HortWeek columnist and business consultant Neville Stein talks about his 50-year career in the industry.

He discusses his path into horticulture and the "life-changing" impact of some of the articles written for for HortWeek over the years.

Neville's regular features for HortWeek include:

Whatever Happened To... - a series exploring the history of much-loved nurseries that are no longer in business

Business Planning - a long-running series of business advice articles on topics ranging from how to make the best of trade shows to succession planning.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BBC Gardeners' Question Time stalwart and landscape architect Bunny Guinness returns to the HortWeek Podcast to give her views on some of the pressing horticulture issues of the day.

Topics covered include garden sector shows. Bunny wonders if there are too many that are struggling commercially. She expresses particular concern over RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens and the lack of commercial sponsorship which she says is helping drive down design standards as well as the chilling effect that banning peat for RHS shows might be having on exhibitors.

A full YouTube convert and broadcaster, Bunny discusses why she thinks it is the best place for gardening content, a view given some weight by Alan Titchmarsh's recent migration to the platform.

And she talks about her path into horticulture and why she believes a 'landscape architect' career path offers more and better opportunities than that of a 'garden

designer'.

Podcast presenter: Matthew Appleby

Podcast producer: Christina Taylor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the second of HortWeek new stream of podcasts where we give the HortWeek take on the biggest news stories editor Matthew Appleby, technical editor Sally Drury and senior reporter Rachael Forsyth give their digested and analytical views.

Issues this week:

• The thorny question of whether dogs should be allowed into gardens, an issue that dominated the recent RHS AGM

• the pressures affecting gardens after the news Hestercombe House and Gardens went into administration

• after a flurry of closures, mergers, sales and acquisitions in the horticulture sector, the HortWeek team discuss what is behind it and how it can be a good thing

• The team discuss highlights of discussion panels and awards featuring at Four Oaks Trade Show and Groundsfest this September

Do also check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

Podcast presenters: Matthew Appleby, Rachael Forsyth and Sally Drury

Podcast producer: Christina Taylor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good Gardeners International is a charity that since 1962 pioneered the no dig system in the UK, based on Sir Albert Howard's research on organic farming.

Richard Higgins became involved in 1995 after a formative trip to India and inspired by Howard, developed the HH-2 (Howard-Higgins Agricultural and Horticultural System) Waste Management and Horticultural System.

The HH-2 equipment reproduces specific fungi and bacteria that creates a sustainable habitat to enable the colonisation of the root hairs of plants giving them huge boots of previously unattainable nutrients. It claims, along with a unique, manure-based feedstock, to be able to renew degraded soils in one season. 

Adoping a no-dig appoach complements this as keeping the soil intact protects the "mycorrhizae, and that is the network that feeds the nutrients from soil into the root hairs of plants. So if you don't dig, that's preserved."

Higgins explains: "[HH-2 is] a composting system that breeds fungi, specific fungi and bacteria. Now, ordinary compost doesn't do that; this system does, and it's this fungi and bacteria that makes plants so resistant to disease. I mean, we already cured slug snails and caterpillars 30 years ago!"

Initially marketed and sold to amateur gardeners, "it's so popular and farming today is in such a problem with soil depletion and pollution in rivers, etc., that we've blast into farming. It applies to farmers as well as gardeners".

He says a focus on 'new varieties' has stymied research into how soil conditions can impact plant health. GGI has a demonstration farm where, he says, "we've got universities, colleges, agricultural colleges queuing up to come and see it, because people don't seem to know how to stop these common agricultural pests. We don't use any supplementary feeds like comfrey or rhubarb leaves in... no nets for the black fly, white fly, carrot fly, you know. We don't use any nets at all and we have none of these problems."

Higgins discusses startling claims for treatments that could reverse the effects of ash dieback and says he is in the process of liaising with scientific institutions, agricultural research stations and soil scientists with a view to carrying out trials and scaling up production for wider distribution to amateur, and professional growers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest is Guy Watts of West Sussex-based specialist plant nursery, Architectural Plants.

