It’s time to plant Onions and Shallots, David grows both, sets are quicker so if you haven’t planted any yet it’s probably best to sow sets now. Peter Likes Silverskin Onions but hasn’t grown them yet and Onions are a great way to keep cats off your vegetable patch as cats don’t like the smell of them. If they go to seed either chop the flower heads off early or do as David does and leave them for the bees as they love Onion flowers.

Time to get your Sweet Peppers in as they take a while to set fruit, but keep them warm and frost free as they don’t like the cold. Peter loves Padron Peppers so he will be planting his this week.

We also need to plant our Globe Artichokes now, a large plant so perfect for people who have lots of space. They make a good plant for the border if you like a nice architectural plant.

If you are planting Asparagus crowns early spring is a good time to get them in. They do take a few years to establish before you can crop them but they can live a long time, 15 to 20 years.

David shares a new idea for recycling and what he uses to germinate his seeds in. At the Garden Centre we sell Fibrepots which are another great product that you can plant your young plants out in without disturbing the roots. Newspaper pots are another option for those that like to recycle.

To plant your seeds in we recommend getting new seed compost each year, to improve drainage you can add Perlite and check the date of the seed as some seeds go off after a couple of years and germination levels drop.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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Newbury Garden Show at the Newbury Showground, RG 18 9QZ on the 11th and 12 April.

The Rare Plant Fair at the Old Rectory Quenington. GL7 5BN on the 12th April

Kingswood Walton and Tadworth Horticultural Society spring show 11th April

Easton Lodge Open day 12th April at Easton Lodge, CM6 2BB.

6 different gardens are opening in Long Crendon,  12 April as part of the National Gardens Scheme.

Squires Garden Centre, Shepperton are hosting the Orchid Society of Great Britian Spring show

Beth Chatto’s Gardens are also part of the National Garden Scheme opened by her and Husband Andrew, a 7.5 acre garden in Essex, CO7 7DB on the 14th April

News

To mark World Water Day on 22 March 2026, GARDENA proudly announces the continuation of its global partnership with UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, reinforcing a shared commitment to improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for children and families around the world.

Hozelock also make great watering products that we stock at the Garden Centre.

Dobies upgrades its Food Halls with a 1.5 million pound investment in 48 stores across the UK.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music

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Bridgewater Plant Heritage Spring Fair at RHS Bridgewater, Salford, Manchester. M27 2 LJ

Alpine Garden Society Cleveland show on 4th April at HURWORTH GRANGE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 41 HURWORTH ROAD, HURWORTH PLACE, DARLINGTON, DL2 2BN

Dorothy Clive Gardens Spring plant Fair on 6th April at Willoughbridge, Market Drayton, Shropshire. TF9 4EU

Overstroud Cottage, Great Missenden, Bucks opens on the 5th April

In the News:

Some Garden Centre Groups have expanded and some have gone, but do they give us the best displays or any better pricing or is that still the draw of the larger independents.

Local Councils are now hopefully going to start taking clean, used, non-black plant pots in your recycling

Potatoes:

There is still time to get your first earlies in. Swift like it’s name is a great first early as are Pentland Crown and Rocket, best planted with some fertilizer like Q4 or Chicken Manure Pellets, and chitted in a cool, light place before you plant them. David’s favourites to grow are Charlotte and Nicola and he thinks Swift and Rocket are great too, Peter loves Desiree.

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Barbara shares a little history of the area and the allotments, and the fact that the Roundheads and Cavaliers once fought in the area. We learn of the changes of that she has noticed through her times in Buckingham and the impact this has had on the allotments and its holders.

As a long-standing member of the community and management she shares some sage advice on the benefits of being part of a fun, engaging and helpful sector of Buckingham Society. Barbara also discusses her passion for growing both vegetables and flowers and how the pressures of modern day life has changed the ways the allotments work, the demand for plots and the way the allotments are used and how its rules evolve with the demands of society.

More information can be found on their website

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In this |Episode David and Peter Chat about the early spring flowers and which one signifies the start of Spring. Dr Johnathon Jones thinks its magnolias, what do you think?

The Greenfingers Charity is having its releaf days throughout the year. A Charity climb up Kilamanjaro has been organized to help raise funds as well as lots of other events scheduled for the year.

A petition for making the UK peat free is being given to the Government and with all the industry’s hard work to change the offer so far there is no confirmed date despite the Government’s pledges to ban peat in Horticulture.

Millbrook Garden Centres sell to the British Garden Centre Group making 77 centres in the group.

With the bedding season on the horizon we have a new range of early flowering drop ins for your hanging basket or all the plug plants are in now if you have a frost free area to grow them on for the next 6 to 8 weeks. Seed potatoes are selling well and there is still time to get some. David has had moderate success with growing basil with half of his crop germinating. Peter is going to try and germinate some tomatoes on his allotment this year.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music

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• Frost Protection: Peter shares an essential seasonal tip on laying fleece over your newly planted crops to shield them from late-season frost.
• Microgreens & Salads: David discusses his progress with microgreens and his method for planting Basil as a microsalad crop.
• Carrot Success: We explore the unique benefits of growing Carrots in pots for better pest control and root quality.
• Broad Bean Tapenade: Peter reveals his favourite recipe for a broad bean tapenade—the perfect way to use your harvest.

Upcoming Events & Features

• Kew Gardens Orchid Festival: Taking place from 7 February to 8 March 2026, this year's Kew Gardens Orchid Festival celebrates Chinese biodiversity with stunning displays in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.
• Thriplow Daffodil Weekend: Don't miss this iconic event on 21st and 22nd March 2026. Tickets are available on the Thriplow Daffodil Weekend  and often sell out early.
• Marathon For a Cause: Our Head Chef, Josh, is running the London Marathon on Sunday, 26 April 2026, to raise vital funds for Cystic Fibrosis.

Special Guest: Manos Kanellos

Join us on Saturday morning, 21st March, for a special talk by orchid expert Manos and in the afternoon for a class on how to create a Terrarium (tickets needed)

Topics for discussion during the morning:

• Bring Your Orchid: If you have an orchid at home, bring it along for expert advice!
• Expertise: Manos works for Growth Technology, a specialist company that has spent years driving the orchid industry forward with high-quality products.
• Must-Read Book: He is also the co-author of the highly acclaimed book, "

Growing Orchids at Home", published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

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Show and Open days

Potato Day and Green Fair, Border Events Centre, Kelso

Alpine Society Spring Show, Humphrey Perkins School, Barrow upon Soar, Loughborough. LE12 8JU

South Molton Panier Market Plant Fair, South Molton Pannier Market, Broad Street, South Molton EX36 3AB

Plant Heritage hosts Evening with David Hurrion, on Zoom or in person at St. Andrew's Church Hall, Churchgate House, Downside Road, Cobham, Surrey. KT11 3EJ

Central Exhibitions Homes and Garden Show, Middleton Hall, Milton Keynes shopping Centre.

Alpine Garden Society Garden Show, Kirkbie Kendal School, Lound Road, Kendal LA9 7EQ

Rare Plant Fayre, The Bishops Palace, Wells, Somerset BA5 2PD

In the News

Barcham Trees goes Robotic. They have upgraded their tree production line to be completely robotic. Peter went to Corner Corner Restaurant and saw London’s biggest commercial indoor vertical farm growing salad and herbs.

Matthew Biggs designed Hospital Garden in Hertfordshire is still growing and The Apple House at Serge Hill recently held a conference on how Outdoor space and gardens can transform patients outlooks and the benefits it brings to their well being.

What we are planting

We discuss Tomatoes grown in Hozelocks GroBag Waterer the benefits of Marigolds grown close by, David has had success with Sungold, and Dwarf Marigolds. Peter has grown Beefsteak Tomatoes. David then tells us about his Potato growing method and how it improves the soil structure, as it’s now about time to start thinking about First Early Potatoes. David is not a fan of Chicken Manure Pellets or Q4 Fertilizer, he relies on the compost but many of us do use fertilizer and we all agree on the benefits of earthing up.

Finally we discuss treating your lawns with Chafer grub Nematodes as it’s that time of year and once treated the nematodes will last a year or two. Peter scarifies, reseeds and feeds his lawn and after all the rain recently Moss has grown well so Peter is treating his with Evergreen Complete a feed, weed and moss treatment. If you want to listen to a proper Grass expert listen to this podcast

Music kindly provided by Chiltern Music Therapy

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Mr Fothergills has released a new Oh Sow Simple range of seeds this year which are designed, as the name suggests, to be the perfect range of simple starter seeds. They will grow with easy to follow instructions and sensible numbers in the packet. The ranges have been selected to be easy to grow and germinate. Ian gives us some great tips for growing plants from seed, from light conditions to warmth, and a brilliant idea of what to do with baby carrots that you have thinned out. Ian also gives us some ideas on reducing pests by planting lots of different types of plants to encourage lots of different species of animals. For example Blue Tits love eating aphids so giving them plants they like can help encourage them into your garden, Marigolds have a great scent to help ward off whitefly so plant them next to your Tomatoes.

Ian also gives us some great suggestions for plants to grow in 10 litre pots that will give you some ideas for lovely tasting, high value veggies on your balcony or if you have a small garden.

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David tells us about Simiane shallots which he has grown from seed and also the red and white onions that he grew from sets.

The other thing David has planted is Dwarf French Marigold, a flowering plant that over the years Gardeners have used for keeping whitefly away, but David has found they also help keep cats away.

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Great Comp Snowdrop and Plant Fair Comp Lane, Platt, Nr Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 8QS

Tel: 01732 885094

The Alpine Garden Society Plant Show and sale, Pershore High School, Pershore

PERSHORE HIGH SCHOOL, STATION ROAD, PERSHORE, WORCESTERSHIRE, WR10 2BX

Shepton Snowdrop Festival Plant Sale and Seed Swap

St Paul's School Hall, Paul Street, Shepton Mallet, BA4 5LA

Kingston Bagpuize Snowdrop Fair

Kingston Bagpuize House, Kingston Bagpuize, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5AX

Preston Potato Day

Brighter Blooms, Walton Flats Nursery, Gillibrand Street, Walton-le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire, PR5 4AX.

Frome Seed Swap and Potato Day

The Cheese and Grain Building, Frome, Somerset, BA11 1BE.

Nowich Seed Swap and Plant Fair

St Mary Magdalene Church, Silver Road, Norwich, NR3 4TF.

In the news The Forestry Commission has a new Head, Baroness Young and Peter recommends Hazelborough wood near Silverstone for its Bluebells and a lovely wood to walk in.

The RHS has come up with a new naming system for Peat free plants and plants grown in Peat.

Cacti and Succulents are our main topic of conversation in the episode. They are best grown in free draining, gritty soils. They also thrive in high light conditions with consistent light levels. They don’t like to be over watered and it is best to allow them to dry out before watering.

Echivaria, Cereus – Columnar cacti are 2 of the species we chat about.

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Events and Places to Visit:

18th Bletchley Seed swap is happening on 14 February 2026 - 10-2pm

Address: Freeman Memorial Methodist Church Hall, Buckingham Road, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, MK3 5HH just £1 entry

Gatton Park Snowdrop Open Day  Sunday 01 February 12.00 pm - 5.00 pm. The Park and gardens are open to view a spectacular display of snowdrops. Heralds of spring and a sure sign that warmer weather is on the way. Gardens open 12 noon – 5pm Online booking: £7 adult, children free. On the day: £9 adult, children free, subject to availability

Hole Park Snowdrop & Plant Fair Sunday, February 1st at Hole Park Gardens, Benenden Road, Rolvenden, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 4JA. From 11:00 am. Entry Cost: £8 per Adult and £2.50 per child (aged 5-17 years).

Under 5’s enter free of charge. Tickets include entry to Hole Park Gardens. With more than a dozen dedicated growers and nurseries from across the South East. Hole Park's garden team will also be on hand to answer your gardening queries and the Coach House Tea Room will be open for refreshments.

The Bishop's Palace Snowdrop Month Daily from Sunday, February 1st, throughout February. Address: The Bishop's Palace & Gardens, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2PD. From 10am to 4pm daily. Entry Cost: Standard admission is £15 for adults, £7 for children (5-17 years), under 5s free. This ticket is valid for 12 months. Explore 14 acres of RHS partner gardens with extensive snowdrop displays and winter borders using a printed guide.

Colesbourne Snowdrops daily from Sunday, February 1st, until March 1st. Colesbourne Park, Colesbourne, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL53 9NP. Experience the stunning and historic snowdrop collection at Colesbourne, known as "England's greatest snowdrop garden". Colesbourne Gardens is the premier place to see snowdrops in bloom. The collection is probably the most varied of any garden on display, with over three hundred varieties.

Early Spring Show, Iris & Cyclamen at RHS Garden Wisley

On Saturday, February 14th RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB between 10am–3.30pm, which is free for RHS members,you can discover some of the best early spring flowering iris and cyclamen. Visitors can enjoy rare collections and competition classes as well as a photographic exhibition, unusual plants for sale and friendly experts available to answer your questions.

Come and get the new range of Heritage seeds from Franchi this season, not in yet but will be released for sale shortly, ready for this years growing season.

Young Horticulturist of the Year Competition provides a unique platform for emerging talent to showcase their skills and ambition. The competition is open to anyone across the UK and Ireland.

Scotland’s Gardens Scheme unveils 457 garden openings for 2026

Having just finished houseplant week we wanted to share with you some varieties that we do well with. The Houseplants we discuss are our mini Showbox Houseplants, a range of mini mixed houseplants, all are tough, easy to care for, and cheap so make great starter plants. Phalaenopsis Orchids a wonderful flowering plant often used as a great, long-lasting,  colourful gift. Dragon trees or Dracaena the low care houseplant that seems to do well without much water, best kept in a bright position out of direct sun and cold draughts. Fittonia is a delicate looking Houseplant which we discuss which has a great colourful foliage that likes a damp soil and does well in dappled light. Tradescantias are another plant first bought to England in the 17th Century, from South America, it’s easy to propagate, care for and if cut back regularly will make a nice, compact and colourful foliage plant.

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Visit House plants at RHS Rosemore, learn more about houseplant care and the perfect houseplant for you. With 4 talks covering ferns. cacti, orchids and Terraniums.

Trumpington Seedy Sunday an event run since 2006 where you can swap your seeds, take refreshments and purchase local produce in Trumpington. Can be found at Trumpington Village Hall 75 High Street Cambridge, England, CB2 9HA

RHS Wisley Seed swap on 31st January with seed swapping of RHS heritage seeds and talks on how to collect, sow and grow! RHS Wisley, GU23 6QB

Myddelton house ultimate snowdrop sale is on the 31st Jan at the historic Myddleton house once home to famous horticulturalist E A Bowles. Myddelton House Gardens, Bulls Cross, Enfield, EN2 9HG

Other seed swap events can be found at Garden Organic’s website.

The last event for the month is the Houseplant and Orchid show at Gordale Garden Centre, where you can enjoy talks, demonstrations, and expert advice from multi award-winning orchid grower Sara Rittershausen of Burnham Nurseries.

We talk about Beech nuts, the world's most expensive plant, Peter tries and fails to regrow onions after trying to copy a youtube video. The 5 most popular onions that we sell at the Garden Centre are Red Winter, Electric, Senshyu yellow, Radar, Centurion and Autumn Champion. We also sell lots of shallots and garlic.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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Ashampstead Early Snowdrop and Plant Fair: A brand new early Snowdrop & Plant Fair in the heart of the Berkshire Downs that takes advantage of the increasingly early snowdrop season.

Or you could go online and join the

Wildlife and Gardening virtual symposium where you can learn about the latest research related to nature-friendly gardening to help you make evidence-based wildlife gardening decisions.

Or Log on to the Climate resilient tree selection course on zoom with John Frater.

In the news The National Gardens Scheme has had it’s best fund raising year ever raising over £3,875,596 for great causes. National Garden Scheme Chief Executive Dr Richard Claxton said: “It’s nearly 100 years since our charity was formed to support district nursing and our commitment to nursing care remains central. Long-term partnerships with Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Parkinson’s UK, The Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing, Hospice UK and Carers Trust are the bedrock of our donation programme. With the lion’s share of this year’s donation; £2,725,000, going to these much-loved nursing and healthcare charities.

We talk about all the wonderful Potatoes we now have out for sale, the different types and varieties, how to chit and plant them and earth them up. We also discuss our favourite things to do with potatoes.

On the 31st of January is Graft and Grow Day so next week we chat with Claire Conway-Crapp from MSOG about all things Apples.

With thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for the music.

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We also update you on Christmas Opening times.

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We learn of the deforestation issues facing Malawi, its consequences and how their tree planting program has helped reforest large areas. Since 2004 Ripple Africa has planted 26.5 Million trees, helping reduce erosion, restore forested areas, help nature and provide firewood and lumber and a source of income in the future.

Malnutrition is one of the problems in Malawi and Ripple Africa has been working very hard showing communities and farmers how to grow different crops to diversify their diet. Now they are growing Sweet Potatoes, Fruit trees and chickens and vegetables.

The Chagu chagu moto is another very successful cook stove project. Its simple design using locally sourced materials, reduces the demand on firewood for cooking helping families save time, it provides a stable structure so is far safer than the 3 stone fire and has 2 burners so allows for 2 pot cooking.

We also touch on education as this is another arm of the charity, and learn of the schools that they have helped to build.

Our thanks to  Chiltern Music for providing the title music.

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With National Robin Day coming up, Peter and David talk about how to help garden birds through winter, from offering high-energy food to keeping bird feeders clean and disease-free.

We take a look ahead to London Open Gardens 2026, a weekend where more than 100 hidden gardens across the capital will open their gates — definitely one for the diary.

There’s also discussion on the latest RHS peat-free trials, which show that more fertiliser isn’t always better, plus the key findings from Thompson & Morgan’s 2025 survey revealing how British gardeners are adapting to hotter, drier summers.

Finally, we round things off with a spotlight on raspberries, covering the difference between summer- and autumn-fruiting types and some of the bare-root varieties now available at the Garden Centre.

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The 2026 Garden Centre Calendar has been released, so come in and buy something to get your free copy (whilst stocks last). This year’s edition features amazing photos of trees, shrubs and unusual plants, monthly tips and space for you to write your appointments on.

We also talk about a recent Podcast with Pauline Brown and hedging and go over the importance of preparing the ground and cutting back your new plants if you want to have a thick and bushy hedge. If you need to work out how many plants you need for a new hedge use our Hedging Calculator. We also discuss the skills of laying a hedge, how severe and harsh it looks and the benefits of reviving an old hedge, watch some old video footage from Youtube

Peter shares a trick to get woody stems to grow new leafy shoots on a Laurel which he used after cutting his laurel hedge back very severely.

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It's National Tree Week this week so get out and plant a tree! This event is organised by the National Tree Council and it's partners.

Oxford University Parks Arboretum Explorer Map Launch and Tree Planting, Thursday, November 27 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm, Join Oxford University Parks and Professor Martin Maiden, Professor of Molecular Epidemiology and Head of Biology in celebrating the launch of it's new online Arboretum Explorer Map by planting a tree. Following the planting ceremony, Sam Prior, the University Arboricultural Manager will do a guided walk introducing some of the more interesting trees throughout the parks.

Do you want to learn how to weave words with the willows, then head outside and join a group from Crofters Café, Cambridge, CB2 1RB. Book tickets in advance for a guided walk. Or maybe you want to grow a willow tree or a hedge Buckingham Nurseries has lots of different varieties for you to plant.

Aquifers across the country have started filling up again, Yorkshire still has a hosepipe ban and the Environmant Agency is concerned there may be another shortage next year as we have not had as much rainfall as usual.

Frances Tophill designs her first Chelsea show garden for The King's Foundation's Curious Garden exhibit, joining her from the King's foundation will be Sir David Beckham, and from the RHS and King's Foundation Alan Titchmarsh CBE. A large part of the Charity's work is learning to live within nature and learn from it. It also offers courses from it's Headquarters in Dumfries House, Scotland.

A rare orchid has been brought back from the brink of extinction and we discuss dividing Strawberries and it's nearly time for planting.

Follow us @buckingham-nurseries find our website at hedging.co.uk and our special thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Our Hedging business, was started by John Brown on a small plot of Land in Harrow on the Hill, but due to a lack of space the business was moved to our present location by his son Richard back in 1970. With a vast range of Hedging, Fruit and Ornamental trees on offer and being one of the oldest Mail Order specialists in the country in this episode we learn a little more about the changes that have happened over the last 75 years and reasons why Buckingham Nurseries and Garden Centre is one of the best places to get your new hedge from.

We sell most of our hedging plants in the winter when the plants are dormant. We also sell pot grown hedging which is available all year round. Before getting your hedge, it is best to prepare the soil in advance. Dig the area your hedge is going to go in before your new plants arrive, incorporate some well rotted manure or slow release fertilizer like Bonemeal, or Vitax. If drainage is an issue incorporate some grit. Once the plants arrive, plant them with Mycorrhizal fungi like Rootgrow, keep watered if needed for the first year or two to help them establish. Keep the weeds down with Landscape fabric.

If you are wondering what hedges will do best for you, have a walk around your neighbourhood and see what hedges are doing well in your local area as the likelihood is you will have a similar soil type to your neighbours, so what they can grow well hopefully you will be able to do to.

We also discuss some of the different types of hedges we sell from Native hedging to Peter’s pet hates Rosa rugosa, and Berberis as they are painful to pack but great for creating a very secure, impenetrable hedge great for deterring burglars and trespassers who you don’t want on your land.

Pauline gives us some help and guidance on how to plant a hedge, care for it, from the moment it arrives to getting it established over the first couple of years, growth rates and how often you might need to cut it.

Pauline also explains how the business has evolved from simple lists of plants being advertised in National Papers to more modern methods like our website and more recent advertising campaigns through the likes of YouTube and social media. Over the years our shop has gone from a simple shed with tools, fertilizers and a small range of sundries through to today’s large modern shop, including our very popular Restaurant, with all the different departments from Houseplants,  Cookshop and Foodhall, Giftware, Christmas and all the other departments that make up a modern destination Garden Centre worth a visit.

