BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

The joys of spring are here, our gardens are bursting into life and the brand-new season of the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine podcast is back, full or inspiration and lively conversation – what better way to start the gardening year? From wildlife lovers to foodie growers, don’t miss that nation’s favourite gardeners as they share their love, advice and expert wisdom for all things gardening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arit explores ways to garden that will help restore our natural balance – with leading psychiatrist and psychologist, Dr Sue Stuart-Smith. Sue believes that tending to our gardens is a good way to tend to our minds, and reveals how a dose of nature is good medecine for us all. LONGER DESCRIPTION: Our heart rate slows, our mood enhancing hormones rise, and our blood pressure lowers. These are just some of the scientific facts that tell us being in nature is good for our health. So Arit explores ways to garden that will help restore our natural balance – with leading psychiatrist and psychologist Dr Sue Stuart-Smith, who is also a great gardener. She shares a fascinating insight into how therapeutic horticulture has helped war veterans, prisoners, patients and herself – and how a dose of nature is good medicine for all of us. Dr Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and author of the Sunday Times best-seller, The Well-Gardened Mind (2020) about the wellbeing and psychological significance of gardening. Partly inspired by working alongside her landscape designer husband, Tom Stuart-Smith, in creating their Barn Garden in Hertfordshire, she has been exploring the benefits of nature in creating a positive frame of mind. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trees are the life givers on planet earth, providing the oxygen we breathe, habitats to thousands of species, while creating beauty in our landscapes too. Yet these giants of nature are at risk. Arit talks to world-renowned tree expert Tony Kirkham, to discover why there’s a tree crisis and why we cannot – and must not – live without them. What role do trees play in helping to improve our gardens and the environment? How do trees support wildlife and biodiversity? Just how important is it to balance increased tree planting with the environmental risks? Today’s guest started as a forestry apprentice aged 16, before embarking on a 40-year career as Kew’s Head of Arboretum, Gardens and Horticultural Services. Managing 14,000 trees and sharing his passion with his team and visitors, here, he explores how trees can help everything from our mental wellbeing to noise pollution. Plus, how to choose the right trees for our gardens, whatever the size, and the vital changes we should all make now in our approach to trees.Dr Tony Kirkham was the Head of Arboretum, Gardens & Horticultural Services at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew until his retirement in 2021. He is the author of many award-winning and popular books on trees, including pruning and training guides and his celebration of their glory in Remarkable Trees (Thames & Hudson). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We investigate how plants can give city-dwellers vital protection against future climate change including extreme weather conditions and declining air quality, with our guest, scientist Dr Tijana BlanusaWith fluctuating weather systems and increasing populations, our towns and cities are on the frontline of rising temperatures, flash flooding and degraded air quality. So just how can some of our common garden plants help? Arit is joined by Dr Tijana Blanusa, RHS environmental scientist and specialist in plant physiology, whose extensive research into the benefits of greening our cities reveals how plant function could give us vital protection against the future of a changing climate – and how you can use this information to make the right choices in your garden Dr Tijana Blanusa leads the RHS Ecosystem Services Research Programme, identifying the structural and functional traits of plants that can be isolated, optimised and employed to benefit the wider environmentShe tells us: “Most of the UK population nowadays lives in towns and cities. Domestic gardens form a large proportion of UK urban areas (up to 30%!) so what we grow in them and how we manage them can have a significant environmental impact. My research contributes to the understanding what structural and functional traits plants need to provide environmental benefits (like cooling, rainfall capture and air quality improvement) well. In my role as a scientist for the RHS I am able to pass this knowledge on so that our gardeners can make planting choices that not only look and feel good but which benefit the environment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What are the key elements of a sustainable garden? Can any landscaping materials really be considered sustainable and what essentials help to make a small space sustainable? Today’s guest explores how we can all move towards designing and building sustainably and how to adapt your existing garden with sustainability - and the planet - in mind.She believes that thoughtful design creates kindness – to our surroundings, to the wildlife we share our gardens with, and to each other.In this episode, she shares with Arit her belief that we must listen to the land on which we garden – however small that space. Taking time to sit, look around and listen – is there life in the soil, birdsong in the air? And she offers a practical approach to this that everyone can try.She also shares ways to ensure the materials and plants you select for your garden are the kindest for the planet. But above all, she says, your choices must start with the biggest question of all: how do you want to live? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could you garden without an outdoor tap – and keep your plants healthy and thriving? That’s the challenge set by today’s podcast guest – as she shares HOW we need to all learn to live without water always on demand. In the UK one of the topics we talk about the most is the weather – and we feel like we get our fair share of rain. But our rainfall patterns are changing, bringing either a heavy deluge that we can’t cope with, or a struggle with drought. But what we do expect is water to pour from our outdoor taps whenever we need it. With global water shortages and demands, is it time to rethink our reliance on this increasingly precious resource? Our guest in this episode thinks so – Janet Manning is a water expert, scientist and experienced gardener who has answers that could challenge us all… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Diversity is a hot topic for us all right now – as we figure out how to create a more diverse society for 21st century living. And it’s clear, says today’s guest, that diversity also holds the key to how we should garden in the future – because diversity lies at the heart of the healthiest plant communities. Professor Nigel Dunnett has been studying plants and creating landscapes for decades and is convinced that the future of gardening is not just about us working with nature, rather than against it, but that observation of the plant world points the way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

a healthy garden starts with healthy soil, so we explore how to mimic nature in creating the best conditions, with Professor Duncan Cameron – a world expert in plant and soil biology, who lifts the lid on the mysterious world under our feet Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From cutting air miles to boosting biodiversity and soil health, nurturing our own fruit and veg garden gives us so much more than just a tasty harvest – so we talk to food policy guru Professor Tim Lang, who’s also a gardener, President of Garden Organic and a one-time hill farmer, and has experienced food growing from all sides. He’s passionate about the contribution gardeners can make to a better future for food, our soil and our health. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Spending time gardening or enjoying others’ gardens opens our eyes to the environment around us and the realities of climate change. But can individuals make a difference by gardening more sustainably, when the solutions seem so huge? In this new podcast series, we’ll be talking to the experts in planet-friendly gardening, to share practical solutions that anyone can try and reveal how to make a genuine impact when we all act together. From growing food and pollution-busting plants at our back door, or finding alternatives to tap water, peat and plastics, tune into the podcast series to hear us reveal how even small steps can bring big results. None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices