The Underground

We're back for a brand new season of The Underground Podcast! In our first episode, Phil and Kate are joined by Dr Ana Attlee, co-founder of Seedball, to talk about wildflowers, pollinators, biodiversity and the role garden centres can play in helping people make more wildlife-friendly choices. Seedball was created to make growing wildflowers from seed as simple as possible. Ana shares how See...

What’s the one change you’d most like to see in garden retail over the next five years? At Glee 2025, we put that question to all 20 of our guests who joined us in The Underground podcast booth – from garden centre owners and suppliers to marketeers, educators and innovators. The result is a sharp, hopeful snapshot of where the garden sector wants to head next.  In this compilation episode you’ll...

The science of plant nutrition is moving fast, and it is reshaping everything from peat-free compost to profit margins on the shop floor. In this Glee 2025 special, Phil and Kate sit down with  Steve Harper , MD of  Grass Gains  and Chair of the  Responsible Sourcing Scheme , and then with  Simon Taylor  and  Helen Thomas  from  Empathy, Plantworks , to explore what comes next for lawn care, plant...

Marketing for garden centres is changing fast. In this Glee 2025 episode of The Underground, Phil Wright and Kate Turner sit down with two specialists to explore how loyalty data and paid media can work together to drive footfall, sales and long-term customer value in the home and garden sector. First up,  Vanessa Cranford from Spring Marketing  explains why garden centre loyalty schemes should be...

Recorded live on the show floor at Glee 2025, this episode of The Underground discovers how the garden sector is nurturing innovation, supporting newcomers and helping customers navigate a changing retail landscape. Phil and Kate first sit down with Tony Kersey, Membership Ambassador at GIMA, to explore why the trade association is seeing record growth, how it is supporting over 200 members, and w...

Garden centres aren’t just about plants anymore. Recorded live at Glee 2025, Phil & Kate sit down with Paul Pleydell of Pleydell Smithyman and Barry Knight of The Full Range to unpack how experience, smart design and a considered food offer can lift margins, smooth seasonality and win younger families. From “make it better before you make it bigger” to being famous for something (yes, even a l...

Recorded at  Glee 2025 , Phil Wright and Kate Turner sit down with  Lee Connelly, the Children’s Gardening Coach  (formerly Skinny Jean Gardener), and  Nigel Thompson, Sales & Marketing Director at Sipcam Home & Garden , to explore how the trade can engage families, support schools, and modernise product ranges for today’s consumer. Expect practical ideas for garden centres, insight on bra...

In this live Glee Q&A, Phil sits down with  Alan Roper, Managing Director of Blue Diamond Garden Centres , for a frank look at what really drives performance in modern garden retail: culture, commercial discipline, and relentless differentiation. Roper explains why scale only works when the “engine room” is tuned for profit and cash, not vanity growth; why benchmarking and ownership culture be...

This episode takes on a distinctly international feel: once again at Glee 2025, Phil and Kate sit down with two voices from opposite sides of the Atlantic who share a common mission: get more people excited about nature, and make it easier for retailers to serve them brilliantly. First up, Michael Perry (Mr Plant Geek) explains why he now calls himself a plant promoter, what makes a plant “promoti...

This episode pays homage to the  support systems  that make horticulture special. Phil Wright and co-host Kate Turner talk with  Nat Boynton  and  Meg Warren-Davis  from  YPHA  about practical ways the community invests in young professionals: from bursaries and employer-backed time to train, to sponsors and partners who step in when it matters. Then  Kaz Edwards  (Heart of Eden) shares how the tr...

In this episode of  The Underground Podcast , recorded live at  Glee 2025 , hosts  Phil Wright  and  Kate Turner  sit down with three guests shaping the garden sector’s next chapter:  Dan Durston  and  Simon Blackhurst  from  Durstons , and  Kate Ebbens , Commercial Business Manager at  Woodlodge  and passionate  Greenfingers Charity  ambassador. From product innovation to purpose-driven missions,...

Recorded live at Glee 2025, this episode brings two very different lenses on garden retail performance and growth. First, Amy and Libby Stubbs share how British Garden Centres has scaled to 73 locations while keeping each site’s individuality, from centre-level social media to data-driven benchmarking and a renewed focus on tech, process and customer loyalty. Then Reverend Dave Walker explains how...

