Loving Your Garden - Better Gardening Podcast

Food prices may be rising, but growing your own needn’t be difficult. In this episode of the Loving Your Garden podcast, Rod Whiting and horticulturist John Stirland are joined by kitchen gardener and food writer Stephanie Hafferty, author of The Productive Garden . Stephanie shares her advice on getting started with growing your own food, the easiest crops for beginners, why mistakes are part of...

Dahlias are bold, flamboyant, sometimes slightly outrageous - and one of the great stars of the late summer garden. But they can also feel a little intimidating. When do you plant them? Which varieties are easiest to grow? Do you have to lift the tubers every winter? How do you support them, feed them, protect them from pests, and keep them flowering into autumn? In this episode, Rod Whiting is jo...

Take a walk through the personal garden of multi-award-winning designer David Stevens. In this episode of Loving Your Garden , I’m joined by Boom Radio’s gardening expert John Stirland as we explore multi-award-winning designer David Stevens' own 100-foot suburban garden — a space full of ideas, inspiration, and practical lessons for gardeners of all levels. From clever use of space and plant...

...Be sure to listen to this relaxed conversation with two fabulous gardeners: my co-host, John Stirland — Boom Radio’s gardening expert — and horticulturist, broadcaster and RHS judge, Martin Fish . It was a real pleasure to reunite this former BBC TV gardening double-act and spend half an hour chatting about Spring gardening in Martin’s Lincolnshire spread, with the birds providing the backgroun...

In this special seasonal edition of the Loving Your Garden podcast, John Stirland and I sit down to reflect on the gardening year just gone – and look ahead to what comes next. As is customary at Christmas, we're joined by the renowned garden designer David Stevens (22 Chelsea medals, including 11 Golds) for a relaxed, thoughtful conversation about how gardens evolve over time – through trial...

Struggling to get wildflowers growing in your garden? You’re not alone! 🌿 Gardeners are often surprised at how challenging it can be to grow wildflowers successfully, so we've been chatting to Dr Ana Attlee, co-founder of Seedball, to find a simpler solution to creating a haven for wildlife. In this podcast, horticulturist and broadcaster John Stirland joins Loving Your Garden Founder Rod Wh...

It's been an interesting Summer! It started with drought, then the rains came, and as the nights begin to draw in, it's turned unseasonably cool. Signs of Autumn are already showing, certainly in my East Midlands garden (UK). After a relatively quiet spell, the transition to Autumn is a busy time for gardeners and our resident horticulturist, John Stirland, suggests some jobs to consider...

As the sun turns up the heat, so do the challenges in our gardens. In this summer edition of the Loving Your Garden podcast, I’m joined by our resident horticulturist John Stirland and award-winning garden designer David Stevens for a lively and practical chat about gardening through the warmer months. We explore clever ways to keep your plants happy during hot, dry spells, how to water wisely, an...

This might just be our best episode yet from LYG HQ! Steve Fives is officially Loving Your Garden’s most engaging member – with more views, comments, and conversations than anyone else in the group… including me, and I run the place! Steve’s garden is something you have to see to believe, so if you’d rather watch this episode, head over to our YouTube channel: Watch on YouTube But don’t go just ye...

With UK gardens bursting into colour, this is a beautiful time of year — but it’s also a busy time, preparing the garden for the seasons ahead. In the second half of our conversation with Gardener and Broadcaster Martin Fish and our own John Stirland, we cover: Pest control, notably slugs and snails Growing your own food Container gardening Getting the best from roses Effective watering Peat-free...

The new gardening year is well underway, and our Loving Your Garden Facebook group is bursting with colourful spring blooms and a real sense of excitement as our gardens awaken from their winter slumber. So, what better time to get stuck into those all-important early-season jobs? To help us on our way, we’ve called on two seasoned pros — our resident horticulturist John Stirland and his long-time...

If you've resolved to growing more cut flowers in '25 then you'll find Roz Chandler from Field Gate Flowers an interesting guest. Roz talks about starting her cut flower farm 15 years ago almost by mistake and now runs a successful business growing, displaying and teaching floral horticulture. She has some useful tips for starting a cut flower garden and we also get around to discus...

It's become a thing for multi-award-winning garden designer David Stevens to drop in over Christmas with our resident horticulturist John Stirland over a glass of sherry for a gardening chinwag. The result is always educational as these two stalwarts trade wisdom and a few laughs.  The wisdom includes suggestions for Winter interest in an all-year-round garden, some garden design tips, a disc...

11 Times RHS Chelsea Gold Medallist (and LYG member), David Stevens, has designed a few gardens in his long career (understatement). Enough to earn him 26 RHS medals and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Garden Designers. In this short video (link below), David outlines 8 key steps to consider before embarking on a garden makeover that will save you time, effort, and tears. He finis...

Recent press reports would have you believe Bamboo is the devil incarnate but does it deserve its bad reputation? While it's certainly true some varieties can be highly destructive, are gardeners right to shun it at all costs? Who better to ask than Tony Churley who's been growing varieties of Bamboo for the best part of forty years? Both John Stirland and I have had bad experiences with...

Firstly, apologies for our silence over the past few weeks, we've been busy creating a brand new YouTube channel and subscription newsletter (links below) as well as overhauling our Facebook group to accommodate the massive new growth of 'Loving Your Garden' - now 378 thousand members. Now that we're back into the routine we've re-commenced series 4 with a gardening clinic...

It's always a pleasure and a privilege to be in the company of one of the UK's foremost plantswomen, Rosy Hardy. With countless RHS gold medals to her name, Rosy has become a leading authority on Herbaceous Perennials and this is pure gold for any gardener that is looking for a new dimension to their garden.  If you're in a rush, go to our chapter page and choose your topic of inter...

It’s always a pleasure to welcome our favourite Nature Watcher Mary Porter onto LYG. Spring in the UK is a great time for an update from Mary whose knowledge and experience of the natural world is much appreciated by all of us at LYG and to listeners of her regular spot on my Boom Radio show. This is a lovely chat about the current state of our wildlife and how we can encourage more creatures into...

  In association with Magic Mind - Mental Performance Shots They have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases with code LOVEGARDEN20 at checkout You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/lovegarden  W e have a double bonus for you in our latest episode with John Stirland laying out some solid tips for getting your lawn...

There is nothing so satisfying than adding food to your dinner plate that you've grown from seed.  While many gardeners are well-equipped to sow and propagate both vegetables and ornamentals,  most others prefer the convenience of potted and plug plants. However, with the costs of plants and food now a significant factor, growing from seed is an attractive option.  Tom Sharples has devoted al...

Deep Joy! Winter's last hurrah is nearly upon us, at least if you're in Northern Europe, and it's time to finish off the Winter pruning. Our resident horticulturist John Stirland covers the basics and answers member questions on specific plants including Philadelphus, Fig, Ceonothus, Honeysuckle, and roses. As ever, John covers a lot of ground with lots of snippets of really useful...

Our resident horticulturist John Stirland kicks off season 4 of Loving Your Garden - Better Gardening Podcast with a masterclass in seed sowing.  John is in full flow here with oodles of great advice on growing plants from seed as a new gardening year gets underway. John also takes questions from our LYG site members.  It's best to sit back and enjoy the full episode but if you're tight...

You'll need to check out the Loving Your Garden site to see our festive guests in their Santa gear but you can hear the fun in our season finale as horticulturist, gardening writer, broadcaster and RHS judge, Martin Fish , and multi-award-winning garden designer, David Stevens join John Stirland and LYG founder Rod Whiting for an end of season chat over a tipple or two. Have a pen and paper h...

We borrowed our guest's phrase 'happy, healthy house plants' this week as it aptly describes a nirvana that many of us struggle with.  Jane Perrone is a gardening writer and podcaster whose articles many will have read in the Guardian, Financial Times, and The RHS Garden Magazine among many publications.  Jane's passion for houseplants shines through in our chat this week, deal...

It's been a while since we checked in with our resident horticulturist John Stirland who's forgotten more than I'll ever know about gardening so it's nice to talk about getting ready for some Winter colour,  Autumn feeding, and pruning as well as lots of other topical chat, and answers to member questions that you'll doubtless find useful. Check out the chapter tab if you...