Gardening with the RHS

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 exhibitions 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

What can you plant for winter colour - that's not a dogwood? Should you remove the yellow leaves on sprouts? Tune in and find out the answers to these and lots more seasonal gardening questions. We talk to pest and disease experts to find out how the wild weather of 2018 affected plants and gardens. Plus a look at what's coming up at RHS Flower Shows this year. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

As 2018 draws to a close, here's a look back at some of our favourite moments of the year. From the energy and dynamism of the Chelsea Flower Show, interviews with luminaries of the gardening world such as Fergus Garrett and Beth Chatto, to an exploration of the tranquil streamside plantings at Harlow Carr, join us on a leisurely stroll through the audio annals of 2018 - a year in gardening. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

The Gardening Advice team gathers together for a bumper question-and-answer session, sorting out enquiries ranging from whether you can grow your own vine leaves, which figs grow best in the UK, using an old hot water tank as a pond, how to get rid of those pesky little compost flies in your houseplants, and more. Plus ideas for last-minute Christmas presents and a look at 2018's changes at RHS Garden Wisley. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Wildlife expert and writer Kate Bradbury shares her top tips on what to do now to help garden wildlife through the winter. Paul Wood discusses the past, present and future of street trees, and shares some of his discoveries of the more unusual botanical residents of our towns and cities. Meanwhile back at RHS HQ, our magazine team debates the pros and cons of the 'novelty' plants - painted, bejewelled with glitter and more - that seem to pop up everywhere at this time of year. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

In this special edition of the RHS Gardening Podcast, we're joined by experts and authors who discuss their favourite gardening books both classic and modern, and give recommendations of books for presents this Christmas. For more information, including a list of the titles mentioned, please see rhs.org.uk/bookspodcast

Nestled in a Devon valley, RHS Garden Rosemoor blends formal and informal plantings to magical effect. From delightful cottage gardens to orchards, vegetables and peaceful woodland plantings, there's something for everyone, at any time of year. Join us as we go behind the scenes, meeting the people who make it all happen and uncovering the garden's history along the way. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

A visit to the recent RHS Urban Garden show uncovers an ultraviolet garden, dancing plants, terrariums and much more. Plus a delve into dahlias, what to do with an abundant grape harvest and smaller, slug-resistant sunflowers. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week's podcast is all about gardening winners - from Edwardian trailblazer who ruffled feathers by daring to win a nationwide horticultural competition while being a woman - to brilliant begonias, which won the RHS People's Choice Award last year on the Wisley trials field. Plus a look at how RHS Plant Trials are conducted and what the Awards of Garden Merit they produce mean for gardeners. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

The RHS Campaign for School Gardening touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of children throughout the UK, providing children with gardening opportunities to enhance their skills while boosting their development and wellbeing. We meet the people behind the campaign as well as the winners of its recent School Gardening Awards. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week's episode is jam-packed with helpful info on growing your own fruit and veg, including pumpkins and squashes, courgettes, garlic, pears, French and runner beans and more. Plus the Garden Advisors discuss banishing an over-enthusiastic Virginia creeper and growing cut flowers for a wedding. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

If you go down to the shops today, you're in for a big surprise. If you live in Sheerwater, Surrey, that is - where a new community garden is taking root as a result of an innovative new partnership between community groups, the RHS, local councils and the HLF*. Plus our Gardening Advice team gather to untangle a postbag bulging with horticultural heartaches including questions on dahlias, damsons, roses, hydrangeas, sweetcorn and more. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Have you ever dreamed of travelling to distant lands to see and study plants in their native habitats? Or perhaps you'd like to grow your knowledge in other ways? An RHS bursary may be able to help. Past recipients share their stories of travels to Portugal and the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Closer to home, Matt Pottage gives an update on the latest in RHS Garden Wisley's multimillion-pound redevelopment, we head to Harlow Carr for tips on helping hedgehogs. Plus news on the Big Soup Share from the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

From iconic blue Himalayan poppies and drifts of streamside primulas to subtropical borders and precious alpines, Harlow Carr is a paradise for plant lovers. In this episode we meet the gardeners who share their favourite plants and parts of the most northerly RHS Garden. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

