Podcast - Growing Together with Claire and Steve

Podcast - Growing Together with Claire and Steve

An informative and fun podcast with a varied mix of content from seasonal allotment advice and DIY projects to interviews and design advice.

Passionate home gardener Claire Vennis is joined by allotment guru Steve Amos who discuss their Hampshire gardens and Adhurst Estate Allotments.  In recent episodes topics include harvesting, pumpkins, dahlias, clearing pots and how to protect bare soil over winter, whether with spent compost or farmyard manure or by growing green manure.  There’s also advice on how to cut back wildflower areas and meadows.

There are plenty of excellent guests on the podcast and September kicks off the seasonal journal of Ben Pope, who is a Head Gardener of what sounds like a gorgeous private garden.  Other guests have included Jan Knowlson from the South Downs National Park with an update on the renature initiative and a wonderful insight into the flora and fauna of the grassland and heathlands there.  She also discusses dew ponds of which there are hundreds across the park.  Eddie from Traditional Garden Growers talks about natural ways of improving soil health such as wool pellets, and cut flower enthusiasts will enjoy the episode with Helier Bowling with autumn sowing inspiration.


Greener gardening - leave room for ladybirds

Ladybirds are a welcome sight in our gardens, helping to keep aphids and other pests under control.  They’re brightly coloured and distinctive, so where do they hide in winter? Ladybirds...
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Garden gadgets - compressed compost

One of the most interesting innovations in gardening lately is compressed coir compost. Coir is a natural fibre which comes from the outer husk of coconuts, and is being used...
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Wildlife in the garden - fieldfare

Fieldfares are visitors to our gardens and parks during the winter months - they come to the UK from Scandinavia and Russia from September to April, sticking to rural areas...
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