Main content

Swiss Garden, Shuttleworth Estate: Postbag Edition

Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.

Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts. Kathy Clugston and experts Matt Biggs, Christine Walkden and Ashley Edwards answer questions from The Swiss Gardens on the Shuttleworth Estate, Biggleswade.

Taking a tour of the gardens, the GQT team attempts to patch up all manner of plant problems. From reviving a lovelorn laburnum to cheering up a sad cistus and investigating why the phyllostachys听nigra gives up the ghost after flowering, the panellists offer their tips, tricks and ideas for thriving greenery.

Away from the questions, Head Gardener Sissel Dahl shows the team around the gardens' grotto and gravel display, pointing out the plants that are blooming during this early summer season.

Producer: Daniel Cocker
Assistant Producer: Bethany Hocken

A Somethin' Else production for 大象传媒 Radio 4

Available now

42 minutes

Last on

Sun 3 Jul 2022 14:00

Plant List

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

Q 鈥 Do ants cause any harm to tomato plants?

(3 minutes 25 seconds)听

Q 鈥 My lettuce roots have been eaten through. It has been suggested that these are cut worms, but no remedies have been offered. Any help is welcome!

(5 minutes 46 seconds)听

Q 鈥 I have successfully grown an aubergine plant from seed. I keep it in a south facing sunroom. It鈥檚 now 18 months old. Last year, I had lots of blooms, but they all died back and I got no fruit. This year, I had a similar experience until I turned to daily watering and a twice-weekly tomato feed, and I got two fine fruits. The key seems to be the strength of stem. Will I get any fruit this year?

(8 minutes 00 seconds)

Q 鈥 I have a two-year-old clematis jackmanii purpurea which is growing on a support with a 鈥榥ew dawn鈥 rose on a south facing terrace. The jackmanii is coming into flower on very long side shoots and the weight of the flower is causing them to droop so the flower cannot be seen properly. Is there anything I can do to improve the look of the clematis?

(12 minutes 17 seconds)

Feature 鈥 Head Gardener Sissel Dahl takes the team to the heart of The Swiss Gardens, a decorative and dreamily fragrant glasshouse from the 1830s called The Grotto

(14 minutes 2 seconds)

Sissel 鈥

Wisteria

Dicksonia antarctica

Fern

Q 鈥 Please would you let me know what has happened to my poppies?

(16 minutes 20 seconds)

Q 鈥 I have a laburnum tree that has blossomed every year for the past 20 years. This year, I haven鈥檛 seen a single blossom. The only thing that is different is that a 6-foot box bush became infected by box moth. We cut it down in the winter. Do the team have any ideas about why this dramatic change has happened?

(17 minutes 41 seconds)

Q 鈥 Our cistus went on holiday to a friend鈥檚 house. It came back looking rather dishevelled and thirsty. After a few waters and repotting, there has been an improvement in the leaf appearance, but there seems to be only a few white flowers rather than the larger usual pink ones. Do we put this down to a yearning for water and space or could it be something else?

(20 minutes 57 seconds)

Matt 鈥

Cistus ladanifer

Q 鈥 I have a large number of lupins that are being ravaged by aphids. Do you have any tips, tricks or ideas?

(23 minutes 55 seconds)

Feature 鈥 Moving on to the Swiss rock garden, the team marvel at the blooms on show

(26 minutes 36 seconds)

Kathy 鈥

Rhododendron

Bladdernut

Sissel 鈥

Marjoram

Thyme

Rosemary

Sage

Alchemilla alpina

Omphalodes cappadocica

Poppy

Q 鈥 I have a problem with my black bamboo. I hear that it will die after flowering. Is there any way that I can save it?

(28 minutes 4 seconds)

Matt 鈥

Phyllostachys nigra

Q 鈥 I was fortunate enough to come across a free lilac tree. All I needed to do was successfully dig it up. I damaged the main root when I dug it up. I now have it in a rainwater tank. What is the best way to repot 鈥淟ila鈥 to ensure her root balls will reform?

(30 minutes 8 seconds)

Q 鈥 We keep a compost heap in our allotment where we dump green waste and weeds. We used some of the compost in Spring and where we used some of the compost nothing will grow. What might have happened?

(33 minutes 14 seconds)

Sissel 鈥

Iris

Ashley 鈥

Potato

Q 鈥 15 years ago, my son and I decided to re-landscape our garden with ponds and interesting plants. Not being very good at gardening, some of our plants struggled to survive. We created a corner of our garden called the graveyard and any plant that looks sick we transplanted to this area of the garden to give it one last chance? Do any of the panel have a graveyard in their garden?

(36 minutes 31 seconds)

Broadcasts

  • Fri 1 Jul 2022 15:00
  • Sun 3 Jul 2022 14:00

Six of GQT鈥檚 naughtiest gardening innuendos

When Gardeners' Question Time got mucky.

Podcast