Joe Swift and Mark Diacono entertained us enormously in the Good Life Pavilion;  in just 25 minutes Joe Swift showed us how to transform a  rectangular garden into a lovely garden design,  meanwhile Mark created cocktails using equal amounts of something flat and something fizzy, strawberries and a little grinding of the seed from the Schezuan bush.  We all had a nibble of the seed and it had us all laughing as our tongues went numb and then exploded into a tingling sensation.  My children rushed off to purchase the Stevia herb that was dropped into the cocktail as the leaves taste of sugar, ideal for adding sweetener to cocktails or a pudding, the low fat alternative to sugar.

Little packets seeds of all kinds were there to tempt children and adults.  Pennard Plants packets had lovely illustrations perfect for little presents.

Strolling away from the pavilion we hit the largest vegetables I’ve ever seen, onions the size of dinner plates, cabbages, marrows, leeks etc..  James and the Giant peach came alive at this moment.

The autumn is always stimulating and walking around seeing so much blazing colour is as tempting to me as a sweet shop is to children.  I walked away with my 20 plug plants from Chyrsanthemum direct, a vibrant collection of lime green ‘Green Mist’,   reds ‘Quinty’ and ‘Misty Red’ and orange ‘Lexy’. Whilst I have always thought of Chysanthemums as an old ladies plant or a hospital bouquet this has changed over the years and I must confess I rather enjoy the blousy rush of colour that these plants give us in the autumn.

So inspired from the fabulous show I’m now off to plant my sweet peas, onions sets and garlic bulbs.  My chrysanthemums I’ll pot up and nurture this winter and although they may not be quote as big and bold as the vegetables we saw they should bring me a vibrant autumn bouquet next year.