Master My Garden Podcast

A good garden festival should leave you inspired, better informed, and itching to get back into your own patch and Buds and Blossoms in County Laois aims to do exactly that. We’re right in the heart of garden festival season, so we record this bonus guide to help you decide if the Laois Garden Festival is worth the trip and how to plan it properly, especially if you want to turn it into a full weekend away.

The main festival day lands on Sunday 7 June at Spink Community Grounds (12 to 6), and the speaker line-up is built for mixed interests. We talk through what you can expect from Edward Hayden bringing the cooking and food angle, Kieran Fitzgerald sharing insights from restoring Johnstown Castle with a strong ecological gardening ethos, and Darragh McCullough on the modern reality of a diverse Irish farm that blends farming, cut flowers, bulbs, and more. If you like gardening talks with real substance plus a bit of variety, this programme delivers.

Saturday 6 June adds another layer with Laois Garden Trail events, from open gardens and a pollinator-focused beekeeping session to yoga and meditation in woodland pathways and a hands-on willow workshop. We also run through a long list of vendors and specialist nurseries so you can target the plant stalls that match your garden, whether you’re after shade plants, trees, David Austin roses, scented pelargoniums, wildflowers, or something truly unusual. Add food stalls, a kids’ area, and nearby gardens like Emo Court and Heywood Gardens, and you have a ready-made Laois gardening weekend.

Subscribe for more practical gardening chats, share this with a friend who loves a plant fair, and leave a review if the show helps you plan your next garden day out.

Festival website: 

https://laoisgardenfestival.com

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

This weeks sponsors: 

Seeds Ireland High Quality Seeds: See link below for listener offer. 

https://seedsireland.ie/master

June is where gardeners quietly win the year, or accidentally drift into gaps, gluts, and empty beds. With April and May running unusually cold, I’m using this June seed sowing guide to reset the clock and show what still makes sense to sow now, especially once soil temperatures rise and growth finally kicks on.

We talk through the real-world effects of sudden heat, particularly under cover. If your polytunnel is spiking into the 30s and 40s, some seeds simply will not play ball. Lettuce is the big one: once temperatures push past about 20°C, germination can stall, so tray placement matters as much as watering. I also share why seedlings are most at risk right now and how capillary matting can keep modules evenly moist for 24 to 48 hours, helping you avoid that heartbreaking “burnt to a crisp” moment.

Then we get into the sowing list, grouped in a way that makes planning easier: repeat salad sowings like spring onion, spinach, radish and lettuce, plus the smart-harvesting approach that stretches heads for longer. We shift into autumn and winter thinking with brassicas such as Brussels sprouts, cabbages, sprouting broccoli, calabrese, cauliflower and leeks, followed by roots like parsnips, beetroot, swede and carrots. Herbs and warm-season crops get a look in too, from basil and parsley to cucumbers, courgettes, French beans, squash, sweetcorn and peas. I finish with what you can still sow for flowers, why seed compost quality can stall growth, and how perennials and biennials started now repay you next spring.

If this helps, subscribe, share it with a gardening mate, and leave a review so more growers can find the podcast. What are you sowing first this June?

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

This weeks sponsor: 

Crann From  Probio Carbon 

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Slugs and snails can turn a thriving spring garden into a patchwork of chewed seedlings almost overnight, especially when a mild, wet spell meets rising temperatures. We talk through how we handle that pressure in a way that protects young plants now and reduces damage over time, without pretending there’s a magic switch that makes slugs disappear forever.

We start with the long game: building a garden that recruits natural predators. From song thrushes and starlings to hedgehogs, frogs and ground beetles, we explain the habitats and garden choices that make a real difference, including why no dig gardening can support the beneficial insects that disrupt the slug life cycle. If you want organic gardening methods that work with nature rather than against it, this is the foundation.

Then we get practical about slug control and snail control when you need results fast. We compare ferric phosphate organic slug pellets, beer traps (including how much area one trap covers and how often you need to empty it), and barrier methods like copper tape, sheep’s wool pellets, dried seaweed and oyster shells. We also touch on Grazer’s G2 as a deterrent spray, plus what’s going on with slug nematodes and why they can be difficult to get at times.

We also share a quick note on Bloom, including our talk times and where to meet us for a hello. If you find this helpful, please subscribe, share the episode with a gardening friend, and leave a review so more growers can find the show.

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

This weeks sponsor: 

Crann From  Probio Carbon 

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Coastal gardens are brutally honest. If your planting can’t handle salt-laden wind, sudden gusts that change direction, and soil that drains in minutes, it won’t last long and it won’t look good doing it. We dig into what really makes coastal gardening difficult, why it can feel cold and harsh even in late spring, and how to stop wasting money on plants that never had a chance in an exposed spot. 