We head behind the scenes at Wisley to find out what RHS scientists are studying in their ongoing work to keep our beloved garden plants safe and healthy. And with just a few weeks to go until the ever-popular People's Dahlia Competition at the Wisley Flower Show, we get some top tips on how to get the best from these colourful flowers. Back in the science department, Dr Hayley Jones shares some wisdom on wasps and pathologist Matthew Cromey gives an update on ash dieback and what gardeners can do about it. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Join us on a journey through a Floral Fantasia and around the world in 80 veg... As our easternmost garden reaches the end of a multi-million pound investment programme, we visit a revitalised site that's bursting with colourful flowers and exotic edibles, discover what's new for visitors and find out how it has become more environmentally sustainable. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we're at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park in Cheshire, revelling in this floral extravaganza in the glorious Cheshire countryside. We explore some of the show highlights before heading into 'The Beehive' with author and broadcaster Matthew Biggs who chairs a live question and answer session with gardening experts Mark Diacono, Lia Leendertz and Tony Dickerson. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Join us at the largest annual flower show on earth! We meet horticultural hero Piet Oudolf, chef and home-grown veg champion Raymond Blanc, RHS Master Grower Matt Soper of Hampshire Carnivorous Plants, among others in this whistle-stop tour of just a few of the highlights of this incredible show. Plus garden designer and TV presenter Ann-Marie Powell gives a guided tour of Countryfile's 30th Anniversary Garden. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Designer Ann-Marie Powell explains the ideas behind her garden celebrating 30 years of BBC’s Countryfile, which aims to inspire and reconnect visitors with nature. The space explores a critically important world residing on our doorsteps as well as the wider countryside. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This year at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show there's a real feeling of coming together and growing communities alongside delicious, healthy food. We meet the people behind these transformational gardens that promise to be a treat for the mind, body and soul. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

To mark the centenary of the first female suffrage in the UK, the RHS asked four female designers, all aged under 30, to create gardens to resonate with different lifestyles and reflect the owner's personality and way of life. It's the ideal category for visitors wanting ideas to create a garden at home that they can fall in love with, as Show Manager Gemma Lake and designer Lilly Gomm explain. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

As new plantings emerge from the dust and hubbub of the redevelopments at Wisley, we explore the Wisteria Walk and Heather Landscape. Plus a round-up of RHS partner gardens to visit this summer, results of a two-year science research project into how gardeners can best deal with carrot fly and wildlife writer Kate Bradbury rallies gardeners in defence of some surprising allies - wasps! For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

This week we're at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show in Derbyshire, revelling in this floral extravaganza in the heart of the Peak District. Florist Jonathan Moseley reveals the UK's largest ever orchid display and James Alexander-Sinclair chairs a live question and answer session with leading gardening experts including Martin Fish, Leigh Hunt and Helen Bainbridge. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

One of the greatest gardeners of the 20th century, Beth Chatto, recently died at the age of 94. Beth was admired and loved by family, friends and gardeners around the world. One of those friends was another legendary plantsman, Roy Lancaster. He visited the garden in Essex she created with her late husband, Andrew, to discuss the development of what she described as a "horticultural and ecological experiment". Hear Beth and Roy in an interview which was to become an article, Dear Mrs Chatto, in the January 2010 issue of The Garden magazine.

Garden designer, TV presenter and RHS flower show judge James Alexander-Sinclair takes us on a journey into the heart and soul of the Chelsea Flower Show, exploring top-end design, incredible plants and planting, and meeting the people who make it all happen and the celebrities who turn out in force to soak up the Chelsea buzz. Find out about feel-good gardens, exciting new plants and garden products, and get design tips for your garden. This year's show also shows the power of gardening as a force for good. We meet the creator of The Lemon Tree Trust Garden, inspired by the gardens of Domiz refugee camp in Iraq. It's a heartwarming tale of human spirit and triump over adversity, and the RHS is proud to have been able to support the Trust in its work. We also speak to Baroness Floella Benjamin and singer and actress Beverley Knight about Birmingham City Council's display celebrating 70 years since the Empire Windrush arrived in Britain, marking the beginning of a new chapter in our nation's history. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

