Neville Stein's guest on this episode of the podcast works in one of horticulture’s most hands-on areas, arboriculture.

James Gadd is a director of Gadd Brothers Trees and Landscape and as an arboricultural professional he works with amenity trees – those found in private gardens, public parks and open spaces, schools, churchyards, playgrounds, urban woodlands and nature reserves and alongside roads, railway lines and routes for utilities like electricity pylons. It is a role which sees him mix heavy machinery, heights, problem solving and things that sound like they could be from a Mission Impossible movie, as well as conservation and planting of trees.

As someone running a business, James tells us a little about what he is looking for when he hires staff, how to get started in the industry, and reveals some of the things that some people do not realise are part of the job.

For more information about Gadd Brothers Trees and Landscapes visit https://gaddbrothers.co.uk/ and to find out how the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation can support your career in horticulture visit https://colegrave seabrook foundation.org.uk/

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Joining Rachael Forsyth on this week's HortWeek Podcast is John Durnell from the Hampshire Wildlife Trust and Alistair Emery, founder of Land and property investment and consultancy, Kingwell.

John and Alistair are collaborators on significant natural capital scheme at Keyhaven near Milford-on-Sea converting degraded arable farming land into a "high value wildlife site".

Kingwell bought the farm in 2020 and is working with Hampshire Wildlife Trusts to create meadows and grassland, enriching the biodiversity as large-scale BNG habitat.

The land will be transformed in five or six phases which will be offered to developers as BNG credits - "we thought was probably what the market would absorb" Alistair says.

Working alongside local authorities and the Environment Agency in a form of public-private partnership HWT will provide technical support on habitat creation and ongoing management of the land over the next 20 or 30 years. As John says, "frankly if we're going to turn around the sort of fate of wildlife in the UK I think every single sector is really going to have to do its bit."

Alistair talks about the benefits from a land owner's point of view and how it can benefit rural business and community as well as the environment: "Farmers are under a lot of pressure to look at how they can diversify and commercialize their farms, particularly with BPS falling away. It's looking at what are the opportunities that can keep farms going. Environmental schemes such as this are going to play a part in enabling farmers to continue."

They outline the carbon sequestration benefits of soil restoration and way the "nascent" BNG credits market will interact with local construction schemes and planning departments.

Alistair says: "Our planning system is broken. And it's not broken because of things like BNG. It's it's other factors that are driving that.

"Also in the planning system, developers are finding ways to get around BNG, finding exemptions so that they don't have to deliver it onsite or even offsite.

"I think things will change. It's a very new thing. It was only February last year that it became statutory and small developments in April. It takes a long time to get these schemes approved and over the line and supply."

John says: "What I always find frustrating is when the Government infer that lack of supply or BNG or protection for the environment is the thing that's stopping house building. And frankly, that's risible when... if you speak to most developers, they'll admit that it's high interest rates, lack of planning officers, lack of capacity... [and] things like lack of labour.

They discuss the teething troubles with BNG, issues with planning and posit options on how system might be adapted to allow the various agencies to work together more effectively, which means, John insists, public and private partnerships.

They also make the case for larger schemes. Alistair says: "If you have on-site mitigation where you've got fragmented patches of areas within developments that are completely unconnected and going back to the resource problem of the local authorities, then being able to monitor and enforce to ensure that the biodiversity is actually being delivered in those areas, it just doesn't work. It will only work properly if we can do it strategically on large areas of land like what we've got in Keyhaven.

John adds: "Small areas suffer from this thing called edge effect where the edges, problems come in from the edge and the edges tend to be degraded to a certain extent....mitigating at scale strategically is a really, really good model. "

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HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsor Westland Horticulture.

At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.

Hear from people who have found their way into their chosen career through different paths, what their job involves and what it means to them.

In this episode Neville Stein catches up with students from Sparsholt College to discuss their recent experience of exhibiting at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and how they felt about it.

As the Colegave Seabrook Foundation supports students studying horticulture, we were very proud to be sponsors of their exhibit and are thrilled at their success.

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This week's guests are Chris Wellbelove (recently appointed managing director) and Steve Buckingham, CEO of Blakedown Landscapes.

Blakedown just won the contract for the Queen Elizabeth garden scheme for The Royal Parks as part of their landscape construction framework. Chris outlines work being done using "environmentally sensitive construction methods" and Steve discusses some of the highlights of their work with The Royal Parks which goes back some 35 years, including the Greenwich Park Revealed scheme which won them a National BALI Award.

The Outdolf Landscape project at RHS Garden Wisley won the firm another BALI Award that year and Chris talks about the pleasure of a free-flowing collaboration made possible by working with the hands-on and knowledgeable Wisley team.

The pair also discuss some of the challenges faced in the landscape sector, including increased and unpredictable lead-in times for materials and plants.

Chris says: "By the time we get to see it it's got a specification it's got planning permission based on a certain set of materials so for us to have much input is difficult", adding "where we are involved at earlier points we do have these discussions about 'where are you purchasing from, is it ethical, is it sustainable, is there a UK alternative?'.

On plans for growth, Chris talks about how contractor design work is now part of every contract they undertake, so the firm took on Ruth Miller as a design manager to manage those design elements efficiently without disrupting the progress of the project. Andy Harris also joined as an operations manager to bolster the management team. Steve adds they are aiming for "organic growth" while looking expand activities outside their traditional territories in the South of England. Nigel Payne has also come on board to help develop Blakedown's grounds maintenance offering.