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As Autumn gets colder and Winter is nearing, we need to think about expanding our range of bird feeders and what we are feeding our garden birds to help the weaker species get food at our feeding stations and we hear recomendations from Honeyfields recent article in GTN.

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The Garden Museum in London has a new exhibition on showing works by Rory McEwan one of the 20th century’s most celebrated botanical artists. We discuss the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire

We discuss compost heaps and how long they take to turn garden matter into compost, David reminds us to collect leaves we suggest cleaning patio slabs to get rid of slippy algae build ups and if you are thinking of planting a hedge or some bare root plants we suggest to get the ground prepared now ready for winter planting.

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We learn where fertilisers come from, the different types and whether organic fertilisers are better than regular and if plants can tell the difference. We discuss the difference between Bio-Stimulants like Maxicrop and fertilisers. There are many different types of plant food on the market and David gives us some great tips on when and where and how often we should feed our plants.

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The National Garden Alpine show in Harlow Carr, Yorkshire

 The Apple and Harvest Show, Ely

Plants Discussed: Alpines, Cyclamen, learn more with the RHS Alpine Master class series - www.youtube.com/watch?v=REWSjG5LRNk&t=36s  

Growing Hops- The Guardian an article by Claire Ratinon

Products and suppliers mentioned:

Hornes Brewery

Silverstone Brewery

Chafor Wine

Enriching your plot with Green Manures, David is trying Beans this Autumn.

David discusses PomPom Dahlias and how great they are.

Jobs to do:

Fleece tender plants, start collecting leaves for creating leaf mould in bin liners. Net your pond to help prevent leaves from building up and drain your hoses to save damage from freezing. Plant Spring bulbs and create new winter flowering pots with Cyclamen, Pansies and Ivy. Check your Bird feeders are clean and refill, and make sure bird baths have water to help wild birds. Take care of Hedgehogs making sure you don’t disturb them if they are hibernating and watch out for them in Bonfire piles.

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How the show is moving to a weekly format. Our new email for you to send questions and comments to is digit@hedging.co.uk.

Lots of topics covered this week from Northampton’s escaped ring necked Parakeets to Apple storage

Greenfingers Charity get is biggest donation yet from visitors to Glee.

Whats on:

British Carrot Growers Association Demonstration Day 2025 – Thursday 2nd October 2025

RHS Rosemoor Festival of flavours 4 & 5th October

Plants and products discussed

Autumn King Carrots

White Lisbon Onions

SBM’s bring Thermacell to market, an innovative new Mosquito repellant for outdoor use.

The Coco de mer palm has grown its first full leaf at its home in the Eden Project, Cornwall.

Jobs to think about:

Time to think about fleecing up your tender plants. Plant next year onions, garlic and Aguadulce Broad Beans. Pull up your old vegetables if they have finished for the year and compost and start tidying up your plot for next year.

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Gerry tells us what to bring in to the Garden Centre for apple identification during our Apple Weekend and how he goes about identification. Why not come along and meet Gerry on the 27th and 28th of September!

They discuss how they have evolved, which country grows the most apples and the many varieties available. Gerry gives us his favourite 5 apples to grow which are not the standard ones you will find in your local supermarket but are definitely worth the effort! They are Lord Lambourne, Laxtons Furtune, Discovery, Howgate Wonder and Lanes Price Albert.

Did you know that apples can cause food allergies and why people say ‘An apple a day keeps the Doctor away!’?

Gerry has written a book called’ Getting started with Growing Fruit’ and we discuss different plants you can grow and how to care for them. We talk through options for training apple trees so you can grow them in small spaces. We explore types of apples, how to grow new varieties and types of rootstock to grow them on

He tells us which are the best cider apples. Is it a Dabinet or a Kingston Black? Gerry has some other great suggestions of ones to try too.

Fancy a trip out to see over 2000 varieties of Apple Trees? Then head to Brogdale Farm, near Faversham in Kent.

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Plants mentioned: Apple Cordons, Apple varieties ‘Scrumptious’ and ‘Reverend W Wilks’ (cooker). Beetroot, Redcurrants, packets of annual seeds, Tomatoes, Alpines, Hanging baskets and Herbs

People mentioned: King Charles III, passionate about gardens and nature. Bunny Guiness, Clay Jones, Christine Walkden, Ernest Wilson (plant hunter), Joseph Banks (plant hunter), Gertrude Jekyll (British horticulturist and garden designer), Mr Middleton (earliest radio and television broadcasters on gardening for the BBC), Professor Alan Gemmell, Roy Lancaster, Geoffrey Smith, William Robinson (the great plantsman) and James Wong.

Places mentioned: Pershore College, Kew Gardens (Temperate House, Princess of Wales Conservatory and the Palm House. Sandringham Gardens, Buckingham Palace Gardens. Bluebell Nurseries, Hidcote Manor Gardens and The Beechgrove Garden in Scotland.

Garden restoration project at Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood. A collaboration between the Hospital and Sunnyside Rural Trust at Hemel Hempstead. Matt is working with several key people including gardener designer Tom Stuart-Smith (and his wife, Sue Stuart-Smith author of The Well Gardened Mind, a Sunday Times Bestseller), National Garden Scheme new CEO Dr Richard Claxton, founder of the Gardening4health charity, and Mark Gregory, top RHS Chelsea Garden builder with over 160 RHS gardens to his credit! Mount Vernon Hospital’s garden is currently at the planning and fundraising stage, it’s hoped to start planting in September. Details on how to donate to this amazing project can be found on this Just Giving page

Matt’s award-winning podcast, Gardening with Cancer, featuring BBC Gardeners’ World gardening journalist David Hurrion can be found at this link

Matt’s Desert Island plant: Handkerchief Tree (Davidia involucrate).

You can find Matt’s books at most independent bookshops and on second-hand book platforms such as World of Books.

Instagram: @matthewbiggs55

X: @plantmadman

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

14th – 17th August: Southport Flower Show, Victoria Park, Southport.

15th – 17th August: RHS Garden Rosemoor Flower Show, Torrington, Devon.

29th – 31st August BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, Audley End House, Essex.

If you are out and about this month - don’t forget to support the National Garden Scheme, locally or if you are holidaying in the UK, search out one of the many garden treasures.

News

Kew Gardens' 175-year-old Palm House will close for five years for major makeover.

Sycamore Gap: Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers jailed for over 4 years for felling of iconic tree.

The gardening and lifestyle retail brand sarahraven.com has been acquired by its original founder and creative director, Sarah Raven.

Current hosepipe restrictions in the UK.

Could selling second-hand gardening products bring in a new demographic to Garden Centres?

Eden Project Dundee moves one step closer.

Further expansion plans at RHS Wisley.

OmVed Gardens builds UK's first food and ecology centre.

The buzz about trees: Scientists at Wakehurst harness sound to understand bee abundance.

Gertrude Jekyll ® named world’s famous rose 2025.

‘Coral Gardens’ announced as Rose of the Year for 2026.

The UK drought dominates RHS enquiries.

Wootten’s of Wenhaston future threatened due to a lack of water on site.

Plant theft crime on the rise.

Michael Perry aka Mr Plant Geek becomes the HTA’s new ambassador.

Dutch urban greening of a bus station pergola using wisteria hailed as a major success.

DIG IT Top 5 Ornamental grasses

Top seller is Festuca glauca ‘Compact Blue’ 2nd Festuca glauca ‘Intense Blue’* 3rd Stipa tenuissima * 4th Carex Prairie Fire, and 5th Festuca ‘Elijah Blue’ *RHS AGM.

Plants mentioned: Apple cordon tree, Carnations, Bananas (Musa), Blackberries, Bonsai trees, Trachycarpus, Phoenix canariensis, Variegated Monstera, Dahlias, Leeks, French and Runner Beans, Lavender, Tree Ferns, Strawberries, Pinks, Cherries, Rhubarb, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Melons, Sow Marjoram, Basil, Coriander, Dill, Chives, Seed Potatoes to provide a crop for Christmas. Good varieties to consider include Charlotte, Desiree, Maris Piper and Maris Peer. Horse Chestnut and Lime trees. Take cuttings of Mint, Rosemary, and Sage.

Products mentioned: Blagdon Fresh Start Pond (removes Chlorine so makes tap water safe for pond fish, Straw, Barley Straw, Bamboo canes, Plant pots, Peat-Free Seed & Cutting Compost, Perlite, Green Up Enhance Liquid Lawn Feed (it has added seaweed and a turf wetting agent which helps reduce grass stress and improves root growth), Taylors Bulbs, Tomato Feed, Nematodes to treat lawn leatherjackets, lawn edging tool, Vitax Citrus Summer Food and Water Butts.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Beetroot, Broad beans, Carrots (‘Sweet Candle’, a Japanese bred variety being one of Medwyn’s favourites for flavour and ‘New Red Intermediates' for length on the staging bench), Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Kohl Rabi, Leek, Lettuce, Onions, Parsnips, Peas, Potatoes, Swedes, Tomatoes, and Turnips.

Product mentioned: Become a member of the National Vegetable Society for advice, encouragement and to engage with keen growers. Coco fibre, Cocktail sticks for staging veg, Levingtons Composts, Perlite and Tozers Seeds. Medwin’s Desert Island Tool and favourite Veg: Trowel and Brussel Sprouts.

Horticultural heroes: Edwin Beckett was head-gardener for Lord Aldenham at Aldenham House in Hertfordshire. Edwin has been Medwyn’s motivator in staging displays as he used to win with large stands of vegetables at London shows around the 1920s - 30s.

Martin Robinson, one of the members of the famous Robinson family who introduced the world to their famous Mammoth Onions gave Medwyn advice and guidance.

Places: Royal Welsh Show, Anglesey Flower Show, Ayr Flower Show, RHS Hampton Court Flower Show (Gold Medal and the RHS Tudor Rose for Best Display), RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Medwyn grew his exhibits in the research establishment greenhouse at Bangor University allowing him to start his Chelsea plants with additional light, and it’s also the original home of the wheelie bin carrots and parsnips grown in pipes.

Medwyn is an avid user of social media sharing his growing trials and tribulations with his followers. You can follow Medwyn on X: medwynsofangles. For seeds visit his website.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

1st - 6th July: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, Hampton Court Palace, London.

11th - 13th July: The Norfolk Garden Show, Norfolk Showground, New Costessey, Norwich.

16th - 20th July: RHS Flower Show Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire. On the 17th July Chris Baines will be giving a talk - Wildlife gardening past, present and future at the show at 11am.

21st - 24th July Royal Welsh Show, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells.

26th - 27th July: The National Gardening & Outdoor Living Show, Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh.

Until 14th September: Seedscape, the art of the seed at the Kew Garden’ wild botanical garden at Wakehurst, Ardingly, Haywards Heath, Sussex.

Until 21st September: Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party exhibition at the Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road, London.

News

Fraudster, Thomas Robinson conned luxury hotels and retailers out of £580k by selling fake Scottish-grown tea is jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Blue Diamond in exclusive talks to purchase Barton Grange Garden Centre.

Improving plant health through voluntary collaboration is the way forward.

Famous East Lambrook Manor is in new hands.

Campaign to stop trees from being strangled by abandoned tree ties and rabbit guards.

Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time to be recorded on 2nd August during the RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show.

Pershore College Garden Centre and Wholesale Plant Nursery to close.

Roof garden at the Open University to help scientist study on the impact of growing plants on top of buildings.

UK heatwave results in the 1,000 year old Robin Hood Oak receiving emergency watering.

Dahlia Gardinetta ® Velvet Crush named Best New plant at BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Frank Matthews launches new Apple Rainbow and collects Best in Show for Prunus sumaura Fugenzo Japanese Lantern at the HTA’s National Plant Show.

Welsh apple register is launched.

Rare Hong Kong orchid – Bulbophyllum bicolor - saved from extinction.

A UK first – Baobab tree in bloom at the Eden Project.

GP Richard Claxton becomes NGS Chief Executive following George Plumptre, who steps down after 15 years this Autumn.

Former garden centre owner and QVC gardening channel champion Richard Jackson is awarded the MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to Children’s Hospices (Greenfingers).

Wincey Willis, ITVs first female weather presenter, local radio show host and gardening expert and columnist, has died.

M&S introduce Red Diamonds Strawberry and Creme in a sandwich.

DIG IT Top 5: Top cakes for the summer 5th position Raspberry & Coconut Sponge, 4th Carrot Cake, 3rd Coffee & Walnut, 2nd Chocolate Sponge with Victoria Sponge at the top spot.

Plant mentions: Tomatoes, Runner Beans, Cherries, Bearded Iris, Petunia, Million Bells, Pelargoniums (cutting), Wallflowers, Sweet Williams, Foxgloves, Wisteria (pruning), Jasmine, Lavender, Bergamot, Clover, Gaillardia, Cosmos, and Egyptian Onions.

Product mentions: Sprayer for misting, Solar fountain, bird bath, BBQ, and cocoon / egg chair.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People and places: Key Inspiration from Christopher Lloyd (Great Dixter Garden) and Dame Miriam Rothschild (passionate about getting wildflowers on motorway verges and attracting butterflies). War hero General Oliver Leese (a bonsai and cacti grower, RHS Chelsea Flower Show 1984, Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Kent apple Orchards, Wind in the Willows Books (Mr Toad reference). Wye College Agricultural and Horticulture Facility, Garden Organic, Sheffield Parks Department. Wildlife and Wetlands Trust created London Wetlands Centre, one of the most successful stories in Europe. English Nature, The Wildlife Trust and Wild Ken Hill, Norfolk featured on BBC Springwatch

Plant mentions: Cowslip, Crocus, Bolted Kale with flower buds, Daisies, Foxgloves, Grape hyacinths, Horse chestnut, Ivy, Michaelmas daisies, Runner beans, Silver Birch, and Saxifraga.

Animal mentions: Blue Tits, Skylarks, Lapwings, Curlews, Robins, Swallows, Starlings, Swifts, Slugs, Caterpillars, Bats, Sparrow Hawks, Red Kites, Peregrine Falcons, Magpies, Foxes, Toads, Hedgehogs, Moths, Butterflies, Cabbage White Butterflies, Newts, Damsel flies, Wasps, Leatherjackets, and Woodcock.

Product mentions: Bee hotels, Clay pots, Compost bins, Flexible Pond liners, and Nest boxes.

Chris’s garden with a large pond: Leyland Cypress, Holly, Yew, Crab Apple, Native Honeysuckle, Bird Cherry (Prunus padus), Rosa banksia, Pink Campion, Lily of the Valley, Meadow Cranesbill / non-native Geraniums, Pulmonaria (lungwort) and Wayfaring tree.

Desert island must-haves: Hand lens / Macro lens binoculars and Secateurs.

Media highlights: Pebble Mill at One (1989 - 92), Rich Habitat Garden created for Gardeners’ World with Peter Seabrook. Blue Tits and Bumblebees (1985) one 40-minute programme, The Wildside of Town, and Countryfile one of the original presenters from 1989 - 92.

The Thames Estuary Partnership: The Living Thames film won the 2019 UK Charity Film Award and has won prizes and awards on four continents. It has an introduction by Sir David Attenborough and is available worldwide through Amazon. Chris is currently working on the sequel, The Historic Thames, which is scheduled for autumn release.

Chris’s books: The Wild Side of Town, The RHS Companion to Wildlife Gardening (originally titled How to Make a Wildlife Garden), and A Guide to Habitat Creation.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s on

Saturday 7th June Royal Windsor Flower Show, Windsor Great Park, Windsor.

7th - 8th June London Open Gardens, Multiple locations, London.

12 - 15th June BBC Gardeners’ World Live, NEC, Birmingham.

20 - 22nd June Blenheim Palace Flower Show, Blenheim, Oxfordshire.

News

The two men who felled a tree at Sycamore Gap convicted of criminal damage.

Eden Project Morecambe set to open in 2028.

Good news for UK horticulture as most routine border checks on plant shipments to and from the EU will be dropped in new trade deal.

Alan Titchmarsh becomes President of the National Garden Scheme as Dame Mary Berry steps down after 10 years in the role.

National Garden Scheme charity funds over 100 gardens.

Anne-Marie Powell’s 2025 award-winning Octavia Hill Chelsea Garden finds a permanent home at Bridgemere Show Gardens in Nantwich, Cheshire.

CHELSEA NEWS HEADLINES

Monty Don’s RHS / BBC RADIO 2 Dog Garden got tails wagging at show.

Taylors Bulbs make it 32 Gold medals at Chelsea.

Cosmos King and friend of the podcast Jonathan Sheppard collects Gold for his National Collection of Cosmos display.

Frank P Matthews awarded Silver Guilt for Malus and trained fruit display.

Cha No Niwa, Japanese Tea Garden collects top awards including the People’s Award for best show garden.

In the Malvern Houseplant Studio category, a gold was awarded to Babylon Beats by James Whiting of Plants by There and The Little Botanical reimagines the Hanging Gardens of Babylon through a 1980s lens.

Winner of the RHS Plant of the Year 2025 goes to Philadelphus Petit Perfume Pink.

The King’s Rose is officially unveiled with proceeds going to The King’s Foundation.

The National Trust creates its first ornamental forest garden at the Shugborough Estate in Staffordshire.

Communities to gather in the Great Big Green Week to help beat climate change.

Tribute garden to late Queen Elizabeth II takes shape at London’s Regent’s Park.

Can you help passionate Cornish Peony gardener – Caroline Stone - and her quest to find rare types of Paeonia lactifolora, bred since the 1800s by Kelway’s Nursery in Langport, Somerset? If you think you can help Caroline, contact her at www.glebegarden.co.uk

DIG IT Top 5 Summer bedders in pots: 5th Dahlietta, 4th Osteospermums, 3rd Ivy Leaf Pelargoniums, 2nd Regal Pelargoniums and at the No1 spot Zonal Pelargoniums.

Plants mentioned: Runner beans, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Lettuce. Forsythia, Philadelphus, Weigela, Deciduous Viburnum, Delphiniums, Lupins, Monstera, Roses, Tulips, Seasonal bedding plants, Paeonies, Petunias, and Speedplanters. Sow now Foxgloves, Poppies, Wallflowers, Sweet William, and Forget Me Nots. Encourage pollinators into the garden by planting Lavender, Aster, Coneflowers Cosmos, and Sunflowers.

Products mentioned: Dutch hoe, Westland All Purpose Boost Plant Feed, Tomorite, Evergreen 4-in-1 Complete Lawn Feed, Greenhouse shading, Poppyforge plant supports, garden canes, Hozelock multi-gun, Hydrangea Colourant, houseplant compost, and pots for houseplant re-potting.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Cress, Chilli peppers, Daffodils, Jasmine, Onions, Potatoes, Radish Strawberries, Tomatoes and Wildflowers.

People and products mentioned: Dale Connelly, Jimmy Doherty (Jimmy’s Farm), Jamie Oliver, Micheal Perry (aka Mr Plant Geek), Matthew Biggs, Jim Buttress, Chris Collins, BBC and CBBC Blue Peter.  Garden Clogs, and Crocs - but they let in too much water! Wildlife gardening projects to engage children including a bug hotel.

Lee’s desert Island plant and tool: Chilli peppers and a Hammer (perfect for planting, according to Lee).

To discover more about Lee, his podcast and his gardening activities do visit his website.

Lee’s book, How To Get Kids Gardening is available through bookshops and Lee’s website. Lee’s latest book, Children’s Gardening Coach, will be available in September.

Click on this link to find out about HTA’s National Children’s Gardening Week.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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It’s May and as the saying goes, “N'er cast a clout till May is out”. A proverb which reminds us about the fickle British weather and its ability to bathe us in warmth one day and bring chilly winds the next! Peter Brown and Chris Day discuss what gardening tasks need to be done in one of the busiest months in the gardening calendar, plus a round-up of events and topical news stories.

What’s on

2 - 4th May: BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, Beaulieu, New Forest, Hampshire.

2 May - 10th August: Unearthed: The Power of Gardening, British Library, London.

8 - 11th May: RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Three Counties Showground, Worcestershire.

20 – 24th May: RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London.

24 May - 1st June National Children’s Gardening Week.

30 – 31st May: Scone Palace Garden Fair, Perthshire, Scotland.

News

Chelsea 2025 gardens showcasing climate resilience.

Monty Don’s dog, Ned assists in creating first dog friendly Chelsea Garden.

Frank P Matthews to debut at Chesea Flower Show showcasing Malus.

England’s non-woodland trees freely mapped for first time.

Ancient oak tree cut down by Toby Carvery.

National Trust steps in to save rare Black Poplar trees.

Mixed fortunes of UK gardens visitor numbers in 2024 revealed.

Biddulph Grange Stumpery renovation completed.

A call for action over declining hoverfly numbers from The Wildlife Trust and RHS.

Horticultural Trade Association supports Urban Green Spaces Bill.

2025 Ballot open for 10 Downing Street Garden which will be open to the public for one day.

Rising costs lead to Shrewsbury Flower Show cancellation.

Westland Horticulture acquires Bulldog Products.

Huw Richards and Gardena search for Britain’s best plot in new competition.

Survey conducted by Stihl highlights common garden mistakes

Peter A. Cox of Glendoick, a pioneering figure in the world of horticulture and rhododendron cultivation, has died.

Lawns overlooked in new builds.

Wildlife gardens see a ‘change for the better’ say Wildflower Gardening Forum.

DIG IT Top 5 Top Fragrant Plants

5th spot Lonicera Gold Flame, 4th Lavandula Hidcote, 3rd Rose Lilac Bouquet, 2nd Trachelospermum jasminoides and Lavandula stoechas at the number 1 spot.

Plants mentioned: Polyanthus and Primulas – perfect for division, Swede, Beetroot, Carrots, Autumn Cabbage, autumn / winter Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Peas, Potatoes, Radish, Lettuce and Spring Onions. French and Runner beans, Sweetcorn, Courgettes, and Pumpkins. Blueberries, Cranberries and Strawberries. Sweet Peppers, Chillies, Aubergines, Melons, and Cucumbers. Summer bedding and Seasonal plants. Aquatic oxygenators, marginals, and waterlilies. Pop-in / Drop-In Speedplanters.

