Making outdoor spaces beautiful and fruitful
In 2023, garden designer Harry Holding worked with School Food Matters to create our award-winning garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Designed as an outdoor edible classroom, the garden showcased how schools can use growing spaces to inspire children and young people to connect with food, nature and each other.
Since then, Harry has gone on to exhibit at Chelsea again and has recently published his first book, Eat Your Garden, which celebrates the world of "edimentals" – plants that are both beautiful and edible. We caught up with Harry to find out more about the book, the power of growing food and what schools can learn from the edimental approac
What exactly is an edimental?
It's an edible ornamental – a combination of the two words. It's really a catch-all term for a huge array of plants that are incredibly beautiful and delicious.
Many edimentals are perennial, so they come back year after year, unlike annual vegetables. They're often great for biodiversity and pollinators, generally quite low-input and, in many cases, well adapted to our changing climate. Some can be incredibly drought tolerant too.
How do you think edimentals help people see food growing differently?
What's incredible about edimentals is that they offer another way of growing food. I'm a big advocate for growing vegetables and more traditional food crops, but we often come across people who are hesitant about giving up lots of space for annual vegetables, don't feel they have the time, or worry that they don't have enough knowledge to get started.
With more and more people living in cities, we're often working with smaller growing spaces. Edimentals open the door for people to grow food at any scale, whether they have a balcony or acres of land.
For experienced growers, they can help balance the amount of time and energy spent in the garden. For people who've never grown before, they can be a really appealing way to start growing food, connect with nature and approach gardening in a more natural, foraging-like way.
Why do you think growing food is important for engaging people with gardening and nature?
Food is an amazing gateway to connecting with nature. We have the opportunity to bring that connection into our own homes and gardens and that could have a really powerful impact on people's lives across the country.
Anyone who's grown their own food knows the power of it. I hope that edimentals – and this way of gardening – can open up that conversation and encourage many more people to get involved.
It's been a few years since you designed the School Food Matters garden at Chelsea Flower Show. Looking back, what stays with you from that project?
What really stays with me is the public's appetite for this way of growing food and for these kinds of plants. The garden clearly struck a chord with people and went on to have a real ripple effect, getting lots of people excited about growing food in a different way. That was really profound for me.
I'm also really proud of the wider impact the project had for School Food Matters and for the schools that received the gardens afterwards.
In particular, Alec Reed Academy has gone on to secure further funding and create an incredible community growing space with outdoor learning opportunities in nature. It's amazing to see how something that started as a Chelsea show garden has evolved into something that continues to have such a positive impact on so many people's lives.
Lots of schools and community groups are working with limited space and budgets. What's your advice for making food growing feel achievable?
Ultimately, it doesn't have to cost much and it doesn't need to take up a huge amount of space.
One of the case studies in my book is Jason Williams who grows food on a balcony in Manchester. He has very little space but even if someone grows just enough for one salad, it will probably be the best salad they've eaten all year. Experiences like that inspire people to grow more and help them see their garden in a completely different way.
I think it's about starting where you are with the resources you've got. Space isn't necessarily the issue. In fact, many schools and community groups don't have the resources to manage large areas, so starting small can often make more sense.
Cost-wise, it doesn't need to be expensive either. A packet of seeds, a bit of compost and somewhere to grow can be enough to get started. And one of the great things about many edimentals is that, once established, they keep coming back year after year, making them a great option for projects with limited budgets and resources.
Can you give us some examples of edimentals?
There are some classic perennial foods that we could all think of as edimentals – asparagus, globe artichokes and fennel, for example. They're all staples in the kitchen but are also incredibly beautiful in the garden.
Many herbs fit the bill too, including rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano. Chives are another fantastic example, and in fact many plants in the allium family are both edible and ornamental.
There are also some more unusual options. Sea kale is one of my favourites, and plants such as Dame's Rocket can be foraged in the wild but also grown successfully in gardens.
The key thing is finding plants that combine beauty with productivity, bringing both colour and flavour to a growing space.
If a school could grow just one edible plant, what would you choose?
I'd probably choose chives, or something similar from the allium family. They're very sensory plants – they're beautiful, they smell fantastic and they don't require much maintenance once established. Young people can pick and eat them straight away without any preparation which makes them brilliant for school gardens.
Whether in a school garden, community space or a few pots in a playground, growing food can help children and young people develop a lifelong connection with food, nature and the environment. Alongside cooking, gardening is a vital part of food education, helping young people build practical skills, confidence and curiosity about where their food comes from.
Find out more about our award-winning Chelsea Flower Show garden and explore our gardening resources to help bring food growing into your school. Harry's book, Eat Your Garden, is also full of ideas for creating beautiful and productive growing spaces, whatever space you have available.