SPEAKER_00 0:01

BBC Gardeners World Live day two at the NEC. I'm delighted to be stood in the sunshine with Matt Betterson from uh Frapston, Northamptonshire. Matt, uh it's nice to see the weather bringing the crowds out, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Very, very nice day. Um yeah, nice to have a bit of sunshine. Garden takes a lot of watering though, um, to keep it looking absolutely special for this show.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

And it does look special, uh, and I'm not surprised it's won a platinum award. Greenhouse Noir is the title. Talk me through this because this this caught my eye, not least of all, because it's got a lot of black wood in it.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

It's got it's got a lot of black wood on it, it's only four metres by four metres, so it's a very small space, um, but the black really offsets the the lush green planting um and really sort of adds adds that character and that drama to the small space.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

How did the idea come about? Because you s you start with a blank piece of paper, don't you? And you sit there with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and you say, right, what am I gonna do with my four square metres?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Uh yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's that um it's that's it's that small scale, a very small piece of paper, uh, and that brief to add that um dramatic uh I guess uh impact, small space, big impact is is kind of the brief that we're working with here. Uh and it's an accessible garden. Uh there's not a species here that's um that needs a horticulturalist to look after it. Everything here is very accessible uh and easily um to recreate in your own garden. Absolutely. Now tell me what you've planted here. Um so we've got we've got this small paquysandra at the front, twinned with a Kerex, the grow ornamental grass. Um, this sort of bottom layer, as it were, the ground cover, builds us up to the fatsia. Uh, we've got a couple of aces, a big eight, ten-foot Dixonia tree fern in the corner. Again, really adds that bit of a bit of drama to this small space.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Some of the gardens here use splashes of colour. You've you've got a much more subtle route.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Very much. It's very much foliage-based, so it's a it's a shady garden, lots of big bold foliage, and a very slight hint of flowers. It's a very the Brunner has a very small, delicate blue flower, um, hostas were a splash of white, but um they're primarily there for their foliage, but um yeah, a tiny, tiny bit of colour, just a hint. And what's it meant to you to win the Platinum Award? Uh not just Platinum Award, but we won Best Showcase Garden and Best Construction too. So so so those um yeah, couldn't couldn't have asked more, couldn't have gone any better. First time um doing a show garden here designing, so yeah, absolutely yeah, amazing, overwhelmed a bit with the attention it's gotten.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

A lot of interest in your garden, people taking pictures because they want to take away and perhaps replicate some of what you've done. What do you want people to take away from what you've created?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I think you I think you can take, like with most show gardens, you can take um ideas and plant combinations with this garden. I think you could take the whole thing. I I think I think the whole space, um, you could take that uh four metres by four metres, you could take the whole lot and put it in your garden. Uh whether it's your whole garden, uh whether it's an area, a little garden room. Um yeah, there's lots to take away from this.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

The small space is the operative word here because a lot of people won't have big gardens and allotments to work with, and they're looking for that level of inspiration, and there's plenty of it here at the show.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Indeed, there is, yeah, yeah. And working with those small spaces, but not being afraid to put large feature pieces in. There's some taxes, some U boards in there that are nearly a metre across, uh, and the tree ferns um ten foot, three metres tall. So it's yeah, work with small spaces, but don't be afraid to put some real big feature plants in there. Yeah, your your first garden, um what prompted you to do it and what do you normally do? Uh so yeah, it's the launch of the business. Little Jardin is uh is the business, it's only a year old. Um so I guess it's to raise our profile first and foremost, um, but and to showcase what we do, to showcase what we can do. Um Little Jardin, so we work with small spaces, it's my my passion, it's what I love doing. Um and it's yeah, it's a real showcase that to mean if you have got a if you've got a yard space even uh we can do something special.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, so best showcase garden, best construction landscaper, the platinum award. Where do you go from here now? I mean, is is that it? Have you peaked early?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Very good question, very good question. What do I do? What do I do if I come back next year? Um yeah, a lot of thinking to do between now and then. Uh I don't know. Exactly that, exactly that, yes indeed.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Matt, good to catch up with you. Congratulations uh and enjoy uh everybody walking past is obviously enjoying your garden, so enjoy the rest of the show. Thank you so much, thank you.