Catch Episode 19 the finale in Series 2 of Gardner Ben's podcast, now streaming on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and on my YouTube channel. You all enjoyed Episode 1 so much from Season 1, that I invited @mark_hamilton_anderson back to conclude Season 2. He was used AI to form the questions they had for me/ us catch our conversation now!

This has been an incredibly exciting season and special thanks. Go out to all involved.

@meadowandthyme

@cheshire_head_gardener

@urbanfarmandkitchen

@rakeexpectations

@buildingafoodforest_scotland

@gilbertsdahlias

@our.english.topiarygarden

@tacomarosesociety

@selectroses

@newforesthostas

@sow_much_more

@robsallotment

@johnwilliamson.dartmoor

@matt.pottage

@childrensallergy

@newenglandrosesociety

@santacruzdahlias

@peterbealesroses

@hilliergardencentres

@david_long_gardens

@capelmanor

@kingstonmaurwardcollege thank you to everybody for being so generous with your time.

I’ll be back in October with season three.

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On this week's episode of the Gardener Ben podcast, I’m joined by Matt, one of the gardening team from @peterbealesroses. Mark, Ethel, and I packed up the car and headed to Norfolk last weekend to spend an absolute glorious day walking around the Peter Beales show garden, garden centre, and restaurant.

An utterly extraordinary experience and incredibly inspirational. I’m taking some wonderful ideas away to use in my own garden, so I can’t recommend making the trip to see it yourself enough. However, if you’re short on time, please do look at some of the videos created while I was there to see which you can take and incorporate into your own growing space. Listen to my conversation with Matt on this week's episode.

Next week, season two is a wrap, and I’ll be catching up with my long-suffering husband @mark_hamilton_anderson.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardeningpodcast #listennow #streamingnow #gardener #gardenersofinstagram #roses #rosegarden #helpingyougrow

Listen to episode 17 of season two of the Gardener Ben podcast. Now it’s streaming on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and my YouTube channel.

This week, as we head into the month of June, it’s time to change gears with our maintenance in the rose garden. As we see the appearance of our first flowers, it’s time to start liquid feeding every two weeks, and of course, make sure that you’re removing any spent flowers just as quickly as possible to keep hormone levels high and plants producing flowers.

We’re heading across the Atlantic once more, where I get to share with you a conversation with Kristine from @santacruzdahlias, an Instagrammer, hybridizer, and author of two dahlia books that are available for us to buy on Amazon.

They’re responsible for growing some amazing varieties, which have now made their way all the way here to the UK and make up firm favorites in my cutting garden.

I hope that you enjoy listening to our conversation, and join me again next week when we’re back in the UK, and I’m joined by @peterbealesroses for the penultimate episode of this season.

Until then, happy gardening!

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardeningpodcast #gardener #listennow #streamingnow #listenalong #dahlias #dahliachat

Listen to episode 16 of season two of the Garden of Ben podcast now. It’s streaming on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and on my YouTube channel.

This week I’m downloading from the Chelsea Flower Show, and I’m joined by two very special guests, president and vice president of @newenglandrosesociety, @ld_gisel, and @regan305, whom I’ve promised to take whenever they like.

During our chat, we talk about the Gateway Plants, which has opened the door to a lifelong passion and a real sense of community in the rose world, the triumph of showing roses, and the heartbreak and disappointment at the loss of treasured plants to the hands of Mother Nature.

Next week, I have the pleasure of talking to @santacruzdahlias. Make sure that you tune in again next week.

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The wait is finally over, and the doors to the Chelsea Flower Show have opened—an opportunity for the world to see the gardening trends and new plant varieties that will grace our gardens in the months and years to come.

I’m going to bring you loads of content from the show over the coming weeks.

On today’s episode of the Gardener Ben podcast, I’m joined by @childrensallergy, an expert in airborne allergies and hay fever. If you are suffering from hay fever symptoms that are preventing you from fully enjoying your garden, this is a must-listen.

