This week I attended the Garden Press Event at the Barbican in London.

A small event designed for companies to get their latest messages across to the specialist press, machinery firms represented included Stihl, Hayter/Toro, Husqvarna, Robomow, Henton & Chattell, Bosch, John Deere and Flymo.

Preceding the exhibition was a debate entitled, "The future of gardening: How do we spark a growing revolution?". Moderated by the Guardian's gardening editor Jane Perrone the panelists included YouTube stars The Skinny Jeans Gardeners, garden designer Adam Frost, Emma Worrollo of kids research company The Pineapple Lounge, and Agamemnon Otero of RePowering London.

The consensus of the panel was that a new approach was needed to engage young people with gardening. Adam Frost in particular felt that not enough was being done to prove to youngsters that horticulture in all its forms offered a viable and rewarding career option. He argued that gardening was not taught properly in schools, at least not at the secondary age level. He said careers advisors are pretty much blind to it.

Most of the panelists agreed that primary aged children had an inherent interest in growing and in nature. There were many examples of very successful school projects and community schemes which engage this age group. It's the continuing of that interest into the teenage years and then into working age which was pretty much agreed to be the major problem.

The Skinny Jeans Gardeners, who I guess are hoping to do for gardening what Jamie Oliver did for cooking 15 years ago, said that they felt a problem was that young people felt bogged down by "the use of knowledge". They felt young people shouldn't feel any pressure to be perfect with their gardening, and if they were to "beautifully fail" then so be it.

Emma Worrollo said that her company's research had revealed that the concept of gardening per-se might not immediately register with youngsters as something they would be interested in, but frame it in the sense that they could produce something cool and unique for their windowsill, then they could relate to it. And Agamemnon Otero said that if you could get across the message that gardening could be socially inclusive and not the sole preserve of well off, older white men, then progress could be made.

This idea of image in the media was also agreed by all, that a change was needed. The parallel to how TV cooking programmes have developed over the last 15 years from purely factual to fun, lifestyle shows, of many different types, was cited as template which the industry should follow.

Whilst lawns or lawnmowers were never actually mentioned by anyone on the panel, it would certainly seem that a shift in the young's perception of gardening and horticulture as a normal, everyday part of life, and indeed as an exciting career option, would certainly benefit our sector considerably.

The Skinny Jeans Gardeners summed up the feelings of the panel by saying that the revolution "shouldn't be driven by money, but be driven by change."