I regularly give talks to gardening clubs and societies all over the South-West and further afield, and I’m available for bookings for a reasonable fee plus travel expenses.

Please scroll down for the full list of current topics, then contact me by email for more details and to make a booking.

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TALK TOPICS

Gardening without Plastic ~ A World Under our Feet ~ Heritage vegetables ~ A Rogue’s Gallery for Gardeners ~ Growing Veg in Small Spaces ~ Year Round Veg Growing

GARDENING WITHOUT PLASTIC

The thousands of tons of plastic polluting our oceans and beaches are having a devastating effect on marine ecosystems. Yet UK gardeners currently get through about 500 million plastic pots every single year – as well as countless plastic plant labels, seed trays, bedding plant trays, polythene cloches….

Ever since 2017 I have been working to reduce, and where possible eliminate the plastic from my garden. I’ve written about my experiences each month throughout 2019 for The Garden (the RHS journal) and this talk is all about how you can too can garden without plastic.

Available as a hands-on demonstration of different plastic-free gardening methods (this involves potting compost so can be slightly messy!), or as a slideshow.

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A WORLD UNDER OUR FEET

We know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about what goes on in the soil under our feet. Yet your garden soil underpins everything you do: it governs how your plants grow, which plants will thrive in your garden, and what pests and diseases you’re most likely to come across. Learn to look after it and treat it with the respect it deserves, and your garden will thrive.

This talk is a peep into a magical world in which plants ‘talk’ to each other and ants are giants. I’ll also let you know how you can best look after your soil so it can look after your plants. Following the slideshow, I can also demonstrate how to carry out a basic soil test – with the chance for club members to get their soil tested, too

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HERITAGE VEGETABLES

Heritage vegetables have been handed down from generation to generation, rich with history and sometimes with some quirky stories attached, too.

This talk explores the wonderful history, flavours and stories behind our oldest vegetable varieties, and looks at what exactly we mean by a ‘heritage’ vegetable: superior flavour? a good story? or something else altogether?

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A ROGUE’S GALLERY FOR GARDENERS

A talk packed with practical advice on organic ways of tackling pests and diseases, including ways to prevent them from attacking your plot in the first place, and how to limit the damage if and when they do.

I’ll give first-hand examples from my own long experience in fighting off the most commonly encountered pests on both ornamental and edible plants, rounding off with the top 10 pests and diseases encountered by the RHS Advice Service each year, and how to cope if you encounter them in your garden.

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GROWING VEG IN SMALL SPACES

Gardens are getting smaller and smaller these days – but that doesn’t mean you have to limit your dreams to grow your own food.

This slideshow is packed with ideas I’ve collected from shows, by visiting other people’s gardens and by trying it out in my own garden.

You’ll hear about techniques such as vertical gardening, keyhole gardening and square-foot gardening to make the most of even the tiniest spaces, plus recommendations on the best varieties to grow and advice on how to pack the most veg into the least space imaginable.

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YEAR-ROUND VEG GROWING

It’s easy enough to grow veg in the summer – but what about keeping your garden productive through winter, and, even worse, the dreaded ‘hungry gap’ of early spring?

This talk tells you how to maximise the produce from your garden all year round, so you have something to pick every day of the year from January to December. I’ll explain clever techniques for extending the season at both ends, plus share my tips for the best crops to grow so you never go short of delicious fresh produce for your plate.