Weeding the Web

Garden review: miNiaTURE Garden Show, The Strand Gallery, London (Part 2)

Following the first half of my miNiATURE Garden Show review, here's the second instalment and a look at its success.

Five more designs held the stage. 

Over Under, by Myles Baldwin. A garden to maximise green space, with a shady area below, a mezzanine level (where the figures are) and a green roof. We weren't the only people to spot a resemblance to Tracy Island, but curator Tom Harfleet doubted whether Thunderbirds' influence had stretched as far as Australia.  

Downstairs, we found Full Circle? by Andy Sturgeon. A garden of cone-shaped crystalline forms, blackened on the outside by man's destruction of the environment, but perfect inside, gilded to represent the value we should put on our plant life, as we (and wildlife) rely on it for food, medicine and climate.

 

To Die For, by Wilson McWilliam Studio. Really stretching possibilities, the design aims to reproduce the sense of danger found on cliff edges, waterfalls and mountain tops and those are meant to be full grown trees in the abyss. It certainly made me feel a little queasy, thinking about standing on top of the real thing.

They also wanted to point out that "no model figures were harmed or injured in the making of this garden"...

 

 

Coast, by Jim Fogarty. The shelter in the centre of the garden represents a water molecule under pressure and the bursting bubble of overdevelopment. The stripy ribbon sculpture represents a beach towel and human interaction with beach environments. Water echoes the sound of waves and natural planting recalls the sand dunes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Creek End, by John Brookes.  This design is based on an actual garden that was built in 2012 in America, making the link between the house and its view of an inlet from the sea. This, with Adam Frost's A World in 21st Century Stone, took the prize for a classically well-proportioned design that instantly pleased.

So, some attractive designs and an enjoyable world in close-up, but were the designers ultimately successful in fulfilling the intention of the show? This is what it was meant to do:

"The aim of miNiATURE is to enable designers to move away from designs that have limitations such as restricted budgets, planting season or focus on awards and to instead give the opportunity to experiment and explore innovative designs through the media [sic] of 3D printing along with traditional modelling."

Well, what struck me forcefully as I trotted round was that it felt very like a Lilliputian version of Chelsea and Hampton Court. To Die For, which looks to to be the only one to have used 3D printing throughout - and about which Wilson and McWilliam are quoted as saying, "We feel able to explore ideas that would either be impossible in reality or unfeasible perhaps because of cost or the construction challenge." - was really the only design that seemed to take the show's intent to heart.

Several of the designs, like Sarah Eberle's, we were told, had already been worked out for other purposes, even though they'd never made it to fruition. 3D printing offers the chance for curves and shapes that would be difficult to model in other ways (Jo Thompson's spiral staircase would have been a headache without it) but there are quite a few linear, blocky constructions that presented few flights of fancy.

John Brookes produced a version of an existing garden and is quoted as saying, "3D doesn't affect how I work at all. I think that you could say that I am not computer orientated!" Which, I hate to say, completely misses the point.

I did wonder if the actual software was a brake on creativity - if you don't know the software well, then you're limited to the design tools you understand. And if everyone's using the same tools, the danger must be that a similar feel emerges.

But garden designer and one of the exhibition's curators, Tom Harfleet assured me not. Some of the designers hired someone to translate their design into CAD (which was then fed into the 3D printer), others handed over their paper design to the curators and they sorted it out.

It was with a view to gaining media attention that the decision was made to invite ten of the world's leading garden designers to submit ideas but in the midst of this elevated company I have to admit to a degree of disappointment. This is not to say that a lot of the designs weren't very engaging - I'd be more than happy to walk round Full Circle?, A World of 21st Century Stone, Stage and Over Under. And It works, to an extent, as a show to demonstrate the potential of 3D printing, but not as a show of unlimited imagination. Tom wasn't shy in calling Chelsea Flower Show "stagnant". And I wonder if this tiny Chelsea hasn't made a rather large point.

Are our big designers so tuned to the needs and demands of large shows with their focus on advertising the industry, so used to restricting a garden to an individual brief, and so focussed on the criteria most likely to win awards, that flights of fancy and gardening innovation are out of the question?