There are several a-ha and mic-drop moments contained here, along with more information that Mark and I have gathered from our local GP in almost 40 years on the subject. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

Next week, we’re heading back across the Atlantic to Boston, where I’m talking to the president and vice president of @newenglandrosesociety, whom I met in November 2023.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardener #Allergies #airborneallergies #hayfever #gardeningpodcast #listennow #streamingnow #helpingyougrow #gardenersofinstagram #growgram

Take a listen to episode 14 of season two of my podcast, now streaming on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and on my YouTube channel.

Don’t forget, there’s also a bonus episode slipped into the schedule that I recorded last week @bbcgwfair.

On this week's episode, I had the pleasure of talking to the very knowledgeable @matt.pottage, who, although being an incredibly busy man, managed to take the time to join me for an informal and very enjoyable conversation.

Mathew is the head of horticulture and landscape strategy @theroyalparks, an author and writer on @scribehound_gardening, and like me, a massive houseplant enthusiast who loves the rare, different, and unusual.

He’s taken on a massive public task, which many would shy away from. Listening to him talk about his new role, his journey into gardening, and his long-term approach to maintaining these beautiful public spaces gives me hope for horticulture's long-term future.

In my own garden, I’m having to dial back how much physical gardening I’m doing in favor of creating the massive body of work I’ve set out for myself this year.

Next week, the podcast takes us in a very different direction, and I’m joined by @childrensallergy. I will be talking at length about hay fever and airborne allergies, so if these are affecting your ability to garden and impacting your life, make sure to listen next week.

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Episode 13 of season two of the Gardener Ben podcast is available for you to stream on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and YouTube. It’s been a frustrating week in the garden, with soaring temperatures meaning that keeping up with the watering has been a real challenge. I’ve also been in a personal battle with a local squirrel who’s not only taken to digging in the top of one of my very precious trees, breaking off at least seven or eight of its new fronds, but it also went on a little bit of a rampage, causing utter destruction in the greenhouse. This week’s guest is John Williamson, @johnwilliamson.dartmoor, maker of the very endangered and beautifully crafted Devon Stave basket. This dying Bushcraft is more than just an art form, and talking about the process all the way from the selection of timber to the construction of the actual basket and its use was really inspiring.

Listen to the full episode now, and make sure that you head over to John's profile and show his account some love 💚

Next week, I’m joined by @matt.pottage, talking about his new role as head of horticulture and landscape strategy @theroyalparks.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardeningpodcast #listennow #streamingnow #helpingyougain #gardener #craft #woodcraft

Bonus episode brought to you from the BBC Gardeners world Fair, Beaulieu.

I had a marvellous day wandering around the show, admiring some amazing garden concepts, enjoying some great food, and of course, had the opportunity to purchase some amazing plants from specialist nurseries and some of the best growers in the country.

A busy time for everybody, but I wanted to offer my personal thanks to those who spared the time to speak to me about their garden concepts and design processes.

Starting with @david_long_gardens. His garden really needed to be enjoyed from on the stage, where its cool, fresh, dense planting mixed beautifully with wood, corten steel, and woven willow.

I also had the pleasure of talking to Una from @kingstonmaurwardcollege, part of a team of four students bringing together a stunning installation centered around a path made of grey engineering bricks and laid with hazel rounds, carefully planted with snowball bushes and juvenile birch.

Special thanks go to Lizzy from @capelmanor, a mature student part of a larger group approaching their project from a different angle, displaying a garden very much of two sides: a north-facing aspect, damp and lush, full of decaying timber and ferns.

And on the reverse, the south side is arid and dry, featuring alpine gravel and a structural yucca. Both equally beautiful in their design and execution.

Last up was a very enjoyable chat with Emma, who’s head of horticulture @hilliergardencentres. There was a stunning installation depicting four very distinctive styles of gardening in one space, proving that even on not a very average plot size, you can create a multitude of very different feeling spaces within one.

On this week's episode, I had to confess that I haven’t managed to spend a huge amount of time in my own garden. Being a full-time garden landscaper, this time of year keeps me on my toes in other people's gardens, and mine has to take a little bit of a backseat. This is one of the main reasons I’m so disciplined and organized with my own schedule—sharing content well before you actually need to be doing things.

