Showtime: Grand Designs Live


At the last place I worked, one of the TV programmes bound to set tongues wagging the next day was Grand Designs. It's perfect viewing - and discussion - fodder: hosted by an intelligent, thoughtful presenter with jaw dropping projects (self-build homes or major refurbishments) and lots of high drama along the way. Each episode follows a project over a number months - sometimes years - from inception through (usually) to completion with Kevin McLeod's concluding analysis of the result.

So when James mentioned he was to feature at the show version of the programme at the NEC (aka National Exhibition Centre - you can also read about our first ever meeting there), I needed no further incentive to go and see for myself.

However, I was Mrs Grumpy by the time I arrived at the above view of the NEC. Note to the organisers: please do not put on your event at the same time as The Horse of the Year Show. It took me an hour to drive the last 3 miles, only then to be herded into the car park furthest away from the show hall. The public planting above which greeted me at the end of my long walk didn't help either. Nor did the design of the 'show' garden housing the day's gardening events. Half of the space was wasted (in my view) with a rather forlorn looking garden and the other half was extremely 'intimate' - as described on the show's website - housing a beekeeping area, a space for consultations with designers, plus a small presentation theatre.

I soon met up with James - who cheered me up instantly - swiftly followed by unexpectedly bumping into Claire and her partner Mark. They then introduced me to Nina, who organises the Malvern shows. Three delightful companions for a good natter and a quick review of the show. Soon it was time for James to strut his stuff on stage on the subject of Design Your Garden in 10 Easy Steps. This is a well-worn topic in our gardening magazines, but thankfully he came up with a fresh set of ideas and was much appreciated by the audience from what I overheard.

Later on I stopped by to listen to Maren Hallenga and Hugo Bugg. They did a whistlestop tour of garden design through the ages and then showed how both formal and informal elements from these were used in their design at Future Gardens. I'm always fascinated to see these glimpses of design in action and their show garden, Narratives of Nature, was good one. As James said, a couple of designers to watch out for in the future. Incidentally, Future Gardens won't be showcasing a fresh set of gardens next year and it looks like you'll have a chance to see some of this year's crop in 2010 too. It'll be interesting to see how they fare over the winter.

I also managed a rushed tour around the exhibits. If you've been to the Ideal Home Show, you'll know what this was like. There's a lot of tat and it's very much like being trapped in a home shopping channel. This feeling was heightened at the end as the way out wasn't that clear and I wasn't the only one going round in circles trying to find the exit. However there were occasional gems thrown in - it's just a matter of finding them - like the exhibits about the Hab project, a new sustainable housing community in Swindon. Actually, the best part of the show was the talks and not just the garden ones.

My product of the show is the Veg-Table, despite the dreadful pun. It's a raised bed on legs for vegetable growing which at first glance I dismissed as being too niche. However, I quickly realised this is just what NAH's aunt would love to have. She gave up her allotment a couple of years ago at the age of 82, having broken her hip whilst out with her local rambling club and she really misses growing her own vegetables. I think this solution will be perfect for her. My they're having a laugh product of the show - and boy the competition for this award was tough - is the pictured living fence. I've managed to do the same in my garden at a fraction of the price, simply by letting nature take over my fence panels.

It was a good day overall, but the people I met and listened to were the main reason for that, rather than what I saw.

Comments

  1. emmat10 October 2009 at 21:30

    yes but more importantly, Hugo and Malin, are they are a couple? or just partners at work? A small posse of people spent Future gardens opening day completely fascinated by this deeply important question

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP11 October 2009 at 08:22

    Emmat - I know, I spent a lot of time asking the same question!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more