LIVING THE DREAM!

A summer temp job at a garden centre was the starting point for Steph Young's journey to veg growing enthusiast and avid Instagrammer

- Steph Young

You've been gardening from an early age. How did you get into it - was there a family influence?

My gardening journey started when I was 17 after applying for a job in a garden centre as a summer temp. At this point, although I loved nature and being outdoors, I had never done anything garden related and this was simply a job to make some money. During my first week the owner gave me some long straggly seed potatoes and said to take them home and plant them if I wanted, so I did. Little did I know that planting those seed potatoes would turn my thumbs green! I got the bug instantly. What else could I grow?

Over the following seven years me and my dad built a veg garden with 10 raised beds, a three-bay compost system and we acquired three freebie greenhouses too! I was growing everything and anything I could.

At 24 I moved to North Yorkshire with my partner Dean and, of course, I had to bring one of my greenhouses with me. I've grown so much in that greenhouse, it really is my happy place. After a few years living in North Yorkshire, I finally found my dream job, plant area manager at Whitegates Garden Nursery a family-owned garden nursery set in beautiful countryside and I get to look after all the plants. Heaven, right?

I live and breathe plants, all day every day. Me and my dad have competitions to see who can grow the biggest tomatoes and who harvests the first carrots each year. I grow all my plants from seed so every year I grow tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins for Mum, Dad and my granny too. It's such a great feeling growing plants for them all.

Do you do your gardening on an allotment or in the garden or both?