SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you're a keen gardener, what's been your thoughts on the year so far? Yeah, it's been wet. But the good news is spring is on the way. And beautiful Bewley in Hampshire, they're going to be rolling out the green carpet once more as Gardeners World Spring Fair descends from the 1st to the 3rd of May. Joining me to look forward to the show is the brilliant Adam Frost. Adam, good to catch up with you again after the winter. Yes, spring will be sprung before we know it. And of course the gates will be open at Beuly. What a fantastic setting that is. You're going to be there on the 1st of May, the Friday. Very busy. BBC Gardeners World magazine stage. A lot of topics you're going to be going through, including a really interesting one. Plants for long-lasting colour. There'll be a lot of people hoping you know the answer to that. Yeah, exactly. I mean, we need a bit of colour in our lives for a bit longer, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Well, we do, we do, but actually, we we've actually focused a lot on colour. So probably knowing me, I will take it off on a complete tangent and say, you know, colour will come, colour will go, but actually, how do we provide that extra, extra, extra interest? So yeah. Um, as you know, my friend, I do partly what they asked me to do, and then I do what I want. You freelance, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

So you're there on that on the Friday. It's going to be a cracking day. Um, you've been before. What do you love most about what is a stunning show?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Oh my. The first thing is I like driving down and seeing the ponies. That's what I really felt. But it, you know, so actually it sets the tone. You know, you go, you, you come across that sort of heathland, and the ponies are about, and you think, oh yeah, I've here, I've arrived, you know, and and it's a very, very different landscape to where I live. So in that sense, uh you know, it could be another country to me. Um, so it does feel um, yeah, I don't know. And also it feels it that does feel like spring's arrived. Oh right, we're off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the spring show. Come on, let's let's get going. And and then also catching up with people that I probably haven't seen since the back end of the year before. Um, you know, a lot of the growers that are my friends, so yeah, it's it's just lovely.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

It's lovely. It's a lovely part of the world, though, isn't it? It's a beautiful part of the world, and it's uh it's a spectacular show uh as well. And of course, you get access to the motor museum and the gardens and the grounds, which is really good as well. May it is a critical time uh in uh the gardening calendar, isn't it? And and there's a few simple jobs probably which um which we could all be doing. What what what we should be focusing on at the moment, Adam?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

I s I suppose uh more than anything, you know, it's going out. I mean, at that time things are, you know, things are up, things are growing. I I think you've still got a chance to have a look at your soil. You know, if you feel that it's it could do it a little feed, then I would definitely recommend mulching. I mean, you talk about hose pipe band, whatever, I would say early in the season, you know, mulching, locking in some of that moisture to help you further on through the year, but also at the same time starting to feed your soil. If I go back to, you know, Jeff Hamilton would always say the answers in the soil, boy. The answers in the soil boy. Um, you know, so I think that, you know, your soil some love. Um, and then I think really, yeah, looking as to how the season's gonna play out, where, what month do you think you're a little bit shy of colour, which obviously we I now know we're gonna talk about at the show because you just told me, so that's good. Um, and and I suppose just looking at your garden structurally and then thinking about veggies, you know, what do you want to grow, what you're gonna bring to the table, you know, herbs, all of those things. And I think as well, sometimes it's not just what am I gonna get out of the garden this year? Not just the gardening way, you know, how are we gonna use the garden? You know, and just taking a cup of tea and wander out there in the morning and see where you're drawn to. And is there a chance that actually that little morning sunshine? I don't know, maybe there's a bit of paving that could go there to make that a little bit more interesting, you know, back end of the day. So it's just constantly trying to eke more moments, you know, out of the garden, which equates to more memories, really.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Lots of people coming to the show will be looking for inspiration. And there's the beautiful borders and the gardens and and lots of experts there to help them with that. One of the things that seems to be, if you trawl across the social medias, is people are looking for ideas about how to make their garden feel bigger. Is there a is there a uh you know a secret or a or a trick, you know, an expo trick there that you can use?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, the easiest way is to lose your boundaries, i.e., you know, plant your boundaries so that they stop being fences or walls or whatever they are, you know, so they become cloaked in in plants. Um, and then on top of that, look at the gardens around you, look at the trees in the gardens around you, and see if you can plant in your garden to actually visually connect with the gardens around you, um, which is a little sort of trick. And you'll hear it described as the borrowed landscape and things like that. Um, but yeah, that's the key. You know, is especially if you're in a row of gardens, is is not necessarily just to look at your your garden in isolation. Um I'm sorry, I do apologize to the lovely people if they can hear a little bit of whining going on, but it's Buster. And Buster is Buster is is the is the dog that the gardeners well viewers will know very, very well. Just for those who uh who didn't know who wants to go out and because I'm not fussing him, mate. Yeah, he's he's fine. We like Buster. Yeah, it's Buster, we do like Buster.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Now uh it's a big site uh down in Bewley. There is lots to see. It's almost as if one day uh isn't enough to see it all. There's the shopping areas with the exhibitors from I don't know, seeds through to sheds and everything in between. There's the good food market, and and you're a foodie as well, because you tie the two in, don't you? Gardening and and food.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah, I mean we're to actually yeah, we'll get to the um you know the main show at Birmingham that when we do our sort of uh June Gardeners World Life show, and yeah, I'll do my tasting table and yeah, I love it. I love that. I think it if I could only grow one thing, mate, it would have to be edibles. You know, it would have to be edibles. And I I just I I enjoy, I love cooking, but uh I suppose right from being a kid, you know, growing veg with my granddad and and bringing food to the table always seemed really important. Um and I suppose it was really thinking about it, my granddad, you know, they were they were from you know, they came out of the war, didn't they? So they were growing food, you know, and it was important to grow food. So the allotments were so so busy and uh not just full of food, but they're full of life. And I think I've always that's always stuck with me. So yeah, I love growing for the family, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

