the Fresh Talent category for a student design alongside two other students. After attaining a diploma in garden design, she won a Gold Medal for her own design at RHS Hampton Court in 2016 in the conceptual category which proved to be a springboard for both her gardening and TV career.


“I was filmed at Hampton when I had my show garden there and back storied and I thought that was ok,” she explains.


From there Arit, nicknamed ‘Have a go Arit’ by those who know her, contacted the BBC to see if there were any jobs going presenting for gardening shows, quite an audacious step by anyone’s standards but particularly as she’d been in the gardening business for such a short time.


“My partner really encouraged me and my sister told me not to worry about my lack of experience and knowledge but assured me my passion would shine through.”


The BBC could obviously appreciate what friends and family could see and Arit was hired, with her first film to camera being in 2017. “It was terrifying and I had a lot to learn,” she says.


Since then Arit has become a prominent fixture on the show and has carved a niche out for herself as a champion of all things eco. Before moving into gardening, Arit has had successful careers in holistic therapy, events management and most recently retail fashion. Each of these have raised her awareness of both well-being but also aesthetics and she has a natural flair for creating designs pleasing to the eye.


The downside of the fashion industry though has made her more conscious of wastefulness and its impact on the environment.


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“September is a lovely month for the garden. It’s the back end of the summer, the last zenith of the gardening year. I enjoy the change in light and letting the garden have its last breaths of the growing season,” she says. “It’s also a good time to take stock of your successes and what you could have done better and start planning for the next year.”


Although Arit was yet to confirm her exact topics for this year’s show when we spoke, she promises some light-hearted chat around various subjects, inviting the audience to not only ask questions but to also share their own experiences.


“I love it when we find beginner gardeners and between us we can bring them into the fold.”


Arit recalls her earliest forays into gardening were often less than successful.


“When I had my first proper house with a garden it was just some lawn with some skinny strips of borders.


“My sister is a great gardener and I had this notion that she would come and transform it for me and I’d swan in after work, deadheading the odd flower with a glass of rose in hand,” she recalls.


Her sister had other ideas though and in the end it was Arit herself who started the journey to put her stamp on the garden.


“I’d buy a plant and put it into a container and if I managed to keep it alive I’d celebrate with another and then another and eventually I built it up to look good. No one was more surprised than me. It was a magic moment.”


From this followed a horticultural course at Capel Manor College and whilst there she had success at RHS Chelsea in 2013, winning


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Now this thinking has transferred to her gardening in an industry which is fast recognising its role in becoming more sustainable and friendly to the environment.


CE L EBRIT Y INTERVI EW ARI T ANDERSON


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