Bloomin' Belgravia 

I start work at eight o’clock each day. We begin the week with a team meeting, discussing any plans or outstanding issues in the gardens. Then we all go off to our own gardens. I’m in charge of the open spaces in south Belgravia, which includes Eaton Square. I work alongside fellow gardener Tony Carthy; working together means we can get more jobs done and to a higher standard.

Our first job on a Monday morning is to do a walk around, checking for any health and safety issues, such as if any trees have fallen down, and making sure everything is shipshape as we go along. You plan your week as you see the gardens that day. Do you need to cut the grass, clear the pathways or do any pruning? It’s all very seasonal. In the wintertime, you’ll be constantly clearing leaves, whereas in the spring and summer, you’ll be mowing and striping the lawns.

It’s never quiet here, even in winter. We’re finishing up all the leaf clearance and getting ready for spring, making sure all the borders are nice and clean and regenerating the lawns. The mild weather has meant that the bulbs have come up a lot earlier and things such as daffodils have started to flower that normally wouldn’t until much later. 

Another part of my job is looking after some of London’s oldest trees. We’re very protective of them. As we’re a conservation area, all the trees are protected across the estate. Any work we want to do on the trees needs approval – even for a simple job like pruning them. It’s similar to dealing with a listed building and is all part of retaining the character of the area.

One of our big plans for 2012 is to introduce beehives to the estate, so I’m training to become a beekeeper. I am the bee man. We plan to use our hives as a training facility for beekeepers in London – we’re passionate about supporting the plight of the bee.

Conservation is always a key theme for us. We use selective planting and construct special insect nests and bird boxes – we’re planning to introduce wormeries this year. We also collect the waste coffee beans from the local coffee shops to use in our compost. You’ve got to consider that the square will be there a lot longer than we will. We’re planting for the future and not just for now. We want to create open spaces for people to play, work and live in Belgravia and Mayfair, gardens that reflect the status of the buildings that surround them.

It’s this time of year that we start to develop our design plans for the gardens and consider what themes we want to create. This year, I’m planning a ‘hot border’ theme in the south central garden, with lots of red and orange plants. The idea is to go a little bit tropical using bold colours and planting banana trees. We want to push boundaries. Last year we got bronze in the London Square Garden Competition; this year we’re going for gold!