds lift the card, and suggests you can also weigh down the card. I didn’t believe that the little seeds would be able to lift the card. However I trusted the advice and even so was surprised when they actually did. Isn’t nature wonderful?

For me the rocket was the slowest growing, and as you can see on the card above it suggests covering it over will help it stretch - I kept mine covered the longest of the three, but had the least success with the rocket, but even so they still grew, just perhaps not quite as long (or tall) as I thought.

Each box is £5 including postage and packing (which is all recyclable); the boxes change each week and there’s details about each micro green on the Silly Greens site. If you’re wondering why you’d want to grow these at home, that’s a fair point. Apart from their ease of growing and their versatility, growing them at home means they’re fresher than buying them ready cut from the supermarket - plus you get to see the seeds grow, and to see them lift that card (they really do!)

We enjoyed adding these to our meals, mostly sprinkled over the top of salads - which worked well for us. I like salads, but I do get bored of them quite quickly so I’m always looking for new additions to change them slightly, and these worked for us as they kept on growing for a couple of weeks.

My second box arrived yesterday - and this month’s box includes a heritage pea mix, coriander and amaranth and a spicy mix. The box is opened and the card is waiting (and weighted) to be lifted. I’ll share how I get on with these.

With thanks to Silly Greens for providing this box of micro greens for the purposes of this review.