Hello and welcome back to this weeks episode of the Mic the Gardener – Gardening Podcast sponsored by Natural Grower.

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It warms the cockles of my heart and I'm sure all of us when we hear heartwarming stories of success in the face of possible adversity. Today, I chat to Chris Wiley the founder of Sow Successful Ltd a company which trials and tests garden plants and garden products, which he set up just as the UK headed into its first lockdown.

Chris shares his story about how his Sow Successful business came about, how he got started in horticulture and his journey along the way.

Chris also tells us why this year, 2022 has been such a very special year for him

It's an incredible story involving hard work, determination, a friendship with the late, great Peter Seabrook and a delightful story about how a posy of very, very special sweet peas travelled across London on the underground to be presented to Her Majesty the Queen at her last Chelsea Flower Show earlier this year.  And this episode was recorded a couple of months ago before the very sad death of Her Majesty the Queen on September 8th.

To order the exquisite, frilly, lilac sweet pea Peter Seabrook head to precious-plants.co.uk and with 12 seeds per packet, price includes delivery and £1 charity donation to the Floral Fantasia garden at RHS Hyde Hall.

Chris's Sow Successful website is www.sow-successful.com. And you'll find loads of information there about Chris and the business.

And the new website sustainableplantstore.com is due to launch in October so do head over and have a look for more information about Chris and this incredible company and look out for his plastic free, pesticide free and peat-free plants at a sensible price.

My thanks to Chris Wiley for coming along to chat with me this week. What an incredible story and I know we all wish Chris and wife Britney all the very best for an equally successful 2023.

Well folks, that's it for today thank you so much for joining me and Chris and we have just one a few more episodes to go before we reach the end of Series 4 so do make sure you follow and subscribe to make sure you don't miss out on any of the horticultural fun here on the Mic the Gardener - Gardening Podcast and I will see you, as always, next week

Bye-bye for now, bye-bye