Products mentioned: Bug Hotel, Horticultural fleece, Dutch Hoe, Ericaceous fertilisers, Garden Netting, Evergreen 4-in 1 Lawn Food, Lawn seed, Hanging baskets, and Melcourt Peat-Free Tub and Basket Compost.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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The Blue Flag winner in 2024 was Lantana Passion Fruit, a trailing spreading variety with a long flowering season of fruity, coloured flowers.

The Tree of Life display at Ball featured Petunia Bee’s Knees.

Mad About Mangave ® Praying Hands, a unique foliage plant, similar to an artichoke that grows up like a teardrop.

Plants mentioned and to look out for this summer include; Antirrhinum Snap in Black Pink. Begonia Hula, Begonia Megawatt, Begonia Angel Wings, Trumpet Flower, Bidens Bee Happy, Coleus King Jr Rose, Coleus canina (Scaredy cat), Cosmos Cherry Chocolate (bright cherry pink flowers with the chocolate fragrance, Calibrachoas, Dahlia Gardenetta range of varieties, Geranium Moonflair (ivy leaf), Impatien Beacon ® Raspberry Sundae Mixed (highly resistant to downy mildew), Impatien Glimmer ® Pink, Mandevilla Tropica Jade Red, Osteospermum Akila Hawaii Sunset Mixed, Pansy Cool Wave (trailing pansy), Petunia Fanfare Heartbreaker, Petunia Surfinia and Sunflower PetiSol.

Kitchen Buddies, a range of compact growing vegetable plants including Cucumber Quick Snack, Pepper Hot Banana, Sweet Corn Pot of Gold and Tomato Tumbling Tom Yellow.

Product mentions: Control-release fertiliser, Miracle-Gro and a high potash fertiliser such as Tomato Food. Water-retaining granules such as Swell-Gel. Popular Speedplanters, Pop-In/ Drop-Ins, popular for instant colourful results.

The late Peter Seabrook created an amazing garden at RHS Hyde Hall in Essex called Floral Fantasia, the garden is designed to showcase and celebrate the spectacular potential of seasonal plants. The garden acts as a bridge between the growing industry and the general public. Peter’s legacy lives on in this garden which you can visit to see the latest innovations, including this summer, Begonia Trials. 2025 is the Year of the Begonia.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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5th April: The Forde Abbey Spring Plant and Gardening Fair at Forde Abbey and Gardens in Somerset.

5th - 6th April: Cornwall Garden Society Spring Flower Show at Royal Cornwall Show Ground near Wadebridge.

5th - 6th April: Great Dixter Annual Plant Fair at Great Dixter Garden, Rye in East Sussex.

Until 6th April: Sounds of Blossom at Kew Gardens in collaboration with the Royal College of Music.

13th April: Plant Fair and Talks at the Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road, London.

24 - 27th April: Harrogate Spring Flower Show at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

27th April: Ramster Garden Spring Plant Fair, Chiddingfold in Surrey.

News

New National Forest to see 20m trees planted in England by 2050.

Kew gets new and revamped features this year, plus the Waterlily House reopens.

European Tree of the Year 2024: Beech tree in Poland wins.

Alan Titchmarsh launches YouTube channel.

Weed like to be better gardeners says OnePoll Research.

Dog Trust warning to dog owners as several spring flowers can be toxic.

RHS community garden survey launched.

The hunt is on for rare and disappearing daffodils.

2024: The worst year for bumblebees recorded.

Blenheim celebrates with oak saplings.

Exbury Gardens celebrates 70th anniversary of public opening.

Bowood House and Garden opens for the first time.

Lee Connelly named Ambassador for National Children’s Gardening Week 2025.

Historic uniforms worn by Chelsea Pensioners repurposed and included in a new Garden at Chelsea Flower Show next month.

Hillier Nurseries is now 100% peat-free.

Fewer slugs expected this spring, says RHS.

New groundcover Hydrangea Blush ® launched.

DIG IT Top 5 Miracle Gro Lawn Care Products:

1st Complete 4 in 1, 14kg A lawn treatment product that kills weeds and moss, creating a thicker, greener and healthier lawn.

2nd Patch Magic Bag contains a special binder which helps keep seed from washing away. It grows 2x thicker than ordinary grass, 1.5kg

3rd Complete 4 in 1, 80 sqm.

4th Miracle Gro Evergreen, 360 sqm.

5th Miracle Gro Evergreen, 80 sqm.

Plants mentioned: Calibrachoa in the Kinder range, Sedum, Rudbeckia, root-wrapped Roses, Sweet peas, Primroses, Polyanthus, Ranunculus, Brussel sprouts, Runner and Climbing Beans, Dahlia, Gladioli, Lilies, including the variety Stargazer, wildflower seeds, Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Rosemary, Snake Plant and Money Plant (Crassula).

Products: Slug Gone, Composted Bark Chippings, Root-trainers, Horticultural Fleece, Terrocotta pot, and create your own Easter Hunt in the garden!

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Araucaria Araucana (monkey puzzle tree), Camellia sinensis (tea), Casuarina equisetifolia (She-oak or whistling tree), Grevillea robusta, Griselinia littoralis, Honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea), Magnolia campbelli (the flamingo of the flower world), Montrey Cupressus, Olea (Olive tree), Lagerstroemia indica (myrtle tree), Podocarpus, Poplars, Plymouth Pears, Salix (Willow), Sycamore gap tree, Tilia (lime), and Wollemi nobilis (Dinosaur tree).

Products: RootGrow, mycorrhizal fungi.

Places mentioned: Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, Exeter University, Cornwall Space Cluster, Heathrow Airport (mapping Black Poplar), The Nare Hotel, Strybing Arboretum and San Francisco Botanical Garden.

People: David Noble (discovered the Wollemi in 1994 along with Michael Casteleyn and Tony Zimmerman), Richard Maxwell (Business development at Tremap), Humprey Repton (garden designer) and Robert Fortune (plant explorer).

Desert Island tree: Custard fruit tree (Annona squamosa).

The tallest Rhododendron in the UK is at Tregothnan, closely followed by a specimen at South Lodge in Horsham, Surrey – 2m difference in height.

To find out more about the Tregothnan estate, the April charity weekend and Tea.

You can download the Tremap app for Free on the two main app stores Android and Apple Store or go to www.tremap.com for more details. Some 16 million trees have already been mapped on the App.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Spring is in the air! DIG IT’s Peter Brown and Chris Day guide us through the month of March looking at events far and wide to visit, including the US and Australia, the latest news stories and the jobs to be getting on with in the garden.

What’s on

1st March: The Alpine Society’s Early Spring Show at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Chelmsford, Essex.

1 - 9th March: Philadelphia Flower Show, Pennsylvania Convention Centre, US.

15th March: Orchid and Terrarium Workshop Day at Buckingham Garden Centre with Manos Kanellos.

16th March: Rare Plants Fair at The Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset.

17 - 23rd March: Hever Castle's Dazzling Daffodils, Hever, Edenbridge, Kent.

21st March Garden Re-Leaf Day 2025 The annual Greenfingers Charity flagship fundraising event.

26 - 30th March: Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Australia.

29th March: Rare Plants Fair at Evenley Wood Gardens, Brackley, Northants.

News

Britain's bestselling non-fiction writer Dr David Hessayon has died aged 96 - after selling 67 million gardening guidebooks worldwide.

RHS reports a 21% surge in applications across its School of Horticulture programme

Peat-free education collaboration launches a new concise peat-free guide.

TV personality Fiona Bruce will be joining the National Garden Scheme (NGS) as an ambassador.

Storm Eowyn topples more than 10,000 National Trust trees.

Petition for a total ban on neonicotinoid puts pressure on government.

National Trust announce 10-year green plan.

Beloved Barnsdale Gardens established 40 years ago by horticulturist and star broadcaster Geoff Hamilton, faces closure if 67-acre solar farm is built.

Hillier’s woodland themed garden to be created at BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair.

Jekka McVicar launches her 10th thyme variety, Thymus Jekka’s Bee Happy.

Johnsons new Cutting Flower seed range now in Garden Centres.

2025 Sweet Pea season at Eaton Walled Gardens.

Best houseplants for productivity.

Coffee and cocoa prices doubled due to extreme weather.

New heritage pear Cornishgold ™ launched.

Alan Titchmarsh gets nod in latest BAFTA winning Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl film.

DIG IT Top 5 Our top selling Dahlia varieties from last year were No 5 Thomas Edison, No 4 Topmix Yellow, No 3 Anne Joy, No 2 joint Collerette Kelsey, Lady Liberty, Red Hot Chilli, Vera Frost and Xanthe and No 1 White Perfection.

People mentioned: Jekka McVicar, Jessica Naish, and Nick Hamilton.

Products mentioned: Premier Christmas decorations, Rotavator, Cloche, Potato growing bags, Peat free composts, Root Trainers and Bird nesting boxes.

Plant mentions: Apricot, Peas, Beans, Artichoke, Asparagus, Tomatoes, Courgettes, Pumpkins, Squash, Seed Potatoes, Carrots, Fennel (Bronze), Maidenhair fern (Adiantum), Quickthorn, Blackthorn, Rhubarb varieties - Champagne, Timperley Early and Stockbridge Arrow, plastic dustbins as Rhubarb forcers, Hazel and Birch for pea sticks, Sweet Peas, Strawberries, Raspberries, Chinese money plant (Crassula), Monstera, Sansevieria, Boston fern, Prayer plants, Spathiphyllum, Lilies, Dahlias, Freesia and Gladioli

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

Saturday 1st February Buckingham Garden Centre’s Grow & Grow Day, 10am-4pm.

Saturday 1st February to Sunday 2nd March: Peruvian Orchid Spectacular at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London.

The Plant Fair Roadshows are back in full swing with the first event of the year on Sunday 2nd February at Hole Park, Rolvenden, Kent, on Sunday 2nd February.

Running until 13th April: Soil - The World at Our Feet Exhibition at the Embankment Galleries, South Wing, Somerset House in London.

Saturday 15th February – Sunday 23rd February: Exhibited during Eco-Week at Hever Castle & Gardens, Earth Photo will be featuring work by some of the best photographers from around the world.

Thursday 20th February: Monty Don in conversation with Sophie Raworth online or in person at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington, London, SW7 2AR. 7pm.

20th - 22nd February: Shepton Snowdrop Festival, Somerset. Free event.

Discover snowdrops across the UK.

News

Britain's oldest RHS Garden is calling for compensation from the Government as it faces a ‘catastrophic' £11m loss - thanks to roadworks.

Home to 100-year-old specimens, the 60-acre Coton Orchard, the largest traditional orchard in Cambridgeshire and 8th largest in the country is at risk of becoming a new bus lane.

Two plant collections - Amelanchier and Witch hazel National collections have been accredited at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Monty Don’s new British Gardens series airs on the BBC.

Sarah Dyke MP’s Horticultural Peat (Prohibition of Sale) Bill has been pushed back to a later date.

Kew Gardens and partner scientists have identified more than 170 new species in 2024

New Year’s Honours for garden industry figures including Gill Hodgson founder of Flowers From the Farm and Alan Titchmarsh, CBE

Scotland consults on its peat-free future.

Latest Thompson & Morgan survey suggests garden expenditure is set to increase in 2025.

More crystal ball gazing from the RHS with its gardening predictions.

Eden Project appoints 'horticultural showman’ Peter Jones.

Kew build two advanced glasshouses to help in major restoration projects.

David Domoney becomes new brand ambassador for Keder Greenhouses.

Guiness World Records searches for world’s oldest glasshouse.

Forest England biodiversity study reveals DNA secrets.

Butterflies heading north says NatureScot.

RSPB suspends sale of flat bird feeders.

Suttons given the Royal Warrant of Approval.

Plants mentioned: Broad bean The Sutton, New Fothergill’s Oh Sow Simple range, Seed Potatoes, Pea Meteor, Sweet Peas, Carnivorous plants (Venus flytraps), Carrot Amsterdam Forcing, Asparagus crowns, root-wrapped roses, celebration roses, strawberry runners and raspberry canes can be established now, Lilies, Dahlias, Begonia corms and Hosta. Hardwood cuttings Buddleja, Dogwoods, Forsythia, Philadelphus (Mock Orange), Roses and Salix (Willows).

Products mentioned: Westland New Horizon Compost, Melcourt SylvaGrow Composts, horticultural fleece, Haxnicks jackets, raised beds and water butts.

Dig It Top 5: Our Top selling Fothergills flower seeds of last year. No5 ‘RHS Flowers for Insects Mix’, No4 Sunflower ‘Giant Single’, No3 Sweet Pea ‘Old Spice Mixed’, 2nd place Poppy ‘Victoria Cross’ and at No1 ‘RHS Flowers for Wildlife Bright Mix’.

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Plants mentioned Aubergine, Kale Cavolo Nero, Basil, Spinach, Baby Leaf Spinach, Swiss Chard, Tomato, Broad beans, Garlic, Lambs Lettuce (Corn Salad), Peas, Sweet Peas, Brussel sprouts, Parsnips, Swedes, Peppers, Holy trinity of veggies – carrots, onions and celery, English Cucumbers, Spinach Monstreux de Virflay, good beefsteak tomato varieties – Marmande and Coeur Di Bue (Ox Heart), The Eternal Tomato – Principe Borghese da Appendere, Spaghetti tree, 100% Wildflowers with no fillers, Courgette for flowers Da Fiore Toscana and Papaver (Poppy)

People and companies mentioned: Thomas Cook, Mozart, Montpellier Brothers, Kings Seeds, Thompson & Morgan, Real Seeds, Delia Smith, Dolmio sauces, Haxnicks cloches, Royal Horticultural Society, Eden Project, Charles Darwin, Hairy Bikers, Gallo wine, Jamie Oliver and U3A.

The film, A Room with a View featured the grand tour in Victorian times and Stanley Tucci’s BBC series Searching for Italy, highlighting regionality of food.

Places mentioned: Apennines, Dolomites, Turin, Tuscany, Borough Market in London, RHS Harlow Carr, Kew Gardens, Lee Valley for Tomato growing and Welsh Tourist Board.

Food mentioned: Meatballs, Panettone, Mushrooms, Cornish pasties (listed under Protected Food Names legislation), Buckinghamshire or Bedfordshire Clanger (savoury/sweet pasty), Devon/Cornish Scones, Pizza is a Neapolitan dish, Vesta Curries, Chick Pea Pasta, Ricotta, Dal, Parma Ham, Lime Oil, Peter’s homemade Pesto, Spaghetti, Zucchini flowers and Omelettes.

Ark of Taste is an international catalogue of endangered heritage foods maintained by the Slow Food movement.

Seeds of Italy website

Socials: X: @FranchiSeedsUK

Instagram: @franchiseedsofitaly

Facebook @SeedsOfItaly

Book: From Seed to Plate by Paolo Arrigo

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What’s On

Saturday 18th January: National Tulip Day, Meseumplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1-5pm. Free entry.

Sunday 19th January: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2 – 3:30pm Discover the Botanic Gardens in British Sign Language (BSL) Tours are led by John Hope Gaterway. Ticket only.

Wednesday 22nd January: 11am - 12:30pm: Talk on RHS Hyde Hall through the Years with Garden Manager, Ian Bull - who has been involved in Hyde Hall's development across the last 20 years!

Thursday 23rd January: Winter Lecture Professor Simon Hiscock and The Oxford Ragwort Story. Oxford Ragwort is unique among Britian’s flora.

24-26th January: Time to take part in this year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

News

Detection dogs sniff out the deadly tree pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum.

Buckingham Garden Centre’s charity of the year 2025 is Buckinghamshire Mind.

The National Centre for Music in Edinburgh is to get a major garden makeover by the nationally recognised garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith.

Scientists at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh aim to sequence the genomes of all 72,000 plants, animals, fungi across the UK and Ireland.

Applications for the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation Scholarships for budding horticulturists closes at the end of January.

New UK RHS Partner Gardens are announced for 2025 allowing RHS members to access 230 across the UK and further afield.

The National Trust announce the 49 recipients of Tree of Hope, aka Sycamore Gap Tree, including one of the saplings to be planted in Milton Keynes.

A £5 million national project – Nextdoor Nature and The Wildlife Trust – delivers a raft of results supporting wildlife on 1,600 community-inspired projects.

2024 proved to be another landmark year for the National Garden Scheme with the charity donating a record £3,501,227 to nursing and health beneficiaries from last year’s garden opening season.

George Plumptre, after 15 years at the helm, is set to retire as Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme later this summer.

Top horticultural supplier Mr Fothergill’s have rebranded to reflect their growth, values and customer commitment.

The Sun’s gardening editor, Veronica Lorraine, found herself falling foul of LinkedIn’s rules when she tried to promote Perennials latest naked gardeners’ calendar.

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Plants mentioned: Apples, Cyclamen Florist types, Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, Daffodils, Elodea (Canadian Pondweed – now banned from sale), Herbs, Helleborus, Hardy Cyclamen Coum and C Hederifolium, Snowdrops (including Galanthus reginae-olgae 'Naomi Slade' (Monksilver Nursery), Rhubarb, Roses, Paeonies, Plums, Prunus subhirtella autumnalis (winter flowering cherry), Wild Strawberries, Tulips, consider more vigorous rootstocks in difficult soils when growing fruit trees. The aptly named Cottage Chrysanthemums range are reliable and hardy as are the varieties ‘Ruby Mound’ and ‘Dulwich Pink’ (RHS AGM).

Scented winter plants: Sarcococca, Viburnum bodnantense, Snowdrops, Lonicera fragrantissima, Mahonia and Hamamelis (Witch Hazel).

People, products mentioned: Sir David Attenborough, Gerald Durrell, photographer Georgianna Lane, Piet Oudolf, Sarah Raven and Halls of Heddon. Which Gardening, Garden News, Water Butts, Old bread knife for dividing perennial clumps in the spring.

National Collection of Chrysanthemums: Norwell Nurseries and Gardens, Nottinghamshire.

Show gardens mentioned: 'Never Mind The Hollyhocks' Award Winning punk-themed conceptual garden by Naomi Slade at RHS Hampton Court 2012 and The Flood Resilient Garden in conjunction with Dr Ed Barsley. Silver Medal Winner at RHS Chelsea 2024.

Desert Island luxuries: Naomi’s tool would be her trusted bread knife and an apple tree, maybe a ‘Bramley’, would be her island tree of choice.

To find out more about Naomi and her books visit her website

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Places to visit:

Winter Flowers Week at the Garden Museum, London

National Memorial Arboretum mile long light trail

Alnwick Castle lights show

Cambridge University Botanic Garden Light show

Kew Gardens Lights Show

Plants Mentioned:

The Welsh Bramley - Gabalfa Apple, Rose

Perfumy Silueta Rose bred by Kordes Rosen wins several categories in Rochfords International Rose Trials

The Woodland Trust Highlights the plight of our Native trees and encourages planting more.

Collections of Hamamelis, Amelanchier and Eucalyptus held at the National Memorial Arboretum and Ventnor Botanic Gardens gain National Plant Collection status.

Skippinish Oak wins the Woodland Trusts tree of the year competition

Lace Bug pest spotted in London

Garden Organic searches for comfrey

A new Palm Tahina Spectablis arrives at the Eden project

60 000 snowdrops planted at the National Trust property Montacute House in Somerset

Jane Steward champions the medlar and tries to raise its profile

In the news:

Cruser SB Neonicotinoid Thiamethoxam has been licensed for use on Sugar Beet in the UK despite being banned in the EU.

British Horticulture will have to bear increased costs on imports due to the Common User Charge

Inverary Castle wins Prestigious Gardens Award

Haig Hall in Wigan undergoes restoration

Bath wins prestigious RHS Britian in Bloom award for the second time, Wrexham won a Gold award for the City and Forres in Scotland also won the town award.

Defra’s latest Data indicates a fall in Bird species

Green Allotments offer a chance to win an Allotment site to try and help increase the number of allotments in the UK

The National Gardens Scheme announce gardens to visit in the New Year

Greenfingers charity has a new president who takes over from Sue Allen

Allett mowers announce the 2024 winner for the Creative Stripes competition

 We announce our support of Ripple Africa again this festive period.         

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Plant mentions: Coriander, Basil, Bulbine frutescens (burn jelly plant), Lemon Verbena, Mints including Peppermint and Mentha spicata (Spearmint), Murraya koenigii (Curry tree), Nasturtium, Oregano, Rosemary, Horse Radish, Silybum marianum, Szechuan (Sichuan) Pepper, Rosemary, Thymes, Wild Rocket, Nasturtiums, Wild Strawberries and Winter Savory.

People and product mentions: Jamie Oliver, Delia Smith, Borage (the gnome), Charles Dowding, Marcus Waring and garden designer Sarah Eberle. Radio 4’s Just a Minute. Horticultural grit, RocketGro Peat-Free Herbs and Alpine Compost, horse manure, Jekka’s own peat-free compost mix contains bark, loam, peat-free compost, plus mycorrhizal fungi. Working in some loam can help the composts porosity. Use grit rather than bark for herb mulching. Seaweed feeds are generally best for herbs. Westland Epsom salts will help keep the foliage green and healthy. Growth Technology SG Invigorator. Black plastic for horsetail and general weed suppression.

Problem pests: Leaf-hoppers, rosemary beetle and thrips.

Tea Infusions: Lemon verbena or lemon grass (with a gin and tonic works a treat). Citrus trilogy, a perfect mood lifter orange blossom, lime leaves and lemongrass and rosemary. Garlic leaf tea for keeping slugs away on your seedlings.

Sore throat - sage tea (gargle) for coughs and cold, sprig of hyssop and thyme in hot water with some honey. For Indigestion, try fennel leaf tea which also helps reduce cholesterol.