Among the varied and numerous challenges thrown up in 2024, Steve says the "continually wet period" from autumn 2023 to spring 2024 was one of the hardest.

And a new challenge faced by all landscape contractors is in the planning department. On the one hand, a change in pre-commencement conditions means Blakedown is being involved in signing those off after starting the contract causing delays of several weeks to commencement of works. This is exacerbated by a lack of and high turnover of overstretched planning officers, all adding to delays. "[A project] we were due to start last September, we are only getting on board now [early March]... it has a real effect on your sales forecast and your planning."

Another area of growth is public realm and infrastructure improvements set in motion by the last Government's 'Levelling Up" agenda and Blakedown is embarking on a major project in to transform Canterbury's open spaces including a 'green link' to provide a safe way for pedestrians to walk around the city. Chris is inspired by how it is finding ways to "improve accessiblity but not a the cost of nature".

"For the next five years it is about organic growth...We're not looking to grow hugely; we want to do what we do really well, and keep doing that."

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ICL Professional Horticulture Technical Manager Andrew Wilson explains what water soluble fertilisers are and how they can be applied directly to the plant through drip irrigation and foliar application.

He explains how to apply them through a diluter, overhead irrigation or drip irrigation. WSF’s are usually applied as a supplementary feed in combination with a Controlled Release Fertiliser such as Osmocote 5. They are typically used to give a growth boost to outdoor crops after a prolonged high rainfall period during the growing season.

Wilson talks about different types of water soluble fertilisers to suit your water type and ratios of NPK in the product, as well as conductivity (EC) of the fertiliser.

He explains how AngelaWeb 3.0 software takes many nursery specific factors into account such as water quality, growing media and Osmocote levels and says how WSF’s can be used in peat-free growing with care and tells us about frequency of feeding

Lots of advice can be found on the ICL website and many practical videos on our Youtube channel ICL UK/Ire Professional Horticulture.

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Roisin Wilson is business development director at HSK Gardening and Leisure, which is a specialist importer of 'Jurassic' plants from the Antipodes, specifically Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns from Australia.

It is a tightly regulated activity, but Roisin explains that the tree ferns it imports from Tasmania are 'rescue' tree ferns that might be otherwise cast aside by loggers.

Big plans are afoot at HSK and Roisin talks about the recent rebrand of the company and a shift towards "concept gardens" which takes inspiration from IKEA's approach to retail providing a "garden in a box" providing "instant impact, instant garden".

These 'Jurassic' concepts will be retailed through independent garden centres and bigger chains, with a focus on educating them on the concept, how it works and how to sell it. Roisin feels it is an "untapped market" and the ideal way to reach reluctant and perhaps younger customers - "the gardeners of the future".

She also believes there are opportunities to access new markets in Europe "and what was really interesting when I was at [IPM] Essen [in January 2025], there were no tree ferns, no big trees. There was one stand that had two tree ferns, but other than that, there were no tree ferns anywhere. And that was really, for me, that was quite

striking."

HSK is also adding more species and took in its first shipment of Dicksonia squarrosa from New Zealand in Janaury 2025: "We are currently growing them on and probably will do a release of those in the summer once we know that they are all you know very very happy and growing beautifully in this country."

As a relative newcomer to horticulture, Roisin gives her perspective on the sector. Upsides include the people-focus of the sector. But she highlights the need to promote women and encourage and develop young people and she celebrates the work of the YPHA in doing just that.

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Having recently been awarded an MBE for his contributions to landscape architecture, garden design, and heritage, Andrew Wilson speaks to HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby about what this means to him personally, but also what it means for the industry.

He talks about his teaching career and how, as director of garden design studies at London College of Garden Design, he is seeing more students come in from other professions and is curious about what’s causing them to deflect from their initial interest in horticulture. He also touches upon the mergers and closures of horticulture colleges and whether it is a trend likely to continue.

As a former RHS judge, Wilson says he often gets asked for his advice on whether show gardens are good things. With his garden designer hat on, he says they are, especially for nurturing students. He says:

"Andy Sturgeon probably wouldn't be where he is today, or Tom Stuart-Smith, without the Chelsea gardens that they have produced. So from my student-nurturing point of view, they’re undeniably a good thing.”

Wilson also talks about his concern around sustainable gardens all looking similar: “I am totally supportive of gardens with sustainability running through everything. But it can potentially produce similar results in terms of where materials come from, how materials are used, and how our planting works.”

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Set up as an independent charity in 1992, The Parks Trust was granted 999-year leases for 4,500 acres of green space land in Milton Keynes, and an endowment in the form of freehold ownership of income-generating commercial properties valued at £22 million. Deputy chief executive of The Parks Trust, Hannah Bodley explains the benefits of this model.

Head of operations and forestry at The Parks Trust, Frank Gill, talks about how climate change is affecting Milton Keynes, with issues such as flooding and the rise in pests and diseases, and how they are managing these.

Gill also reveals that litter is one of the biggest challenges, with the team removing over 100 tonnes from the parks every year. Bodley adds that caring for green spaces with multiple users – including livestock – can come with its difficulties.

And with Milton Keynes set to grow, Bodley explains how The Parks Trust plans to grow with it.

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