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The Nature Garden: gardening, wildlife and nature notes · The Weekending Show

Autumn fruits and feathers

·45 min·2 clips
Chiffchaffs wait until African winter quarters before they change plumage.
The Nature Garden Podcast opens with Carl Steinson and the Lionheart Radio team taking a bonny wee wander down the garden path and country lane. It sets the tone as a Northumbrian autumn stroll, with birds, bees, flowers, trees, and seasonal stories. Tom Pattinson is soon out in the garden, enjoying the late blooms and foliage while talking through autumn's ups and downs. Summer growth has died back, herbaceous perennials are finished, deciduous plants need tidying, and strong winds and falling temperatures are already closing in. Leaves are dropping, and the garden needs a proper clean-up. The fruit talk carries the middle of the episode. Pears are checked for ripeness and handled gently because they do not last forever on the tree. Apples get the same careful attention, with a simple twist-and-lift test for picking at the right moment. Discovery is praised as an early dessert apple, James Grieve is named as a favorite tasting apple, and Egremont Russet, Howgate Wonder, Lord Derby, Bramley, and Scarlet Bramley all pass through the orchard conversation. Bramley comes across as a steady keeper, still useful well into spring. The show then widens out again. Tom Cadwallander offers bird notes and keeps an eye on urban skies, and Steve Lowe takes the listener back to an archaeological dig and the Anglo-Saxon past. The ending settles back into the practical rhythm of the season, with seed catalogues to order, perennials to divide, and a reminder to keep spending time outdoors with nature.

As heard by us

A relaxed autumn run through fruit, bird notes, and seasonal tidy-up jobs.

The piece settles into autumn with an easy, observant tone: the garden is shedding, the fruit is ripening, and the conversation moves from practical work to bird notes and a glance back to Anglo-Saxon history.

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Why you'd press play

When you want a calm autumn listen while the garden is in seasonal motion.

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