Grow Cook Inspire

In the next instalment of the Helen’s Heroines of Horticulture mini series, she speaks with Elle Hollingworth who is part of the RHS Shows Development team and is a show judge coordinator. However like so many women that Helen has interviewed a career in the world of horticulture had not always been on the cards for Elle. The global pandemic put the breaks on her travelling overseas and she had to...

Helen continues her summer mini series celebrating the Heroines of Horticulture, with her interview with the dynamic duo behind Caley Bros. Sisters Lorraine and Jodie join Helen on the podcast to discuss their journey to Chelsea, their heroines and how a family bereavement drove them to reassessing their career path. This change has resulted them growing mushrooms for a living and they made their...

In the third episode of this special mini series of Grow, Cook, Inspire, Helen is joined by the creative powerhouse Hazel Gardiner, founder of Hazel Gardiner Design, the London based floral design studio. We talk about her transition from the world of fashion journalism and the gruelling schedule of TV production and talent management to the world of floristry, after being diagnosed with a rare fo...

Continuing this special Heroines of Horticulture podcast, Helen is joined by one one of her own heroines. In today’s show Helen talks with Jekka McVicar. From the dizzy heights of Glastonbury as part of a rock band, Jekka has been at the helm of the UK’s largest herb farm for almost 40 years, growing over 500 different culinary and medicinal varieties just outside of Bristol. With 62 gold RHS meda...

Women have always gardened. However their journey into the professional realm of horticulture was turbulent. However there’s were huge numbers of pioneering women who have have left a lasting legacy. Some of them well known others less so and their stories buried in the fire notes of history. To kick off this special series of the podcast celebrating just some of the remarkable women who are makin...

It has been well over two weeks since the dust has settled on the greatest show on earth. Now that the curtain rail has gone down for another year, Helen reflects on her highlights at this years prestigious event. She explores three of her favourite gardens; Harry Holdings School Food Matters garden, Camellia Taylor’s garden titled The Natural Affinity Garden for Aspens and Tayshan Hayden - Smith’...

In todays episode Helen highlights the final piece of the jigsaw as she concludes her special mini series looking at the charities which have been supported by Project Giving Back, giving them an opportunity to raise awareness about their cause at the worlds greatest flower show which gets underway next week. Helen speaks with the duo Nicola and Susan of Semple Begg who are designing their first C...

In today’s episode I speak with the founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, Stephanie Slater and garden designer Harry Holding. Harry is designing a garden for the charity School Food Matters, which will be on show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May putting the charity on the map and sparking a conversation about the necessity not only to provide healthy and nutritious school meals...

In today’s episode Helen learns more about the charity Aspens and their garden, supported by Project Giving Back,which will be showcased at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. She speaks with the garden designer Camellia Taylor and Aspens Head of fundraising Susan Sawyer, to learn more about how the Chelsea garden will help raise awareness around the work Aspens does supporting people with autism...

In the first episode of a new mini series, leading up to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which kicks off in May, Helen speaks with the CEO of the charity organisation, Project Giving Back, Hattie Ghaui. They discuss the main drive of Project Giving Back to create gardens for good causes, which will have a lasting legacy following the prestigious event, the charities involved and what are the plans be...

In today’s episode Helen has headed down to London on the back of ‘turnip’ gate to visit a pioneering food and growing up in central London. Helen talks with Tom Walk, chef and food educator to find out more about The Hackney Food of School, which was established in 2019 by the LEAP Federation of Schools and with the support of the charity Chefs in Schools. With its own kitchen garden, bees and ch...

After a short break Helen is back from her half term vacation. This week she interviews founder of Urban Herbs, Andrew Perry. Andrew has been on the show before but is back with news of a new book and much more. She and Andrew talk about the growth of the business, digging up his front garden to grow food and how to reach out to a new audience. His debut book The Herb Gardening Handbook will be pu...

