RHS School Gardeners of the Year 2023
Judging panel
Frances Tophill
Horticulturalist, author, TV presenter
About Frances
I am a gardener, food grower and conservationist day-to-day but sometimes my job involves travelling around the country and presenting gardening TV programmes, also writing about gardening for magazines and books.
Q&As
Can you describe your connection to / love of gardening and growing?
I find the natural world a reassuring place. I am very lucky to be outside every day observing plants and nature. I still find it magical to grow a plant from a seed or from a cutting. I find it creative to imagine how plants will grow and I find it really rewarding and hopeful to think that something I have grown might go on to contribute to the natural world.
Why do you think gardening and growing is so important for young people?
For everyone on the planet, growing plants, or finding a respect and wonder at the natural world is so important. The problem is that most adults are too set in their ways or too busy to find the time to appreciate nature, if they don’t already. So I think it’s so important to ignite young people with an excitement and fascination for the natural world, whether it’s in growing or in studying nature, so that they can grow up to help make the world a better place.
Did you have a role model growing up?
Not one specific one, no. I was very influenced by my family. My grandma knew all the mushrooms in the woods. My mum knew all the trees and used to teach us about them, including all the birds that lived in them. My dad was an adventurer - camping, rock climbing and taking us out to cook sausages on bonfires - so from all of that I was totally immersed in nature. My role models apart from that were always in stories. I used to and still do find a lot of inspiration from imagination and stories.
When is your favourite time of year in the garden?
Spring. When the promise of things growing starts. The first bulbs, the first warmth in the sun, the green, freshness of leaves and lots of things to forage. It is also one of the busiest times of year for a food grower though, so it’s lovely to then also get to summer when things calm down a little bit.
What’s your favourite fruit or vegetable to grow?
There are so many to choose from! I can’t pick just one. I love growing all food so much. I work in a kitchen garden and have an allotment. I think if I had to pick just one though it would be tomatoes. Because nothing you can ever buy tastes as good as a home-grown tomato – or smells as good!
Your top tip for young gardeners?
Make a start! You don’t have to be successful and you don’t even have to grow. Just being outside and looking around you is a wonderful way to begin to understand how plants work.
What one thing do you wish you’d known as a young gardener?
I never was a young gardener! It’s one of the reasons I work with the RHS Campaign for School Gardening; because I wish someone had shown me how to garden when I was young, then I may have found a love for it sooner. So I suppose I wish someone had told me how to garden!
What would your dream gardening project be?
I would absolutely love to run my own community project. I have worked for many with all kinds of vulnerable people. One day I would love to run my own and share it with the community around me.
Do you have one piece of advice regarding protecting our planet/the environment?
Again it’s so hard to choose just one! And if I knew the one thing that would make a difference I would shout in from the roof tops in order to help as much as I could. I think it can feel overwhelming, so the one thing that everyone can try to do, is stay positive and stay hopeful. Even growing, or helping in small ways would make a big difference if we all did it. The key thing is not to give up because our beautiful world and all the creatures and species in it are worth fighting for.
Frances' video to launch the 2023 competition