Gardeners' World

Spring is nearly upon us and Gardeners' World is back. As usual, Monty Don is at Longmeadow where he sets out his plans for the coming year. This week, Monty reviews the effects the winter weather has had on his garden.

Carol Klein visits a Welsh hillside garden and delves into the botany of bulbs with a couple who have used a scientific approach to plant their garden with the earliest of spring flowers.

It is the perfect time of year to plant trees and Joe Swift gives us his guide to choosing the best ones for our gardens. And there is a glimmer of hope for gardeners who have had to cope with copious amounts of rainfall this year when we visit a garden which, last year, was John Buckland Wright rought back from the brink of destruction with spectacular results.

In this episode, Monty begins to sow annual climbers and gets started on tidying his borders. Joe Swift learns how and when to prune them, and why. Nick Bailey, head gardener of the Chelsea Physic: Garden, discovers a hidden tropical oasis.

In the first big gardening weekend of the year, Monty divides perennials and gives plenty of tips for how we can kick-start the garden for the season ahead. Elsewhere Joe Swift visits a major grower to find out how bedding plants are produced and what drives the demand. Rachel is at the garden centre to look for the top plant trends this Easter.

For the first time this season, Monty gets to work in his wildlife garden to ensure that there are plenty of plants in flower for early pollinators. Carol Klein meets Stuart Donachie, who has embraced every planting opportunity in his shady garden in Herefordshire, and Frances Tophill invites viewers to grow easy summer vegetables along with her as she trials varieties for taste and productivity at RHS Rosemoor.

Monty starts a new project - a cutting garden - and gives advice on what to grow to provide plenty of cut flowers for gorgeous summer bouquets. We visit Cumbria to meet Jack Gott, who has been passionate about that most flamboyant of flowers, the dahlia, for more than 40 years and has over a thousand plants in his garden. James Alexander-Sinclair celebrates a harbinger of spring, the ephemeral cherry blossom, at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

Monty gets his new vegetable garden underway by making raised beds. He also offers advice on how to cut back herbs. Nick Bailey marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare when he investigates the fact and the fiction behind the bard's potions and poisons at the Chelsea Physic Garden, and we visit Pashley Manor in East Sussex to unearth the story behind the planting of over 25,000 tulips.

Monty visits the RHS Malvern Spring Festival where he is joined by Carol Klein and Chelsea gold medal winner Adam Frost. With over 70 floral displays on show, Monty is on the lookout for scented plants to take back to Longmeadow, Carol advises on plants to buy for problem places in the garden and Adam Frost takes a tour of the show gardens to find the best take-home design tips.

As the growing season picks up a pace, Monty is sowing vegetables and planting out the scented plants which he brought back from the Malvern Spring Festival. Carol is delving into the hedgerows and rooting at the bases of walls, fences and trees as she begins her journey to investigate why plants thrive in challenging conditions and we return to Sissinghurst to find out about the changes Troy Scott-Smith is making to the world famous white garden.

At Longmeadow, Monty's focus is on summer when he plants up containers for colour in the Jewel Garden. He also turns his attention to overcrowded ornamental grasses which, now they are beginning to put on growth, need to be split and replanted. Continuing her search for finding the right plant for the right place, Carol takes a close look at why plants survive in the cracks and crevices of walls and gives her recommendations for garden plants that will thrive in similar conditions. Zephaniah Lindo takes a trip to Wales to meet a fellow primula enthusiast.

This week we are celebrating the work of the army of volunteers who keep gardens up and down the country looking their best for visitors. Frances Tophill continues her vegetable trials at RHS Rosemoor in Devon when she plants out her allotment with the help of RHS volunteers and we visit the Bodnant Garden in north Wales to find out how the volunteers there guide visitors through the world-famous Laburnum Arch. Back at Longmeadow, we catch up with Monty's progress in his cutting garden and, now that plants are growing apace, he gets on with seasonal maintenance tasks in the Jewel Garden.

