In his new book, Your Outdoor Room, designer and TV presenter Manoj Malde aims to equip us all with the tools we need to design a garden that truly meets our needs
Manoj Malde is an award-winning garden designer, television presenter and RHS Ambassador for inclusivity. His first book, Your Outdoor Room: How To Design A Garden You Can Live In, aims to equip us all with the tools that we need to create a garden that meets our needs.
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Tell us about the new book and why you wrote it.
Not everyone has the luxury of hiring a garden designer, so I wrote this book to empower people to design their own gardens. Everyone deserves a beautiful garden that resonates with their personality and lifestyle. I delve into the crucial aspects of garden design, including colour palettes, sustainability, biodiversity and budgeting.
What did you learn from writing it?
Writing Your Outdoor Room has allowed me to share my expertise and has deepened my respect for the editorial craft – a collaboration that has resulted in a book that I am proud to call my own.
If there’s one idea you’d like to share from the book, what would it be?
Plan your garden on paper and avoid working on each area in isolation. This enables you to consider factors such as flow, balance and overall aesthetics, ensuring a harmonious and well-co-ordinated design.
I’ll read anything about…
I want to explore the richness, traditions and culture of India and learn more about my heritage. I find Crete captivating and hope to live there one day, but I also love other Greek Islands. I enjoy reading books about them, and fiction set there. I also love books that explore other cultures, wildlife and nature.
What books are currently on your nightstand?
Uprooting by Marchelle Farrell: so much of what Marchelle writes resonates with me. Also, The Pigment Trail by Debra Luker, full of colour and inspiration from India.
What first sparked your interest in gardening?
My childhood was spent in Mombasa, Kenya. Our large balcony, adorned with jasmine, roses and birds of paradise, and nurtured by my dad, sparked my connection with nature. We moved to the UK when I was six. My brother Nish played a pivotal role in sparking my interest in gardening by creating a vegetable plot. The experience of tending to tomatoes and runner beans and the more exotic coriander, fenugreek, mooli and purple rat’s tails became a poignant reminder of our lives in Mombasa.
What’s your guilty gardening secret?
Not composting at home. I will soon be more sustainable, transitioning to one of those large hot bins that convert green waste into compost in around 90 days.
What is your current garden like?
In its infancy. We have a wide patio with a pergola on one side, re-roofed with beautiful cedar shingles. The shed is going to be screened off with vertical slatted trellis. At last, we will have a hidden space for a compost bin. We are blessed with a stunning weeping willow. The afternoon and evening sun are at the rear, making it the perfect spot for areas for outdoor dining and lounging. We want to introduce a wildlife-friendly planting scheme, more planting around the seating area to create a cosy feel and some more trees and evergreen shrubs for structure and winter interest. Borders with tall ethereal plants will add movement and hazy screens, enabling the garden to unfold gradually.
Can you share your biggest gardening failure?
Leaving two mature Aloe polyphylla outside knowing that we were going to have heavy snow – I lost them both. A lesson learned – even plants accustomed to snow and cold in their native environments may not fare well in the same conditions in a different location.
What’s your favourite landscape?
There is a very special location in Crete called Octopus Bay. It is where I proposed to my husband Clive. The hillsides are adorned with Euphorbia dendroides, Phlomis lanata, Cyclamen graecum and Cyclamen creticum.
What else are you up to at the moment?
I’m working on some exciting projects in Edinburgh and Cambridge and am eagerly awaiting approval for the next stage of works for a project abroad. I’m also in discussions about a sensory garden for a medical clinic. And I still have a honeymoon to organise.
Your Outdoor Room: How To Design A Garden You Can Live In
by Manoj Malde, Frances Lincoln, £20 ISBN 978-0711282247