EDIBLE GARDEN SHOW TO MOVE TO ALEXANDER PALACE IN 2014
Award-winning grow-your-own event, The Edible Garden Show, is putting down new roots at London’s Alexandra Palace in March 2014 in a move to bring the popular show to new audiences around the country.
TV presenter James Wong, who has been a celebrity speaker at The Edible Garden Show since its launch at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire in 2011 is delighted that the event will be sowing seeds in the capital. James, who is on a mission to persuade the nation to plant exotic edibles, says: “It has been so wonderful to see the huge enthusiasm for the show, from both visitors and exhibitors, at Stoneleigh but with a move to London the show will go positively inter-stellar!
The Edible Garden Show was launched in response to the grow-your-own revolution sweeping the country as more and more people are digging for the dinner plate. Latest government figures show that 5% of all our food is now grown at home and not just on allotments or vegetable patches in the garden. Tasty crops are being nurtured on patios, balconies, window boxes and even front doorsteps by families wanting to save money and lead a healthier lifestyle.
Debbie Smith, a Director of The Edible Garden Show, says: “Our visitors at Stoneleigh have come from all over the UK from the south coast, Devon and Cornwall to the Home Counties, Midlands, Wales, the north and Scotland. We even have some people travelling from Northern Ireland and overseas.
“Grow-your-own enthusiasts come from all walks of life and many of them are enjoying their slice of the good life from urban gardens and tiny spaces. We have decided to move to London for 2014 to bring the show to a new audience, as well as welcoming our regular visitors to a different venue and experience. Alexandra Palace will be a great home for the event in 2014 with good transport links, 1500 free car parking spaces and a huge exhibition space. We will be hoping to increase both our exhibitor and visitor numbers.”
Scheduled for the beginning of the growing season, The Edible Garden Show is bursting with innovative products, top exhibitors, home-grown produce, food, livestock and a celebrity line-up of experts.
The show harvests a huge crop of exciting exhibitors and brings inspirational celebrity chefs and gardeners together under one roof in a one-stop shop for anyone wanting a slice of the ‘Good Life’. Personalities at the 2013 event include James Wong, Gardeners’ Question Time panellist Bob Flowerdew and author and TV presenter Alys Fowler.
The Edible Garden Show 2014 will be staged at Alexandra Palace from 28-30 March.
For more show information visit:
www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk
Event/item
The new way to grow Annual flowers
The Olympics did a lot of good for the country but one idea us
gardeners came away with is the use of Annual flowers and Wild flowers to create whole gardens. Pre Olympics there were very few mixes of wild flowers and annuals on the market available to the public and what was available was very small packets at silly money. But now every company seems to have at least one flower mix to tempt you with and if they take off it could be the new way to create a cheap garden with little effort. The companies have made them so easy even someone with no gardening skills would struggle not to get good results. You don't even need great soil as they have selected the very easiest and toughest varieties to go in the mix, most of the mixes are annuals or annual wild flowers. Some companies have incorporated annual and perennial seeds in the one mix so you will get a show of colour in the first year. Then in the second mix the perennials come into flower all from the first sowing with the bonus that you never have to sow the mix again.
Some of the newest on the market
Grow Sure Easy Flowers
Made by WestLand, the pack contains a mix of seeds, coir, compost and fertilizer. Each pack contains enough seed to cover 6m2 or 30 x 50cm pots
can be sown in spring or autumn. And should flower from June to October all from one sowing. The flower mix contains the following Agrostemma, Cornflower, Gypsophila, Nigella, Candytuft, Virginian stock, Clary, Lavatera and Phacelia. Available in bright colors or Pastel colour's.
www.gardenhealth.com
Flower Magic
Made by Miracle Gro the mix contains 4 month slow release fertilizer coir compost and up to 29 flower varieties, sufficient to cover 4m2. The 350g smaller pack will fill 10 x 42cm pots, sow the mix in spring. There are 3 mixtures to choose from the multi colored mix contains up to 29 varieties. There is also a Pink and White mixture with 16 varieties and the Blue and White mixture contains 19 varieties.
www.lovethegarden.com
Empathy Mini Meadow
Made by Plant Works, is a mixture of native wild flower seeds specifically selected to attract bees and butterflies. The mix also contains Root Grow which is a mycorrhizal fungi which help transport nutrients from the soil to the plants. This helps increase the plant's health as well as increased resistance to pest and disease. The mix includes some of the following: Common Poppy, Oxeye Daisy, Corn Flower etc.
www.rootgrow.co.uk
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