Dig It

In this episode Peter chats with Chris Collins from Garden Organic . Chris is currently the Head of Horticulture at Garden Organic and he tells us a little about what is going on in their 50th anniversary year. We learn why heritage seeds do so well in the United Kingdom and why organic gardening and working with nature can help you get a better yield from your crops. Chris tells us more about composting and bokashi. Composting is not just about heaping up your grass cutting in a pile, you need to work within certain parameters to make great compost. Using a Bokashi for your kitchen waste can generate a fertilizer tea and then compostable material, it is a Japanese technique that will allow you to reduce your food waste contributions to the council waste streams. We also learn a little about soil health, smells, and what certain plants growing in an area can point towards. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for the music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever drunk the sap of a Tilia cordata or eaten a wild Garlic flower? In this episode learn about some unusual berries and plants and flowers you can eat. There are flowers to try which can make great colourful additions to the salad bowl or maybe pop in an ice cube. This episode it full of edibles that we have come across from historical resources and websites like the RHS edible flowers page . The plants and flowers mentioned may not be suitable for everyone so do your own research and check with a professional before eating. Thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for the music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair 11-13 September is at English Heritage’s Audley End House and Garden, Saffron Waldon, Essex Harrogate Autumn Flower Show Newby Hall and Gardens, 18th -20th September RHS Malvern Autumn Garden Show a celebration of gardening and food. 25th – 27th September Buckingham Gaden Centre’s Apple day on the 26th and 27th of September with Mid shires Orchards and Apple identification with Chairman of the RHS’s Fruit Group Jerry Edwards. Kew Gardens has a waterlily with leaves so big they can support the weight of a fully grown man. A notifiable issue with Sweet Chestnuts, they are getting movement controls imposed in the South as the disease spreads, so if you notice any weeping areas on their bark then it may be worth contacting Defra. Bulbs are now in stock in Garden Centres so If you are thinking of planting Snowdrops, Crocus, Daffodils, Bluebells or any of the other spring and early summer flowering bulbs it’s time to get into the Garden Centre and stock up. In this episode we also give you some tips on planting bulbs and how to prepare them in pots so if you want to bring them in when flowering they won’t go into shock and how to do a lasagna planting. Bill also shares how to get successive flowering and what to do with them so you can get them to flower for a few years to come. We also learn a little of the commercial flower markets in Holland, how the flower industry works and the interesting way Dutch auctions work. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Bill and Peter talk about the small amount of rain we have had! We then move on and discuss some gardening tales and myths. From ideas about companion planting which some think put off pests to slugs not being deterred by egg shells or copper strips. What is true and what is an AI myth or what just doesn’t work? Send us your comments and thoughts to podcast@hedging.co.uk Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the summer holiday season well underway the village of South Stoke, Oxfordshire is opening some of its Garden to the public on Bank Holiday Monday the 31st August, Admission is £6 for Adults. The Bell tower of the church will be open and there will be plant sales, tea and cakes in the village hall, Alpacas and funds raised will go to a community project. Hughenden , Benjamin Disrali’s country manor, near High Wycombe is a National Trust Property that neither Peter or Bill have visited. Nestled in a valley in the Chilterns, there are a variety of landscapes to explore. The building also played a highly secret part in World War 2 which has only come to light in recent years. With the drought Lawns have stopped growing but don’t worry hopefully they will come back once we start getting some rain. Once moisture levels have returned to normal if you do have bare patches you can reseed them. It is also a good time of year to trim back lavender if it has finished flowering, but only trim back this years growth. Roses can also be trimmed back. Dead head your bedding plants and trim back Jasmine. Some hedges can be trimmed back if there are no birds nesting in it. Photinias and Laurel are good examples of hedges that might be suitable to trim. Regular annual or biannual trimming is better than leaving it to grow and then cutting it back hard after a couple of years as you will get a fuller and denser hedge. Depending on the type of hedge and how much time you have you could use a hedge cutter or secateurs, but always clean them and sharpen if needed after use so they are sterile and ready to use again when you need them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Episode, Bill and Peter Chat about the weather and the lack of rainfall. Some veggies have done well but others not so well. Hose pipe bans are expanding over more areas so check your local area and