The big idea is simple: don’t try to “block” the wind, filter it. We talk through building structure first with tough windbreak shrubs and coastal hedging, then using that shelter to expand your plant choices. You’ll hear practical, proven options for coastal gardens across Ireland, including pittosporum, griselinia, olearia and escallonia, plus flowering shrubs like fuchsia, rock rose (cistus) and tamarisk that can take a battering and still reward you with colour. 

From there, we move into dependable perennials that cope with exposure and keep your borders lively, from verbena bonariensis and achillea to nepeta, sea thrift, hardy geraniums and sedum. We also make the case for alpines as some of the best coastal plants you can grow, especially in gritty, low-nutrient ground. Finally, we cover how pots, bedding plants and compact bulbs let you create sheltered pops of colour through the seasons, even when the wider garden is still taking the full force of the weather. 

If you’re designing or rescuing a coastal garden, subscribe for more practical planting advice, share this with a friend who gardens by the sea, and leave a review so more growers can find the show. What’s the one plant that always struggles in your coastal garden?

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

This weeks sponsor: 

Probio Carbon enriched biochar

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

A one-acre garden can feel like a whole world if you design it for discovery, and Elma’s Poppy Garden proves it. We’re back with our open garden features, heading to a “quirky Irish garden” in County Meath where winding paths, salvaged treasures, and bold planting choices create that constant sense of what’s around the next bend.

We talk about the honest beginnings most of us recognise: a new build site, uncovered topsoil turning into a weed factory, and a first tiny flower bed that flips a switch. Elma shares the real learning curve behind the charm, from plants that simply refuse to thrive to the moment a soil test explains everything. If you garden on alkaline soil, you’ll pick up practical, low-fuss approaches for choosing the right plants, using containers, and stopping expensive mistakes from repeating.

Then we take a virtual walk through the garden: woodland shade created by fast-growing trees, cheap DIY woodland paths with cardboard and mulch, black bamboo used for sound and surprise, and a house wrapped in climbers. We also get into pot displays, nursery plants you don’t see everywhere, and brilliant upcycling ideas like turning old school lockers into planters. Along the way, we dig into autumn colour favourites, standout conifers and specimen trees, plus what wet ground teaches you when an orchard plan doesn’t quite deliver.

If you enjoy open gardens, cottage garden style planting, and straight-talking advice that makes you feel braver about experimenting, you’ll get loads from this one. Subscribe for more, share it with a gardening friend, and if you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review.

To visit The Poppy Garden plan here 

https://www.thepoppygarden.com

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

This weeks sponsors: 

Probio Carbon enriched biochar

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Seeds Ireland High Quality Seeds: See link below for listener offer. 

https://seedsireland.ie/master

May can feel like a green light to sow everything, but this year’s real challenge is timing: warm, bright days can turn into near-freezing nights, and that swing can knock seedlings back fast. We talk through how we’re reading those changes in air and ground temperature, why it matters for germination, and how to make calm, sensible decisions in the veg garden and polytunnel rather than racing ahead and paying for it later.

From there, we build a practical May sowing list that mixes quick crops with long-range planning. We cover brassicas like cabbage, calabrese and broccoli, including when it makes sense to switch towards winter-focused sowings such as savoy, red cabbage and Brussels sprouts. We also get into reliable staples and small-space favourites, from chard as a one-sow, long-harvest crop to herbs like coriander, parsley and dill, plus the moment basil finally becomes worth sowing once temperatures settle.

Succession sowing is the thread that ties it all together: spring onions, spinach, lettuce and mixed salad leaves need a rhythm that speeds up as warmth increases. We also run through root crops like carrots, parsnip, turnips and beetroot, then the warm-season newcomers like courgette, sweetcorn, pumpkin and melon. Finally, we switch to the ornamental garden with what to sow for flowers and colour, including cosmos, cornflower, wildflowers and fast-growing dahlias from seed.

If you enjoy practical gardening advice and month-by-month seed sowing guides, subscribe, share the episode with a garden mate, and leave a review so more growers can find the show.

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

This weeks sponsors: 

Probio Carbon enriched biochar

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Seeds Ireland High Quality Seeds: See link below for listener offer. 

https://seedsireland.ie/master

A wildflower meadow sounds simple until you try to do it in a housing estate or community green space, where everyone has a different idea of what “nice” looks like. We walk through the real behind-the-scenes work that turns a well-meaning plan into a meadow that lasts, from agreeing the purpose to getting residents, committees, and maintenance teams on the same page.

We also clear up one of the biggest sources of confusion: many “wildflower” seed packets are actually short-term floral meadow mixes designed for summer colour. They can be lovely, but they often need re-sowing and won’t build a stable ecosystem. A native Irish wildflower meadow, using Irish provenance seed, behaves differently and gives deeper biodiversity benefits, supporting pollinators, insects, and bird life through nectar, habitat, and seed heads. We talk through what meadows look like outside peak bloom, and how to help people see “untidy” as a sign of life rather than neglect.