Tender vegetables, bedding plants and bees are the focus of Monty's gardening at Longmeadow as he plants out squashes and scented annuals and harvests honey. Adam Frost is in London looking at how small spaces in the metropolis can be utilised to make gardens for wildlife, food and relaxation; and we visit north Wales to meet a man with a passion for prehistoric plants.

More handy horticultural tips from the gardening experts.

Monty is reaping the rewards of the summer when he begins to harvest crops from the vegetable garden and gives tips on extending the flower season in the borders.

Carol takes a trip to the seaside to discover why some plants thrive despite being assaulted by salt-laden winds and we make a final visit to Sissinghurst to catch up with Troy Scott-Smith and see the changes that have been made to the garden.

Monty demonstrates that it is not too late to start growing vegetables by showing which types to sow now, and he adds some summer colour to the Spring Garden by sinking plants in pots into the borders.

A hosta National Collection holder shares the secrets of his propagating success, and Rachel de Thame pays a visit to the garden of theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Gardening magazine. Earlier in the year, Monty put aside a patch of his garden to grow his own cut flowers, and this week he returns to assess the results and harvest his first crop of colourful blooms. We pay a visit to an organic flower farm to find out how, from seed to harvest, the process of growing plays a large part in improving wellbeing, and Joe Swift explores the Savill Garden in Windsor to see how the traditional rose garden has been reimagined into a contemporary design.

As summer gets into full swing, there is plenty for Monty to be doing at Longmeadow, and this week he gets to grips with summer pruning as he tackles his espaliered pear trees. Nature's bounty is very much in evidence at Lord Rothschild's garden at Waddesdon Manor, where we get an exclusive look behind the scenes, and Joe Swift ponders ways of putting a contemporary twist on traditional bedding plants.

Now that rambling roses have finished flowering, Monty turns his attention to pruning and tying in new growth for a good display next year. On the 20th anniversary of the death of Geoff Hamilton, Adam Frost returns to the famous Gardeners' World location, Barnsdale, to pay tribute and to revisit some his own early gardening memories. And there is a visit to the garden of a sweet pea enthusiast in Abergavenny, for her top tips for growing the best blooms.

Whether you are staying at home or going away on holiday, Monty has plenty of tips for how to keep the garden looking good and remaining productive during August. Joe Swift pays a visit to the Northumberland garden of Chris Mullin who, after over 20 years as a member of parliament, has turned his attention to the renovation of his walled garden. And National Trust head gardener Alan Power catches up with the transformation of Shakespeare's New Place garden in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Now that birds are no longer nesting in hedges, it is the time to get them looking trim and neat and Monty has plenty of tips on how to cut them so that they grow well.

Alan Power visits Croome Park in Worcestershire to discover more about one of the first great landscapes of Capability Brown, and we visit a couple in Gloucestershire whose ornamental grass garden was inspired by the Far East.

With the bank holiday ahead, there is plenty of opportunity to catch up with some essential jobs in the garden and Monty gives a masterclass on how to look after and prune soft fruit to ensure maximum production next year.

Frances Tophill is at RHS Rosemoor, where she is catching up on her vegetable trials which she started earlier in the year, and Alan Power visits Hestercombe Gardens in Somerset to find out more about the discovery of a long lost gladiolus, which was originally included in the planting plans of Gertrude Jekyll over 100 years ago.

Gardening magazine. Monty is at Longmeadow catching up with some seasonal jobs, and also gets out and about for an inspiring visit to the longest herbaceous border in the world. Adam Frost lays out plans for his new garden in Lincolnshire, while newcomer Flo Headlam visits a small city front garden in Liverpool to get underway with her mission to green up Britain's grey spaces. Nick Macer will be in Sheffield, exploring the ways in which Britain's climatic conditions can be exploited for growing some surprising plants, and Carol Klein is in Devon, getting to grips with some of the members of the extraordinary buttercup family, which include clematis and delphiniums.

