WHAT A YEAR!
Joe Swift looks back on gardening in a heatwave — and meeting the Queen
With Gardeners’ World having come to an end for another year, my Radio Times gardening column does, too. It has certainly been an interesting 12 months – stimulating plenty of thoughts about how we may be gardening in the future.
The hot, dry summer was almost unbearable at times. I was filming Gardeners’ World in north Wales on the hottest day of the year for an item you can see the programme next year. It was 40°C, and we were in a breezeless walled garden designed specifically to keep the heat in!
Gardens were parched then, but it’s amazing how resilient some plants are and how they’ve bounced back. There’s no doubt that, with climate change, we’ll be relying increasingly on those plants that can cope with little water. And there is plenty of hope on that front: many pioneering gardeners out there are trying things out, showing us the way and proving we can still create beautiful, rich, biodiverse gardens.
From a personal perspective, I’ve been flat-out this year. I was very happy with the way my RHS Chelsea Bee Garden turned out: it got the important message across that we must plant and create habitats with bees and other pollinators in mind, as they are in a serious state of decline. It was an honour to meet the Queen, too (the ultimate Queen Bee!). We had a very jolly exchange, and she will of course be missed next year at the greatest flower show on Earth.
I also designed the “Grow, Sow and Show” garden for The One Show at Tatton Park in Cheshire. It was a simple brief, and one that really played to my personal passion – which is to encourage everyone, especially first-timers, to grow flowers and vegetables from seed or cuttings. Again, it was crazily hot, but I provided some seating in the dappled shade of trees for everyone to stay cool and chat gardening, which was lovely. (Creating shade will be another crucial consideration for the future.)
The main series of Gardeners’ World may be over, but there are some fabulous winter specials that the team has been working hard on to look forward to. I will very much enjoy sharing those with you. But for now, until next year, happy gardening!