TV presenter, author and avid gardener Alys Fowler has joined The Edible Garden Show 2013’s growing cast of celebrities keen to share their expertise and passion for home-grown food.

The 34-year-old BBC Gardener’s World presenter will talk of her love of organic food, allotments and money-saving ideas for ‘thrifty’ growers at UK’s only national event dedicated to the grow-your-own revolution at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire on March 15-17.

Alys said: “I am excited and delighted to be part of a show that shares my passion for self- sufficiency and organic home-grown produce.

“I’ve followed The Edible Garden Show since its launch in 2011 and have been impressed by the way it brings together, under one roof, everything grow-your-own novices need to kick-start their healthy new lifestyles. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. I can’t wait to give growers an insight into how to become thrifty gardeners at the show.”

Alys was bitten by the gardening bug in her teens after watching her mother’s talents in the garden. She witnessed at an early age how growing your own could help a family become more self-sufficient.

After leaving school, she trained with the Royal Horticultural Society, won a scholarship to study at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx and returned home to train at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

It was during her time in New York, growing plants on a narrow fire escape and volunteering in a community garden on the Lower East Side in Manhattan that shaped her passion for growing and thrift.

Renowned for her work on the long-running TV programme Gardener’s World, Alys also had her own BBC series called The Edible Garden – in which she explored the possibilities and limitations of community self-sustainability in South Birmingham.

Alys has worked on trade magazines including Horticulture Week, is a gardening columnist for the Guardian newspaper and has written several best-selling garden books. Her first book, The Thrifty Gardener was published in 2008, her second, the aptly titled The Edible Garden came out in 2010 and her latest The Thrifty Forager hit the bookshops last year.

Married and living in Birmingham, she has an allotment and an urban back garden with two chickens, plenty of veg and enjoys foraging for food and composting.

For details on The Edible Garden Show 2013 or to buy tickets visit: www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk or telephone 0844 338 8001.

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