YOUNG gardeners of the future showed off their skills during a busy day at Askham Bryan College, near York.

Students at the college constructed show gardens, which were judged by the director of the Royal Horticultural Society, Jim Gardiner, who is a former Askham Bryan student, and TV gardener and broadcaster David Domoney.

The gardens, named Tour de Yorkshire, all pay tribute to the Tour de France’s arrival in Yorkshire this summer and include chainsaw sculptures created by arboriculture students and wall plaques by gardening and floristry students.

Mr Gardiner said: “Forty years ago I was a student at the college and there were only a few hundred of us, so it’s wonderful that today there are several thousand.”

Askham Bryan’s courses help address a pressing skills shortage in horticulture, he added.

Mr Domoney said: “There’s a terrific buzz around the college which really shows that education can be fun and rewarding.

“It’s great to see students at different stages of their learning coming together and sharing their expertise. They’ve all worked together to create some terrific show gardens.”

Yesterday also saw the northern heat of the Young Horticulturalist of Year contest.