HortWeek Podcast

GroundsFest 2024 took place10 - 11 September at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. Initial visitor numbers from day 1 (unaudited) of 4,738 were 40% up on last year, the show’s inaugural year.

The podcast was recorded on day 2 of GroundsFest amongst the hustle and bustle of the show. HortWeek senior reporter Rachael Forsyth spoke with Chris Bassett, event director at GroundsFest, Jonathan Snowball head of professional at Husqvarna and David Fisher head of landscape and rural at LANTRA about how the show has been going so far.

Snowball explained that Husqvarna took advantage of the outdoor space making its entire stand a live demo area – one section for chainsaws and another for robotic lawn mowers and ride on machines. Bassett explained that this was a USP when setting up GroundsFest, allowing exhibitors to have that flexibility with their space and offering something different for visitors. 

Fisher said conversations at the show centred around the skills shortage with LANTRA facilitating a “well attended” seminar on the challenges and opportunities in the amenity sector. Questions arose around where the next generation is coming from, keeping people in the industry, and how we can best show off what careers and pathways look like. 

Bassett said the show has had really good feedback so far, and while you will never get 100% positive feedback the team is ready to make tweaks based on feedback for next year. Overall, though, Bassett said visitors are enjoying being able to get their hands on the kit and test it.

See: www.groundsfest.com 

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Alan Down is a gardening broadcaster and writer and current HTA president, shortly to be replaced by Will Armitage after two eventful years.

He studied at Cannington and Pershore College of Horticulture and after a spell working Germany, he developed and managed Hillier Nurseries' container grown and seed propagation nurseries for nine years.

For the following 35 years, Alan built up Cleeve Nursery and Garden Centre, near Bristol and alongside hi wife Felicity, co-presented the long-standing ‘Garden Calendar’ TV programme.

On the podcast Alan talks about his role at the HTA including presiding over changes in structure and strategy.

He discusses his desire to shift the terminology and emphasis of production horticulture from 'ornamental' to 'environmental' horticulture which runs alongside the topics the HTA engages with, including with the Government. These topics include the issues of trade and border checks, "the extra costs [growers] incur... and we continue to apply pressure to try and resolve the issues that are there. We also have huge concern about the few inspections that there are, which means that we are a threat in terms of importing pests and diseases which could be harmful to our industry and indeed to the country as a whole".

He discusses the on-going shift away from peat. In the absence of official figures (since 2022) he estimates garden centre use of peat-based growing media is down to around 10%, but the picture with growers is more complex.

"Some have been growing peat-free for quite some time. Others are still trialling and finding out what medium works for them and how to handle growing plants in peat -free compost and others may not have even started. But we are there to support our members in this transition and we'll continue to do that."

He and HortWeek editor Matt Appleby discuss the Lords Parliamentary horticultural inquiry of 2023 and the impact, if any, it has had since on the sector, which has partly been disrupted by the arrival of a new Government, Alan points out.

But. Alan says, he believes the HTA is well-placed to influence the new administration as an institution which represents growers, landscapers and retailers. He talks about initiatives such as inviting MPs to visit growers on site and the opportunity exhibiting at Chelsea gives the HTA to meet them in a "in a more relaxed mood'.

Matt and Alan talk about the health of horticulture shows including collaborations with GIMA, Alan's enthusiasm for more regional events and the HTA's own conference taking place on September 25 at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham.

And as he celebrates his 50th wedding anniversary, he contemplates life after the HTA and what it might hold as well as his latest Desert Island plant.

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A Sussex native, Susan Raikes, the new director of Wakehurst, Kew's wild botanic garden in West Sussex (she joined in June) was familier with the garden since childhood. 

"We're Kew's younger, bigger and wilder sister and very much a botanic garden with a purpose...a site of horticultural and scientific excellence and a living laboratory where groundbreaking science projects are taking place as well. So lots of beautiful gardens, beautiful spots to come and visit, but some really important science and horticultural work going on as well."

After Kew released a report detailing risks to over half of its 11,000 trees, Wakehurst will carry out a similar exercise next year: "it's a different challenge, but absolutely we're thinking about the resilience of the planting".

She talks about the effects of climate change on the garden, with respect not just to plants, but impacts for visitors and scientists working at the centre.

Related to this, Wakehurst has been "championing meadows" via it's Meadowland feature this summer (until September 10) and has a focus on threatened and rare UK habitats which have been combined with newly commissioned pieces of contemporary art to enhance the ecological and educational aspects.

Wakehurst is home to Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, which houses more than 2.4 billion seeds from around the world and which will celebrate its 25th birthday next year.

Among research programs currently live at the garden Sue highlights Nature Unlocked, "which is helping us to use Wakehurst as a living laboratory, looking at it as an ecosystem observatory. We're looking at pollinators and carbon, but also well-being and the different kinds of landscapes and environments that people get the most benefit from". 

The research project will be reflected in features in visitor areas such as the children's garden which will house a bee bank, a rebuilt mud kitchen and edible meadow.

Next year will also see the 60th anniversary of Kew's presence at Wakehurst and the garden plans to bring "to life that story of being a living laboratory so that visitors really know that they are visiting somewhere that is really making a difference in terms of all of the work we need to do around climate change and habitat loss as well."

Previously Sue was director of learning at the Science Museum Group and before that you were head of learning and national partnerships at the British Museum and is familiar with "taking sometimes quite complicated and specialist content and then working with that in a variety of different ways to bring it to as many people as possible" and she plans to bring these skills to bear at Wakehurst.

Wakehurst has enlisted two champions, TV GP Dr. Amir Khan and BBC Springwatch presenter Megan McCubbin to help "amplify our message and spread the word about this incredible wild botanic garden that we have." Local resident and A-list actor Cate Blanchett has made a promotional video for the garden and it is hoped she will have more involvement in the future.

The aim is to build on the 400,000 visitors Wakehurst receives every year and hopes to "reach people who might not know about us" through access schemes and community work. 

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GroundsFest 2024 takes place on the 10 and the 11 of September at Stoneleigh Park, in Warwickshire. The free annual event is a must-attend for grounds staff, greenkeepers, landscapers, designers & architects, gardeners, local authorities, estate managers and contractors.

It combines indoor business and education opportunities with outdoor demonstrations and on the evening of the 10 September there is a live music festival for visitors to network and unwind. 

HortWeek senior reporter Rachael Forsyth speaks with Chris Bassett, event director at GroundsFest about what to expect from this year's show, as well as exhibitors Wayne Grills chief executive at BALI, and Ian Graham chairman of Amenity Forum about the benefits of attending and exhibiting. 

2023 was the show’s inaugural year, but its success has meant additional space has been added both indoor and outdoors. Bassett explains that the success also accelerated the goal of reinvesting profits from GroundsFest back into the industry to support education through the GroundsFest Education Fund.

Grills explains that he attended as a seminal panellist and visitor last year which encouraged him to have a BALI presence at the event this year, with the association hosting its AGM at the show. Graham describes why Complete Weed Control was drawn back to the world of exhibitions through GroundsFest, as well as what visitors can expect from Amenity Forum at the event. 

See: www.groundsfest.com 

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HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.

This episode was recorded on location at Ball Colegrave where the great and the good from the horticultural industry gathered to celebrate 30 years of the Colegrave Foundation. In this episode Neville Stein talks to seasoned professionals as well as recent recipients of a bursary from the foundation and discusses the sense of community that makes the industry such a great one to work in. 

Make sure you never miss a Horticulture Week podcast! Subscribe to or Follow Horticulture Week podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast platform. 

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This week's guest is Angus Soft Fruits' breeding program director, Lucy Wilkins.

Angus Soft Fruits sells to the major multiples in UK, food service and wholesale and also exports fruit around the world to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

Angus is launching two revolutionary raspberry varieties: AVA™ Monet and AVA™ Dali - so named because they are, “works of art!” Lucy explains how they represent a "significant breakthrough in raspberry cultivation".

With UK growers squeezed between increased challenges for UK growers due to production and labour costs and ever-rising demands from supermarkets, the higher yield and high quality of the new breeds will "enable [Angus's growers] to sell the fruit at a higher price".

She discusses trends in customer tastes and their expectations and how Angus Soft Fruits breeding program is aiming to meet these for strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

Health, wellness and nutrition are big areas of interest as well as environmental impact of food and ethical farming practices, she says, which need to be balanced against demands for cheap, large, tasty fruits available all year round.

She discusses how the season, relative production performance for fruits has gone in 2024.

"We're also looking internationally to see how our varieties can perform in other climates. So we've got trials in Southern Europe and Morocco to sort of see how these varieties could perform in an import perspective, which would obviously allow for year-round production of our Ava berries, which is really exciting and it's a fantastic opportunity for growers around Europe as well as the UK", she says.

This year is Angus Soft Fruits 30th anniversary which will be celebrated in its annual conference held in November in Scotland which will feature talks from people from across the industry sharing their insights, updates and tech and what is driving innovation in the industry. "It's just a fantastic opportunity to get the whole team together, all of our growers and just celebrate 30 fantastic years."

Lucy discusses her route to her current role, why Tayside is so good for soft fruit growing and what Angus is doing on sustainability, coping with climate change and improving disease resistance and tolerance to help reduce pesticide use.

"Our Scottish growers have been working with AgriCalc to measure their carbon footprints on their farms since 2023 and they've already reduced their carbon emissions per kilogram of fruit by 28% which is just fantastic" she says, highlighting changes to lighting, and food waste among other measures towards net zero goals.

As the new Government continues to bed in, Lucy talks about her support for the six priority areas outlined by the British Berry Growers Association which include measures for seasonal labour, planning, exports and hopes for a 'grower charter'.

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Edwin Meijer from Green Solutions speaks about the dos and don'ts of loyalty programmes for garden retailers.

Edwin speaks about the role of smartphones in loyalty campaigns as the older generation uses social media more.

Research from KPMG showed that more than 80% of the consumers expect a mobile-based loyalty programme. If you retired aged 65 in 2020, you spent over 20 years with computers.

Edwin says there are a lot of misunderstandings. Some UK customer are mobile-only and that works really well. This is not about who your current customers are, but who your ideal future customer is. The solution is also to integrate iOS and Android wallets to make it mobile-based 

He also gives tip about chasing inactive customers and how to get 40% of them back in-store in two weeks using interaction, inspiration and information.

Edwin also speaks about Green Solutions/Haymarket's acquisition of Garden Connect, what Green Solutions does and what we've seen with shofts from loyalty printed vouchers to emails/apps.

He says personalisation, weather-dependent campaigns and using AI can all help loyalty programmes.

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Matthew Bent of Bents Garden and Home and Plants for Europe's Graham Spencer speak to HortWeek about the visitor experience at Four Oaks Trade Show.

Four Oaks is the UK’s leading international exhibition for the whole of commercial horticulture. From production to point-of-sale, the breadth of exhibits on display is the show’s strength, attracting a broad visitor base. The event takes place on a 23-acre nursery site in Cheshire UK, close to the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, covering an area of 13,000m² under glass with additional outdoor areas. The 52nd show takes place this September 3rd & 4th and organisers urge potential exhibitors to contact them about space ASAP because they expect to sell out.

Bent and Spencer reveal they have both been attending the show for more than 20 years each and find it offers plants and products they can't find anywhere else.

They share top tips for getting the most out of visiting the show and say what makes the event so unique and important to the industry as a whole.

See https://www.fouroaks-tradeshow.com/

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Sales development executive at Collier Turf Care Sally Jarrett is not a football fan but as stories of divot-strewn pitches she has sympathy for grounds keepers under the spotlight during the Euros tournament held in Germany last June.

"When football pitches are getting ready for big tournaments, they undergo a lot of work...it could be that some of that weather has either stopped work being able to be done. Or the work that was done had to be redone because maybe it was ruined with the torrential rain that we had."

"It's really difficult because there's such a large expectation on turf managers and there's nothing they can do about the weather...as a turf manager, that's your pride and joy. That's your pitch and you've got it on the world stage...it must be devastating for some of those turf managers to be looking at some of the pitches and getting the comments that are coming back to them."

She discusses the impact of climate change and and extreme weather that is making a the tricky job of turf managers more challenging still with an increase in pest and diseases another side effect.

Time was when turf managers would cure everything with a liberal spray of chemicals but "things have changed" Sally explains and the new way is an "integrated method" to help prevent or mitigate pests and diseases including environmental measures, air regulation, cutting heights and feed programmes.

As with other sectors "the staff levels are getting worrying" as replacing those retiring can prove difficult she says. She echos calls for more discussion of horticulture in schools to help boost the sector's profile.

Sally welcomes new technology as robotic mowers and automated irrigation systems can help free staff up to carry out other tasks.

She also talks through the challenges of those notorious turf foes, chafer grubs and leatherjackets.

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This week's podcast guests are leaders in the UK fruit growing sector: Alana Deakin, the new chair of the NextGen Fruit Group and head of operations at Hall Hunter and Oli Pascall, MD of Clockhouse Farm and the NextGen past president. 

They talk about their key takeaways from a recent visit to the USA including ag-tech, driven in part by scarcity and the high cost of labour, and where "they are definitely ahead of where we are in the UK" but also efficient water use, spearheaded in water-scarce California but also the use of branding and competition between large fruit brands.

Alana explains the aims of fruit farming group NextGen which despite its focus on the next generation of fruit farmers, is "not limited to that because we need the industry experts to come and teach the next generation".

The group unites people from across the various fruit-growing sectors to provide "cross-industry information that can be very, very useful" through networking events and farm visits.

"I think it's also good to solidify that with some proper scientific learning. So I'd like to introduce a few technical days" says Alana, who also has ambitions of creating the UK's first conference for fruit growers.

The group went to California to see how the US growers are coping with labour challenges.

The UK seasonal worker scheme is among the issues Oli and Alana want to see the new Labour Government address as well as industry funding and food and environmental policy.

After a particularly wet growing season in 2024, they reflect on how their crops have fared with blueberries enjoying the conditions in particular, a crop they both agree has significant potential for growth.

On strawberries, Oli says:

"I think, fair to say, prices over the past few years have been challenging, growth returns have been challenging as the industry has regularly reported. It's still challenging but it's a lot more manageable than it has been for the past couple of years. So we need to see continued increase in returns for the industry to be sustainable and get back to where it was a few years ago.

"I think we are going to see shortages of product throughout the season at certain points. And I know some of our customers are importing throughout the season as well. So that is showing a weakening of British supply throughout what has traditionally been a season fully catered for with local production."

Water supply is a major concern, says Oli who began a plan to build a reservoir a year three years ago with two more to go as part of his plan to ensure water security for his business. He is also aiming for Net Zero for 2040:

"As far as on-the-ground changes at the moment, I think we need to build growing structures that are suitable for changing climates. So we need to be ready for more variation in temperature, colder winters, hotter summers, and more set weather patterns."

As for the future, technology and innovation will play a large part, says Alana who has just installed a new grader with AI.

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