Crossed Wires Podcast Festival: Back to Basics
Gardeners' Question Time
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How important is health and safety in the garden? What disease has been growing on my tomatoes? What would the panel say was their most overrated plant?
Kathy Clugston hosts Gardeners' Question Time, recorded live at the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival.
Joining her on the expert panel are botanist and broadcaster James Wong, award-winning garden designer Matthew Wilson, and alpine plant specialist Bethan Collerton. Together, they tackle a lively array of gardening questions from an enthusiastic audience.
Later in the programme, James Wong takes a trip to Sheffield’s Winter Garden, where he shares his top picks for easy-to-grow plants - perfect for beginners looking to cultivate greenery both indoors and out.
Producer: Dom Tyerman Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod Executive Producer: Carly Maile
Plant List Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.
Q – How important is health and safety in the garden? (01’27”)
Q – What are the ideal conditions for growing wildflowers from seeds? (04’10”)
Q – What’s the best method for watering a very parched, dried out cacti? (07’57”)
Q – Why have my wisteria stopped flowering? (11’31”)
Feature – James Wong provides an essential list of plants you can grow indoors and outdoors. He’s visiting the Sheffield Winter Gardens (16’11”)
James Wong – Dichondra Strelitzia nicolai, white bird of paradise
Q – How do I stop slugs from eating my hostas? (24’05”)
Q – What would be your recommendations for plants that can survive harsh weather in coastal regions? (24’44”)
Bethan Collerton – Armeria maritima, thrift
Matthew Wilson – Griselinia littoralis, new zealand broadleaf Hippophae rhamnoides, sea buckthorne
James Wong Griselinia littoralis, new zealand broadleaf Quercus ilex, holm oak Tamarisk Trachycarpus fortune, chusan palm
Q – What disease has been growing on my tomatoes? (29’17”)
Q – I’d like to grow my Jasmine against a fence, do I hack it right back, start again or plant is as is? (32’44”)
Q – What would the panel say was their most overrated plant? (36’37”)
James Wong – Geranium Rozanne ('Gerwat'PBR), cranesbill [Rozanne]
Matthew Wilson – Heucheras
Transcript
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| 0:36.2 | Hello, I'm Cathy Clugston, and this is Gardner's Question Time from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:41.7 | So grab those secretars or sit back and relax, however you like to listen, |
| 0:46.5 | and enjoy the next 45 minutes of great tips, advice and dubious horticultural humour. |
| 0:53.4 | Hello and welcome to Gardner's Question Time. |
| 0:56.3 | This week we're in Sheffield, South Yorkshire |
| 0:58.6 | at the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival |
| 1:00.8 | as part of a fringe line-up curated by BBC Sounds. |
| 1:04.6 | We thought this would be a great opportunity to go back to basics. |
| 1:08.1 | So if you've never sown a seed, |
| 1:10.2 | snipped a stem or pulled a weed, this will be a |
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