What underwear should a professional gardener wear? Nobody at Gardeners' Question Time is going to touch that one. Luckily, you have us.
James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift hand the podcast over to you, and this week's postbag is long. Very long. One listener has had enough of pants that fall apart, fall down or cut off the circulation, which leads to a full design brief for the James and Joe gardening undergarment: rib cage to knee, built-in knee pads, a hori hori holder and a warm pocket for toffees.
Also in the bag: a lavender hedge crisis delivered as a tragic ballad in rhyming couplets (it wins a gnome), what to wear when judging a horticultural competition in North Carolina, and the plants you'd choose for a garden designed for your absolute nemesis... the ones that look like thoughtful luxury and turn into an endless maintenance hellhole. Bamboo, Japanese knotweed, mind-your-own-business and a walnut tree that poisons its neighbours all get a mention. Somewhere in there is an actual fact about allelopathy.
Plus: the correct way to pronounce scarifying, why Dr Seuss was never a doctor, and what Joe would do if he were ever sold to Tottenham.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Welcome to The James & Joe Garden Show
01:40 James sings the intro
02:47 How to send us a question
04:32 What underwear should gardeners wear?
10:18 Designing the perfect gardening pants
13:39 The Lavender Conundrum: a poem
16:31 When to rip out a lavender hedge
17:00 How to prune lavender
19:50 What to wear to judge a flower show
24:50 A uniform for flower show judges
27:32 Designing a garden for your nemesis
31:11 Invasive plants: knotweed, balsam and bamboo
32:21 Allelopathy: plants that poison their neighbours
35:52 Why is Dr Seuss a doctor?
To ask us a question email gnome@jamesandjoegarden.com or go to our website www.jamesandjoegarden.com
For ad free listening and bonus content then join us at the Garden Collective.
Not only will you get us but new articles every week from some of the best garden writers around and access to a bulging archive from (without wishing to drop names) the likes of Alan Titchmarsh, Ann-Marie Powell, Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith, Advolly Richmond, Jan Etherington and many others. Come and join the Collective for essays, seasonal notes, reflections and stories.
About our hosts
James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022.
Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV's Gardeners' World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.
Follow James & Joe on Instagram: @jamesandjoegarden
Follow The Garden Collective on Instagram: garden_collective_
Contact us: gnome@jamesandjoegarden.com
www.jamesandjoegarden.com
Send us a question for the chance to win the most coveted prize in horticulture. Poems welcome. Only two rules: no dead plants and no dull questions.
