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Hello and welcome to garden favourites with me, Alan Titchmarsh. This is a brand new series of podcasts about, well, some of my favourite things in the garden.

Simple. Does what it says on the watering can,

if they say. You see, every gardener gardens differently. We all have our favourite plants,

places to visit, and tools that we think are vital, indispensable and the key to success in those essential garden jobs. We all have our reasons for our personal choices and we love to share.

Well, maybe not the tools.

In this series, I'm going to share some of my favourite things with you.

Not kittens, whiskers or string, but the plants I love, my horticultural holiday destinations,

and some of the books and objects that have become dear to me through my gardening years.

When it comes to getting out of yourself, as your mother used to say, there's nothing finer

than walking around somebody else's garden

and having a look at things that are better than you've got,

but also things where you can say to yourself,

hmm, mine's better than that one.

There is nothing better than walking around a British garden

because you know that somebody else is going to have to do all the work

and you can just enjoy the fruits of their labours.

The National Garden Scheme with that glorious yellow book has now several thousand gardens

that are open in spring and summer for us to go around, pinch ideas and just generally

have a good day out.

...