water supplier. The most important thing with the lack of rain is trying to replace the moisture in the ground so keep up your supplemental watering with watering cans. Bill has got round to digging up his first row of potatoes, Peter’s also need harvesting as all the foliage on his had died back as he has been away for a couple of weeks and nothing on his allotment has been watered for a couple of weeks. We also discuss the benefits of successive planting as it gives you a more regular supply of vegetables over the summer. We still have time to plant more lettuce, beetroot and carrots which should be ready to crop fairly soon if the weather forecast is correct as we have lots more warm days in the forecast. Pauline Brown one of the Garden Centre’s Partners was interviewed for ITV news about the affects of the lack of rainfall this year and the impact to our industry, gardeners and our reservoirs. If you are looking for some plants that are drought tolerant Good Housekeeping published a great article with some great suggestions for drought tolerant plants. We love Thyme as it is great as a herb for cooking and also a lovely low growing creeping plant, Lavenders are also a good suggestion as they do well in dry areas, Sedums, Pelargoniums, trailing Begonias and another couple of plants that if you like cats or don’t like cats have a listen to our suggestions! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bill teaches Peter the way to create Semi ripe hardwood cuttings. Cuttings are a great way to propagate certain types of plant like for example Photinia, Forsythia, Berberis, Hebe, Laurels, Brooms, Cistus, zonal geraniums and Camelias. There are also lots of other shrubs and trees which can be propagated like this. Peter has a tea bush (camelia) which is what we are going to try and propagate. Equipment: Bypass Secateurs, Sharp knife, dibber or something to make a hole for the cutting, a p9 pot or cell pack, John Innes Seed compost, perlite, ideally a propagator, or cover to help keep the cutting in a humid atmosphere, somewhere ideally around 19C with moderate light. We need material which is shoot with material from last year and fresh growth from this year. Make sure your knife or secateurs, pots and propagators are clean and sterile before starting the job. You need the tip and a couple of leaves or a pair of leaves, then cut the shoot just below the node and take the leaf off by pulling the leaf down, removing the leaf and the petiol. Using a dibber, stick or a pencil push a hole into your pot of compost, and push the cutting into the compost and firm the compost up to the cutting. The cutting needs to be held firm and supported by the compost. When watering, make sure you water very gently or use the dunking method so pop the pot into a bowl of water and allow the compost to take water in from the bottom of the pot. The compost needs to be kept moist, not over wet or allowed to dry out. Keep the pot of cuttings in a propagator so they are kept in a humid atmosphere, but do try and keep the cuttings away from dripping condensation. A good temperature is around 18 – 19C. If a cutting does not take then remove them from the propagator. To check the cutting has taken look for new white roots emerging from the bottom of the pot. You shouldn’t need to feed the cuttings to start off with, if you have used a proprietary seed and cutting compost. It is also important to make sure if you are taking cuttings of plants that grow in a low pH soil to use a low pH cutting mix. For pictures of the process please click on this link Lots of plants can be made to send out roots just by putting a stem in the ground and keeping it in contact with the soil. If you want to propagate Willows you can probably get them to root just by putting them in a well oxygenated bucket of water, or pop a stem into the soil where you want it to grow, these are called ripe cuttings. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for the music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Bill and Peter discuss the latest Hosepipe Ban , most of the NGS gardens scheme gardens have finished now, but there are a few RHS shows to go and see and all the other wonderful National Trust and British Heritage Gardens to visit. The Chelsea Flower Show may have problems next year as it’s drive to go peat free before the industry is ready is causing growers to pull out as they don’t feel the alternative peat free composts are quite ready yet to grow show winning plants. Bill puts the idea of using oasis forward that is often used in flower arrangements, as one option, and Peter suggested trialing the same growing medium currently being used in Hydroponics as another idea. The Channel Islands have had some bad news about their cut flower industry as the postal service plane is no longer going to take the cut flowers which leaves growers needing to find a different way to fly the flowers out. Wildlife trust has been given a new 6 hectare Wild flower meadow near Earls Barton Northamptonshire which is also a flood plain so they will be able to help even more native plants and animals. Due to the lack of rain this year there is a Hosepipe ban in lots of areas of the UK now, which means lots of people will have to stop using irrigation on their lawns. There are lots of things you can do like using your old bath water to irrigate the garden, or use water from your water butt to fill your watering can or