BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

Medical herbalist Kim Walker reveals how plants can be harnessed to tackle coughs, colds and provide basic first aid. She also shares herbal remedies for anxiety and depression, which you can make at home, using plants found from your garden or foraged on walks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Explore the fascinating connection between our gardens, natural light, and the quality of our sleep with leading sleep scientist Dr. Christine Blume. Based at the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, Christine's groundbreaking research explores how the natural world around us - from daylight to ambient temperature - affects our circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The classic city bird. Chest puffed. Neck shimmering like slick oil on water. Moving through streets like a long term resident who knows every shortcut and has no interest in leaving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gardens and landscapes can deliver a wealth of shared benefits to wildlife and people but when was the last time you paused to consider the effect that nature-generated sound is having as part of that? Dr Natalia Zielonka has been researching just that, especially the impact of birdsong and how it can actively boost positivity and combat stress. RSPB Great British Bird Watch tie in? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam discusses how the feel of a garden is as important as how it looks and the strong connection we can have to plants. How scent can aid health and wellbeing and the importance of soil health for our gut health and that creating a garden is beneficial for our health and wellbeing, as well as the health and wellbeing of our planet and wildlife. Adam shares that gardens should be about moments, taking the time to enjoy being in the garden, and finding the magic of being in that space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This series is a love letter to the underloved the misunderstood and the birds humans get wrong every single day. These are not the glamorous documentary species filmed on the far side of the planet. These are the birds you see on estates rooftops school playgrounds seaside towns motorway edges and scruffy riverbanks. The everyday birds people overlook complain about or call pests. But these species are the ones that tell the real story of how wildlife and people live together. Discover more in a new podcast series of Bird Watching with Nadeem Perera, every Saturday in January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Give your mental and physical health a boost this January and February with a new Wellness podcast series from BBC Gardeners' World Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recorded live in September at Kew Gardens, join Nicki Chapman as she talks all things gardening, and more, with Adam Frost and Frances Tophill. Discussing their love of gardening, there's practical advice and gardening confessions too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When there's hardly any green outside and it's too early to start sowing seeds and growing plants, why not look to the refreshing shape, colour and stature of house plants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can a living library conserve and preserve gardening history and shape our understanding of nature? Step inside the quiet and fascinating world of the Herbarium at RHS Wisley to uncover a combination of beauty and science pressed between thousands of pages, along with ancient flowers, dried leaves and stories of where they came from with Yvette Harvey, the Keeper of the Herbarium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 With the festive season fast approaching, Christmas can be a busy time with no end of tasks to keep us busy on the run up to the big day, but what role can our gardens play in all of this? Whether it's homegrown veg for the festive table or garden gathered greenery and berries for a homemade door reef, our gardens can be a source of great bounty and a place to escape to, of course. Monty Don describes Christmas at Longmeadow and tell us why it's a time for all of us to take a breather. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cleaning hand tools is not particularly glamorous, but it's one of those jobs that gives a lot satisfaction and maintaining your hand tools will reward you with more efficient and safer to use tools that will last for many seasons to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a lot of people, this time of year is all about cosying up indoors, but out in the garden there's still so much fun to be had from making natural wreaths and decorating with evergreens, to feeding the birds, sewing onions, and even bringing in a little magic indoors with some festive foliage. Join Frances for Christmassy folklore and the little seasonal rituals and cheerful jobs that make festive gardening feel special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 It's the time of year when we start thinking about how to make our homes feel festive and, instead of reaching for tinsel and glitter, why not look to the garden for inspiration? Arit reveals how to decorate for a stylish and natural Christmas, combining sustainability with beauty, and explores what to gather from the garden, how to design with natural colour and texture, and ways to make your decorations last throughout the festive season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Christmas fast approaching and the desire to find the right gardening present for the right person, why not look to source sustainable gardening gifts for your friends and family. Even if the recipients aren't green-fingered, the Gardeners' World magazine team have you covered with a selection of our favourite gifts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Carol Klein has had an interesting, illustrious, and often surprising life and career from jobs as varied as a bus conductor cleaner and art teacher to gardener and TV presenter. She's travelled, got herself into and out of many precarious situations often, but not always in search of plants, and she's met fascinating people along the way. Join us as Carol unearths some of the fascinating stories that have got her to where she is today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tracy Wilson, MBE from the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the government department on the frontline of protecting our plants from pests and diseases, discusses what biosecurity means and what we can do as gardeners to help stop threats before they spread to keep our gardens and countryside safe and thriving. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's something genuinely magical about heading out into your garden or local woodland on a crisp winter morning, secateurs in hand, gathering armfuls of evergreen foliage. It connects us to those ancient midwinter traditions which go back thousands of years to when our ancestors celebrated the winter solstice. They understood that bringing evergreen branches indoors was a promise that spring would return. And don't we all still find ourselves wishing for the same in the depths of winter? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discover Adam's early gardening influences and the people who have helped him throughout his career - from his younger years with Scruffy Nan in the garden, to his informative years in Devon and with landscape gardener Geoff Hamilton. This podcast was recorded at Gardeners' World Live with Nicki Chapman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lydia Millen has amassed millions of devoted followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, showcasing her idyllic life in the countryside and her gorgeous garden. Yet such fame is not without its price. Lydia shares her experience of the darker side of social media, how gardening and nature have transformed her outlook on life, and helped her be her best self. And why she has swapped designer Hermès handbags for pottering in her greenhouse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Now is a great time to mulch. It's a chance to get out in the garden and do something practical when everything seems to be on the wane and dying down. It's also a good physical workout, a nice way to use a chilly but sunny day. You might think mulching is just about feeding the plants, but it's really about looking after the soil itself, the life beneath our feet, and it's easy to overlook. When you mulch, you're adding nutrients and feeding the soil life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Gardening can provide us with many benefits, from being in fresh air, surrounded by nature, exposing us to sunlight and increased levels of vitamin D, bringing enjoyment from a colourful flower border, and dietary benefits too from the food we grow, to name a few. Being in the garden and in outdoor spaces can also be a fantastic way to stay fit and healthy. Jacqueline Hooton's garden gym helps women in their 50s and 60s to become strong and fit and stay healthy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 The Amazon may feel far away, but what happens there affects all of us. It's a storehouse of biodiversity and natural climate regulator and home to countless species that we've barely begun to study. Dr. Rosa Vasquez, Espinoza takes us into the amazing world of life beneath the rainforest canopy to explore what's at stake, what's still being discovered, and why the Amazon matters more than ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The time from November to March is ideal for planting bare root plants - whether trees, shrubs or hedging - and who doesn't want more plants in their garden? Whether you're planning to plant trees to your gardening space, adding some native mixed hedging or looking to increase your border with shrubs, choosing bare root plants is a great option. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 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

 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