Ashley Edwards - BBC Gardeners' World Spring Fair 2026 Preview

See Ashley Edwards at BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, Sun 3 May 2026.
Ashley Edwards, a dedicated horticulturist and horticultural therapist on a mission to cultivate well-being through the transformative power of gardening. With a profound passion for teaching, Ashley is committed to making gardening an accessible and inclusive activity for everyone.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

BBC Gardeners World Spring Fair returns to the absolutely stunning setting of Bewley in Hampshire from Friday the 1st to Sunday the 3rd of May. Joining me to look forward to the show is Ashley Edwards, a horticultural therapist on a mission to cultivate wellbeing through the power of gardening, and who's committed to making gardening an accessible and inclusive activity for everyone. Ashley, really good to catch up with you. Your first visit to uh Spring Fair. You're looking forward to it, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

It is, yeah, it's my first time there, and I'm really looking forward to it. I think it's going to be the perfect setting for springtime.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

It is. It always feels like it kicks off spring in the gardening world down at Bewley. And it's a lovely, uh, lovely setting as well. Now that's what we need after such a that's what we need after such a grey winter. Goodness me. I yes, a grey winter and so much water. Very wet. And then somebody spoke to me yesterday and said, are we going to be looking at a hose pipe band during the summer? It's all or nothing. Irony. Yeah. Absolutely. And now, um, interesting, horticultural therapist. Talk me through that. How does that work?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Um, so in my previous role at Horatio's Garden, I was head gardener there, and I was I was um doing one-on-one sessions with patients that had had spinal injuries, and we were doing horticultural therapy, and horticultural therapy is is basically a form of horticulture that benefits you mentally or physically or both, or usually both. Um, and it's a practice of connecting people to nature. It could be through specific tasks, so it could be just being in the garden, weeding, um, pruning, giving people that space to um that space to reflect, that time to reflect, and doing something physical, which is also really beneficial for processing. Um, when we're doing tasks like gardening, our brains get a minute to switch off from maybe anxious thoughts we're having, depressive thoughts we're having, and focus on the task at hand. And it also just allows our brains to process what's going on with our minds, our bodies. So, yeah, it's a it's a it's something that's now being socially prescribed, which is amazing. Um, and I can't wait to see more of it in the mainstream.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Absolutely. And I guess it just takes a little bit more thought, particularly for those people who have physical challenges, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Definitely, yeah. You have to think about accessibility-wise, if people are seated, um, you obviously have to have the task able to be done seated, so like things like hanging baskets are great to do when you're seating. Um, if you have um some extra needs with mobility, just making sure you're working on a flat surface is great, for example, or having a raised bed so you're not bending over. Um, so yeah, it's thinking about it, it's it's having that time to think about the person you're gonna be working with um before you start the session. That's really important so that you're prepared and ready to go straight away. There's no kind of awkward um, oh, we need to sort this out or that out. It's yeah, you're just getting on with the task.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

You're saying that this sort of therapy is uh is now being prescribed. Uh, presumably, therefore, there is clear evidence that being involved in horticulture in gardening can show direct benefits.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Oh, yeah, absolutely. There's so much scientific evidence now, um, not only from the UK, but from countries like South Korea, they're really, really um way ahead with uh horticulture therapy, um, and places like Finland as well and Japan. And the UK is now kind of catching on as well, and there's there's an amazing um group of horticulture therapists in this country. Um, but yeah, it's it's it's uh becoming more popular, and um it's something that just uh science scientific uh research shows that just being outdoors can lower your cortisol levels, it can help you sleep better, it can actually boost your immune system, your your cells that are um your your cells that attack uh anything, any viruses or um anything coming into your body. So it's yeah, it's great for all around, mentally and physically.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Absolutely. What a healthy bunch gardeners are.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah, exactly. I'll be living to our over a hundred, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Now, your first time uh at the show, you are amongst many things appearing on the in conversation stage. What are you going to be talking about?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

I am, I'm excited to be there. I'm gonna be talking about uh my work behind the scenes of DIY SOS. I've been on-screen gardener for DIY SOS, started that last year, so I will be telling all about how the show actually works. I think a lot of people don't realise that we are actually on site for a long, you know, seven days to nine days, Matt. It doesn't just all work in an overnight long, long hours. Yeah, so so we're gonna talk about how the gardens come to life through through that and the impact it has on families. Uh so that'll be really cool to talk about. And then I'll be talking about growing on a balcony. I've just got my own balcony, so we'll do talk about the best plants to choose for your balcony, what you want to achieve, if you've got limited space, or if you're renting, how do you work around that? Um, which is for a lot of new gardeners, that's all we have, especially if you live in a city like London. Um, you want to make the most out of your balcony. And then I'll be talking about the best plants for summer scents. So I'm really into scented plants. Um, again, they're really good for your well-being because you can go out, touch them, you can use them in uh all sorts of herbal medicines. So, yeah, I'm gonna be talking about how to create a very uh scented bouquet of a garden.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

We'll we'll dive into that a little more in a second, but I'm I'm I'm interested because you have travelled significantly, haven't you? And you you you've therefore brought a lot of travel experiences um to how you approach your gardening today. What has influenced you uh as you've been uh globetrotting?

