Not Just a Garden

On this recap of Gardeners' World 2026 Episode 4, we consider how Alla Olkhovska and her family are coping in Kharkiv, given the latest world events and subsequent rising fuel prices.

We also delve a little deeper into how to avoid dehydration in the desert, how our own wisdom teeth can be an insurance against future health problems, which surprising animals are now recognised as sentient beings by the UK Animal Welfare Act, how "fake rock" was once used in gardens across the UK, and what happens if you burp in space.

On Gardeners' World, Ashley Edwards gives us a tour of the beautiful Leondardslee Garden in West Sussex, and Hati Colvin in Llandeilo shows us her cut flower farm, The Dahlia Wood Ltd. Tom Stimpson in Ely gives some tips on growing a garden in pots, and Owen, Emily and Leo Driscoll show us some wonderful treasures in their garden in Macclesfield.

In our Chit-Chat-Catch-Up this week, we salivate over Geoff Stonebanks' cakes being prep'd for his garden opening through the NGS. We also imagine enjoying one of the two horticultural apprenticeship positions being offered at Ventnor Botanic Garden, as announced by Wayne Williams last week.

🌿We also remind our listeners that Dan Stearne from Dan's Plants is giving a 10% discount on all his plants with our exclusive code NJAG10 - just in time for some spring planting🌸

Relevant links can be found on our website here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/recaps/

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On this recap of Gardeners' World 2026 Episode 3 we challenge Joe Swift's hatred for red robins and channel a more untamed and rugged version alongside a fireworks forsythia in our garden.

We also discuss sharks on cocaine, the adaptability of red dung moss, the very real concerns of plastic eating plankton, whether it's safer to drink urine or cactus water if dehydrated in the desert, and vampire moths.

On Gardeners' World, Frances Tophill takes us to Dryad Nursery in York to look at a beautiful collection of miniature daffodils, and Milly Proust shows us around Alma Proust near Petworth, West Sussex. Sue Kent takes us to Maggie Carr's garden in Llanelli from where she started the wonderful Incredible Seed Library, and tomato aficionado Lance Turner from Tomato Revolution in Melksham, Wiltshire teaches us a thing or two about, well, tomatoes.

In our Chit-Chat Guests Corner this week, we send out our big congrats to Sharnee for her recent wedding to Harry, and we are full of envy at Annmarie & Andrew's incredible recent experience at John Massey's garden with Chris Howell and Clive Nichols.

🌿We also remind our listeners that Dan's Plants is giving a 10% discount on all his plants at https://dansplants.co.uk with our exclusive code NJAG10 - just in time for some spring planting🌸

Relevant links can be found on our website here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/recaps/

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It's Gardeners' World 2026 Episode 2 Recap time and with Sweetpea in the middle of 2 days of exams, she watches the show at double speed and is very impressed with just how sprightly Monty is.

In this episode we give the low down on mammograms, the extraordinary powers of the Gympie Gympie plant, despite and on account of the extreme pain it causes, why you wouldn't want to confront a honey badger if you're a naked man, and Sweetpea's best cactus-based chat-up line.

On Gardeners' World Joe Swift takes us around Mary Keen's garden in Gloucestershire, and Karim Habibi shows us his apples at Keepers Nursery in East Farleigh, Kent. James Baker and Noah from GreenBaker Gardening give us a tour of their garden in Weymouth before Carol Klein has a look at the potager at RHS Rosemoor. Finally Jim Stephens gives us some tips on camellias from his garden in Dobwalls, South East Cornwall.

And don't forget this week, on Wednesday 25th March at 8pm, Martin Dohrn's wonderful award-winning film My Garden of a Thousand Bees will be available on BBC Four🐝🐝🎬🐝🐝

Relevant links can be found on our website here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/recaps/

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Horticulturist and horticultural therapist Ashley needs little introduction as one of the presenters on Gardeners' World. But not just that, he’s also a member of the DIY SOS team, appears on ITV’s Love your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh, is a regular on the BBC Gardeners' Question Time panel, is one of the Ask the Experts team in Gardeners' World Magazine, and is head gardener at Crocus at Dorney Court. *draws breath😮‍💨

Not surprisingly, Ashley's been called the busiest man in horticulture and so we were really grateful he could find a moment to join us. In fact Ashley had to fly off for some filming straight after so we do fairly steam through his dream garden, but we still found time for A Good Ol’ Chit-Chat!

On this final episode of Chit-Chats for Series 4, Ashley tells us about his varied and exciting route into horticulture and how it took him from the UK to abroad - from US Pennsylvania where summers were so humid, the dahlias would produce aerial roots, to Sicily where he could pluck and eat sweet blood oranges straight from the tree.

We also find out about tackling imposter syndrome, manifesting a place in St Lucia, the significance of Japan's cherry blossom festivals, green furry monsters, sunflower borders, mossy mounds, air-frying kale, dance floors in the greenhouse, and Sweetpea and Ashley's shared love for Missy Elliott and Mary J Blige🕺

And if you want to get some time with Ashley, then he’s taking tours and having a chat at Crocus at Dorney Court on 28th March (there will be cake), or you can meet and natter with him at both Gardeners' World Spring Fair on 3rd May and Gardeners' World Live on 18th June.

Some mentions from our guest, links can be found here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/gardens/
Crocus at Dorney Court
Horatio's Garden
Longwood Gardens
Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School
Syon Park

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Gardeners' World is back - hurrah - and so are a sleep-deprived Sweetpea and a bemused Bear with an Episode 1 Recap.

In this episode we look at the continued success of seed snails, the chicken or egg of Sonic the Hedgehog and protein, gruesome bird-killing trees, beautiful brain healing cock's combs, and the goodest boy ever.

On Gardeners' World we kick off with a title shake-up and Monty back at Longmeadow. We get to see a bit of Adam Frost's new garden before meeting alpine legends Bob and Rannveig Wallis in Carmarthenshire. Arit Anderson takes us to Kew to meet plant saviours Carlos Magdalena and Paul Rees before we have a look at the tropical garden of Cathy Smythe, Gary Cattermole, Bowie (as in oh not ow - sorry😔), Dota, Mel & Mojo.

Lastly, we've had many animated conversations on a fair few of the pod episodes about wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn's fantastic and award-winning film, My Garden of a Thousand Bees. Martin was on Gardeners' World 2025 episode 11 and joined us for episode 39 of Chit-Chats last year where he shared a bit about the intricacies of filming his minuscule subjects. He also talked about the struggles of bringing the film to UK screens given that it was readily available in many other countries around the world but not in the motherland. The good news is Martin's lengthy battle has paid off and it will finally be available on BBC Four at 8pm on 25th March and BBC iPlayer thereafter! We couldn't recommend the film more - spoiler, you will need tissues!

And as if that wasn't enough good news, Martin's latest award-winner The Birds, which he also talked about on our Chit-Chat is going to be available on UK screens on Wednesday 18th March on BBC Four at 8pm. It will also be available on BBC iPlayer after🕺🎬🥂

Relevant links can be found on our website here: https://notjustagarden.co.uk/recaps/

More Not Just a Garden
https://notjustagarden.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/notjusta_garden/
https://www.facebook.com/notjustagarden/
https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustaGarden
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.