In this fascinating episode,  I chat to Charles Carr, who is the Head of Wholesale Nurseries at Hillier Nurseries Limited. 

Charles took me on a tour of the site and it's just incredible to see this massive operation, and the technology thats in use, the skills of the staff all around the site and most importantly, the quality of the plants that are produced.

I chat to Charles about his role and, as with so many conversations I've had in this series, we talk about the impact of climate change and going peat free and how the industry is responding to these very real challenges. Hilliers Nurseries are pretty much peat free, and they have some fascinating technology to help them learn about this new growing medium. And for all of us, whatever the size of our garden, we too will need to learn about how to grow our plants in a peat, free medium.

As you might expect, we cover a lot of ground within this discussion, including pests and diseases, what happens during the winter months, the importance of learning and development for staff, new plant development, and Charles own plant passions and of course lots more.

Thank you all for listening to this series of the Mike The Gardener – Gardening Podcast and I will be back in the New Year with one more episode for this series, before picking up again in spring with Series 7.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy, 2024.

Mike