The James & Joe Garden Show

It’s time for Ask James & Joe – where listener questions meet gardening rebellion, unexpected sermons, and the occasional Victorian murder mystery.

This week’s postbag takes us everywhere from “should you really wait a full year before changing your garden?” to whether plants gossip about us when we’re not looking. James confesses to breaking his own rules, Joe defends gardening instinct over perfection, and both agree that courage – not calendar dates – is the real secret to success.

Along the way we cover:

– Why waiting a year isn’t always the right advice

– Late bulb planting and breaking gardening “rules”

– Pruning roses with a hedge trimmer (yes, really)

– Storm damage, fallen trees, and why gardens always recover

– The most poisonous plant you probably already grow

– Which plants would be terrible witnesses in a Victorian crime

– Whether plants feel loved, threatened, or quietly judgemental

– Why gaps in gardens are actually a gift

There’s theology (again), questionable accents, plants on the run from the law, and a reminder that gardens are resilient, optimistic, and never finished – much like the people who love them.

Plus: news of James & Joe’s first ever live podcast, coming this March.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/ 

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. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

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.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Subscribe now⁠.⁠

Follow James & Joe on ⁠Instagram⁠.

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠.

⁠Contact us⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are green roofs worth it – and are green walls actually… terrible?

James pulls no punches on vertical planting, explaining why most green walls fail, why irrigation systems are their Achilles’ heel, and why a humble Virginia creeper might be the smartest choice you’ll ever make. Joe plays devil’s advocate, defending green walls as horticultural art rather than practical gardening – before both agree that maintenance is where the dream usually dies.

From there, things get serious (well, serious-ish).

Green roofs, however, are declared a resounding triumph. James argues that every flat roof in the country should be green – by law, citing biodiversity, insulation, cooling, habitat creation, and sheer joy when opening the bedroom blinds to a roof buzzing with bees.

There are stories of flamingos on London roof gardens, Zandra Rhodes’ exotic pots, rogue designers ignoring planning law, and a surprisingly educational trip through the history of turf roofing – plus a promise of a future deep-dive with green roof expert Kay Davies for those who want the technical stuff James and Joe gleefully avoid.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/ 

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. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

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.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe now⁠.

Follow James & Joe on Instagram.

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠Instagram.

Contact us⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift open the inbox and dive headfirst into your gardening questions – with plenty of digressions along the way.

They tackle the eternal dilemma of self-seeders – when a “generous volunteer” quietly becomes a full-blown marauder – before heading into snowbound survival tips, from sharpening secateurs with camellia oil to designing gardens from the sofa.

There’s advice on wisteria – where it really works, how much pruning is too much pruning, and why cherry pickers should come with a health warning – plus a surprisingly strong opinion on crazy paving, recycled materials and when a project just isn’t worth the angle grinder dust.

Along the way there are accents, Belgian cyclists, robot mowers wintering in Magaluf, and a reminder that if you enjoy the podcast, a nice review goes a very long way.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/

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. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

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.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe now⁠: https://join.scribehound.com/gardening?ref=share&sharer=uu4ouXbbErgc54CBD&shareType=SbzpSgeEBK&channel=gardening%E2%81%A0

Follow James & Joe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesandjoegarden/

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garden_collective_/

Contact us: ⁠[email protected]⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift ease into 2026 with a wide-ranging, laugh-out-loud look at what the year ahead holds for gardeners – and for them.

From judging garden shows in Japan and chasing cherry blossom to building kitchen gardens, new garden structures and a suspiciously expensive shelter designed entirely for a cat, they talk travel, home projects and why resolutions don’t really work in gardening (or January).

There’s plenty of chat about the big flower shows too – Chelsea, Hampton Court’s move to Badminton, Sandringham and what it means when shows start touring the country. Along the way they reminisce about formative gardens, design heroes and why we’re still talking about drought, water and climate thirty years on.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/

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. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

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.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe now⁠: https://join.scribehound.com/gardening?ref=share&sharer=uu4ouXbbErgc54CBD&shareType=SbzpSgeEBK&channel=gardening%E2%81%A0

Follow James & Joe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesandjoegarden/

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garden_collective_/

Contact us: ⁠[email protected]⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merry Christmas to all our gnome enthusiasts and loyal subscribers of The James & Joe Garden Show.

As we are away for a well-earned mince pie or four, we are releasing Part 2 of the podcast with our first, and only, guest WILL YOUNG.

In this bonus episode, James & Joe ask Will about his Dream Garden Party and Will gets stuck in with your listener questions - is there a Golden Gnome this time around?

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1. The next live episode is will be in January 2026 – don’t miss it!

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

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.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).
You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.
It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.
⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe now⁠: https://join.scribehound.com/gardening?ref=share&sharer=uu4ouXbbErgc54CBD&shareType=SbzpSgeEBK&channel=gardening%E2%81%A0

Follow James & Joe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesandjoegarden/
Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garden_collective_/

Contact us: ⁠[email protected]⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices