Milton Keynes

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

Q – I wonder if the panel have any advice for dealing with the cracks that have appeared in my lawn during this dry summer? Should we try and back fill with compost?

(3 minutes 40 seconds) 

Matthew –

Orchid

Q – Our volunteer group now look after several south facing, large, quadrant-shaped raised beds in the city centre. Can the panel recommend planting to replace or supplement the current inner circle of box hedge with silver birch in the middle, some of which have died. The beds are edged with large granite blocks, the soil is very poor and we’ve very limited ability to water.

(6 minutes 26 seconds) 

Chris –

Lavender

Salvia turkestanica, Sage

Rosemary

Juliet –

Rosemary Prostrata Group

Persicaria affinis 'Donald Lowndes'

Matthew –

Eriobotrya japonica (F), Japanese loquat

Candelabrum

Q – I sowed wildflower seeds and yellow rattle plugs in May, but nature doesn’t seem to be working very well. I wonder if it’s likely the seeds will germinate next year, or will I have to start all over again?

(10 minutes 10 seconds)

Q – My courgettes this year have grown big, yellow, and round, like watermelon. Why?

(13 minutes 31 seconds)

Feature – Dr Chris Thorogood visits Harcourt Arboretum in Oxford to chat to Curator Ben Jones and Arborist Joe Gardom about how best to future-proof our forests with the warming temperatures.

(16 Minutes 11 seconds)

Giant redwood

Conifer

Q – We’re about to plant up a smallish garden from scratch. What trees would you recommend we add to the garden to provide year-round interest?

(25 minutes 32 seconds)

Chris –

Stone Pine

Stewartia

Catalpa bignonioides

Catalpa speciosa

Juliet –

Hibiscus

Matthew –

Malus sargentii

Sorbus cashmiriana

Heptacodium miconioides

Q – We’re hoping to move house in September and want to take some mature hybrid tea shrub roses with us. They’re currently in the ground and we will want re-home them in pots. What advice would you give regarding pruning before moving them? Some are thirty years old.

(29 minutes 33 seconds)

Correspondence – One listener responded to Anne Swithinbank’s challenge to grow more exotic plants. They have grown a pandorea jasminoides, agapanthus, and a grapefruit tree grown from a pip.

Chris –

Musella lasiocarpa, Dwarf china banana

Q – In March this year, I replaced an area of grass with a gravel bed planted with grasses. Despite using a membrane beneath the gravel, I’m fighting a losing battle with creeping sink foil. I’ve been hand weeding, but I can’t dig the roots out without damaging the membrane. Will I ever win this battle?

(33 minutes 10 seconds)

Matthew –

Eschscholzia californica, California poppy

Love-in-a-mist

Agrostemma githago, Corncockle

Chris –

Briza, Quaking grass

Q –– How can I ripen my beef tomatos? They are currently outside a south facing front garden.

(36 minutes 53 seconds)

Matthew –

Banana

Q – What gardening objects have the panel misappropriated in pursuit of their horticultural successes?

(37 minutes 44 seconds)