Crossed Wires Podcast Festival: Back to Basics

Crossed Wires Podcast Festival: Back to Basics

Author: BBC Radio 4 July 11, 2025 Duration: 42:44

How important is health and safety in the garden? What disease has been growing on my tomatoes? What would the panel say was their most overrated plant?

Kathy Clugston hosts Gardeners' Question Time, recorded live at the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival.

Joining her on the expert panel are botanist and broadcaster James Wong, award-winning garden designer Matthew Wilson, and alpine plant specialist Bethan Collerton. Together, they tackle a lively array of gardening questions from an enthusiastic audience.

Later in the programme, James Wong takes a trip to Sheffield’s Winter Garden, where he shares his top picks for easy-to-grow plants - perfect for beginners looking to cultivate greenery both indoors and out.

Producer: Dom Tyerman Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Plant List Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

Q – How important is health and safety in the garden? (01’27”)

Q – What are the ideal conditions for growing wildflowers from seeds? (04’10”)

Q – What’s the best method for watering a very parched, dried out cacti? (07’57”)

Q – Why have my wisteria stopped flowering? (11’31”)

Feature – James Wong provides an essential list of plants you can grow indoors and outdoors. He’s visiting the Sheffield Winter Gardens (16’11”)

James Wong – Dichondra Strelitzia nicolai, white bird of paradise

Q – How do I stop slugs from eating my hostas? (24’05”)

Q – What would be your recommendations for plants that can survive harsh weather in coastal regions? (24’44”)

Bethan Collerton – Armeria maritima, thrift

Matthew Wilson – Griselinia littoralis, new zealand broadleaf Hippophae rhamnoides, sea buckthorne

James Wong Griselinia littoralis, new zealand broadleaf Quercus ilex, holm oak Tamarisk Trachycarpus fortune, chusan palm

Q – What disease has been growing on my tomatoes? (29’17”)

Q – I’d like to grow my Jasmine against a fence, do I hack it right back, start again or plant is as is? (32’44”)

Q – What would the panel say was their most overrated plant? (36’37”)

James Wong – Geranium Rozanne ('Gerwat'PBR), cranesbill [Rozanne]

Matthew Wilson – Heucheras


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.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 82

Gardeners' Question Time
Podcast Episodes
Diss: Gravel Gardens, Camellia Care and Ways to Weather Drought [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Peter Gibbs and the Gardeners’ Question Time panel visit Diss, on the Norfolk–Suffolk border, where heavy clay soils meet some of the driest conditions in the country; a combination that keeps gardeners firmly on their t…
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - At the Bandstand [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Gardeners’ Question Time returns to the iconic RHS Chelsea Flower Show Bandstand.Recorded in the dappled shade of plane trees and surrounded by colour and spectacle, Kathy Clugston is joined by Bunny Guinness, Matthew Po…
Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - Postbag [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:39
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Serge Hill Project [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:31
In a special Gardeners’ Question Time episode to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the programme is at the Serge Hill Project, an inspirational garden that promotes working with nature to radically transform people's he…
Pulham Market [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:27
Peter Gibbs and Gardeners’ Question Time panel visit visit Pulham Market.Peter is joined by Bob Flowerdew, Christine Walkden and Bunny Guinness to answer questions on growing fruit in pots and choosing shrubs for deep sh…
From The Archives: Summer Colour [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:35
Kathy Clugston guides us through the GQT archives to hear how our panellists and experts, old and new, advise on delivering dazzling displays of summer colour.Along the way, the gardeners explore how thoughtful structura…
The Great Barn: Chillies, Camellias and Consciousness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:21
Peter and Gardeners’ Question Time panel visit the historic Great Barn in Harmondsworth.Beneath the medieval beams, Peter is joined by Bunny Guinness, Francis Tophill and James Wong as they tackle a wonderfully wide‑rang…
Bolton [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:48
Kathy Clugston and the Gardeners' Question Time panel visit the outskirts of Bolton in Lancashire. Kathy is joined by RHS Bridgewater Curator Marcus Chilton-Jones, Garden Designer Matthew Wilson and Plantswoman Christine…
Edgworth & District [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:07
Kathy Clugston and the Gardeners' Question Time panel visit the picturesque Lancashire village of Edgworth, nestled on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.This week, the team are being hosted by the Edgworth and District…
Postbag Edition: Mary Berry's House [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:36
Peter Gibbs and the GQT panel have traded parks and community gardens for a visit to the Oxfordshire home of Dame Mary Berry. On this week's panel are Matthew Pottage, Christine Walkden and Bunny Guinness.Among today’s q…