Talking Heads - a Gardening Podcast

With Autumn on the horizon, it's time to say a fond farewell to the 2024 garden season. But that's not to say there is still a tremendous amount of gardening to be done. Lucy has been revelling in her Fruit and Veg with Autumn being the crescendo of harvest time, and Saul willed an Indian Summer so his last few exotics could flower before being tucked away for some well deserved winter rest. Otherwise there are still lawns to cut, leaves to be raked and a lot of planning for 2025!

Saul and Lucy treat you to weather chat PLUS conifer chat in the opening to this week's episode, and with that horticultural scene set to whet your appetite, we feel this is the perfect time to exclusively announce why Lucy's custard cream intake has rocketed over the past two years - she's written a new book! No surprises for assuming that it's grow your own related -  and in this episode she explains exactly what's in it. Entitled Grow Food Anywhere, Lucy aim's to allow everyone and anyone to experience the unadulterated joy of growing their own food, whether they live in arid Essex, soggy Devon, or, indeed, the windblown hilltops of bonny Scotland. 

Book link: Click Here

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Instagram Links:
Lucy lucychamberlaingardens


Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

With Summer behind us and the touch of Autumn on the horizon, it's time to say a fond and lengthy farewell to the 2024 garden season. But that's not to say there is still a tremendous amount of gardening to be done. Lucy will be revelling in her Fruit and Veg as Autumn is the crescendo of harvest time, and Saul will be willing an Indian Summer so his last few exotics can flower before tucking them away for some well deserved winter rest. Otherwise there are still lawns to cut, leaves to be racked and a lot of planning for 2025!

The final half term of the year is over, with weather that seems to have lost the fact that it's meant to be 'changeable' - a grey, murky sheet of cloud seems to have descended on the UK and it's not budging. But at least it's been dry and that means the Talking Heads pair can get out and start the Autumn clear-up, mow those ever-growing lawns, plant garlic, sow seeds and take cuttings - it's that time of year where one garden season collides with another. Also Lucy takes us back to her trip north of the border and a visit to Benmore Gardens, whereas the least said about Saul's half-term experience the better!

Instagram Links:
Lucy lucychamberlaingardens

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

With Summer behind us and the touch of Autumn on the horizon, it's time to say a fond and lengthy farewell to the 2024 garden season. But that's not to say there is still a tremendous amount of gardening to be done. Lucy will be revelling in her Fruit and Veg as Autumn is the crescendo of harvest time, and Saul will be willing an Indian Summer so his last few exotics can flower before tucking them away for some well deserved winter rest. Otherwise there are still lawns to cut, leaves to be racked and a lot of planning for 2025!

Is Autumn all it's cracked up to be - well Saul doesn't think so, but mainly because he's constantly wet. The rain is continuous in the west, so Lucy tries to tempt him into a move East where the sun is always shining. That doesn't mean the gardening is put on hold as the Talking Heads Pair continue with the tasks of winterising the garden, clean those corners of the greenhouse (a good umbrella on rainy days!) and slowly getting on top of all the yearly growth that now needs removing. Also some sad news about the death of Jim Mcoll - a titan of Scottish horticulture - and Saul gets chased by Wasps. It's never dull in the life of a Modern Professional Gardener!

Instagram Links:
Lucy lucychamberlaingardens

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

With Summer behind us and the touch of Autumn on the horizon, it's time to say a fond and lengthy farewell to the 2024 garden season. But that's not to say there is still a tremendous amount of gardening to be done. Lucy will be revelling in her Fruit and Veg as Autumn is the crescendo of harvest time, and Saul will be willing an Indian Summer so his last few exotics can flower before tucking them away for some well deserved winter rest. Otherwise there are still lawns to cut, leaves to be racked and a lot of planning for 2025!

Well - it's been a while, gremlins and bugs have laid the Talking Heads pair low for a while, but nought can keep the Horti-waffle down for long, so we are back and just when Autumn is finally (we think) starting to kick-in! We've been busy when not being afflicted, and our main focus for the past few days has been in the greenhouse (dodging the rain mostly) to get them ready for their winter 'cost' of overwintering, propagating and protecting us poor gardeners. Lucy also revels in her trip to the Great Dixter Autumn Plant Fair, and we look at some of the work we've both being doing on our respective RHS Plant Committees.

Instagram Links:
Lucy lucychamberlaingardens

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

With Summer behind us and the touch of Autumn on the horizon, it's time to say a fond and lengthy farewell to the 2024 garden season. But that's not to say there is still a tremendous amount of gardening to be done. Lucy will be revelling in her Fruit and Veg as Autumn is the crescendo of harvest time, and Saul will be willing an Indian Summer so his last few exotics can flower before tucking them away for some well deserved winter rest. Otherwise there are still lawns to cut, leaves to be racked and a lot of planning for 2025!

This week Saul and Lucy catch up with some of our loyal listeners' questions - there are plenty to get through! Sian in Ireland has bindweed in her beds, Andrew and Dee want to establish a mini meadow in their garden, Ben's raspberry beds need a re-vamp and Matt's looking for a compact tomato variety for his greenhouse pots. On top of all that, Lucy reports back on her recent RHS committees study tour of the South West, where she found it incredible who you could bump into on a sunny garden bench...