Jekka McVicar and Charles Dowding in conversation on YouTube

Jekka’s castaway luxury: A propagating kit with a snip, sharpened chop stick, a pair of long tweezers and a wet stone.

To find out more about Jekka’s story, the specialist herb farm containing over 400 culinary and medicinal herbs from all around the world and online shop.

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Friday 8th November Final Gardeners’ World programme of the season.

15th November RHS Glow 2024 Rosemoor.

20th November RHS Glow 2024 Harlow Carr Garden

22nd November RHS Glow at RHS Wisley and at RHS Hyde Hall

26th November NGS Annual Lecture ‘Gardening for the future with Fergus Garret, Garden Museum, London. Fergus reveals how vital biodiversity can thrive in anybody’s cultivated garden patch, using evidence gathered from the world-famous garden he looks after. Go in person or available live streamed.

Plant mentions: Lotus (water lily), Sea buckthorn, Magnolia, Dianthus, Violas, Wisteria, Picea, Pinus, dog friendly plants, sunflowers including the variety ‘Teddy Bear’, Tulips, Narcissus, Crocus, Alliums, Snowdrops, planting of bare-root hedging, shrubs and trees, Philadelphus, Dogwood, Hazel, Raspberry canes, Strawberry runners, garlic, Padron peppers, Wild service tree (sweets and beer tree), Microgreens, Cress and Amaryllis.

Product mentions: Sainsbury’s peat-free mushrooms, electric heron fence for ponds, Woughton Orchard in Milton Keynes, lawn blower, secateurs, loppers, composted bark, autumn lawn food, grease bands for fruit trees, cloches, horticultural fleece and clay pebbles in saucer,

News

RBG Kew scientists crack down on illegal sale of ornamental plants.

Edimentals see rise in popularity.

Sainsbury’s becomes first UK supermarket to introduce peat-free mushrooms

Nick Hamilton’s new book, The Right Jeans is published.

The new Government’s All-Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group

LibDem MP Sarah Dyke seeks to speed up ban on peat farming with 10-minute bill

Roger Ward from Golden Grove Nurseries champions the use of slow growing and compact forms of conifers in new build gardens

Monty Don to design a dog-friendly garden at Chelsea 2025 in conjunction with the RHS and BBC Radio 2.

National Trust appoints Sheila Das as Head of Gardens and Parks.

Will Armitage appointed as the new HTA President.

Beechgrove Garden presenter Jim McColl dies aged 89.

Capability Brown’s Berrington Hall gets a floral makeover including a wisteria walk.

Climate revamp for Great Fountain Garden at Hampton Court Palace.

RHS issues call for urban planners to take garden provision more seriously.

Otters raiding garden ponds becomes a problem in Cumbria.

The Orchard Project celebrates 15 years restoring 700 public orchards.

Sunflower trials at RHS Hyde Hall’s Floral Fantasia.

North Wales bid to bring back rare ‘sweets and beer’ tree.

DIG IT Top 5: Top selling Herbs of the year

No5 Coriander, No4 Curly Parsley, No3 Chives, No2 Common Rosemary and at the top spot Garden Mint (spear mint).

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People mentioned: Tea expert Chris Bond, authors Peter Blake and John Shepherd. The Ken Thomas Charitable Trust, a bursary opportunity set up for agriculturists to help fund their trips. Lord and Lady Falmouth, Plant hunter William Lobb, Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (Wardian Case inventor), Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, Tremap Partners, Conifer Conservation, Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, Country Life magazine tea column. London Tea Auction and Sarah Raven.

Plants mentioned: Camellia sinensis (tea), Camellia japonica, early flowering Camellia sasanqua, Growing salads out of seasons under home-made cloches, Japanese Musa (Banana), Magnolias, Eucryphia is a genus of evergreen shrubs and trees with several species native to Chile. Giant Redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum), Rhododendrons, Black Poplars (Populus nigra) and the recording breaking tallest Rhododendron.

Places mentioned: Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, Darjeeling, North India, Cornwall Garden Society (they also have a bursary scheme), Eden Project, Jonathon’s scholarship to travel to Japan and it’s great gardens, Falmouth University Japanese Gardens, Myerscough College and the Smithsonian Institution.

Tremap® is an easy-to-use free app on your phone which allows people to map and locate trees and shrubs anywhere in the world. It also means that Botanic gardens, parks, large and small private gardens don’t necessarily need to label their rare plants as this can be done virtually. Search ‘Tremap’ on your favourite APP store.

Jonathon’s castaway essential: A tried and trusted garden spade!

Tregothnan Estate, including Tea, Experiences, Holiday Cottages and Discover.

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What’s on

5th & 6th October, 10am-4pm: Buckingham Garden Centre’s Apple Weekend. Apple identifying with Gerry Edwards, apple pressing and juicing with the Mid Shires Orchard group, a Heritage Apple Display featuring over 100 varieties, Jessica Naish from the Buckingham Cut Flower Farm, a fantastic Tombola, plus The Woodland Trust and BBOWT.

Saturday 5th October: Autumn Plant Fair at RHS Garden Bridgewater, Manchester.

Saturday 12th October, 11am-4pm: National Alpine Garden Show at RHS Harlow Carr Gardens.

26th October - 3rd November: Scarecrow Hunt at Painswick Rococo Garden Trust in Stroud.

News

Giant mosaic made from apples at National Trust Cotehele in Cornwall last month.

Weather concerns could see tulip bulb prices rise by as much as 20% in 2025, Dutch growers warn.

Britain’s rarest orchid discovered after one man’s 15-year hunt.

New rare and endangered plant exhibition opens at Kew Gardens.

Plea to use less herbicides and pesticides in our towns voiced by The Pesticide Collaboration.

Tulip trees as well as storing more carbon are no longer hardwood they are now Midwood! It’s all about the cells, says new study.

Vegetable and flower seed merchant Dobies celebrates 130th anniversary.

‘Delphinium Dad’ efforts rewarded with National Plant Collection status.

Artists set to champion ancient plane tree.

A new garden commemorating the life of Queen Elizabeth II is to be constructed in London’s Regent’s Park.

Upcycling facemasks left over from the pandemic to cradle developing melons by the team at Bluebird Care in Stroud and Cirencester.

Butterfly numbers drop disastrously reports Butterfly Conservation.

Blenheim Palace introduces bee swarms to its nine new woodlands.

Huge restoration for parklands at Crystal Palace.

New report sheds light on why many plants have prickles.

Dame Mary Berry joins 40th anniversary celebrations of the Macmillan & National Garden Scheme partnership. During the last 40 years the NGS has raised more than £19 million for Macmillan through private garden openings.

David Austin launches Bring Me Sunshine ® as Climbing English Rose.

DIG IT Top 5: Climbing roses

As we approach the root wrap and bare-root season learn about our bestselling roses.

Product mentions: Long handled bulb planters, greenhouse disinfectant, bubble insulation, hedgehog houses, lawn rake and leaf grabbers, bird feeders ready and primed with wild bird mix, sunflowers, peanuts, and fat balls. Evergreen Autumn Fertiliser, and lawn seed for overseeding and patch repair.

Plant mentions: Allium ‘Rosy Dream,’ Taylors Bulb of the Year and Daffodil ‘June Allyson,’ Daffodil of the Year, Dogwoods, Hostas, Salix (Willows), planning for hedges, Garlic, Onions, and Shallots to plant now, pumpkins to harvest and rhubarb propagation - remove healthier outer sections to create new crowns.

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Plant mentions: Aloe Vera, Aspidistra, Basil, Beloperone guttata (shrimp or prawn plant!), Cymbidiums, Sweet peas, lawn turf, Kentia palms, Melon, Pineapple, Tomato, Cucumber, Snake plant, Mother-in-Laws (Sansevieria), African Violets (Saintpaulia), Poinsettias, Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid), Universal Winter Pansies from Colegraves, Cacti, Money plants (Crassula), Chloropytum, Venus Fly Traps and Yuccas. Floral Flame for the Manchester Olympic bid at Manchester Airport created with Begonias, Lobelia, Marigold, Parsley, Perilla, and Impatien).

Product mentions: Greenhouse: Corrugated plastic, aluminium (glass to ground), Wooden greenhouse, staging, Victorian style. Paraffin heaters, thermostatically electric fan heater, Garland propagating products, LED grow lights, roller benches, red spider mite pests, pH soil tests and soil science. Wool pots and Mycorrhizal products (RootGrow).

People and Place mentions: Amateur Gardening magazine, Alan Beswick, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Three Counties Radio, Blue Peter Garden, Alan Down, Bridgemere Garden World, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Dutch Flower Auctions at Aalsmeer, Graham Clarke, Fred Downham, Rochford Houseplants (commercial growers), Garden Centre Association, Guernsey Flower Show, Horticulture Week, Peter Seabrook, Louise Lear, Peat Free UK houseplant growers, Val Bourne, Myerscough College and Writtle College.

Hotbeds, created with strawy manure, and John Innes Compost No3.

Chris’s Desert Island luxuries: Felco secateurs and Potato ‘Home Guard’

Chris’s book co-authored with Rob Keenan Amateur Gardening Complete Gardening Answers (published by Robinsons).

Catch Chris’s online Garden Centre postings on Facebook and Instagram

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What’s on

3 - 8th September RHS Garden Wisley Flower Show, Wisley, Woking, Surrey.

13 - 15th September The Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, Newby Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire

27 - 29th September Malvern Autumn Show. One of the UK’s biggest annual harvest season celebrations, held at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern Hills, Herefordshire.

5 - 6th October Buckingham Garden Centre’s Apple Weekend, 10am - 4pm each day.

News

Jekka McVicar appeals to gardeners to participate in the RHS climate change survey in BBC Breakfast news.

Most influential in horticulture by decade survey results: Titchmarsh beats Thrower, Hamilton, Don in vote from Horticulture Week magazine.

Broad beans could improve our mental health new study finds.

The search is on for the Tree of the Year and voting is open until 21 October.

Plant breeder Ball Colegrave announced the winners of this summers showcase.

World’s largest Titan Arum bloom in Meise Botanic Garden in Belgium.

A new jade vine – Strongylodon juangonzalezii - is donated to Kew Gardens.

Kew trees at risk from climate change.

Historic allotments in Nottingham handed back to council due to rising costs.

Almost 455,000 trees felled by UK councils in past 10 years.

World-first project launched to track hedgehogs and reverse decline.

Gardening aids better sleep new report uncovers.

Knoll Gardens launch new Pennisetum Black Arrow.

Dog backpacks used to help seed nature reserve.

Sheffield’s love of figs helps create fig tree forests.

Dutch campaign encourages reducing paving for greener gardens.

Couple transform their garden into £27,000 Jurassic Park - complete with 10ft T-Rex.

Our DIG IT Top Tulips 5th ‘Chocolate Orange’ 4th ‘Red Riding Hood’ 3rd ‘Peach Blossom’, 2nd ‘Queen of the Night’ and at number 1 ‘Purple Rain Fusion’ (a combination of different varieties from Taylors Bulbs).

Plants mentioned: Acer drummondii, Crocosmia, Dahlias, Hosta, Penstemons and Roses. Apples, Apricots, Blackberries, Peaches and Strawberries. Veggies: Peas, beans, Carrots, Spring Onions, Winter and Spring Cabbage plug plants.

Products mentioned: Compost bin, Wolf Fruit Picker, Rose and Autumn Lawn Fertilisers, Lawn seeds and lawn patch products. Control Vine Weevil and lawn chafers or leatherjackets with a biological control (nematodes).

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DIG IT hosts Peter Brown and Chris Day chat with top all-round horticulturalist and internet sensation Dave The Plantman. Dave has been creating daily 90 second videos since April 2023 and has a huge 360k following, including a younger gardening audience on TikTok hungry for advice. Dave shares his knowledge in a unique style with his signature thumbs up and ‘interesting fact’ tagline. A lively chat filled with fun anecdotes and plenty of common-sense gardening is guaranteed! 

Plant mentions: Agapanthus, Astilbe, Buddleja (butterfly bush), Carnivorous plants, Coffee plant, Cordyline, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Dieffenbachia (dumb cane plant), Himalayan Balsam (Impatien), Potatoes, Dandelion, Skimmia, wildflowers, brambles (blackberries), Rose ‘Sheila’s Perfume’, Phalaenopsis orchids, Taxus baccata 'Standishii' (RHS AGM), Good scented rose ‘Chandos Beauty’ and Rose ‘The Chelsea Pensioner’, a charity rose launched at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Willow (Salix) weaving. Alpines for gravel drive. 

People, Places and Products: Phillip Harkness, Harkness Roses. Myerscough College of Horticulture, Preston, Canal and River Trust, Barton Grange Nursery, RHS flower shows. Sulphur (coal smoke), Garlic infusion for controlling aphids – they don’t like the smell, good for roses and hostas. Tomato food is excellent for roses as is chicken manure and well-rotted manure. Uncle Tom’s Rose Food (Potassium phosphite).

Desert island luxuries: Tomatoes (seeds could be saved for future crops). Tool: “A pair of secateurs in my holster.”

Memorable quote: “My mum could put a root on a chair leg!”

Dave’s socials: YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Dave The Plantman’s Chatterbox on Facebook and  Instagram.

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Summer gardening reaches it’s peak this month as Peter Brown and Chris Day discuss the latest stories in the world of horticulture, must-visit events and a run-down of those essential tasks to keep your garden productive and colourful in the weeks to come.

What’s on

31st July - 4th August: RHS Garden Hyde Hall Flower Show, Essex.

2 - 3rd August: Taunton Flower Show, Somerset.

Until 4th August: 2024 Big Butterfly Count – have you got involved yet? There’s still time!

3 - 11th August: Singapore Garden Festival at Suntec, Singapore.

9 - 10th August: Shrewsbury Flower Show, Shropshire.

15 - 18th August: Southport Flower Show at Victoria Park, Southport.

16 - 18th August: RHS Garden Rosemoor Flower Show, Devon.

30th August - 1st September: BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair at Audley End House & Gardens, Essex.

News

New YouTube short film filmed at the RHS Urban Show in May featuring Cloudscape and creating 7 amazing gardens.

Trees for bees at Wakehurst Wakehurst is using citizen science to help discover the trees most favoured by pollinators.

A unique flower shaped Cyclamen Illusia picks up top New Houseplant Award.

RHS Tatton Park Show celebrates its 25th anniversary by actively promoting awards for new designers, plants people and contractors aged 31 or over.

Scottish topiary artist wins major award for their Moby Dick inspired design.

Gardeners urged not to plant or purchase Rhodendron ponticum as The Woodland Trust says its invasive nature is creating problems.

Native vegetation does no impact insect biodiversity in small urban gardens.

Rare ‘Puya sapphire tower’ blooms outdoors in Scotland for the first time.

Dianthus breeding specialist Whetman Pink changes hands.

War against poaching succulent plants in South Africa.

Manchester’s Castlefield aerial garden Viaduct gets green light to develop from National Trust.

OBE awarded to Horatio’s Garden founder Dr Olivia Chapple.

Rittershausen family orchid nursery celebrate 75 years.

Dr John Grimshaw appointed Editor-in-Chief of Curtis’s Botanic magazine.

Head of horticulture at Garden Organics and former Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins has been named a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture.

Natural History Gardens are now open and free to visit.

Olympic Dahlias shine at Paris 2024 games.

The 2025 rose of the year is announced.

Plants, and product mentions: Hardy geraniums, Chrysanthemum, Lavender, Lupins, Delphiniums, Blueberries, Strawberry, Wisteria Amethyst Falls, Leeks, Potato/Tomato blight proection, Taylors Seed Potatoes for growing for Christmas, Sow the seeds of Basil, Borage, Dill and Fennel, Mint. Summer pruning top fruit trees, dahlias, Lilies and Gladioli staking and feeding. Children seed sowing projects for the school holidays. Cut flowers from the garden. Continue with slug, snails and earwig control. Miracle-Gro, Tomato fertiliser, garden twine and canes.

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Plant mentions: Grow as many varieties and species – native and non-native from the Northern Hemisphere as you can to increase insect biodiversity of wildlife to help attract predators. Marigolds as a companion planting with Tomatoes and the pairing of alliums with roses. Check vegetable seed packets for disease resilience. Lavender, Penstemon, Fuchsias and Hebes would benefit from a dose of a high potash fertiliser to help toughen them up. Use vine weevil nematode control for Heuchera, Heucherella, alpines and Fuchsias.

Product mentions: Slug pellets (use the jam jar method mentioned). Sand, Garlic wash, Box Tree Caterpillar Biological Control, Provanto Fungus Fighter (for Box Blight), Pheromone Traps (codling moth and plum moth), Organic pesticides, fleece over cabbage, good drainage essentials, include sand, potting grit, or Perlite to avoid overwet compost, Potassium (K) High potash fertilisers such as Sulphate of Potash, Tomorite, to help harden growth for the winter. Nematodes for slugs and vine weevil. Ladybird larvae and adults can be introduced.

Pest / Disease mentions: Aphids, Slugs, Snails, Muntjak, Deer, Rabbits, Oak Processionary Moth - a notifiable pest, Xylella fasidiosa, Box Blight, Box Tree Caterpillar, Rose Black Spot and Rose Mildew.

No Mow May, or maybe simply mow less often to encourage more flowers and diversity.

Look for the RHS Plants for Pollinators logo.

Make friends with your fellow allotment holders, or join a gardening club / society to learn about local growing conditions if you move into a new area.

Judging at RHS show.

Andrew’s desert island essentials: A ball of garden twine and a pair of scissors and the Rose ‘Nostalgia.’

Find out more about Andrew on his website

Andrew’s book, Who Ate My Plants? is published by Michael O’Mara Books Limited.

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What’s on

2 – 7th July: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival is held in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, Richmond.

12th July and 4th August: The Big Butterfly Count 2024.

17 – 21st July: RHS Flower Show Tatton Park in Cheshire.

20th July: Great Dixter Summer Plant Fair at Great Dixter Gardens, Rye, East Sussex.

News

Plant Heritage will showcase a range of its National Plant Collections, including Kniphofia, Rubus and Hosta (miniature and small) at Hampton Court.

New 4-year project by the University of London is evaluating prescribing social pursuits like gardening to children.

New garden around the Natural History Museum opens this month.

The BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don will be out on tour to share tales from his garden at Longmeadow and gardens he has visited around the world.

Belinda Howell has been appointed chair of the Peat-free Partnership to establish peat-free legislation across the UK and NI.

Susan Raikes is appointed the new Director of Wakehurst at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Nick Bailey, Gardener’s World presenter is appointed director of the University Leicester’s botanic garden.

Percy Thrower’s greenhouse, which once featured Shrewsbury’s main park, The Quarry, is to be restored by Shrewsbury Men’s Shed.

Bumper year for Box Tree Caterpillar reveals RHS.

Be alert for toxic oak processionary moth caterpillars.

How to take part in the Great Stag Hunt to help record the UK’s largest, and endangered beetle.

Asian Hornets: help needed to irradicate imported bee-killers.

The winning plants at last month’s BBC Gardeners World Live Show, include Hydrangea Eclipse and Apple Peter’s Gold. New plant awards annouced at the HTA Show including Digitalis Apple Blossom and Prunus Crystal Falls.

This month’s DIG IT top 5: Strawberry varieties. 1st Strawberry ‘Symphony’ 2nd ‘Cambridge Favourite’ 3rd ‘Hapil’ 4th ‘Honeoye’ and in 5th ‘Elsanta’.

Plant mentions: Apples (variety Scrumptious), Cherries, Chrysanthemums, Dahlias, Delphiniums, Euonymus Jean Hugues, Euonymus Green Spire, Pears, Plum, Sweet corn, Yew, Lonicera nitida, fuchsias, Dianthus, Carnations, Purple loosestrife, and Salvia Hot Lips. Sow Foxgloves, Sweet Williams, Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots and veggies including Round Carrots, Beetroot, Radish, Lettuce, and Spring Onions. Continue to plant Tomatoes and Peppers.

Product mentions: Bug Clear Ultra 2, Box Tree Caterpillar Killer Nematodes, Poppyforge plant supports, bird food, straw and terracotta pots for earwig control.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Flowers mentioned: Amaranthus caudatus (Love Lies Bleeding), Centaurea cyanus (Cornflowers), Cosmos, Dahlias, Godetia, Larkspur, Nigella damascena (Love-in-a-mist), Perennial and annual Phlox, Strawflowers (Xerochrysum bracteatum), Roses (including the Timeless range of roses), Sweet peas, Sunflowers, Ten Week Stocks and Wallflowers.

Fragrant foliage: Apple mint, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and scented Pelargoniums to add fragrance to bouquets.

Bulbs mentioned: Alliums, Gladioli, Lillies, Narcissi and Tulips.

Buckingham brew: Nettles and Comfrey tea combo to feed plants organically.

Jessica’s major influence is Gill Hodgson, who set up Flowers From The Farm back in 2011. From humble beginnings, its membership is now more than 1,000 independent British growers, of which Jess is a member. The website allows you to search for your nearest local flower farmer.

Peach Fuzz, Pantone Colour of the year 2024.

Jess’s desert island essentials: Tool - the versatile Hori Hori Knife, plus a couple of plants one of the velvety purple mophead hydrangeas and Geranium ‘Attar of Roses’ famed for its amazing rose scented fragrance.

Find out more about Jessica’s flower farm, workshops and pick-your-own here

You can also follow Jessica on Facebook and Instagram

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What’s On

3 - 9th June British Flowers Week celebrating the variety and skills of the nation’s flower growers.

8th June: Royal Windsor Flower Show in Windsor Great Park, Windsor.

8 - 9th June: London Open Gardens event.

13 - 16th June: BBC Gardeners' World Live at the NEC in Birmingham.

21st - 23rd June; Blenheim Palace Flower Show, Oxfordshire.

People, gardens, products and plants mentioned. Tom Stuart Smith, Val Bourne, Jonathan Sheppard - Cosmos National Collection and Dame Judi Dench plants the Sycamore gap seedling. Water Aid Garden, Octavia Hill Community Garden with the National Trust. The RHS No Adults Allowed Garden, Malvern Garden Houseplant Studios, Hanley Open Side Building from Malvern, and Taylors Bulbs win their 31st Gold medal.

