Fresh From The Pod - Gardening Stories Candide

In our last episode for the season, we're sharing a fascinating interview with legendary journalist, writer, broadcaster, presenter, lecturer and of course gardener, Peter Seabrook.

Peter tells us everything about his lucky breaks and perseverance over his 80-year career digging deep into horticulture; from his early years cultivating sweetpea at the age of 6, to how he sees things have changed and his predictions for the future of gardening.

Join us for this celebration of 50 episodes of Fresh from the Pod with a horticultural hero, Peter Seabrook, before we change things up a little for the second series!

Hosted by Tamsin Westhorpe
Edited, Mixed & Mastered by Antony Nascè
Directed by Helen Allsebrook

Hayfever season is upon us but this doesn't necessarily mean you need to hide away snivelling in the potting shed! Unbelievably, 25% of people struggle with puffy eyes, runny noses and the infamous Chelsea cough, with this figure increasing annually. But fear not; low allergen and healing garden designer, Olivia Kirk, shares her insights on which plants are fantastic for evolving your garden into a low irritation zone. 

Olivia started offering low allergen garden design in 2010 after the National Pollen Research Unit based in Worcester asked her to design a garden for RHS Chelsea Flower Show. In researching the planting for this Olivia was surprised how little information there was on people’s respiratory responses to plants and since then has been on a mission to create low-allergen gardens.

She recently launched The Low Allergy Planting Planner which is a small, robust, waterproof file that is easily slipped into a bag for a quick trip to the garden centre, for when you want to buy some plants that won’t start you sneezing and wheezing. The file is divided into colour-coded sections covering everything from planting for structure to herbaceous planting and ground cover options.

Olivia has a portfolio of public and private gardens all around the UK as well as a number of high-profile show gardens to her name. She was awarded an RHS Chelsea Gold medal in 2011 for her ‘Power of Nature’ Garden and her most recent garden at Chelsea for The WellChild Charity was re-located to the Brook on Broadwaters School in Tottenham.  She is a regular tutor for The London College of Garden Design and has recently lectured for Kew and the SGD as well as contributed to books and articles by the RHS on the subject of low allergen gardening in the public domain.

Every gardener dotes on a good pot! This week Jim Keeling joins the Candide podcast to dig the dirt on his 45-year career handcrafting pots and statement planters for gardeners.

Whichford Pottery is world-renowned for its reputation in bespoke and specialist pots and so Jim explains why we should all doth-our-cap and take a bow to the terracotta pot!

Hosted by Tamsin Westhorpe
Edited, Mixed & Mastered by Antony Nascè
Directed by Helen Allsebrook

As part of the Candide Festival of Flowers, Tamsin interviews Georgie Newbery, whose whole life revolves around flowers, organically grown on 7 acres, where she creates the most dreamy bouquets, ethically.

She talks about her career path up to this point, discloses top tips for growing your own cut flowers and tells us about her favourite and most valued cut flower.

Georgie Newbery is the flower farmer and florist at Common Farm Flowers in Somerset. For the past ten years, she has been growing flowers for pleasure and profit, spearheading the resurgence in interest in locally grown British flowers.

Hosted by Tamsin Westhorpe
Edited, Mixed & Mastered by Antony Nascè
Directed by Helen Allsebrook

To mark Mental Health Awareness week, Tamsin speaks to Hannah Powell of Perrywood Tiptree Garden Centre in Essex. Hannah openly discusses her mental health - in the past, she has suffered from depression and Functional Movement Disorder. She shares practical ways to use the power of plants and nature to improve her well-being and explains why she is so passionate about helping people through her blog, The Cactus Surgeon.

Hannah also talks about the mental health of those in the Horticultural industry and how the pandemic has had an impact. With approximately 200 staff, she is well placed to offer advice and shares guidance that will be invaluable to anyone in the industry, however large or small their business.

This week we have the dramatic story of plant hunter Tom Hart Dyke, who headed off into the Columbian jungle with his companion, Paul Winder, in the year 2000, where they were kidnapped, held hostage for 9 months and given up for dead. 

During Tom's ordeal, he began plans for a garden that would contain plants from around the globe planted in their respective continents of origin. On his return, he did just that, at his family home of Lullingstone Castle, where he also showcases his passion for orchids, plant heritage and cutting-edge horticulture.