I am, however, pressing on with getting in my pea sticks and plant supports to ensure my herbaceous perennials stay exactly where I want them to during the coming months.

I’ll also be going around the garden placing in some marker sticks so I know where I have holes in my spring bulb display. This saves me from disturbing any existing bulbs when I come to bed out bulbs at the end of the year.

This week's guest is Rob Smith (@robsallotment). Rob is a garden writer and the author of the book Grow to Eat. He is also on the RHS Fruit, Vegetable, and Herb Expert Group panel, helping decide the varieties that we all grow every year in our gardens.

Gardening in a very different way to me, if it’s not tasty, edible, or useful, Rob pretty much doesn’t grow it. This proves that even with a relatively small space, you can still have a highly productive garden producing something for the table for pretty much every meal.

Next week’s guest is John Williamson (@johnwilliamson.dartmoor), basket maker extraordinaire.

Don’t forget to get involved if you’ve enjoyed listening and leave a comment on your favorite platform.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardeningpodcast #listennow #gardener #organicgardener #helpingyougrow #gardentotable #growtoeat

Episode 11 of season 2 of my podcast is available to stream on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube now, covering topics such as organic pest control of aphids, greenfly, and black fly; focused watering of newly planted first-season roses and shrubs; and we’re all about soil as I get to have the most wonderful and enlightening conversation with Becky from the account @sow_much_more.

No matter what point in your gardening journey you are at, whether you’ve been doing it for years or you’re following for hints and tips as you just start out, this is a must-listen episode. Becky is a garden writer, soil expert, ecologist, and botanist, and like me, is incredibly passionate about no-dig organic gardening and the health, condition, and biodiversity of soil.

Proving that if you really pay attention to your soil, you can really grow a garden. Look out for her newly released book ‘Grow a New Garden’ or ‘The Seed Collectors Kit,’ both of which are out now.

In next week’s episode, I’m joined by @robsallotment, whose garden focuses very heavily on tasty and useful produce to cook and eat, while you know it’s completely the opposite here at North Lodge in my garden, which is just roses, dahlias, and sweet peas.

#garderben #podcast #podcaster #gardeningpodcast #listennow #streamingnow #gardener #organicgardening #helpingyougrow #gardenersofinstagram #grow #ecologist #botanist #gardenwriter

On this week’s episode of the Gardener Ben podcast, I talk you through the process of lifting and dividing herbaceous perennials, which can be a great way of giving yourself plants to trade with friends and family.

Now the garden is actively growing, it’s very easy to feel that it’s under attack from all sorts of critters such as lily beetles, slugs, and snails, which, as you would expect, is the focus point of conversation with this week’s guest.

I’m joined by Vicky from @newforesthostas, who, together with her husband Steve, runs a nursery specialising in foliage plants and has multiple awards from Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace flower shows.

The nursery is packed full of plants—in fact, I’m very confident in saying that Vicky is utterly obsessed with hostas. I could talk to her all day. She shares with us some expert advice on how to deal with slugs and snails, and why you should not surround them with slices of cucumber, which seems to be very much this year’s ridiculous online trend!

Next week, the podcast heads off to Devon, where I have the pleasure of chatting to Becky (@sow_much_more), who is a botanist, ecologist, gardener, and author of a brand-new book just released: Grow a New Garden.

#gardenerben #gardener #podcast #gardeningpodcast #podcaster #listennow #streamingnow #helpingyougrow #gardenersofinstagram #gardengram #spotify #amazonmusicpodcast #applepodcasts

📱📻🎙🎧

Episode 9 of season two of the Gardner Ben podcast is packed full of what I’ve been up to over the last week or so.

With the proper arrival of spring, I’ve unwrapped my tree ferns and given them their first watering and feed of the year. As the spring bulbs continue to flower, it’s important that you not only deadhead them but also give them a good liquid feed to ensure that they will flower properly next year. Never remove the foliage from a plant until it goes yellow or brown naturally.

This week’s guest is Brad from @selectroses, who joined me for a most informative and enjoyable chat from British Columbia. Brad and his team run a specialist rose nursery, retailing hundreds of different varieties of roses. He’s also responsible for hybridizing many brand-new varieties, and as you can see from the pictures, he is a very talented gardener who, like myself, grows many different things apart from roses.

Please make sure that you give the episode a good listen and head to Brad’s profiles both on Instagram and on YouTube, and show his accounts some 💚.

Next week, we’re heading back to The New Forest, and I get to catch up with Vicky from @newforesthostas ahead of their first open days of the year.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcasts #listennow #streamingnow #gardener #gardeningpodcast #helpingyougrow #gardenersofinstagram #selectroses

On today’s episode of the Gardenerben podcast, I talk at length about watering and spring feeding as we move into the spring months and things start to really warm up. It’s important if you’ve planted new roses or shrubs over the autumn and winter season you keep a close eye on their watering even if it rains I also share some hints and tips about how you can improve success by watering properly in the greenhouse

My guest this week is @run.dive.jwr who is involved with @tacomarosesociety , i’ve said it several times before but I’m incredibly jealous of the amount of community spirit and joy that are American friends share within their rose growing communities

listen to the full conversation on Apple Spotify, Amazon and now on YouTube, next week we’re staying on the other side of the Atlantic and I get to talk to Brad from @selectroses

#gardenerben #gardener #podcast #podcaster #gardeningpodcast #roses #listennow #streamingnow #helpingyougrow #chat

On today’s episode, we’re heading up to Shropshire, where I caught up with @our.english.topiarygarden.

This episode could not be better timed, as after many years in their containers, Mark and I have finally got round to planting the huge 8-foot-tall yew pyramids I’ve been growing. They have finally made their way into our newly landscaped Wintergarden, where they’re making the centerpiece and backbone of this new area.

Bee and her husband have spent nearly 30 years creating their perfect topiary garden—a long-term vision that has come together in an absolutely astonishingly beautiful, stylish, and timeless garden that looks great in all four seasons.

Bee talked me through where they gain their inspiration and some hints and tips for keeping box and yew healthy and happy. It’s lovely to hear that through their Instagram account, they’ve met some wonderful real-life gardening friends and have found a real sense of community from building their social media account.

Head over to @our.english.topiarygarden now and show their account some 💚.

Next week, I’m slingshotting it back across the Atlantic Sea, where I’m talking to Justin from @tacomarosesociety.

In this week's episode of the Gardener Ben podcast, I have the absolute pleasure of catching up with Nick, the owner and operator of @gilbertsdahlias, just outside Romsey in Hampshire.

We talk about dahlias, the hybridization of new varieties, and Nick shares with us some really good hints and tips on how a professional grower goes about lifting, storing, dividing, and propagating his stock. Throughout the entire conversation, Nick's passion, commitment, and enthusiasm for the dahlia shine through. What you can’t unfortunately see is the look on his face when he’s talking about his favorite varieties and walking around the dahlia field at sunrise during high summer.

Please head across to their Instagram channel and show it some love 💚

And if you’re ever near Romsey, make sure that you pop into Gilberts to not only take a look at the dahlias in August, September, October, and into the very beginning of November, but also to grab yourself a good slice of cake or a hearty ploughman in their café.

Something that Nick said during our conversation has got me a little scared, so I’m off out into the garden now to see whether I can dig up this enormous dahlia imperialis I have - wish me luck!

On the next episode, we’re talking all things toy when I get to catch up with Bee Wilson of @our.english.topiarygarden.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardenerben #gardenchat #gardener #dahlia #listennow #streamingnow #helpingyougrow

As we creep towards the beginning of spring, the garden is slowly waking up. I’ve had my flower press out again to encapsulate and capture just a few of the early spring blooms.

At North Lodge, I'm also pressing on with the new winter garden. The digger has been in and removed the stumps from the laurel hedge we cut down, and it’s now time to start mulching and preparing the area for planting.

On today’s episode of the Gardener Ben podcast, I have the absolute honor of talking to Katrina, Clayton’s mum, who shares with us her and Clayton’s journey into gardening, most specifically permaculture, and how the family is now building a food forest in Scotland.