Miracle Gro, Tomorite Tomato Feed, Enviromesh or garlic spray to deter carrot fly. Slug copper tape, Slug Gone, beer traps and coffee grounds.

Euonymus Green Spire and Euonymus Jean Hugues (good box alternative). Rose ‘Emma Bridgewater’ from David Austin and the ‘With Courage’ from Peter Beales.

Make direct sowings of Peas, Beans, Courgettes, Sweetcorn, Lettuce, Carrot, Spring Onions, Radish and flowers Nasturtiums, cornflowers, and calendulas.

News

Winner of the RHS Plant of the Year Prunus ‘Starlight’. Runner up: Cosmos ‘Cherry Chocolate’.

Bromeliads cultivated at Walton Hall in Cheshire.

Growing plants should be on the curriculum.

Kew ‘Carbon’ Garden created.

Scientists eavesdrop the sounds from the soil.

Long grass is benefiting butterflies says charity.

RHS Garden Wisley opens Oakwood Summerhouse to pay homage to Ellen Willmott.

National Trust revamps some gardens by future proofing with more resilient planting.

Aviva issues flood risk warning as residents turn to artificial lawns.

Jekka McVicar recipient of the Prince Edward Award.

Oudolf landscape opens at Wisley.

Lack of collective of nouns of trees.

Auckland gardens regeneration in County Durham.

Roses at risk from lack of genetic diversity.

A UK first Tulbaghia National Collection at Eastwood Park Prison.

25 years of research creates UK first for oak seeds.

King Charles III to continue as Patron of the National Garden Scheme, and is the new patron of the RHS.

Top 5 bedding plants 1 Geranium Zonal Mixed 9-pack, 2 Geranium Zonal, 13cm, 3 Hedera (ivy) Mixed, 9cm, 4 Geranium Ivy Leaf Mixed and at 5 Petunia Mixed carry pack.

In our next podcast we chat with Jessica Naish from Buckingham Flower Farm about the growing cut flowers.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Apples, Asparagus, Basil, Basil Mint, Beetroot, Beans, Blackcurrants, Carrots, Comfrey and Nettle Tea, Courgettes, Garlic, Gooseberries, Garden peas, Leeks, Nasturtiums, Onions, Pea shoots, Padron Peppers, Potatoes, Runner beans, Spring Cabbage, Sweetcorn, Squash, Tomatoes and Turnips.

Products mentioned: BBQs, Chickens (for eggs and manure), Firepit, Raised beds, James Wong’s Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Treats book and Water Butts. Making Jadam Liquid Fertiliser video.

Desert Island essentials: A Swiss army pocket knife and maybe practise the new art of ‘sand gardening’!

Horticultural heroes: Huw’s Dad has been a major influence, who was in turn influenced by the hit BBC TV comedy The Good Life, No-Dig guru Charles Dowding, John Seymour, Percy Thrower, and James Wong.

Follow Huw on Instagram @huwsgarden

Follow Sam Cooper on Instagram @chef.sam.black

Huw Richards YouTube Channel

Huw has written four books with DK: Veg in One Bed (2019), Grow Food For Free (2020), The Vegetable Grower’s Handbook (2022) and The Self-Sufficiency Garden, written with good friend and colleague Sam Copper (2024).

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

3rd - 4th May Toby’s Garden Festival at Powderham Castle, Kenton.

3rd - 5th May BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.

9 – 12th May RHS Malvern Spring Festival, Three Counties Showground, Malvern.

12th May Borde Hill Specialist Spring Plant Fair, Haywards Heath.

17th - 26th May Floralies Internationales, Vendee, France.

20th May World Bee Day

21st - 25th May RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

25th - 28th May Blenheim Palace Flower Show

25th May - 2nd June National Children’s Gardening Week will again be partnering with THE WORLD OF PETER RABBIT™ this May half term.

30th May - 3rd June Bloom at the Visitors Centre, Phoenix Park, Dublin.

Plants mentioned: Aquatics - water lilies, marginals and oxygenators can be established now. Camellias, Cauliflowers, Cherries, Cucumbers, Chili peppers, Courgette, Daffodils, Dahlias, ‘Enorma’ Runner Beans, French bean ‘Cobra’, Forsythia, Gooseberries, Helenium, Hosta, Iris, Kale, Malus (crab apples), ‘Padron’ Pepper, Potatoes, Roses, Sedum, Sweet peas, Sunflowers, Sweet Corn and Tulips.

Products mentioned: Fertilisers – Doff, Growmore and Tomorite, Tea for soaking bean seeds and Speedplanters.

This month’s Dig It Top 5: Most popular liquid feeds

News

Climate change and verticillium wilt puts brewers hops under threat.

Kew scientists assess extinction risk of flowering species using computer modelling

Readers to the trade magazine Horticulture Week voted for Alan Titchmarsh and bagged compost as the most influential person and product impacting the gardening world over the past 50 years.

A major revamp of Torbay’s 100-year-old Italian garden brings 1,600 new plants after 40 cabbage palms were felled.

Yorkshire base, fourth generation rhubarb grower @ehubarbrobert is a social media hit.

An OBE for garden designer and landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith. The RHS have awarded Neil Lucas of Knoll Gardens and Nurseryman Chris Young the prestigious Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH). The Elizabeth Medal of Honour was bestowed on non-dig guru Charles Dowding for his outstanding contribution to horticulture as a non-professional gardener.

New initiative to revive railway hedges.

Latest DNA fingerprinting could help identify lost apples that are resistant to climate change.

International Women’s Day: 100+ Leading Women in Horticulture 2024 announced.

University of Sussex launches The Big Bee Hotel experiment to discover more about bees that nest in artificially created habitats.

New Tulip variety named after King Charles III unveiled at Keukenhof.

Garden Organics says the Government isn’t moving fast enough on the peat ban.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens go through ‘green audit’ for the first time.

£12million Lottery Heritage Fund to restore Great Yarmouth’s historic winter gardens, the last surviving Victorian ironwork glasshouse on a seaside promenade.

London’s Royal Parks have openings for ten apprentices.

Weather causes concern with potato farmers.

Discover how to take part in this year’s Henchman Topiary awards.

Gardens start to bounce back visitor numbers wise with Kew Garden and RHS Wisley and the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh taking the top spots.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Roses, annuals (bedding), Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), Pinus (pine), Honeysuckle, wildflowers, Snake’s head Fritillary (featured in Barry’s funny story), Lime, Beech, English Elm and Dutch Elm resistant varieties and Snowdrops (Galanthus).

The Gardens Trust, National Trust and the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust (for networking, sharing knowledge and celebrating success stories locally and beyond).

Barry’s top two favourite gardens: Stourhead Gardens near Mere, Wiltshire and Stackpole, near Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Monuments, specific areas and statues mentioned at Stowe. Grecian Valley Ha-Ha, Oxford Water Lake, Lamport Garden (on-going project), Temple of Concord and Victory (Grecian Temple), Stowe School, The New Inn (old coaching house), Grand Avenue approach to the Corinthian Arch, Buckingham Parish Church, Marble Arch, and The Ice House.

Stowe gardens and school have been used for many film locations including The Crown, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Slaughterhouse Rulez, Stardust and in the James Bond film The World is Not Enough.

Barry’s Desert Island luxuries Felco secateurs and a Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

To find out more about Stowe Landscape gardens click on this link and maybe become a volunteer.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

6th -7th April: Cornwall Garden Society Spring Flower Show at Royal Cornwall Show Ground near Wadebridge, features a Grow Your Own space and Tipi Talks as well as dazzling displays and exquisite exhibits.

Saturday 13th April: Hanami Blossom Day at Brogdale Farm, Faversham, Kent. Open 10am-3pm. Discover Japanese art and culture amidst the breathtaking blossoming orchards, plus so much more.

15th – 28th April: A celebration of Spring: from blossom to bluebells at Hever Castle Gardens in Kent.

18th - 21st April: RHS Urban Show set in the heart of Manchester (Depot Mayfield), celebrates your own oasis in this new immersive gardening experience.

Sunday 21st April: Plant Fairs Roadshow at Arundel Castle in West Sussex. Open 10am-5pm. Expert nurseries will be displaying their plants in the grounds of Arundel Castle as part of the Plant Fairs Roadshow.

Monday 29th April: Rachel de Thame: A Flower Garden for Pollinators talk at the Garden Museum in Lambeth, London, by Rachel de Thame and botanical artist Lauren Lusk yours about her new book.

Plants mentioned: Comfrey (for tea), Hebe, Narcissi, Muscari (grape hyacinths), Tulips, Hydrangea ‘Cherry Explosion,’ Rose ‘Munstead Wood’, Magnolia ‘Stellata’ (Star magnolia), Primulas and Polyanthus.

Seeds to sow: Cosmos, Cowslips, Gazanias, Geraniums, Marigolds, Nasturtium, Sunflowers and wildflowers. Veggies: Parsnips, Carrots, and salad crops.

Products mentioned: Lawn seed mixtures including Johnsons Any Time, Tuff Lawn, Shade and Meadow wildflower mixture, feed Vitax Q4, Empathy Afterplant, Sulphate of Potash, Fungus Fighter for preventative box treatment. Box alternatives - Euonymus ‘Jean Hugues’ and E. ‘Green Spire’, Evergreen honeysuckle hedging. Flowering hedges including Lavender and Hedge Germander. Garden hoe. Water retaining gel, Vitax Q4 and continuous (slow release) control fertiliser.

Peter and Chris’s bluebell wood recommendations: Hazelborough Woods (Silverstone, Northamptonshire) and The Woodland Trust’s College Wood (Nash, Milton Keynes).

News

101 Charles Darwin lookalikes gather at threatened 550-year-old oak tree in record attempt protest.

Global tree of the year winners announced.

Sycamore gap tree update

Californian Redwoods make it big in the UK

Government dashes hopes for horticulture with underwhelming reforms

More Scottish gardens open under the SGS to help the Perennial charity.

Finalist of the RHS Britain in Bloom competition announced.

International Orchid Show moves to Gardeners’ World Live.

Glow-in-the-dark Petunia ‘Firefly’ launched in the United States.

A new Rose ‘With Courage’ in conjunction with RNLI from rose breeder Peter Beales.

A change in shift of food production with wider diversification of crops.

The NHS could save £6.7 billion a year if everyone ate plant based food.

New Backyard Biodiversity Report from Garden Organics.

Top RHS plant diseases ranked from results in 2023.

Dig It Top 5: This month Grass seed best sellers.

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Chilli peppers are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. Chilli peppers are widely used in many cuisines as a spice to add ‘heat’ to dishes. There are many health benefits associated with chillies too.

The Scoville Scale is a measurement of pungency (spiciness or ‘heat’).

Jason famously created a Chocolate Chip Chilli Cookie featuring Habanero chillies at the Garden Centre.

Products mentioned: Products derived from chillies including sprays for bears, elephants (using barriers of chilli plants) and as an effective squirrel deterrent. Use Vermiculite at seed sowing time. Use a decent seed and cutting peat-free compost such as Levington’s. LED plant lights to help growth. Hydroponic systems lend themselves to chilli production. Use Organic contact sprays for caterpillars, greenflies, flea beetles, sawflies and whitefly control. Fertilisers including Chilli Focus Premium Liquid Concentrated Fertiliser.

Chilli varieties mentioned: ‘Apache’, ‘Quick Fire’ (30k on the Scoville scale), F1 hybrid, is the fastest maturing chilli available from seed with the prolific fiery red fruits produced in as little as 50 days from sowing. ‘Red Air’ (Bird’s eye type, Scoville Scale 70-80k), ‘Red Flame’ (Cayenne type, 30-50k), ‘Rocky’, a Jalapeno hybrid, 8k and ‘Santana’ (hybrid Anaheim, 2.5-3.5k).

Open pollinated types include Scotch Bonnet, Habanero and Tabasco, where seeds can be successfully saved from these plants.

Guinness World Records declares Pepper X as world’s new hottest chili pepper.

A garden axe would be Jason’s essential castaway item.

The latest Guinness World Chilli eating record.

Useful links

Chillies available from the Garden Centre including Padron Chilli Pepper and De Cayenne, South Devon Chilli Farm and Chilli Ranch. Jason also mentioned a Bedfordshire commercial chilli grower.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Forsythia, Snowdrops, Winter Aconites, Narcissi, Ulmus wredei, Buxus, Euonymus Jean Hugues and Green Spire, Daffodils, Dahlias, Gladioli, Freesia, Tuberous begonias, Sunflowers, Zinnia, and Cosmos. Veg plug plants, seeds of Cabbage, Tomatoes, Runner beans, Courgettes, Squashes, Rhubarb varieties Timperley Early, Glaskin’s Perpetual and Victoria. Onion Stuttgarter Giant, Hercules F1 and Centurion F1.

Products mentioned: Garden hoe, Compost mulch, Hotbin Composter and potato polybags.

What’s on

Tuesday 2nd March The Woodland Trust, our charity of the year will be joining us at the Garden Centre.

Tuesday 2nd - 10th March: Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Centre, Philadelphia, US

Sunday 17th March: Rare Plant Fair at The Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset, 10am - 4pm.

20th -24th March: Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, Royal Exhibition Building & Carlton

Wednesday 20th March: Orchid Day at the Garden Centre with Manos Kanellos, 11am-3pm.

Saturday 23rd March: Digby Hall Plant Fair, Sherborne, Dorset. 10am-2pm. Free admission.

Saturday 23rd – Sunday 24th March: Falmouth Spring Flower Show. This historic show features 100 classes, expert talks and activities.

Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens on BBC iPlayer

News

TV Dr Amir Khan's thoughts on gardening and mental health

A new study by the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research highlighting useful evergreens which are best to clean the air.

Plant Heritage are asking gardeners across the UK to search for any rare or unusual plants in their Threatened Plants of the Year 2024 Competition.

New naturally resistant Elms are planted in Scotland.

Help for hedgehogs as robotic lawn mowers create a new safety concern.

Garden Centre highlights extent of current retail crime and violence.

A garden planned for Queen Elizabeth.

A call to arms from Monty Don encouraging shoppers to buy peat-free.

Lichens on the International Space Station.

Stink bug causes chaos Down Under.

Name your plants from Westland research.

Seiont Nurseries embrace peat-free production.

A new magnolia discovered in northern Honduras.

Garden resilience is set to change Sheffield Park and Gardens in major re-vamp.

Floral clock to be restored at Weston-Super-Mare.

Brogdale; One of the world’s largest fruit tree collections sold.

Blueberry blues as scientists reveal the secret of its colour.

Welsh gardeners are offered £20 vouchers to remove Cotoneaster horizontalis.

Time to get spotting with the RHS Bumblebee Trust survey.

Celebrating 125 years of the HTA.

Mr Plant Geek is the host for the new RHS Urban Show in Manchester.

Dig It’s top 5 top selling composts of last season. Top seller Jack’s Magic All Purpose Improved, 2nd The Gardeners Multi-Purpose from Westland 3rd Levington Multi-Purpose plus John Innes, 4th Miracle-Gro Peat Free Compost and 5th Westland New Horizon All Plant Compost

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Cymbidiums, Phalaenopsis ‘Sogo Yukidian’, Kalanchoe, Echeveria, Streptocarpus, and Saintpaulia (African Violets).

People, places, and products mentioned: Peter took us back to the large orchid collection at Aynho Park House, with his mentor gardener and orchid enthusiast Ted Humphris. Between 1938 and 1965 Ted showed plants he had grown to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Shows at Westminster, and he won 25 awards. Ted’s most famous plant was an orchid, Cattleya Portia which Peter discusses. Ted tended it for almost 50 years, and the second time he exhibited it at Westminster in November 1948 there were over 520 blooms, making it the biggest orchid in the world (at the time). Ted wrote two books: Garden Glory about his life as a gardener, and Apricot Village, a more general book giving snapshots of life in Aynho during Ted’s lifetime.

Solihull Orchid Society.

Orchid Judging and The British Orchid Council.

RHS Orchid Committee.

The Dutch company Floricultura are the biggest propagator of orchids with the largest laboratories in the world.

The 23rd World Orchid Conference and the 20th Taiwan International Orchid Show.

Orchid Focus Repotting Compost and Orchid Focus Bloom and Orchid Focus Grow fertiliser. Make sure you use a fertiliser on your orchids which contains no urea (Uric nitrogen). Use clear pots for Phalaenopsis - so light gets to the roots and you can observe the roots easily.

For cymbidiums use Chempak® High Nitrogen Feed - Formula 2. A soluble rapid growth feed which gets leaves and stems off to a strong start in summer and then follow with a Tomato Feed in autumn. Houseplant Compost, Vermiculite, potting grit. Opti flora – producers of extra-large and special Phalaenopsis. Dibleys Nursery – streptocarpus specialists. The Dutch Flower Auction in Aalsmeer, Netherlands.

How dyed blue orchids are created on YouTube.

Peter’s Orchid accessories website.

Desert Island mentions: Phalaenopsis and a decent Swiss army knife with plenty of gadgets!

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

1st - 29th February: Snowdrop season at Waterperry Gardens featuring over 60 different snowdrop varieties. Gardens open 10am - 5pm.

3rd February: Graft and Grow Day at Buckingham Garden Centre and held in conjunction with The Mid-Shires Orchard Group, 10am - 4pm. Scion wood swap, fruit tree grafting demos, rootstocks, and fruit trees to buy and much more.

3rd February - 10th March: Explore RHS Wisley's glasshouses for their annual Houseplant Takeover with the theme 'Plants Before Time'.

8th February - 1 May: Danger and Desire: The Seductive Power of Orchids. Exhibition at RHS Wisley.

Saturday 10th February: ‘Golden and Delicious - Edwardian Gardens’ A lecture by Caroline Holmes. Writtle University College, Writtle. 11.30am - 13.30pm.

Top selling potatoes in 2023 1st Charlotte (2nd early) 2nd Desire (main) 3rd Kestrel (2nd) 4th Cara (main) 5th Arran Piot (1st).

Plant mentions: Arbutus unedo, Betula (Himalayan birch), Broad beans, Dogwoods including ‘Midwinter Fire’ (Cornus) Hardy orchids, Fargesia (clump forming bamboo), Hedera (ivy), Mahonia, Mentha (mint), bedding Geraniums, Garlic, Sweet peas, Lettuce, Chinese money plant, Sansevieria Cylindrica Braided and Witch Hazel (Hamamelis).

People, places and product mentions: Ashridge Forest, Gertrude Jekyll, Edwardian Garden style, Georgian Parks and Gardens Round-Up weedkiller, Kathy Brown’s Garden featured on BBC Gardeners’ World, Landscape weed-suppressing fabric, Melcourt peat-free composts, houseplants fill one of the Malvern Garden Buildings at the Garden Centre, Nest boxes, Tim Chafor, Composted Bark and Hot Bin Composting.

News

Dormice under threat from wetter weather and climate change.

Bamboo is the new Japanese knotweed.

Kew experts predict horticultural trends

Grapes in, apples out – RHS predicts garden trends as climate changes

Bumper year for British wine growers as output almost doubles.

Dutch growers benefit from increased energy subsidies.

The Dutch Flower Association acknowledges peat-free growing medium for the first time.

First skatepark incorporated into a Chelsea Flower Show garden sparks debate

A Tasmanian garden wins the world’s ugliest lawn competition (video)

DEFRA launches Forest of the National competition with the overall winner receiving £10m to fund their project.

The RHS launches an AI chatbot called Chatbotanist to provide advice for members through their phone or PC

Oldest fungal plant named after children’s book author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter.

Biochar start-up Earthly Biochar has come up with a government-funded project that’s setting out to help save Britain's ash trees.

New Mr Fothergill’s wildlife seed mix launched by BBC Children in Need.

New findings suggest flowers are evolving to self-pollinate

2023 was a record year for the National Garden Scheme

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music

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Plants mentioned: Agapanthus, Artemisia, Antirrhinums, Aquilegia, Aster, bee orchid, Daphne Bholua, Camassia, Cosmos, Foxgloves, flowering cherry trees, Dahlia, Dierama, Lonicera fragrantissima (winter honeysuckle), Hellebores, hardy ferns, Narcissi, Nasturtiums, Paeonia, Pears, Penstemons, Rose Champagne Moment, Rose Wildeve, Red trefoil, Yellow Rattle, Phlox, Snowdrops, Trilliums, Whitebeam, Winter sweet and Zinnia.

People, places and products mentioned: Aphids, Buglife, Adam Henson, Ann-Marie Powell (garden designer), Long tailed bees, caterpillar control in salt water, earwigs, Blackspot, Hook Norton Brewery, Ground beetles, Thames Valley radio programme Dig It (no longer broadcast), ladybirds (two, seven spot, meadow species), Book English Pastoral by James Rebanks, Jennifer Owen (zoologist) and her book Jennifer Owen - Wildlife of a Garden: A Thirty-year Study (published by RHS). Andrew Halstead, retired RHS Principal Entomologist. Rothamsted Research Station, Cedric Morris garden at Chelsea, and No Mow May.

Val’s desert island tool - Cobra headed weeder tool. Castaway plant Amsonia, the eastern blue star plant.

Val’s book’s The Living Jigsaw, (Kew Publishing), The Natural Gardener: The Way We All Want to Garden, (Francis Lincoln) plus Val’s 10 Minute Gardener’s range of books covering vegetable, fruit, Grow your own and flower growing.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

Monday 1st January Sir Harold Hillier Gardens Guided Tour. Romsey, Hampshire.

Thursday 18th January: Rose Pruning Masterclass with Michael Marriott at Borde Hill, Haywards Heath in West Sussex.

Saturday 20th January: National Tulip Day in the centre of Amsterdam, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm.

Saturday 27th January: Talk ‘Puzzle Pictures’, 2.30-5pm organised by the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust and to be held at Aylesbury Methodist Church and Centre.

