The RHS Gardening Podcast

We've moved! If you're reading this, please hit 'Unsubscribe' and then re-subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. That way you'll automatically receive all our fantastic gardening content. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

As autumn hits its stride we're at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex to sample the exotic yet seasonal delights of the Global Growth Vegetable Garden with Matthew Oliver and Head Chef James Curtis. Meanwhile back at Wisley, Team Leader Verity Bradbury shares her favourite autumnal plants from the Equinox Borders and entomologist Imogen Cavadino has a call for gardeners to help research into a new(ish) slug on the block which seems to be elbowing out its relatives. (If a slug could elbow!). For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we return to Wisley for a very special event as HRH The Duchess of Cambridge opens the new Back to Nature Garden, which was inspired by show gardens co-designed by HRH alongside landscape architects Andree Davies and Adam White at the Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace flower shows. It's a place for families and friends to have fun in nature, while hopefully igniting a love for gardening and growing plants. Plus seasonal gardening advice from entomologist Hayley Jones who offers timely tips on dealing with bugs, Mark Tuson who's busy planting bulbs at Wisley and we meet master daffodil grower Ron Scamp. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

As autumn approaches and a new generation of gardeners re-discovers the late-season charms of chrysanthemums, we get expert advice on how to grow them from RHS Master Grower Martyn Fish of Chrysanthemums Direct. We talk to James Armitage, editor of The Plantsman, who shares some exciting news about this magazine for plant lovers ahead of its September re-launch. Plus seasonal lawn-care advice from David Hedges-Gower and joyful garden memories from Chelsea gold medal-winning designers Jilayne Rickards and Miki Sato. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we discover two fantastic new gardens - RHS Bridgewater near Manchester, which is gearing up to open its doors in about a year's time; and the Cool Garden which is already becoming a horticultural highlight at RHS Rosemoor in Devon. As peak hedge-cutting season approaches, consultant orthopaedic surgeon Ian McNab gives some timely advice on gardening health and safety. Plus joyful garden memories from Chelsea designers Andy Sturgeon and Taina Suonio. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we're at RHS Wisley where we meet garden managers Peter Jones and Emma Allen who share seasonal horticultural highlights and tips on what to do now. The Gardening Advice team deal with a bulging post bag of queries on a range of topics including lining hanging baskets, feeding tomatoes, summer lawn care, growing plants in pots and more. Plus we have joyful garden memories from designers Sarah Eberle and Chris Beardshaw. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

At the last major RHS flower show of the year we're talking bugs, slugs and lawns and visiting the show's Bridgewater garden, which is inspired by the new RHS site that will open in Salford next year. Plus we meet the winner of the Young Designer competition, whose garden aims to raise awareness of some important plant health issues that gardeners need to be aware of this summer. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we're going back to nature at the world's biggest annual flower show. Designer Jo Thompson explains how she's gone wild with the BBC Springwatch Garden, Dave Green shares his meditative spaces in the Stop and Pause Garden and Matthew Childs contemplates new approaches to energy use in the Smart Meter Garden. Plus we visit the RHS Back to Nature Garden (co-designed by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, Andrée Davies and Adam White), discover a drought-tolerant garden in memory of horticultural hero Beth Chatto, meet community allotmenteers and hear a surprising botanical cocktail recipe from food writer Mark Diacono. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we uncover untold histories of 19th-century gardeners with Fiona Davison, author and Head of Libraries and Collections at the RHS. Then we head out into the Chelsea crowds to meet Sue and Steve Hall who are part of our purple-clad cadre of volunteers; un-sung modern day gardening heroes who help run the RHS Flower Shows – they share what volunteering means to them. Plus a look at the incredible floral art from the National Association of Flower Arranging Societies (NAFAS) as the organisation celebrates its 70th year. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

