Loving Your Garden - Better Gardening Podcast
Loving Your Garden is a Facebook Group set up by broadcaster Rod Whiting during the first Covid lockdown in April 2020. It has quickly grown to nearly 450 thousand passionate and inspiring gardeners, thanks in no small part to knowledgeable and expert members like John Stirland. John has more than fifty years of experience in horticulture and you can now access his knowledge and that of our members as we link our podcast to LYG’s fortnightly live feed. Each week, we’ll discuss the jobs to be done, plant suggestions and answer your questions. If you love your garden and aspire to be a better gardener, join our Facebook group (Link here: https://bit.ly/3oIzVr9), and increase your knowledge from the likes of John, our more experienced members and regular expert guests. Feel free to email your questions or suggestions on what you would like us to feature in our podcast to rod@lovingyourgarden.org Thanks for listening!
Episodes
71 episodes
Spring Into Action: Gardening Tips with John Stirland & Martin Fish (Pt 2)
With UK gardens bursting into colour, this is a beautiful time of year — but it’s also a busy time, preparing the garden for the seasons ahead.In the second half of our conversation with Gardener and Broadcaster Martin Fish and ou...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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32:08
Spring Into Action: Gardening Tips with John Stirland & Martin Fish (Pt 1)
The new gardening year is well underway, and our Loving Your Garden Facebook group is bursting with colourful spring blooms and a real sense of excitement as our gardens awaken from their winter slumber.So, what bette...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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26:22
Growing Cut Flowers With Roz Chandler
If you've resolved to growing more cut flowers in '25 then you'll find Roz Chandler from Field Gate Flowers an interesting guest. Roz talks about starting her cut flower farm 15 years ago almost by mistake and now runs a successful business gro...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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26:21
Better Gardening tips in 2025...With Two Badly Disguised Santas
It's become a thing for multi-award-winning garden designer David Stevens to drop in over Christmas with our resident horticulturist John Stirland over a glass of sherry for a gardening chinwag. The result is always educational as these two sta...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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21:43
Eight Steps To Your Dream Garden With David Stevens
11 Times RHS Chelsea Gold Medallist (and LYG member), David Stevens, has designed a few gardens in his long career (understatement). Enough to earn him 26 RHS medals and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Garden Designers. In ...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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14:19
Is Bamboo REALLY The Plant From Hell?
Recent press reports would have you believe Bamboo is the devil incarnate but does it deserve its bad reputation? While it's certainly true some varieties can be highly destructive, are gardeners right to shun it at all costs?Who better to ...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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27:40
John Stirland On Why Those New Plants May Not Be Thriving, Plus What The National Garden Scheme Can Do For You
Firstly, apologies for our silence over the past few weeks, we've been busy creating a brand new YouTube channel and subscription newsletter (links below) as well as overhauling our Facebook group to accommodate the massive new growth of 'Lovin...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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32:18
The Secrets And Pleasures of Herbaceous Perennials With Rosy Hardy
It's always a pleasure and a privilege to be in the company of one of the UK's foremost plantswomen, Rosy Hardy. With countless RHS gold medals to her name, Rosy has become a leading authority on Herbaceous Perennials and this is pure gold for ...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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40:08
No Wildlife, No Garden With Mary Porter
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 lis...
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Season 4
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Episode 5
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48:49
Ugly Lawns No More With This Prep Plus Removing Troublesome Tree Stumps
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 checkoutYo...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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48:29
Growing From Seed With Tom Sharples
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 pot...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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32:55
Late Winter Pruning With John Stirland
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...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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31:22
It's Seed Sowing Time!
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 ga...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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44:43
Three Top Gardeners Drop In For A Festive Chat
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 16
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43:03
Growing Happy Healthy Houseplants with Jane Perrone
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, Fin...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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38:49
John Stirland's Autumn Almanac (With Apologies To The Kinks!)
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 ...
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Season 3
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Episode 14
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36:23
Making Sense of Peat Free
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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38:50
Autumn Splendour With Rosie Hardy
It is a delight to have Rosy back to chat about what can, with the right planting, be a spectacular time of year in the garden. Rosie and her husband Rob supply a vast number of herbaceous perennials from their nurseries at Hardy’s Cottage Gard...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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50:13
Late Summer Revival With John Stirland
Our Gardening maestro John Stirland is in great form as we consider plants that will add a little lustre to a flagging garden at this time of year. Flowers, shrubs, and trees all feature in our suggestions for adding some late seasonal interest...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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24:08
A Summer Catch-up With Three Gardening Stars Plus The Latest On The UK Peat Ban and A Look At Composite Decking
It's not every day you get to chat with one of the UK's top plantswomen, a renowned garden designer and the Gandalf of gardening but that was my pleasure when Rosy Hardy, David Stevens and John Stirland all gathered by Rosy's plant stand at the...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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19:30
A Good Year For The Roses!
Everybody says it's been a great year for so many plants but especially roses so it's a good time to dwell on the ubiquitous rose: conditions, care, suggested varieties, and member questions answered by LYG's resident horticulturist John Stirla...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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29:02
Here Comes Summer!
By now, the heavy work is likely done and we can start finessing, ready to relax and enjoy our gardens. If only! Of course, there's always something to be getting on with and, this week, we look at pruning and pest control. Meanwhil...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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31:56
Attracting Wildlife To Your Garden With Mary Porter
As gardeners, we're closer than most to nature and we have a good understanding of the role we play in attracting wildlife into our neighbourhoods. But, with many species in a progressive decline over recent decades, that responsibility becomes...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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46:24
Landscaping - The foundation of any great garden with Jan Prodger
We put so much effort into finding the right plants for our garden, we sometimes miss the bigger picture of creating the right framework for all those expensive trees, shrubs, and flowers. The cost of good quality landscaping can be offputting ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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32:08
Getting the Best From Herbaceous Perennials with Rosy Hardy
There are few better qualified to talk about herbaceous perennials than 24-time Chelsea gold medal winner Rosy Hardy from Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants and we're delighted to have the benefit of her knowledge once again to discuss this garden e...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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43:27
