Nick Bailey's Plant-Based Garden

August 28, 2025

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

I said in my highlights post from the show that I was looking forward to seeing how Nick Bailey would incorporate the #MakeAMetre matter initiative into his garden, and how successful it was and today I’m sharing some of the many pictures I took of the garden.

Dense prairie style planting in the foreground with the seating area in the background

Three instances of the dark roof shaped structure repeating through the garden among the raised beds

The garden features a cluster of Douglas fir buildings and structures in the style of a traditional homestead, and it was the repeating shapes of the frames that made the garden such a success for me. They brought height to the space and their bold charred wood certainly brought impact.

The narrow bricked path forming a 'central corridor' through the garden's planting, ponds and seating areas

The buildings included a Burnt-Out Barn with grape vines overhead and dining below, the Brassicarium for protection for edibles, and the Roofed Barn seating area (below) which overlooked the ponds and a meadow-matrix perennial grass planting. And if you look closely there’s patchwork throws over the chairs too.

The open but covered seating area with cosy chairs, patchwork throws and a game of chess

Lush green planting growing alongside one of the buildings softening its shape

Long term readers will know that I like a structured and ordered veg plot, but never have I heard of a Brassicarium, and I wish I had - isn’t it a great word?

The brassicarium complete with kale and cabbages

The vegetable raised beds but with some plants - such as a bronze fennel - growing in the path

I liked that the planting was at different levels, and even the raised beds varied in height which I think helped this garden feel more like an established garden. The other thing that was a nice touch was the plants that had ‘crept’ over their borders softening the paths.

Even the sage that seemingly had ‘escaped’ the show garden’s boundaries.

An escaped purple sage growing under the show garden's rope border

I was also a fan of the compost bins, though I’m not sure I’d have placed them this close to the dining area in a real life garden, but the open and stackable concept was good. So much so that I became a little obsessed with how they were built.

Two open compost bins made from squares of wood, with the dining area behind

Down at ground level looking at the construction of the compost bins

Looking closely and by poking a finger in the gap it seems they were simply stacked on top of each other. And that dark wood was newly charred as my grubby finger attested to!

They definitely gave me food for thought for my own garden, though they may be over engineered for what I need, but they do show that compost bins don’t need to be the ugly plastic daleks!

The view across the vegetable raised beds - from the compost bins

I loved this garden, and it wasn’t just the structures for me. The concept of one square metre, the dense planting, mixing edibles with flowers, the informality of it all made it a great space, and I hope it has a longer term home - it deserves it.

What do you think?

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.

My favourite garden and awarded the Best Show Garden, the Eco Oasis Garden

April 29, 2025

* 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.

As we wandered amongst the gardens I had an early clear favourite, and it was this garden designed by Dan Hartley. The corten steel drew me in, and the lush planting kept my eyes busy while looking at the planting at multiple heights and the small details like the insect hotel (bottom left in the first photo below), and the tin watering can (to the left of the seats in the second photo) and the bottle of rose temptingly placed on the table in the seating area!

But it was more than that, it was the feeling of calm as I admired the garden and it’s hard to explain. It wasn’t as intense a feeling as when we first descended into Hunte’s gardens in Barbados but it was along the same lines - and for any garden to give you ‘all the feels’ well, it has to be good doesn’t it?

This garden was inspired by the Gardener’s World Live theme of ‘The Good Life’ and aims to combine eco-friendly elements, aesthetic appeal and mindful living. The show notes say that ‘organic abundance is represented by vibrant, lush planting’ and that the garden invites people to experience the beauty of a balanced and environmentally conscious outdoor space. The garden is designed to be maintained with organic gardening principles and integrates simple water conservation and aims to enhance the natural ecosystem, which all in turn allows people to create their own ‘good life’.

And so I was pleased to see my favourite garden at the show awarded the Best Show Garden - of course, I had no say in it whatsoever, but it clearly appealed to many more people than just me.

Now wouldn’t it be nice to crack open that bottle of rose? Well, once it’s been on ice anyway!

* 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 Chef's Table by Adam Frost

February 27, 2025

This is absolutely my kind of garden, and I’ve realised while writing this post that it brought about the same excitement as when we visited Hunte’s Garden in Barbados - which is an odd comparison I know, but bear with me. This garden is full of herbs, flowers and vegetables rather than the tropical plants in Barbados, but it is jam packed full of them just the same. The dense planting really appeals to me, as does growing herbs, veggies and flowers together - though I guess that’s really not that new an idea, but Adam Frost’s garden does it particularly well.

Adam’s Show Garden is overflowing with edibles growing in a naturalised setting, and provides plenty of ideas for how you can integrate edibles into your own garden. The outdoor cooking-dining area is rustic, perhaps a bit too rustic for my tastes, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll be using this garden as inspiration for my own in the years to come.

The kitchen was put to good use at the show though as Adam welcomed chefs such as James Martin, Michel Roux, Glynn Purnell and Si King into the garden and kitchen at various times over the course of the show. We didn’t catch any of these - James Martin was up on the day we were at the show, but I did have quite a random encounter with Adam himself.

The press invitation is to view the gardens before they open to the public, and takes place the afternoon beforehand and ends with the presentation of the awards - so it’s a fab thing to be invited too. We’d seen a lot of the gardens, and I’d even managed to photograph many of them and so we made our way into the marquee having a look around that, enjoying the peace and quiet which is completely different to show days, when moving around the marquee can be more of a shuffle.

Adam walked past us, still very much in garden prep mode - I’m sure there’s much more than you think to making a show garden look this good, and so not wanting to be an annoying member of the public, as we crossed I just said hello. Being the type of guy he is - very down to earth - he stopped said hello and how are you doing. Fine thanks, and we were past each other, nothing more required. Though, well I’d quite like him to come and design my garden at some point!

He is I’ve decided, from this encounter and from his TV appearances and the chat he did at the awards presentation, a very nice man indeed. I almost said a very nice guy (and he is) but stopped myself as that sounds very Trumpian, and that’s the last thing I want to be, or to ordain someone with!

The show garden had a welcoming rustic feel at its entrance, but as you moved through the garden there was also an orchard and the illusion of water - which I think from a hazy memory is the cream path intersecting the beds in the photo above. I’ll admit that water, or even the illusion of water in a garden isn’t something I’m fussed with in a garden - I know it’d be relaxing, that is until whatever the water feature was needed cleaning, so it’s a no from me.

What was unusual - and gives food for thought in my own garden is the changing paths - there’s the gravel edged with bricks and a wooden boardwalk, both of which have very different textures and textures are so important aren’t they?

I also liked the small groups of pots at points in the path - and I’m sure these pots of succulents influenced me to buy my own succulents the very next day, and which I’ve added to since then too.

The combination of rosemary, geranium and mints - as well as my favourite astrantia - was a heady mix, though I’m not sure I’d plant mint in a border like this - it spreads and spreads, and turns up everywhere. My mint will be staying firmly in a pot I’m afraid.

I had to include this shot, looking down on the thyme, rosemary and santolini with the sun on them - I can almost smell them from here. These are all plants I will have in my garden, the santolini is currently the only one I’m missing though.

Growing vegetables among other plants and making them look good is a skill, and a skill I want to have. The vegetables here - cavolo nero (above) and yellow chard and kale (below) again have texture and bring a colour to the space too.

I was all for heading back to the picnic dining table to see what was cooking, but alas I wasn’t quite brave enough to sit down - and stage a sit in, plus we had a hotel to get to!