SPEAKER_01 0:01

Well I'm delighted to catch up with Tom Brett at BBC Gardeners World Live and the sun's trying to come out, Tom, isn't it? It's just about trying, yes. It's quite humid, but it's so busy already, and lots of people admiring your gold-winning border, which is fabulous. A brush became a spade. Intriguing title, tell me.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

It's um pretty basically the um story of um changing careers. Um I was originally a painter and decorator, um, got to the point where I wasn't really enjoying it. I've done it 20 20 years up until that point. Um, and then I was looking for to change to something new. Um always had an interest in horticulture. Um I thought I'll try a little retraining scene, a bit like an apprenticeship, which we did for 12 months. Um and then that's led me now to uh have my own business which has been going 12 months and 12 businesses. And an award winner, that's not bad going, is it?

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yes. So talk me through what you've got a sort of, I would call this a pagoda, is that is that the right title for it? An arbour, okay. And and what have we got surrounding that?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So um basically um but the left hand side of the border is um got little elements from my uh previous job. So I've got like uh ladder, um some brushes and rollers there. Recycling paint pots into plant pots. That's it, and then there's um another paint kettle that's got a little water feature in if you look carefully, and um the planting behind that goes into a bit more experimental, so that's the start of the journey on you know into horticulture, and the arbour is symbolizing um sort of walking through into a new in into the new world really of um horticulture, and the right hand side of the border um is symbolising my style of planting, and but basically then becoming a professional really.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Telling it telling an interesting story. Um now just talk us through some of the things you've got here. I know you've got salvia, which everybody seems to be using this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yes, yes, I've got quite quite a few different um versions of salvia. You've got the car and Caradonna at the front with the with the spikes and that, and then we've got um Hot Lips and Knapsflinder. Um I think there's another one somewhere. But yes, the lot of salvies and they're they're hardworking plants, you know, they sort of give you colour. Um don't need a lot of work to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

So when you're approaching uh a colour wheel, for example, I mean going back to your previous uh job, you'd be matching and uh colours and seeing that some that work, some that contrast, how much of that have you brought into the design of your border?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Um I suppose, yeah, quite a bit really. It's um the style of planting I've got for them on the right hand side here, the sort of loose, cottagey sort of prairie style. You can be very adventurous with colour, so it's a it's really it's sort of just a well pardon the pun a big splash of colour. So there's lots of little pops of bit um different bits of colour, and then even on the other side we're experimenting, it's a bit more sort of pastely, I guess, um whites and sort of pastel pinks, past purples, and so yes, it's sort of when I was thinking of it. You can you can just go wild with colour to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

What do you want people to take away from your garden? I mean, everybody coming in, you've got lots of people looking at what you've planted and admiring what you've planted, and some of them will want to copy it to some degree. So, what do you want people to take away from your design in your garden?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Um well, really yeah you can be as experimental as you like and cramming quite as as as much as you like, as long as you're grouping things together and sort of you know freeze and fives and that, so it's not looking like that one single plant, you'll get quite a nice impact. Um add grasses and things in and low-grown cover, bits and pieces all around the edges, um just so they look full. And if you've got any gaps, add some annuals in with some colours and that sort of um cover that period of time where the other perennials are getting bigger.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Absolutely. Well, congratulations on your gold award, very well deserved. Uh final question Does your garden look like this at home? No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. They always say a painter and decorator's house is the one that needs painting and decorating, doesn't it? Exactly the same with a garden, yeah. Exactly with a garden. Congratulations, really well. Thank you very much. Thank you.