This week marks Children’s Mental Health Week organised by the charity Place2Be. In this weeks episode of Grow Cook Inspire, Helen shares why gardening can have a positive impact on the mental health of children and young people. She also shares ways to incorporate ways to make your garden good for your well-being as well as news of a new RHS wellbeing training course for teachers. Plus Helen inte...

In this week’s episode Helen interviews the award winning journalist, author & gardener Kim Stoddart about her new book she has written with Sally Morgan, The Climate Change Garden. We discuss how the book evolved from her own experiences of climate change and the impact it has had on her own garden. The book provides guidance and help to garden with nature in mind, and provides hope for resilient...

Have you ever questioned why you garden and grow things? What drives you? What makes you keep returning to the soil year after year? Well, author and journalist Alice Vincent has pondered this and has been on a search for answers to discover more about why women in particular garden. In today’s show Helen talks to Alice about her third book Why Women Grow, as well as the creation of her debut podc...

With Valentines Day just around the corner, Helen takes a look at just how sustainable our love for roses at this time of year really is and she also delves a little deeper into the UK’s flourishing cut flower market. This week Helen is joined by flower farmers Marianne Mogendorff & Camila Romain, who are behind Wolves Lane Flower Company in North London and they are also the authors of How To Gro...

Hello and a very happy New Year and welcome back to Grow Cook Inspire. This week we are celebrating National House Plant Week, timely as outside is grim, dark and wet. This week Helen here’s from some friends of the podcast who share with us what they love about houseplants. Plus Helen interviews Sarah Gerrard Jones, author of the Plant Rescuer and all round houseplant saviour 🪴 @theplantrescurer...

To round up 2022 I bring you a bonus winter episode of the podcast. I’m joined by Beechgrove presenter and primary teacher Lizzie Schofield. We talk about coastal gardening on the north east of Scotland, willow weaving & being crowned Gardeners World Garden of the year. 💚 Instagram @cuthbertsbrae_garden Plus I share my top reads for 2022 and a recipe for carrot and almond cake which won’t last lo...

Today’s episode is the finale of series 5. I talk with the creative force that is Victoria the talent behind the Instagram account Sprout Surrey (💚 Instagram @sprout. Surrey) From studying fashion design to working in the world of PR in London, Victoria found herself longing for her green leafy roots, back home in Surrey. Like many people over the last two years Victoria has gone back to school t...

In today’s show I meet and talk with former ballet dancer and now dance teacher and gardening writer, Andy Peasgood. We talk about his phenomenal career, and how he has found a new creative release in gardening. Having recently moved into a new build estate in Glasgow he has transformed what is a very modest space into a haven for plants and wildlife. It just goes to show you don’t need acres of l...

Today I chat with journalist and author Rhiannon Batten who has recently published her very first cook book along side Laura Rowe. The book, Rustle Up, published by Pavilion, is filled with over 80 recipes, all of which are just one paragraph long but are packed full of flavour and with minimum fuss. Tried and tested the recipes are ideal whether you are cooking for one, or feeding a growing famil...

It is officially Autumn, which means it is time to celebrate all things pumpkins and that is the subject of todays show In todays episode we talk with Lucy Calder, one half of the husband and wife team behind Kilduff Farm in the heart of East Lothian and home to Kilduff’s Pumpkin Festival. The dynamic duo are passionate about educating inspiring people about where there food comes from. As well as...

It is no secret that the waiting lists for allotments can be incredibly long and therefore very off putting for so many people itching to grow their own. However the Scottish social enterprise Locavore has come up with a great idea. Having recently taken on the lease of an old Glasgow Council Plant Nursery in Bellahouston Park, the team are looking to build an urban farm. Within this space they ha...

In todays show I chat with author & journalist Gabriella Bennett (Instagram @palebackwriter) as she swaps city living for a more rural location and a change of career. After getting Covid earlier this year she decided to leave her job at The Times and embark on a new journey working in the Taybank Hotel’s kitchen garden. Quite the career change! Plus with the summer holidays here, I share five ide...