From there we get practical: choosing a suitable location (especially if it’s shaded or wet), starting from vegetation-free bare ground, and when “No Mow May” can work and when it just produces long grass. We share the best sowing times (September first, May second), ways to improve the look with spring bulbs, and the essential maintenance step of cutting once a year and removing clippings to keep fertility down. If you’re planning a meadow in Ireland, we also point you towards the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan resources and signage that make community buy-in much easier.

If this helped, subscribe for more straightforward gardening advice, share it with your local group, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Master My Garden Grow Your Own Wildflower Meadow Online Course: 

https://mastermygarden.com/grow-your-own-wildflower-meadow/

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

Your seedlings look ready, your trays are overflowing, and then spring turns feral: cold rain, sharp wind, hail, even the odd flake of snow. We’ve all been there. If you’re staring at a packed windowsill and wondering whether to plant out or hold back, we walk you through the exact thinking that saves young plants from a miserable setback and keeps the vegetable garden moving forward.

We dig into seedling care and young plant protection for unsettled weather, including when it’s genuinely too early to transplant and what to do if you’ve run out of space. We talk about building simple hoop tunnels, when frost fleece works best, and why bionetting or enviromesh can be a game changer by softening the fall of heavy rain and hail while still letting air and moisture through. We also cover hardening off properly, using greenhouse ventilation, outdoor “practice runs”, and cold frames to turn soft indoor growth into tougher plants that cope once they hit the beds.

If direct sowing is on your mind, we share practical soil-warming and bed-prep tactics that fit real spring conditions: using black plastic to warm and dry soil, aerating no-dig beds after prolonged wet, and topping with compost to create a reliable seed bed. The big takeaway is patience with timing, but action with preparation, so you’re ready to surge when temperatures finally lift.

If this helped, subscribe for more weekly growing advice, share the episode with a fellow gardener, and leave a review so more people can find the podcast. What seedlings are you trying to get through this tricky spell?

This weeks sponsors: 

Probio Carbon enriched biochar

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Seeds Ireland High Quality Seeds: See link below for listener offer. 

https://seedsireland.ie/master

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

We have a big format change coming, and we wanted to tell you before you press play on Friday and hear something new. After running weekly since March 2020 as a fully self-funded passion project, we are accepting sponsorships on the podcast for the first time. It is a step we have considered for years, and we are only doing it now because it feels like the right moment to grow the show in a sustainable way without losing what makes it yours. 

Here is what matters most: the sponsors will be aligned with what we talk about and with what you actually do in your garden. You will not hear us promoting something random or irrelevant, and you will not get blasted with jingly, annoying audio that breaks the flow. Any advertising is kept natural, read in our own voice, and chosen to fit the audience and the theme of the podcast. 

We also explain the practical side, so there are no surprises. You may occasionally hear pre-roll before the main content, mid-roll during the episode, or post-roll at the end. It will not be on every episode, and it will not change the regular content or the weekly rhythm. If you have been with us for a long time, thank you for the support and trust, it is the reason we can take the next step. If you are new, welcome to Master My Garden. Subscribe, share the podcast with a fellow gardener, and leave a review, it helps more than you think.

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John  

You can spend a fortune on compost, seed, and clever gear and still end up with tired raised beds and a mossy lawn if you get the basics wrong at the start. We’re answering two listener questions that keep popping up because they sound simple, but the wrong advice can cost you seasons of progress.

First up, raised beds in a polytunnel or greenhouse. We dig into the big mistake of putting ground cover fabric or plastic membranes under your growing media. I explain why that layer cuts your beds off from native soil life, why that matters for long term soil health, and what to do instead. We keep it practical: cardboard, quality compost, steady moisture, and keeping beds planted or mulched so the soil food web stays alive. If you’ve already lined beds with plastic, we talk through realistic options to reopen access and start rebuilding.

Then we switch to a problem nearly everyone sees after a long wet winter: moss in lawns. We break down the most effective lawn care approach for heavy moss, including scarifying, debris removal, top dressing, and reseeding or overseeding. We also compare slower bacterial treatments, the quick blackening effect of iron sulphate, and why raking is essential. Finally, we touch on how robot mowers can help reduce moss by encouraging thicker grass growth.

If you enjoy clear, no nonsense gardening advice for Irish and UK conditions, subscribe, share this with a fellow gardener, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Join me in the garden for the medicinal garden workshop: 

https://subscribepage.io/growyourownherbalgarden

Support the show

If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email:  [email protected]   

Check out Master My Garden on the following channels   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/ 
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/  
 
Until next week  
Happy gardening  
John