Gardeners' Corner
The weekly gardening programme for keen gardeners, with the latest advice, news and visits to gardens large and small around the province. Presented by David Maxwell.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 41 minutes
- Episodes
- 655
- Years Active
- 2010 - 2025
Why cactus are the ultimate house plant, the World Daffodil Convention and blue marigolds?
It may have been a wet start to the year outside, but inside our homes, it can be a desert for plants – especially if you forget to water! That’s perhaps why Cacti are the ultimate house plants and …
Gardeners’ Corner ‘Comes to Town’ roadshow from Ballymena
Gardeners’ Corner heads to Ballymena as part of the BBC ‘Comes to Town’ roadshows marking 100 years of broadcasting in Northern Ireland. In front of a live audience at Ballymena Library, David Maxwe…
Easy ways to transform your garden this Easter
As the Easter break begins, Gardeners’ Corner has some easy ways to transform your garden space. David Maxwell is joined in studio by expert gardener Brendan Little who has suggestions on how an unin…
Why you should pre-sprout your courgettes, what to do if you can’t beat ground elder and the best-looking classroom you can find
This week Gardeners’ Corner visits what must be one of most beautiful classrooms in the country – the walled garden at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus…
Veg to sow now, celebrating Daffodils and Jekka’s 100 herbs
While damp weather is making it tricky to get in to the garden there is still plenty to keep Dave and Jules Hardy busy at Esker Farm Daffodils. Since David’s last visit the county Tyrone couple have…
How to reduce the mowing and increase spring colour, the wonders of wild garlic and perennial of the month
This week, David Maxwell visits Brendan Little in his garden on the shores of Mulroy Bay in county Donegal. What was once a formal lawn is now covered in naturalised spring flowering bulbs. Brendan e…
Where to start in the garden this spring, Jimi Blake’s new borders and producing trees on an industrial scale
As Spring officially begins, David Maxwell heads to Jimi Blake’s Hunting Brook Garden in the hills of County Wicklow where he has brand new borders in mind. At the National Trust’s Mount Stewart, wor…
Gardening in a war zone and the Great Gardeners’ Corner Grow Along
Two years to the day since the war in Ukraine began, presenter David Maxwell hears the powerful story of how a garden has helped one family close the front line survive. Alla Olkhovska has been harv…
Last-minute rose pruning made easy, Lissadell House, and perennial of the month
In this week’s programme, David heads to the Green Spaces Community Growing Project near Warrenpoint where the volunteers are getting the garden ready for the season ahead. He finds out what attracts…
How plants can help solve serious crimes, helping our hedgehogs and ‘Anya the garden fairy’
How can plants help solve serious crimes? In this week’s Gardeners’ Corner David Maxwell meets the forensic experts that use plants to give them clues. National hedgehog day fell this week – apparen…
Clearing up after the storms, in search of the giant lobelia, and perennial of the month
After a week of storms, David heads to the gardens at Hillsborough Castle where Claire Woods is surveying the trees for damage. Claire explains that their approach is to leave as much of the wood as …
What snow does for the garden, fixing rusty leeks and what to harvest in January
What happens to our gardens when it snows? This week David Maxwell heads to Downhill Demesne on Antrim’s north coast to see how a blanket of white transforms how we experience the garden. He also cha…
How to prune roses, plants for winter interest and preparing the garden for 2024
With another new year stretching out ahead, David Maxwell is joined in studio by Brendan Little for the first live programme of 2024. They’ll be chatting about preparing for the year ahead and what’s…
Gardeners’ Corner: Season by Season
In the garden we are often thinking of the seasons to come, but it can also be useful to look back and take stock at the start of a new year. This week, David Maxwell leads us through the seasons wi…
Gardeners’ Corner at Christmas
Join David Maxwell and the gardening gang for a festive fireside chat at Kilcoan Gardens in Islandmagee. With home grown and handmade seasonal treats, four experts brave the winter weather for a fun …
Why to grow willow, the life in our soil and the gardening fundraiser
With the leaves gone it’s all about colourful stem colour on Gardeners’ Corner this week. David meets artist Heather McDermott who loves willow more than any other plant and works with it every day.…
Winter wildlife, a garden for spinal injury patients and forcing daffodils
With daylight at a premium the work goes on in two stand-out gardens visited by Gardeners’ Corner this week. At Musgrave Park Hospital in South Belfast, the charity Horatio’s Garden is creating a gar…
How to treat your tree ferns, caring for Christmas Cactus and orange Poinsettia?
With a wintry feel in the air, David Maxwell is joined in studio by experts Anna Hudson and Reg Maxwell to offer some gardening inspiration for colder days. The team will be taking questions on among…
How to care for Mahonia, protecting spring bulbs and herb of the month
As Autumn gives way to Winter, David Maxwell visits the Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park. Keeper of the Gardens, John Anderson shows David the national collection of Mahonia which are lighting up…
Autumn highlights at Rowallane, pruning blackcurrants and getting those garlic bulbs planted
This week, David heads to Rowallane where Claire McNally picks some highlights including Mahonia and reveals her quest to find a ‘not so tart’ berry from the plant sometimes known as the Oregon Grape…