There’s plenty to do at this time of year to get your garden prepped for the growing season ahead. This week we’ll be finding out how hellebores can bring some winter joy to your garden with passionate plantsman John Grimshaw. It’s also time to start planning your veg patch and Liz Mooney from RHS Garden Wisley’s edibles team will be explaining the principles of crop rotations and why they are great for some growers (but not all). Finally Nick Turrell, one of the encyclopedic minds on the RHS Gardening Advice team, is on a mission to help us unlock the potential of one of the most overlooked parts of our outdoor spaces…

Host: Jenny Laville

Contributors: John Grimshaw, Liz Mooney, Nick Turrell

Links:

RHS guide to Hellebores

RHS guide to crop rotations

It may be bitterly cold outside but there's still plenty to get excited about in the garden. This week we’re joining Fruit Specialist Jim Arbury in the Orchard at RHS Garden Wisley to find out how to prune your apples and pears at this time of year. Horticulturist Alex Hankey shows us around the diversity and delicate beauty on display at Wisley’s alpine glasshouse, and RHS Garden Rosemoor’s Alex Paines shares his passion for the ancient hedgerows which lace the Devonshire landscape.

Host: Guy Barter

Contributors: Jim Arbury, Alex Hankey, Alex Paines

Links:

Apples and pears: winter pruning

Devon Hedges Group

RHS advice on hedges

Let’s make 2025 the year we all embrace growing our own fruit and vegetables—whether you’ve got a sprawling garden, a small balcony, or just a windowsill! No matter how much space or time you have, we’ve got plenty of inspiration to get you started and keep you going all year round.

First, we’ll hear from Shelia Das and Liz Mooney from RHS Wisley’s talented edibles team, who will share their expert advice on growing delicious produce across every season. Then, we’ll check in with Lucy Chamberlain, author of Grow Food Anywhere, as she reveals how to make the most of your space—whatever its size, shape, or location.

And what about all that fantastic homegrown produce? Don’t worry! We’ll revisit our fascinating chat with Canadian chef and photographer David Zilber, a fermentation expert who’s worked in some of the world’s top kitchens, including the renowned Fermentation Lab at Restaurant Noma. He’ll inspire you with creative ways to preserve and enjoy your harvest.

Host: Gareth Richards

Contributors: Shelia Das, Liz Mooney, Lucy Chamberlain, David Zilber

Links:

RHS Grow Your Own Veg Through the Year: 365 Days of Homegrown Vegetables & Herbs

Grow Food Anywhere

Today Guy, Gareth, and Jenny reflect on the past twelve months of beautiful blooms and bountiful harvests, but also wet weather and guzzling gastropods! Join us as we revisit some of our favourite stories from 2024, and share what garden tips and seasonal advice we’re taking with us into the new year.

Hosts: Gareth Richards, Guy Barter, Jenny Laville

Episodes mentioned:

Dr Hayley Jones discussing slugs from episode ‘Critter camaraderie: Slugs, Snails, and Guerilla Gardening Tales’ 

Gareth Richards and James Armitage take a walk through Chelsea from episode ‘Notes on hardiness’

James Lawrence and the sustainable planting combinations from episode ‘Sustainable plant combos, GYO tips (for tomatoes, beetroot, squash), flowering shrubs’

Jassy Drakulic on encouraging mycorrhizal relationships in your soil, from episode ‘Compost, fungi, and giant vegetables’

Anya Lautenbach’s money saving advice from episode ‘Growing on a budget’

Additional Links:

Become an RHS member

This week we’re bringing the garden indoors and welcoming in the Christmas cheer. RHS Horticultural Advisor Jenny Bowden will be sharing her love letter to the tradition of the Christmas wreath, and Freddie Garland – founder of Freddie’s Flowers – will be sharing his tips on how to make your own (among many other seasonal crafts to get stuck into). And finally, we’ll be learning all about our favourite festive parasite, mistletoe, with Oxford PhD student and mistletoe expert Oliver Spacey.

Host: Guy Barter

Contributors: Jenny Bowden, Freddie Garland, Oliver Spacey

Links:

Christmas with the RHS

Freddie’s Flowers

MistleGo!

RHS plant profile: mistletoe

Hippeastrum

Amaryllis belladonna

This week we’re decking the halls with seasonal foliage, as RHS Garden Hyde Hall’s Sarah Wilson-Frost shares her ideas for natural decorations foraged from your own garden. Gareth Richards is here to inspire you to try a different type of Christmas tree this year and consider bringing a potted plant indoors for the festive season. And we’ve got the perfect gift idea to brighten up a dreary January day, as Chris Lane of Witch Hazel Nursery explains why he fell in love with these winter gems. 