Recorded on the show floor at Glee 2025, Phil & Kate sit down with Peter Burks, Chief Executive of the Garden Centre Association (GCA), and Boyd Douglas-Davies (The Boyd Partnership; Chair of Greenfingers) for a rapid pulse-check on garden retail: what’s working now, what’s changing, and where the next wins are. Expect practical takeaways on merchandising, training, social media, and turning y...

Evergreen Garden Care’s UK & Ireland Marketing Director, Karen Wilkinson, joins Phil and Kate to unpack Evergreen’s new five-year category vision, how better education can unlock growth, and what it really takes to build a brand that earns shopper trust. Expect practical takeaways for suppliers and retailers ahead of Glee. Inside Evergreen’s category vision Karen explains how the team stepped...

Alan Roper, Managing Director of Blue Diamond Garden Centres, returns to The Underground Podcast for another unmissable conversation ahead of Glee 2025. As the UK’s most profitable garden centre group, Blue Diamond has become the sector’s benchmark for growth, ambition, and resilience. In this candid discussion with Phil Wright and Kate Turner, Alan shares his no-nonsense perspective on: The acqui...

In this episode of  The Underground Podcast , Phil and Kate sit down with  Nikki Burton , Managing Director, and  Dr Victoria Wright , Technical Manager at  Melcourt , the UK’s leading peat-free growing media company. Melcourt has been at the forefront of sustainable horticulture for over 40 years, building its reputation on bark-based innovation, technical excellence, and consistent quality, epit...

As the official podcast partner for Glee once again, The Underground Podcast kicks off our 2025 coverage with Steven May of JDM Country Products. Steven brings a unique perspective on how both exhibitors and buyers can get the most value from the UK’s leading garden trade show. In this episode, Steven unpacks the power of smart sales techniques in garden retail — including his now-famous “Would yo...

In this episode of The Underground Podcast, Phil and Kate welcome Anna Wili, Head of Marketing for the National Garden Scheme (NGS), a charity with almost a century of history opening gardens for good causes. Anna shares how the NGS began in 1927 as a way to fund district nursing, and how it’s grown to over 3,500 gardens opening each year, raising more than £74 million for nursing and health chari...

In this episode of The Underground Podcast, Phil and Kate welcome back returning guest Scott Smith, who has just completed his thesis for the RHS Master of Horticulture (MHort). His subject? The hot topic of peat free compost, an issue that continues to challenge, frustrate, and divide gardeners and growers across the UK. Scott shares insights from his self-funded, 14-week compost trial, comparing...

In this episode of The Underground Podcast, Phil is joined by Beth Johnson, CEO of Umbrella, the promotions agency behind major campaigns for brands like Cadbury and Unilever. Together, they explore how the garden sector can borrow from the grocery playbook to drive footfall, shift stock, and boost brand engagement. Beth shares: Why promotions are about more than discounts—and how they can build b...

In this episode of The Underground, we dig into the story behind SeedSticks® with Jamie Gray of Sow Easy, a second-generation family business with an unexpectedly brilliant journey from razor blades and swords to sustainable seed-based gifting. Jamie shares how a quirky R&D project from the 1980s became a unique product that's now catching the eye of retailers, eco-conscious consumers, and...

In this episode, Kate and Phil sit down with Beth Anderson, a passionate plant health inspector and dedicated advocate for Young People in Horticulture. Beth shares her journey through the YPHA’s pilot Launch Success Challenge, a year-long initiative designed to equip under-35s with real-world marketing and branding skills for the horticultural industry. From giving the humble Begonia an image mak...

In the opening episode of Season 4, Phil and Kate discover the rich personal and professional journey of Will Armitage: agricultural and horticultural consultant, entrepreneur, and current President of the HTA (Horticultural Trades Association). From rebellious beginnings to helming his family’s sixth-generation business and ultimately championing the sector on a national stage, Will shares an abs...

In this first episode of a two-part special from The Underground Podcast, hosts Kate and Phil dig into the root of the industry’s biggest environmental pivot—going peat free. With decades of dependency on this “gold standard” of growing media, why is it now so crucial to leave peat behind? And why is it proving so hard to replace? From the carbon cost of extraction to the slow regeneration of peat...

In this special episode of The Underground Podcast, Kate and Phil take you behind the scenes at the Garden Press Event 2025, held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. A key date in the gardening industry calendar, this event brings together brands, innovators, and industry experts to showcase the latest trends, products, and sustainability initiatives shaping the future of gardening...