Matthew Biggs - the People's Gardener

Leicester's home grown gardening personality

January 2013 In gardening circles the name Matthew Biggs is well known. He makes regular radio and television appearances on programmes such as ‘Gardener's Question Time’, writes for the gardening magazines, and has a stack of book titles to his name. He often gives talks and has even appeared at Groby Village Hall. When a question and answer forum brought him to the Hilton Hotel in Leicester as part of one of their activity weekends, it included visits to the University botanical gardens and Barnsdale, as well as Matthews' session with Nick Hamilton and his wife Sue who were still developing the garden.

For Matthew it wasn't just another appointment in a busy schedule. As he traveleds from his home near St Albans his thoughts may have wandered to his childhood in Evington or the happy days visiting Groby Pool, Bradgate Park and Beacon Hill. Maybe he smiled quietly to himself and recalled his early days with the City Parks Department when sweeping, tidying and cleaning the toilets were essential parts of the new lad's responsibilities. Little did he realise when he took the job that he was stepping on a ladder which would lead him to where he is today.

Head gardener at a Leicestershire house

After training at Pershore College of Horticulture he became Head Gardener at a Leicestershire house. The Diploma course at the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew seemed a good idea, and although unsuccessful at first he persevered and was later chosen as one of the sixteen lucky students that were to study there each year. After qualifying, he worked there as a Guide Lecturer and Staff Training Officer. His next big step was something of a gamble. He became a freelance horticulturist running a landscaping and maintenance company, lecturing to gardening societies and teaching in adult education.

Maintaining his contact with Kew paid dividends. His name was put forward for a radio phone-in, and this was the start of his broadcasting career. The career snowball had started to roll and television work followed. He was delighted when the opportunity came to front Channel Four's Garden Club. "I visited people's gardens and found out their gardening tips. I spent five years on it and did 96 gardens and it was just fantastic,” he said.

More radio and television work followed and he is now a regular panellist on Radio Four's popular weekly programme Gardener's Question Time. He writes regular features for Gardeners' World Magazine, The Garden, The Kitchen Garden and Garden Answers, and of course his books. You can even read Matthew's monthly diary online at www.hartley-botanic.co.uk or visit his website where you'll find more information about his books, lectures and talks. The puzzle is how he manages all this in addition to his broadcasting commitments and acting as a guest lecturer on gardening trips and cruises.

Still gets a thrill from plants

In any career success can change the nature of your job and can draw you away from the things you like doing best. For Matthew plants are still at the heart of what he enjoys most and he still gets a thrill from seeing plants in the wild. Perhaps this is why he enjoys leading the specialist gardening tours worldwide which have taken him from mountain tops to rain forests in places like the Amazon, Zimbabwe, Australia and Indonesia.

His love of plants is obvious when he talks of the day he discovered in its natural habitat the giant water lily Victoria Amazonica that he knew from Kew. "We went down a really narrow tributary which was only about 20-feet wide and there it was. It was chucking it down with rain but seeing it there gave it much more of a context. I saw this plant, I was in tears, it was a dream come true” he recalled.

With so many irons in the fire his workload is full of diversity and interest. But it leaves one question unanswered – how does he find time for his own garden? “It’s a bit of a juggling act but somehow I manage, though it is not always as tidy as it should be and I often think that it looks better in the dark!” he laughed.

Written in March 2007 and revised in January 2013