Mike The Gardener - Gardening Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to this Chelsea Flower Show special addition with fantastic contributions from:

• TV presenters Gaby Roslin & Ben Thompson
• Garden designer Jo Thompson
• Garden writer Arthur Parkinson
• Michael Marriott & Rosie Irving
• Naomi Slade and daughter Holly
• She Grows Veg
• Kim Stoddart & Ruth Hayes
• Sienna Hosta
• Harespring Cottage Flowers
• Adam Kirtland
• Kelly Stone
• Tom Coleman
• Alice Hare, and
• Susie White

It's a fascinating episode, as always, which sees me snooping around the Chelsea Flower Show on press day. Thanks for listening and watch out for series 8 coming soon! Mike

In this week's episode I chat with writer, author and owner of Bressingham Gardens, Adrian Bloom. We talk about: The beautiful gardens at Bressingham. Adrian's career, to date The creation of Foggy Bottom His new book, Foggy Bottom - A Garden to Share Photography, plants, and lots, lots more To order Adrian's new book, Foggy Bottom - A Garden to Share, click here. To learn more about Bressingham, click here. To learn more about Foggy Botton garden, click here. To follow me on my Instagram account click here. As always, my thanks to you for listening and don't forget to follow/subscribe and please leave a review if you are able. Thank you. Mike

In this week's episode of the Mike The Gardener - Gardening Podcast, I chat with Scotland Grows Editor and Podcaster and freelance writer M.T. O’Donnell. 

Amongst many topics, we discuss:

MTs, role as Editor and Podcaster for Scotland Grows.

The Scotland Grows magazine.

The challenges of gardening in Scotland. 

The TRELLIS charity - Gardening for Well-Being, and lots more. 

You can find out more about Scotland Grows by clicking here.

My thanks to MT for taking time out of her schedule to come and chat to us today. You can follow MT on her Instagram account by clicking here.  

And you can follow me on my Instagram account by clicking here.   

My thanks, as always, for listening, and please don't forget to follow/subscribe as there are more great episodes to come.

See you very soon. 

Mike

Yes the wait is almost over!

Your host, Mike Palmer, returns with a brand-new, exciting series of the popular 'Mic the Gardener' podcast on Friday, 27th August, 0600 (BST). 

Alongside the in-depth chats with fascinating garden presenters, journalists, designers and other gardening folk and the very popular plant profile episodes, Mike introduces a brand new feature, 'Up the Garden Path'. In these occasional episodes, Mike will take you 'Up the Garden Path' of some well-known personalities in the wonderful world of gardening. 

So tune in from Friday 27th August when Mike will take you 'Up the Garden Path' of plant fanatic, presenter and social media sensation, Michael Perry, a.k.a. Mr Plant Geek. 

Mike chats to Michael about his career to date and explores his beautiful new garden in Suffolk and of course, lots more!

Thanks to all of you who have left wonderful reviews. And if you haven't already, why not pop over to Apple Podcast and leave a review for Mike. 

You can follow Mike on his very popular Instagram account @mike_thegardener, where he shares his own garden through regular posts and live broadcasts (Mike's Sunday Stroll). 

He will also be starting a new series of live, 'Mike Chats to...'with some fantastic new guests. 

The 'Mic the Gardener' podcast is sponsored by Natural Grower. 

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for listening to, subscribing to and following my new Mic the Gardener podcast; I've enjoyed every single moment of recording, editing and presenting it. So many of you have contacted me to let me know you have also enjoyed the first series and/or have left amazing reviews on Apple Podcasts. And the response to the Mic the Gardener podcast survey was unbelievable. All of your comments and observations have been read and I've already started to plan for Series 2 with some really great guests and features in the pipeline! I will be back in early September, relaxed and raring to go again! In the meantime, you can follow and message me on my Instagram account @mike_thegardener or email the podcast at micthegardener01@gmail.com; I love hearing from you with your questions, suggestions and ideas for future episodes. So have a great summer and look forward to being with you all very soon. Mike

In this final episode of the first series Mike visits the stunning Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire where he chats with Managing Director, Simon Buchanan, Head Gardener, Pat Havers and Fruit Consultant, Chris Lanczak.  Waterperry Gardens is steeped in history, most notably with the arrival of the redoubtable Beatrix Havergal, with her partner Avice Sanders in September 1932. Together, at Waterperry, they set up a Horticultural School for Ladies which ran successfully until 1971.  The heritage of the horticultural school remains at the core of what is done at Waterperry, with the sharing of staff knowledge with visitors and apprentices alike.  The gardens themselves are evidence of Beatrix' horticultural virtuosity, in particular, the classical herbaceous border which remains an object of admiration to visitors, by virtue of the current gardeners' continuing faithfulness to its original conception.  Mike chats to Managing Director Simon Buchanan about the history of Waterperry and his role in progressing the future of the gardens. He also chats to Pat Havers, Waterperry's Head Gardener, about her passion for Waterperry and gardening, how she started in the garden some twenty years ago and how they maintain the stunning herbaceous border and lots more. Later, Pat takes Mike to meet Fruit Consultant, Chris Lanczak who takes Mike behind the scenes of their in-house fruit production operation, explaining how everything works, how late frosts have affected some harvests and recalls some of his memories working under Beatrix Havergal.  Mike brings the very essence of Waterperry Gardens to this episode, in his first outside broadcast.  And if you like visiting gardens, then Waterperry Gardens is a definite addition to your garden visit 'wish-list'.     Links: Waterperry Gardens - Instagram / Website Pat Havers - Instagram / Twitter Sadly, this is the last episode of Series 1, but Mike will return with a new series later this year. Thank you for all of your lovely messages and support for this first series.  As always, if you wish to contact Mike, you can follow and contact him under his Instagram account (@mike_thegardener), or you can email him directly via the podcast email address, micthegardener01@gmail.com. 

Sound Recordist & Post Production - SoNiche Productions. 

In this episode, the third in a series of 'plant special' podcasts, Mike chats to Clematis King, Raymond Evison, owner and founder of Raymond Evison Clematis. 

Raymond has spent six decades searching for, breeding and developing the world's best clematis.  Born in 1944, Raymond started his horticultural career at the age of 15 in Shropshire and quickly became the director of his first company 'Treasures of Tenbury Ltd'. A brutal winter killed a third of his mother stock and he moved the clematis operations to Guernsey, in the sunny Channel Islands, near France, where he set up the 'Guernsey Clematis Nursery' in 1985, to take advantage of the milder climate and longer growing season.

In this Clematis Special episode, Mike chats to Raymond who shares some invaluable hints, tips and advice about growing clematis. You'll learn what to look out for when you're buying clematis, how to plant them and everything you need to know about how to care for them. Raymond also provides some easy to follow instructions on how to prune clematis, a subject which some of us worry about needlessly.

For the more adventurous maybe, some invaluable hints and tips on how to propagate clematis.

And, amongst much more, you'll learn where the name for the popular Clematis 'Freckles' comes from.

After this wonderful episode, I'm sure, like me, you'll be ready to buy more clematis for your green space. Raymond's stunning collection of clematis can be found at his website www.raymondevisonclematis.com.

As always, if you wish to contact the show, you can email Mike at his email address micthegardener01@gmail.com or message him directly via his Instagram account @mike_thegardener.

In this exciting episode Mike chats to Ellen Mary. Ellen Mary is one busy lady who amongst many things is a social media influencer, gardening presenter, journalist, radio broadcaster, podcaster, one of the Top 5 Women Influencers in Horticulture (Grow Your Own magazine) and now an author, with her very first book 'The Joy of Gardening', published on 27 May 2021 by Goldfinch Publishing.  Ellen Mary chats to Mike about the book, how it came about and how she found the writing process in general. Mike and Ellen Mary also talk about the chart-topping 'Plant Based Podcast' which she co-presents with Michael Perry, a.k.a. Mr Plant Geek. Ellen Mary also chats about how she manages her extraordinarily busy workload and making hilarious Tik-Tok videos.  Later in this episode, Mike talks tulips, as he goes through your messages about the tulips you have grown the season, your favourite combos and where you buy your tulips from.  You can follow Mike on his successful Instagram account @mike_thegardener, and join him live every Sunday morning, 10am (GMT) when he takes us for a stroll around his Bournemouth garden and answers as many of your gardening questions as he can, live on air.  If you wish to contact Mike, you can do so through his Instagram account (@mike_thegardener) or through the podcast email micthegardener01@gmail.com.  Thank you for listening to the 'Mic the Gardener' podcast, and please do follow and/or subscribe, and if you listen through Apple podcast, please do leave a review.

In this exciting, second 'plant special' podcast, Mike chats to world-leading rosarian, Michael Marriot, formerly of David Austin Roses, where he was an integral part of the team for 35 years.

What Michael doesn't know about roses, frankly isn't worth knowing.

Mike chats to Michael about everything you need to know about growing the best possible roses, including how to chose the best varieties, planting, pruning, feeding, watering and pests & diseases. He discusses some great practical and organic solutions whilst also dispeling some urban myths about growing roses along the way.

Alongside his incredible knowledge and common-sense approach to looking after roses, he is also well-known for his rose garden design. As a garden designer, Michael is famed for his dense, romantic beds, whether planted purely with roses or mixed in with perennials. He has also designed many rose gardens and borders around the world.  Alongside private gardens, Michael has also designed gardens in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Queen Mary's Rose Garden in Regents Park, Hampton Court Palace, Wynyard Hall, Trentham Gardens and the David Austin garden near Osaka in Japan.

In his work, Michael has travelled the globe, often sharing his expertise on the radio, television, and garden media publications and interviews.

He has played a vital role in the development and popularisation of English roses and has an intimate knowledge of all of the 200+ English roses, bred and introduced by David Austin roses.

So come and spend just under an hour with us and you’ll go away with the very best rose growing knowledge you could ever wish to have.

You can follow Michael on his Instagram account and at his website www.michaelmarriotrosarian.org

And if you wish to contact Mike, you can contact him via his Instagram account or by his email micthegardener01@gmail.com. 

In this episode Mike chats too Skinny Jean Gardener, Lee Connelly. Lee, one-time Blue Peter gardener, bestselling author of the 'How to get your Kids Gardening' book, successful podcaster with his Sunday Times Top 5 Podcast, the Skinny Jean Gardener podcast and spokesman and advocate for getting kids into gardening. 

Lee chats about his inspirational initiative, the School Gardening Success Plan, which aims to give 30,000 UK primary schools the capacity to teach their children to Grow Your Own. He also talks about his journey into gardening, some interesting 'behind the scenes' facts about being a Blue Peter gardener, and lots more!  You can find Skinny Jean Gardener on Instagram and Twitter.

Later in the episode, Mike thanks all of his listeners their support of his new podcast, which in just four months has attracted over 2.6 K listeners and regularly falls just outside of the Top 10 Apple UK Home and Garden podcast charts. 

If you wish to contact Mike, email micthegardener01@gmail.com or message him directly via his popular Instagram account.