hosepipe. There are types of irrigation you can use but it’s best to check with your water supply company. Peter has also learned that lots of organic material is great for water retention and Bill points out that having stone free soil can also help grow great vegetables without blemishes on their roots. Bill also suggests a few vegetables we can plant at this time of year on your vegetable patch and get a crop off, and it’s nearly time to plant Christmas potatoes. If you do plant Christmas potatoes aways grow them in a frost free environment in a couple of months time when the days get shorter and the nights cooler. Our thanks to Chiltern Music for providing the Music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Peter and Bill chat about their allotments, when a plant is ready for planting out and some tips on how to make sure it gets off to a good start and has enough water. We then open a discussion about reportable diseases as a local customer has what we think may be Oak Processionary Moth a notifiable disease reportable to the forestry commission who can be notified at TreeAlert , we also mention other historic problems like the recent issues with Olive trees and Xylella a bacterial infection that has wiped out many olive groves across Italy and Europe and why lots of responsible Garden Centres and plant suppliers have stopped importing them. Dutch elm disease wiped out thousands of Elm trees in the 70’s but now we have elms that are not affected by it. The Government has a website where you can find information on issues, signposts to where you can report potential problems and fact sheets with useful information on. With modern phones and the ability to take and send pictures it is much easier and safer to take pictures of the problem and then get the issue identified and confirmed without moving the plant or plant material and possibly transferring the issue to other areas. Peter spotted an area of hedgerow on the Radclive road covered in a web which makes it look like a Halloween display. This is caused by the Ermine moth. A lot of plants now have passports which means they are traceable. Plants sold through Mail order need them, imported plants need them, and there are a lot of other reasons why they might have them. With a plant passport you should be able to feel more confident that the plant comes from a reputable supplier who is happy to share its traceability. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the 12th of July Shrivenham , on the Oxford Wiltshire border opens some of its gardens to the public, as are the gardens of Bozeat and Cold Ashby . We are enjoying the Garden Centre temperature indoor climate but it has been very warm recently without much rain, so watering is very important to help plants. An Antirrhinum ‘Shiryu Kiss’ has won the Peter Seabrook award and Best in Show at the BBC Gardeners World Live show. We have a new Semi Hardy Gerbera in at the Garden Centre. The Greenfingers team who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro have raised a staggering £234 000 so far for the Charity. Bill explains to Peter how much water hanging baskets need and he doesn’t think Peter has got it quite right yet, and also suggests a feeding regime for them and also tells us the best time to water. London Parks and Gardens has a new director Philip Barnes. He comes from an impressive 15 years with the National Trust. Durstons the compost manufacturers have upgraded their site to a larger site where they will be able to create more compost to help them keep up with demand. Bill’s favourite is the Ficus Benjamina or the Weeping Fig. The plant comes from Australia and Asia and can get quite big if well cared for. Peter likes Spider plants or Chlorophytum comosum, as it is a really tough plant which can survive a little forgetfulness when it comes to watering and Bill shares how to propagate it and how to use it as a bedding plant. Orchids are still very popular and easy to care for and you get a great long living plant that can flower for weeks on end. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Bill and Peter suggest a visit to Toddington Open Gardens on the 4th and 5th July and also if you are passing they both like Poplars Garden Centre as a great place to visit or pop in for tea and cake if you are going past on the M1. In Northamptonshire we have Irthlingborough and Drayton Parslow in Milton Keynes. Hanging baskets are looking good now, but are food hungry so feed them with a high potash feed (K) like Tomorite The Hertitage Seed library was at the NEC for Gardeners World live and at the show they were asking people to bring in seeds and plants that they think might be heirloom varieties. You can get seeds from them which you won’t find in most Garden Centres. Grass is on the telly a lot at the moment with the World Cup on. Bill shares some of the methods of commercial turf cultivation and growing. With our lawns at home in the summer experiencing less rainfall ideally they need to be watered but it’s best not to aerate in dry spells as this opens up the ground and will cause evaporation. Granular fertilizer as well can cause issues if it doesn’t rain after application, if you want to use a fertilizer then a liquid one is probably best. If you have bedding geraniums cut the flower stalks off once the flowers start going over, deadhead surfinias to encourage more flowers. If you are feeding your plants it’s best to do it in the morning, and if possible do it on a cloudy day so there is no chance of water droplet magnification which can cause leaf burn from the sunlight. Bill also tells us of other plants we can trim back to encourage more flowering next year and a great recipe for a winter fat ball for your birds. Make sure you keep your bird baths filled up with fresh clean water. If you have Strawberries try Slug gone pellets to help keep the slugs from eating them. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for the music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

