Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 81 This week we take a quick look at what pots and containers we have used to grow vegetables Plants that deter insects pests, slugs and snails Houseplants that help clean the atmosphere And the State of the World’s Fungi report by the RHS at Kew

Welcome to An Hour in the garden no 80 First of all, so sorry for last week. (Grandchildren + bug = wiped out!) I finally got into thegarden and harvested cabbages and potatoes and spent the ‘recovery’ time watching the leaves falling, so we do into a little about how and why leaves fall - after all, it can’t just be the wind, it gets windy in the Summer too and the leaves don’t fall at all. The thing is, for many reasons, a layer of cork appears at the end of the leaf, which is more...

Time to sow in a cold frame: Violas  Lupins we’re sowing  Dwarf fairy pink Aquilegia,  - carulea Aconitum or monks hood or wolf’s bane Hollyhocks creme de cassis Eryngium  Echinops Verbascum  - I think they are like hollyhocks and lavateras seeds off outdoors now either direct sown or in pots in a coldframe. Salvias  Red Hot Pokers  Hardy Geraniums We have Wargrave Pink, and you can’t get rid of it! It is very invasive. But there are so many others! I quite fancy Orchid Blue and purple...

Hello and welcome This week we are a little shorter because we're off in the Cambridgeshire Countryside, and lovely it is too! We look at raspberry pruning, bulb planting, making winter containers and check out what to do to keep the greenhouse spit spot for the winter.

An Hour in the Garden It must be Eden here in the UK at the moment. The gentle rain has been falling for a couple of weeks on and off, replacing ground water in the big sponge and revitalising the gasping plants. We never had such big pumpkins, nor such a large and full apple crop. And the potatoes have gotten through the summer so far without blight. It is usually that time just after a drought when blight affects potatoes and tomatoes as the spores splash onto stems rapidly sending the...

This week we are a little better, thanks to everyone for their kind messages. Growing Leeks They can be sown indoors in February, or as late as May. I must confess that I was late this year, and sown in late May in modules. Transplanted in August, but it does go to show that you can have some leeway. On the whole, if you sow in a deep box, you get long roots which I always top and tail when planting out. In modules, one seed per module is enough, but there is nothing wrong with sowing 2...

Welcome to No 73 of An Hour in the Garden We look at some of the little jobs we are doing in the garden in August. Please visit www.kitchennewbie.com

Hello and welcome to No 72 of An Hour in the Garden We talk about our new podcast, weeding, pruning, water and heat - so much heat! And various jobs in the garden for July.

This week we are looking at hybridization. It's something I have been wanting to talk about on the podcast simply because I find it really interesting. Please do send us your gardening pics and let us know how you are getting on with your gardening this summer! Happy Gardening!

Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 70 This week we discuss crop protection and dealing with aphids Tree problems growing in pots Pots getting too hot and the value of ceramic pots The consequences of the heat on many plants

Hello and welcome to An Hour in the Garden no 69 Ways of saving water in an arid garden This week we look a little at two plants in the cottage garden that we used to cultivate and no longer do - nettles (Urtica dioica) and dandelion, (Taraxicum officianale). Nettles were used for food and rope making and even clothing. Dandelion is a brilliant tonic and helpf with so many problems, especially urinary ones, but can also help with fever. HOWEVER - please don't diagnose or treat yourself! See...

Welcome to An Hour in the garden No 68 It’s coming to the end of June, and we are half way on our journey around the sun. Who would have thought a journey of 584 million miles would pass so quickly. It means I have travelled over 3.5 billion miles in my lifetime around the sun. But then the sun is travelling at 480 000 miles an hour around the galactic centre, so it is fair to say that we are well travelled! Anyway, the garden hasn’t gone anywhere. BLACKCURRANTS The blackcurrants should have...

Hello and welcome to the Hour in the Garden Podcast Sorry for the noises - builders. We are in Cambridshire at the mo and it's interesting travelling south looking at the differences in vegetation. We chat through the three plant herbaceous border, red valerian, Lysimachia and purple cranesbill. How do onion sets work? Night scented stocks! Oh how wonderful they are! Lovely to simply fall asleep besides. Have a listen to the Veg Grower Podcast - Richard has just hatched some...

Welcome to an hour in the garden no 66 Today we chat about the garden being the home of man's environment Some great pictures from listeners Tomatoes, chilies, peonies and iris Potatoes, cabbage beans and carrot fly Cutting back geraniums and ladies mantle Taking lavender cuttings

Hello and welcome to an hour in the garden No 65 It's June - Christmas in the garden because you have to hoe, hoe, hoe. We went to a garden centre that was a complete combination of chaos and amazing plants. It was such an interesting visit, clearly a plant lovers paradise, but whacky! The Lubera Sarpo potatoes arrived and completely blew my scepticism away! The little 1 litre pots they came in were stuffed with potatoes . We'll keep you posted on how they get on. They were transplanted into...

Hello and welcome to our 64th issue. We nearly didn't have one - the internet has been so poor we can't upload properly. That is why we can't get your pics on the site etc etc - but we have changed our internet providers and so by next week we hope to be much better, and able to make a longer podcast. Sorry for all this messing about - it's partly living in rural Britain, but hopefully , hopefully. This week we look at a few tips about new gardeners, and get all philosophical. Thank you for...

Welcome to An Hour in the Garden No 63 This week we look at: New potatoes - that is a new variety. Weeding Time to sow gherkin and cucumber French Beans Pumpkins More Spring Onions Hardening off tomatoes Watering Growing Watercress The ANDI Scale You can support us by buying us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/kitchennewbie Or you can donate on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kitchennewbie

Hello and welcome to another Hour in the garden Many apologies for the delay - the internet was down (Again!!! - Plusnet!) Had a lovely email from Stephanie Vestey about her garden - the pictures will be at https://www.kitchennewbie.com/garden-newbie/ later today She talks about ivy holding her fence together - well, ivy is the only plant we know of that shows negative phototropism for the roots - which is a fascinating subject, the roots grow away from light. You might think this was normal,...

Hello and welcome to An Hour in the Garden Today we take a walk around the garden because it is sunny!!!! We look at the mechanics of water movement through the plant and how they have evolved to deal with differing stresses the plant comes under. We also have a job or two to complete in the garden. We are planning a podcast called The Good Life - about gardening with garden livestock, a bit of cooking and self sufficiency thrown in. We would love to hear if you think this is a good idea -...