THE Garden section of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s two-day Smallholder and Garden Festival is growing in every sense of the word.

The show, which is due to take place over the weekend of May 21-22, draws up to 25,000 people to the Royal Welsh showground at Llanelwedd in Builth Wells.

Last year Thompson and Morgan Seeds won the Best in Show in the garden section with their magnificent display of vegetables.

Smallholder magazine’s editor Liz Wright will be reporting on their grower and trying to prise out his secrets next month.

A Gardener’s Question Time has also become an important feature of the section and readers are encouraged to bring questions to the panel of experts and even examples of their horticultural disasters (and triumphs).

The team say “The show is not only educational but very entertaining and if your problem is portable, then bring it along with you, as so many of the public have done this in the past and gone home with smiling faces!”

Within the professional section there is a varied mix of nurseries/garden centres offering plants from acers, chrysanthemums, bonsai, orchids, cacti, gladioli; to airplants, ornamental grasses, tropical and herbaceous plants; and many more including vegetables and herbs. This means that plenty of advice is on offer to gardeners and the chance to buy unique plants.

Outstanding among the gardens on display are Neath Port Talbot College who always put on a stunning display. Related tradestands include Societies such as the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, Cottage Garden Society and the Welsh Beekeepers Association. It is hoped that the National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Ltd will be present at the 2011 event.