Gardening magazine. In another full hour of gardening, Monty is at Longmeadow giving advice on how to deal with unruly roses, taking cuttings of herbs and planting a new tree. Carol Klein continues her series on plant families, exploring some of the most popular relations of the rose, and we pay a visit to an orchard in Worcestershire to find out how enthusiasts are caring for one of the rose family members - the plum. Nick Macer is in London visiting a town garden where two different microclimates offer very different planting opportunities. Adam Frost reveals his plans for his new garden, while Flo Headlam is in the heart of Bristol, transforming unpromising grey spaces into vibrant green. And Jane Moore meets a gardener in Torquay who has designed and planted his garden with thousands of plants which reflect areas of the world from Asia to the Mediterranean.

Gardening magazine. Monty adds some autumn flowering asters to his borders, as well as refreshing his strawberry beds with new stock. Carol Klein continues her series on plant families and this week, she takes a close look at one of the largest plant families in the world, the daisy family. Nick Macer is in Essex where he discovers a garden where cacti are grown to monstrous proportions due, in part, to its microclimate. Garden doctor Nick Bailey is in Berkshire, where he provides a remedy for a patch of dry shade in a small back garden, while Jane Moore visits two tiny gardens on the sunny and shady side of the same street in Bristol. And Adam Frost begins the first of his design projects in his new Lincolnshire garden.

Gardening magazine. Monty starts to tidy up the garden for autumn and reviews this year's display in the jewel garden. Carol Klein looks at the Apiaceae family, which includes not only stalwart and wildlife-friendly plants but also edible roots, and we pay a visit to a giant vegetable grower who is hoping to break the world record with his carrots. Adam Frost's designs begin taking shape when he starts to build raised beds for his contemporary kitchen garden, while Nick Bailey travels to a suburban garden in Windsor to tackle overgrown climbers and shrubs. Jane Moore discovers an exuberant garden and gardener whose small space is packed with plants, and Nick Macer discovers a garden in Ireland where the climate resembles an Atlantic rainforest.

Gardening magazine. Monty catches up with seasonal jobs at Longmeadow this week when he divides some perennials and plants alpines for spring colour. He also travels to Dublin to meet Helen Dillon to find out why she is planning to leave her world-famous garden after decades of honing it to perfection. In Scotland, Joe Swift begins his quest to find out why we should rekindle our love for rock gardens, while Frances Tophill perches precariously on a cliff in Cornwall as she joins a couple who have created a garden in extreme conditions. Adam Frost continues his progress on designing his garden in Lincolnshire and Flo Headlam transforms a shady and neglected front garden in London. And garden designer Mark Lane shares his passion for colour in his garden in Kent.

Gardening magazine. After months of nurturing the plants in his garden, Monty reaps a harvest of a different kind when he investigates how productive his bees have been at making honey. Joe Swift visits the world famous Chatsworth House in Derbyshire to explore the history of its monumental 19th-century rock garden and to see how a more contemporary version compliments the original design. Frances Tophill explores the challenges of gardening on the edge of a Scottish loch, while Flo Headlam is in Birmingham, transforming a city rooftop. Adam Frost continues with the transformation of his Lincolnshire garden, Alan Power spends a day with the head gardener at the Bishop's Palace in Wells, and Zephaniah Lindo is in Yorkshire, looking at research into how light can be manipulated to change the way plants grow.

Gardening magazine. There is a visitor at Longmeadow this week when Rachel de Thame lends Monty a hand as he refreshes his dry garden with plants that will thrive in tricky growing conditions. Monty also visits a national collection of vines to search out the best varieties for growing outdoors. Frances Tophill travels to the heart of Wales to meet a couple who have carved out a garden 1000 feet above sea level and Joe Swift visits Chelsea gold medal winner and stonemason Martin Cook to see how he uses contemporary rock sculpture within his Buckinghamshire garden. Garden doctor Nick Bailey offers intensive care to some neglected patio pots, while Adam Frost gets to work on renovating his rose pergola and laying paths in his kitchen garden. Alan Power visits Marks Hall arboretum in Essex, spending a day with the head gardener to find out what it takes to manage a landscape populated with trees.