A brand new Blue Peter garden is currently being designed, called 'New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil'. It will be homed at RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford.
But, before then, visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show 2022 will be able to experience it for themselves as it will be making an appearance at RHS Chelsea this May.
Award-winning garden designer Juliet Sargeant
New Blue Peter garden
Juliet Sargeant is an award-winning garden designer and runs the Sussex Garden School, helping people get to know their gardens and understand gardening better. Through designing the new Blue Peter garden, she has explored the relationship between art and science.
Its main goal, however, is to open the eyes of children and adults to soil’s fundamental role in supporting life and its potential to lock in carbon. 'Down-trodden and neglected, soil is the "forgotten climate solution" beneath our feet,' says Juliet Sargeant.
'Healthy soils not only feed most of life on earth but also act as an essential carbon sink for damaging greenhouse gases. I have personal experience from Tanzania in East Africa of the devastating effects of soil degradation and so I grasped this opportunity to bring the message of the importance of soil to children’s attention,' Juliet adds.
The garden will be brimming with color (with lots of blues, of course). It will also give children a chance to see, touch, and hear soil with soil-themed local artwork.
Garden visitors will be encouraged to discover the importance of soil in their own back gardens, and learn how to create an eco-friendly garden. New Blue Peter Garden - Discover Soil will inspire visitors to learn about why we need to protect soil, and how, through learning about things like composting.
There will be a soil-themed animation by Polish artist Zuzanne Kotodzieji and an audio recording by the Zurich University ‘Sounding Soil’ project. Elsewhere in the garden, you'll find cracked clay paving tiles, to remind us of the devastating effects of drought.
But the vibrant plants and a field of barley will show the abundance that healthy soil will sustain. The New Blue Peter Garden - Discover Soil is one of three Main Avenue Gardens at RHS Chelsea 2022.
The original Blue Peter Garden was designed by Percy Thrower in 1974. It had a sunken pond and statue of Blue Peter dog Petra, and it was relocated from Television Centre to Media City in 2012.
