Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
BRITAIN’S GREENEST FINGERS!
them and vermiculite, and take cuttings of scented-leaf pelargoniums, fuchsias, felicia, plectranthus and marguerites, 30 cuttings toatray.ialsogrowlots from seed, like busy lizzies, and different vegetables – we grow peppers and aubergines on the kitchen table!’ The back garden, measuring 80ft by 35ft, is more restrained than the front, but just as packed with plants. There is a small pond, surrounded by trees, shrubs and perennials, and a winding path which is lined on either side with ferns. Further on is the hidden ‘secret garden’, planted with grasses, and beyond that is Barry’s beloved veg garden. ‘Growing vegetables is his real passion,’ says Pam.
Their three all-important greenhouses are at the bottom of the garden, and in summer they are packed with tomatoes, chillies, basil and flowering pot plants. Once the weather turns cold, they are crammed with tender plants that need winter protection.
Pam believes their garden works because it is a joint enterprise. ‘We make a good team. Barry chooses the veg – I wouldn’t dare interfere with that – and he also does the pruning and the landscaping, while I do the planning, the propagation and the watering. We have the odd disagreement about pruning, but our main bone of contention is that he wants straight lines everywhere and I want curvy lines. I usually win because I design the planting.’
As well as the blue winner’s plaque, Pam and Barry have received the winner’s cheque for £2,000 – and have already decided how to spend the money. Some is being shared with their three children but the rest will go – of course – on the garden, with a new arbour and bird table, and some more ferns. ‘And we always need more compost!’ Pam says. ‘My children know that – that’s what they usually get me for my birthday.’
She is already planning next year’s garden and choosing the new plants she wants to grow in amongst her old favourites. ‘I’ve seen a new kind of nicotiana I want to try.’
October to December is a busy period, as she and Barry tidy the garden and start moving tender plants into the greenhouses. After Christmas she has six weeks off from the garden, to spring clean the house, but by February it’s all systems go.
‘I love that moment in late winter when you first put your hands in compost and you know that the gardening season is starting again,’ Pam says. ‘It’s the most wonderful feeling. It makes your heart sing.’
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