Garden Talk By Phil Allen

Last night I went to my mothers gardening club to sit in on a talk they were having. 

She quite often tells me when there's a talk I might be interested in and I have been before although only once. When I do go I think I must half the average age in there, there's lots of hushed "is that her son" going on as well! 

I'm doing a talk at her club later in the year on unusual vegetables so I'm look forward to that, hopefully i'll make it funny and informative. 

Head Gardener - Phil Allen at the entrance to the garden area

I was really keen to go this time because the talk was by Phil Allen, the head gardener at Apley Walled garden. I went last year and spent the day with him (you can read the post here) and it was one of the most interesting and inspiring days I'd had in a long time. 

He's a really passionate guy with a great sense of humour and this really came through in the talk he gave about the history of the walled garden. I had loads of questions for him afterwards and he also gave me some great ideas and revenue streams that i could follow up on. 

I also said I'd love to volunteer up there for a few days to see him in action and learn even more, he seemed keen on this so we've swapped details and I'm already looking forward to learning more from him, there is no better way to learn in my mind that to go and do something and to be shown by someone who can do it well.

Has anyone else been to a good talk/lecture about something they're interested in and given them loads of ideas?