NEW SERIES. EPISODE 4;   Gardener Gerald Stratford cooks a potato salad

Gerald Stratford is a gardener and a gentleman. Claire drove to the Cotswolds for this episode of 5 O Clock Apron Podcast. Knocking on Gerald’s front door, Claire is quickly whisked through the house, past Elizabeth, Gerald’s wife, and their dog, Bilbobaggins both sitting in the living room, on through the kitchen and out into Gerald’s garden. And what a garden it is! Gerald’s garden is immaculate and stuffed full to bursting with untold fruit and vegetables, the garden is a maze of walkways and paths, shooting off in all different directions to various raised beds, and to what Gerald’s refers to as his giant growing cages, all shapes and sizes, because there are so many of these homemade structures. Marigolds dot the flowerbeds and pathways, “to keep the pests at bay, we are at one with nature you see Claire, we are part of it, we can’t fight it, but the pests hate the smell of the marigolds, so it does help a bit!”

Gerald spends a lot of his time in his garden and has a gazebo set up, with a small induction hob on a table with a chopping board close by; “I thought we could cook in the garden, Claire?” Claire is very happy about this, and the pair dig potatoes and get cracking, cooking in the garden, the potatoes only just dug from the ground less that 10 minutes ago. “Can’t get fresher than that, can you?” Claire says.

Gerald wants to make a potato salad that he’s been eating for over 40 years; he was first shown how to make it by his German friend Rolph’s mother for a fishing trip. Rolph is no longer with us, and Gerald dedicates this episode to his great friend, Rolph. It is a touching moment.

Gerald is a giant in the gardening world. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen even designed a limited-edition fleece jacket emblazoned with his favourite red cabbage for Gerald. Gerald is an icon and has graced the cover of US Vogue magazine. Whilst his speciality might be growing enormous vegetables, there is a tenderness in the way that Gerald gardens and his viewpoint on growing, that makes this giant a bit of a teddy bear, and a very special one at that.