BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

 If your garden is looking tired or you've moved into a new home and inherited a scruffy or unloved plot, turning it into a garden you love can seem like a daunting task. What do you do with shrubs that have grown wild or a patio that's crumbling under your feet? Join plantsman, author, designer, and TV presenter, Nick Bailey, who's recently renovated his own garden and discover how to give your garden a new lease of life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It may not be sexy and it certainly isn't about instant gratification, but it is free and easy: leaf mould. One of the easiest, most effective, and completely free soil improvers you can make at home, made from a mix of green and brown garden waste and kitchen scraps. Leaf mould iis rich in nutrients and created entirely from decomposed leaves. It doesn't feed your plants directly, as it's low in nutrients, but it's like magic for the structure of your soil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peat bogs can store twice as much carbon as forests, are among the most carbon rich ecosystems on earth, and provide a home to many mammals, birds, insects, and amphibians.  Presenter, writer and horticulturalist Alys Fowler, known for her botanical passion and ecological awareness, urges us to sink deep into the dark earths of these rugged places to appreciate the value of peatlands natural resources, beauty and richness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Front gardens are often different from back gardens and tend to be a little bit smaller. They have to be functional and are usually quite visible too. They offer the added advantage of environmental benefits, such as improved air quality, and can also provide habitats for wildlife. So, how do you make your front garden appealing while also making it work for you too? Arit Anderson has some recommendations. Recorded at the Gardeners' World Autumn Fair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is there anything more cheerful than coming home on a cold spring day and being greeted by a pot full of colourful tulips? Spring may seem a while off but now's the time to rip open some bags of bulbs and get planting and November is the ideal time to get them in the ground or in your pots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Getting older doesn't have to mean that we stop doing the things we love. Gardening can be physically demanding, but it can also be hugely beneficial in keeping our minds and bodies active. Carol has been gardening for decades. At an age when many might have long retired and be slowing down, discover how she has adapted her garden and the way she gardens over the years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monty reveals the biggest gardening lessons he's learned during his career, including how to use colour and light in the garden throughout the year. Discover his love of visiting gardens for their stories and life, how important it is to connect with the natural world and the joy of creating something that connects people and plants. Recorded at Gardeners' World Live in June. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When people think of protecting tender plants, the first thing that springs to mind is usually frost. And yes, frost can be devastating, but what's less often talked about is the combination of cold and wet. So, let's look at some ways to give your tender plants the best chance of surviving until spring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Utilising garden design skills can make a huge difference in terms of process, budget, and the all-important end result. Garden designer and BBC Gardeners World presenter Adam Frost discusses the basics of garden design from soft and hard landscaping to the helpful tips and tricks that create harmony, rhythm, biodiversity, and balance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rachel de Thample reveals how cheap honey is really made, and the impact that has on its nutritional value. Plus find out how London ended up with 'too many' bees! She also shares delicious ways to use honey and how best to help bees in your garden, whether you want to keep your own bees or support other bees, and the different bee-keeping methods they use at Hugh Fearnley's Whittingstall's River Cottage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A good job to do this time of year is to give your gardening pots, and greenhouse too if you have one, a thorough deep clean. It's a job that's easily neglected, but if you take the time now in autumn, you'll reap the benefits in spring when the growing season starts again in earnest. And, apart from the satisfaction you'll get from seeing gleaming pots and shiny greenhouse windows, it's important to get rid of any pests, diseases and mould that can overwinter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 There's plenty of evidence that connecting with nature is good for you, but for many people who live in an urban setting, it's not always possible or easy to access green space. Thankfully there is a growing movement made more visible via the digital world that seeks to address the imbalance and ensure that access to nature is not only available to all, but can be enjoyed to its most inspiring, uplifting, educating, and empowering extent, including the many in varied habitats that are often just a stones throwaway. Discover how urban wildlife ranger Lira Valencia  helps others commune and benefit from nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Planting bulbs in the autumn and winter gives hope that spring will greet you with bursts of colour.  Starting with snow drops and crocus, and then daffodils, bluebells and more, by the time you're in summer there are many different colours in the garden. Discover why bulbs represent a transition and a life life to Frances Tophill. This podcast was recorded at BBC Gardeners' World Autumn Fair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sowing next year's broad beans is a great way to deal with the sad fact that summer is over, and its up there with planting next year's garlic cloves as an antidote to the autumn blues. There's also a really good horticultural reason to sow your broad beans now, enabling the plants to get off to a much better start when they're sown now, rather than in spring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not so long ago, the alleyway behind Yasmine El Gabry's street in Manchester was home to flytipping, anti-social behaviour and worse. Now, it's a thriving community garden, and these things are banished to the past. How did she and her neighbours do it – and can it work elsewhere for the rest of us? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 A tree can make or break a garden. The right tree in the right spot can add structure, year-round interest, shelter, and food for wildlife. Trees do a lot of good in a garden too, particularly in urban areas, providing shade and helping to reduce local heat as well as mitigating against the effects of climate change such as flooding. So, should we all be planting trees in our gardens, especially in cities and other urban areas? And, if so, which trees should we plant for not and for the future? Award-wining wildlife writer Kate Bradbury talks to RHS Ecosystem Services Fellow Dr Elisabeth Karlstad Larsen to discover more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A satisfyingly physical job, dividing perennials is just about the easiest way of making new plants. Lifting and dividing is simply the process of digging up herbaceous plants, splitting them into smaller, healthy sections, and replanting them, giving your plants a new lease of life. It's also a brilliant opportunity to move plants or, even better, spread them around your garden for free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Healthy soil is the foundation of every thriving garden, but how well do we really understand what's going on beneath our feet? Award-winning garden designer Juliet Sargent explores how we can all care for and make the most of this precious resource, incudling what soil needs, the damage we might unknowingly be doing, and how every gardener can work with nature to create a more sustainable garden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discover practical tips for nurturing and enjoying home-grown produce with Gardeners' World presenter Adam Frost. Listen as he gives advice for what to grow throughout the year, what he has enjoyed in the veg patch this year and how he looks after his plot. From his early influences in the garden and in the kitchen, Adam also reveals a tasty recipe for how to cook marrows! This podcast was recorded at the BBC Gardeners' Word Autumn Fair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Planting onion sets and garlic cloves in autumn is a great way to get a head start on next year's harvest. By planting now, the bulbs will establish earlier than spring planted crops, and garlic benefits from colder temperatures so they can burst into growth in spring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Murder, intrigue, betrayal. It's all in a day's work for award-winning actress Indira Varma, best known for roles in Game of Thrones, Luther and Obiwan Kenobi, as well as many stage roles. But away from the bright lights Indira is a keen gardener. In this episode she tells us about her London garden, what inspires her and why there are faces hiding amongst her plants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Frances takes the overwhelm out of the gardening jobs in autumn and discusses what you can be doing in the garden at this time of year. From planting new plants, improving your soil, dividing plants and propagating by taking cuttings, it's also a good time of year to consider and rejig your flower beds and, of course, to plant spring bulbs. This podcast was recorded at the BBC Gardeners' World Autumn Fair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our lawns go through a lot, they get trampled on, sat on, cut down short and most of us allow them to dry out over summer. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, but if we want them to be able to withstand that treatment every summer, it's a good idea to give them a bit of attention now and a few simple actions in autumn will ensure your lawn survives winter in good shape and is healthy and raring to grow next spring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a passion for growing vegetables and fruit, in particular rare and endangered vegetables from around the world, seed saver, filmmaker and writer Adam Alexander, discusses the social and cultural relationship we have with what we grow and eat. Known as the Seed Detective, Adam Alexander uncovers little known stories of people who've helped to preserve the world's edible diversity. With a library of over 500 rare, endangered and heirloom vegetable varieties, he emphasises the importance of saving seeds for biodiversity and food security. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Connecting the bounty of the vegetable patch with the delights created in the kitchen, Raymont Blanc has embraced the plot to plate principle for over 40 years, growing and cooking at his two-Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire. The grounds cover 27 acres, including a Japanese tea garden, the incredible potager and an orchard. Join Raymond for a walk around the gardens where he enthuses about his passion for organic growing and cooking with the seasons and shares some recipes too. RB photo credit: Chris Terry and Imogen Cander Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 September is a wonderful month to enjoy your homegrown vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers, whether from your garden, vegetable plot or allotment. There's something special about picking, preparing and eating produce you've grown and nurtured over the summer months, plus, home-grown tastes so much better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With over 89 cultivars of daffodil, the Backhouse Rossie Estate in Fife, Scotland, holds the only scientific collection of Narcissus in the world. The family's work revolutionised daffodil breeding in the 19th and early 20th century and inspired the Backhouse Heritage Daffodil Collection. Continuing to preserve and celebrate daffodils at the estate, including a registered collection of spring flowering Narcissus with Plant Heritage, direct descendent of the Backhouse family, Caroline Thomson brings to light the history of the Backhouse daffodils. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Explore the gardens at Highclere Castle with Alan Titchmarsh and Lady Fiona Carnarvon as they take you on an exclusive garden tour. The castle and gardens, known for where the filming of Downton Abbey was undertaken for both the TV series and the feature films, were originally landscaped by Capability Brown and include the Secret Garden, the Monks Garden, the celebrated white border, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Although spring feels a long way away as we head into autumn and winter, by planting spring flowering bulbs now, you'll bring a lovely pop of colour and scent to your garden in the early months of next year, as well as provide a source of much-needed nectar and pollen for pollinators too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Known for presenting BBC Radio Three's flagship programme In Tune, for being the face of BBC Proms and winning the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special in 2017, Katie Derham spends a lot of time as a broadcast journalist, but her passion for classical music spills into the gardening space too. Discover Katie's gorgeous garden and how music informs the spaces within it. Katie presents the Last Night of the Proms live on BBC Two from 6.55pm, and then on BBC One from 8.30pm on Saturday 13 September. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chelsea garden designer and BBC Gardeners' World TV presenter Nick Bailey shares expert advice for creating a garden that's easy to care for. From resilient plants to plants that require minimal input, to plants that can cope with extremes in temperature and don't succumb to pests and diseases. Get ready to make a list of fabulous plant suggestions for your garden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Explore the gardens at Highclere Castle with Alan Titchmarsh and Lady Fiona Carnarvon as they take you on an exclusive garden tour. The castle and gardens, known for where the filming of Downton Abbey was undertaken for both the TV series and the feature films, were originally landscaped by Capability Brown and include the Secret Garden, the Monks Garden, the celebrated white border, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To keep your vegetable plot productive in the colder months - and if you're keen to extend the sowing and growing season – why not grow winter greens for a supply of fresh and nutritious food. Winter greens are just that – green vegetables that can grow and thrive in cooler conditions. Plus, you'll reap the benefit of the added vitamins which can be welcome in the bleaker, colder months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Make sure none of your homegrow harvests goes to waste, and that you can enjoy them for longer.  Frances Tophill shares top tips for dealing with gluts and ways to preserve your bounty. She also reveals how she makes her produce go further. After months of growing and nurturing, and saving from all manner of pests and diseases, join Frances as she shares how she enjoys her home-grown crops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 A fair amount of cutting back and pruning takes places at Longmeadow. Monty Don explains when it all happens and why, and clarifies when plants should be cut back and when to leave them. Along with making sure you have the correct tool for the job, he also discusses the importance of using the right gardening kit and techniques - and reassures that if mistakes are made, the plant will probably recover quicker than you think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we head into autumn, enjoy a new series of the BBC Gardeners' World Magazine podcast for gardening inspiration and motivation. Join me and some of the UK's most loved and respected gardening experts as we discuss whether to ‘cut back or not', how to enjoy the harvest, gather seeds, and look after your soil. We also uncover how to bridge the gap between urban communities and nature. Plus, we'll take you inside celebrity gardens and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Madrid is a beautiful place to explore. Located in the Tajuña Valley, there are many viewpoints where you can look for miles across the landscape and Madrid is home to many Judas trees. The parks are full of them, and they line the sides of many streets. Their beautiful hot pink blooms and almost haunting dark bean pods were everywhere. It was truly so special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Embracing the multi-functionality of a small gardening space, Frances Tophill offers design ideas for your gardening area to reach it's full potential. With tips and advice for how to utlise tiny plots through clever design, including recycling ideas and how to use the space for all growing possibilities. Recorded live at BBC Gardeners' World Live in June. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discover what goes on behind the TV scenes with Monty Don as he talks to Nicki Chapman at BBC Gardeners' World Live in June 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 When I told an Italian friend we were going on holiday to the Dolomites, she told me it's her favorite place in the whole world, and yet word of its delights doesn't seem to have reached these shores yet. Breathtakingly beautiful, and a  great destination to visit with the family in both summer and winter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Late summer bridges the lushness of summer and the early signs of autumn. Plants have grown and filled out, the borders are bursting and the garden is relaxed and full-grown. Monty Don discusses his flower borders at Longmeadow and how the Jewel Garden was created. Recorded live at BBC Gardeners' World Live in June. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 For some people living in the city means a private house and private space to grow plants and flowers of choice, but for many, especially those who live in flats on a budget and rented accommodation, access to a garden can be a real issue. East London based community gardener and nature educator, Hafsah Hafeji talks about her experience of growing in urban spaces, campaigning for access to nature for all, and encouraging young people, especially teenagers, to get outside and get involved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices