Helen Mark presents this week's edition of Gardeners' corner. 
She takes a trip to the Arboretum at Castlewellan Forest Park to oversee the work on the herbaceous borders.
Frank and Linda McCooke give Mary Doris a masterclass in all things gourd - from Crown Prince to Munchkins, how to grow and what to cook.
David Lindsay from Picked Organic on why he decided to give the good life a go. 
Expert Ann Fitzsimmons joins Helen in studio to answer listeners questions. Email any time gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Gorgeous gourds, Herbaceous borders at Castlewellan arboretum and organic growing

The weekly gardening programme for keen gardeners, with the latest advice, news and visits to gardens large and small around the province. Presented by David Maxwell.

Home & Garden

Leisure

This week on Gardeners’ Corner, David Maxwell heads to a garden with purpose at Musgrave Park Hospital in south Belfast. Its spinal centre has been gifted an outdoor space for patients and staff by the charity Horatio’s Garden. David Maxwell meets Matthew Lee who is in charge of the garden designed by Chelsea gold medal winning designer Andy Sturgeon. Also on the programme, gardening in pots all year round with Sarah Raven and why you shouldn’t cut your grass this month! Expert Claire McNally joins David in studio to answer questions.  Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk 

Sarah Raven’s passion for pots, Horatio’s Garden Belfast and  No Mow May

It may have been a wet start to the year outside, but inside our homes, it can be a desert for plants – especially if you forget to water!  That’s perhaps why Cacti are the ultimate house plants and this week on Gardeners’ Corner with David Maxwell, Brendan Little reveals he’s inherited his dad’s obsession with these prickly plants. Also on the programme, daffodil enthusiasts from around the world arrive in Northern Ireland for the World Convention and David heads to a rare collection of shrubs and trees at the Bluebell Arboretum in Derbyshire.  In studio, expert Ann Fitzsimmons will answer questions including one from a listener who has seen seed for sale for ‘blue’ marigolds – can it be true?  Email the programme at gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk 

Why cactus are the ultimate house plant, the World Daffodil Convention and blue marigolds?

Gardeners’ Corner heads to Ballymena as part of the BBC ‘Comes to Town’ roadshows marking 100 years of broadcasting in Northern Ireland.  In front of a live audience at Ballymena Library, David Maxwell and experts Reg Maxwell and Mary Doris take questions from novice and experienced gardeners who live near the County Antrim town.  Also on the programme, David visits the nearby Britain in Bloom winning village of Cullybackey, and the allotments at Scullery O’Tullagh which volunteer Billy Millar describes as a place to nourish the body and the mind.  Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

Gardeners’ Corner ‘Comes to Town’ roadshow from Ballymena

As the Easter break begins, Gardeners’ Corner has some easy ways to transform your garden space. David Maxwell is joined in studio by expert gardener Brendan Little who has suggestions on how an uninspiring front garden can be transformed into a low maintenance garden with interest and colour through the year.  Also joining David is city gardener, Grace Loughrey, who knows how to transform the smallest of spaces with easy to find plants. Holidays are a great time to visit gardens and Kilmacurragh in south County Wicklow will be welcoming many this Easter weekend. The gardens are undergoing a major expansion programme and on this latest visit head gardener Seamus O’Brien gives David privileged access to some of the new areas under development and he also gets to see how the future of the Wollemia pine (once thought extinct) has now been secured. Also on the programme, the new trail at Belfast’s Botanic gardens dedicated to John Templeton sometimes called the  ‘father of Irish botany’ and Huw Richards on his new book ‘The Self-Sufficiency Garden’. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk 

Easy ways to transform your garden this Easter

This week Gardeners’ Corner visits what must be one of most beautiful classrooms in the country – the walled garden at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus in County Antrim.  David Maxwell joins CAFRE’s Lori Hartman for a look around, as work begins to renovate some areas including the hot border and a brand new brick pergola.  At Mount Venus nursery, in the hills above Dublin, Oliver Shurmann has some spring highlights and Colin Agnew introduces the new Templeton trail at Belfast’s Botanic gardens. In Killinchy, Anne Fitzsimmons is enjoying the spring heat in the polytunnel where she is sowing some perennials and she explains why it helps to pre-sprout your courgettes.  In studio, Anna Hudson joins David to answer questions and provide some spring inspiration.  Email the programme at gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk 

Gorgeous gourds, Herbaceous borders at Castlewellan arboretum and organic growing

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