26-28th January: RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

27-28th January: Houseplant Weekend at RHS Garden Bridgewater.

Saturday 3rd February: Buckingham Garden Centre’s Graft and Grow Day featuring fruit tree grafting in conjunction with The Mid-Shires Orchard Group. 10am - 4pm.

Looking to get out and about? There’s plenty of great winter gardens around the UK to visit on the Great British Gardens website.

Dig It top 5 selling trees of 2023 Sharing the top slot Malus ‘Aros’ and Cotoneaster ‘Cornubia’, joint 2nd place with Malus ‘Red Obelisk’ and Prunus ‘Amanogawa’ and in the third place Acer ‘Brandywine’.

As we start the year, here’s our followers top most popular guest podcasts to date. Top slot is No Dig with Charles Dowding, in the second slot is Cottage Gardening with Rosy Hardy. In third position The Queen of the Herb’s Jekka McVicar followed by Cherry growing with Vikki Grainge and at the 5th slot Composting with Rod Weston.

News

End of the line for peat composts at Evergreen after 22 years.

Arit Anderson, in her new book, highlights a range of garden trees that can stand up for our changing climate.

Scientist calls for new ways to understand plant durability in recent RHS talk.

Low-level offenders will clean up graffiti and plant trees instead of being sent to prison as ministers try to solve major overcrowding crisis in UK.

Global action to save Aussie ‘living dinosaur’ tree.

International conservation charity Plantlife secures £80,000 campaign target to increase lichen research.

UK bans giant rhubarb after study finds popular garden plant is invasive species.

Plant fossils are remains of ancient baby turtles.

The Young People in Horticulture Association (YPHA) reach a membership milestone of over 700 members.

Peach Fuzz is Pantone colour of the year. A velvety gentle peach whose all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body, and heart. Expect to see plenty of peach tones and hues this year!

2024 is the year for Edimentals.

Garden ornament turns out to be live bomb.

Plant mentions: Box, Cyclamen persicum (large florist cyclamen), Broccoli, Purple and white sprouting broccoli, Globe artichoke, Reindeer moss, Mixed Native Hedging, Gunnera maculata, Honeysuckle hedging, Pansies, Swiss Chard, Chinese lanterns, Lettuce ‘Lollo Rossa,’ ornamental grasses, Pea ‘Feltham First’ and ‘Meteor,’ Geraniums (from seed), Liliums, autumn fruiting raspberries, strawberry runners, and seed potatoes.

Product Mentions: Kelkay trends for 2024, terracotta pots, lawn aerator, mower service, Haxnicks Fleece jackets and organic winter wash.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Alan’s latest book, Confessions of a Gardener, helps support the fantastic charity Perennial - the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society. £4 will be donated to Perennial. You can order it here.

Product mentions: Consider a Hydrological survey which documents the source (inflow), route, and flow (outflow) of springs, brooks, streams, rivers, and culverts. The report also notes water depths, seasonal flooding, and the significance of surface water runoffs on your land and beyond. Lasers for levels rather than water levels. Butyl pond liner, Bradstone paving and stone, Porcelain, Indian sandstone paving, importance of permeable materials for drainage.

Plant mentions: Palm trees, wildflowers, and re-wilding to help attract birds, bee friendly plants for pollinators and Japanese maples.

People mentions: Alan Titchmarsh - mentor to Alan, Peter Seabrook, Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra, Patron of Action for Blind People as well as being President of Sightsavers. Garden designers Robin Williams, Mark Gregory, who has been involved with 99 gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, with a total of 160 show gardens for the RHS, making him the most medalled garden builder within the RHS. Peter Rodgers, garden designer. TV presenter and botanist Dr David Bellamy. Peter Rodgers, garden designer.

Desert island tool: A Swiss army knife.

Alan Sargent’s website

Landscape Library (educational resource)

The Association of Professional Landscapers (APL, Find a Landscaping Professional)

The Professional Garden Consultants Association

The Chartered Institute of Horticulture

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

7 – 11 December Winter Flower Week at the Garden Museum, London. Five floral designers transform the Garden Museum into an environmentally friendly floral winter wonderland.

Friday 8th December, 12 noon – 4pm at the Garden Centre we have a wine tasting event with our good friend Tim Chafor from Chafor Vineyard Estate, Gawcott.

The RHS are running Glow Events at their gardens at Wisley, 4pm - 9pm, Hyde Hall (5-9pm) in Essex and at RHS Rosemoor (4.40- 8.30pm). Visit the RHS website for details.

Dig It top 5 - spring flowering bulbs

No 1 Narcissi 'Tête-à-tête, No 2 Amaryllis ‘Dancing Queen’, No 3 Narcissi Mixed 1.5kg bag, No 4 Hyacinth ‘Early Forcing’ and at No 5 Tulip ‘Purple Rain’.

A ‘lunar halo’ was spotted in the night skies in late November and Peter managed to capture the phenomenon which is caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. // LINK TO PETERS PHOTO //

News

Adam Frost will be at the Gardeners World Live Show in June 2024 with his Chef’s Table Garden.

Greenpeace freedom of information request highlights the huge waiting lists for allotments.

Nearly half of species are threatened according to new Kew research findings.

Peat not mentioned in the King’s Speech.

The RHS publish a list of peat-free nurseries.

A new chilli Pepper X is now a new Guinness world record breaker.

A new chapter at Hillier Nurseries.

Treadstone wins the GIMA Award in the Category Sustainability Champion for their Treadstone Rope Trellis

Candide, a dedicated social networking app for plant and garden-lovers, closes on the 7th December.

A taster of the 2024 Chelsea Flower Show Gardens.

The RHS open their first standalone shop, The Plant Space at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent.

Gardeners’ World presenter Sue Kent highlights specific Garden Heritage Seed varieties from Garden Organic. Sue visited Garden Organics earlier this year.

Horticulture sector needs urgent safeguards, reports House of Lords committee

Sir David Attenborough donates Easter Island seeds to Kew

‘Darwin’s oak’ to be felled to make way for Shrewsbury bypass

East Anglian Fens were covered in yew trees 4,000 years ago, study finds

The entire population of Kenya has been given the day off to plant trees

Mentions: Sir Harold Hillier Garden, famed winter garden, in Romsey in Hampshire is well worth visiting. The Garden Centre will be donating 50p per Christmas tree sold this year to the charity Ripple Africa who actively promote sustainable tree planting in Malawi.

Product mentions: Winter wash fruit trees and bushes with Growing Success Winter Wash, tree ties, tree shelters, check your stakes, insulate outdoor taps against frost, Secateurs Eversharp, Wolf Secateurs or Felco. WD40, Blade sharpening tool/stone. Christmas tree stand with a water reservoir.

Plant mentions: Abies nordmanniana, English Oak, Bluebell, Dandelion, fruit trees and soft fruit.

Our thanks for Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Main pointers: Location, terrariums (open or closed), types of plants best suited to light levels and careful consideration to the way you place your plants. Plant in layers starting with height and then choose plants to bulk out the display as well as covering the soil. Try and theme your display – all green, variegated or add splashes of colour in the way of plants or props.

Plant mentions: Open terrariums Cacti and slow growing succulents, where possible try and use the same group of plants, plus air and carnivorous plants. Flowering plants such as Saintpaulia and Kalanchoe are better in open terrariums.

Closed terrariums: Adiantum, Pteris and Nephrolepsis ferns, Fittonia, Helxine soleirolii, Begonia rex and Peperomias. The only orchid Manos would suggest for growing in a terrarium is the Jewel orchid (Ludisia discolor).

Product mentions Any glass containers are suitable as long as they are large, grit, gravel or clay granules provide the drainage, an escape for water, activated carbon charcoal helps with the filtration and absorption qualities of the compost, peat-free potting mix, BBQ tongs for handling cacti, special tools come into play if using the old fashioned thin necked carboys or green bottles, a small watering can with a rose or large spoonful of water to help settle in new plants. Houseplant Focus plant feed. Decorative stones, slate, or moss to provide a terrain to your plants. You can add characters likes decorative animals, Buddhas, fairies, dinosaurs or even LEGO characters to help create a story. Fungus gnats (sciarid flies) control - use small yellow sticky traps or carefully spray with SB Plant Invigorator and Bug Killer.

Desert Island plant and tool: A palm maybe Beaucarnea recurvata, the elephant's foot or ponytail palm and a mobile phone!

The book, Terrariums: A Beginners Guide is an authoritative and detailed guide to terraria by Manos Kanellos and is available from all good Garden Centres.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentions: Apple Granny Smith, Comfrey, Sweet Chestnut, Sycamore, Loofah, Tulips, Winter pansies, Wallflower ‘Sugar Rush’, Broad beans, Onions, Shallots and Garlic. Narcissus ‘Paper White’ and bare-root raspberry canes.

Product mentions: Empathy RootGrow, Melcourt SylvaGrow Multi-Purpose Compost, Levington Organic Blend Topsoil, wheatgerm fish food, greenhouse bubble insulation, horticultural fleece, garden furniture covers, grease bands for fruit trees, Gro-Sure Repair Kits, Autumn lawn food and pot feet.

What’s on

27th October – 28th January 2024 The Museum of Cider in Hereford is hosting an exhibition called A Variety of Cultures. The event explores how cultures across the globe have taken the apple and made it their own.

Thursday 23rd November, Annual Lecture – What Garden Visiting Does for Us with Robin Lane Fox. Venue the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR, or watch it live-streamed online at 7pm.

This month’s Dig It top 5

Soft fruits 1. Strawberry ‘Red Gauntlet’ 2. Strawberry ‘Cambridge Favourite’ 3. Blueberry ‘Sunshine Blue’ 4. Strawberry ‘Hapil’ 5. Blackcurrant ‘Big Ben.’

News

The Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland felling incident.

Wrexham’s 484-year-old Sweet Chestnut Tree has been voted Tree of the Year 2023.

The UK’s largest collection of comfreys has been made a National Collection by the conservation charity Plant Heritage.

Eight Guinness World Records achieved at Great Autumn Malvern Show.

A 10,000 collection of pumpkins and squashes set a new Guiness World Record at Sunnyfields Farm in Southampton.

Amateur Gardening magazine saved from cancellation.

The results of this year’s Big Butterfly Count are in, and more than 1.5 million butterflies and daytime months were recorded.

Losses of specimen yew trees at King Charles’s Sandringham residence as staff remove 14 dead trees in a new Topiary Garden.

Gardeners’ World has paid tribute to Monty Don's golden retriever, Nellie, following her sad passing.

Therapy garden at King’s Heath, Birmingham is awarded thousands of Lottery money for major revamp.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plant mentions: Heathers (Erica and Calluna), x Cupressocyparis leylandii, Cotinus coggygria (smoke bush), Stipa tenuissima, Miscanthus, Cornus, Viburnum, Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant redwood), Hydrangea ‘Annabelle,’ Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’, Pampas grass and Platycladus orientalis (Thuja).

Desert island plant: Buddlejas and hybridising them.

People, places, and product mentions: Alan Bloom and his helper Percy Piper were responsible for raising and introducing over 150 perennials, and the tradition has been continued by his son Adrian, son in law Jaime Blake, and grandson Jason. Percy Thrower, Richard Bloom (photographer). The 1960 Winter Olympics held in the Squaw Valley Resort in Squaw Valley, California. Pershore College, Bressingham Hall, Cambridge Fen Tongue End skating. Books: Perennials For Your Garden by Alan Bloom, A Year Round Garden by Adrian Bloom.

Origins of the name Foggy Bottom, Washington DC.

You can order a signed copy of Foggy Bottom - A Garden to Share book here

To find out more about Adrian Bloom, the Gardens, Books, and Plants, visit the website.

Blooms of Bressingham YouTube channel

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

Sunday 1st October, 10am-4pm, The second day of our Apple Weekend event at the Garden Centre and we will be joined by top apple fruit identification expert Gerry Edwards, apple pressing featuring The Mid-Shire Orchard Group, Garden Organics with Chris Collins, and the local wildlife trust.

Sunday 8th October Orchard Open Day at Waterperry Gardens, Oxfordshire, 10am - 4pm.

Thursday, 12th October Ryton Demonstration Garden Tour 10:00am - 11.15am at Garden Organic, Ryton Gardens, Coventry. https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/events/ryton-garden-tour-12oct

Tuesday 17 October Horatio's Garden Stoke Mandeville (National Spinal Injuries Centre), designed by Joe Swift. Private Tour in aide of the Horatio's Garden Charity, 10.00-11.30am. Booking is essential.

All October Looking for local gardens to you for autumn colour then check out the Great British Gardens website

Dig it Top 5 Hedging Plants As next month we officially start the hedging season, here’s a reminder of our top sellers last season Top seller at No 1. Quickthorn 2. Hornbeam 3. Green Beech 4. Photinia Red Robin 5. Green Privet.

News

The world’s oldest gardening magazine Amateur Gardening magazine closes after 139 years.

Interflora and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust join forces to introduce a bee-friendly Beequet!

Top chef Raymond Blanc continues his passion for growing and preserving many of the Heirloom veggies from Garden Organics at his Oxfordshire restaurant.

The new RHS Urban Plant Show is set to open at the Depot Mayfield in Manchester on the 18th-21st April 2024.

Reduced peat growing of UK houseplants.

Nursery growing peat-free houseplants from seed.

Be more sustainable by taking cuttings from your own plants says Tony Le Britton.

Sculpture garden scoops top accolade.

First sensory garden for pets opens in Devon.

New study on growing homegrown food is looking for volunteers to help with research. To take part, contact urbanharvest@sheffield.ac.uk

Teenager finds seed from world’s largest bean pod on beach.

Plants mentioned: Holly (Ilex), Potatoes, Tomato, Catnip, Plant garlic (available instore), Stocks, Winter hardy Pansies and Violas, 6-pack Wallflowers, Fuchsias, Pelargonium (geraniums), Alliums, Crocus, Daffodils, Tulips. Indoor Hyacinths and Amaryllis planting time. Nature Love’ colour themed bulb packs. Primrose and mini cyclamen for centre bowl planting.

Products mentioned: Compost bins, Vitax Greenhouse Fumigator (Insecticide smoke for greenhouses) and greenhouse disinfectant. Horticultural fleece for winter protection. Larger plant labels.

Our special thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Grapes grown at Chafor Wine Estate are Champagne varieties of ‘Chardonnay’ (white), ‘Pinot Noir’ (red) and ‘Pinot Meunier’, (red) alongside ‘Bacchus’ (white), a variety which is widely becoming recognised as England’s signature grape. This variety is a true dual-purpose variety.

Other grapes mentioned: ‘Merlot’ (red), ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ (red) and ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ (white).

Grape rootstocks, including the stock Tim recommends SO4.

Bernwood Forest and Buckinghamshire’s County Council Coat of Arms inspired the stag logo used by Chafor Wine Estate.

If you fancy grape stomping (feet pressing) then you might have to look further afield in the UK, as Tim said these would be experiences and we did spot one on Airbnb Tip: Google search ‘grape stomping’.

Accolades Tim’s wines have collected major awards from such esteemed bodies as the International Wine Challenge, Decanter, and the UK Wine awards. Tim’s 2014 Chafor Wine Estate Vintage Rosé received 91 points from leading wine advocate Robert Parker.

Desert island luxuries: A grape vine, either ‘Bacchus’ or if that’s unavailable the variety ‘Pinot Noir’ and a wine press!

Useful links

Chafor Wine Estate website

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

1st- 30th September Garden Organic are promoting 30 thrifty biodiversity projects, one for each day of the month through Organic September and across their social medial channels #ThriftyThirty

1st - 3rd September BBC Gardeners' World Autumn Fair, Audley End House and Garden, Saffron Walden.

5th - 10th September RHS Wisley Flower Show, Surrey.

16th - 17th September Cactus at the Castle event at Lullingstone Castle & The World Garden in Kent.

17th September Rare Autumn Plant Fair at Borde Hill Garden, Haywards Heath.

22 - 24th September Malvern Plant and Garden Fair, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire.

30th September / 1st October Apple Weekend at Buckingham Garden Centre, 10am-4pm.

It’s time to celebrate the Apple at Buckingham Garden Centre's popular Apple Weekend event featuring RHS apple expert Gerry Edwards, The Mid Shires Orchard group, plus Chris Collins, Garden Organic's Head of Organic Horticulture, and former BBC Blue Peter Gardener.

Dig It Top Five Sellers - Perennials (in 1-litre pots) 1. Lavender ‘Hidcote,’ 2. Lupinus ‘Gallery Mixed’, 3. Delphinium ‘Black Knight’, 4. Penstemon ‘Pensham Wedding Day’ and 5. Leucanthemum ‘Snow Lady’.

News

Sweetpea species offers future food potential.

Blenheim Palace gardens to get major revamp.

The National Garden Scheme launches five new community-based projects.

Growers told to be vigilant as Colorado beetles are spotted in the south of England.

Squire’s Garden Centre electrifies its fleet.

Blue Diamond buys four nursery sites.

Pitcher plants can go peat-free says RHS.

London’s Garden Museum to expand gardens into public realm.

Home and garden chain Wilko files for administration putting 12,000 jobs at risk.

CEO Dave Carey leaves Mr Fothergill’s.

Calls to use native grasses rather than ryegrass in our lawns.

Quarter of Brits think artificial grass should be banned.

Plants and products mentioned Amaryllis, autumn flowering bulbs Colchicums, Crocus and Cyclamen hederifolium. Prepared hyacinths. Cerinthes, Ammi, Scabiosa and Cornflowers. Dahlias, Heuchera, ornamental grasses, hardy Pansies, and Violas. Propagate Fuchsia, Salvias, Rosemary Prune cropped Raspberry canes. Houseplant Tradescantia. Maxicrop Original Seaweed Extract, Aftercut Autumn Lawn Food, lawn seed, pea netting to cover ponds before leaf fall and garden vax for leaf shedding for composting.

Our special thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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Plants mentioned: Ulmus angustifolia (Cornish elm), David Austin Roses, Borage, Poppies, tomatoes, aubergines, spinach, bedding plants, chillis, peppers, micro-greens in a salad bar and bulbs - Alliums, Crocus, Snowdrops, and Tulips. Houseplants: Cycads, Crotons, Ficus benjamina, Pelargoniums, and terrarium gardening.

Products and people: David Austin Roses, Whichford Pottery, Trowels, Honda Mower, Percy Thrower, hanging baskets, Obelisks, Maxi crop Seaweed Extract, Q4 pellets, spouts with water bottles. Lawrence Hills, founder of Garden Organics. Horticulture Week magazine, The Plantsman (BBC 2 programme), and QVC Shopping Channel.

Places mentioned: Graduate of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Apprentice gardeners at Brighton Parks Department, Limbe Botanic Garden in Cameroon, South arboretum at the Royal Botanic gardens in Kew, Head gardener at Westminster Abbey Gardens, college garden / medicinal garden. BBC Media City, Salford, home of the Blue Peter Garden, and Balcony gardens at Chelsea Flower Show.

Desert island luxuries: Felco 8 secateurs and Betula (birch tree), one of the most relaxed ‘unstressed’ trees to grow.

Chris’s gardening book, Grow Your Own For Kids

Chris Collins’s website Facebook and Instagram

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

2 - 6th August: RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show, Chelmsford, Essex.

4 - 13th August: Shropshire Petal Fields, Newport, Shropshire.

11 – 12th August: Shrewsbury Flower Show, The Quarry Shrewsbury.

12 – 13th August: The Great Comp Summer Show, Platt near Sevenoaks, Kent.

17 – 20th August: Southport Flower Show, Victoria Park, Southport.

18 – 20th August: RHS Garden Rosemoor Flower Show, Great Torrington, Devon.

Until 13 September: RHS Garden Wisley. A new exhibition Growing Up in the Garden, showcasing the way children use gardens as a place to connect with and explore the natural world.

NEWS

First King’s birthday honours for landscaper and designer Tom Stuart-Smith (OBE) and Kew’s Director of Gardens Richard Barley (MBE).

Renowned rosarian Michael Marriott awarded the Dean Hole Medal by Colin Squire, chairman of The Rose Society UK.

Top accolade the Brickell Award went to Adrian Young’s National Collection of 900 Saxifraga as part of Plant Heritage’s Hampton Court display.

Carol Klein named the RHS's 'Iconic Horticultural Hero' for 2023 and Carol’s comments about the lack of female representation on Gardeners’ World.

Hemlock warning: the deadly plant found in UK gardens.

Rare pink grasshopper spotted in North Wales.

Use of peat is falling according to latest HTA report.

Scottish farmers lead research to revive lost linen industry.

Salisbury City Council scraps hanging baskets and sparks division.

Top plants named at HTA Plant Show - Curcuma ‘Skyline’ overall winner. Other winners include Agapanthus Orientalis ‘Black Jack,’ Ball Colegrave Ltd’s Dahlia ‘Dalina® Maxi Starburst Pink’ and Fatsia Japonica ‘Camouflage.’

Dig It Top Five Roses: 1. ‘The Queen Elizabeth II’, 2. ‘With Love’, 3. ‘Cutie Pie’, 4. ‘Precious Ruby’ and 5. ‘Mary Berry’.

Plant mentions: Plant seed potatoes for Christmas, Leeks, Brassicas and Spinach. Sow Basil, Marjoram, Borage, Chives, Coriander, and Dill. Propagate lavender and rosemary. Divide Chives. Propagate and plant new strawberry runners including ‘Cambridge Favourite,’ ‘Elsanta,’ and ‘Honeoye.’ Continue sowing early-flowering biennials - like honesty and wallflowers. Sow Cress and compact sunflowers with the children.

Product mentions: Bamboo canes, Garden twine (Jute). Plant feeds - Tomorite, Doff fertilisers. Miracle Gro, Phostrogen, Seaweed Extract, Westland Tomato Food and Comfrey tea.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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We also chat with Jonathan Shepherd, who is a holder of not one but two plant collections – Hollyhocks (Alcea) and Cosmos bipinnatus - in his 2-acre Lincolnshire garden and polytunnels where he grows his plants in a very sustainable way. Jonathan describes his journey into growing and how he has become an advocate to these two important plant species. He also shares his growing tips on raising them for the garden and for staging at the prestigious Hampton Court Flower Festival held earlier this month.

