Tell us about your Gardeners\u2019 Question Time garden for Chelsea?<\/strong><\/p>\n It takes the form of an exhibit rather than a garden as such, in which we reference the last 75 years of the history of the programme show and how taste have changed. \u00a0We represent the past<\/a> through a selection of artefacts and the present through the plants.<\/p>\n In the middle of the exhibit is a greenhouse from Woodpecker Joinery \u2013 one that people will recognise as being suitable for their own garden, and in that we\u2019ve got lots of different artefacts, some of which we are borrowing from the Garden Museum<\/a>. We are going to try to tell the story of how gardening has changed and developed \u2013 through tools and other objects.<\/p>\n Give us an example of a key artefact you\u2019ll have on show?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m really keen on the story of the plastic pot \u2013 it\u2019s a real watershed moment in horticulture \u2013 both good and bad. Pre-plastic pot you would have gone to your local nursery, spoken about the plant you wanted and they would have been lifted and given to you bare root to be carried home in a box. I remember my first recognition of the plastic plot was when my parents bought a potting machine for the nursery and seeing this task of what would have taken hours and hours as the pots were filled with compost. It commercialised the industry, and meant you could sell year-round, but is also intersected directly with peat-based compost<\/a> \u2013 because peat was basically developed for the plastic pot to be as light as possible. It\u2019s important that we try and tackle some of these tricky horticultural issues.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> And what about other objects?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve also asked panellists to lend us an artefact that\u2019s significant to them. My item is a dung fork from my grandfather. My parents ran a cut flower nursery and my grandparents lived next door on the nursery site, which meant that there was a lot of working with the grandparents as I was growing up. And I\u2019ve inherited this fork, which made in Birmingham in 1920. A dung fork has a wide head and rounded, fine tines. It\u2019s had a new handle since my grandfather\u2019s day but it\u2019s still the same tines, worn needle thin with a wonderful patina to them.<\/p>\n How are you reflecting 75 year\u2019s-worth of planting in the exhibit?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re going to have a bed of GQT classics \u2013 plants that relate to questions we get asked a lot about. Hostas<\/a> \u2013 as you can imagine, we are always being asked about slugs<\/a> and snails, roses<\/a>, to relate to questions about pruning \u2013 and Japanese acers too, which we always get questions about how or whether or not to prune<\/a>. There\u2019ll be a range of 12-15 plants related to those key questions.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019ll be a section of forward-looking planting, which will tap into the core bit of advice we give as panellists, which is right plant for the right place \u2013 it\u2019s the mantra of all good horticulture and the one that has been consistent to the show certainly for the last 30 years. The centrepiece in these beds will be a favourite small tree \u2013 because we\u2019re often asked for ideas on a good small tree for a garden<\/a>. It will almost certainly be a crab apple<\/a>, a sorbus<\/a> or an amelanchier, because those are all great choices.<\/p> We are also going to have a little area that\u2019s representative of the huge increase in our audience who garden on a balcony<\/a> or in a courtyard<\/a>. One of the things we\u2019ve noticed in the last two years is that here\u2019s been a real widening in our demographic in our audience, as there has been in gardening as a whole, and the audience has become much younger and less concerned about needing to be expert and more willing to just have a go.<\/p>\n What about the GQT team \u2013 how are they involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n Some of them will be helping plant up the garden in the run up to the show and then we\u2019re having a retro 1960s camper van on the exhibit, which will be our base for the week. We\u2019ll be recording potting shed-style throughout the show with the team available to answer questions from visitors.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve mentioned key questions you always get asked but has there been any change over the year in what you get asked?<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a commonality to the questions for sure. We\u2019re still getting asked about seedling germination or the best time to chit potatoes \u2013 that\u2019s never gone away. But I can\u2019t imagine that 75 years ago there were questions about drought-tolerant planting or how to make their garden more wildlife friendly<\/a>. Our audience has been very switched on to environmental aspects. I found out early on in my time with the show that there was none of that resistance I might have expected \u2013 and I think that\u2019s the reality of gardening in this country. I think there\u2019s a tiny percentage of people now who think it is still okay to bombard your garden with chemicals \u2013 and I don\u2019t even think those people are gardeners.<\/p>\n Looking forward another 75 years, does the show still have a relevance in today\u2019s multi-platform information world?