HortWeek is launching a new stream of podcasts where we give the HortWeek take on the biggest news stories.

Drawing on the immense industry expertise of editor Matthew Appleby, technical editor Sally Drury and senior reporter Rachael Forsyth the podcast will give listeners a digested and analytical view with added perspective and insight.

Stories tackled this week:

• the admission by the RHS that it expects to lose sales as a result of banning peat in its gardens and retail outlets by the end of 2025.
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• the story behind Sarah Raven Kitchen & Garden which went into administration, was bought back by Raven but which now is looking to make redundancies
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• why hosepipe bans are bad for garden retailers

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

Make sure you never miss a HortWeek podcast! Subscribe to or Follow HortWeek podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast platform. 

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Six months into her role as head of parks and gardens at the National Trust Sheila Das speaks to HortWeek’s Rachael Forsyth about the Trust’s new strategy and how it is taking a step back to re-evaluate its approach to planting, the “scarcity and abundance” of water, climate change, outreach, education, going peat-free and more.

Speaking on changes at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire – where The Long Garden redesign focussed on long-term resilience, moving away from bedding being changed twice a year – Das explains that the Trust won’t “eradicate” the presence of bedding but it might be done slightly differently. They will also evaluate where the plants come from, how they’re grown, the resources required to grow them, and the financial cost.

Climate change is being felt within gardens across the UK and Das said each garden within the National Trust will have to work to understand its own individual challenges, which will be done through workshops. On the specific challenge of water – both scarcity and abundance – Das says it’s important to be “mindful of the pressures we’re putting on our local environment through having a garden.” 

A particular challenge the National Trust has, she says, is that certain sites are working to create an atmosphere and a particular type of plant might be doing that that isn’t going to work in the future climate. Working out how to keep the spirit going, cherishing the site's heritage, without depleting natural resources is going to mean “delicate decisions” balancing being “a good descendent as well as a good ancestor”. 

The National Trust is 100% peat free in its gardens, but Das says “there’s no denying it’s a challenge” with gardeners unable to get all of the species they would like. She adds that the range and diversity of plants feels “fragile”. Suppliers are doing “a really good job” Das says, they just might not be able to move as quickly as everyone wants. 

National Trust, in common with gardens and attractions across the UK, faces the challenge of falling visitor numbers and she addresses the various causes of this and outlines how the Trust's new strategy is looking at ways to “end unequal access” and “inspire millions of people”.

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This week's guest on the HortWeek Podcast is Rebecca Bevan, who leads on sustainability and plant health for National Trust Gardens. 

Rebecca comes fresh from publishing her new book, the National Trust Book of Nature Friendly Gardening, which "looks at gardening in a way that's good for people and good for the planet" and is full of ideas and tips for amateur gardeners.

"I was given fair amount of freedom about what to include, but it made sense really to cover creating wildlife habitats and gardens ... making sustainable choices about what you buy in the garden, what materials to use ... a bit about well-being ... growing your own and also what to grow that you're really actually going to eat that's going to keep you out of the supermarket a little bit."

The book chimes with a shift at NT by head of gardens and parks, Sheila Das, who introduced the World Food Garden to NT along with an ethos of sustainable planting with a 21st century aesthetic. 

Rebecca says it's "really encouraging people to think about, to learn about their soils and their situations and choose plants that will last and trying to slightly get away from the impulse buying that many people do and the heavy use of bedding, which is not as sustainable as choosing perennials that are really suited to your garden are going to last a long time."

"I've come to realise that actually, with farming as it is, really quite intensive, our gardens are quite an important refuge...they might be only place that is providing habitat." She has applied this to her own garden - with help from her late partner ornithologist Rich Hearn - where she has focused on enhancing it for the local birds.

Her diverse career includes a period working with the fruit team at RHS Garden Wisley followed by a stint as a researcher on BBC Gardeners' World in Monty Don's garden.

"It's fun, it's fun, you learn a lot, you get to meet some great growers." she admits, adding "it's not always easy being the person during filming that has to listen in and question whether things are exactly right and stop filming so things can get looked up."

Despite the ecological downsides of bedding plants, NT is still using them and she explains it's policy on this and sourcing plants in general where. The charity has lead on peat-free plants with a relatively early commitment to peat-free growing and selling of plants.

"Certainly, for us, when places like Kernock [Park Plants] have gone over to providing peat-free plugs, then that's making life much easier for us and for some of our suppliers as well."

Part of Rebecca's remit is pests and diseases and she talks how she's made peace with slugs and snails: "I hope that lots of people over time will start to see their gardens as part of the ecosystem and accept that if there's something nibbling their plant, that's because their plant is providing something to the ecosystem. Our gardens shouldn't really be bereft of plant-eating insects and slugs and snails are just a part of that." 

Looking further afield, she says Xylella is the biggest threat to UK biosecurity and has the potential to exceed ash dieback in terms of impacts on our national landscape.

"One of the things we try to do within the National Trust is to encourage our gardeners to buy plants that have actually been grown in the UK. Because that obviously really minimises the risk.

