Latecomer Prue’s garden obsession
Baking doyen joins judging panel for B&Q Gardener of the Year competition
Wildflower mishaps, vegetable gluts and disappointing fruit trees have all proved a great learning curve for baking ace Dame Prue Leith, who is also a keen gardener. But her wealth of growing experience makes her the perfect choice as new judge in this year’s B&Q Gardener of the Year competition, alongside returning judges Matt Childs, Humaira Ikram and Steve Guy, with a prize of £10,000 up for grabs.
Here, Leith, 82, reflects on how she was a latecomer to gardening and shares the triumphs and disasters of her horticultural life…
How did you become interested in gardening?
Leith says: ‘Until I was about 40, I didn’t have a lot of interest in gardening because I was busy with the children and with my business.
‘When they went to school, I started to learn the difference between an oak and an ash. I was a latecomer but then I became really obsessed.’
You love colour – how do you use that outdoors?
‘We had a lot of oak garden furniture in the old house, which we brought here – and we painted some of it bright red, while the terrace upstairs has Kingfisher blue furniture.
‘The colours of the plants are strong, not muted. If I’m looking for eryngium, I like the most beautiful deep electric blues.’
What’s your garden like?
‘My present garden is very new because we’ve just taken over an old farmyard. We had half-an-acre of concrete to get rid of before we began.
‘We had no mature trees except on the very edges, which used to be the hedgerow. The oldest thing in our new garden is the orchard, which we planted three years ago before we even had planning permission for the house.’
What have you planted in the orchard?
‘They are all native British endangered apples, damsons, plums and pears. Last year, we had our first crop of apples and I began to understand why these apple trees had gone out of fashion and were now endangered, because so many of them are tiny and scabby.’
Do you have a vegetable garden?
‘No, because there are only two of us, and I’ve had my fill of disappointments with vegetable gardens. It’s lovely to be eating your own veg, but by and large with a big vegetable garden, you end up with far too many cabbages all ready at the same time.’
Have you had many gardening disasters?
‘Plenty. Who hasn’t? You often make mistakes because you rush into things.’