If you're itching to get in the garden but the little things of life get in the way, gardening podcasts are for you. These on-demand radio shows are downloadable to your phone or tablet, and the choice and quality is at an all-time high. Subscribe at iTunes; or, if you use an Android phone, try an app called BeyondPod and search for each show by name.
Gardeners' Corner with Cherrie McIlwaine – BBC Radio Ulster
Cherrie took the lead spot in my top 10 two years ago, and she's still the best. The 25-minute show is weekly without fail, offers=ing a mix of phone-ins to the expert panel, roadshow visits to village halls, and evocative walkabouts of Northern Ireland gardens. Cherrie excels at these, letting me visualise the details of each garden: the sun hitting that stand of birch, those nodding daffodils. Wonderful.
Gardeners' Question Time – BBC Radio 4
GQT gets more than its share of criticism from gardeners, but the 40-minute show is an unmissable part of my week. I admire its clockwork regularity; its tireless trekking across England, Scotland and Wales to take questions from the public; and the amusing, occasionally squabbling cast of characters on its expert panel (I've especially enjoyed the addition of keep-it-real horticulturalist Christine Walkden).
This new gardening podcast from the Royal Horticultural Society is still putting down roots, having started just weeks ago. It intends to broadcast fortnightly. I'm a new RHS member, and this half-hour show has done a lot to humanise the organisation, bringing it beyond the bumf that thumped through the letterbox. The podcast interviews RHS in-house experts, answers questions from the public and offers seasonal advice. I've got high hopes for this one.
Gardening With Tim And Joe – BBC Radio Leeds
Joe Maiden is like an almanac, explaining exactly what my fruit and vegetables want, and when; he puts a lesser focus on flowers and shrubs, but they're not forgotten. The podcast is a 15-minute version of the Sunday morning gardening show broadcast on BBC Radio Leeds, and Tim's nonstop promotion of the show's Facebook group and Twitter feed tells me that he and Joe are happy to have a chat via social media. (Why isn't there more social media activity by my top three shows? GQT's Twitter page has tumbleweeds blowing through it.)
A Way To Garden With Margaret Roach
A Way to Garden is the 25-minute weekly show from New York-based gardening author and blogger Margaret Roach. Media-savvy and a self-confessed maniac about gardening, Margaret now hosts this show herself, rather than being interviewed by someone else, a change that has vastly improved the show's focus and drive. There's good advice on what to do now in the garden, with an emphasis on edibles, and I enjoy the gems of insight drawn from Margaret's eclectic network, from clematis growers to suppliers of attractively-coloured garden hoses.
Are there other great gardening podcasts you'd recommend? Let me know!
• Sheila Averbuch edits the Scottish gardening blog Stopwatch Gardener and tweets at @stopwatchgarden.
