A lovely team

I think this stopped in the 1990s when my then-girlfriend Lisa, was one of the subeditors working on AG under the steer of fresh-faced editor Graham Clarke. It was the era of Geoff Hamilton on Friday night Gardeners’ World, and the AG garden writers of the day included Daphne Ledward aka ‘Daffers’, Professor Stefan Buczacki in his cheeky bow tie, and the late great Peter Seabrook, while Pippa Greenwood and Anne Swithinbank were the young ‘uns!

Fuchsias, chrysanths, busy lizzies and dwarf conifers were de rigeur, and the inside back page was a listing of all the TV and radio garden shows – yep, a whole page! I still have lots of old copies, with some of Lisa’s old features – that one on pressurised pump action sprayers makes a fascinating read (sorry Lisa!).

The team was a lovely group, and I often had the pleasure of tagging along to AG get-togethers where I quickly learned that it takes passion and spadefuls of dedication to publish a gardening magazine (sorry, ‘book’) and that it’s very thirsty work… That probably explains why I have fewer memories than I should, but what I have are very fond indeed!

The mag offices were in Poole but I lived in Cambridge and worked at the botanic garden. On a Friday night I’d hang up my trowel and take the train to Dorset, where I’d spend the weekend with Lisa, before heading back to Cambridge on the ‘crack of dawn express’ to pick up where I left off on Monday morning.

I wouldn’t dream of taking such a long weekly schlep today, the hours spent on delayed trains would be exhausting, plus the ticket price would make Jeff Bezos think twice! And I don’t need to travel to see Lisa because as Charlotte Bronte nearly said, ‘dear reader, I married her’, and we moved in together in Cambridge.