Plant Heritage is the world's leading garden plant conservation and research charity – celebrating 45 years. The charity’s mission is the conservation of cultivated plants in the British Isles and a milestone of 700 national plant collections has been reached.

Gill’s favourite plants: Australasia beauties including Callistemon, Leptospermum and Eucalyptus (gum trees).

Hollyhocks are short-lived non-native perennials. Varieties mentioned: ‘Charters,’ ‘Purple Rain,’ Blackcurrant World, ‘Creme de Cassis’ and ‘Nigra.’ ‘Halo’ varieties bred by Thompson & Morgan include single colours - ‘Halo Apricot,’ ‘Halo Blush’ and ‘Halo Cream.’

Cosmos are short day flowers and need to be kept hungry as too much feed often results in much taller plants. Jonathan sowed over 3000 seeds for the 17 planters of Cosmos he took to this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. Varieties mentioned: ‘Cupcake Blush,’ ‘Gloria,’ ‘Dazzler’ (Monty Don’s favourite), ‘Apricotta,’ ‘Pink Mosaic’ and ‘Sonata.’ Check out our seed range here

Desert Island item: Jonathan’s grandad’s galvanised watering can - he wouldn’t be without it!

Product and people mentions: Melcourt SylvaGrow Peat-Free Compost (for seed sowing), Westland New Horizon Peat-Free (for planters). TV gardener and designer Adam Frost. Sweet Peas: An Essential Guide by Roger Parsons. Rosa Persica staged by Daniel Myhill, Jonathan Hogarth for his educational display of small and miniature hosta.

Jonathan’s website, Twitter, and Instagram

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

4th - 9th July: RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, Surrey. Shop for plants from specialist nurseries and be inspired by gardens.

15th & 16th of July: Belvoir Castle Flower and garden Show, in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

19th - 23rd July: RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire.

News

King Charles and Queen Camilla open the Coronation Garden in Hazelbank Park, Newtownabbey, Ireland.

The secret Italian Garden in Great Ambrook opens in Devon.

Perennial’s garden The Laskett opens to the public.

Record stag beetles this summer.

The Scottish government may not be following the same timeline for peat-free ban than England.

Globetrotting rare Ghost orchid flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Peat free test trials featured in Amateur Gardening showing positive results on two major products.

B&Q says don't dig your garden - it's bad for your soil and the environment. Listen back to Charles Dowding’s Dig it podcast.

Lincolnshire beans could provide British solution to imports.

Dig It Top Five 6-pack bedding 1. Geranium White, 2. Geranium Deep Red, 3. Lobelia trailing – all colours, 4. Petunia Mixed, and 5. Antirrhinums.

Plant mentions: Allium seed collection and drying the head for decoration, Borage, Eucalyptus, Rose 'Peter's Persica', butterfly attracting plants such as Buddleja, including the newer dwarf varieties, B ‘White Profusion’, Foxgloves, Verbena, Marjoram, perennial wallflowers, Courgette ‘Eight Ball’, Heirloom seed varieties from Garden Organics, Wisteria (summer pruning), Wisteria ‘Amethyst Falls’, Spiraea, Philadelphus (mock orange), Marginal, Water Lilies and Oxygenating plants for ponds, Sweet Peas, Box Moth Caterpillar, Ermine moth webs affecting native hedging, Runner beans, Comfrey, Wallflowers. First early potatoes for Christmas.

Product mentions: Dalefoot Peat-free Compost, SylvaGrow Multipurpose Compost, Baby Bio, Tomato fertiliser, barley straw (to help reduce blanketweed), dichlorination (water changes), Smart Garden solar water features and Root trainers.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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Plant mentions: The houseplant, Ficus benjamina, weeping fig, plant perennials plants for less work. Box (Buxus sempervirens), Lavandula augustifolia ‘Arctic Snow’ and Berberis darwinii ‘Nana’, Euonymus ‘Jean Hugues’ and E. ‘Green Spire’, Apples, Pears, Cowslips (Primula veris), Bluebells and Snowdrops, Spirea and Rose ‘Geoff Hamilton’.

Desert island luxuries: Penstemon – lots of varieties including ‘Geoff Hamilton’, these plants are great for pollinators, plus garden knife, the gardeners’ essential tool says Nick.

Product mentions: Westland New Horizon peat-free compost, Melcourt SylvaGrow Multi-Purpose Compost and Melcourt Propagation Bark, artificial turf, slate aggregates, tap into the knowledge of like-minded gardeners, nurseryman and ask questions! Geoff Hamilton’s Cottage Garden Book features the design of the beehive compost bin.

People and places mentions: Barnsdale’s head gardener Jon Brocklebank, Nick’s brother photographer Steve Hamilton John Kenyon, Gardener’s World Producer, Writtle University College, Essex and Hampton Court Palace.

Barnsdale Gardens website, includes garden details, restaurant, events and gardening courses.

Barnsdale Gardens will be celebrating 40 years at this month’s Gardeners’ World Live Garden Show

Books: The Right Genes by Nick Hamilton, plus Nick’s gardening books, Organic Gardening and Grow Organic Fruit and Vegetables are available here

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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What’s on

27th May - 4th June National Children’s Gardening Week featuring The World of Peter Rabbit.

1st - 5th June: Bord Bia Bloom Ireland's largest gardening event.

15 - 18th June: BBC Gardeners' World Live at the Birmingham NEC.

23 - 25th June: Blenheim Palace Flower Show.

30th June - 2nd July: Jekka's HerbFest at Jekka’s Herb Farm, Alveston, Bristol.

News of the show gardens and plants at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Catch up with the BBC RHS coverage (Please note BBC Iplayer is not available outside the UK and requires a TV license).

Photo RHS Garden The Nurture Nature Garden designed by Sarah Price, Gold Medal winner.

DIG IT Top 5 fertilisers Top slot at 1. Doff Seaweed Extract 2. Westland Fish, Blood, and Bone 3. Vitax Organic Potato Fertiliser 4 Miracle-Gro Chicken Manure 5. Levington’s Tomorite.

Product mentions: Levington Seed and Compost (Peat-free), Lawn Feed and Weed Fertilisers, Blood, Fish and Bone, Chicken manure and Vitax Q4. New sustainable one-use CasusGrill™ BBQ.

Plant mentions: Propagate Carnations and Dahlias. Plant Courgettes, Fuchsias, Lobelia, Pelargoniums, Petunias, Sweet Corn, Runner bean ‘Enorma,’ Tomatoes and Pumpkins. Sow seeds of Lettuce, Radish, and Spring Onions. Sow seeds of Canterbury Bells, Foxgloves, Polyanthus, Primroses, and Sweet William.

News

Blue Diamond has acquired Fosseway Garden Centre.

Farmers asked to send in slugs for feeding analysis.

Restoration of the Bridgemere show gardens with TV’s David Domoney.

How lining your pot with coffee filter paper may help save your houseplants.

Time to vote for your favourite Historic Houses ‘Garden of the Year’ at this link

New chair Rupert Tyler for Garden Museum.

The first collection of Royal Mail Special Stamps to feature the King’s head will depict illustrations of gorgeous garden flowers to recognise his passion for gardening.

Scientists urge tax breaks for sustainable gardeners.

The famous East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden is bequeathed to the Perennial Charity so securing its future.

Royal Horticultural Society criticised over products that kill bugs and wildflowers.

Wildflower brand Seedball is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is launching a range of bee tines to raise awareness of 3 British species that are in decline.

Who will win the first Peter Seabrook Award at Gardeners World Live?

Plant Heritage relocate to world-renowned RHS Garden Wisley.

Mark’s 700-mile journey to buy gas BBQ from Scots garden centre.

Our next guest is Nick Hamilton from Barnsdale Gardens.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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Plants mentioned: Eucalyptus, Runner beans, Mustard, Cress, Herbs, Pelargoniums (traditional Geranium), Hyacinth ‘Midnight Mystic’ (Black), Lavender, Petunia, TomTato ® (Ketchup and Fries, US name), tomato and potato grafted onto one plant), Egg n’ Chips Plant (aubergine and potato grafted onto one plant) , Rubus cockburnianus (white stemmed bramble) and tradescantia zebrina.

Products / Places / People mentions: Jekka McVicar’s Herb Books, Easton & Otley College, The Perennial Charity, Thompson & Morgan Seeds, greenhouses (link with Malvern), Seedball, Garden Tags, Gardeners’ World, Urban Herbs,  GLEE, Amigra grass nursery in the Netherlands and the IPM Trade Show. Geoff Hamilton, Anne Swithinbank and Pippa Greenwood.

Michael’s favourite plants; All members of the Iris family and Mints.

To find out more about Michael Perry visit his website for all social links and more. The Plant Base Podcast

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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What’s On

1st – 31st May No Mow May

2nd-8th May: RHS National Gardening Week.

6th May: King’s Coronation. Turn Your Garden Red, White and Blue – Patriotic Planting for The King's Coronation.

Sunday 7th May: Specialist Spring Plant Fair at Borde Hill, Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

11th - 14th May: RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

14th May: World Topiary Day.

23rd – 27th May: RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Royal Hospital Chelsea, London.

30th May – 2nd July: Tree Listening. Visit Exbury Gardens in Hampshire to find out what happens beneath the bark of trees.

Plants mentioned: Antirrhinums, Basil, Broad beans, Cosmos, Courgettes, Hyssop, Kinder Plant Drop-in / Pop-ins, Lobelia, Mints, Petunia, Photinia Red Robin, Potato ‘Swift’, Runner beans, Rhubarb, Rosemary, Sweet Corn, Thyme, Tomatoes, Tulips,

Products mentioned: Malvern Garden Buildings at the RHS Chelsea Flower show with their Houseplant Studios, Levington Seed and Cutting Peat-Free Compost, Agralan Plum Moth and Codling Moth pheromone traps, yellow sticky traps, Slug traps, Provanto Veg & Fruit spray, Poppy Forge plant supports, Perlite and Vermiculite.

News Houseplant books: Legends of the Leaf by Jane Perrone and Not Another Jungle by Tony Le-Britton.

NEWS

London’s Natural History Museum survey focusing noise pollution and insect life.

Research by The New Scientist suggests Plant Ident Apps are not particularly accurate.

A new crowdfunded sensory garden ties a strong bond with the Ukraine in Liverpool.

A new 1.2-mile-long railway park to connect Camden Town and King’s Cross gets a green light and it will be designed by Piet Oudolf.

The Victorian Palm House at the Royal Botanic gardens in Edinburgh undergoes a major structural restoration.

Newby Hall in Yorkshire celebrates its 75th anniversary with a special royal theme.

Tesco have become the first UK retailer to go peat-free in its British-grown bedding plants.

Government backtracks on commercial peat ban with professional growers to continue to use products until 2030.

Melcourt SylvaGrow® Multi-Purpose 100% peat-free compost has been recognised as a top performer and a Which? Best Buy, earning it the right to use the prestigious endorsement. It is stocked at the Garden Centre.

Orchid grower Marius Grzelik has taken on Geoff Hands’ National Plant Collection® of Dendrobium after Geoff Hands passed away in November 2020. www.plantheritage.co.uk

Boyd Douglas-Davies to leave British Garden Centres and will be setting up his own consultancy business.

Blue Diamond acquires its 43rd Garden Centre - Beckworth Emporium.

RSPB birdwatch 2022 results announced.

Dig It Top 5 KINDER PLANTS 1st Nepeta hederacea. Joint 2nd Petunia ‘Tumbelina ‘Diana’ and Bacopa ‘Megacopa White’. In 3rd place Petunia ‘Tumbelina Anna’ and in 4th Fuchsia ‘Voodoo’.

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Media mentions: Books Propagation Basics (winner of the Garden Media Guild Award for Best Practical Book), The Pruner’s Bible, Winter Gardening, The Fragrant Garden and What’s Wrong With My Plant? and The Grafter’s Handbook. Consumer testing in Amateur Gardening magazine, RHS The Garden magazine and Gardeners’ World magazine. BBC Radio Kent. TV Channel 4 series: Plant Life and Garden Doctors and BBC’s Ground Force.

Plant and product mentions: Lettuce ‘Iceberg’ Tomato rootstocks (variety Submarine), grafted tomatoes, grafting clips, Managing honey fungus and Rootgrow.

Steve’s desert island essential: Alan Titchmarsh

College mentions: Askham Bryan College, Cannington College (Bridgwater and Taunton College), Pershore College, Merrist Wood College and Writtle University College.

To find out more about Steve and The Sun gardening visit this website

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What’s on

1 - 2 April: Cornwall Garden Society Spring Flower Show

Plant Fairs at Great Dixter 1-2nd April, Evenley Wood Rare Plant Fair on 2nd April and the Spring Fair Roadshow at Arundel Castle on 23rd April.

20 - 23rd April: Harrogate Spring Flower Show

28 - 30th April: BBC Gardeners' World Spring Fair in Beaulieu, New Forest, Hampshire.

Product mentions: BBQs, RHS seeds, Tomorite Tomato food, Doff Tomato food, Vitax Q4 fertiliser, propagation cell trays, peat-free seed sowing compost, Vermiculite, Perlite, Fleece, Root Trainers, Lawn feeds, scarifiers and overseeding with lawn seed.

Plants mentioned: Apples ‘Flower of Kent’ and ‘Bramley’s Original.’ Antirrhinum, Cosmos, Marigolds, Sweet Peas, and Zinnia. Broad beans, Mustard and Cress, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Squashes, Marrows and Sweet Corn. Buddleja, Dahlias, Rosemary, Root wrapped Roses, English Bluebells and Thyme.

News

Alan Titchmarsh: ‘I tend not to follow my own gardening advice.’

Plants in Peril Plant Atlas Report.

Blue Diamond / National Trust tie in.

National Trust Manchester’s Victorian Sky Park.

Rare Moonflower blooms at Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

Frank Mathews wins the Stanley Lord Bowl award for the best RHS fruit display in 2022.

RHS Flower Show organisers move towards being greener with more sustainability in the briefs in all garden designs and show operations.

Lindengate rehomes RHS Chelsea garden.

Floating islands made from plastic bottles to grow crops in Singapore.

King Charles III Sandringham West Lawn eco-garden makeover.

Windowsill gardening campaign.

Tackling damping off when germinating seeds.

Dig it top 5 Spring potted bulbs 1 1-litre pots of Narcissi 'Tête-à-Tête' 2 Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop) 3 Winter Aconite 4 Narcissi 'Tête-à-Tête' (6-pack) 5 9cm English Bluebell.

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Vegetable mentions: Broad bean ‘Aguadulce’, Carrot ‘Nantes’, Courgettes, Beetroot ‘Bolthardy’, Blight tolerant tomato varieties include ‘Cocktail Crush’, ‘Mountain Magic’, ‘Merrygold’, ‘Red Bodyguard’ Paoline’ and popular varieties ‘Moneymaker’, ‘Gardeners Delight’ and ‘Tigerella’,  Peppers, Runner bean ‘Enorma’, Squashes, Tomato 

Flower mentions: Dahlias, Sunflowers ‘Early Single’, Dwarf Sunflowers, ‘Evening Sun’, ‘Magic Roundabout’ and ‘Teddy bear’, Sweet Peas and Snowdrops. 

Product mentions: Garden tools brand Darlac include loppers, snips, secateurs, and shears and soil thermometer (both available in-store).

David’s desert island items: Darlac Hori Hori - the Multi-Purpose (dig, cut, chop) Trowel. Fast growing Radish and highly productive Runner beans.

Mr Fothergill’s website, FACEBOOK and Instagram

Buckingham Garden Centre’s range of Mr Fothergill’s Seeds

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What’s on

Saturday 11th March is Orchid Day at the Garden Centre with Dig It’s favourite Orchid expert Manos Kanellos. The event runs from 11am until mid-afternoon.

TV garden designer and Gardeners’ World presenter Adam Frost is out and about on a nationwide tour this spring entitled An evening with Adam Frost.

Sunday 19th March 10am-4pm: Rare Plant Fair at The Bishop’s Palace, Wells, Somerset, BA5 2PD.

In the news

Floral soakaways are coming to towns and cities near you.

More than 574 new gardens opening for the first time are opening under the National Garden Scheme this year.

The government are cracking down on illegal plant importers.

Welsh leeks finally become officially Welsh.

The Newt gardens in Somerset are the official sponsors of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, have the national collection of all-counties apples in their unique designed parabola garden.

National Allotments Society report on 21st Century Allotments in new developments.

RSPB suggests stricter garden hygiene controls to help combat avian flu.

Publisher DC Thompson announces the closure of Grow Your Own magazine.

Bridgend Council fined for knotweed invasion in a landmark case.

Dig It top 5

Roses root-wrapped 1. Rose ‘Flower Carpet Pink’ 2. Rose ‘Margaret Merril’ 3. Rose ‘Flower Carpet White’, 4. Rose ‘Hopes and Dreams’ 5. Rose ‘Rambling Rector’.

Plant mentions: Shallots, Garlic and Onions, Broad beans, Kinder plants, Potatoes including ‘International Kidney’, Berried trees and shrubs for birds. Snowdrops, winter aconites and later English Bluebells ‘in the green’. Primroses, Bellis daisies and Violas. Sow Parsley, Chives, Coriander and Basil in warmth. Strawberries, including alpine types.

Product mentions: Baby Bio, Bloom Orchid Feed, Bonemeal, Fungus Fighter for Box Blight, Composters, RootGrow, Houseplant compost, Canada Green Lawn Seed, Lawn weed and feed and Jekka Herb seeds.

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Plant mentions: Winter aconites, snowdrops, hardy cyclamen, viticella clematis and wildflower meadows.

Garden mentions: The Queen Mother’s private garden: Birkhall part of the Balmoral Estate, Aberdeenshire, The Royal Lodge on the Windsor Great Park Estate, Berkshire and Castle of Mey, Caithness in Scotland. Royal gardens at Frogmore House and Highgrove Gardens.

National Trust properties at Hidcote Manor Gardens in Gloucestershire and Hatchlands Park in Surrey. Arley Hall, Northwich, Cheshire, Ramster Gardens in Surrey, Hodnet Hall Gardens, Shropshire. Horatio Garden in Salisbury. Goodnestone Park in Kent.

Reports mentions: Gardens and health - The King’s fund 2016 report and Gardens and Coronavirus 2020 report

Desert Island plant and gardening luxury: Plumbago capensis and desalination plant with brass antique water sprinkler.

NGS beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Research, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Carers Trust, The Queen’s Nursing Institute, Parkinson’s UK, Horatio’s Garden, Maggie’s and Greenfingers. Support and training English Heritage, Perennial, Working for Gardeners Association, National Botanic Garden of Wales, Professional Gardeners’ Trust and Garden Museum.

George Plumptre’s books

The Garden Visitor’s handbook 2023 (The Yellow Book)

NGS Website with links to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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Thursday 2nd February Chasing Plants talk with Dr Chris Thorogood in Oxford, 7-8pm. 

Saturday 4th February, 10am-4pm. Our Graft & Grow Event at the Garden Centre with The Mid Shires Orchard Group and grafters Andy Howard and Steve Oram from PTES

Saturday 4th February – Sunday 12th March  Houseplant Takeover at RHS Gardens, Wisley 

Thursday 16 February: Winter and Snowdrops Walk from 9.30am. Breakfast and a Guided Walk with Nick Hamilton at Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland, created by his father Geoff. 

In the news

David Austin Roses retires three rose varieties.

Redesign of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother garden at Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. 

RHS partner garden numbers increase to 221, including Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Powis Castle and Bridgemere Show Gardens.

The Windlesham Trophy awarded to the HM Prison Thorn Cross for its creative gardening efforts. 

Petal patterns found to attract bees, the latest from Cambridge University.

New laws to help protect illegal landscape tree felling comes into force.

Scottish tea grower success in London.

Predictions of garden trends for 2023 from the RHS.  

Kew Science spotlights 10 species of plants and fungi that it has named as new to science in 2022.

NGS biggest ever charity donation in 2022.

Dig It Top 5 Potatoes: From 5 to the number 1 spot Potato ‘Arran Pilot’ (1st early), ‘Desiree’ (maincrop), ‘Rocket’ (1st early), ‘Charlotte’ (2nd early) and at number 1 ‘Kestrel’ (2nd early).

Plant mentions: Asparagus, Garlic, Onions, Grapes, Roses ‘Munstead Wood’, ‘A Shropshire Lad’ and ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’, Phormium, Cordyline australis, Camellia sinensis (tea), cooler houseplants such Kentia palm, Fatsia japonica and Spathiphyllum; Snowdrops, Raspberries (‘Heritage’, ‘Autumn Bliss’), Strawberries, date palm, hedging, ornamental trees and fruit trees.

Product mentions: Swimming pond pumps from Oase, Secateurs, fleece, Baby Bio, Miracle-Gro feed, Phostrogen Plant Food, compost bins, and water butts.

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No Dig pointers: Bed sizes: 1.2m (4ft) wide beds and any length to suite your garden size. Adding 1in of compost to the beds per year. Practise intercropping and successional plantings to maximise your cropping space. No crop rotation is necessary by having good, healthy soil. Do have weed-free pathways between your crops. Pathways between beds need to be around 40cm (16 inches) wide and again use cardboard and wood chip. Think about the orientation of your beds and if necessary, run them up and down if your site slopes. Be realistic - start small to stay in control so you can enjoy it and have fun growing. Making a bed in winter is usually best. Compost on clay soils work well with No Dig. Weeding ‘little and often’ is key to avoid weeds going to seed.

Plant mentions: Garlic, Broccoli, Beetroot, Brussel sprout ‘Evesham Special’, Onions, Carrots, Kale, Potato varieties ‘Nicola’ and ‘Charlotte’. Weeds - dandelions, chickweed, couch grass, bindweed, mare’s tail and groundsel.

Product mentions: A dibber or trowel, horticultural fleece or Enviromesh coverage, cardboard, mushroom compost, home compost, green waste compost, animal manures and wood chip. Hoes, compost bins (Dalek type) as well as home-made pallet compost. Coffee grounds, rock dust, charcoal and wood ash used sparingly make good compost additives.

Professor Elaine Ingham is an American microbiologist and soil biology researcher and founder of Soil Foodweb Inc. She is known as a leader in soil microbiology and research of the soil food web.

Dr Shewell-Cooper MBE, was a British organic gardener, a pioneer of no-dig gardening and a prolific writer of 37 gardening books!

Charles Dowding’s website, courses videos and books

Socials Twitter @charlesdowding Facebook @CharlesDowdingNoDig Instagram charles_dowding

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What’s on

Snowdrop gardens and snowdrop days https://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/seasonal/snowdrops.html

Monday 16th January: Small is Beautiful, a talk by Alys Fowler www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on

27-29th January RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch www.rspb.org.uk

Until 31st January: Winter Sculpture Exhibition at RHS Rosemoor www.rhs.org.uk

In the news

Welsh announce peat ban

Wentworth House in Yorkshire wins Historic Houses Association competition.

Plant Heritage, the conservation charity, has approached the Government in a bid to become part of the UKs commitment to conserving the country’s genetic diversity.

Charity Greenfingers opens its new children’s garden at St Oswald’s Hospice in Newcastle.

The 500-year-old ancient Waverley Abbey yew has been named tree of the year by the Woodland Trust.

Vertical farmed trees grown under lights could help solve shortfalls in UK tree-planting targets.

Restaurant fire hits Alton Garden Centre

The Garden Centre Association Christmas Display Winners announced

Clover lawns on TikTok become a massive hit with over 62 million views!

Defra letting down country over ‘plastic grass’ debate, claims The Lawn Association.

The National Allotment Society has unveiled a new service encouraging housing developers and local government to include space for allotments in new developments.

The Garden Media Guild awards for 2022 have been announced, including the Lifetime achievement award to rosarian Michael Marriott.

The Pantone colour of the year for 2023 is Viva Magenta!

Dig It Top 5 - bird food

No 1 spot Wild bird, followed by bird peanuts at no 2, Henry Bell Fat Balls at no 3 with Wild Bird Mix (3kg bags) at no 4 and 20kg large sacks of Wild Bird Mix in 5th position.

Plant mentions: Alfalfa, Apples, Brussel sprouts, Clover, Chamomile, Pears, Potatoes, micro greens, Hellebores, Rosa rugosa and Yew

Product mentions: Secateurs, garden gloves, rhubarb forcer, large dustbin or trug.

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In this episode of Dig It, Peter Brown and Chris Day chat with Tony Le-Britton, passionate houseplant professional and owner of Not Another Jungle shop in Northampton. From humble beginnings growing houseplants in a greenhouse in the house (yes, really!) a childhood ambition fulfilled by appearing on the Gardeners’ World to developing his own special style and flair in helping everyone get connected with indoor plants through his social media channels and brand. Tony chats about his favourite plants, we get to grips with spider plants, top tips on growing indoors and more.

Plants mentioned: Moth Orchids (Phalaenopsis), Aroids (members of the family Araceae and include many common houseplants like Aglaonemas, Monsteras, Philodendrons, Pothos and ZZ plants).  Spider plant (Chlorophytum). Avoid Dutch-grown colour sprayed succulents and cacti or plants pinned with dried flowers or stick on googly eyes. Newer forms of Monstera have become popular with much smaller leaves and those with variegated leaves like Monstera Thai Constellation. Variegated plants are favourites of Tony as many of them are rare. Stephania erecta. 

Products mentioned: LED lights, Sandwich bags, sphagnum moss and rooting hormone. Dale Foot wool-based seed peat-free compost. Not Another Jungle specialist Houseplant Super Food. Empathy RootGrow.

Tony’s desert island plant: Anything from the alocasia family as they produce big leaves which you can shelter under and you can eat the tubers!

Luminaries who have inspired Tony: Geoff Hamilton and Monty Don 

You can find Tony on Instagram TikTok and Facebook

Tony’s shop: Not Another Jungle, 9 George Row, Northampton NN1 1DF.

Not Another Jungle: Comprehensive Care for Extraordinary Houseplants, book is available to pre-order from Amazon. Publish date 6th April 2023.

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Dig It hosts Peter Brown and Chris Day delve into the stories affecting gardeners and the gardening trade, plus jobs to do in the garden.

In the news

The RHS move their gooseberry and rhubarb national collections from Wisley to Bridgewater, near Manchester.

The 5,000-year-old Newlands Corner Yews are highlighted as part of the Conservation Foundations 40th anniversary celebrations.

Bumblebees less likely to land on flowers sprayed with fertilisers, says Bristol University report. 

Blue Diamond acquires Van Hage Garden centres.

Hilliers grows to 22 garden centres with the acquisition of Rosebourne and increases tree production after buying a 200-acre farm in Liss, Hampshire.

Toxic Ricinus communis (castor oil) found growing in council flower beds in North Wales.

UK butterfly numbers drop to an all-time low says Butterfly Conservation

Celebrate the King’s Coronation on 6th May 2023 by planting red, white and blue flowers and bulbs.

Plant mentions: Bare-root hedging, Norway spruce and Nordmann fir, Poinsettia, lasagna planting red and white tulips and winter hardy pansies and violas, blue and white forget-me-nots and grape hyacinths. Yew and the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, Poplars for pollarding and Hazel for withies. Scented Sarcococca and Daphne. The Ball Colegrave introduction Glimmer ™ mildew resistant double busy lizzies will be available next year.

Product mentions: Reservoir Christmas stands, Hang Scentsicles on your artificial Christmas tree to give a festive smell, Bird feeds and fat balls, horticultural fleece. Pot feet for lifting your pots. Greenhouse cleaners - Jeyes Fluid or Agralan Citrox.

Houseplant expert Jane Perrone shared her poinsettia thoughts on our podcast last year. 

Burnham Beeches is a National Nature Reserve famous for its ancient pollards; many are several hundred years old.

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Peter Brown and Chris Day chat with horticultural supremo Alan Down in this latest Dig It podcast.

Alan has been incredibly active in the gardening trade from early days in commercial growing in

Germany, developing skills in germinating tree seeds and in Somerset to setting up a very successful

garden centre and most recently taking on a new role - President of the Horticultural Trades

Association. Alan is an accomplished gardening writer and broadcaster, who also enjoys worldwide

travel, photography and even deer management!

Plant mentions Wildflowers, pot chrysanthemums, spray chrysanthemum, tomato, bedding plants,

Japanese maples, hellebores, hardy ferns, ornamental grasses, and native trees.

Alan’s desert island plant: Apple tree or a citrus lemon or lime if the island was in the tropics.

Product mentions and useful links

Two recommended peat-free composts Melcourt SylvaGrow Compost, Westland New Horizon

Compost

The popular gift vouchers from the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) available from all Garden

Centres and Nurseries who are HTA members.

Hilliers Nurseries (container growing unit)

Edible Bus Stop Group

Cannington College

Pershore College

Royal Horticultural Society education

British Deer Society

International Plant Propagator’s Society

Luminaries: Sir Harold Hillier, Roy Lancaster, Stewart Chambers and Stewart Brookfield, head of

horticulture at Somerset College of Agriculture and Horticulture in the 1970s.

HTA toxic plants list https://hta.org.uk/potentiallyharmfulplants

You can follow Alan on these platforms

You can read Alan’s Blogs on gardening and travel on his website www.down-to-earth.co.uk

Gardening Candid app

Alan on Instagram @alanedown Twitter @AlanEDown Candide UK: @AlanGardenMaster

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What’s on

Monday 7th November: Wilding Rural Enfield is an online talk by Ian Russell, principal engineer at Enfield Council’s Watercourse Team. Open 6-7pm. More details here

Thursday 17th November: Gardens in My Life is the title of the 2022 annual lecture of the National Garden Scheme given by garden designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd.

In the news

Amersham in Bloom crowned overall winner of this year’s RHS Britain in Bloom UK finals.

Are gardener’s losing their parliamentary voice, asks Matthew Appleby? Featured in Amateur Gardening magazine, 23rd October issue.

Garden Organic fighting for the future, plus their excellent Heritage Seed Library.

Our Houseplant department at the Garden Centre has received a fantastic makeover. Look out for Beautanic Lifestyle range of hydroculture plants from Javado.

Garden visiting remained as popular as ever this year with increased visitor numbers including Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (top spot), RHS Wisley, in the third spot and Trentham Gardens in fifth spot.

Do not forget to look for the spectacular magical illumination shows over the next couple of months at Waddesdon Manor, RHS Glow Gardens and the beautiful lakes and gardens at Leonardslee in West Sussex.

A reminder about checking for hedgehogs prior to lighting a bonfire in the garden, plus The British Hedgehog Preservation Society are encouraging schools and colleges to take part in their ‘Pick litter to help hogs’ campaign.

British Garden Centre group increases numbers to 62 with the acquisition of Mirfield Garden Centre in West Yorkshire.

Plants mentioned

Bare-root planting season begins, including native hedges, roses, ornamental and fruit trees.

Dahlia, Leylandii, Spotted Laurel, English Yew and Hollies. Plants suitable to take as hardwood cuttings include Willow, Dogwood and Hazel. Continue spring bulbs planting - Tulips, Narcissi and Crocus if you plan to create lasagna bulb displays

Sow a few Broad beans (varieties such as ‘Aquadulce’ and ‘Super Aquadulce’), pot up bare-root strawberries for an early crop and sow Sweet Peas for earlier flowering next summer.

Product mentions

RootGrow (Mycorrhizal friendly fungi). Potting or horticultural grit for soil improvement. Use a net over your pond to clear any leaves and use a wheatgerm feed for your fish. Plants that create aerial roots such as Monstera may need support so install a moss pole, which must be kept moist.

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Big breaking news stories The Wyevale sell off and the passing of Peter Seabrook

Garden Heroes Guy Topping, MD of Barton Garden Centre located between Preston and Garstang. The garden centre set up includes a marina and an entertainment complex The Flower Bowl, which includes a cinema amongst other activities! Mike Burks, The Gardens Group of Garden Centres in Dorset and Somerset. Great ethos of getting garden centre teams motivated as well as plenty of communication through their proper tea breaks complete with a huge tea pot at 10am and 4pm every day! Floral Thursday world record for Greenfingers charity. The idea was fostered by Neil Grant, Managing Director of Ferndale Garden Centre in Sheffield to wear something flowery and it’s become popular as well as fun for fundraising opportunities.

Awards New products at GLEE, a trade show held annually in Birmingham and the GTN Greatest Awards, teams are nominated for specific categories such as Best Christmas merchandising and Best Grotto.

Garden magazines mentioned Garden News, Garden Answers, Gardeners’ World and Practical Gardening (no longer produced) and RHS The Garden magazine. 

HTA global warming news.

Plants mentioned Apples, Poinsettias, Petunias, Pelargoniums (Geraniums), Taylors Autumn planted for Christmas potatoes and Trevor’s favourite,  Squash Mashed Potato and Squash ‘Baked Potato’.

Favourite garden centre Poppies Garden Centre, Saulmore Shore, By Oban in Argyll.

Desert island luxury Trench digging shovel. Go for one with a metal shaft and handle which makes it extra strong, great for getting underneath roots when having to move plants!

Products mentioned Garden lighting, both solar and low voltage. Westland Boost All-Purpose Plant food . Fito Orchid drip feeders .

Discover more about Garden Trade News website

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What’s on

Saturday 1st – Sunday 2nd October: Buckingham Garden Centre’s Apple Weekend with Gerry Edwards, The Mid Shires Orchard Group, CPRE The Countryside Charity, BBOWT, Chrissie’s Owls (Saturday), plus Junior Gardening Club’s children’s best dressed apple competition. The North Buckinghamshire Beekeepers Association Honey Show is on the Sunday.

Saturday 8th – Sunday 9th October: Waterperry Gardens Apple Weekend.

Saturday 15th October, 10am-5pm: Autumn Fair at Harcourt Arboretum, Oxfordshire.

Thursday, 20 October, 13:00 - 14:15: Garden Tour at Garden Organic, Ryton Gardens, COVENTRY, Warks, CV8 3LG.

In the news

Plants named after the late The Queen Elizabeth II, include Clematis montana var. rubens 'Elizabeth' was bred by Jackmans in the 1950s.

The list includes Rosa 'Queen Elizabeth' bred by Lammerts Rosa 'The Queen's Jubilee' was launched to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012.

Rosa 'Queen Elizabeth II' was bred by Harkness Roses

Our Dig It top five apple maiden varieties

1 ‘Discovery’

2 ‘James Grieve’

3 ‘Cox’s Self-Fertile’

4 ‘Arthur Turner’

4 ‘Egremont Russet’

In the news

Ball Colegrave announce the top varieties voted by visitors to their trade event back in the summer.

Last year was the Year of the Courgette and Fleuroselect in conjunction with Royal Horticultural Society grew some 70 different varieties at two of their gardens at Bridgewater and Rosemoor. The plants were judged by the RHS technical committee and these new varieties were awarded the top Award of Garden Merit (AGM) Cucurbita ‘Color’, ‘Lorea’ and ‘Brice’.

RHS Hyde Hall reveals people’s choice Viola winner

Updated - Plants and their toxicity the HTA Guide to Potentially Harmful Plants and now includes pets. You can access it at this link

Product mentions

Homebase Peat Free, Aldi Peat Free, Westland New Horizon Peat Free (best of the bunch so far) and Miracle Gro Peat Free.

Vine weevil Control– opt for Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer as a soil drench or look at natural nematotode control.

Plant mentions

Spring bulbs including Alliums, Crocus, Daffodils, Snowdrops and Hyacinths for planting now. Tulips often benefit from being planted a little later into the autumn and early winter. Don’t delay get your ‘prepared’ hyacinths and Narcissi ‘Paperwhite’ established if you are looking for Christmas colour. Available in store. Heuchera and Heucherella plants with their decorative foliage work well with bulbs in borders and in containers.

As the soil becomes more workable, think about getting your autumn onions and garlic established before the weather turns cold.

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Plants mentioned: Beech hedging, Eucalyptus, Pine trees, avenues of Betula jacquemontii, Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Ginkgo biloba. Wisteria, Weeping Cedrus, xeriscape plants such as succulents. Perennials Agapanthus, Alliums, Japanese anemones, Gladiolus callianthus 'Murielae' (Abyssinian gladiolus, RHS AGM), Sedum, Hellebore Gold Collection (outward facing blooms perfect in pots) Helleborus ‘Frosty’ is a good one, Verbena bonariensis, ornamental grasses including Calamagrostis ‘Overdam’, Echinaceas. Hyacinths, Dwarf and species Tulips, Tulip clusiana 'Lady Jane' and Dwarf Narcissi like ‘January Gold’ (early) and ‘Pipit’ (later flowering). Good flavours to use with cake bakes include scented rose petals as these provide the most flavour as well as lavender.

Kathy’s desert island plant: English lavender – wonderfully versatile, you can cook with it and use it in a wide variety of ways as well as producing a wonderful tea to enjoy.

Products mentioned: White Himalayan birch plantings at Anglesey Abbey. National Garden Scheme (NGS). Solardome ® greenhouse. Beth Chatto’s dry garden – a converted car park to a gravel garden. Piet Oudolf, a Dutch garden designer, plant nursery man and author who practices a more naturalistic approach to gardening. Composts: Dalefoot Wool Compost and Jack’s Magic All Purpose Improved Compost (reduced peat) and New Horizon Peat-Free Compost. Broadleaf p4, using John Innes Compost as an additive. Kathy likes to use Evergreen Compost , who offer peat-free, peat-reduced and a traditional compost containing sphagnum moss peat. Water retaining granules such as Broadleaf P4 and Swelgel, which can be added to compost and soil to help retain moisture around the plant’s roots. Garden photographer Clive Nichols and the early morning photo shoot.

Kathy Brown’s Books The Edible Flower Garden, Container Gardening, Kathy Brown's Recipes For Easy Container Gardening and A Bulb for all Seasons

To find out more about Kathy’s Garden, opening details, Kathy’s lectures and how to book a visit click here

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Wednesday 21st September: Orchid Day 11am-3pm at the Garden Centre. We will be joined by Manos Kanellos, top orchid guru and a previous Dig It podcast guest and he will be talking at 11am and 2pm as well as providing MOTs for orchids in need of a re-pot.

23rd – 25th September RHS Malvern Autumn Show.

Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October, 10am-4pm both days. Our Apple Weekend featuring RHS fruit expert Gerry Edwards, who will be helping to identify apple fruits for our customers and the Mid Shire Orchard Group making delicious apple juice and offering apple growing advice, plus BBOWT and much more. On Sunday we host the North Bucks Beekeepers' Association's Honey Show.

Our Dig It top 5 perennials (in 1-litre pots)

In joint fifth position Lupinus ‘Gallery Blue’ and Dianthus ‘Tickled Pink’, 4th spot Rudbeckia ‘Goldstrum’, 3rd position Penstemon ‘Pensham Laura’, in 2nd Verbena bonariensis and at number 1 Coreopsis ‘Early Sunrise’.

Plant mentions

Vegetable plug plants and sowing vegetable seeds including winter brassicas, chicory, endive, Chinese cabbage. Crocosmia, spring bulbs, Lavender, Teasle seeds and Caladiums. Bare-root apple varieties

Product mentions Compost bins, Bokashi kitchen composters. Orchid products from Growth Technology Clip Gloves are available in store.

News links

Chatsworth historic gardens revealed by heatwave and Chatsworth’s new alpine garden reimagined by top garden designer Tom Stuart Smith.

Futuristic ‘flower design’ greenhouse at National Trust Woolbeding Gardens

The new RHS Wisley Clear Lake and ways to save water in the garden.

Rosebourne Weyhill opened by horticulturalist and TV presenter David Domoney and the young 14-year-old entrepreneur with his dog pampering range

Palladian Bridge reopens after 8 years at Prior Park Landscape Gardens and is very similar to the one at Stowe Landscape Gardens.

Historic wall gardens at Blenheim Palace Gardens goes no-dig and organic.

Dr Amir Khan is the new patron of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

A retirement home for gnomes at Amelia Trust Care Farm in Glamorgan.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music.

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To see how Buckingham Garden Centre has developed over 50 years check out this photo gallery

Core gardening is key – garden tools, fertilisers, compost bins, water butts, solar lights with timers, and seeds. Over recent years Buckingham Garden Centre has become a destination garden centre together with hugely popular The Gardeners’ Retreat Restaurant.

Plant mentions: Apples (including the variety ‘Ashmead’s Kernel’), Amelanchier, Cordylines, Hedging, Helianthemums, Phormium, Potatoes, Ornamental trees, Sedum, Lettuce, Chard, Pea ‘Alderman’. Look for disease resistance in the new varieties if you can.

Sustainability on the site water conservation (reservoir), solar panels, recycling (include taupe plant pots and trays), FSC certified timber, peat-free composts and in the restaurant waste coffee grounds are collected, sent for recycling to be turned into coffee logs.

Seeds from Garden Organic’s Seed Heritage Library

The RHS Plant Finder Book 2022 and online

The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

RHS Plants For Pollinators logo on labels.

Helping wildlife: Products such as hedgehog houses, bird feeders and bug hotels.

Learning about gardening by talking to family and friends, visit your local library, tap into staff knowledge when visiting the Garden Centre and books such as the RHS Dictionary of Gardening provide invaluable reference information.

The Mid Shires Orchard Group Promoting older regional apple varieties and establishing community orchards

Find out more about Medical Detection Dogs

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s on

3rd-7th August RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show, Chelmsford, Essex

4th August Summer Cycle at the Royal Botanic Kew Gardens, Richmond, 5.30-8.30pm

Wednesday 17th at 4pm and repeated Saturday 20th August at 3pm at Buckingham Garden Centre FREE Masterclass talk: Growing Your Favourite Hobby plants

12th and 13th August Shrewsbury Flower Show, Quarry Park, Shrewsbury

19th - 21st August RHS Garden Rosemoor Flower Show, Torrington, Devon

In the news

Cost and availability of allotments

Ball Colegrave Open day (garden trade only) highlighting the new double flowered impatiens walleriana 'Glimmer Appleblossom', recently recognised as Best in Show at the HTA’s New Plant Award. The latest trend of using perennials to mix with seasonal bedding plants in displays, including containers.

Peter Seabrook’s Sweet Pea

Kew’s giant waterlily news story in full

Spalding Flower parade set to return in 2023

Anti-plastic lobby get turfed out. Plastic grass stays!

Terry Walton’s story on the safe use, storage and disposal of pesticides from PestSmart

This month’s Dig It Top Five pest controls: At no5 Provanto Ultimate Fruit and Vegetable Killer, no4 Toprose Bug Killer, at no3 Bugclear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer, in 2nd place Provanto Ultimate Bug Killer and in top slot goes to Bugclear Ultra Gun! for edibles. Available at the Garden Centre.

Plant mentioned: Maize (Zea mays), Taylors Summer Planting Seed Potatoes for Christmas new potatoes, seeds of Japanese onion ‘Senshyu Semi-Globe Yellow’, spring cabbage, carrots – round varieties such as ‘Paris Market 5’, Chinese cabbage, corn salad, winter lettuce and radish seeds can be sown this month. Summer-fruiting and autumn raspberry plants.

Products mentioned: Bio-Bean, who manufacture Coffee logs, a popular product at the Garden Centre has been named a Best for the World ™ B Corp ™ . Miracle-Gro for higher nitrogen feeding and for encouraging improved flowering use Phostrogen or Tomato feed.

Liquid lawn weedkillers such as Weedol Lawn Weedkiller

Composts Westland New Horizon, Miracle Gro Peat Free,and Dalefoot Wool Compost for Potting. . Homebase Peat free Multi-Purpose Compost has fared well in our trials so far this season.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music