Modern heroes of horticulture - Adam Kirtland
Adam’s gardening roots started in his childhood garden, a large corner plot with a greenhouse and a vegetable garden. “I distinctly remember being in the garden“ he says, “with my mum weeding. It's only when you look back and you think, ‘I remember that plant, or I remember that plant’, and those end up almost subconsciously being your favorites". Both of his grandmothers were passionate gardeners too, giving him an early exposure to gardening.
After school Adam studied Media and Communications at the University of Wolverhampton going on to work for a Birmingham based media production company after graduation. It will probably be a surprise to many to hear that he still has a full time career in retail on top of his highly successful gardening channels.
The turning point for Adam was during the first COVID-19 lockdown when he was furloughed from work. This period of enforced free-time allowed him to fully immerse himself in gardening, leading to his current passion with horticulture. “I always feel bad saying this but provided you were healthy, providing your family around you were healthy, lockdown was an incredible time to be a gardener." he says.
Like many of us at the time with limited options for going out, he looked at his garden and decided to enlarge the borders. A pivotal moment came when he ordered compost from a local nursery and received it on a pallet. "I put the pallet in the shed, and thought, I'll make something from that one day. I eventually made a bug hotel, and then became slightly obsessed with finding pallets and making things”. This was the start of his interest in DIY gardening and making things ‘easier and smarter.’
Adam hosts his own podcast about gardening - Tales from the Potting Bench - which has featured some well known horticulture personalities including David Domoney, Frances Tophill, Alan Titchmarsh, Adam Frost, and Arit Anderson. Adam also gives talks to clubs, societies, and events, including the new RHS show at Wentworth and BBC Gardeners' World Live. He tells us “I’ve really thrown myself into the talks. It’s the thing that I like doing the most."
Also a keen writer Adam has regular monthly articles in gardening publications such as Garden News and Bloom magazine. Another love is sharing gardening knowledge with new generations of gardeners, something that is plain to see from his strong and engaging social media presence under the name ‘View from the Potting Bench’. He believes gardeners are inherently generous in sharing knowledge and resources and is highly focussed on introducing gardeners to new tools, techniques, and plants. "I love the idea of sharing with somebody something that they don't know about gardening” he says, “and there's always a new generation of gardeners coming through. I just love sharing ideas and tips and tricks."