Perhaps it's unrealistic to expect any garden design to look very much different from what we see now - the only tweaks being whether the look is trad or contemporary, stone or steel and perspex. Much debate recently, especially on Thinkingardens, has centred around the need to recognise gardens as art, to elevate their standing.

What can we say if, given the chance to do anything at all, designers come out with more of the same?

It will be interesting to see how the show develops. This is, after all, the first attempt - as 3D printing's possibilities are explored further, perhaps designers will find it easier to break out. As the show goes on a world tour, more gardens will be added, before returning to England later in the year. And next year, if it happens again, the show will be an open competition, which might see some very different designs in the offing.

What do you think? Am I being harsh, or has this show exposed a restricted mindset that is an inherent problem in the ascendancy of garden design?

More photos at City Planter's The World's Smallest Garden Show.

Garden review: miNiaTURE Garden Show, The Strand Gallery, London (Part 1)

The miNiATURE garden show, which ran for three days last week in The Strand Gallery, near Charing Cross Station, invited ten of the world's top garden designers to go mad.

The opportunity to create scale-models, along and the freedom afforded by the new 3D printing technology, aimed to release them from the constraints of health and safety, budgets, planting seasons, and materials and allow them to experiment and explore - and the rest of us to see what, unfettered, the cream of the profession would come up with.

I have to say, it was great fun. I'm always entranced by a miniature world, especially as here the models were not behind glass, but could be bent over, closely scrutinised, and regarded from "ground" view. As one did the latter on one's knees, it possibly looked like worship at the altar of Hortus, but what the heck?

Here's the first instalment of what we got to see:

Haute Couture, by Sarah Eberle. An outside courtyard, associated with a fashion house, with a catwalk, allowing both relaxation and photographic opportunities. Vibrant planting for summer. The tall funnels function as raincatchers for an irrigation system. It also shows the hazards of working with small plastic models. I'd have put my fat fingers in and righted it, but for the fear of knocking everything else over.

Stage, by Jo Thompson. Inspired by Baroque art and architecture, this swirls around a central stage and viewpoint. The spiral stairs are just the sort of thing that 3D printing makes so much easier than traditional modelling.  And there was real feel of colour and motion because of the spiralling out of the beds from the central point (not easy to photograph, though). 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vertigo, by Jamie Dunstan. A garden to complement a lakeside holiday home. The garden is suspended over the water, with a futuristic feel of multiple levels, a shady dining area below, herb, veg garden and greenhouse above (surely too hot! Oh, but I forgot: no contraints), with seating and entertaining area. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A letter posted one million years ago, by Jihae Hwang. Inspired by the island of Dokdo, which might disappear any moment or regenerate itself, the wave forms surrounding it are a metaphor for the meaning of life. It was unfortunate that the blob representing the island looked mostly like something a passing animal might have - er - passed, and there's no specific viewpoint, making this so tough to photograph that I pretty much gave up.

A World in 21st Century Stone, by Adam Frost. Inspired by poured concrete and brutalist architecture, it's a community space to be enjoyed by all ages (there are pools to paddle in below, and a fire to gather round on top of the building) and also acts as a wildlife corridor in an urban environment. Concrete classicism, I'd say, in every sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that's half the show. It was much kinder to the feet than Chelsea and Hampton Court! I'll put the rest of the gardens up in the next (coming soon) post.

How well do you think the show's fulfilling its intention so far?  

Surveying the Sport of Gardening in England

What has gardening in common with Sport England?

This organisation "decides how to invest government and National Lottery funding to help people across England create a sporting habit for life" (source: www.gov.uk) so you wouldn't necessarily put them together.

However, a cold call from TNS, conducting Sport England's Active People Survey (APS), indicated differently.

Sporting questions on the APS

Depending on your frame of mind, the APS is an absolute hoot. Not often does a stranger on the end of the phone have us gasping with mirth on the sofa, but after he'd patiently received fairly extensive information on the state of my elderly mother's arthritis, the caller began closely examining  her on just how much in the way of cycling, water sports and tennis she'd enjoyed in the previous 4 weeks.

We fell around at the image of Aged P ski-ing down the road on floodwater and then he turned to the serious question of "How Much Gardening?"

