Not Just a Garden

We're joined by Kay and Patrick McHugh from Church Gardens in Harefield this week! We hear about their monumental restoration project rebuilding the 16th Century arcaded wall, an interesting place to store the butternuts and big plans for an unconventional seating area. Some mentions from Kay & Patrick, links to which can be found here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/gardens/ Parker's Catalogue...

The first of the Gardeners' World 2024 Winter Specials! This week we join the wonderful Carol Klein at Forest Lodge Gardens in Somerset before heading over to Oswestry in Shropshire to enjoy an apple tree masterclass with Tom Adams, The Apple Man. Nick Bailey takes us to Bates Green Garden in Sussex and their Arlington Bluebell Walk, where we meet Emma Reece, head gardener. Ex-military man, Martin...

Episode 12 of Good Ol’ Chit-Chats is out now! This week we chat with Alex from Mitchell Flower Farm and travel from Kent to Chile and back again via Californian poppies that aren’t really Californian poppies, zombie eye infections and 1970s swing-seats. Some mentions from Alex, links to which can be found here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/gardens/ Garden designer, James Alexander Sinclaire Beth C...

The last of Gardeners' World 2024, boo. But we will be back to recap the winter specials starting next week, yay! First up, Arit Anderson takes us to Marchants Hardy Plants in East Sussex to chat with Henry Macaulay, their head gardener. We then meet Hafsah Hafeji at Aisgill Community Hub in Earls Court and see the fantastic work she does with her team of volunteers, including Shirley, Elaine, Ler...

It’s series 2 of Good Ol’ Chit-Chats!🕺🏼 We kick off with the wonderful Tashi Dhondup from Stroud who tells us all about his dream garden. We hear about lotus plants, Himalayan meadows and how easy it is to grow cannas from seed. Tashi also tells us about the work he does with Tom Dawson and what an important role gardens and nature play in his life. Some mentions from Tashi, links to which can b...

A very soggy but fetching Adam takes us to Bury St Edmunds to Fullers Mill Gardens where we meet Garden Manager Gary Bean. Steve and Dawn Morgan in Barnstable, Devon show us around their beautiful sub-tropical garden and their impressive collection of passionflowers. Chris Burkett in Moreton in the Wirral shows us his garden of no less than 200 pots before Advolly gives us a talk on houseplants at...

Frances Tophill is at Powderham Castle again this week, with Rua and Jeanette, where she's planting tulip bulbs, digging up weeds, drying hydrangeas (by wetting them!) and cutting back rose root stock. Rachel de Thame is at Pettifers Garden in Banbury and talks to us more about the relationship between pollinators and flowers. Eddie Bailey (RhizoPhyllia) in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire gives us a fa...

Joe Swift takes us to Tom Hoblyn's beautiful 2.5 acre garden in Bury-St-Edmunds, Suffolk where we learn about chip-budding. Delia May West Ryder shows us around her incredible garden in Tiverton, Devon packed with dahlias galore, before Gavin in East Sussex shows us his impressive collection of miniature trees. Garden writer and journalist Jane Perrone shows us her beautiful houseplants, including...

Rachel de Thame takes us to the beautiful Yeo Valley Organic Garden in Somerset to meet Professor Jane Memmott and Professor Daniel Robert from Bristol University to learn more about how plants interact with insects. We visit Tom Adkin and Giulia Consolandi at their Piccolo Plants Nursery in Branscombe, North Devon and they show us their fantastic collection of succulents. Maisie Bartlett tak...

We're with Frances Tophill at Powderham Castle with Jeanette and Ru this week before Carol Klein takes us to Highfield Farm Garden in Monmouthshire for a tour of Jenny and Roger Lloyd's beautiful gardens. Head Gardener Joe Scoble shows us around the incredible award-winning garden project run by Guy’s and St Thomas’, supporting patients recovering from amputation to be physically and mentally acti...

We visit Dr Margaret Stone's national collection of asters in Worcester with Rachel de Thame, and have a good wonder around her beautiful garden at Brockamin. Tashi Dhondup in Stroud gives us a tour of his stunning garden and shows us his collection of meconopsis before Eric in Normandy France shows us his garden where he uses the no-dig method. Jilly McNaughton gives us a masterclass on building...

On this week’s episode of Good Ol’ Chit-Chats, Mandy Barber from Incredible Vegetables takes us to her dream garden made up of weird and wonderful “edimentals”, most of which we hadn’t heard of (apparently duck potatoes are a thing). Perennial kale has an unusual use and the walking onions blew our tiny minds🤯 Our Incredible Vegetables shopping list has been written.  Some mentions from Mand...

