There are so many podcasts about gardening now that it is easy to spend more time listening to people talking about gardening than doing any yourself. There was one headline that trumpeted the 90 Best Gardening Podcasts but who has time for 10, much less 90? I have been listening for months so you don’t have to and have separated the best from the rest.
There is not one absolute must-listen gardening podcast. No one has yet come up with The Rest Is Gardening (though, actually, that is exactly how most gardeners feel about life). These offerings are quite diverse in tone and substance, with markedly different focuses and interests. Here is my guide to the informative, authoritative, chatty and fun (and all of them are free).
Our Plant Stories
Host Sally Flatman with Richard Hayden, the senior director of horticulture for the New York High Line park
Innovative and fascinating — a deep dive into the stories about all things plant-related. This podcast, which has just finished its third series, is a labour of love for Sally Flatman, who previously worked as a radio producer for 34 years. She gets out and about, doing in-depth interviews on a spectrum of topics. Examples include the life of a daffodil, the tale of Napoleon’s bald cypress and propagating at Kew. I particularly enjoyed the one about the yucca that Fay Ballard bought her father, the novelist JG Ballard, in 1976. ourplantstories.com
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HortWeek Podcast
Slightly geeky and authoritative. This podcast from the highly regarded Horticulture Weekly magazine has just won the podcast of the year award from the Garden Media Guild, and deservedly so. It covers in depth what is really going on in the industry, such as peat control, climate change and trees, biocontrol and disease trends. The guests have solid expertise and no one talks down to anyone. hortweek.com/podcasts
Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast
Classic middle-of-the-road, friendly chat. They like a gardening celebrity on this one so there are regular episodes featuring the likes of Monty Don, Adam Frost and Arit Anderson. There’s lots of variety including Ask Alan (no last name needed) and the short “what to do now” advice section. gardenersworld.com/podcast
Gardening with the RHS
The gardens at Great Dixter
ALAMY
Wide-ranging and informative. This weekly show draws on the RHS’s vast resources to cover a satisfyingly wide variety of topics: one recent show covered choosing pond plants, the apothecary rose, biodiversity and a tour of Great Dixter. There’s lots of expertise although it is a little dry at times. It’s at its best when it goes full-on quirky. rhs.org.uk
Home Grown
Fun and informative. A collaboration between the Insta sensations Jamie Walton, eco-gardener of @nettlesandpetals on Instagram, and Martha Swales, urban gardener and veg lover on @marfskitchengarden. This has a lot of chat but also a great deal of useful info about all aspects of fruit and veg including harvesting, pickling, preserving and cooking. Folkloric themes also feature. Ever heard of “bog butter”? Me neither. Now I have. podcasts.apple.com
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Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange
Creative tips and flower expertise. The cut-flower gardener and businesswoman Sarah Raven knows her stuff when it comes to flower and plant combinations. Dahlias and tulips are a speciality. Alongside her guests, Raven offers specific tips on which bulbs or plants work best. It can feel a bit like a yummy overload at times but is spot on for inspirational ideas for cut-flower and planting combinations. sarahraven.com
The James and Joe Garden Show
Joe Swift
MILLIE PILKINGTON FOR THE TIMES
Entertaining and chatty. An ultra-relaxed podcast from the Garden Collective contributors James Alexander-Sinclair and our own Joe Swift. There’s a lot of joshing (sometimes too much) between these veteran designers and broadcasters as they tackle the lighter side of gardening: what to wear in the garden is one of their topics. podcasts.apple.com
Unearthed: The Need for Seeds
The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst botanical garden
ALAMY
Eye-opening and fascinating. This four-part podcast series about the work behind Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank is hosted by the actress (and keen gardener) Cate Blanchett, who is also Kew’s ambassador for the Wakehurst wild botanical garden in West Sussex. It tells the important story of the past, present and future of this pioneering project, now 25 years old, which collects and stores seeds from wild plants around the world to preserve biodiversity against extinction in the face of climate change and habitat loss. kew.org
Gardener’s questionQ. How do you plant tulips, daffodils and crocuses in a pot?
Bonnie Odwyer
A. This is the classic bulb lasagne and there’s still (just) time to pot this up. Whatever size pot you use (bigger looks better) make sure it has good drainage. Bulbs are planted at three times their depth (the bottom layer can be deeper) and only one bulb-width apart. Tulips, which flower last, go on the bottom layer, then daffs and crocuses at the top. Separate layers with a few centimetres of compost. If bulbs are directly below each other, they will find a way round. You can plant pansies on top for winter interest.
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