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Um I think it's there's so many things to learn when you're travelling, that's what I love about going to gardens in different countries because people do things in completely different ways. And I did I have worked in America for a year at Longwood Gardens, and I also worked in Sicily at a cooking school, so they're very different gardens, but I think um it's about it's about the creating a garden that fits in with the local landscape. So with Longwood, it was a very expansive garden with uh arboretum, but then you had these amazing borders, and it that's what really brought people in that change of colour every year. So there I learned about seasonal interest and um how to create really impactful borders, and then somewhere like Sicily, you're learning a lot more to like work with the land and the climate as well, is very restrictive in a way, but it gives you lots of opportunities too. So in the autumn and winter is the time when you're doing lots of gardening. In the summer, it's so hot and dry, it's actually a real challenge to garden her. So I learned a lot from that as well, like the med about the Mediterranean climate, um, and also how the plants are adapted to that area, like the furry silver leaves for heat resistance, and how the tomatoes that they grew there just had these crazy deep taproots that could lock into the moisture held underneath. So, yeah, there's loads to pick up. I've still got loads of travelling to do. I haven't been to Japan or anywhere like that, so I want to see gardens there as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Absolutely. Now you touched on something which was really interesting, which was the uh summer scents, fragrance in the garden. Um, how how can you know gardeners approach this? Give me some tips on how they can layer fragrance so they get perhaps a different experience from morning through to evening.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Interesting. Yeah, I think the best way to do it is to I've I think have scented plants near your doors or windows, because even if you're indoors, you're still gonna get that scent. So if you're sitting inside in an evening and you have jasmine near your window on in the summer evening, you're still gonna smell that in the house as well. You don't have to be outside. But you could also use things like evening primrose, they'll give you scent in the evening, and they're great for pollinators like moths. Um, and then during the day, you've got lavender, which you know is a classic scented plant. I think every gardener should have it. Um, and just brushing past that, sitting by um, maybe you set up a little table and chairs where you have your afternoon tea or maybe a drink, and you can uh yeah, have uh the scent uh wafting up to you is is beautiful. So, yeah, choosing choosing annuals is great as well. So having things like stocks and you can sow them from seed really cheaply. Um, you don't have to go massive, you could have a container that you move around, so you can move it throughout different times of the day, but yeah, you want to see where the sun travels as well through your garden and maybe um plant according to where the sun is hitting, because then the sun is what really activates those scented oils in that plant, and that's how you're gonna get the best scent.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Absolutely. It's one of the the most evocative of senses smell, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

It is, yeah, and I think memory is so linked to scent. So whenever I smell artemisia, a lot of people don't like the scent of the leaves, but it just takes me back to when I was a kid because my neighbour had one, and I always used to brush against it, and that strong, like medicinal kind of smell um that that to me just is so nostalgic.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah, no, you know, you're right, you're right. Because if I think about it, cut grass is the thing that takes me back to being six years old because our neighbour was constantly cutting his grass. Cut the grass. Exactly. Yeah, you that's a very good point. Yeah, I wonder if that therefore means that the the scents from from your garden can help you sort of regress and and possibly help people with with memory issues.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

I think like um it definitely could be. I don't know if there must be scientific evidence with that, but I know I've worked with people with um Alzheimer's and dementia, and plants are a great way for them to yeah, bring back old memories, and they do start to uh remember things from maybe their parents' gardens even way back when.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Fantastic. Uh now, as well as Gardener's World, and and you've alluded to it already, D I Y S O S. You've also said it's an awful lot of work for an hour-long programme. Um what what's it like working on something like that and sort of combining all your gardening expertise with with what effectively is like a big transformation project?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah, it is mad, it's so fun. It's kind of like being at a festival because you've got like 150 plus people every day on site. You've got we've got massive tents set up, so where we have our catering and everything behind the scenes, you've got all the tradespeople from all around the local area. You're moving around. We really are like a traveling festival, it's it's it's a lot of fun, it's really hard work. Like we're working through all weather, so we can't stop because it's raining. Like, we are out there. Like the last one I did um in Wales, it poured the whole time. Um, and you're just soaked. But you've got to get it done, you've got to hand it back to the family on on the deadline. Um, so yeah, we're we descend on the site, the house gets completely gutted, the garden usually gets ripped out. We try and save as much as we can and reuse materials as well. Um, and then it's a case of we've already got the design and we need to put it on the ground basically. And we use local landscapers, really good people who want to help. They give their time up for free and they're not being paid. They want to help the families that we're helping. Um, and they're the ones, you know, doing the really hard graft, getting the moving the soil, getting all the materials in. Sometimes there's no access, sometimes we've got to crane things over buildings, it's it's crazy. Um, and then yeah, then finally, and usually on the last day we get to plant, that's always my favorite bit, and that's when the garden comes to life. And when you hand those gardens back to the family, it's the most satisfying thing, the most fulfilling thing you can do. And I still get messages from people um who have you know saying, Oh well, we were loving the garden, you get pictures from them enjoying the space, and they're really getting into it, they're enjoying the garden for the first time. Some people have never gardened, and now they're now they're getting their hands dirty and getting yeah, their green fingers.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

