As the Brighton Festival passes the halfway mark, there's no doubt who has had the easiest job so far. Me.

The only hitch in chairing the debate between feisty gardener Diarmuid Gavin and Eden Project founder Tim Smit was that both men turned up 20 seconds before the start.

Once on stage, all I had to do was light the blue touchpaper and then retire before the verbal fireworks started.

Diarmuid, with his come-to-bedding eyes and his popular telegenic tribulations, was able to explain why small is beautiful when it comes to gardening.

Tim demonstrated the energy and commitment that has enabled him to become a real force in Cornish tourism through building the largest greenhouse in the world.

Everything in the garden was lovely and the green-fingered duo also proved to have silver tongues as they fielded a series of questions from the capacity audience.

Both said they abhorred anything too neat such as the Chelsea Flower Show garden and preferred Nature in the raw even though coping with it is a case of trowel and error.

Theme of the evening was making best use of limited land and these two proved they are certainly no waste of space.

All I had to do was gather the generous applause which would have come anyway.

Sponsored by Llewellyn Rok.