Host: Jenny Laville 

Contributors: Sarah Wilson-Frost, Gareth Richards, Chris Lane

Links: 

Grow your own Christmas

Witch hazels

Chris Lane - Witch Hazel Nursery 

Become a member of the RHS

With the festive gift giving season just around the corner, this week we’ve turned our attention to the botanical wonders awaiting us on the bookshelf. We’ve invited journalist, author, and gardening enthusiast Ann Treneman and horticultural hero and authority on all things plants, Guy Barter to join our host - head of Libraries and Exhibitions at the RHS, Fiona Davison, to chat about some of their favourite garden reads from the past 12 months.

Host: Fiona Davison

Contributors: Ann Treneman, Guy Barter

Visit the RHS Bookshelf

Books mentioned:

Horti Curious: A Gardener's Miscellany of Fascinating Facts & Remarkable Plants by Ann Treneman

RHS Garden Almanac 2025 by Guy Barter and Zia Allaway

The Accidental Garden: Gardens, Wilderness and the Space In Between by Richard Mabey 

Good Nature: The New Science of How Nature Improves Our Health by Kathy Willis

Brutalist Plants by Olivia Broome

Small Space Revolution by Tayshan Hayden Smith

A Year Full of Pots by Sarah Raven

A Garden A Day by Ruth Chivers

How Plants Can Save Your Life: 50 Inspirational Ideas for Planting and Growing by Ross Cameron 

100 Herbs to Grow by Jekka McVicar

The Crevice Garden: How to Make the Perfect Home for Plants from Rocky Places by Kenton Seth and Paul Spriggs

This week, we're teaming up with The Plant Review magazine for a houseplant special. Jenny Laville talks to Rebecca Hilgenhof of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to learn about the exciting prospect of growing passionflowers on the windowsill. James Armitage is in conversation with former RHS Director of Horticulture Jim Gardiner to chat all about his favourite houseplant, Begonia masoniana, and the famous plantsman who it is named for. Plus, Kevin Mann shares his love of the miniature Christmas cactus.

Passionflowers mentioned: Passiflora citrina, Passiflora murucuja and Passiflora boenderi.

Host: Gareth Richards and James Armitage 

Contributors: Rebecca Hilgenhof, Jim Gardiner, Kevin Mann, Jenny Laville

Other Links:

The Plant Review

The Orchid Review

RHS Plant Finder 2025

Passion Flower Cultivation

Become a member of the RHS

We’re marking National Tree Week, an annual celebration at the start of the tree planting season, and an opportunity for us to wax lyrical about the wonderful world of trees. We’ll be hearing some fascinating stories about the art of tree collecting and the human connection to our woodlands from author and artist Amy Stewart. We’ll be catching up on the latest news from RHS Garden Rosemoor as they set out on a conservation project to protect one of our most rare but little known native trees. And if you’re feeling inspired to get outside and start digging, Bob Askew will be bringing us his thoughts on the best trees for small spaces. 

Host: Guy Barter 

Contributors: Bob Askew, Amy Stewart, Jonathan Webster 

Other Links:

National Tree Week 

How to plant a tree 

Trees for small gardens

Amy Stewart - The Tree Collectors 

Devon Whitebeam

RHS Garden Rosemoor

This week we explore the fascinating stories and brilliant work of three exceptional plantswomen. Only recently has pioneering 18th-century herbalist Elizabeth Blackwell received proper recognition for her work A Curious Herbal – a beautifully illustrated botanical text that was, for centuries, mistakenly attributed to her scandal-prone husband! Fiona Davison, Head of RHS Libraries & Exhibitions, shares insights into Blackwell’s life and her groundbreaking work, which was created at a time of rapid botanical discovery in Europe as exotic plants flooded into the Western world. We also hear from passionate plantswoman Jane Steward, a dedicated advocate for the medlar, a rare fruit that was once beloved across the UK – even by King Henry VIII. And finally horticulturist Sarah Wilson-Frost from RHS Garden Hyde Hall will be sharing some excellent advice on growing ornamental grasses to add year-round interest to your garden.

Host: Gareth Richards

Contributors: Jane Steward, Fiona Davison, Sarah Wilson-Frost, Jenny Laville

Other Links:

A Curious Herbal

RHS Hyde Hall

How to grow medlars

RHS advice on growing ornamental grasses

When is a grass not a grass?