If you want to know more about what happens behind the scenes at DIYSOS and more about how you can enhance your well-being through your garden, then you'll need to come to the show. BBC Gardeners World Fair is at Bewley in Hampshire from Friday the first to Sunday the third, and it is the Sunday when you can catch up with the brilliant Ashley Edwards. Lots of information on the website BBC GardenersWorldFair.com, how you can get tickets. And remember that tickets will also get you into the absolutely brilliant National Motor Museum, uh, which is uh a fascinating uh way to spend an hour or so. Um right, Ashley. So uh lots of people who are possibly the the newer ones to gardening, but like myself, are looking for um least effort, most return. Um that's just a fact of because we're we're we're time poor so often, aren't we? And a lot of people want that instant gratification bit. So can you give us a a hack or a tip that makes life easier um to uh to do our gardening but still makes it look impressive?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

I think one of the main things you can do is, for example, if you have a lawn, you can just mow the edges, leave the rest of it to grow. You don't have to cut the whole thing, it's great for pollinators, it's great for wildlife, and it looks nice. And if you just mow the edges, it looks like it's cared for, and that's uh that's the main thing in gardening. I think if you do lots of small things, the space looks cared for. You don't have to have meticulously pruned trees and tapi and everything like that, it's just about keeping it to a to a tidiness, but also allowing it to be a little bit wild. That's what a garden space is. So I'd say don't put pressure on yourself, you know. I think as gardeners, and especially if you're new to garden, it can be really daunting. And you see gardeners in magazines and TV, and you think, oh my gosh, I'm never going to achieve that. But it's just about doing it a little bit at a time, maybe having nice containers that you can take care of in an evening. You can you can deadhead a container, you can water and feed it. That that feels like a sense of achievement, and you can sit back and enjoy it. So focus on small sections of the garden rather than trying to tackle the whole thing at once and just try and enjoy it. Don't see the garden as an endless list of tasks. I know that we we're always saying, like, this here's your five things to do this month, here's that to this to do, and sometimes it can build up, it can you can feel a lot of pressure. So especially for that pressure.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Isn't it? There's there's a pressure to to to be good from the start, isn't there? Which every and everybody wants to be successful. But I mean you you mentioned you know balcony and containers. You you said you you just acquired a balcony. You can achieve a lot and and grow veg and herbs and things in a in a small space in a container, can't you?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

You can, you can have containers, you can have mixed containers, you could have containers with you know spinach or some sort of leafy vegetable, but you could also have flowers in there as well, so you could mix it up, you know, have have nice companion planting, things like calendulas and Iella, great for pollinators, bring in hoverflies which will eat aphids, you know, put them in your containers with vegetables, and um yeah, it's all about uh trial and error, and that's what's great about gardening is that you can always try again next year, next season, and you can see what works best for you in your space. Because also plants that you might be told are good for your space don't always work for whatever reason, so there's a lot of trial and error. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Uh so just finally, lots going on uh at the show. There's workshops, there's the show gardens, uh, which are gonna be amazing. The Make A Meter Matter Um area, which is uh being done by DeGraf Mensa and uh Lucy Chamberlain uh at the show, which is gonna be brilliant. Shopping, you need a large, a large bag to put all your plants and things in. It is an incredible day out. What are you looking forward to the most? When you get some downtime, uh, what are you gonna be heading towards?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Uh I think I I love going to see the growers because I love going to see the independent nurseries, what they're growing, and they're usually very specialist, so you get to see like the best of their collections and maybe unusual varieties you don't see in like mainstream garden centres. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing the growers and what they uh what they're exhibiting.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

It's gonna be good. You need one day isn't enough, I don't think. No, and you're and you do need you need one of those trolleys. Yes, you do. Absolutely top tip, Ashley.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah, you need a little trolley, bring your little trolley, fill it up. You're gonna probably need two. Bring your family, they can all carry one.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Absolutely. And of course, you are going to bring the good weather, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 16:44

I am, yeah, I'm gonna bring the sunshine. I'll be wearing shades. Fantastic. Don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Ashley, enjoy your first time uh at Bewley. It's gonna be a tremendous show, but for now, many thanks.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Thank you so much, looking forward to it.