Grow your own

Grow Your Own Area sponsored by NS&I

A beautiful outdoor stage set in the heart of the Grow Your Own area is not to be missed by anyone wanting to know more about perfect home grown produce.  This is the ultimate destination for anyone who craves tips on how to live the good life and learn about what can be achieved with even the smallest of plots.

Within this area you will find the Grow Your Own Stage, where you can watch live demonstrations from our Celebrity Gardeners' throughout the show - to find out the exciting line-up for the stage click here.. Tickets to this stage are FREE to visitors, but don't forget to arrive early because with 150 seats these shows are sure to fill up quickly!

The timetable of appearances is being put together as we write and more information will be posted here as soon as available.

Growing Gardens Today competition

For the second year, judges of the NS&I Growing Gardens Today competition have selected three unique and visionary garden designs to be displayed at BBC Gardeners' World Live 2009. The winning designs all feature growing fruit and vegetables, modernity and sustainability as key themes. These are requirements of the competition that links in with NS&I's ongoing sponsorship of the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Grow Your Own campaign.

THREE WINNERS, THREE VERY DIFFERENT VISIONS:

Old fashioned principles with a modern twist

Winner Sally Wilding-Webb from Devon has been interested in gardening for as long as she can remember. She even has the gardening gene in her blood, having come from a family of gardeners. Her grandfather was a classically trained Victorian Head Gardener and her father hand-built lawnmowers and gardening equipment for a living.

'Everything in the garden', shows that a garden can be more than a vegetable plot but also a space to relax and enjoy from inside and out. It encompasses modern techniques - such as a rainwater harvesting system under the pathway, a pond to encourage wildlife and lavender to welcome bees for pollination. Her design also includes a wide array of fruit and vegetables and a compost bin for recycling waste, such as vegetable peelings and garden clippings that can be used again in the garden once rotted down.

A balanced ecosystem

Winner Sheila Jean Dearing, a former bio-medical scientist, also from Devon, has always been deeply interested in gardening and developed her passion further when she began cultivating her own gardens. Sheila, who has an Honours degree in Environmental Science, an RHS General Certificate in Horticulture as well as a Diploma in Garden Design, was driven by her love for gardening to move into professional garden design and has been doing this for three years.

'Forest to Fork' combines creativity with science to produce a space that is both beautiful and practical. Designed using FSC softwood throughout, this garden demonstrates how a small space can be productive, low maintenance and eco friendly with a modern feel. Specially selected plants readily available in most garden centres have been chosen for the plot to show just how easy it can be to grow and nurture.

Sustainable, stylish and sleek

Winners Christopher Parry and Rene Humphrey from Bath have both been passionate about garden design for several years. And after graduating from the Oxford College of Garden Design in 2007 they went on to set up their own garden design business TwentyEightDesigns. A lot of their inspiration for designing comes from various travels and Rene's Scandinavian roots, as well as wanting to change a space into something better and make it more functional.
The 'Urban Veg' garden, designed to be as sustainable as possible, incorporates many recycling components such as reusable materials, a sleek built in compost bin and reclaimed bricks for walls. The garden will show how a small space can be used to grow your own as well as being environmentally friendly, relaxing and stylish.

Visitors to the show will have the opportunity to choose their favourite of the winning designs in a public vote.  Each of the three winners will also provide NS&I with a weekly 'blog' in the build-up to the show.  Keep visiting www.nsandi.com/rhs for further details on the winners and their designs as they progress in the lead up to the show.