Having built his career on encouraging people to grow unusual and forgotten foods, it is no surprise to discover that Mark Diacono\u2019s Chelsea experiences tend to focus on exciting edibles. \u201cI gravitate towards the nurseries, smaller gardens and trade stands. I love seeing who is doing something a bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> The man who helped popularise Sichuan pepper and Japanese wineberries admits that his tour of the show is largely fuelled by bacon rolls and ice cream, but this year he will be washing it down with a botanical cocktail<\/a> or two.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got an ongoing relationship with Alitex, the greenhouse<\/a> company, and I\u2019ll be back on its stand again this year. I\u2019ve been working with a young garden designer, Jake Curley, to conjure up a combination of a kitchen garden and a cocktail bar \u2013 ground to glass, you might say. Around the stand there will be little plant combinations that visitors can copy at home, including rhubarb growing with my new favourite herb, rosemary \u2018Green Ginger\u2019. It really does taste exactly how that sounds, and it is delicious but slightly mind blowing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to show that edible plants can be attractive, and also to suggest a shift from annual to perennial food plants. If you don\u2019t have to dig them up at the end of the season that means less soil disruption and more wildlife habitats<\/a>, which is great for biodiversity. And if you get a good ecological balance in your garden you won\u2019t get the problems that might tempt you to reach for the sprays. Your garden will be healthier, you will have less work to do on it, and you will have more time to drink cocktails. There\u2019s no downside.\u201d<\/p> By Abigail Whyte Published: Friday, 20 May 2022 at 12:00 am Everyone\u2019s experience of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is slightly different. For most of us it\u2019s a great day out \u2013 the opportunity to find inspiration in the show gardens, discover new plants from the country\u2019s leading nurseries and partake in some serious retail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10915,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-scaled.jpg",1703,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-200x300.jpg",200,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-768x1154.jpg",768,1154,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-681x1024.jpg",681,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-1022x1536.jpg",1022,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/my-chelsea-experience-mark-diacono-1363x2048.jpg",1363,2048,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 Abigail Whyte Published: Friday, 20 May 2022 at 12:00 am Everyone\u2019s experience of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is slightly different. For most of us it\u2019s a great day out \u2013 the opportunity to find inspiration in the show gardens, discover new plants from the country\u2019s leading nurseries and partake in some serious retail…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10914"}],"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\/10915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}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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<\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/18\/2022\/04\/Alitex-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2022-straight-on-4f5078e.jpg?quality=90&resize=566%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/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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