She adds that we need to be producing more peat-free plants, particularly trees: "Meeting our tree targets is absolutely crucial. I think that we [must] increase our capacity to produce what we need within the UK because it is mad to be meeting our own tree planting targets with imported trees that are at the same time increasing our risk of importing diseases."

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The Chartered Institute of Horticulture recently published the results of its survey into rates of melanoma among horticulturists and the alarming but perhaps not unsurprising results showed one in eight of the 700 respondents said they had been diagnosed with some form of skin cancer. 

HortWeek wanted to lend it's voice to its campaign and invited the CIH's Jason Daff, Susanna Daniels from Melanoma Focus and Andrew Poole, farmer and agronomist and skin cancer survivor, to talk about the findings of the report, and how employers can support workers within the horticulture sector to take simple precautions to protect themselves from sun damage and prevent skin cancer.

Jason gives an overview of the reports findings, one of the most striking of which was that men are almost twice as likely to have been diagnosed with skin cancer compared to women, perhaps due to the presence of sun protection in some women's skincare products, but also perhaps, Andrew speculates, due to a more 'macho' attitude and a reticence among men when it comes to looking after their skin. As Andrew says:

"When I was a lot younger, it was a cavalier attitude to go out and it was almost a badge of honour to be burnt.

"I had the attitude, well I work outside...my life is outside, I'm gonna be protected, my skin has built up a resistance, I'll be fine.

"But clearly not, it's caught up with me later in life."

Susanna outlines best practice on choosing and applying suncream - crucially not forgetting the tops of the ears - and explains how each incidence of sun burn can drastically increase the probability of a person developing skin cancer in their lifetime.

She also highlights the responsibility employers have to provide suncream, argues that it should be regarded as PPE for outdoor workers, and to that end, CIH is lobbying the UK Government to make it exempt from VAT.

For more information on melanoma in the workplace, how employers can help educate and protect employees resources and much more, visit https://melanomafocus.org/.

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Valeria Kogan is founder and CEO of Fermata – a data science company developing computer vision solutions for both controlled environment agriculture and outdoor. 

With a background in biotech, Valeria saw an opportunity in the market to bring the knowledge from the medical space to agriculture. Meeting with friends of friends who were tomato producers, Valeria learnt about the problems they face, and how they deal with them, and knew there was knowledge from the medical space which could lend itself to agriculture.

Valeria was recognized as one of Forbes' “30 Under 30” in 2022 but she says “it doesn’t feel like an incredible achievement” because it sets a threshold for when you have to achieve something, or figure everything out. Instead, Valeria says the focus should be on the work and not when it’s achieved.

Fermata recently won an innovation award at Fruit Logistica for Croptimus™ and its advanced image analysis, which works to transform greenhouse pest and disease detection. The technology automatically detects pests and diseases, aiming to reduce scouting time and crop losses. Valeria explains growers install the cameras and then can “forget about them”.

Valeria explains that they often come across those who are sceptical because the technology is “replacing the eyes” and so they have to prove themselves. But she explains that the proof is in the results, with the technology often identifying diseases either before the growers do, or identifying diseases the growers miss. 

Looking at the future and how the technology might be used, Valeria says they think it could help distinguishing between other insects in the glasshouse to track the pollinator population, as well as utilising environmental data to better analyse the data they are currently receiving.

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Horticulture is a home to endless study, innovation and learning and on this episode of the Cultivate Your Future podcast Neville Stein is shining a light on where horticulture meets cutting edge science, because his guest is plant scientist, Dr Madalena Vaz Monteiro.

Madalena works for part of the Forestry Commission's research division, and as you’ll hear, a lot of her work revolves around the role that plants and trees can play in combating climate change. She also explains a little about the part of the Forestry Commission that she works for, the Urban Forest Research Group.

For more information about Forest Research visit www.forestresearch.gov.uk and to find out how the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation can support your career in horticulture visit https://colegrave seabrook foundation.org.uk/

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BBC Gardener's World Live runs from 12 - 15 June this year so the HortWeek Podcast took the opportunity to talk to Immediate Live horticultural director Bob Sweet and event director, Lucy Tremlett about shows past and present.

After record attendances for the BBC Gardeners' World Live May Spring Fair show held at Beaulieu, Tremlett is looking forward to some 90,000 visitors over the four days. 

The main stage will feature BBC Gardeners' World lead presenter Monty Don, fellow presenters Adam Frost, Rachel de Thame, Frances Tophill, Sue Kent and Nick Bailey with a headline garden. Show designer Pip Probert and Plant Geek Michael Perry will also appear.

Hot Off the Potting Bench is a new plants awards feature with up to 100 launches vying for the Peter Seabrook Award.

Last year's winner was a hydrangea from Allensmore. Judges include David Hurrion, Boyd Douglas-Davies and HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby.

There is also a garden for the 30th anniversary of the APL (Association of Professional Landscapers) and a stand for Plant Healthy to remind "visitors, the general public, gardeners should watch out for in their gardens about bringing plant material into the country".

Central to this year's show is the Make A Metre Matter campaign "encouraging our audience to turn a metre of their space, whether it's their garden, whether it's a windowsill, whether it's balcony, and turn it into something that does something good for the planet. So thinking about encouraging a bit of biodiversity into the garden, or it's thinking about growing some edibles and reducing your food miles. It's just encouraging everybody to have a go".

Tremlett says: "We aim through our show gardens here and through our exhibits to relate very much to take home ideas, what's achievable, and the things that people really can grow, do and grow in their own gardens...the whole show and its background going back a long, long time is about the fundamentals of gardening and we very proudly stick to those principles."

Sweet brings a long pedigree in garden shows having run events with the RHS Chelsea, Hampton Court, Tatton Park, Cardiff and Scotland's National Gardening Show. 

After enjoying the 2025 Chelsea Flower Show earlier this year, he said: "it certainly warms the cockles of your heart when you see the expertise of some of the growers and what they've been able to achieve". On the podcast he reminisces about the impact he had on Chelsea during his tenure.

"There's so many aspects of Chelsea that I feel there's a little Bob Sweet stamp on when I go around...there's lots of little hints of my career left behind there which I'm very proud of" from the names of the various routes through the show to fundamental changes to the way awards were judged. 

He also lifts the lid on some of the more light-hearted aspects of the show and the mischief-makers he has had to contend with over the years.

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This week's HortWeek Podcast guest, TV presenter and garden designer Mark Lane, started gardening young although he initially studied art history and worked in publishing for RIBA and Thames & Hudson.

After a car crash in 2000, a horticultural therapist and his husband suggested a new horticulture career as a designer and in the media. 

His new book, The Future of Gardens, published this May, is part of a series of imaginative future visions on a wide range of subjects, written by experts, academics, journalists and leading pop-culture figures. For his installment, Mark takes a "positive look at gardening with regards to the future of gardens. And of course, it has to cover everything from the climate crisis to being, you know, an adaptable and resilient gardener.

He sees AI as limited to "being a great assistant. I don't think it will take over with regards to gardening or garden design" but with great potential to help with plant selection and speed up processes.

With an eye on climate resilience, Mark has been exploring and implementing xeriscaping concepts into his garden:

"By having a mixture and increasing that biodiversity of plants you're...more likely to have a garden that's going to flourish because while some will do well when it's really hot, others will do better when it's a bit wetter and a bit warmer."

His book considers permaculture, regenerative agriculture and biophilia in the context of a broad definition of "Horticulture with a capital 'H'" that includes "floristry, agriculture, the perfume industry, anything you could possibly think of when it comes to plants." 

He reveals how apps and a drone means he is "able to go around areas in gardens, especially large gardens where I can't get my wheelchair, so I can still have my eyes and I can still go and see those places. So it's about again using this sort of future tech, which a lot of it is already here."

Mark and Matt discuss the ultimate in futuristic horticulture, growing in space, which Mark says, is not just a matter of overcoming a technical challenge and the benefits of eating fresh produce:

"[Astronauts are] going to be away for a long period of time and being able to undertake a task such as gardening reconnects them to Earth. So it actually reconnects them back to where they came from and that's really going to be very important for their for their mindset more than anything else.

As a wheelchair user, Mark shares his perspective on how landowners can and should make access to parks, gardens and the countryside easier for all:

He adds: " I do strongly believe that it doesn't matter whether you have a physical impairment or not, you can enjoy gardening. And you just have to really think a little bit outside the box. You have to be very, very honest with yourself and sort of assess yourself and see what it is that you can and you cannot do...and then try and adapt your gardening because of that."

And as an owner of dogs, Mark gives us his take on the controversial topic of dogs, gardens and garden centres.

Finally he gives an update on his plans with his ongoing presence on Morning Live keeping him busy, appearances at flower shows such as RHS Hampton Court Flower Festival, another book due "on cost-wise gardening" to come out in May 2026, as well as his garden design practice.

"I'm still designing the gardens, but I'm now having to limit the number of gardens that I do...here I used to do on average between 8 or 10 projects a year, I now do anywhere between 2 and 3, just because I just don't really have the time now, because I'm just constantly doing stuff."

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In this HortWeek Podcast, Andrew Wilson, technical manager for ICL professional horticulture and Carl Mason, experienced grower and ICL technical area sales manager for the East of England, speak about how to grow the best professional quality poinsettias.

While Christmas may seem a long way off, in June UK growers will be starting to produce Poinsettias to adorn our homes in December. The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is a fascinating blend of Aztec heritage, Mexican tradition, and American commercialisation—all blended into vibrant red plant that is now inseparable from the Christmas season.

Carl speaks about how easy a crop poinsettia is to grow, while Andrew discusses market trends we are seeing with the UK's most popular winter indoor plant.

Andrew details the nutritional requirements of the crop while Carl outlines advises on the growing media that suit poinsettias best.

Carl also explains what goes into ICL’s special Poinsettia mix to ensure plants thrive and they both offer their top tips for successful poinsettia growing.

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