And I think post-COVID, during COVID, we know a lot of people started thinking about gardening because they were and couldn't go anywhere. And that seems to have that set a ball rolling, and there seems to be more and more people now who are turning to their gardens for for relaxation, but also, you know, because they're growing their own vegetables. So is there a are there little things that people can do to extend the growing season for vegetables or to to get more out of uh what might be a relatively small space?

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, I mean I I think in reality, even you know, if there's any way you can cover and warm the soil early on, um, but you know, if you can put a closh, you can grow under a cloch. Um, you will see, you know, you'll find information online even about building things like hotbeds. Um, I can remember doing one of those first of all with Jeff Hamilton, which is a sort of basically a raised bed with a with a roof on top full of manure, and that heat sort of helps drive early things on. But also things like planting rhubarb, and then a few days down the road, you can, you know, every couple of years, especially if you plant more than one clump, you can force it, you know, so you can get early rhubarb and things like that. And then I suppose at the back end it's making the most of the warmth in the soil. So even something really simple, like I don't know, planting something like rocket, you know, rocket actually works better in slightly cooler conditions. And so, you know, if you put a decent better rocket, you would find that you know you get it germinated and it would carry you well into the winter. So yeah, and it's just each, I think really, it's just constantly experimenting and constantly gambling because ultimately we don't really know if November's going to be November or if November actually is going to be more like October, you know, and it's the same, I suppose, at this end of the year, you know, you're right, it's wet and it's cold, but then another year it could already be warm. So I think it's it's probably paying attention to your own, your own little space and really understanding it, and then by doing that and and understanding the microclimates, so where, you know, where the cold will really sit, where the warmth will back against the south facing wall, whatever it is, just that real understanding helps you just tease a little bit more out of your space.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

BBC Gardeners World Spring Fair is at Bewley in Hampshire from Friday the first to Sunday, the third of May. There is lots of information on the website, BBC Gardenersworldfair.com. Adam, you're going to be there on the Friday. Uh book signing as well, which means people get to ask even more questions of you.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

There you go, mate. I love speaking to you because now I know which day I'm coming and what I'm doing. So it's brilliant. Our annual catch-alog is really good. It is. It sort of informs my year.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

It says you're doing two book signings.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Am I? Yes. Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

You're going to be so busy, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Yeah, that's good. That's very good. Yeah, it's good because any any money that um you know we get in royalties for the books, um, that that covers Mrs. Frost's holidays.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Mrs. Frost's holidays are very important. Yeah. Adam, before I uh before I let you go, uh and we get into trouble with Mrs. Frost, um it's it's a big site, and you need to make a plan for the day, for the shopping and the viewing and site, coming and buying your book and all the rest of those various things. What sort of uh one piece of advice you'd give somebody to get the most out of uh Spring Fair?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

I suppose um just yeah, get there early, I suppose, in reality. That's what I would say. You know, get get in, get there early. You can see the key ones when you know we we go and we cut the ribbon on the first day, and you know, people are cute to get in. But yeah, I suppose what you've just described it really, you know, plan your day if you want to go in with some goodies, you know. But again, you sometimes you can go to the growers and say, you know, I want that, but actually, could you put it behind the stand and I'll come back and get it later on? And um, but also, you know, make sure if you're taking the whole family that everybody's getting to do something that they enjoy doing, you know. If someone wants to wander off and see the collection of cars, then you know, make sure, you know, because again, you is you've got that access, haven't you? So yeah it's just making the most of it, really.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Absolutely. The best bit of advice I was ever given was get yourself one of those little trolleys on wheels because you'll buy so much you won't be able to carry it all, you'll have to drag it behind you.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Yeah, just for a trip.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Adam, it'll be upon us uh before we know it. Friday the first of May, which I know you've got in your diary because that's the day you're there. Friday the first of May to Sunday the third of May, BBC Gardenersworldfair dot com for more information and particularly how you can uh buy tickets before the show. Good to catch up with you, Adam. Spring is nearly here.