A packed hall greeted Matthew Biggs of Radio 4's ”Gardeners Question Time” on Tuesday, 11th October. Matthew, who also writes and appears on television, had come to the Ticknall Garden Club to talk about “The Back Gardens of Britain.”
He began with a visit he made with Roy Lancaster for Radio 4 to a garden in a very deprived area in the north. The garden had been made on the balcony of a first floor flat. It had everything in it that was bright and cheerful as well as plastic animals and statuettes. Matthew didn't like it but could see that it cast light amid the gloom of its setting. He said that no gardens is wrong if the maker likes it - gardens should reflect the maker.
He went on to show with slides a variety of gardens by individual gardeners all over the country. Among these were a garden purely of gourds and a garden where the maker regarded as a challenge anything that cannot be grown here. He now has a garden full of exotic plants that you never see outside.
Matthew encouraged people to do their own thing. His boundless enthusiasm impressed the audience who all went away, it is hoped, to enjoy the garden even more.
The next meeting of the Garden Club will be on Tuesday, November 8th when Sylvia Martin will speak on “Kitchen Gardens Revisited”
