516 – Incredible ivy, vegetable folklore and autumn planting essentials

Meet one of our most loved and hated native plants. You might think of ivy as a destroyer of buildings or a nuisance weed, but it’s actually just been crowned the most popular flower with pollinating insects in an 8 year study by the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. It’s also the RHS Wildlife Wonder plant for October, so our Science and Horticulture editor Olivia Drake is here to explain what makes it so valuable, and worth including in your garden. Staying with plant wonders, did you know if you dream of cucumbers, it means you might speedily fall in love? RHS Head of Libraries and Exhibitions Fiona Davison offers fascinating tales of vegetable folklore for an upcoming online seminar. Hyde Hall’s Andy Tebbutt tells us why autumn is the best time of year for planting, but what’s happening to that plant when you put it in the ground? And Gareth Richards and Melissa Mabbitt answer your gardening questions.

Host: Gareth Richards

Producer: Dan Cocker

Contributors: Olivia Drake, Fiona Davison, Andy Tebbutt, Melissa Mabbitt

Send your questions to podcast@rhs.org.uk

Links:

Ivy

Butterfly Conservation pollinator survey

Vegetables, dreams and folklore

RHS Libraries

Why autumn is the best time for planting