Kirsty Wark, broadcaster

“Almost everywhere I’ve lived, we’ve had a garden. In fact, as far back as I remember, I’ve pootered about in one. I grew up in Kilmarnock, 20 miles southwest of Glasgow, and as children my brother and I each had our own patches. The first plants we grew were nasturtiums, I think, which I still love.

“I come from a green-fingered family. My grandmother on my mother’s side was a fruit grower in the Clyde Valley, so I was aware of the seasons and elements from a young age. I always knew when the strawberries would be ripe, and the plums and the greengages.

“What I love about gardening is the social interaction. In my mother’s family there were four sisters and two brothers, and everyone would share what they knew. Now my green-fingered friend is Rob Casement [a garden designer], who helps me a lot with digging, pruning and advising. In fact, when we moved to this house 14 years ago, the only thing we missed about the old garden were the roses that Rob and his wife had given us: beautiful old-fashioned pink climbing roses, with the most wonderful scent.

“I loved those. They reminded me of when I was a child and we used to go and stay with an aunt, who had dozens and dozens of roses. We’d always take an old jam jar and collect the petals that had fallen, and when it was full, add water and leave them for two or three weeks. It would make rose water – proper, fresh rose water.

“Now, I enjoy plants for their colour and leaves, rather than their smell. Well, other than the lavender hedge at the front, and the mint and rosemary. You see people walk past, smell it, and nick a bit for their lamb.

“We have a walled garden in Glasgow: we live in a crescent, built in 1875, and the fronts were built as pleasure gardens. The gardens within the walled back areas were never meant for sitting out in – they still have the hoops either side of the walls to put lines across to hang the washing. When we moved in, we took a lot of earth out, and a few trees, and have had lovely Caithness flagstone put down. It’s about 60ft by 40ft and walled with old sandstone covered with climbers. The thing I love the most about the garden is the quince tree that has been espaliered, and has the most beautiful orange flowers. Then we have a lovely Japanese maple, a dwarf apple that seems to have gone crazy, and a eucalyptus.

“I can’t imagine not having a garden; I go out into it every day. I like to think I’m completely hands-on, but in reality I’m not. I have lots of help from Rob. This summer I’m going to ask him to put in raised beds for vegetables; last year I grew rocket and tomatoes. I keep trying to grow rhubarb, but can’t seem to – not even in a beautiful terracotta forcer I bought. So sadly it just sits there, empty.

“We have a house in Majorca with a garden, and that has completely different things in it: oranges, figs, lemons, pomegranates, Sharon fruit, artichokes, which are delicious and which I’m going to plant again this year, and asparagus, which grows wild. Amazingly, in Majorca, you can go into a fashionable shop like Carolina Herrera and they sell bags of garden tools. Who would think of going into a fashion shop for tools? I think Hermès does them, too. It seems very odd to me. I prefer old tools that have been passed on and loved: like old forks and riddles that my grandfather used to own. He was in charge of the fruit business for three generations, and so knew his plants. One of my first gardening memories is of sifting soil through a riddle for him, and I’ve still got it.”

Explore Gardens

• Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

• Chelsea Flower Show

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