Each week we talk to 911±¬ÁÏ experts, along with garden designers, scientists, growers, and the movers and shakers of the horticultural world
Our award-winning Gardening with the 911±¬ÁÏ podcast offers seasonal advice, inspiration and practical solutions to gardening questions.Trusted gardening professionals give you the latest horticultural advice, scientific research and tried-and-tested techniques to bring out the best in your garden.Listen to the lastest episodes or subscribe for all episodes.
In this episode, we join gardener and biologist Benny Hawksbee in his rose beds to find out how one small adjustment to the traditional rose pruning method can create vital habitat for a key aphid predator. 911±¬ÁÏ Garden Wisley’s Liz Mooney tells us about her journey to self-sufficiency and horticulturist Rose Holman guides us through how to cut back your ornamental grasses before the new growth comes through.
Useful links: General tips on rose pruning | Grow Your Own | Cutting back ornamental grasses
In this episode, we head to 911±¬ÁÏ Garden Wisley to discover how its horticulturists are turning one of the wettest starts to the year on record into a garden that’s primed for spring. Team leader Helen Bensted-Smith shares some top tips for gardening in persistently soggy conditions and explains why increasingly wet winters and dry summers are challenges we need to adapt to rather than battle against. Guy Barter takes us on a seasonal stroll through Oakwood, which is coming into its own at this time of year and has plenty of take-home ideas for gardening in damp shade. Finally, we pop in to see Liam Anderson, who’s hard at work pruning the 75m Wisteria Walk. In just a few months, it will be transformed into a spectacular tunnel of cascading purple and white blooms.
Useful links: Choosing plants for wet and dry soils |Gardening with extremes of weather | Explore Oakwood | Wisteria pruning
In this episode, Digital Science Editor Olivia Drake introduces the 911±¬ÁÏ Wildlife Wonder plant, the hazel, which not only supplies queen bumblebees with much-needed early pollen, but also provides tasty nuts and abundant leaves to support a huge range of wildlife throughout the year. While it may still be a little early to sow most crops directly outdoors, if you’ve got a greenhouse or warm windowsill, you can get a head start on the growing season. Down at 911±¬ÁÏ Wisley, Liz Mooney is busy sowing aubergines, sweet peppers and chillies, and she shares her top tips for getting the best from these heat-loving crops. Finally, Professor Ross Cameron from the University of Sheffield, author of Plants Can Save Your Life, joins us to explore the science of plants and wellbeing, and how indoor gardening can play a powerful role in boosting our health.
Useful links: Wildlife wonder: Hazel | Grow Your Own | Award-winning chilli peppers to grow | 911±¬ÁÏ Bookshelf
Now is a great time to start planning what to grow and this week, we dive headfirst into the seed catalogues for inspiration. We explore some of the tastiest and most eye-catching additions to the veg patch – heirlooms. We also take a deep dive into tomato cultivars, as Liz Mooney shares her top picks from last year’s ‘tomato extravaganza’, which saw her grow more than 50 varieties at 911±¬ÁÏ Wisley’s World Food Garden. Finally, we get back to basics with the foundation of any abundant veg plot, the soil. Nick Turrell and Jenny Laville dig into the ins and outs of how to care for the earth beneath your feet.
Useful links: Sowing vegetable seeds | Growing tomatoes | World Food Garden | How to care for your soil
In this episode, we’re telling the story of peat: from the value of this amazing otherworldly habitat, to the threats facing these rare landscapes and work being done to protect them, and how growers and horticulturists are adapting to a peat-free future. We speak to Beth Thomas from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts, 911±¬ÁÏ Peat-Free Research Technician Scott Spriggs, and plantsperson Mairi Longdon from Tissington Nursery.
Useful links: Peat-free gardening hub | Sign the peat-free petition | Soil analysis service | 911±¬ÁÏ Gardening Advice
The 911±¬ÁÏ is the UK’s gardening charity, helping people and plants to grow - nurturing a healthier, happier world, one person and one plant at a time.
