Postbag Edition: Mary Berry's House
Gardeners' Question Time
BBC
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Peter Gibbs and the GQT panel have traded parks and community gardens for a visit to the Oxfordshire home of Dame Mary Berry. On this week's panel are Matthew Pottage, Christine Walkden and Bunny Guinness.
Among today’s questions, the panellists troubleshoot evergreen roses plagued by black spot, unravel the mystery of why clematis keep failing on one side of a small London garden, and help a listener planning a late‑August wedding by suggesting plants that peak at the tail end of summer.
Later in the programme, Mary shares her own gardening triumphs, from peaches ripened under winter covers, to treasured raised beds of herbs, strawberries and asparagus.
Producer: Dan Cocker Assistant Producer: William Norton Producer: Matt Smith
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
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| 0:13.5 | But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants? |
| 0:17.2 | They often say, look, we built the nation. |
| 0:19.2 | And without us, South Korea as it exists today, |
| 0:22.6 | would simply not be here. Inheritance, Samsung explores the real-life dramas of the Lee family |
| 0:28.3 | and their company. They are the equivalent of royalty. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:34.5 | Hello and welcome to Ghana's question time with me, Peter Gibbs. Today we're in for a treat. |
| 0:40.9 | Regular listeners will know when we record post-bag editions of the programme, we usually end up in a |
| 0:45.8 | public-facing garden or park. Most recently, we've taken the panel to Seton Delaville Hall in Northumberland, |
| 0:52.3 | Sefton Park, Palm House in Liverpool and Nine |
| 0:54.9 | Wells Community Garden in Dundee, all very special places. But today is a bit different, |
| 1:02.0 | a mouth-watering prospect, you might say. She may be best known as the Queen of Cakes, |
| 1:07.6 | but Dame Mary Berry's secret passion is gardening, |
| 1:14.6 | so much so that she's recently released a book all about it. |
| 1:19.5 | And today, GQT is delighted to receive and access all areas pass to Mary's own garden near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. |
| 1:23.3 | And Mary joins me now. |
| 1:24.5 | Hello, Mary, and thanks for the invite. |
| 1:26.6 | Oh, Peter, it's lovely to have you |
| 1:28.7 | all here and I shall ask you all my questions too. Now take it from me it's a brave decision |
| 1:34.3 | to invite GQT panellists to your garden. I've done it. It's a bit nerve-wracking. Not that they'd |
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