Pots & Trowels The Gardening Podcast · Martin Fish, Jill Fish, Sean Riley

Raised Beds? What to fill them with? Can we entice the King onto the Potting Shed Stage?

·31 min·2 clips

The team says they want to get the King onto the Potting Shed Stage at Sandringham.

1. Pots & Trowels The Gardening Podcast looks ahead to 2026 with Martin, Jill, and Sean planning changes for their cottage garden and show season. 2. Martin and Jill are the hosts, Sean is the third presenter, and Tricia, Dr Richard Claxton, and the King are mentioned because they shape the episode's garden and event plans. 3. The episode asks what will change in the garden, what raised beds should be filled with, and where the team will appear across 2026. 4. Martin describes an old cottage on a third of an acre where the garden was grassed down for years before they started reshaping it. 5. He says the first jobs were the veg garden, the greenhouse, cut-out beds and borders, a new patio, and new planting for year-round interest. 6. Jill and Martin note that the garden has two halves: straight-edged front borders by the veg plots and more curved, informal planting at the back. 7. Martin says the back garden includes a small woodland walk, a darker shady area, and a former pond site that had been filled with rubble and rubbish. 8. He explains that the front area once had rough grass, a large diseased tree, broken concrete paths, and scrubby shrubs before the current transformation. 9. Martin says he has lifted turf this year to widen the front borders by about a metre and to make room for more planting. 10. He uses the phrase "editing the borders" to describe digging out herbaceous clumps, rearranging plants, and replanting them in late winter or early spring. 11. Martin and Jill discuss a new front border that will be about 1.5 metres wide, south-facing, and kept under a metre high so it does not block light from the windows. 12. Martin admits he does not yet know what will go in that border, while Jill says the planting needs planning rather than random purchases. 13. They compare the problem to Victorian gardens and note that mature trees and shrubs need patience, space, and time to reach their full scale. 14. Martin says he prefers smaller plants because he enjoys nurturing, shaping, and pruning them as they grow. 15. The episode shifts to the National Garden Scheme, also called the Yellow Book Scheme, which opens gardens for charity and usually includes tea, coffee, and cakes. 16. Martin explains that a village organiser named Tricia has asked them to open their garden, and the plan is now a joint opening with a neighbour across the road who has parking and tea and cakes. 17. Sean then asks about a wall-side patio with a self-contained water feature carrying a lion's head, which has been stored in the garage for three years because it developed a leak. 18. Martin also mentions a Victorian gas lamp, a cast iron lamp stand, and a plan to refurbish and position them in the garden. 19. The tone is practical and conversational, with repeated problem-solving, casual jokes, and detailed planning for plots, patios, and show work. 20. Listeners who like practical garden redesign and show-season updates will get the most from it, while people wanting a tightly scripted story may skip it.

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