"It's been too wet to garden," she pointed out helpfully. Nevertheless, he needed to know, "How many times have you been gardening in the last 4 weeks?"

My mother's idea of gardening currently is pulling a few weeds as she walks out of the front door. That wasn't an acceptable answer. "How many times have you been gardening?"

Four times, she decided, plucking a modest number from the air.

"And for how long each time?"

About 20 minutes, was her judicious choice.

All of which, of course, is complete rubbish, as anyone out for 20 minutes in the garden this February would have been soaked to the skin and up to their knees in mud.

All of which raises the question of just how successful these surveys can be. The originator of the APS isn't revealed at the start of the phone call because, as the question-master is trained to explain, this might influence the answers given. But you catch on. And, going by my mother's answers, influence it does.

So what's it for?

In my less-than-enthusiastic interest in anything involving a ball, I missed the 2012 Legacy Action Plan for the Olympics that set a target of getting 2 million more adults active through sport and physical activity by 2012.

The APS continuously measures the number of people taking part in sport across England. It's the largest survey of sport and activity ever carried out in Europe (latest sample size 165,000 adults). Annual data has been gathered since 2007/8, with findings published every six months, and gardening was added to the questions in January 2009.

So, was an unrelated activity drafted in to help achieve targets? Or is gardening now a sport?

I phoned Sport England. The 2 million was, it seems, a government target to get more people physically active; Sport England's commitment was to get 1 million people involved in playing sport*. But targets were dropped in 2011 and the remit of Sport England now is to increase participation in sports and physical activities year on year. So I can't report that sports' figures are being massaged with extraneous activity. 

In fact, the question was added at the behest of (and with payment from) the Department of Health (something I aim to follow up), so, sadly, nor can I report that competitive gardening will be added to the stranger parts of the Olympics.

In the meantime, I queried whether the results would be adjusted because of the weather. No, they won't. The rain's likely impact is taken into account when examining figures, but it's not used to weight them.

I presume the same will go for DoH's gardening figures - which, in the dearth of opportunity for getting outside, will show a small blip in our area, created by an elderly lady with apparently waterproof properties.

*As you read the various documents online, you can't help sensing that goalposts have shifted. A technical report from 2011 defines the target as based on adults, 16 and over, achieving 3 sessions of 30 minutes' or more moderate (or more) intensity physical activity per week. The survey now looks at the percentage of adults (aged 14 and over) who do moderate intensity physical activity for at least 30 minutes at least 4 times in 4 weeks.

The reason for the change is, I was told, is because the original questions didn't allow for people who did different activities in the three sessions, so it looked as if fewer people were active than actually were.

And nothing to do with making increased figures more achievable.

1st photo credit: Lotus Carroll via photopin cc.  2nd photo credit: ChadCooperPhotos via photopin cc. 3rd photo credit: jDevaun via photopin cc

 

The Big Allotment Challenge seeks contestants - are you brave enough?

Last year, a flurry of excitement greeted the news that a Great British Bake-Off take-off would appear this year, centred on growing veg.

Well, with a series queued up for spring 2014, I can report the engine is revving for another series. Davinia Richardson, of Silver River Productions has been in touch to ask for help in their search for contestants.

Do you fancy a go? 

If so, you'll be given a patch in a walled garden in Oxfordshire and, over several months, plan, sow and grow your vegetables and flowers (the seeds are provided). Every week you'll visit your allotment and make sure all is OK. Filming starts when the growing gets going. Contestants will face challenges that test their creativity and culinary skills - jam-making and flower-arranging are mentioned - or they may, for example, have to produce their three best carrots to stay in the game.

The six-week series, fronted by Fern Britton features Jim Buttress, RHS judge (pictured, and tipped, according to the Daily Mail, as "the Paul Hollywood" of the series), floral designer Jonathan Moseley, and cookery writer Thane Prince. Each episode will, says the BBC, "reflect the growing season and what's ripe for picking at the time" and in each episode one team will "hang up their gardening gloves" and leave.

 

And, of course, there's a book. According to The Bookseller,  The Patch: The Big Allotment Challenge, with A-Z of easy veg, fruit and flowers, as well as instructions for making jam, preserves and easy flower arrangements) is due for publication this April.

