BBC Good Food Show Winter - Birmingham NEC 28 November - 1 December 2019

One of gardening’s most influential designers, Diarmuid Gavin, will be challenging budding landscapers to turn his visions into reality and scoop the inaugural Young Landscapers Award at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Four finalists under the age of 28 will be announced on 16th March, who will be put in pairs to create two different Show Gardens designed by the television gardening personality. The blueprints will incorporate all aspects of landscaping and test the next generation landscapers to display a wide variety of skills to the utmost precision.

The two teams will have the same demanding timeframe as the professional Show Garden designers and contractors at BBC Gardeners’ World Live but also the added pressure of being assessed by World Skills UK judges, to millimetre tolerances. The winning pair will be announced on Wednesday 13th June, the day before the show opens to the public, where both gardens will be on show at the NEC to ticketholders, along with a host of other show gardens, extensive floral marquee, experts and hundreds of exhibitors.

Designed by Owen Morgan, Mosaic Landscape Design

Every Little Helps Show Garden, BBC Gardeners' World LiveTesco return to BBC Gardeners' World Live with a Show Garden for the second year running. For 2018, the design focuses on a family garden which provides spaces and activities for all ages without compromising on luxury and design.

The garden is a space designed to engage visitors with ideas and inspiration for their own gardens. The multi-faceted design includes an informal lounge area, raised pond, Mediterranean inspired border, artificial lawn play area, den-making and secret garden within a wildlife area, outdoor dining area, outdoor kitchen/bar room and edible beds.

The main focus of planting within garden will be a strong structural form of hedging, trees and shrubs, which give the space year round usability. This will be supported with a profusion of seasonal planting in pots and containers.

The interactive nature of the garden will be supported by demonstrations and masterclasses which take place from the garden during the Show, including a mix of culinary and horticultural sessions. Masterclass timetable to follow.

Jane Perrone is a freelance writer specialising in plants and gardens. She is the host of On the Ledge, a podcast about houseplants, and lives in Bedfordshire with her family and a hairy hound called Wolfie.

Jane writes for a range of publications, including the Guardian, Gardens Illustrated, Grow Your Own magazine, The English Garden, Rakes Progress and Learning with Experts. She is industry zone editor for the Society of Garden Designers' magazine, Garden Design Journal.

Jane has a background in news journalism, spending a total of more than 20 years working in local newspapers, then the Guardian as a reporter and news desk editor. In 2008 she become gardening editor at the Guardian where she worked until 2017.

Jane regularly give talks to gardening groups and societies, appear on gardening podcasts (her own and others) and give interviews on the radio about everything from slugs to succulents.

For the first time at any garden show, Paul Stone's incredible feature garden showcases a vintage steam engine and Pullman railway carriage - all within the scenic garden setting of a wildflower embankment, station cottage garden with prize allotment, and more.

Celebrating the industrial heritage of the West Midlands, this show-stopping garden will represent Birmingham at the heart of the national railway network. The Pullman Dining Carriage, named ‘Eagle’, is part of the beautifully restored fleet at Vintage Trains, coming to The NEC from their Tyseley works.

Recognising Birmingham’s contribution to agriculture and horticulture throughout the Black Country, the scene features a typical railway embankment allotment plot packed with the finest produce together with a stunning cut flower garden alongside the station platform. All flowers will be grown by volunteers from the MIND group in Knowle supported by Flowers from the Farm.

A field of barley surrounds the station signal box with hops growing along the railway siding fences to acknowledge Birmingham’s beer brewing industry from microbreweries to major brewers such as Davenports, and visitors will be able to view memorabilia from Davenports brewing past.

While many of us are both happy and competent to plan the interior of our homes the ideas often dry up or become downright difficult once we move outside.

In part it’s those long Latin names and seemingly endless choice of plants. Where should I position them, how big do they get, what kind of soil do they like? Added to this is a wealth of materials, paving, walling, pergolas, pools, garden buildings and ornaments. It’s no wonder our gardens often become confused, awkward and difficult to maintain.

With this in mind Wyevale have created a ‘solutions’ garden that sets out to solve such difficulties in a thoroughly practical, easy to understand and elegant way. Each area of this crisply contemporary composition is given over to a different problem, whether it be soil, situation or choice of materials which in turn is clearly explained by the correct choice and relationship of both plants and the overall elements that bring the garden alive.

With their irresistible enthusiasm, Si King and Dave Myers, aka The Hairy Bikers, have become national treasures. Big hearted, down-to-earth cooks with a love of good food, they have been cooking together for more than twenty years. They have created haute cuisine dishes with Michelin-starred chefs and travelled the world in the pursuit of great food. They’ve also explored the length and breadth of the British Isles to discover brand new recipes and create their own fresh takes on cooking classics.

Eight years on from being the first Great British Bake Off winner, Edd Kimber reflects on his baking has changed.

Jasmine Hemsley is the co-founder of the Hemsley + Hemsley brand and cafe at Selfridges, and bestselling author of The Art of Eating Well and Good + Simple. Based on her passion for eating well to feel good and driving change through healthy, conscious and joyful living, Jasmine has inspired a global audience to shift their perspectives on food. Inspired by her personal journey, Jasmine’s mission is to make a holistic and healthier life accessible to all.

Isle of Wight Distillery

CAMRA