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GQT at Home: Episode Twenty-Four

Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.

Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Christine Walkden, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Wilson answer the questions.

In a GQT first, the panel are joined by a virtual audience tuning in from home, to discuss the best hops to grow, whether the challenge of growing 164 plants in a garden is possible, and their favourite dance to do when a plant finally flowers.

Away from the questions, Chris Thorogood has ventured off in the cover of darkness to find one of the few cacti pollinated by bats, and Humaira Ikram is curing her wanderlust by designing a space with inspiration from Japan.

Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4

Available now

42 minutes

Last on

Sun 13 Sep 2020 14:00

Plant List

Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.Ìý

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Q - Which Hops would be best for my allotment – which is in full sun and with clay soil? (3 minutes 30 seconds)

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Bob – Fuggles Hops

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Q – Could the panel tell me if they think my challenge of planting 164 plants in my garden is achievable and give me some interesting ways to utilise the available space? My garden is 5x5m and south facing. (5 minutes 50)

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Christine – Sorbus reducta – Chinese dwarf mountain ash

Cordon Fruit trees

Espalier

Fan trained plums

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Q – I would like to keep everlasting begonias and use them next year. How do I store the tubers? (10 minutes)

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Q – I want to buy some red tulip bulbs – medium height which will come back every year so I can leave them in a tub and grow them mass together for impact. Which variety should I buy? (11 minutes 20)

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Christine – Tulip praestans ‘Fusilier’

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Matthew – Tulip ‘Jan Reus’

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Feature - Chris Thorogood and the bat-pollinating cactus (14 minutes 35)

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Queen of the night cactus – Stenocereus megalanthus

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Q – Can you suggest a suitable screening plant which can be grown in a narrow container? I thought about using Karl Foerster as a screen and would appreciate your advice on whether or not that is a good option. (19 minutes)

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Matthew – Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’

Allium ‘Firmament’

Allium ‘Gladiator’

Allium ‘Purple Sensation’

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Christine – Juniperus scopulorum ‘ Skyrocket’

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Bob – Bamboo

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Q – My 9-year-old Mulberry tree grew into a lovely shape, but winds recently broke it at about 7 foot (2.13m). I cut it down to my height, but it is lacking any new growth. Should I cut it down to a stool and grow as a bush? (22 minutes 40)

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Q – I created a vegetable patch during lockdown, but the slugs ate nearly all my seedlings and the dandelions have taken over. Could the panel please advise me on what to do now that involves no maintenance? (24 minutes 40)

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Matthew – Strawberries

Asparagus

Globe Artichokes

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Bob – Blackcurrants

Redcurrants

White currants

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Feature - Humaira Ikram planting up a Japanese-style garden (30 minutes 15)

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Farfugium japonicum ‘G¾±²µ²¹²Ô³Ù±ð³Ü³¾â€™

Astilbe ‘F²¹²Ô²¹±ô’

Pachysandra terminalis ‘Green Carpet’

Spurge

Galium odoratum (Sweet woodruff)

Kirengeshoma palmata (Yellow wax-bells)

Magnolia Virginiana

Nyssa sylvatica ‘tupelo’ (Black gum tree)

Soleirolia soleirolii (Mind-Your-Own-Business)

Pratia pedunculata (Blue star creeper)

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Q – I am looking for plant recommendations for a tall (up to 3.5m (11.5ft)) but not very bushy plant to be placed on the ground floor in a stairwell of a Georgian building. Ideally a plant which can be grown from a small plant or seed. (34 minutes)

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Matthew – Tea - Camellia

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Bob – Monstera

Devils ivy

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Q – About 7 years ago a friend of mine gave me a passionflower root which I duly planted in a pot. It has trailed up on a trellis but despite feeding and caring for the plant no flowers ever appeared. However, 4 weeks ago I stood by the plant and prayed for one flower and my patience was rewarded and 13 buds appeared. Does one have to wait years for a flower or has it been divine intervention? (36 minutes 15)

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Q – Do you have a dance that you do when you have a plant you have waited for to flower or fruit when it finally reaches its moment? (38 minutes 25)

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Christine – Arum

Broadcasts

  • Fri 11 Sep 2020 15:00
  • Sun 13 Sep 2020 14:00

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