Instagram Links:
Lucy lucychamberlaingardens

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

With Summer behind us and the touch of Autumn on the horizon, it's time to say a fond and lengthy farewell to the 2024 garden season. But that's not to say there is still a tremendous amount of gardening to be done. Lucy will be revelling in her Fruit and Veg as Autumn is the crescendo of harvest time, and Saul will be willing an Indian Summer so his last few exotics can flower before tucking them away for some well deserved winter rest. Otherwise there are still lawns to cut, leaves to be racked and a lot of planning for 2025!

Lucy and Saul have had a very busy couple weeks, mostly away from home, while visiting gardens, attending trails of Tomatoes, PSB and spuds, and meeting up with fellow RHS committees for various study trips and meetings. That means the pair haven't really got on with much gardening - but they have still be indulging in the world of horticulture and seeing it's breadth and diversity throughout the UK!

Instagram Links:
Lucy lucychamberlaingardens

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

The Summer season has come full circle again, that time of year where everyone enjoys being outside, especially in their gardens on a long, sunny day. Gardeners are still in full flow - planting out new beds, mowing their lawns and cajoling their vegetable gardens into burgeoning yields. It's a great time to be alive in horticulture as the show season reaches a crescendo, plant fairs almost every weekend threaten to empty your savings and open gardens throughout the UK inspire that next bit of work you will be doing in your own plot. As ever Lucy and Saul will bring you tales (and waffle) from their gardens, so join us every week for more horticultural high-jinx on Talking Heads.

BBC Gardeners World Autumn Fair brings a nice closing curtain on Lucy and Saul's flower show circuit for the year, as the Talking Heads Pair sing the praises of the Walled Garden and the English Heritage team's Vegetable and Fruit Growing. The show itself is a delightful show case of late-summer colour, bulb planting and ideas to take away and extend your garden season into the Autumn. We also catch up with 'friend of the podcast' David Hurrion who's new book 'The Raised Bed Book' is translated into a wonderful garden showing the versatility and beauty of using raised beds in your garden.

Instagram Links:
Lucy headgardenerlc

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

The Summer season has come full circle again, that time of year where everyone enjoys being outside, especially in their gardens on a long, sunny day. Gardeners are still in full flow - planting out new beds, mowing their lawns and cajoling their vegetable gardens into burgeoning yields. It's a great time to be alive in horticulture as the show season reaches a crescendo, plant fairs almost every weekend threaten to empty your savings and open gardens throughout the UK inspire that next bit of work you will be doing in your own plot. As ever Lucy and Saul will bring you tales (and waffle) from their gardens, so join us every week for more horticultural high-jinx on Talking Heads.

Help Lucy commiserate/celebrate/mark her milestone birthday by, what else? By gardening, of course! With Saul taking a well deserved holiday in Scotland, Lucy describes how many gardeners are working hard - or are we? To show to the masses that, rather than hammocking with a Pimms gardeners love to keep busy at all times of year, she runs through her late August jobs list. From tying in camellias and deadheading dahlias in her own garden, to pruning hedges and collecting meadow seeds in others, is she in denial by implying she's barely got time for candles and cake? (Yes).

Instagram Links:
Lucy headgardenerlc

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

The Summer season has come full circle again, that time of year where everyone enjoys being outside, especially in their gardens on a long, sunny day. Gardeners are still in full flow - planting out new beds, mowing their lawns and cajoling their vegetable gardens into burgeoning yields. It's a great time to be alive in horticulture as the show season reaches a crescendo, plant fairs almost every weekend threaten to empty your savings and open gardens throughout the UK inspire that next bit of work you will be doing in your own plot. As ever Lucy and Saul will bring you tales (and waffle) from their gardens, so join us every week for more horticultural high-jinx on Talking Heads.

With Saul in Devon wrapped up in his autumn clothing, and Lucy barely wearing much due to the Essex heat, the Talking Heads duo are made well aware of the UK's differences in weather patterns. Teetering on the political, the duo talk, too, about the impact leaving Europe is having on UK seed supplies, and Lucy reports back on a pepper trial thus far. With Saul off to Rosemoor, then Scotland, then ultimately Audley End in the next two weeks, Lucy takes up the reins for next week's episode.

Instagram Links:
Lucy headgardenerlc

Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show

The Summer season has come full circle again, that time of year where everyone enjoys being outside, especially in their gardens on a long, sunny day. Gardeners are still in full flow - planting out new beds, mowing their lawns and cajoling their vegetable gardens into burgeoning yields. It's a great time to be alive in horticulture as the show season reaches a crescendo, plant fairs almost every weekend threaten to empty your savings and open gardens throughout the UK inspire that next bit of work you will be doing in your own plot. As ever Lucy and Saul will bring you tales (and waffle) from their gardens, so join us every week for more horticultural high-jinx on Talking Heads.

Summer continues, although for some it's also been Autumn, Spring and Winter in one week, but is August all it's cracked up to be. Lucy and Saul discuss whether Saul's thought that August is his least favourite garden month is valid. Plus Lucy has been out helping her folks with the garden, we have a listener question on what to do with all those dangly bits on our vegetable climbers and are you thinking about doing a little Garden writing, Lucy gives you a few hints and tips of how to break into the world of horticultural journalism. 


Twitter links:
Saul @GardeningSaul

Instagram Links:
Lucy headgardenerlc

Intro and Outro music from https://filmmusic.io
"Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Support the show