I garden because I am. For me, gardening isn’t just an activity, it’s how I make sense of the world, and place myself within it. At times, my garden feeds me, fills my house with flowers, provides me with gifts, allows me to watch the world of insects, birds and microbes, of life and death up close.
My garden brings me utter joy, often unexpected, spontaneous joy. But I realised a long time ago that giving that joy away was just as much fun. I love teaching gardening, every bit as much as I love gardening. That’s why I’ve curated a series of four Guardian Masterclasses this May, which I’m delighted to introduce in this blogpost.
The classes cover everything from foraging to garden design, to growing flowers, and fruit and veg – and they’re taught by some of the gardening experts I most admire.
James Alexander-Sinclair is leading our Masterclass on garden design. Not only is James an accomplished designer, he’s also a judge for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I’ve long believed that good design often comes from seeing a lot of gardens – and James has done an awful lot of that. Being able to look at your garden and love the way it looks is a great joy. A little good design goes a long way and James is there to help your find that during his unique course at the Guardian.
Georgie Newbery is a wonderful florist, but perhaps just as importantly, a great grower. Her work is effortlessly naturalistic, always seasonal and reminds me of the best of the English countryside. If you’ve ever wanted to grow flowers for your home, or for a wedding or special occasion, she’s the person to teach you how to get the blooms you want, exactly when you want them. Join her for a morning Masterclass and you’ll receive lots of expert tips on how to create a cut flower patch in your own garden or allotment.
I’m a big fan of Dave Hamilton’s work. He’s one of the UK’s most talented foragers and horticulturists, as well as a prolific writer on the subject of wild food. Learning to understand how plants grow without our help, whether that’s in their natural habitat, alongside a railroad or in a disused plot, can teach us a lot about how to garden. For this reason, although foraging may not seem like a traditional gardening activity, I think it can be a valuable tool in teaching you how to look at the wider landscape. So I’m very glad that there’s a foraging class with Dave, involving a foray into the Sussex countryside to see what’s out there to eat.
And finally, vegetables – my favourite subject. In my two-hour Masterclass, we’ll look at how to get the most from your garden with the least effort. During the class, I’ll share advice on how to work with the soil and let nature do the hard work. Whether you’re on an allotment or growing on the balcony, I firmly believe that being a productive vegetable gardener is within everyone’s reach.
Ultimately, though, we’re all beginners in gardening. Some of us have more seasons under our belts, but you learn very quickly that the minute you make an assumption about your garden, or think you know the pattern of things, nature loves to mock you. I hope that this range of Masterclasses will help all you green-fingered gardeners to accept that failure is really the starting point for gardening – and I mean this in a positive way.
Your lettuces will be slugged, the weather will change on a wisp, you will sow, re-sow and then sow again, only to realise that the plant is much happier doing it own job, self-seeding where it pleases. Some years you’ll rule over brassicas, other years they will baffle you. Always though, if you’re kind to your soil, the garden will give you something back.
Accepting, along with failure, the lack of control you sometimes feel when gardening is a mighty fine lesson. You will lose control, the weed will always return, the pests are part of the system. Accept all of this and you’ll quickly learn that the garden is as good as any therapist.
Gardening month curated by Alys Fowler
Our brand new series of gardening Masterclasses has been specially curated by Alys Fowler. Take your pick from four classes this May, where you can learn how to forage and prepare wild food, grow your own flowers, fruit and veg, and master the essentials of good garden design.
Alys Fowler is a horticulturist and journalist, and writes a weekly column for the Guardian. She’s been the presenter of long-running BBC television programme Gardeners’ World, and is the author of several books including The Edible Garden and Abundance.
