From his Waveney home, Tom Strowlger is teaching budding gardeners how to get growing through social media. He tells us how he nurtured his own love of gardening and shares his top tips.
Where did your love of gardening come from?
I lived in the countryside from a very young age, so I grew up with the garden and the outdoors. My mum has always loved gardening and my dad is more practical, so I was involved with everything from weeding, planting and digging the soil over to maintaining garden furniture. That’s really where the foundation was set for it and over the last 10 years it’s picked up pace.
Tell us about your garden...
It was an absolute jungle of foliage when we arrived, so we took it right back so we could see what we had got. Once we’d got a clean slate, we developed it with plants that would work in certain spaces, based on where the sun is at certain times of the year and what flowers in certain seasons, to develop a 365 day of the year garden, which is a lot more visual and a lot more exciting.
What prompted you to start sharing your gardening tips on Instagram and TikTok?
I’m in my early 40s, so a lot of my life has been without social media, and I suppose I was a little bit sceptical of it. But then, unfortunately for us all, Covid came along. Lots of people were spending more time in their gardens. Previously people I knew might ask me the odd question about gardening, but during the lockdowns, people suggested filming a reel and putting it onto an Instagram account so that they could all follow along.
You’ve got thousands of followers – why do you think you’ve connected with people?
I keep it user friendly and simple. I don’t want people to see things that I’m doing and think that they couldn’t do it. I think of it as my gardening calendar. Lots of people think that the summer is just for gardening, but I wanted to show that all the prep is actually done during the other seasons.
What thrives in your garden?
There’s always something to surprise and delight you. We tend to be suited to bulbs and perennials. We’re north facing, and have got a variety of spaces, so we’ve got the shade where we can grow things like hosta, all the way through to full sun. We grow a range of plants, roses, all the summer perennials you can think of – lupins and peonies, begonias, then hellebore, which is a really beautiful plant that will survive brutal temperatures and flower when nothing else does really, and snowdrops in there for winter time. All the spring bulbs, daffodils, hyacinth...We’ve got a variety of flowers throughout the year.
What advice would you give someone who is starting to plan a new garden?
Stand back, look at what you’ve got and don’t rush in. Understand where the light is in your garden and work from that position. Be brave with what you’re doing. Plant those plants, put those flowers in the pots, go through that learning curve and don’t do too much too soon. Keep it simple to start with and learn from the experiences.
And what about if they have limited outdoor space?
They could always turn to gardening in pots outside their back door or front door. I talk about creating what’s called a bulb lasagne or a plant lasagne where you layer in different bulbs and plants so that you have an ongoing pot.
If you have no access to outdoor space, then you can grow bulbs on your windowsill, they’re less fussy. For some spring indoors plant daffodils and hyacinths and for summer indoors you could grow some lilies from bulbs.
Do you have any favourite gardens in Norfolk?
Bressingham, created by Alan Bloom all those years ago, is a beautiful garden. It’s immaculately kept, with lots of lovely bedding where you can walk around and always see something slightly different.
We’re also members of the National Trust. They and their volunteers do a superb job with the gardens. At Blickling the inner garden is lovely to walk around, almost like a maze effect. The walled garden at Felbrigg is amazingly kept too.
How much time do you spend out in the garden?
I run a credit control support company that I work for Monday to Friday, but I’m out there any spare moment around family life. As the days open up you can go out there and enjoy it more often, you can do more afternoon and evening gardening. The key is to try and make the garden user friendly so that it doesn’t have to take every last second out of you. First time or novice gardeners might think that you have to be out there 24/7 to get results, but that’s not the case. Five minutes, 15 minutes and hour, whatever you can spare, makes a difference.
Why is gardening good for us?
It’s very good for our mental wellbeing. You can’t beat being out in the fresh air and getting your hands in the soil. It puts us right where nature wants us, which is with our minds on our environment. Planting now and seeing the result in maybe a month’s time means we can live off that optimism, that hope. I always get really excited about planting and seeing something grow. And it helps physically, too. Digging, lifting and bending, getting a pace and feeling like you’ve done something.
What are you looking forward to in the garden in summer?
I look forward to seeing the summer perennials starting to show themselves off and the garden at its absolute green peak. I will be tending to all the plants and making sure they are supported ready for any breezy summer days. I will be deadheading on a daily basis to make sure the plants concentrate on new growth and flowers. The lawns will be given a summer feed to ensure they thrive and look lush. I will make sure my climbers including honeysuckle, jasmine, clematis, passion flower and wisteria are all tied onto supports, as I want them to look presentable and grow into the shapes I want. June can bring hot days, so I will be watering the plants during dry spells, mainly in the evenings so the water gets into the roots without the risk of evaporation. I might create a few more hanging baskets as we can never have enough of those. I will be feeding the summer pots with all-purpose feed to ensure the plants get the vital nutrients to keep up the very best of floral displays.
What have you got planned for your garden in the future?
Sometimes you feel like you want to refresh what you’ve already got - change is good in the garden. I love sleeper beds, so I might add more of those. The aim is to make them offer something attractive to look at all year round. A lovely display of daffodils, crocuses and hyacinth looks amazing in springtime before perennials like verbena, papaver, echinacea, echinops, lupins, dahlia and delphinium burst into life for summertime. A splash of colour in autumn can be created with the beautiful nerine bowdenii. And for winter I love to see hellebore giving their best on those short and cold days.
I’m an experimental gardener, I always like to challenge what plants will do for us and see what can be achieved with them.
Follow Tom on Instagram and TikTok @garden_with_tom
