Everything you ever wanted to know about the Harrogate Flower Show

Not just one of them, several of them. Some said one thing, some another, and I was always getting apprehensive. But, you know what, after a couple of years I realised that my worries had no influence at all on what might happen…forget it, get on with it, and concentrate on offering the very best shows in the North.”

The statistics that surround the show are impressive. For a start, the events are planned more than 18 months ahead. “We have to book in so many guest speakers, demonstrators, lecturers, whatever, and we have to know their availability a long while ahead.

These are high-profile people in their field, and you can’t just ring up or e-mail a fortnight beforehand and ask if they have a moment to pop over for us – their diaries get very full, very quickly. Then there are the exhibitors – do they want to book a space, are they coming back as they have done for years, or are they newcomers? Each one is different.”

In Harrogate, the showground sits on a vast 25 acres. There are two main and permanent halls, the largest of which covers 4,500 square metres. Then there are another pair of huge marquee structures that have to be assembled. The build takes about three weeks.

But one year, a panel of one of the marquees was missing, and the location was tracked down. The address was surprising. Buckingham Palace.

“We had to call them up, say that we were very sorry, that we’d booked and paid for it, and it was soon on its way north,” laughs Smith, “problem solved – you have to take the attitude that, like theatre, ‘it’ll be alright on the night’.”

There are around 500 exhibitors each year, and around 1,500 competitors. “We are remarkably diverse, remarkably inclusive”, says Smith, who lives near Northallerton, and has a garden himself. “You must remember that this county covers all sorts of climatic conditions.

Something a gardener won’t be able to grow up in Bedale will flourish quite cheerfully in Doncaster, and that makes the conversations at the show so interesting. It’s wonderful to have people talking to each other again, all about their common interest, gardening in all its shapes and forms, sharing knowledge. There’s a terrific ‘family feel’ to it all, it’s about conversation.

“And we’ve noticed that, pre-Covid, the age group we were attracting was late 50s into the 70s. Post-Covid, they are returning, but there are also those from their 30s into late 40s. The demographic has changed, and the younger visitors are, perhaps, showing that they are more aware of environmental issues.”

That’s true of Smith and his team as well. The Show is striving to avoid plastic materials – the covering for the stages, for example, is now made of a material that is mainly used as a weed suppressant, when it is lifted as the show ends, the remnants are all claimed by local allotment societies and growers who, in effect, re-cycle them.

Smith does his bit as well. “I’m one of those gardeners who cannot let anything go to waste – it drives my wife mad, when it’s all over, I’ll take back plants that no-one thinks will survive, bits of broken pots, you name it. A typical gardener – you always think that ‘it’ll come in handy, one day’. Thrift is such a Yorkshire gardener’s trait.”

Does he have a rule of thumb for the shows? “Yes, to keep it fresh, to keep it interesting, to keep it innovative”.

One of the constants for the last 30 years, is the stand manned by David Matthewman and his team. Matthewman’s Sweet Peas are one of the first things that visitors see as soon as they enter the central tent, and they are definitely hard to miss, with the explosion of colour, and powerfully beautiful fragrance. Matthewman’s are based at Otley, but their seed product is sent nationwide.

David, 74, has a background in parks management before opening his award-winning firm with wife Pauline, and the business is still very much family-run. He jokes that he has, in fact, retired three times, and adds: “But I still keep on coming back. No wonder they call me ‘The boomerang.’ I’m not the sort of person to sit in an armchair, watching the telly.”

It’s the atmosphere of the show that appeals to him. “It such a friendly place, we all know each other, and everyone is so helpful – if, heaven forbid, you ever forget something that is vital for the stall, then another exhibitor will always be there to lend a hand, or to help out. It’s always a bit like a travelling circus, you go on from show to show.”

David and his team always try to develop a new variety for every show. The latest ones are Harrogate Gem, Summer’s Day and the beautiful Newby Blue – named after the great Hall, just a few miles up the road. According to David, all sweet peas have a fragrance, it’s just that some are more fragrant than others. And it turns out that the blues, the mauves and the lavender hues are the best scented. Whites and oranges are not so strong on the aroma scale.

David used to be a regular at the Chelsea Flower Show, as well, but he’s moved away from the London event in recent years – but he still recalls with pride – winning 13 gold medals over 13 consecutive years. Something of a record for any grower.

This year’s sweet peas will have been sown in the early autumn of last year, and the success for the blooms on display, he says firmly, is “light. At least 14 hours of it every day. And pinching out the heads, to make them stronger and firmer.” So, from the man who has won innumerable National Championships, medal after medal, what’s his own favourite sweet pea?

“My wife Pauline loves the white and lightly scented Anniversary”, he reveals, “and mine is called Jilly, and she’s a real strong grower, a climber with waved petals.”

Another Show veteran is Martin Walker, who lives in Butterwick, near Malton, with his partner, the celebrated flower arranger Sue Brown. Martin is a key presenter on one of the three stages, working with chef Stephanie Moon, showing how to bring food in from the garden and on to the plate.

For many years, Martin, 66, trained with and then was one of the key personnel for Leeds City gardens. He recalls with a chuckle that the moment which convinced him that he was destined for a full-time career in gardening was around 1978, “when I won a Gold Medal at the Horsforth Allotment and Horticultural Show.

With a plate of peas. I also got a National Vegetable Silver, and I’ve never ever forgotten it. I realised then – as I do now – that I just love the challenge of it all. Six pods of peas. I can still close my eyes, and see them!”

And the Harrogate Show continues to deliver a challenge – each year, Martin is given a brief by Nick Smith, in which he and Steph have to deliver a “theme” on stage, and present it to their audiences for the show of the following year. This time, you’ll be able to see what they’ve done with “Articulture”, bringing artworks to meet up with vegetables.

Martin isn’t going to reveal how they’ve managed it. He still loves the event, saying: “It’s a great day out, a family day where there’s something for everyone. Plant experts, craftspeople, food, visual displays, things to watch, things to buy. I love the buzz of it all, and it’s a wonderful day, whatever your level of interest. There’s nowt like the Harrogate Show.”