In the final part of our exclusive behind-the-scenes Chelsea preview podcasts, we meet designer Matt Keightley who's in the process of creating a trailblazing health and wellbeing garden - the RHS Feel Good Garden - which will live on after the show as a permanent garden at the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Get an exclusive peek behind the scenes of the greatest flower show on earth. Today we celebrate the real stars of the show – the plants! Designers Chris Beardshaw, Bunny Guinness and Kate Gould share their insights into the planting in this year’s show gardens and Show Manager Katherine Potsides outlines some of the other plant highlights to look out for. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Get an exclusive peek behind the scenes of the greatest flower show on earth! Join us as we discover what's in store in our new 'Space to Grow' garden category, meeting designer Kate Gould who shares the trials, triumphs and tribulations that are all part and parcel of the Chelsea experience, along with a healthy dose of tips and hints for making the most of small, urban gardens. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Hear behind the scenes interviews with award-winning garden designer Jo Thompson and Show Manager Katherine Potsides, who give a tantalising preview of the show and explore the increasing presence of women at Chelsea from designers to engineers and planting teams. Wildlife gardening expert Kate Bradbury shares a call to arms for gardeners to get involved in the Great British Bee Count, and we get timely advice from RHS experts on growing your vegetables – including how to avoid blossom end rot on tomatoes and how to grow a giant beanstalk! For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Garden designer and television presenter James Alexander-Sinclair meets Sue Biggs, RHS Director General to discuss the Society's plans to invest millions of pounds in the future of gardening - revolutionising our gardens and horticultural research. Plus advice on restoring damaged lawns, coping with cats in the garden and suggestions on shrubs for clay soil. For more info and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

We speak to orchid experts at the recent RHS London Orchid Show and Plant Fair to get top tips on how to grow these most alluring of houseplants. Author and naturalist Jon Dunn shares his love of the native orchids that grow across the British Isles. Plus we talk to the people behind the incredible orchid displays planned for this year's RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. Chris Bavin, presenter of BBC's Britain in Bloom shares his experiences in filming the series, and we continue our countdown of the top garden problems from last year; this time it's over to diseases - will honey fungus stay top of the rots? For more info including plants mentioned and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

The results are in! A gruesome lineup of slugs, bugs and other garden baddies has been compiled in our annual round-up of the most troublesome garden pests. We head to the Laboratory to find out who's on the list and how to deal with them, and then out into the garden to see what's going on in the beds and borders at Wisley. Plus we open the postbag to discuss RHS members' enquiries on growing fruit in pots, whether you can grow your own edamame beans and how to minimise plastic and peat use in the garden. For more info including plants mentioned and useful links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Hear timely tips on what to do now if you want to grow fruit this year, plus we meet Wisley's plant propagation team and scientist Hayley Jones shares hints on how to get wildlife on side to help against common garden pests. And should gardeners be worried about sepsis? We get expert advice on this and other gardening health and safety issues. Plus news on our I Can Grow campaign and botanist James Armitage unearths more horticultural histories in his latest Wisley Plant Encounter. For more info see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Can houseplants be dangerous for pets? And what is the new plant disease Xylella and how can gardeners avoid it? The Gardening Advice team discusses these and other enquiries, while Wisley Curator Matthew Pottage shares his love of houseplants, focusing on one old favourite in particular. Plus we hear about an exciting new garden feature planned for Wisley later this year. For links to more information on the topics discussed see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

The RHS Shows season got off to a flying start with the Early Spring Plant Fair last week. We went along to marvel at the hanging snowdrop extravaganza and meet the growers and celebrity experts who make it all happen - including Alys Fowler who gives seasonal houseplant tips and the team from Birmingham Botanical Gardens who share insight into the wonderful world of cyclamen. Plus a look at the RHS Master Grower Scheme, which is now in its third season. For links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

Discover the benefits and pleasures of growing indoor plants, and get some expert tips on how to make yours flourish. Experts pick their favourite houseplants and share tips on common pitfalls to avoid. Plus we discuss the findings of ongoing RHS research into the health benefits of growing indoor greenery, and get an insider's guide on how to keep your flytraps happy. For links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

As we begin the slow ascent to spring, the advice team shares wisdom on how to tackle rabbits eating bulbs, organic slug control, and whether you can grow the seaside plant samphire in Birmingham among other queries. Plus discover what's in store at our upcoming London Shows and how you can enter your favourite plants into one of the many RHS horticultural competitions. For links see www.rhs.org.uk/podcast

We visit the press launch for 2018's Chelsea Flower Show to discover the exciting gardens in store this year. Our trusty team of gardening experts answers questions on how to dig safely, keeping potted Christmas trees alive, whether you can grow houseplants in dark rooms, and what to do about a lawn that keeps dying. Plus botanist James Armitage unearths more horticultural histories in his latest Wisley Plant Encounter ( see www.rhs.org.uk/wisleyplantencounters ).

