Recorded at Glee 2025, Phil Wright and Kate Turner sit down with Lee Connelly, the Children’s Gardening Coach (formerly Skinny Jean Gardener), and Nigel Thompson, Sales & Marketing Director at Sipcam Home & Garden, to explore how the trade can engage families, support schools, and modernise product ranges for today’s consumer. Expect practical ideas for garden centres, insight on brand-building as a challenger, and new product thinking across outdoor and houseplant care.
What you’ll hear
School gardening at scale: Lee’s 2025 tour reached 10,000 children in a single week across 30 schools, sparking classroom-to-home participation and long-term follow-up with teachers. He argues for sustained brand investment in primary as well as secondary to seed future gardeners and employees.
Making garden centres true family destinations: low-cost activities that create reasons to dwell, learn and buy—without feeling like a “kids’ corner” bolt-on.
Greener gardening in practice: Nigel outlines Sipcam’s focus on ecofective®, simplifying purchase and sell-through for retailers while keeping efficacy front and centre.
Challenger brand mindset: why being smaller enables creative risk-taking, sharper points of difference, and faster iteration.
From activation to legacy: how Sipcam partnered with Lee (30 schools supported in total, with the team volunteering locally) to prioritise impact over quick-win influencer content.
Guests
Lee Connelly — The Children’s Gardening Coach. Campaigning to get gardening into the curriculum and designing joyful, memorable experiences that stick with kids and teachers. https://www.childrensgardeningcoach.co.uk
Nigel Thompson — Sales & Marketing Director, Sipcam Home & Garden. Steering ecofective®, Fito and Get Off with a “greener gardening” strategy and a challenger’s eye for distinctive propositions. https://www.sipcamhg.co.uk