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''Gardeners' Question Time'' is a long-running
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts.


History

The first programme was broadcast in the North and Northern Ireland
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of the
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at 22.15 on 9 April 1947, and came from the "singing room" at the Broadoak Hotel,
Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
. Originally entitled ''How Does Your Garden Grow?'', it was inspired by the wartime
Dig for Victory Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I ...
campaign. On the first panel were Bill Sowerbutts, Fred Loads, Tom Clark and Dr E.W. Sansome. Professor Alan Gemmell joined Loads and Sowerbutts in 1950 when their contrasting styles (Professor, Traditional Head gardener and Commercial Grower) added an entertainment element. The success of the format led to the programme's being broadcast nationally on Saturday mornings at 11.00 from 27 April to 13 July 1957 in the
BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...
(under the title ''Down the Garden Path''). In September 1957 the programme was transferred to the Home Service and gained its present title of ''Gardeners' Question Time'' as well as the time slot of 14.00 on Sundays which it has retained to this day. The programme marked its 1000th edition in 1972, though the occasion was overshadowed by the death of long-serving chairman
Franklin Engelmann Henry Franklin Engelmann (4 March 1908 – 2 March 1972) was a radio personality popular in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly as the host of ''Down Your Way'' and ''Gardeners' Question Time''. Life and career Franklin Engelmann was bor ...
just days earlier. The format and panel remained largely unchanged for many years. In 1994 production moved to outside company Taylor Made Broadcast; the complete panel was discarded by the BBC and moved to the new Classic FM station on a short-term contract to present ''Classic Gardening Forum'', sponsored by The Cheltenham and Gloucester
Building Society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingd ...
. In 2009 the production of the show was taken over by the UK's largest independent radio production company Somethin' Else. The programme's audience figures continue to perform strongly as confirmed by the official audience measurement body, RAJAR.


Format

The programme typically comes from a village hall or other public venue somewhere in Britain, or occasionally further afield, such as in the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
or northern France. GQT often records at special locations throughout the UK including on a moving train, on top of Snowdon, from inside the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
and in December 2016 from the state dining room at 10 Downing Street. There are also regular editions in which the panel answer questions sent in by
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or
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, known as postbag editions. These editions are recorded in a specially adapted potting shed at
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near Sparsholt, Winchester; however, in recent years postbag programmes have been recorded at various gardens around the UK, including at Highgrove with Prince Charles,
Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...
,
RHS Wisley RHS Garden Wisley is a garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley, Surrey, south of London. It is one of five gardens run by the society, the others being Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor, and Bridgewater (which opened on 18 May 2 ...
,
Ness Botanic Gardens Ness Botanic Gardens are near the cities of Liverpool and Chester on the English-Welsh border in the Wirral Peninsula. They occupy a site of 64 acres overlooking the Dee Estuary. The Ness Botanic Gardens were created by Arthur Kilpin Bulley (1861 ...
and
East Ruston Old Vicarage East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens is a notable privately owned garden in the county of Norfolk at East Ruston in Eastern England. The gardens were established in 1973 by Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, who have created a design which incorporat ...
. Each year the programme visits a botanic garden to stage its annual GQT Summer Garden Party. The event includes seminars and talks given by the GQT panel, a chance to receive first hand advice from a panelist inside the GQT Potting Shed plus two programme recordings. A highlight of the horticultural calendar, the event attracts a large audience of keen amateur gardeners. Most recently the Summer Garden Party has been hosted by
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...
,
National Botanic Garden of Wales The National Botanic Garden of Wales ( cy, Gardd Fotaneg Genedlaethol Cymru) is a botanical garden located in Llanarthney in the River Tywi valley, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The garden is both a visitor attraction and a centre for botanical rese ...
and Ness Botanic Gardens. Since 2001, Gardeners' Question Time factsheets have been made available after each episode covering all questions and their given answers. The factsheets can be found by searching for a particular episode and scrolling down the page. In 2009, the programme launched a podcast edition and a
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account, the latter designed to be a place where listeners can share gardening ideas and tips and comment on the radio programme's topics and panelist answers. The programme regularly attracts an audience in excess of two million and has answered over 35,000 questions in its long run.


