Prue Leith: 'I don’t care what the neighbours think, I wouldn’t have mauve in my Cotswolds garden'

When Prue Leith first started gardening, many seasons ago, her Cotswold neighbour Jilly Cooper said she had to stick to the area’s classic colours; blues, pinks, whites and mauves. The problem was that Leith hates mauve. “So I took no notice,” says Leith, mistress of the wry smile. She hadn’t wanted to live in the Cotswolds because she thought it was all too twee, but then she realised you can make it what you like.

At her previous home, Chastleton Glebe, a manor house that she moved to near Moreton-in-Marsh in 1972, she planted a red garden that was “extremely vulgar”; red and orange dahlias and red roses. “And it was fantastic. But not everybody’s taste of course.”

As one of the judges of this year’s B&Q Gardener of the Year Competition she says it’s her opinions rather than her knowledge of horticulture that will be counted on, alongside her fellow judges: award-winning garden designers, Matt Childs and Humaira Ikram, along with B&Q Outdoor Director, Steve Guy.

It’s probably a safe bet to assume a riot of colour is going to go down well on her side. “I can’t see why you can’t have brave colour. I think it’s the South African in me.”

Resplendent in a typical patterned shirt and chunky necklace, Leith is sitting in her office in a converted barn where she now lives with her second husband John Playfair, after down-sizing last year. The couple allowed the cameras to follow them for a four-part More Four series, Prue’s Great Garden Plot, as they converted the farm yard and surrounding land into a garden. Since filming last July the garden has doubled in size. More trees in particular – ten of which were planted this Easter Monday by the ten grandchildren, aged 14 to one month, that she and Playfair have between them. “All planted a tree, bar the one month old, rather like the Queen, stepping it in at the end with a shiny trowel to finish off the compost.”

Aged 81, she admits it’s a rather strange place to be in, planting a new garden. But there’s a phrase she’s fond of quoting: A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. “And I think that goes for old ladies too.”

And yet the avenue of oaks she’s planted are very slow growing. “They’re nine feet now, and I won’t see them beyond 15 feet, if I’m lucky.” Her new garden was previously all farmland, including the yard itself; an acre of concrete had to be dug up. There were no trees at all, save those in the boundary hedgerow. “It means the wind really blows like hell.”

Longevity is a factor Leith will be looking for when she judges the competition, which closes on June 20. As delightful as she finds the glorious pub window-box look of annuals, it’s not what she wants to see from the entrants. Contrary to what you might assume from a competition run by B&Q, Leith says: “It’s sort of too easy to go to the garden centres and spend a lot of money on annuals and stuff them into a pot.” Not that Leith is above a bit of cheating. Behind her on a side table is vase of beautiful white roses.

“Oh they’re fake. We used to have fresh ones here but they weren’t looked after." I really wouldn’t have known had she not told me.

She also has fake turf on her sun-bathing roof terrace: “Which by the way I justify by saying it’s a lot more sustainable. I don’t have to water it. Or put any stuff on it.” Would she afford entrants the same latitude? “It depends where it is. I dare say the other judges might be less so, but I’d be more forgiving of fake turf on a roof because we thought very long and hard about it too.”

But then Leith has reached the point where ease and low labour input are her priorities, garden-wise. Last year they grew a lot of their own veg from seed. This year there are a lot of veg plug plants going in instead.

“Partly because I can’t do it anymore. I’m too bloody old, that’s the long and short of it. And I don’t like kneeling because it’s extraordinarily uncomfortable and once I’m down there I can’t get up again.”

Leith takes me on a tour of her garden, carrying her laptop to different windows around her home. She’s disappointed when her wifi doesn’t quite reach the troughs filled with deep coloured tulips from Sarah Raven. She loves to share her joy for gardening. Although she also says it’s because she’s a terrible show-off. “If I have a beautiful trough of tulips I want to show them to you.” That she’s so open about sharing her home and garden with viewers is thanks to the fact she enjoys just the right degree of celebrity. “Just enough to massage my ego because I really like the attention,” she smiles.

I admire her immaculate lawn. It’s not her taste, more Playfair’s. She favours a wilder look, cut infrequently. A wildflower patch is something she would be readily impressed by, having tried herself she knows it’s not as simple as throwing down a packet of seeds. “They prefer poor soil, rubble even.”

Mainly though, Leith is looking for gardeners who are imaginative and do things differently. Sustainability is also a top priority; last year B&Q committed to be peat-free across its bagged compost range by 2023 and Leith would rather see gardeners avoiding it completely.

The competition is divided into four categories: Classic Gardener, who appreciates the importance of time, care and attention when building an outdoor space; Year-Round Gardener whose garden thrives no matter the season; Productive Gardener who makes sure their outdoor space works as hard as they do; and Eccentric Gardener who doesn’t follow the rules and always embraces the unexpected. The latter most excites Leith, who is waiting to be surprised and delighted – something she did for the photographs to promote the launch of the competition, where she wore a cloak of real flowers inspired by a portrait of the Queen.

The photos were taken in fellow judge Matt Child’s garden. The cloak was very wet and weighed a ton but Leith revelled in looking so regal. "Mine was made from real flowers so it was better than hers,” laughs the real-life Dame.

Staying in titled mode, Leith reveals how partial she is to a bit of eccentric topiary. “I love the skills of hedge laying. Although I’m not really expecting them in a garden. Be assured, Versailles is not what the judges are looking for.

“What we’re trying to do is encourage people to enter, whatever size of garden they have. I like the idea that everyone is welcome.”

Last year’s inaugural competition saw Sunderland firefighter, Gary McLaughlan, crowned B&Q Gardener of the Year - his 4.5m x 3.5m concrete yard transformation showed that everyone has the potential to wow the judges, no matter their size of garden or experience.

“You could win the £10k because you’ve got a garden that’s not much more than an area with pots and tubs,” says Leith encouragingly, adding ruefully. “We have a huge garden, probably too big for our age.”

The B&Q Gardener of the year competition closes at 11.59 on June 20. Enter via diy.com/gardener-of-the-year.