One of the scarier aspects, to me, is that they're currently looking for individuals (though all the talk is of teams and Davinia explained there is space on the application form to say who you'd like to bring with you if the opportunity arises). 

I'm certainly not the only one who can see pitfalls looming large as sinkholes. Sue Garrett's post at Green Lane Allotments has gathered a chorus of experienced gardeners who admit to being too fearful to take part. 

But we're all definitely looking forward to watching. Horticulture holds its breath. Editor of Horticulture Week, Matthew Appleby has been quoted as saying that the industry is hoping this will create a "boom time" for gardening in the manner of the industry-venerated Ground Force.

Complete novices need not apply. Everyone must be an amateur grower, says Davinia, but they do need to know what they're doing. (Which makes the ad's reference to a "window box" a bit whimsical.) If you have any questions, then Davinia is happy to help. Give her a ring on 0207 907 3401. Deadline for applications is 12pm, 13th March.

So, do you fancy being the next Ruby Tandoh? (She now writes regularly in The Guardian.) Is it going to be you? Oh, go on, aim for stardom and apply.

NB More comment can be found over at Garden Clickers.

 

My predictions for gardening "trends" in 2014

Yesterday I suggested that gardening trends didn't really exist outside enthusiasm for new products. I also, paradoxically, promised some predictions on what we might expect in gardening in 2014.

My excuse? Well, I don't really think they're trends, but subjects we'll be hearing more about in the coming months:

Perennial vegetables : the idea of planting something once and reaping rewards for years to come is gathering pace. At Futurescape last year, garden designer Anne-Marie Powell even revealed that she'd been asked to create a couple of gardens of perennial veg.

March will see the publication of Edible Perennial Gardening by Anni Kelsey. I've had the privilege to read a preview copy (for an article for April edition of Kitchen Garden magazine) and I think we'll see an explosion of interest in the subject.

Soil health - the heavy, heavy rain we've suffered over the past couple of years has revealed some appallingly maintained soil and I sense gathering interest in how soil works and the best ways to look after it. Expect to see more about No-Dig methods.

Fairy gardens - an American phenomenon that's crossing the Pond? Maybe.

Pinterest boards abound of somewhat kitsch creations and last year Timber Press released Gardening in Miniature, which featured in the Telegraph's Christmas gardening book list.

Personally I've been hoping for a return of proper miniature gardens with alpines for some time. Not so keen on the fairy whimsy, but I think the English temperament might tone that down a bit.

If you haven't already commented on yesterday's post, do let us know what trends do you foresee in 2014.

 

Gardening trends 2014

Gardening trends - do they really exist, outside the rarefied atmosphere of garden shows? And if they do, is it possible to predict them? After taking a whizz round the Web, looking at various opinions, I wonder. Here are some prognoses, home-grown and otherwise.

Managing Director of Hillier Nurseries and Garden Centres, Andy McIndoe, largely predicts 2014 as a year for:

• wildlife gardening
• plants for pollinators
• vertical gardening
• shrubs

Did you yawn? His choice is hardly thought-provoking, but pretty safe as a continuation of what's gone before, and no one can say that gardening moves fast. (You can't blame his plugging shrubs; he's got The Creative Shrub Garden coming out this summer.)

He also puts his money on green and white planting schemes.

Cue: Andy Newbould, a Yorkshire designer with a garden and grounds maintenance background, who unexpectedly observes: "People are increasingly choosing to have bright colourful gardens with bold planting with strong colours; no longer are gardens verging on designer monochrome."

Verdict? No trend. Some people will have subdued colour schemes. Some won't...

Newbould also foresees:

• fewer garden ponds
• more small entertaining areas (rather than large patios)
• more people using garden lighting
• wildlife planting

Ah, agreement. Wildlife gardening. But...on Landscape Hub Dave Sewell, Warwickshire landscape contractor, douses this idea with cold water. "Although [wildlife gardens are] a perennial favourite and interest is gradually developing, I'm always quite disappointed in how little interest my average client has in attracting wildlife and indeed gardening in a more sustainable way." 

This echoes exactly what designer Caspian Robertson said to me at Hampton Court last year.

Verdict? No trend. Wildlife gardening will continue as a major occupation of the garden media. Less so for the public.

