It’s always a pleasure to welcome our favourite Nature Watcher Mary Porter onto LYG. Spring in the UK is a great time for an update from Mary whose knowledge and experience of the natural world is much appreciated by all of us at LYG and to listeners of her regular spot on my Boom Radio show. This is a lovely chat about the current state of our wildlife and how we can encourage more creatures into our gardens, both for the good of the environment and our mental-wellbeing. In association with Magic Mind - Mental Performance Shots They have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48 ..read more

  In association with Magic Mind - Mental Performance Shots They have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases with code LOVEGARDEN20 at checkout You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/lovegarden  We have a double bonus for you in our latest episode with John Stirland laying out some solid tips for getting your lawn into top shape for Summer and with guest Ed Zamo dropping into Rod's Summerhouse with a professional take on removing nuisance tree or shrub stumps from your garden. I've created some chapt ..read more

  In association with Magic Mind - Mental Performance Shots They have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases with code LOVEGARDEN20 at checkout You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/lovegarden  We have a double bonus for you in our latest episode with John Stirland laying out some solid tips for getting your lawn into top shape for Summer and with guest Ed Zamo dropping into Rod's Summerhouse with a professional take on removing nuisance tree or shrub stumps from your garden. I've created some chapt ..read more

There is nothing so satisfying than adding food to your dinner plate that you've grown from seed.  While many gardeners are well-equipped to sow and propagate both vegetables and ornamentals,  most others prefer the convenience of potted and plug plants. However, with the costs of plants and food now a significant factor, growing from seed is an attractive option.  Tom Sharples has devoted almost half a century to the seed industry and recently retired as Senior Horticultural Manager at Suttons Seeds. Following on from John Stirland's practical advice for seed-sowing earlier in ..read more

Deep Joy! Winter's last hurrah is nearly upon us, at least if you're in Northern Europe, and it's time to finish off the Winter pruning. Our resident horticulturist John Stirland covers the basics and answers member questions on specific plants including Philadelphus, Fig, Ceonothus, Honeysuckle, and roses. As ever, John covers a lot of ground with lots of snippets of really useful information so it's worth listening through the whole half hour. If you've not yet visited our LYG Facebook site, here's the link: https://bit.ly/3oIzVr9 You'll find a friendly community of gardeners from a variety ..read more

Our resident horticulturist John Stirland kicks off season 4 of Loving Your Garden - Better Gardening Podcast with a masterclass in seed sowing.  John is in full flow here with oodles of great advice on growing plants from seed as a new gardening year gets underway. John also takes questions from our LYG site members.  It's best to sit back and enjoy the full episode but if you're tight for time, our chapter guide may be helpful. If you've not yet visited our LYG Facebook site, here's the link: https://bit.ly/3oIzVr9 You'll find a friendly community of gardeners from a variety of ba ..read more

You'll need to check out the Loving Your Garden site to see our festive guests in their Santa gear but you can hear the fun in our season finale as horticulturist, gardening writer, broadcaster and RHS judge, Martin Fish, and multi-award-winning garden designer, David Stevens join John Stirland and LYG founder Rod Whiting for an end of season chat over a tipple or two. Have a pen and paper handy as we discuss a busy gardening year, highlights & failures (yes, professionals have them too), and plans for the New Year with lots of plant suggestions and advice about design, trees for smaller g ..read more

We borrowed our guest's phrase 'happy, healthy house plants' this week as it aptly describes a nirvana that many of us struggle with.  Jane Perrone is a gardening writer and podcaster whose articles many will have read in the Guardian, Financial Times, and The RHS Garden Magazine among many publications.  Jane's passion for houseplants shines through in our chat this week, dealing with the essentials of light, watering, and feeding as you might expect. But, also with sound advice on checking the soil or substrate of the plants we buy, rather than assuming they come fully equipped to ..read more

It's been a while since we checked in with our resident horticulturist John Stirland who's forgotten more than I'll ever know about gardening so it's nice to talk about getting ready for some Winter colour,  Autumn feeding, and pruning as well as lots of other topical chat, and answers to member questions that you'll doubtless find useful. Thanks to our UK-based sponsors Fitzgerald Laing Decorators: for a free quote and advice on any project, here's their Facebook Group:  https://bit.ly/3zvPicB PROUD TO HAVE BEEN A FINALIST  IN THE ‘22 GARDEN MEDIA GUILD AWARDS FOR PODCAST OF ..read more

There's been a noticeable increase in discussions on the LYG Facebook site about the forthcoming ban on the use of peat products in UK gardens, due to be enforced from the end of next year.  To help us make sense of it all, our guests this week are Jonathan Whittemore from Johnsons of Whixley, a Yorkshire-based plant wholesaler, and Ruth Goudy, garden writer and owner of Kiln Farm Nursery and Garden Centre in Suffolk.  Jonathan also chairs the Ornamental Management Committee of the Horticultural Trade Association and has played an active part in the RHS peat-free trials.  Ruth i ..read more