BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

Dainty and beautiful, Daucus carota is an ornamental variety of wild carrot that produces flowing airy flower clusters. The flowers add interest to a border, vegetable patch or meadow-style area and can encourage biodiversity to your garden. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pioneering scheme transforms mental health care in Bradford. The NHS Trust is using projects including allotment visits, canal-side walks and VR headsets showing footage of the local moors, as part of its treatment for patients suffering from a range of mental health problems. Practionioner Cathy Schofield shares how this could become the future of NHS mental health care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 Connecting with nature and gardening are proven ways to benefit our health and wellbeing. Support for people to engage in nature-based interventions is also on the rise, highlighting the vital work that a burgeoning collective of community gardens and community gardeners are doing. Therapeutic gardener at RHS Bridgewater, Salford, Ozichi Brewster talks about the healing power of nature and gardening, and how a rise in social prescribing is helping a range of health and wellbeing issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you haven't heard of Ratibida before, it's also known as the Prairie coneflower. A plant that thrives in dry conditions, it's happy growing in many planting locations from a cottage or informal garden to a gravel garden, in prairie planting, and in flower borders and beds, as well as to grow for a cut flower. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creating green spaces for our cities and community gardens for residents are ways to bring pockets of nature into our urban landscapes. By strengthening social ties, they bring neighbours together, foster a sense of belonging, and create supportive, multicultural networks, transforming neighbourhoods and empowering residents to reshape the way cities think about green space. Naveep Deol, trustee of the National Park City Foundation and chair of the London National Park City, is a passionate advocate for greener cities, the community gardening movement, and how these shared green spaces can act as small sanctuaries that nurture both personal and community health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we look for ways to spend more time in nature, how can we build a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the natural world? What does it mean to connect with nature, why does it matter and how have we drifted away from it? Chair of Natural England, Tony Juniper is one of the UK's most influential environmental thinkers and campaigners. Combining scientific insight, policy expertise, and a passion for the natural world, he'll discuss how reconnecting can change not just the way we live, but the world we're shaping for generations to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you wish to grow chillis this year, it's important to get started early in the season and sow in the first few months of the year. Chillis need a long and warm growing season, and by starting them early - from January to March - you'll give them the time they need to grow, flower, and ripen their fruits fully. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two-year study reveals the startling impact that playing in nature has on children's immune systems, and their likelihood of developing allergies and diseases such as asthma and diabetes. Researcher Marja Roslund talks about the dramatic changes they measured in children's ability to fight off illnesses and the reduction in harmful bacteria found in their gut, after they rewilded the children's daycare centres, bringing in soil, plants and even a section of forest floor. She also explains the causal link between the explosion in allergies and conditions such as asthma and diabetes, and the changes we can make to make a difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 We all know deep in our bones that gardening is good for us, but increasingly this is no longer a thing we just have to have faith in. The scientific evidence is mounting up that gardening can have transformative effects for our minds and bodies, helping us to make us fitter, less stressed and happier to boot. GP, Therapeutic Horticulture Advocate and Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme Dr. Richard Claxton is at the forefront of this new scientific approach to gardening and health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lettuce is the backbone of every good salad. It's also one of the most popular crops to grow, because it's easy and quick, and thanks to its size, can be grown pretty much anywhere – from the veg plot to pots on a balcony or windowsill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, we speak to Melissa Simpson, Head of Horticulture for The King's Foundation, His Majesty's nature and sustainability charity. She reveals how they implement His Majesty's Harmony philosophy at his gardens at Highgrove, Dumfries House and the Castle of Mey. Melissa shares how his ideals inform how the gardens and wildlife are managed, and how it impacts the people who work at and visit the gardens. Plus, she shares clever organic tricks we can all adopt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

 We talk a lot about healthy soil, mulching it, feeding it, protecting it, but what if the health of our soil isn't just about thriving soil organisms and thriving plants, but thriving people too? Nutritionist Sam Ratanji delves into the remarkable parallels between the soil microbiome and our own bodies.Exploring how soil life affects flavour nutrition and even elements of our own wellbeing and uncover the small changes that every gardener can make to support richer soil and richer health too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Large loud white and grey bird with a sharp yellow beak and the confidence of someone who owns the entire coastline. Sharp minded messy comedic and fearless. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Menopause expert Dr Nadira Awal shares how to alleviate menopause symptoms such as brain fog, sleepless nights, joint pain and anxiety, using gardening. She also reveals why daily exposure to daylight is so crucial for menopausal women and avoiding broken bones later in life. Plus how handling soil can act as a natural antidepressant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drawing on her love of growing vegetables, edibles and herbs, join Frances as she talks about some of her favourite plants for teas, tinctures and balms. Discover when and how to harvest plants for health and wellbeing as well as the joy of sharing this process with others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A big brown raptor with broad wings and a mewing call that echoes across entire landscapes. Powerful. Soaring. Effortlessly dominant in the air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world we live in can be fast paced, high-pressured and full of deadlines. The constant hustle and stress can take its toll and if we're not careful it can lead to exhaustion and disconnection with the life we've worked so hard to build. Award winning food writer and author Kathy Slack overcame burnout to embrace a slower, more intentional way of living through growing her own food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Green spaces, blue spaces, but what about black spaces? Discover how our night's sky can help to feel grounded and release the stresses of everyday life. Astrophysicist and mindful stargazing expert Dr Mark Westmoquette encourages us all to pause, notice and connect to our dark skies for wellbeing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A glossy black mastermind with an intense knowing stare. Moves slow when it wants to think and fast when it wants to act. Always scanning always learning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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