After a successful debut at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Guy talks about Architectural Plants' apprenticeship scheme Home Grown which he hopes will encourage new talent into the industry.

The nursery grows and sells a huge variety of unusual and exotic plants, and in line with the nursery's aims to reduce plant movements within and without the UK, Guy talks about the nursery's innovative 'lab' which allows the nursery to propagate and grow plants that require more specialist conditions.

On biosecurity risks Guy has strong views: "Our evidence is that they are as likely to come from within the UK as they are from outside of it". And despite bans on chemicals increasing biosecurity risks, he reveals how the nursery has been largely chemical-free for some 20 years which has mitigated some of those biosecurity challenges. He outlines some of the systems and strategies he uses to monitor pests and diseases, some of the non-chemical treatments they use and how staff are involved in the process.

Guy also talks frankly about his perspective on going peat-free; the nursery is running trials and has reduced peat use, but Guy expresses doubts about talks of the RHS imposing "blanket ban" and he questions whether the alternatives are environmentally sound: "it needs to be the right decision commercially and it needs to be right for the environment".

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek is launching a new stream of podcasts where we give the HortWeek take on the biggest news stories.

Drawing on the immense industry expertise of editor Matthew Appleby, technical editor Sally Drury and senior reporter Rachael Forsyth the podcast will give listeners a digested and analytical view with added perspective and insight.

Stories tackled this week:

• the admission by the RHS that it expects to lose sales as a result of banning peat in its gardens and retail outlets by the end of 2025.
• 
  
• the story behind Sarah Raven Kitchen & Garden which went into administration, was bought back by Raven but which now is looking to make redundancies
• 
  
• why hosepipe bans are bad for garden retailers

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Six months into her role as head of parks and gardens at the National Trust Sheila Das speaks to HortWeek’s Rachael Forsyth about the Trust’s new strategy and how it is taking a step back to re-evaluate its approach to planting, the “scarcity and abundance” of water, climate change, outreach, education, going peat-free and more.

Speaking on changes at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire – where The Long Garden redesign focussed on long-term resilience, moving away from bedding being changed twice a year – Das explains that the Trust won’t “eradicate” the presence of bedding but it might be done slightly differently. They will also evaluate where the plants come from, how they’re grown, the resources required to grow them, and the financial cost.

Climate change is being felt within gardens across the UK and Das said each garden within the National Trust will have to work to understand its own individual challenges, which will be done through workshops. On the specific challenge of water – both scarcity and abundance – Das says it’s important to be “mindful of the pressures we’re putting on our local environment through having a garden.” 

A particular challenge the National Trust has, she says, is that certain sites are working to create an atmosphere and a particular type of plant might be doing that that isn’t going to work in the future climate. Working out how to keep the spirit going, cherishing the site's heritage, without depleting natural resources is going to mean “delicate decisions” balancing being “a good descendent as well as a good ancestor”. 

The National Trust is 100% peat free in its gardens, but Das says “there’s no denying it’s a challenge” with gardeners unable to get all of the species they would like. She adds that the range and diversity of plants feels “fragile”. Suppliers are doing “a really good job” Das says, they just might not be able to move as quickly as everyone wants. 

National Trust, in common with gardens and attractions across the UK, faces the challenge of falling visitor numbers and she addresses the various causes of this and outlines how the Trust's new strategy is looking at ways to “end unequal access” and “inspire millions of people”.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's guest on the HortWeek Podcast is Rebecca Bevan, who leads on sustainability and plant health for National Trust Gardens. 

Rebecca comes fresh from publishing her new book, the National Trust Book of Nature Friendly Gardening, which "looks at gardening in a way that's good for people and good for the planet" and is full of ideas and tips for amateur gardeners.

"I was given fair amount of freedom about what to include, but it made sense really to cover creating wildlife habitats and gardens ... making sustainable choices about what you buy in the garden, what materials to use ... a bit about well-being ... growing your own and also what to grow that you're really actually going to eat that's going to keep you out of the supermarket a little bit."

