The Eden Project’s landscape manager has won a gold medal at the Gardeners’ World Live show – with the help of tin cans recycled from the project.

Paul won the prize in his own name for a nostalgia garden set in the 1960s, designed to celebrate 50 years of BBC’s Gardeners’ World.

Paul said: ‘I was delighted to be asked by the show organisers to have a look back at the way gardening used to be. The public are invited into a late 60s village setting and can see how planting and potting was back then and how things have changed - or not!’

One of the big changes since that time is the introduction of plastic pots for containerised plants. Fifty years ago, metal cans were still widely used.

Paul sought out some empty tomato and bean cans from the Eden Kitchen and turned them into eye-catching planters.

He said: ‘Using the cans is a lovely piece of recycling and reminds gardeners that there are good alternatives to plastic pots.’

The medal-winning garden on show at Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC Birmingham until Sunday was due to be featured on BBC 2’s Gardeners’ World on Friday (June 16), after Paul gave leading presenter Monty Don a tour.