In this week’s Sowalong, world-renowned chef and convert to growing his own food, Marcus Wareing, tells us all about his passion for elephant garlic. He first discovered it when his gardener Anatoli introduced it into his kitchen garden and now considers the mild garlic-meets-onion flavour a delicacy and go-to in his dishes. Sown from bulbs kept back from the previous year, Marcus chats though planting cloves, ensuring plenty of growing space Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you wish the children in your life had a better understanding of the natural world? Would you rather they were outside, in the fresh air and at one with nature, rather than addicted to television or a computer screen?Kevin chats to celebrated children’s writer, Michael Morpurgo to discover if our gardens can fuel children’s creativity and play a part in connecting them with nature.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on Sowalong, we’re celebrating the delights of sowing and growing tomatoes from seed. Fast and with reliable germination, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine’s Features Editor Adam Duxbury, tells us why tomatoes are a brilliant way in for those new to growing food at home. Shooting up quickly and with delicious end results, the hardest part is choosing from the hundreds of tomato varieties on offer, from old heirloom types to an array of new disease-resistant and super sweet cultivars. Whether growing in the greenhouse or outside, he covers getting tomato seedlings off to a good start and how to ensure strong and vigorous plants – with those all-important jewel-like trusses of shiny fruit. Listen now, for growing tips and advice on everything from pinching out side shoots, to turning a glut into bottles of delicious slow-roasted, herby tomato and garlic sauce. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We all love the idea of picking healthy, homegrown food from our own gardens. But the reality doesn’t always match the dream – with gluts of crops when we can least manage them, or plants that just don’t perform and pesky pests that get to our harvests before we do. So, what steps can we all take to enjoy good eating this summer?For this food-focused episode, we turn to Monty Don to share his tips for success. He’s also the author, with his wife Sarah, of cookbooks including The Home Cookbook and Fork to Fork.Listen now, as he shares with us his favourite food, how he ensures the best harvests, and what to sow now for good pickings in the months ahead.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This time on Sowalong, BBC GardenersWorld.com’s Content Creator Lily Middleton shares why growing sunflowers from seed, on a balcony in West London, brings her so much joy. Injecting brightness into an urban environment, Lily initially started growing long-lasting Helianthus annuus during the first lockdown, letting their cheery, daisy heads peer over the balcony for passers-by to spot on their daily walks. Easy to start, this season Lily is growing sunflower ‘Red Sun’, making a change from the yellow ray florets she usually leans towards. With limited pots to fill and even less propagation space, Lily explains that while it’s often challenging deciding what to grow, sunflowers always make the cut, providing guaranteed, speedy and beautiful results. Listen now, for tips on seed sowing, raising seedlings, watering, feeding and how to provide support with bamboo cane stakes as they grow. Lily covers seed saving and leaving the central discs of the flowers heads out, for wildlife to feast on. Plus, why sunflowers are the ultimate plant to encourage children to catch the gardening bug early on. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you like to make simple changes in the garden and be one step closer to becoming a sustainable gardener? Do you consider your garden as an essential part of the ecosystem, as well as a place of beauty, productivity and respite?   This time on the podcast, gardener, author, environmentalist, and Gardeners’ World presenter Frances Tophill, shares her vision of modern gardening. Whether it’s living seasonally, using the garden as a resource for home makes, or landscaping with wildlife in mind, in her new book, The Modern Gardener, Frances urges us all to start seeing our gardens as valuable patches of wilderness. It's something Frances carries through to her show garden as this year’s Gardeners’ World Live, too. With sustainability at the core, Frances brings her passion for upcycle gardening, with a post-industrial show garden for a modern world. Think naturalistic planting and rewilded areas to support wildlife. Here, Frances chats to BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine’s Content Coordinator, Lucy Felton, about delicious hedgerow recipes, edible houseplants, agroforestry, vegan gardening and why it’s important to question the provenance of the things we bring into the garden. Listen on, for advice on growing herbs and weeds for medicinal purposes, ways to save space when growing veg and why no-dig gardening is not only beneficial to the structure of your soil, but important for the wildlife that lives within it, too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on Sowalong, BBC Gardeners’ World’s Monty Don shares his favourite vegetable to grow from seed – Florence fennel. Bringing you his best advice and know-how, Monty makes mastering this tricky-to-grow, tasty veg bed addition, a breeze.   Here to answer all of your fennel conundrums, Monty covers everything from spotting peak harvesting times, to watering regimes and tricks for a good crop. Monty also offers his tips on when to sow fennel, as well as pricking out seedlings, potting on and planting out. Plus, Monty explains why the intense flavour of homegrown fennel in the kitchen is unbeatable. Whether raw in a salad, sliced up with tomatoes and avocado, or halved and roasted in a baking dish with a dash of white wine, thyme and lemon juice. A pure taste of summer. Listen on to learn why everyone should add Florence fennel to their vegetable line-up, now.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you concerned by climate change, but feel powerless in the face of such a global problem? Our podcast guest Jack Wallington believes that gardening could be a powerful answer, giving us all a way to make a genuine difference in our own gardens – however small. Jack is an author, influencer, designer and advocate for sustainable gardening. He was first discovered through the Monty Don TV series Big Dreams, Small Spaces – where Monty helped him to turn a drab London patio into a plant-packed, city oasis. It was a life-changing moment, says Jack – who has gone on to turn a hobby into a career as a designer, focused on greener ways to garden.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Sowalong, BBC Gardeners’ World magazine’s Deputy Editor, Kevin Smith, shares his much-loved ritual of sowing ricinus. With striking, architectural foliage and tropical jungle appeal, ricinus suits Kevin’s planting style perfectly and he tells us why he sows this seed every year without fail.    Starting as jumbo, shiny, speckled seeds ricinus, or castor oil plant, can be slow to germinate, but once it does will spring to life shooting through the soil at speed. When you eventually plant it out for the summer, it’ll reach lofty heights quickly. First discovering ricinus in northern France, Kevin quickly found this versatile, low-fuss annual great for filling gaps in borders and creating a focal point in the centre of a pot, here in the UK. Really reliable for making an impact, find out how to plant up summer bedding plants around a central castor oil plant in your containers.   Listen on for advice on how to get started with ricinus seeds, watering and feeding routines, plus harvesting and seed saving tips too. Just wait until you see those beautiful spherical, spiky seed pods for the first time. Making such a statement in the summer garden, ricinus really is one to try.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you like to enjoy a bigger harvest and boost your wellbeing by doing less, rather than more, gardening? Have you been considering switching to the no-dig method for growing your own vegetables? Or are you simply curious to find out more about how it all works? Here, organic veg guru Charles Dowding tells GardenersWorld.com writer and enthusiastic grower, Blake Roberts, how.Author and champion of no-dig gardening, Charles Dowding, has been a leading authority on all-things no-dig since 1983 and now uses his time, and decades of experience, to teach others his growing techniques. It sounds like the Holy Grail for gardeners – to achieve better results and improve our health, all while doing a little less hard graft in the garden. We hear all about the science behind why it works, as well as how to get started, whatever the size of your plot. With years of observation from growing veg commercially on his West Country smallholding, Charles’ advice draws directly from real-world experiences and hard-won results. From a new way to look at soil improvement, to throwing out the rule book on crop rotation, Charles debunks plenty of gardening myths as he sets out a simple way to grow more, dig less, reap the rewards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices