Talking Heads - a Gardening Podcast

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. Whist Saul is busy gathering up his braincells for the walled kitchen garden tours at Audley End, Lucy talks you through her Make a Metre Matter commitments for the BBC Gardeners' World Fair. There have been metres, they have ALL mattered - and if you are able to pledge one of yours to support this campaign Lucy and De-Graft will both be eternally grateful. Bring on the sausages!! Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. The end of summer drought doesn't mean that we aren't still to face the real consequences of this years weather - there's much more weather to come. But what does the future hold for gardening? Well Saul and Lucy get the grey matter working to bring you some of their future predictions of what gardeners maybe doing in the next decade to start adapting to what the weather throws at us - much of it means evolving how we garden and what our gardens may look like - but if there is one thing for certain we'll still be gardening a lot (maybe more in Winter!?) Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. This week, Lucy and Saul encourage us all to let go of our inner control freak, and welcome the fact that in gardening, every year, some plants thrive where others fail, certain machinery will test our patience, design ideas may materialise as a triumph or a flop - and that's just part of the marvellous melting pot that is gardening. So, take Saul's lead (yes! He's embracing the silver lining), remember that the future is still yet to be decided, and dip your little toe into 2027. Because: "There's always next year!" Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. During the fifth Heatwave of the year, Saul is soloing it while out and abut in the South East of the UK working for Plant Heritage and visiting some gardens with the RHS Tender Ornamental Expert Group in Norfolk. Felbrigg Hall (NT) was a surprise of exotic and Mediterranean planting in a Walled garden space that included lush borders, some big pumpkins and lots of interesting metal sculptures. East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden, lived up to the hype of being one of the UKs premier gardens, with Hidcote-like garden rooms, stuffed with exotic and traditional plantings and a fantastic 'Desert Wash' dry garden that looked just right in the sweltering heat, transporting you to other warmer parts of the world. We also took part in the Hedychium trial being held there, and also being Saul's favourite part of the whole trip! Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. We give a long overdue shoutout to our wonderful listeners in this episode - and in doing so discuss raptors, buddleja aphids, petrichor (Lucy is NOT jealous...), chilli peppers, fuchsia gall mites and tropical tree selection in a Lancashire garden - in doing so we inadvertently fill the whole 30 minutes when we actually had planned to also discuss summer gardening 'funk' (which we have now moved to next weeks episode). If this isn't evidence that this podcasting duo are the king and queen of hortiwaffle, I don't know what is! Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. The lack of rain in many parts of the UK (not all) has been the number one issue for weeks now - rain dances, water bowsers and talk of changing plantings are now a regular feature of conversations throughout gardens as the Environment Agency declares half of the UK to be in official drought status! But although there have been many losers in this hot, dry weather its not all bad and Saul and Lucy wanted to bringing a little positivity in this weeks podcast with talk of juicy peaches, luscious exotic planting and of course, the wood-fired hot tub! Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. It's been yet another week of dry weather, and with no end in sight the gardening duo ponder what this might mean for the survival of certain insect species - friend and foe. Saul also reports back on his travels, and some exciting news for Plant Heritage, while Lucy turns her (tired) brain towards the Gardeners' World Autumn Fair at Audley End, Essex. Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. Wow it is dry out there and the temperatures are well above the norm for long periods - so both Lucy and Saul are, to say the least, continuing in good British form - 'mad dogs and Englishmen' comes to mind. Gardening still needs to be done though - if just the watering - so Lucy has been continuing to shape her client's plots and Saul has spent almost 12 days getting ready and then half-wilting at RHS Badminton - so listen in to find out how that goes - and if the worse happens at least we can all go for a dip in Lucy's new hottub! Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. With Saul attending to his Plant Heritage duties at RHS Badminton, Lucy takes this opportunity to give you an audio tour of her modern kitchen garden. Summer is now at its peak, so naturally her thoughts are focused on how to create recipes with all those homegrown fruit, veg and herbs. If you have an aversion to butter, turn your ears away now... Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. Wow, what a scorcher last week was in the UK - and beyond! Of course, this gets the weather obsessed podcast duo thinking: what will we need to do to adjust our mindset towards working in and taking pleasure trips to, gardens. A flexible mindset is key. We also pay tribute to show veg master Terry Porter, who sadly passed away in recent days. It's guaranteed that if you visited gardening shows these past few decades, you'll have seen his phenomenal work first hand. Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. Well every year the NEC beckons the Talking Heads Duo back to BBC Gardeners World Live to share their garden wisdom on the Plants Expert Desk, as well as show people around the Floral Marquee when no-one else is there and this year, Lucy builds her Make a Metre Matter border. Altogether it keep the Talking Head duo incredibly busy, so recording a podcast can be a bitty affair, but join us as we share some of the sights and voices at this years show! Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious - but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardener's tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. After many weeks apart, Lucy and Saul finally catch up with each other (via Zoom) to discover what's been going on in their respective gardening lives. Saul is still recovering from The Chelsea Flower Show, and Lucy is busy prepping for her Beautiful Border at BBC Gardeners' World Live at the NEC. In the meantime, the dry spell has ended with rain falling in both Devon and Essex - giving the duo's gardens a much needed rest from the scorching conditions. If any listeners want to similarly refresh Lucy and Saul at the NEC, all biscuits are welcome!! Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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 Support the show

