Wokingham Borough: Pet Friendly Gardens, Homemade Compost and Silly Advice

Gardeners' Question Time

BBC

Leisure, Home & Garden

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What's your recommended recipe for homemade seed compost? What makes a dog friendly garden? What is the most inappropriate piece of garden advice that you've received?

Peter Gibbs and the panel offer advice to an audience of keen gardeners in the borough of Wokingham. Joining Peter are house plants expert Anne Swithinbank, garden designer Bunny Guinness, and proud plantsman Matthew Biggs.

Later in the programme, for Plant Health Week, Kirsty Wilson visits the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to meet biosecurity officer Matt Elliot and discover how new pests and diseases are threatening our gardens — and what we can do to fight back.

Producer: Matt Smith Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

Plant List Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.

Q - Do the panel have any favourite help or design features in their gardens made by their pets? (01'45")

Q- Could you give me some top tips on growing Dahlias? (05'40")

Q- How do you manage a wildflower area after the first year of flowering? (10’18")

Feature – Kirsty Wilson and Biosecurity Officer of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh discuss how we can protect our plants from new pests and diseases (14'20")

Q- My Fatsia Bush has flowered – do I prune it back or leave the fruits for the birds? (19'30")

Q - Which exciting new plants should we be looking forward to growing in the south-east of England? (22'31")

Bunny Guinness – Diospyros virginiana (F), common persimmon Diospyros 'Nikita's Gift' (F), Nikita’s Gift Persimmon. Salvia involucrata 'Hadspen', rosy-leaf sage ‘Hadspen’

Matthew Biggs – Salvia officinalis 'Bicolor', sage 'Bicolor' Echium Echium wildpretii, tower of jewels Echium pininana giant viper's bugloss

Anne Swithinbank – Leonotis Leonurus, lion's tail Dictamnus albus, burning bush Eriobotrya, loquat

Q - What is your recommended recipe for homemade seed compost? (28'00")

Q - I have a small starter allotment; can the panel advise me on how to make the most of my small plot? (32'10")

Bunny Guinness – Onion Garlic Lettuce

Matthew Biggs – Lettuce, fresh beetroot, fresh carrots, finger carrots Baby leaf Spinach radish courgettes French beans Runner beans

Anne Swithinbank – Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum, florence fennel

Q - What is the most inappropriate piece of garden advice that you've received, and did you follow it? (37'24")

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.
0:03.7	My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts.
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0:27.2	that create a real connection to dedicated sports fans
0:30.1	across the UK.
0:31.4	So if you like this podcast,
0:33.0	head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.
0:37.1	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:41.6	Hello, I'm Cathy Clugston
0:43.2	and this is Gardner's Question Time
0:45.0	from BBC Radio 4.
0:47.0	So grab those secateurs
0:48.4	or sit back and relax
0:50.2	however you like to listen
0:51.4	and enjoy the next 45 minutes
0:53.5	of great tips, advice and dubious horticultural humour.
0:58.2	Hello and welcome to this week's GQT with me Peter Gibbs. Today we're in the borough of Wokingham,
	...

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