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re living in interesting times in terms of where people get their information from and what they trust. One of the advantages that radio has \u2013 and we\u2019re not unaware that many listeners tune in for entertainment value \u2013 is that it is a very portable format whether you take your radio into the garden with you, or now go for the podcast option and listen to it whenever you want.<\/p>\n And in terms of our relevance to a younger audience \u2013 certainly people in their 30s and younger are turning up at our outside broadcasts, whereas previously it might have been your classic gardening club membership of older people. The demographic is so much wider now, which is great for the future of gardening.<\/p>\n What about your own relationship to the programme?<\/strong><\/p>\n I remember listing to the show as I was growing \u2013 it\u2019s part of the aural wallpaper of my life.<\/p>\n And then to be asked to be a panellist I regard as an immense honour, not only because at any one time there\u2019s only nine or ten panellists but also because of the longevity and history of the programme and because it means so much to so many people. I\u2019m proud of that.<\/p>\n And then, it\u2019s a tremendous way to keep my mind fresh \u2013 not just in answering all those questions live, but also visiting points of interest I wouldn\u2019t otherwise have gone to \u2013 we did a programme from Shetland for example. Or places that we\u2019ve returned to that I haven\u2019t been to for years and I\u2019m able to reconnect with people and see what\u2019s developed. It\u2019s a real privilege.<\/p>\n Oh Shetland? Is that one of more unusual location the show\u2019s been to?<\/strong><\/p>\n They did one from the top of Mount Snowdon \u2013 and then there were two shows (that predate my time) from a nudist colony \u2013 and there are photos apparently. But for me, the most remote show that I\u2019ve done was from Lerwick in Shetland, which was an amazing experience \u2013 the gardening there is so different. We really get stuck into the places we visit and find out all about the gardening there \u2013 reflecting the local horticultural scene is something that really comes across well when we are on location \u2013 and it makes you realise that there\u2019s no singular gardening experience.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t your first time at Chelsea<\/a> is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I did a show garden back in 2016 for Welcome to Yorkshire. Chelsea comes with its own unique levels of stress and even though this should be a fairly straightforward exhibit, there\u2019s a huge amount to do and to coordinate. The most challenging aspect is the logistics \u2013 getting things and people on and off site. It\u2019s all on the finest of margins and things can go awry very easily. But having said that there is a unique quality to Chelsea, which is why it stands out \u2013 it\u2019s somewhat intangible \u2013 something to do with where it is and when it takes place and the fact that it is so highly regarded. \u00a0It puts UK horticulture on the front pages and prime time television in a way that nothing else does for the rest of the year and makes our little Cinderella industry seem incredibly glamourous and wonderful.<\/p>\n As a designer, it can often be that people don\u2019t get to see your work, whereas Chelsea is our opportunity to create something and hang it on the wall and say \u2018take a look\u2019 and do it in a way that is instantaneous rather than designing a garden longform and having to wait five years for it to mature and for photos to be taken and for it to perhaps appear in a magazine or on a gardening programme. So any appearance at Chelsea is important and a great opportunity to tell a wide audience about what horticulture can do in our lives.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n By Sorrel Everton Published: Wednesday, 18 May 2022 at 12:00 am Designer, garden expert and regular Gardeners\u2019 Question Time panellist Matthew Wilson is designing a garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show to mark the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 programme\u2019s 75th anniversary. He\u2019s been with the programme for some 13 years now and we asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10835,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"9"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-scaled.jpg",2560,1708,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/matthew-wilson-interview-theres-a-tiny-percentage-of-people-now-who-think-using-chemicals-in-the-garden-is-ok-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sorrel Everton Published: Wednesday, 18 May 2022 at 12:00 am Designer, garden expert and regular Gardeners\u2019 Question Time panellist Matthew Wilson is designing a garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show to mark the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 programme\u2019s 75th anniversary. He\u2019s been with the programme for some 13 years now and we asked…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/18\/2022\/05\/GQT-CFS-renders-finalPhoto-10-413016c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Head to our Chelsea Flower Show hub page for all the latest coverage of the Show\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>RHS Chelsea Flower Show<\/a> takes place 24-28 May 2022<\/em><\/h3><\/body><\/html>\n
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