Loving Your Garden - Better Gardening Podcast

There's been a noticeable increase in discussions on the LYG Facebook site about the forthcoming ban on the use of peat products in UK gardens, due to be enforced from the end of next year.  To help us make sense of it all, our guests this week are Jonathan Whittemore from Johnsons of Whixley, a Yorkshire-based plant wholesaler, and Ruth Goudy, garden writer and owner of Kiln Farm Nursery and...

It is a delight to have Rosy back to chat about what can, with the right planting, be a spectacular time of year in the garden. Rosie and her husband Rob supply a vast number of herbaceous perennials from their nurseries at Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants in Hampshire, UK https://www.hardysplants.co.uk/ .  Rosie is also a multi-award winning plantswoman and currently Vice-President of the RHS. We ta...

Our Gardening maestro John Stirland is in great form as we consider plants that will add a little lustre to a flagging garden at this time of year. Flowers, shrubs, and trees all feature in our suggestions for adding some late seasonal interest, so it's worth having a pen and paper to hand as we go. Just a heads-up that we'll get another perspective on Autumn colour with an old friend of...

It's not every day you get to chat with one of the UK's top plantswomen, a renowned garden designer and the Gandalf of gardening but that was my pleasure when Rosy Hardy, David Stevens and John Stirland all gathered by Rosy's plant stand at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show.  It was a delightful conversation about Summer gardens that I'm sure you'll find informativ...

Everybody says it's been a great year for so many plants but especially roses so it's a good time to dwell on the ubiquitous rose: conditions, care, suggested varieties, and member questions answered by LYG's resident horticulturist John Stirland.  We do discuss a couple of varieties so I've attached a link to pics of the roses we discuss but, frankly, there are so many varieti...

By now, the heavy work is likely done and we can start finessing, ready to relax and enjoy our gardens.  If only!  Of course, there's always something to be getting on with and, this week, we look at pruning and pest control. Meanwhile, John answers a variety of member questions that commonly arise at this time of the year. You'll find a host of experienced gardeners on our LYG Facebook...

As gardeners, we're closer than most to nature and we have a good understanding of the role we play in attracting wildlife into our neighbourhoods. But, with many species in a progressive decline over recent decades, that responsibility becomes ever more critical. Mary Porter has dedicated much of her life to wildlife promotion and protection and we're delighted to have her as a guest to...

We put so much effort into finding the right plants for our garden, we sometimes miss the bigger picture of creating the right framework for all those expensive trees, shrubs, and flowers. The cost of good quality landscaping can be offputting but, like any good investment, it can pay off many times over.  Our chat with professional garden landscaper Jan Prodger from Ace of Spades Garden Maintenan...

There are few better qualified to talk about herbaceous perennials than 24-time Chelsea gold medal winner Rosy Hardy from Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants and we're delighted to have the benefit of her knowledge once again to discuss this garden essential. We talk about seed sowing, plant breeding, and popular plant choices for '23. We also discuss how to use herbaceous plants effectiv...

Step away from the Garden Centre! Well, just for a moment as multi-award-winning garden designer and LYG member David Stevens gives you some valuable tips on using colour, texture, and shape of both foliage and flowers to keep your garden looking its best all through the year, including Winter. Once again David is a rich source of knowledge as he joins resident horticulturist John Stirland and LYG...

It's not terribly inviting outside, where I am at least, with snow falling and low temperatures set for the next few days. However, that hasn't stopped me from planting a good size Amelanchier Lamarckii and having a wee tidy up of some borders.  This is the thing about March and whatever the weather might throw at us, gardeners gotta garden! And that's the theme of this week's...

Given reported supermarket shortages of fresh salad and veg plus exorbitant prices, there's never been a better time to consider growing your own, if you don't already. Our guest this week is an American garden writer who grew up on a farm in the Deep South of the US and has written many books about growing your own veg - Maggie Stuckey. Maggie and our own John Stirland are of like minds...

All gardeners know how good it feels at the start of a new gardening year,  especially for UK gardeners coming out of Winter.  To start off Season 3 of our LYG podcast, horticulturist John Stirland has some timely tips for jobs we can be doing including Winter pruning, transposing deciduous plants, and seed sowing, as well as answering member questions. Just a heads-up, LYG Live is now broadcast o...

It's always a pleasure to spend time with multi-award-winning garden designer and LYG member Professor David Stevens who rounds off series 2 of our podcast with some great tips on using colour to enhance your garden.  As ever with David, there's always much more for the gardener than the headline topic and you'll need your notebook as he talks about colour blending and specific plan...

I had the pleasure of a tour around Bardney Manor in Lincolnshire recently courtesy of owner Samantha Wright and discovered a pile of lovely rich soil which she'd had delivered ready to start a very ambitious project - more of which later. Anyway, after further investigation, it transpired that the soil was in fact PlantGrow, a soil improver made up entirely of plant matter from a process of...

If houseplants are your Achilles heel then this will be time well spent as we chat with Joe Bagley from ukhouseplants.com looking at position and light, potting, feeding, and general care tips as well as advice on specific plants including orchids. Joe's website has become internationally recognised with more than three million hits from people seeking out his encyclopedic knowledge of housep...

How do you define a smaller garden? That's an interesting question that garden designer Michelle MacDonald herself asked in our wonderful conversation which covered all of the crucial aspects of designing or modifying a small garden, from planning to planting and maintaining. We met Michelle at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show during that really hot spell in July where she won the be...

Autumn came hard and fast in the UK this year and all hopes of an Indian Summer have fizzled out under the rain so it's even more important to give some thought to some Winter colour. John Stirland has some more Winter plant suggestions while the ground is still in good shape for planting out. We look at Violas,  Ferns, Festuca Glauca, Hellebores, Winter Aconites, Galanthus Elwesii, Iris Ungu...

Autumn seems to have come at us fast this year. It seems only five minutes since we were sweltering in 40 plus degrees but, here we are in October putting the garden furniture away or under cover and tidying up the garden ready for Winter.  However, we need something to encourage us to open the curtains and look outside and John Stirland suggests some trees and shrubs that will put a bit of zing i...

Designer David Stevens recalls his meetings with the late monarch in their regular exchanges at the Chelsea Flower Show and we discuss Autumn jobs including some useful tips on finding those plants we want to move in Winter...but can't remember where we put them! Also, why it's important to know where garden centre plants have come from at this time of year - see Chapters for details. Wi...

Yes, now is the time! While the weather is still fair and you can paint in a T-shirt, September is a great month to be sorting out your garden woodwork: fences, benches, Summer houses, sheds, pergolas and other timber products that will thank you for giving it some protection from our cold, wet Winters. Jason Fitzgerald from our sponsors Fitzgerald, Laing Decorators provides some timely advice as...

It's always a pleasure to meet and talk with David Stevens and one never leaves his company without a strong desire to quickly write down some of the gems he's reeled off about garden design. He has more RHS medals than I can count plus a host of other awards, recognising more than fifty years of excellence in horticultural design. For this week's LYG Live, we thought it would be us...

John Stirland provides a few suggestions for border fillers that will provide late Summer and early Autumn colour. There's also advice on hedge trimming and answers to listener questions on figs and dealing with fruit pests.  There are so many plant contenders so we're only scratching the surface here but John has gone for plants that will tolerate most soils and conditions.  Plants we d...

It's a Summer treat for our members as John and I meet up with two stalwarts of the Horticultural world: Rob Hardy from Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants and renowned garden designer (and LYG member) Professor David Stevens.  Recorded just as the July heatwave was setting the mercury rising at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show, it was a chance to pick up some top tips from the best....

Regardless of your views on climate change, July's record UK temperatures, coupled with similar events globally, remind us that something is very definitely afoot.  It's an issue gardeners especially have been aware of for some time, particularly those taking an interest in our wildlife - or lack of it! Our guest this week, Mary Porter, has spent a lifetime championing the cause of UK wi...