Lee Connelly & Sipcam’s Nigel Thompson on Schools, Greener Gardening, and Innovation

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 hearSchool 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. GuestsLee 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.ukNigel 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