25 Gardens are open in Stony Stratford over the weekend of the 27th and 28th and there are also gardens open in Stonefield where 11 gardens will be open. We also share the sad news of the passing of Matthew Biggs the old Gardener’s World presenter and life-long horticulturalist, and garden designer. Bill and Peter also chat about Roses, the different types and where to use them, how to grow them and a few uses for the hips. Pruning is important as is care, keeping them tidy, feeding and looking out for pests and diseases. As with so many prickly plants we always recommend wearing gloves when working with them. It’s also that time of year when Strawberries are very popular. Bill shares a tip on how to sweeten them and how many litres of cream Wimbledon goes through! We have a large selection available at the moment but you can propagate them from the runners or stolens they send out. The British season has been extended and extended with the use of selective breeding and sometimes the supplemental use of LED lighting. Often Strawberries are now grown off the ground making picking easier and fungal problems less likely. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Peter and Bill chat about Bedding, Bokashi, and fertilizer. Bill suggests a few places to visit starting with Goring on Thames, Fritwell and Hanslope who have open garden weekends. We chat about bedding for flower beds and how the fashions have changed. We used to do 3 plantings a year but now we mainly do just summer bedding. Bill talks us through ways to plant, numbers to get a nice balance and some suggestions as to what will make a good display. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Bill and Peter chat about Hanging Baskets and Containers and the benefits of using Kindergarden's Pop Ins. We love the fact they are so simple and easy to plant and within a few weeks give you a great display which can last the whole summer. As one of our fastest moving products and only available for a short window you need to get your timing right to be able to buy them. All they need is a 40cm container or hanging basket, some compost to bring them up to the correct level, pop them in, water and feed them when needed and you can sit back, relax and have a great colourful display for months on end. Bill also gives us some pointers on how to create a good hanging basket with some suggestions on numbers and types of plants. We also discuss a Cornish commercial bedding supplier who can create you stunning floral displays featuring clock faces, names, logos or other images you might want. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Episode Peter Talks with Chris Hepburn, Senior Sales Manager of Hozelock . Chris has been with Hozelock for many years and worked his way up through the company and gained a fantastic knowledge of the Horticultural Watering Marketplace. We chat about where the company first started and why, and where the first ideas for the first products came from. Hozelock has a great reputation as a British manufacturer and we learn how this has happened and their drive to always be an attainable, reliable and ecological product in the garden watering sector. Without them we would still be putting our thumbs over the end of our hosepipe, some of our range can be found online or for the full range, come and visit the Garden Centre Hozelock has brought to England some Market leading products and some ideas from further afield, we learn about how across the world the Male to Female ½ inch hose connector has become a standardised fitting, and also a brief history of hoses, their makeup and their fittings. We also get an insight into the amount of product testing and large number of different materials that go into their products. We also hear about how Hozelock is evolving as a manufacturer to keep pace with the changing marketplace and how it is growing and diversifying its range to stay abreast of new ideas and additions to the watering range and also how its range now encompasses products that don’t just fit on a hose and spray water, like its range of composters. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chelsea Gold medals decided. We like the new Hosta red ninja, the beautiful Red Greenhouse by Malvern Garden Buildings and various phallic houseplants on the sex toy manufacturer’s sponsored garden. The ‘Lady Garden’ was designed with fantastic sculptures, manicured bushes and beautiful coloured planting and will hopefully start conversations focused on female genitalia cancers and open up discussions on the subject. Peter liked the Contain the Rain Garden as it highlights the fact that water is a limited resource and we should do more to make our gardens more ecologically friendly. It’s that time of year to get planting hanging baskets and shortly we will have Kindergarden Pop Ins back in stock. We like their great selection of styles and colours and the simplicity of using them to create fantastic hanging baskets or planted containers, the only trouble we ever have with them is we can’t get enough and they sell out too fast! Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for creating the music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter and Bill chat about some news items. Chelsea is sold out and opened to the general public Tuesday 19th May. Our friends at Malvern Garden Buildings have a stand and are exhibiting again. It may be a controversial year as one of the designers is getting criticised for using an AI app to design gardens. Peter has found a new range of pencils from Sprout World that have seeds in the end so you can grow things from your old pencil. Bill suggests writing labels from the top down and put a date on it so you know when you started them. It is also very important to protect your young seedlings from late frosts. Young plants still need protection. If you fancy visiting a Garden, Aspley Guise has many houses with open gardens on 24th May. Ramsden near Witney Oxfordshire also has 15 gardens open on the 24th. On the 30th gardens are open in Moggerhanger Bedfordshire and Carterton in Oxfordshire. If these aren’t local to you have a look at the NGS website, Pumpkins Beth’s website or the Open Gardens website. Sir David Attenborough has had his 100th birthday. Taylors bulbs have won a Gold medal at the RHS Malvern show, next for them is the Chelsea Show, could it be another Gold Medal? Peter learns the fact that his Tomatoes are too cold as the undersides of the leaves are going purple and the fact that he might be overwatering his Courgettes. If you have lost seedlings in the recent cold spells, you still have time to replant seeds or pop in to your local Garden Centre and buy some young seedlings. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Bill and Peter discuss the RHS Chelsea Flower Show . Bill has had personal experience of displaying hanging baskets at the show and shares his thoughts and memories of how much effort and work goes into putting the show together. In this show we discuss some of the gardens that caught our eyes from Tech Mahindra’s Hedgerow in the Sky balcony exhibit that takes inspiration from British hedgerows and shows what can be done with a small space. We also both liked the Tokonoma Garden - a Japanese courtyard garden - full of beautiful plants, a water feature and pathway. It creates a peaceful space with beautiful colours where families can gather and spend time together. The Children’s Society Garden is another garden that Bill likes. It is a restorative garden where hopefully todays children can find a positive space to contemplate in. Its planting is full of yellows and purples and greens which will help children feel safe, seen and supported. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Peter chats with Bill about his recent Sweetcorn planting and why he failed and yet Bill had a totally different result. For places to visit locally, we have 80 West Hill Aspley Guise 31st May and Latimer Park Farm , Chesham, 30th May. If you fancy something different then have a look at Pumpkin Beths What’s on page or The National Gardens Scheme. Bill gives us some great tips on early season lawn care and there is still time to plant a few bedding plants like night scented stocks, impatiens and cosmos. It’s also time to start succession planting your vegetables and you can put your runner beans and broad beans in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keukenhoff Tulip Gardens in the Netherlands is open with amazing displays of Tulips until the 10th May 2026 Pashley Manor Gardens Tulip display is an amazing display of over 4000 tulips in Essex. The NGS Open Gardens are opening all over the uk clink on the link to find out more. The RHS Malvern Spring Festival opens on 7th to the 10th May and then we have the great RHS Chelsea Flower Show , 19th – 23rd May. SBM have launched the new Thermocell Bug barrier, a new product that creates a shield of up to 20ft, helping you enjoy the outdoors without being bitten by mozquitos. The Garden Centre is stocking a new range of Juices and Wines from Biddenden in Kent, one of the oldest vineyards in the UK, which produces a beautiful wine called Ortega. We stock a good range of grapes which should do well in the UK. Another item for your plate is a Bacon and Chilli relish from Mr Trotter There is a new range of Weber wood pellet smoker barbeques which we don’t have in stock as yet but hopefully we will do soon. They are very easy to use and will be demonstrated by Jamie Oliver on Channel 4 soon. Brassicas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kales - it’s a big family, and it’s time to think about planting. David likes the Greyhound Cabbage and Peter loves a Cavolo Nero or as he knows it Curly Kale. We also chat about Purple Sprouting Broccoli and, as with so many young vegetables, how to keep the slugs away with copper tape , Enviromesh and Slug Gone wool pellets which are are non chemical ways of deterring them. We both love how Romanesco Cauliflower grow and create such an amazing pattern. We also learned that the Thomson and Morgan Tomtato is no longer in production, as it is around this time of year they used to hit the shops. Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for providing the music Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.