Summer is here - we enter the long days and sultry nights with the garden looking glorious but always looking to the horizon for a little bit of rain to keep things looking green and lush. Herbaceous borders are set to maximum colour, vegetable beds seem to multiply in growth weekly and the gardeners tan is ever present. So enjoy the long summer days, take some time to appreciate time in your garden and join the Talking Heads pair as they continue to look after their planty spaces, as well as enjoying their gardens at home. Saul had an incredible experience at the #RHSChelseaFlowerShow, very different for his usual Monday Press Day jolly with Lucy, but instead a full on fortnight of Pavilion , Garden promoting, media-hunting, volunteer wrangling while keeping his energy levels high (not always successful) and his brain ticking 9definitely not always successful). SO join him in this episode as he looks back at the the Flower show process and some of his highlights from the week in May where everyone talks about gardens and plants. Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

On Thursday 21st May, we learnt of the passing of Matt Biggs - horticultural everyman, incredibly nice guy, and titan in both knowledge of our industry and hobby, but also fabulous communicator as well. Matt's career spanned all mediums from Tv, Book, Press and also Radio, where he spent 30 years delighting Garden Question Time audiences with his passion and wit for horticulture. Lucy and Saul count Matt as a true garden friend having spent a lot of time with him during the show season and elsewhere - where all we can say is he truly was Gardening's Nicest Guy. Matt was battling cancer till his death, and was very vocal about the support he wanted to make to the Mount Vernon Sanctuary Garden project that he was spearheading. If you have the chance to donate in his memory, please click here Support the show