Clayton has autism and is homeschooled by his mum. He developed a keen interest in growing, tending, and harvesting his own food—a story that resonates strongly with my own personal journey and is a testament to how finding the spark that ignites your child’s imagination can really unlock an entirely different world of learning.

Head over to their Instagram channel now and show them some love 💚 @buildingafoodforest_scotland.

We had so much to talk about in a limited time scale, but I’ve already invited Katrina back if she has time to talk to me in season three.

If you grow dogwood for their colorful and vibrant stems, it is now time to cut these back to their permanent framework, which will stimulate strong and vigorous growth and brightly colored stems for next winter. Make sure that you give them a thoroughly good mulch and head to Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube to see my full tutorial.

On next week’s episode, I’ll be talking everything dahlia with Nick, owner and proprietor of Gilbert’s Dahlias near Romsey.

Episode 4 of my podcast is available for you to download and stream now.

Now that March has arrived, it’s time to really start sowing some seeds. I’ve got some tomatoes and the first batch of peas sown in the greenhouse outside. It’s time for some carrots and some beetroot, which I’ll have to keep tightly covered under cloches to save them from the pesky birds.

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Karen @rakeexpectations on Instagram, who shares with us what she grows in her garden in Fife, Scotland.

As well as tales and stories of Trevor and Dorian's garden antics, head to Karen’s profile now and show it some 💚!

As we head towards March, I finally got the time to weigh my way into the last frontier of the garden. Now celebrating just under seven years in this particular cottage, what will be known as the Wintergarden is going to take quite a lot of work.

I’ve started by removing the very strange laurel hedge, which ran along our drive, opening up the space. I’m going to have to get a mini digger to remove the stumps before I can start thinking about planting and adding lots of soil conditioner.

It’s time to start thinking about planting your daily tubers undercover, and on this week's episode, I’m joined by Luay Ghafari, who’s somewhat of a massive inspiration known as @urbanfarmandkitchen on Instagram and TikTok. He also maintains and writes a successful food blog and is a published author. I really don’t know how he finds the time to keep it all in the air.

Specializing in garden-to-table produce, he shares his love for tomatoes and cooking during our brief conversation.

If you don’t follow along already, head over to his Instagram account and show it some love now!

‘My rose has black spot’. What should I do? Is the largest question? I get asked online

The prevention of most pest and disease problems in the rose garden is far better than ever reaching for the cure and with good basic gardening practices you can pretty much avoid most of the issues we face

This video contains many different techniques and nuggets of information regarding to

proper pruning

Deep and focused watering

Organic practices

Mulching and soil conditioning

Incorporating natural habitat into the garden

Disposing of infected waste

And how having a hands off approach can really let nature in and allow the garden to find proper balance

If you have any questions regarding the subject of avoiding pest and disease problems, don’t hesitate to ask

This week’s episode of the Gardener Ben podcast features @cheshire_head_gardener.

I had the most wonderful, relaxed, and enlightening chat with Tristan, exploring his role as Head Gardener @barnston_estate. We talked freely about his gardening style and his passion for repurposing, reusing, and building a garden. Make sure that you head to his Instagram page once you’ve listened, give him a follow, and show his account some love 💚.

This week in my garden, I’ve continued to clear the opulence of last summer. I’ve collected and started working with this year's Hazel supports, getting myself ready for the season ahead.

I’m preparing the ground to plant out the sweet peas, mulching it heavily and constructing the supports that they will need to climb and be successful over the next few months. These need to be at least seven or eight feet tall.

It’s also time to start thinking about chitting potatoes. Starting and growing them in a cool, bright greenhouse or windowsill can get them ahead by a few weeks before going in the ground. You don’t have to buy expensive seed potatoes; ones that have been in the cupboard for a little too long and have naturally started sprouting are just as good and can be a great way of reducing food waste.

#gardenerben #podcast #podcaster #gardener #gardeningpodcast #gaygardener #grow #helpingyougrow #listennow #streamnow #gardenersofinstagram