The book chimes with a shift at NT by head of gardens and parks, Sheila Das, who introduced the World Food Garden to NT along with an ethos of sustainable planting with a 21st century aesthetic. 

Rebecca says it's "really encouraging people to think about, to learn about their soils and their situations and choose plants that will last and trying to slightly get away from the impulse buying that many people do and the heavy use of bedding, which is not as sustainable as choosing perennials that are really suited to your garden are going to last a long time."

"I've come to realise that actually, with farming as it is, really quite intensive, our gardens are quite an important refuge...they might be only place that is providing habitat." She has applied this to her own garden - with help from her late partner ornithologist Rich Hearn - where she has focused on enhancing it for the local birds.

Her diverse career includes a period working with the fruit team at RHS Garden Wisley followed by a stint as a researcher on BBC Gardeners' World in Monty Don's garden.

"It's fun, it's fun, you learn a lot, you get to meet some great growers." she admits, adding "it's not always easy being the person during filming that has to listen in and question whether things are exactly right and stop filming so things can get looked up."

Despite the ecological downsides of bedding plants, NT is still using them and she explains it's policy on this and sourcing plants in general where. The charity has lead on peat-free plants with a relatively early commitment to peat-free growing and selling of plants.

"Certainly, for us, when places like Kernock [Park Plants] have gone over to providing peat-free plugs, then that's making life much easier for us and for some of our suppliers as well."

Part of Rebecca's remit is pests and diseases and she talks how she's made peace with slugs and snails: "I hope that lots of people over time will start to see their gardens as part of the ecosystem and accept that if there's something nibbling their plant, that's because their plant is providing something to the ecosystem. Our gardens shouldn't really be bereft of plant-eating insects and slugs and snails are just a part of that." 

Looking further afield, she says Xylella is the biggest threat to UK biosecurity and has the potential to exceed ash dieback in terms of impacts on our national landscape.

"One of the things we try to do within the National Trust is to encourage our gardeners to buy plants that have actually been grown in the UK. Because that obviously really minimises the risk.

She adds that we need to be producing more peat-free plants, particularly trees: "Meeting our tree targets is absolutely crucial. I think that we [must] increase our capacity to produce what we need within the UK because it is mad to be meeting our own tree planting targets with imported trees that are at the same time increasing our risk of importing diseases."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chartered Institute of Horticulture recently published the results of its survey into rates of melanoma among horticulturists and the alarming but perhaps not unsurprising results showed one in eight of the 700 respondents said they had been diagnosed with some form of skin cancer. 

HortWeek wanted to lend it's voice to its campaign and invited the CIH's Jason Daff, Susanna Daniels from Melanoma Focus and Andrew Poole, farmer and agronomist and skin cancer survivor, to talk about the findings of the report, and how employers can support workers within the horticulture sector to take simple precautions to protect themselves from sun damage and prevent skin cancer.

Jason gives an overview of the reports findings, one of the most striking of which was that men are almost twice as likely to have been diagnosed with skin cancer compared to women, perhaps due to the presence of sun protection in some women's skincare products, but also perhaps, Andrew speculates, due to a more 'macho' attitude and a reticence among men when it comes to looking after their skin. As Andrew says:

"When I was a lot younger, it was a cavalier attitude to go out and it was almost a badge of honour to be burnt.

"I had the attitude, well I work outside...my life is outside, I'm gonna be protected, my skin has built up a resistance, I'll be fine.

"But clearly not, it's caught up with me later in life."

Susanna outlines best practice on choosing and applying suncream - crucially not forgetting the tops of the ears - and explains how each incidence of sun burn can drastically increase the probability of a person developing skin cancer in their lifetime.

She also highlights the responsibility employers have to provide suncream, argues that it should be regarded as PPE for outdoor workers, and to that end, CIH is lobbying the UK Government to make it exempt from VAT.

For more information on melanoma in the workplace, how employers can help educate and protect employees resources and much more, visit https://melanomafocus.org/.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.