However, Newbould also notes that man-made and UK-sourced paving are replacing imported natural stone. Now, we could be onto something more - er - concrete (sorry) here. Gary Cobb, of Acer Paving and Landscaping in Wiltshire, contributes to the Landscape Hub discussion:

The biggest trend I've personally witnessed in recent years has been in the use of new materials. These include a big upsurge in the use of natural stone [pace, Newbould] and a whole host of man-made products, often using recycled materials such as artificial grass, gravel stabilisation grids, composite decking, plastics products."

And, if you think about it, the biggest impact in recent years was the all-encompassing and (to me) incomprehensible urge for decking. New materials are instantly available, instantly usable. It's far easier to create a fashion with stationary objects (think puke-provoking popularity of meerkat garden accessories) than gardening schemes.

Verdict? I'm with Gary, who says: "Landscape/garden design industry 'trends' are more about the new products available each year rather than being design led."

Despite this, however, I have a few predictions of my own, which I'll put in the next post. In the meantime, what about you? Do you foresee any garden trends for 2014 or is it just a waste of time?

 

Lilac tree succumbs to St Jude's storm damage

Ho, hum. Of all the trees, in all the roads, in my vicinity, it had to be ours. A 26-year-old lilac that was a real eye-catcher each spring, smothered with deep purple flowers.

Lilacs are often deplored as boring during the rest of the year, being rather unremittingly green, but ours not only gladdened the heart with its intense colour but also served a useful purpose.

Growing about as wide, probably wider, than it was high (10-12 feet), the branches stretched along our garden wall, slightly screening us from passers-by, as well as making the south-facing garden a cool, tranquil spot contrasting with our adjoining neighbour's barren waste of brick paving.

Quite possibly it was an Syringa vulgaris 'Ogni Moskvy' which made it onto the recent RHS AGM Lilac list by 10 votes to one, described as, “Very distinctive. Exceptionally dark buds. Vigorous.” (And now, says Sarah Raven, difficult to track down.) Or was it 'Anne Shiach' - “Darkest of all. Very good colour. Lovely panicles”?

The fact that it was 26 years old is significant, as it was planted to replace a pale mauve-flowered lilac that came down, in exactly the same spot, after the 1987 storm.

And thereby hangs the explanation.

Being so wide and still in leaf, in soft, damp ground, and circumscribed on two sides by the front wall and the hard standing in front of the garage, it really didn't have a lot to hang on by on the side buffeted by the gale. I suspect the roots on the side it fell onto spread quite a way under the lawn.

We obviously spotted this problem last time, as I vaguely remember that the paving slab (which I had forgotten was there, and which you can see tipped up in the photo) was put down to add weight to the roots on that side. (Yes, I know, quite obviously a daft and futile action.)

I guess it will have to go. But, if the roots are as I suspect, I wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't survive and continue to flower, even on the horizontal.

What do you think? If I cut most of the branches off and tipped it back upright, might it sprout again?

Tomato blight samples wanted for research

At the end of last week I had my first Smith Period of the year. I know this because I'm signed up for Blightwatch. A glance at their chart today tells me that I'm already halfway into another SP. A glance at my tomatoes tells me that one fruit has already succumbed. Sigh!

Still, blight strike is not in vain. I've been secretly hoping for a touch, so I could do my bit for science. James Stroud at Bangor University would love to receive leaf samples from anyone whose tomatoes or potatoes have been affected.

James is conducting research in a collaboration with the Sarvari Research Trust, the not-for-profit company that researches late blight and has given us the blight-resistant Sarpo potatoes.

There are various strains of blight and preliminary studies have suggested that some prefer to lodge in tomatoes, others in potatoes. "Understanding which strains predominate on tomato," says James, "may help plant breeders develop tomato cultivars with better resistance."

Send James an email ([email protected]) and he'll send an info pack and mailer for your samples. Blighted potatoes on the same site are also of interest.  Packs come with pictures to help ID the disease, but if you're not sure that what you've got is blight, James still wants to hear from you. He'll be in touch with everyone who sends something.

So, I'm off to snaffle my leaf sample. Isn't it satisfying when you can wrest good out of bad?

