60 minSeason 2 • Episode 10
LatestDiarmuid Gavin wants our gardens to become havens for wildlife. He visits a RSPB nature reserve in Yorkshire to understand how important our gardens are to Britain's wildlife population. He meets a group of gardeners at one of the country's only chemical-free community wildlife allotments and encourages the people of Sheffield to grow wildflowers in their gardens to attract pollinators by giving them a taste for flower flavoured honey. Charlie Dimmock is determined to make the peony the star of our beds and borders again. On her revival she visits a nursery in Somerset - one of the oldest in the UK - which has been championing peonies for over 150 years and she sets up a pop-up peony stall in a Bristol market to spread the word about her campaign.
Britain’s rich horticultural history is being lost. More and more front and back gardens are paved over - for development, for parking spaces, or because families don’t have the time or inclination to manage these spaces. The trend for easy-to-maintain lawns, patios and paving has also led to a decline in traditional gardens full of flowers, plants and trees to the extent that some of our most iconic flora and fauna have all but disappeared. Step forward the BBC’s most-loved gardening experts, who are determined to turn us back into a green-fingered nation once again.
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