This week we travel to Herefordshire with Sue Kent to meet Layla Robinson at her incredible dried flower studio and Scott Thompson shows us around his immersive garden, Fern Bank in Wirksworth, Matlock. Astrid and Frankie Drummond give us a guided tour of their beautiful garden and triangular compost bin in Sheffield before Joe Swift takes us to the incredible Church Gardens in Harefield where Pat...

Chris Miller from Grow Cardiff joins us for a Good Ol’ Chit-Chat this week! Chris was on Gardeners’ World earlier this year tackling his astro lawn and in this episode we find out a bit about his work with Grow Cardiff and the fantastic support the charity provides others to transform uninspiring urban areas into productive, nature-filled, buzzing hubs that serve their community. We also hear what...

Arit and Adam are at East Ruston Old Vicarage in Norfolk where we meet the inspiring owners Alan Gray and Graham Robeson. Rekha gives us an update on her successes and failures in her veggie garden in the Peak District and we visit the incredible Fifty Shades of Green garden owned by Annemarie and Andrew Swift in Walsall. Finally Carol gives us another masterclass on propagation, this time showing...

Mary from Burrow Farm Gardens describes her dream garden this week, which is very similar to her wonderful gardens in Devon! We hear about her champion tree, her family tradition of primroses, her love of dogs and her childhood interest in gardening, especially pansies. A link to Mary's place can be found here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/gardens/ More from Burrow Farm Gardens https://www.instagr...

This week sees us jealous of Nick's immaculate new garden before we visit Martha Swales' inspiring urban plot in Lewisham. Dan Cartwright gives us a tour of the beautiful Arts and Crafts gardens at Winterbourne House and Garden in Birmingham and Frances takes us along with her to meet Josh Sparkes in his experimental acres at Birch Farm in Devon. Here are some links from the episode: Martha Swales...

Melanie Lewis from Aeonium Mellie took us for a fantastical tour through her dream garden on this episode of a Good Ol' Chit-Chat! We were immersed in a magical world of dingle dells, guard-swans and disappearing frog-bits. Unforgettable! Below are some mentions from Mellie, links to which can be found here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/gardens Lullingstone Castle Debs Ednie John Massey National B...

We learn a little about baby rhinos this week! We join Arit to chat with Tara Moss about her beautiful award winning garden in Earls Court, designed by Harry Holding, before meeting Kris Saunders-Stowe and his husband Deane in Ross-on-Wye. Dan Clarke gives us a tour of his productive allotment in Newcastle and then Rachel De Thame talks to Professor James Memmott and Associate Professor...

This week’s guest is Rob King from My Sheffield Garden. We have a Good Ol’ Chit-Chat about Rob’s garden at home, how he decides what gets a space in addition to the planting and also what his dream garden would look like. Rob mentions the garden he’s currently volunteering in so we’ve included a link below. Rob mentions Whinfell Quarry Garden, a link to which can be found here: https://notjus...

This week Rachel de Thame takes us to Am Brook Meadow in Newton Abbott where we meet Jennie and Jethro Marles. They take us around their stunning garden and pond before we head over to the wonderful Nigel Palfrey in Kingston St Mary to see his exquisite crinkle-crinkle folly. Alison Taylor in Tilehurst, West Reading shows us her collection of roses and Frances meets with Jennifer at the Weleda Bio...

Lucy from Foster Irises joins us this week on the podcast. Lucy was on Gardeners' World earlier this year - episode 12 - and talks to us about her incredible connection to Foster Irises and the "father of iris breeding" as well as what she'd have in her dream garden. Links to some of Lucy's mentions can be found here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/gardens , including: Ickworth House Helmingham Hall...

We're back with Adam, Ash and Isla this week before joining Joe in Derbyshire to meet Amy Langron in her beautiful walled garden. Benn Storey shows us around his stunning steeply terraced garden in Clapham and then Rachel White inspires us with her front garden transformation in North Berwick. Arit is spending some time with Will Clayton from Geb & Green in Hertfordshire to learn a bit about t...

Martin Ciderspiller from Big Cactus Rescue joins us this week on the podcast. Martin and Trixie were on Gardeners' World in Episode 2 in 2023 and showed their impressive cacti collection and so we can expect a few making an appearance in his dream garden! Martin mentions a couple of interesting instagram accounts to follow: Cactus Explorer Cactus Conservation Links to them can be found here: https...

This week is at Longmeadow with Ned and Monty and we get to spend a bit of time with Sue Kent in her garden in Swansea before meeting Ogie Placido and his collection of pitcher plants and aloes. We also have a look around Pepper and Linus' "untidy garden" in Reading before hearing about the interesting history of Plas Brondanw in Gwynedd from Advolly. Finally Dionne Sambrook shows us her new...