Heritage Weekend 2013 - East Malling Research open day

The choice of what to see this coming Heritage Weekend is akin to turning over gems in a jewellery box - so much temptation. But I'd heartily recommend, if you can, that you hie down to the Open Day at East Malling Research in Kent this Saturday.  

2013 is their centenary year and Husb and I recently rolled up for one of the tours that they've been running twice monthly throughout the summer as part of the celebrations. We were lucky that our tour was taken by Ross Newham, Head of Communications, which meant we were treated to at least one place that other, less august, tour leaders couldn't reach.

It's difficult to over-estimate the impact that, without fanfare, East Malling has had on the modern garden. It's given us dwarfed fruit trees, disease-resistant strawberries, Malling raspberries, garden-sized hop plants, even decorative elderberries such as Black Beauty.  But it's an unassuming place to visit.

If you enjoy 1950s British "boffin" movies. the site feels delightfully familiar. The buildings spread haphazardly across the site, dating variously from Arts and Crafts Edwardian to spanking new, housing different departments. It's not pristine. You're just as likely to find a corner filled with brambles as lawn.

Begun on only 23 acres in 1913, the whole estate now covers 580, so, despite being only 10 minutes' drive south of the M20, it feels as if you're in the depths of the country. Of course, when the land was first leased from Kent County Council at a peppercorn rent, it was, indeed, deep in the country.

One could easily imagine Barnes Wallis bouncing ball-bearings here in The Dambusters (going by Wiki, he was at Hersham), and indeed, the Ditton Laboratory, which conducted pioneering research into low-temperature storage of fruit, was used for secret experiments to reduce ice formation on aircraft wings during WW2.  The lab is now being sold off for housing, which is a shame because I'd love to have seen the full-size replica of a ship's hold at its centre.

Beyond my obsession with black and white films, there was plenty of interest. Last used in the 1980s and only recommissioned recently is the underground root laboratory, where they'll be looking at root growth on modern varieties and the sequestration of carbon.

And although research here concentrates on rosaceous fruit (which includes raspberries, blackberries, plums, strawberries etc) it is the apples that are most in evidence. The long drive from the entrance passes acres and acres being grown on various root-stocks and we were awed to hear that it takes 25 years to get a new apple cultivar to market.

Much of the research takes place in glasshouses, which makes things considerably easier. When research was conducted into pests and diseases in the field, one year of bad weather could put a project back by a year.

And what exciting place did Ross take us that we wouldn't have seen otherwise?  The fruit storage labs. Must admit, the two people at the benches weren't looking too enthralled by their job of sorting plums, but the place is not without its dangers. Here they have vaults to experiment with reduced oxygen conditions to preserve fruit. They look harmless, but enter when oxygen levels drop below 17% and you'll die. Quickly.

The open day, on Saturday 14th September, from 10 till 4 (£3 entrance, cash only) has plenty more going on apart from tours of the farm and laboratories. You'll also find interactive science displays, a pest and disease clinic, fruit variety advice, and plant and produce sales.

There's also a cafe which does snacks like baked potatoes and sandwiches, although The King and Queen pub in the village looked tempting, and there's a decent looking curry house, too.

Travel alert: if you're driving from Surrey along the M25, be warned that signage at the roadworks before the junction of the M25 with the M26 is extremely poor. Stay in the middle lane. If you keep left you'll end up heading north on the M25 and will either have to continue to the M20 junction, quite a detour, or turn around at the next junction and leave the M25 to join the A21, where you'll turn left onto the A25 and travel parallel with the motorway the rest of the way. Astonishingly, it is not possible to turn left onto the M26 from the southbound M25 (as we rather heatedly discovered).

And finally... Well, what would you expect, with all that fruit?

The Gardening Concept Pigs Out

As anyone who's self-employed can tell you, one of the most difficult aspects of running your own business is seeing the wood for the trees. So an entrepreneur who seems to have a full understanding of the big picture is particularly fascinating, especially when at the centre of the Big Picture is veg growing.

Robin Hutson made his name creating the Hotel du Vin group. Beginning in 1994, he chose mainly listed, quirky, often derelict buildings to turn into boutique hotels and quickly grabbed the public's imagination. His concept brought relaxed chic to conservative towns such as Tunbridge Wells and encompassed large, comfortable beds, good but affordable wine, and good service.

