Main content

GQT at ±«Óãtv: Floating Gardens and Grow Light Guidance

Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts, chaired by Kathy Clugston.

Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts, chaired by Kathy Clugston. Fielding questions from across the country, this week, are Juliet Sargeant, James Wong, and Pippa Greenwood.

As the snowdrops begin to emerge from the soil, our panellists sit down to share their advice on using grow lights, nurturing bonsai trees, and battling an infestation of gnats.

Away from the questions, Matt Biggs sets sail to meet one gardener who has chosen to create a garden on top of her canal boat and Bob Flowerdew shares his advice on growing the yellowhorn, xanthoceras sorbifolium.

Producer - Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken

A Somethin' Else production for ±«Óãtv Radio 4

Available now

42 minutes

Plant List

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

Ìý

Q – I’ve read that the coloured grow lights are best for fruiting and flowering plants. Is white better for supplementing plant growth during the winter?

(0 minutes 50 seconds)Ìý

Ìý

Q – You always advise on planting seedlings in a compost that is low in nutrients and then potting on to a more nutrient rich soil but, obviously, this is not what happens in nature - why is it we must do this?

(3 minutes 47 seconds)Ìý

Ìý

Q – In the winter, our neighbours’ trees block all the sunshine from our garden, but when the sun is high in summer, we get many hours of sunshine. How can I pick plants for these conditions?

(5 minutes 48 seconds)

Ìý

Q – I’d like to grow a living willow screen with an archway to divide my small garden. I’d like to plant a clematis or another climber, at least over the arch, to give it colour – is this realistic? And would I have to put the plants in a container or in the soil with the willow.

(9 minutes 5 seconds)

Ìý

Feature – Matt Biggs visits the Kennet & Avon canal near Bath to chat to a gardener who has chosen to create a garden on top of her moving canal boat.

(14 minutes 17 seconds)

Ìý

Q – What unorthodox spaces have the panellists gardened in?

(21 minutes 22 seconds)

Ìý

Juliet –

Bearded Iris

Ìý

Q – How to keep a bonsai tree happy and alive?

(17 minutes 23 seconds)

Ìý

James –

Ficus benjamina

Podocarpus, ‘Buddha Pine’

Ìý

Q – We have laminated glass fittings in our bright, north-west facing extension. My house plants aren’t thriving. The glass fittings are a normal transparent colour, but it absorbs most ultraviolet light - could this make a difference?

(19 minutes 18 seconds)

Ìý

Q – I’m having a long-running battle with fungal gnats. Are they harmful to the plants? Can you help?

(23 minutes 0 seconds)

Ìý

Feature – Bob Flowerdew shares his advice on growing the yellowhorn, xanthoceras sorbifolium

(26 minutes 29 seconds)

Ìý

Q – Please can you advise me about what is happening to my cycad?

(29 minutes 59 seconds)

Ìý

Q – What jobs are there that you suggest for a career in horticulture or agriculture - in particular, are there any less well-known jobs and ones that you recommend? And secondly, how did you get to where you are, today, on GQT.

(34 minutes 59 seconds)Ìý

Ìý


Broadcasts

  • Fri 4 Feb 2022 15:00
  • Sun 6 Feb 2022 14:00

Six of GQT’s naughtiest gardening innuendos

When Gardeners' Question Time got mucky.

Podcast