Spring is well and truly here - as clocks change, sunny days lengthen, and the occasional chilly night catches us unaware. But the main thing is plants are really starting to wake up and give us something to cheer about after a very wet and gloomy winter! Saul and Lucy look forward to really getting to grips with there gardens both at home and work - and Plant collections up and down the breathe of the UK start showing themselves at their best for all to behold. Finally the 2026 gardening year begins! Whilst the Chelsea Flower Show is keeping Mr Walker incredibly busy, Lucy has been kicking her literal heels whilst she waits for her body to heal. Luckily, there's plenty going on in the garden to keep her entertained, so join her in a 30-minute tour of Chateau Chamberlain to hear about teucriums, irises, aphids and tetrapanax. It's a horticultural smorgasbord of delights! Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Spring is well and truly here - as clocks change, sunny days lengthen, and the occasional chilly night catches us unaware. But the main thing is plants are really starting to wake up and give us something to cheer about after a very wet and gloomy winter! Saul and Lucy look forward to really getting to grips with there gardens both at home and work - and Plant collections up and down the breathe of the UK start showing themselves at their best for all to behold. Finally the 2026 gardening year begins! With Saul having a well deserved rest up in the Shetland Islands, Lucy focuses her attention on the BBC Gardeners' World Spring Fair in Beaulieu, where she's putting together a Beautiful Border along with De-Graft Mensah to promote the Gardeners' World Make a Metre Matter campaign. This, along with her usual kitchen garden tours with the Beaulieu garden team, plus some appearances on the Gardeners' World magazine main stage, has kept her quite busy.... If you want to see her experience, watch her latest reels on her Instagram profile (link below) but if you fancy a half-hour episode describing this process, download away! Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Spring is well and truly here - as clocks change, sunny days lengthen, and the occasional chilly night catches us unaware. But the main thing is plants are really starting to wake up and give us something to cheer about after a very wet and gloomy winter! Saul and Lucy look forward to really getting to grips with there gardens both at home and work - and Plant collections up and down the breathe of the UK start showing themselves at their best for all to behold. Finally the 2026 gardening year begins! Though much of what we do is gardening - the world of horticulture is full of other distractions - that's what makes it such a beautiful world to live in. And Lucy and Saul have certainly been getting distracted now Spring is well and truly shining upon us. Lucy has big ambitions in the form of a Beautiful Border that she is building at Gardeners World Spring Fair in Beaulieu and Saul has been travelling the country meeting some of the amazing and knowledgeable people and their gardens that make our world tick including the Chelsea Physic garden , White House Farm and Garden , and many National Collection Holders as Plant Heritage kick-off their BigGive #EarthRaise fundraising campaign ... Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Spring is well and truly here - as clocks change, sunny days lengthen, and the occasional chilly night catches us unaware. But the main thing is plants are really starting to wake up and give us something to cheer about after a very wet and gloomy winter! Saul and Lucy look forward to really getting to grips with there gardens both at home and work - and Plant collections up and down the breathe of the UK start showing themselves at their best for all to behold. Finally the 2026 gardening year begins! After their traditional weather waffle and (jingle pending) a new regular shed slot, Lucy and Saul ramble verbally through their respective weeks. While Saul has been repotting houseplants and prepping himself for Expert Group and Plant Heritage commitments, Lucy has been redressing her flagging energy levels after shining up Kingsland Gardens like a brand new penny for a family birthday event. There's also timely chat about the recent news on feeding our garden birds, as the duo reflect on how some task adjustments are easier to embrace than others. Instagram links: Lucy lucychamberlaingardens Saul plantsmansaul 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

Spring is well and truly here - as clocks change, sunny days lengthen, and the occasional chilly night catches us unaware. But the main thing is plants are really starting to wake up and give us something to cheer about after a very wet and gloomy winter! Saul and Lucy look forward to really getting to grips with there gardens both at home and work - and Plant collections up and down the breathe of the UK start showing themselves at their best for all to behold. Finally the 2026 gardening year begins! Easter and gardens are a synonymous mix - who didn't visit a garden over last week to see all the spring flowers and enjoy a does of Vitamin D. Well Lucy and Saul definitely took advantage of the sunshine to see other peoples gardens waking up to the 2026 garden season. They've also been hard at work (well at least one of the m has) looking after their clients gardens, and seeing all that hard work come to fruition. Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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

Spring is well and truly here - as clocks change, sunny days lengthen, and the occasional chilly night catches us unaware. But the main thing is plants are really starting to wake up and give us something to cheer about after a very wet and gloomy winter! Saul and Lucy look forward to really getting to grips with there gardens both at home and work - and Plant collections up and down the breathe of the UK start showing themselves at their best for all to behold. Finally the 2026 gardening year begins! Get your thinking caps on - it's symposium time! Leaving their dibbers and desks behind for a day, Saul and Lucy trot off to London to attend the RHS symposium. Here, under one roof, many horticultural specialist's minds come together to ponder how the shift in climate is affecting our gardening mindset. Of course, there are concerns - but there are also opportunities - and both podcasters are pleasantly surprised by the new attitude towards biodiversity. Instagram links: Saul plantsmansaul 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