Hutson went on to win industry awards such as Hotel of the Year (2000) and Hotelier of the Year (2003). In 2004, ten years after setting up the group, he sold the seven Hotels du Vin for £66.4 million.

Now a new concept is in the making. The Pig, a former hunting lodge in acres of grounds, sits on the edge of Brockenhurst in The New Forest, Hampshire.  The concept? A full recognition of today's hunger for home-grown food. Indeed, it's part of the portfolio of Home Grown Hotels. In June, I was part of a group of bloggers invited to sample its delights.

To offer a completely home-grown menu would be unrealistic, so the emphasis, for most of the ingredients, is locality. The restaurant 25-Mile Menu gets most of its ingredients from local outlets, including farms, butchers, a flour mill and beehives (OK, so local olives is pushing it a bit, but they are marinated down the road). The hotel also employs Garry Eveleigh, who forages for wild food in the Forest. Most local of all, however, is the produce from the walled garden.

Dug out from tons of rubble which had been dumped over the years, it now bursts with constant sowings of saladings, root veg, tomatoes and trained fruit. It doesn't provide every green leaf on the plates but in summer provides up to 50% of the ingredients used by Head Chef James Golding (ex-Le Caprice and J Sheekey) and his team.

A fascinating article in EP Magazine makes it clear how carefully The Pig has been positioned. While clearly a hotel, it's marketed as a restaurant-with-rooms because locals often fight shy of hotel restaurants, seen as too expensive or just not good enough, and local, repeat custom keeps the tables busy (the 70-cover restaurant was almost full even on a Wednesday lunch-time).

Influenced by Petersham Nurseries, Hutson and co-Director David Elton made the kitchen garden concept central, plugging into today's aspirations. If we're not growing it ourselves, then at least we can choose to eat it out.

Hutson is quoted in the article: "Our next Pig project, assuming planning is successful, will feature a new kitchen garden and restaurant in the garden. We are not the first to do this but I think we will be the first to have brought the kitchen garden right to the front of everything and make it the central plank of what we do."

It's timely, too, that the problem of provenance has been so prominent in meat in recent months. Like all good entrepreneurs, Hutson and Elton have put their finger on the current pulse. They certainly know how to please customers. It's won various accolades already, including Independent Hotel of the Year 2013 (The Cateys) and a place in the Michelin Guide and, with one accord, we bloggers left with a sigh of satisfaction, a bad case of garden envy, and singing the praises of delicious food that had had us eyeing each other's plates with a desire to taste it all.

Naturally, the garden is a feature. Visitors are encouraged to wander round and there's nearly always one of the three-strong garden team on hand to answer questions. Tomorrow, in recognition of World Kitchen Garden Day they're even sending diners and hotel guests away with seedlings from the walled garden, to recreate a patch of The Pig at home.

Is it a concept that will last? Well, it's currently growing. Two more hotels are scheduled to open with the help of a £4.8 million finance package : The Pig - on the Beach, Studland Bay, Dorset, and The Pig - near Bath. (Both will open with established kitchen gardens.) But Hutson has already said that he's sure the hotels will be sold eventually and I suspect it'll be about the time that GYO enthusiasm begins to wane, or when he's got half a dozen properties, whichever comes first. Successful entrepreneurs move on at the appropriate moment.

In the meantime, however, The Pig, Brockenhurst makes a thoroughly enoyable destination for a day in The New Forest (you need to book to ensure a table). Go while Hutson and Elton are still in charge; businesses are never the same when the originating force has gone.

And while you're there In the midst of the wood, why not take a drink out on the terrace and enjoy the view of the trees?

NB My own description of the veg garden and gardening methods is scheduled to appear in a forthcoming Kitchen Garden magazine. For more of our bloggers' day out and some great pics, see A Taste of the Good Life from Vegplotting, From Kitchen Garden to Table in Minutes from The Galloping Gardener, Matron in Hog Heaven from Down on the Allotment, The Pig Hotel from Nick Mann at Habitat Aid.

Other restaurant reviews can be found at Steeple Times and Laura Ivill.