Are you dotty about dahlias, fanatical about ferns or ardent about alpines? Then why not join a plant society? In this episode we meet a band of enthusiasts who are keen to share a love of plants with others and help new gardeners grow their favourite plants. Plus part two of our mini-series on attracting birds to your garden.

We look back at the best bits of 2017 including 'feel good' gardens at Chelsea, a brand new flower show at Chatsworth and groundbreaking RHS research on gardening in a changing climate. Plus botanist James Armitage meets an incredibly ancient plant in his latest Wisley Plant Encounter. See www.rhs.org.uk/wisleyplantencounters

The gardening advisors gather to solve queries on what you can prune now, whether you can plant trees in winter and how to protect bay trees from cold weather. Resident wildlife expert Helen Bostock meets Adrian Thomas from the RSPB to find out which birds come to Britain in winter and how gardeners can encourage our feathered friends. Plus a look at the incredible transformation happening to Wisley's iconic Laboratory building, and the science team discusses two emerging threats to a traditional Christmas favourite, the chestnut.

We visit a thriving community garden in an unlikely spot close to the M1 in Bedfordshire, and speak to local residents and volunteers who say it has changed their lives. Meanwhile, Wisley's curator Matt Pottage meets life-long conifer fan Adrian Bloom who encourages gardeners to take another look at these much-maligned plants.

Our trusty team of gardening experts answers questions on growing rhubarb, pears and strawberries. Plus we hear about a new RHS study on honey fungus and botanist James Armitage unearths more horticultural histories in his latest Wisley Plant Encounter. Listen out too for some of the seasonal highlights from our hundreds of partner gardens, as selected by Garden Visits Editor Sian Thomas.

We visit the RHS London Autumn Garden Show to hear expert advice on growing an edible forest garden, growing avocado plants and some imaginative ideas on floristry from the RHS Floral Artist in Residence. We’re also joined by bird and wildlife enthusiast Bill Oddie who recalls memories of the gardens of his youth and how they inspired his love of birds.

Wisley's Curator Matthew Pottage shares seasonal gardening tips and gives us an update on all the exciting new developments that are transforming RHS Garden Wisley. We visit the RHS London Harvest Festival Show to hear growing tips and fascinating ideas for uses of garlic. Plus, botanist James Armitage unearths an ancient larch tree with a mysterious past in his latest Wisley Plant Encounter.

We visit Wisley's stunning new Exotic Garden to discover the plants that give it such a tropical ambience, and get tips of how to get the look at home. Wildlife expert Kate Bradbury makes the case for being relaxed about autumn tidy-ups to provide habitats for overwintering wildlife. Meanwhile at the Lindley Library, we discover an exhibition of the RHS's remarkable 200-year project to protect heritage apples.

Wisley’s fruit specialists join the advisory team to answer listeners' questions, including poorly strawberries, maggoty apples and rotten tomatoes. We also visit RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex to discover the amazing wildlife that now shares our easternmost garden, and botanist James Armitage concludes his ongoing series of Wisley plant encounters.

Chickpeas, yard-long beans and shark's fin melons... all on a windy hilltop near Chelmsford... we visit RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex to hear some inspirational Grow Your Own ideas from their new Global Growth Vegetable Garden. We also hear about some of the latest research the RHS has conducted in the Plant For Bugs project and as usual we have all the latest on events across our RHS Gardens.

We visit RHS Garden Hyde Hall to discover a garden undergoing an incredible transformation, with huge new meadows linking it to the surrounding countryside. The RHS advisory team is back to answer listeners' seasonal questions including distorted leaves on fuchsias, moving roses, which tulips will come back next year and how to deal with whitefly. Plus we hear the latest instalment in botanist James Armitage’s Wisley plant encounters.

Curator Matt Pottage shares his personal highlights from RHS Garden Wisley this summer, and reveals how the redevelopment of the garden is progressing. Wildlife expert Kate Bradbury visits Chapel End Early Years Centre in East London to discover low-cost ways of encouraging wild creatures, and owner of a pioneering French nursery shares his tips for getting the best out of your orchids.