Gardening Podcasts

Gardening is a wonderful pastime but also hard work. Take a break and listen to some gardening podcasts instead. It’s easier on the joints and you might just find some horticultural inspiration. 

Gardener’s Question Time, BBC Radio 4

New podcast episodes available every Friday

The granddaddy of gardening programmes, Gardeners Question Time or GQT, as it’s known in these trendier times, has been around since 1947. Today it’s chaired by Belfast native Kathy Clugston. The format hasn’t changed over the years. Amateur gardeners submit questions to a panel of experts who dispense advice and, occasionally, “dubious horticultural humour”. In normal times, it travels around the UK and, from time to time, Ireland, broadcasting from village halls, community centres, allotments – wherever amateur gardeners may gather. For the last year, the panel and real-time audience are virtual. Despite the restrictions, the discussion is as lively as ever. Given the increased interest in gardening, the advice is now geared towards first time growers as well as seasoned hands. Programmes also regularly feature house plant experts.

Master My Garden, Independent

New podcast episodes available every Friday

Laois-born John Jones has worked in the horticultural industry for more than 25 years. Through a website, blog and podcast, he offers a wealth of excellent gardening advice. Blog posts cover basics such as how to make your own compost, grow your own potatoes and create the perfect lawn. Guests on his podcast include experts of orchid growing and no-dig gardening among other subjects. 

Visit mastermygarden.com

The Garden Log, Independent

New podcast episodes – as they appear

There is no real need to be a gardener to enjoy The Garden Log. It’s a very charming account of life as head gardener at a large estate somewhere near London. Host Ben Dark is as much a writer as he is a gardener and weaves lovely, funny stories about his horticultural adventures throughout the seasons. He has a great turn of phrase and makes even the most mundane of garden tasks sound entertaining. Episodes appear sporadically. Aside from his day job, he has a young son and spends part of his time studying the history of gardening, often sharing gems from his research with his podcast listeners.

In Your Nature, BirdWatch Ireland

Episodes available Monday for the six-week spring season.

In the first few weeks of lockdown last year, traffic to BirdWatch Ireland’s website rose by 500 per cent. As Ricky Whelan and Niall Hatch, hosts of the organisation’s very first podcast, point out, the natural world took on a whole new importance amid the stresses of pandemic life. Green spaces allowed us to decompress and reconnect with simpler pleasures, among them bird song. In Your Nature is a wonderful new podcast focusing during its first season on all things spring. Ricky and Niall admit that they spend most of their time talking about birds anyway, so it makes perfect sense to allow the rest of us to listen in. Episodes so far have focused on the dawn chorus, nest boxes and the common buzzard, an increasingly common sight on electricity poles around the country. 

BirdWatch Ireland is the largest independent conservation organisation in Ireland. It’s primary objective is the protection of wild birds and their habitats.

Visit birdwatchireland.ie