This arrival was stranger still when one of my clients called across to me, having arrived moments before – had I really been driving for 2 hours to a wet field to talk to a client (and friend!) who is barely 5 minutes drive from home? We could have saved ourselves the trouble and had tea at home! It was great to see them and catch up on their garden, which is coming on – and I was reminded that I still owed them some plants that had been unavailable last season! That will be a great opportunity to go and see the garden again so really looking forward to that.

Tea seeemd the only sensible choice and a chance to ponder the catalogue before setting off to find others that I had promised to try and find. I am sure I could have bought an entire tea plantation for the sum I was asked for for my steaming brew - but needs must… The decision to wear warm clothes and a waterproof jacket was now totally justified and tea consumed I set off on my search.

First stop was the Garden Organic stand manned by the delightful Verity Thompson. It was good to catch up and sparked an idea for further collaboration at The Garden Network.

One of my main reasons for visiting as a Garden Designer is to look at the Show Gardens. Malvern isn’t known as a hotbed for innovation particularly but it can provide some neat glimpses at how other designers approach a garden or planting and I particularly enjoyed chatting with Deb Bird about her garden The Nature of Nurture which particularly struck a chord as I learned much of my gardening from my parents and grandparents. Perhaps one of the most interesting ideas though came in the Schools Section, where  two gardens featured greenhouses made from recycled plastic bottles.

Malvern Spring Show this year also played host the the Bloggers Meet at Malvern and it was great to meet so many people that I had only read articles by.

Huge thanks to Michelle Chapman (Veg Plotting) and Helen Johnstone (The Patient Gardener) for organising it all – great job. Biscuits were sponsored by James Alexander Sinclair (Encounters with Remarkable Biscuits)

with contributions from Yolanda (Bliss) amongst others!

It was also great to chat with Cleve West and Joe Swift who were both very generous with their time – always appreciated.

I did make it round to some of the other stands notably the Wiggly Wigglers stand in the Eco Tent where – as a blogger – we received a copy of a rather wonderful book called Bringing a Garden to Life. The day ended with a meeting with Claudia de Yong who shared some tips on sourcing products for the garden as well as agreeing to contribute content to The Garden Network on this topic, for which she is well known!

The Chris Beardshaw Scholarship was won by Maria Luisa Medina who starts an amazing journey designing gardens at both Malvern Autumn Show and culmintaing in a Chelsea Garden for 2011

The title for the gardens the seven prospective scholars was The Circus and I’ll leave you with this interesting picture of some amazing acrobats who added their performance to the proceedings!

Wouldn’t it be great though if instead of having to sow fresh seeds each year you just waited for the plant to come up and produce food for you? You are probably getting interested now – particularly if you have limited space and time. You heard right plant once and crop for ever!

Of course fruit trees and bushes fall in to this category – but here we look at two plants that are easy to grow, require very little maintenance and will just keep going!

First up is rhubarb.

I have just been given a couple of portions of root from a friend who has split their existing plants. Splitting them every few years helps to keep the fresh and strong. So splitting them has two benefits, firstly they help keep the plants healthy but also provide an opportunity to give plants away. If you start now then in a couple of years you too can give a piece of root away to someone else to have a go! Rhubarb can be grown naturally or many people force them under special clocheswhich helps blanche the stems. Picking is easy simply pull the stalk away from the base when it is ready to eat. Take care to discard the leaves to the compost as they are poisonous and shouldn’t be eaten.

I am not a fan of the texture of rhubarb personally but I do like the flavour! My favourite recipe simply involves cutting the stem in to inch long chunks and simmering for a few minutes until reduced to a soft texture. Adding banana helps soften the flavour a little, and add honey as a sweetener. Blend with some custard and chill in the fridge.

Secondly is root artichoke

 - again this is a plant once crop for ever vegetable. Jerusalem artichokes have an added bonus of producing tall sunflower like blooms. Best planted towards the back of a border. A neighbour kindly left a bag of their split out stock and in a couple of years you will be able to as well ( not to me – I already have some!) These are a root vegetable resembling a rather knobbly potato and they have a sweet flavour that combines well with potato. Be warned though! These are often referred to as f**tichokes for good reason!

The joy of both these plants is that they easily combine with a regular flower borderwhilst producing food at the same time – a real bonus! Anyone feeling even more adventurous can also try globe artichokes which are a real treat – if slightly messy, to eat! The plants are very architectural and make quite a statement so make sure you have plenty of room for these beauties.

So for food crops that don’t need an allotment or green fingers why not try rhubarb and artichoke and add some variety to your kitchen dinner table. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve!

But what if situations, not too far removed from this, existed on our doorstep. How would we react then?

Food Inc. may not be the next Hollywood blockbuster, but it has already been hailed as one of the top 10 most important documentaries ever made and it has received an Academy Nomination. That is quite an accolade! It is an expose on the American food system, highlighting the fast food attitude that first hit America with chains like McDonald’s but which now sees such a phenomenon worldwide.

In order to meet global food demand, large companies are dominating the way farmers are having to produce food, using more fertiliser and pesticides in order to increase production. The problem with all of this is that it is leading to more and more unhealthy food, new strains of deadly bacteria are forming – with lethal consequences. The conditions that animals are being kept, reared and slaughtered are truly disgusting – a kind of American Mumbai for animals (and the human ‘farm’ workers).

The problem is not isolated to meat production, wheat, corn, fruit and vegetables come under similar scrutiny. Vast swathes of America are becoming dust bowls incapable of supporting any form of living organism without a constant application of expensive fertilisers and crop control. The distance food travels to reach our plate is also staggering as supermarkets do away with seasons and make all foods available all year-round meaning food travels many miles to reach your table. The cost is huge and is of global significance particularly as much of this food movement relies heavily on oil prices and oil availability.

Ah but we are in the UK I hear you say, not Mumbai or America, food production in this country isn’t like that! Sorry but we are now part of a global food economy. There are fast food outlets on every street corner and they control the way we eat and how the food is produced!

Now this isn’t aimed at scaremongering it is simply drawing attention to something that the food production companies and governments would rather you didn’t know about.

As an individual you may think you have no power to make any sort of change – but pressure of a similar nature has completely changed the face of the tobacco industry after attention was brought to the public attention about their practices. You and your families have the right to vote three times a day on what you choose to eat. That’s pretty significant and something that food companies will take notice of!

There is plenty else you can do to, firstly go and see the film yourself – take your family but be warned it is PG rated for a reason. Secondly follow some or all of the tips provided by the Soil Association.

One of those tips is to plant a garden with your own fruit and veg (even a small one). If you are new to gardening and need help there is plenty available. You can join the Garden Network for ongoing help, support and advice, join Garden Organic’s One Pot Pledge campaign and join the Soil Association and get their book Stuffed which has plenty of ideas for change.

You can make a difference particularly when you see the damage that food production is doing to the world. As a garden designer and gardener I am keen to promote this. I will openly admit that as a family of 6 with both husband and wife working we certainly have many changes to make and that isn’t going to be easy!

I recently ran a garden question and answers session in the local pub – I was encouraged that many of the questions related to growing your own and at least a couple of people were sufficiently enthused to give growing their own a go.

So please, take the time to at least find out about the issues, and perhaps do something positive that will save the human and animal tragedy that could very easily be closer to home than we might imagine.