In the fifth of HortWeek's News In Focus podcasts, we take a deep dive on Groundsfest trade show, with technical editor Sally Drury, horticultural consultant Howard Drury and senior reporter, Rachael Forsyth.

Topics this week:

• The trio, who judged the Groundsfest awards, hosted and guested on panels, enthuse about the depth and breadth of the show, which caters for grounds maintenance, landscape contracting, arb and turf contractors.

• Highlights among the award-winning products and kit, and some of the machines they think should have entered for awards, but didn't.

• How Groundsfest is driving innovation, healthy competition, and is the perfect showcase for product manufacturers and practitioners across the whole of the landscape maintenance sector and beyond.
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See all HortWeek's Groundsfest coverage including exclusive videos or products and industry panels at https://www.hortweek.com/groundsfest

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Welcome to the third of HortWeek's new stream of podcasts where we give the HortWeek take on the biggest news stories. This week editor Matthew Appleby, technical editor Sally Drury, horticultural consultant Howard Drury and digital content manager Christina Taylor chew over the week's top stories.

Topics this week:

• the latest cabinet and Defra reshuffle and what it might mean for horticulturists.
• Four Oaks Trade Show judges Sally and Howard give their expert insight into award-winning products and plants from this year's show.

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

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Welcome to the third of HortWeek's new stream of podcasts where we give the HortWeek take on the biggest news stories. This week editor Matthew Appleby and digital content manager Christina Taylor chew over the week's top stories.

Issues this week:

• the new and improved HortWeek Power List which celebrates the top 100 most impactful horticulturists.
• the issues driving a churn in horticulture businesses - see our Mergers, closures and acqusitions LIVE MAP to stay up-to-date with the latest.
• the results of a HortWeek survey on the top businesses concerns - including inflation, peat, legislation and changes to imports/exports rules.
• The team discuss highlights of discussion panels and awards featuring at Four Oaks Trade Show and Groundsfest this September

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HortWeek columnist and business consultant Neville Stein talks about his 50-year career in the industry.

He discusses his path into horticulture and the "life-changing" impact of some of the articles written for for HortWeek over the years.

Neville's regular features for HortWeek include:

Whatever Happened To... - a series exploring the history of much-loved nurseries that are no longer in business

Business Planning - a long-running series of business advice articles on topics ranging from how to make the best of trade shows to succession planning.

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BBC Gardeners' Question Time stalwart and landscape architect Bunny Guinness returns to the HortWeek Podcast to give her views on some of the pressing horticulture issues of the day.

Topics covered include garden sector shows. Bunny wonders if there are too many that are struggling commercially. She expresses particular concern over RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens and the lack of commercial sponsorship which she says is helping drive down design standards as well as the chilling effect that banning peat for RHS shows might be having on exhibitors.

A full YouTube convert and broadcaster, Bunny discusses why she thinks it is the best place for gardening content, a view given some weight by Alan Titchmarsh's recent migration to the platform.

And she talks about her path into horticulture and why she believes a 'landscape architect' career path offers more and better opportunities than that of a 'garden

designer'.

Podcast presenter: Matthew Appleby

Podcast producer: Christina Taylor

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Welcome to the second of HortWeek new stream of podcasts where we give the HortWeek take on the biggest news stories editor Matthew Appleby, technical editor Sally Drury and senior reporter Rachael Forsyth give their digested and analytical views.

Issues this week:

• The thorny question of whether dogs should be allowed into gardens, an issue that dominated the recent RHS AGM

• the pressures affecting gardens after the news Hestercombe House and Gardens went into administration

• after a flurry of closures, mergers, sales and acquisitions in the horticulture sector, the HortWeek team discuss what is behind it and how it can be a good thing

• The team discuss highlights of discussion panels and awards featuring at Four Oaks Trade Show and Groundsfest this September

Do also check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

Podcast presenters: Matthew Appleby, Rachael Forsyth and Sally Drury

Podcast producer: Christina Taylor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good Gardeners International is a charity that since 1962 pioneered the no dig system in the UK, based on Sir Albert Howard's research on organic farming.

Richard Higgins became involved in 1995 after a formative trip to India and inspired by Howard, developed the HH-2 (Howard-Higgins Agricultural and Horticultural System) Waste Management and Horticultural System.

The HH-2 equipment reproduces specific fungi and bacteria that creates a sustainable habitat to enable the colonisation of the root hairs of plants giving them huge boots of previously unattainable nutrients. It claims, along with a unique, manure-based feedstock, to be able to renew degraded soils in one season.

Adoping a no-dig appoach complements this as keeping the soil intact protects the "mycorrhizae, and that is the network that feeds the nutrients from soil into the root hairs of plants. So if you don't dig, that's preserved."

Higgins explains: "[HH-2 is] a composting system that breeds fungi, specific fungi and bacteria. Now, ordinary compost doesn't do that; this system does, and it's this fungi and bacteria that makes plants so resistant to disease. I mean, we already cured slug snails and caterpillars 30 years ago!"

Initially marketed and sold to amateur gardeners, "it's so popular and farming today is in such a problem with soil depletion and pollution in rivers, etc., that we've blast into farming. It applies to farmers as well as gardeners".

He says a focus on 'new varieties' has stymied research into how soil conditions can impact plant health. GGI has a demonstration farm where, he says, "we've got universities, colleges, agricultural colleges queuing up to come and see it, because people don't seem to know how to stop these common agricultural pests. We don't use any supplementary feeds like comfrey or rhubarb leaves in... no nets for the black fly, white fly, carrot fly, you know. We don't use any nets at all and we have none of these problems."

Higgins discusses startling claims for treatments that could reverse the effects of ash dieback and says he is in the process of liaising with scientific institutions, agricultural research stations and soil scientists with a view to carrying out trials and scaling up production for wider distribution to amateur, and professional growers.

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This week's guest is Guy Watts of West Sussex-based specialist plant nursery, Architectural Plants.

After a successful debut at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Guy talks about Architectural Plants' apprenticeship scheme Home Grown which he hopes will encourage new talent into the industry.

The nursery grows and sells a huge variety of unusual and exotic plants, and in line with the nursery's aims to reduce plant movements within and without the UK, Guy talks about the nursery's innovative 'lab' which allows the nursery to propagate and grow plants that require more specialist conditions.

On biosecurity risks Guy has strong views: "Our evidence is that they are as likely to come from within the UK as they are from outside of it". And despite bans on chemicals increasing biosecurity risks, he reveals how the nursery has been largely chemical-free for some 20 years which has mitigated some of those biosecurity challenges. He outlines some of the systems and strategies he uses to monitor pests and diseases, some of the non-chemical treatments they use and how staff are involved in the process.

Guy also talks frankly about his perspective on going peat-free; the nursery is running trials and has reduced peat use, but Guy expresses doubts about talks of the RHS imposing "blanket ban" and he questions whether the alternatives are environmentally sound: "it needs to be the right decision commercially and it needs to be right for the environment".

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