The 2026 Gardening Programme Thread

[NebulousSadTimes]

Welcome 🤗. Pull up a chair, or an upturned bucket, grab a handle-less mug of whatever takes your fancy, ignore the cobwebs in the corner, there are some seed catalogues on the potting bench for you to entertain yourself until someone else pops in to chat about whatever has taken their interest on the telly or radio in all matters gardening 🌻🐞🌿🐝🍄🐌

I am now up to date with GW. Urgh, those camelias. They would have been okay if they were roses. I didn't mind the little white one, the species one I think it was called, single flower, not at all flashy. Still, the leaves put me off.

I have beaten Monty to two of the jobs for the weekend! That's not going to last 😁

F

Did anyone see Greatest Gardens with Diarmuid Gavin and Carol Klein last night? 8.30 BBC1 NI.

I wasn't convinced that Prue Leith added anything but I suppose they include celebrities in the hope of increasing viewers.

I liked that Diarmuid pointed out a bad point in the first garden, we can learn from others' mistakes as much as we can take inspiration from their creations.

Again, it's a competition. I enjoyed just having a look round the gardens, the competition side for me, so far, is a minus point.

I love it when I beat Monty to a job! I usually watch GW on catchup on a Sunday and it happens reasonably often. Makes me feel a bit like I know what I am doing

I'm on GW. Didn't like the piece much though

On as a participant @MaxandMeg ? How exciting, but not if you didn't like it 🙁

Hi Gardeners !
Im jumping into this thread with some questions, hopefully I can supply some answers too at some point😁

Q. I planted a small tree in Feb.(this might be a silly question ) the main stem is about 3’ then produces about 3 branches. I’ve removed any branching bits below that. I read that it needs leaves to help put down roots. So dont want to remove too much
Do I let it keep growing now and keep removing lower branches until the main stem is the height I want eventually?

What sort of tree?

@Shedmistress
Crab Apple

I didn't like the director. I've done it before and it was a much happier experience. It was shown back in October I think.

That's a shame @MaxandMeg . It's not something that would have occurred to me, not that I'd ever be worthy of having my garden on the telly. Respect to you and I hope it hasn't taken any of the joy you get out of your plants/garden.

Nah! @NebulousSadTimes It's my job so I'll take the rough with the smooth. It's like every other creative project you put out there- not everybody will get it. I was surprised at how uninformed the director was though and even the horticultural advisor was very rocky on some stuff (although she was nice).
I'm open to the public and that's such a joy because I've met some wonderful passionate fellow-gardeners.

Oh, that's lovely @MaxandMeg . I miss going to open gardens since my friend died; I haven't quite got the balls to go on my own in case all the other attendees are in couples or groups and I feel like a NebbyNoMates

That's interesting to hear about the behind the scenes stuff, TFS 🙂

Tonight's GW:

Enjoyed: sections on daffodils, sweetpeas, tomatoes and collecting, sowing seeds - pretty, ladylike and accessible gardening. Stuff that I would actually do.

Heavy stuff like digging up and dividing plants and pruning trees/hedges leaves me cold. Sorry Monty! I delegate that stuff to my gardener!

I don’t like them either. Think it’s the leaves and shiny bulkiness of them.

does anyone know when Beechgrove starts? I find the proportion of actually useful info much higher.

@StillWeRise TOMORROW (Thurs 2 April)

Agree, it's more helpful. I like Carol. I get a bit fed up though with their obsession re growing potatoes!

Here we go with Beechgrove...

• They started with potatoes of course! I fast forward through those sections, sorry Carol!
• Liked the alpine section.
• Liked the snowdrop section
• Quite like the easter planter (primarily daffodils) - interested that Carol said it would last 2-3 years. I planted daffs in pots for this season and will be pleased if they come back for several years.

It was good to have Beechgrove back 😊. It'll be nice to see Carol out and about in other gardens but it's a shame she'll only be at Beechgrove for the first and last (from what I could make out) programmes.

I'm not keen on slate gardens, much as I like the plants in them.

Brian looked different, is it because his hair is longer? I spent as much time trying to work out what was different than watching the plants 😁

Interesting that multi stemmed trees start off as three singles, I thought it would be the way they were pruned in early life. I've planted two spare acers together but fear they may be too close together. It was ever thus in my garden

Haven't watched anything yet but re multi stem tree - a genuine, true multi stem is 1 tree, chopped off, with multiple nodes allowed to develop into new trunks.
However, a lot of the market is fake multi stem - multiple trees planted very close together, especially as it's easier to grow, very fashionable, and there's money to be gained.

Ah, interesting, thank you @Agapornis . I've got some birch seedlings from last year, I was thinking of experimenting with one or two of them. Do you know what's the best age or size to cut them? And how low down?

Sorry I don't actually know more than that (I like to keep on top of semi-scams). But if you're chopping the top off, I expect it's best to wait until next winter when it's dormant again. I think with the rising sap it's more likely to kill it. Unless you're very far up north and it still doesn't have any leaves? Maybe just do the multiple in a pot method this year, experiment a bit if you have enough seedlings.

That's a fair point @Agapornis , there are leaf buds so it's probably as well to wait until next winter. Thank you

I have a multi stemmed (well, two) crab apple. Definitely the same roots and it's how I bought it. I wondered what to do with it, but I shall pretend I am ahead of the gardening curve on this one!

Monty says his favourite colour flower is apricot! I'd say mine is blue, yellow or orange.

Surprised to see he still has rafts of snowdrops out.

Why is it that those of us who garden (whether professionally or just as a hobby) tend to be...such nice people?! Really liked the segment on the lady obsessed with pink dahlias. And the guy with all the pots! (Except I feel like a bad person when I fast forward through the sections with "gardening with children" or "virtue signalling community garden".)

Useful section: pruning different types of hydrangea

I have mixed feelings on "wildlife friendly" gardens. I mean ok, birds, bees, hedgehogs etc. But my brain keeps repeating "RATS ALSO COME TO THIS GARDEN!" (Hence why I don't have birdfeeders in my garden!)

I'm very fascinated by the practicalities of GW and Beechgrove. Like how they must plan very far in advance, film certain sections far in advance and how filming must be subject to change at short notice depending on the weather and what the plants are/aren't doing. I know Beechgrove and Longmeadow both have hidden areas for experimenting and hiding things away.