In this edition we're at the newest RHS Flower Show on the block in the stunning estate of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. We explore the power of trees, get dazzled by dahlias and inspired by the innovative gardens and plants galore. Plus a live recording of a question and answer session where an expert panel helps showgoers with their thorny gardening questions. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we're at the world's premier floral extravaganza in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. We meet garden designers, celebrities and plantspeople to discover the stories behind the gardens and plants that make the show so special. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Our gardening advisors gather to help RHS members with their horticultural queries, including propagating peperomias and repotting aloe veras, growing cauliflowers successfully and when to plant an acer. Plus Wisley horticulturist Bernard Boardman offers seasonal tips on garden ponds and broadcaster Matthew Biggs shares insights from his new book, A Nation in Bloom. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we head across the Severn Bridge to the RHS Flower Show Cardiff. Guest presenter James Alexander-Sinclair chairs a panel of gardening experts – Rob Evans from Pheasant Acre Plants, Jane Linsday from Tynings Climbers and Chairman of RHS South West in Bloom Jon Wheatley – who answer a bumper crop of show-goers' queries. Topics covered include which plants to grow with children in a community garden, which plants give you most return for your effort, how to get a bougainvillea to flower, dealing with overgrown trees in pots, and more. We also hear from some of the plant exhibitors and garden designers. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

In this mini-edition of the RHS Gardening Podcast, James Alexander-Sinclair chairs a panel of experts who answer show-goers' plant puzzles on the first day of the show. A full version of the Question and Answer session will be broadcast on 25 April. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Our trusty advisors gather to help RHS members with their gardening problems including what to do about an apple tree that produces nasty apples, which are the most blackspot resistant roses and how to stop your peace lilies going brown. Garden writer Melissa Mabbitt and Deputy editor of The Garden magazine Phil Clayton debate this month's hot topic – whether forcing plants out of season is an acceptable sales tactic. And finally, Jenny Bowden reveals the results of a nationwide survey into which plants are most deer resistant. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we meet the staff and inmates at HMP Hull and discover how a prison garden has helped transform lives behind bars. Last year the prison's horticultural achievements won them the coveted Windlesham Trophy, an RHS award for the best prison garden. Meanwhile back at RHS Garden Wisley we meet pathologist Matthew Cromey who shares advice on the top 10 plant diseases reported to our gardening advice service last year. And finally, entomologist Andy Salisbury introduces a new kind of insect that marks the first new 'order' to be found in the UK in over a century. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

As the annual Hit Parade of garden nasties is revealed, Entomologist Andy Salisbury shares the results and offers advice on how to deal with them. Meanwhile the Gardening Advice team gathers to debate questions sent in from young gardeners at St Patrick's School in Stratford, including whether you can grow flowers from flowers and how to tell a good caterpillar from a bad one. And following the recent announcement of a forthcoming ban on metaldehyde-based slug pellets, our resident gastropod guru Dr Hayley Jones offers research-based advice on slug and snail control. Plus questions from members on box problems, growing your own dye plants and dealing with blackfly. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we lift the lid on the RHS Herbarium, a unique collection of dried plant material from around the world that's used by scientists, researchers and artists. We learn how and why samples are prepared for inclusion – and share the recent discovery of a very special part of the collection: a potato that was brought back from the voyage of HMS Beagle by Charles Darwin. Plus, plant pathologist Matthew Cromey shares tips with Guy Barter on how gardeners can avoid potato blight and Chris Young gets an insider's view on what visitors can expect at this year's RHS Flower Show Cardiff. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

We visit RHS Garden Wisley to discover the new plant propagation facilities and what they mean for the gardeners there. And it's not just plants that the RHS is cultivating: as we look to the next generation of horticulturists there's still time to enter the Young School Gardener of the Year competition. Plus an exploration of our Partner Gardens, more than 200 glorious gardens nationwide (and overseas) that open their gates for free to RHS members at selected times throughout the year; and our advice team troubleshoots a poor courgette harvest and offers suggestions on replacing an overgrown shrub border. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we follow in the footsteps of the Duchess of Cambridge who recently visited King Henry’s Walk Garden in Islington, an RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood group, to meet the community gardeners. Meanwhile back at our horticultural HQ, we meet Fiona Davison, Head of Libraries and Collections, who shares details of an exciting programme of upcoming exhibitons on hidden horticulturists, digging for victory and more. Plus a look into the murky waters of garden ponds to discover the difference between frog, toad and newt spawn and  get advice on how to protect these valuable garden amphibians. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast