A GARDENER who has fronted Gardeners' World is set to bring his very green, well-travelled fingers to Worcester's Huntingdon Hall.

Joe Swift's show is called, appropriately enough, A Man About The Garden.

And Joe has taken a break from his flower beds to explain what makes him tick - or should that actually be, what makes him dig?

He said: "It’s been something that’s kept me going and I really love it. I like the people in the gardening industry, I like the fact that you’re always learning, and I love that it’s very creative.

"And now I write about it, have ended up on TV, and do live tours; I find that they all feed off of each other and improve my garden design."

Joe added: "Over the years a lot of funny stories have come up. For the show, I’ll have a lot of slides and visuals, but it’s not an evening lecture about gardening, it’s much more light entertainment. There will be a pause for questions, but I will not be talking about dead plants!

"I like to think that my events will still be informative but hopefully just a bit more fun. I think the audience will soon realise that we’re not here to talk about the pH of their soil.”

So if your perennial has recently passed away into herbaceous heaven, or hell, and you feel the need to share your grief, it's best not make that person Joe Swift.

After all, he won't be wearing an black armband for any wilting petunia.

But Joe's had a very interesting life, and anecdotes are sure to feature.

For instance, Joe spent six months in Israel, working in the fish ponds: quickly becoming hooked on life in the fresh air.

He said: "I just loved working outdoors so when I came back to London with one art A-level to my name, I started working for this landscape gardening company. It was for this guy who was half-actor half-gardener, and I worked beside this hippy gardener called Antonia who was amazing and taught me so much.

"I started at the bottom, mixing up cement for the landscaping guys and later I went to Australia to landscape in Melbourne and Sydney. I had experience behind me so when I came back to the UK I studied garden design properly.”

Looking back on his career to date, Joe pinpoints the moment he considers his proudest achievement.

He said: “In 2012 I won a gold medal at The Chelsea Flower Show which is the pinnacle of garden design. I’ve been presenting The Chelsea Flower Show since about 2001 so a lot of people associate me with that. I’ll be talking about what it takes to get a gold medal. "It’s quite phenomenal really; there’s an incredible amount to be done because your garden has to go up in three weeks, stay up for a week and then back down again in a few days; you have a quarter of a million pound budget and away you go. There’s no room for error and it’s on such a global stage.

"If you’ve made a crap garden or if you’re in any way embarrassed about it, you’ve nowhere to hide.”

The date for the diary is Saturday March 18, from 7.30pm.

Tickets on www.lakinmccarthy.com