Panellists

Panellists include
Matthew Wilson Matthew Wilson (born 29 January 1987) is a British rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson competed in the WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team. ...
,
Chris Beardshaw Christopher Paul Beardshaw (born 11 January 1969) is a British garden designer, plantsman, author, speaker and broadcaster. Background Beardshaw was formally trained in Horticulture at Pershore College, and holds a BA Hons and PGDip in Landscape ...
, Matthew Biggs,
Bob Flowerdew Bob Flowerdew is an organic gardener and television and radio presenter. He is a regular panel member of BBC Radio 4's ''Gardeners' Question Time''. He has nearly an acre of garden in Dickleburgh, Norfolk, England, where he lives with his wif ...
,
Pippa Greenwood Pippa Greenwood is an English plant pathologist. She appears frequently on the BBC's long-running ''Gardeners' World'' television programme and has been a regular panellist on ''Gardeners' Question Time'' on BBC Radio 4 since 1994. She also was ...
,
Bunny Guinness Peta "Bunny" Guinness (''née'' Ellis; born 16 December 1955) is a British chartered landscape architect, journalist and radio personality who is a regular panellist on the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme, ''Gardener's Question Time''. She a ...
,
Anne Swithinbank Anne Swithinbank (born 1957 in Belvedere in Kent) is a trained horticulturist and freelance gardening broadcaster who has written several books on gardening, including ''Gardener's Question Time: All Your Gardening Problems Solved'', ''Gardeners ...
, James Wong and Christine Walkden. Past participants have included
John Cushnie John Alexander Montgomery Cushnie (14 May 1943 – 31 December 2009) was a landscape designer, author, journalist, and broadcaster in the United Kingdom, best known as a regular panellist on the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme ''Gardeners' ...
, Dr
Stefan Buczacki Stefan T. Buczacki (born 16 October 1945) is a British horticulturist, botanist, biographer, novelist and broadcaster. Early life Buczacki grew up in Duffield, Derbyshire, where he was educated at The Ecclesbourne School. He gained a first-clas ...
, David Burges, Fred Downham, Professor Alan Gemmell, Walter Gilmore, Jill Hicking, Clay Jones, Nigel Colborn,
Daphne Ledward Daphne Ledward (born 1945 in Bradford), known as Daffers when she appeared on Sir Jimmy Young's show on BBC Radio 2, is an English garden designer and author and former gardening presenter for the BBC. Early life She was born in Bradford in We ...
, Fred Loads, Bridget Moody, Martin Fish, David Jones, Sue Phillipps, Geoffrey Smith, Sid Robertson, and Bill Sowerbutts. Past chairmen were Bob Stead,
Franklin Engelmann Henry Franklin Engelmann (4 March 1908 – 2 March 1972) was a radio personality popular in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly as the host of ''Down Your Way'' and ''Gardeners' Question Time''. Life and career Franklin Engelmann was bor ...
, Michael Barratt,
Steve Race Stephen Russell "Steve" Race OBE (1 April 192122 June 2009) was a British composer, pianist and radio and television presenter. Biography Born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, the son of a lawyer, Race learned the piano from the age of five.Spencer ...
, Ken Ford, Les Cottington, Clay Jones, and Stefan Buczacki. On 26 April 2019
Eric Robson Eric Bell Robson (born 31 December 1946) is a television broadcaster, author and documentary film maker who has lived for most of his life in Cumbria, where he has a sheep farm. For many years he was the main presenter of ''Brass Tacks''. Earl ...
, host for 25 years, chaired his last programme. His replacement as chair was BBC radio newsreader Kathy Clugston.


References


External links


Gardeners' Question Time page at the BBC website
{{BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 programmes Gardening in the United Kingdom