Gardeners' Question Time

Gardeners' Question Time

Author: BBC Radio 4 Language: English Episodes: 50
For decades, Gardeners' Question Time has been a trusted companion for anyone with a patch of earth, a windowsill pot, or simply a curiosity about the natural world. Produced by BBC Radio 4, this enduring podcast brings together a rotating panel of seasoned horticulturalists, each with their own specialties and practical wisdom. The format is beautifully simple yet endlessly varied: a live audience, gathered in a different village hall, community garden, or nursery somewhere across the country each week, poses their real-life gardening dilemmas. What you’ll hear are unscripted, thoughtful, and often wonderfully anecdotal answers that tackle everything from stubborn lawn weeds and pruning perplexities to coaxing a better tomato harvest. The changing location means the advice is grounded in specific climates and conditions, offering relatable insights whether you're dealing with coastal winds, heavy clay, or a tiny urban balcony. It’s the conversational tone and the collective knowledge of the experts that makes this podcast feel like a friendly, invaluable chat with a knowledgeable neighbor. You get the sense of a shared gardening community, with all its trials, successes, and seasonal rhythms. Listening feels less like receiving a lecture and more like eavesdropping on a fascinating, problem-solving conversation that has been honed over seventy years on the air. The questions from the audience are always genuine, often urgent, and the answers are delivered with a blend of science, hands-on experience, and good humor. It is a direct line to practical help and inspiration for your own garden, whatever its size or style.
Episodes
Summer Garden Party RHS Wisley: Show 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:20
Kathy Clugston hosts the second of the Gardeners’ Question Time Summer Garden Party specials from RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey.Joining Kathy are Pippa Greenwood, Matthew Wilson, Marcus Chilton-Jones and Dr Chris Thorogood…
Summer Garden Party RHS Wisley: Show 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:23
Kathy Clugston hosts the first of two Gardeners’ Question Time Summer Garden Party specials from RHS Garden Wisley.Joined by James Wong, Matthew Pottage, Pippa Greenwood and Frances Tophill, Kathy takes questions from a…
Minstead: Colourful Borders, Resilient Brambles and Parched Plants [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:18
Kathy Clugston chairs Gardeners’ Question Time from Minstead Village Hall in the heart of the New Forest. Joining Kathy are plant pathologist Pippa Greenwood, head gardener at Birmingham Botanical Gardens Bethan Collerto…
The Donkey Sanctuary: Drought, Biodiversity and Resilient Planting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:17
Peter Gibbs hosts GQT from The Donkey Sanctuary near Sidmouth in Devon.Joining Peter are plantswoman Anne Swithinbank, pest and disease expert Pippa Greenwood and the Royal Parks’ Head of Horticulture Matthew Pottage.Sou…
From the Archive: Microclimate [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:04
Kathy Clugston delves into the GQT archive to explore one of Britain’s most intriguing gardening phenomena: microclimates.Travelling across the British Isles, the programme uncovers how local conditions shape what garden…
Clarkston: Peach Tress, Pirate Sheds and Late Summer Pruning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:08
Kathy Clugston and the panel visit Clarkston Halls near Glasgow.Joining Kathy are botanist James Wong, Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Head Gardener Bethan Collerton, and Balmoral’s Head of Gardens Kirsty Wilson.The panel…
Postbag: The Hidden Gardens, Glasgow [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:18
Kathy Clugston hosts another Gardeners’ Question Time Postbag episode from The Hidden Gardens in Glasgow, a remarkable community green space created on a former industrial site in the heart of the city.Joining Kathy to d…
Pinchbeck: Awkward Astrantias, Watering Wisdom and Courgette Chaos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:02
Peter Gibbs and the Gardeners’ Question Time panel visit the Lincolnshire village of Pinchbeck, a fenland landscape shaped by waterways and a long history of horticulture.On the panel are plantswoman Christine Walkden an…
Birmingham: Bonsai, Black Elder, Blueberry and Bees [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:23
Recorded at the University of Birmingham’s magnificent Elgar Concert Hall, Kathy Clugston is joined by Bethan Collerton of Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Marcus Chilton-Jones of RHS Garden Bridgewater, and Dr Chris Thorog…