East Horsley: Potato Beetle, Indoor edibles and Fallow Year

Jul 4, 2025

Guest

Juliet Sargeant

Guest

James Wong

Guest

Pippa Greenwood

This week features Pippa Greenwood, a plant health specialist with extensive pest know-how; James Wong, a botanist and indoor plant explorer; and Juliet Sargeant, an award-winning garden designer focused on sustainability. They tackle whether gardening is possible in a flat without a balcony and suggest compact indoor plants. The panel also discusses the threat of the Colorado potato beetle, offering strategies to protect crops while maintaining soil health. Their diverse insights make gardening challenges seem conquerable, even in limited spaces!

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Rhododendron Flowering Advice

To encourage rhododendrons to flower, deeply water potted plants regularly and mulch with ericaceous material.
Apply sulfate of potash periodically to help ripen the wood and stimulate flowering buds.

ADVICE

Indoor Growing Tips for Flats

Use a sunny windowsill for micro herbs, salad leaves, and small plants like strawberries indoors.
Experiment with hydroponics and artificial lighting to grow herbs like basil, Thai basil, chili, and mint indoors.

INSIGHT

Colorado Beetle Threat Insight

The Colorado potato beetle can devastate potato crops by consuming all foliage, reducing yields by at least half.
It mainly enters the UK as a hitchhiker on transport vehicles, making monitoring and quick reporting vital.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Can I grow fruits or vegetables in a flat with no balcony? Could garlic help stop slugs from eating my Hostas? Why did you become gardeners?

Kathy Clugston is joined by a panel of much-loved gardening experts in the picturesque village of East Horsley, Surrey, to answer listeners’ horticultural dilemmas and offer practical, down-to-earth advice. On the panel this week are botanist and broadcaster James Wong, plant health specialist Pippa Greenwood, and award-winning garden designer Juliet Sargeant.

Later in the programme, Pippa Greenwood explores the growing threat of Colorado beetles to UK biosecurity in conversation with Tracy Wilson, Import Specialist at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Producer: Matthew Smith Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

Plant List Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

Q – Can you suggest a suitable hedge that can be kept slim but tall to go between a six-foot fence and a path? (01’31”)

James Wong – Trachelospermum jasminoides, star jasmine

Juliet Sargeant – Muehlenbeckia complexa, necklace vine Osmanthus delavayi, delavay osmanthus Osmanthus heterophyllus, holly olive Elaeagnus × ebbingei

Q – How do I encourage my 100-year-old rhododendrons to flower? (05’35”)

Q – Is there a way for me to grow fruits or vegetables in a flat with no balcony? And if yes, what would you recommend with limited space? (08’54”)

Juliet Sargeant – Hydroponics

James Wong – Tomato Chilli Basil Thai Basil Ocimum kilimandscharicum, camphor basil Ocimum basilicum 'Christmas', basil ‘Christmas’ Curry Leaves Mint Leaves

Pippa Greenwood – Chilli

Feature – Pippa Greenwood discusses the threat Colorado Beetles have on our crops with Tracy Wilson (15’02”)

Q – We have raised vegetable beds. I put a layer of mulch on them every autumn. Would it be a good idea to let a bed lie fallow occasionally? (19’49”)

Q – What’s causing my Hydrangea petiolaris to die off? (24’05”)

Q – What could I grow in a large rockery in our garden, that’s also difficult to kill? (28’31”)

Q – Would wild garlic help stop slugs from eating my Hostas? (31’31”)

Q – What possessed you to become the garden experts you are? And as a result. What advice would you give to up-and-coming young gardeners to continue? (36’00”)