Try GOLD - Free
ED EDGE
Gardens Illustrated
|August 2023
Lead gardener Ed is heading up work on the Four Seasons Garden at The Newt in Somerset

Earliest gardening memory
Finding my mum's long-lost wedding ring in the vegetable patch. She had lost it several years before I was born, but when my siblings and I were very small and were sent out to dig up some summer potatoes, a distinct 'tink' sound was heard as the fork plunged into the soil. The lost ring was retrieved and we all had buttery new potatoes to celebrate.
How did you get into horticulture?
I was lucky enough to fall into horticulture by accident. I was working shifts at a local coffee shop and was offered some work by a regular who was a jobbing gardener. It quickly became clear that this was something I could be very interested in and so I did a one-year course in horticulture at Kingston Maurward College. One thing led to another, and here I am.
Horticultural heroes
This story is from the August 2023 edition of Gardens Illustrated.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Gardens Illustrated

Gardens Illustrated
I'm convinced of the power of plants to help us heal'
Sarah GerrardJones, aka The Plant Rescuer, on her latest book, her houseplant obsession and why she doesn't always try to save a houseplant
3 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
THE NEW BEAUTIFUL
As our first book is released next month, Piet Oudolf and editor Stephanie Mahon look at how gardens have evolved in recent decades and what makes a Gardens Illustrated-worthy garden today
6 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
DIFFICULT SMALL SPACES
Designer Charlotte Harris has faced many awkwardly shaped, compact gardens, and offers her advice on making them work
11 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
CHANGE OF SCENERY
Tabitha Rigden's multifunctional design for this suburban family garden offers privacy and versatility as well as planting for biodiversity
3 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
MASTERS OF OPPORTUNITY
Alys Fowler is beguiled by an illuminating account of the ecology of plants that thrive against the odds in the walls, pavements and wastelands of our urban environments
2 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
ON THE RISE
When faced with the challenge of this small, steeply sloping garden, Miria Harris took an unconventional approach to elevate it into a calm and nurturing sanctuary
3 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
CAN YOU SAY NO TO NATURE?
It's good to listen to what your garden wants to grow, but that doesn't mean you always have to agree, says Andrew Timothy O'Brien
3 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
August plants
In the heat of August, designer and plantsman Dan Pearson welcomes the refreshing colours of a perennial dahlia, a delicate Chinese meadow rue and a late-flowering elder
4 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
BIG IDEAS FOR SMALL SPACES
Top recommendations and expert planting advice to make small gardens look bigger, plus more wildlife-rich and filled with year-round interest
6 mins
August 2025

Gardens Illustrated
GARDENS OF NOTE
Nigel Slater is a man who loves a good list and finds keeping a garden diary the perfect way to keep on top of his garden tasks
4 mins
August 2025
Translate
Change font size