Gardeners' Corner BBC Radio Ulster

Gardeners’ Corner heads to Ballymena as part of the BBC ‘Comes to Town’ roadshows marking 100 years of broadcasting in Northern Ireland. In front of a live audience at Ballymena Library, David Maxwell and experts Reg Maxwell and Mary Doris take questions from novice and experienced gardeners who live near the County Antrim town. Also on the programme, David visits the nearby Britain in Bloom winning village of Cullybackey, and the allotments at Scullery O’Tullagh which volunteer Billy Millar describes as a place to nourish the body and the mind. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

As the Easter break begins, Gardeners’ Corner has some easy ways to transform your garden space. David Maxwell is joined in studio by expert gardener Brendan Little who has suggestions on how an uninspiring front garden can be transformed into a low maintenance garden with interest and colour through the year. Also joining David is city gardener, Grace Loughrey, who knows how to transform the smallest of spaces with easy to find plants. Holidays are a great time to visit gardens and Kilmacurragh in south County Wicklow will be welcoming many this Easter weekend. The gardens are undergoing a major expansion programme and on this latest visit head gardener Seamus O’Brien gives David privileged access to some of the new areas under development and he also gets to see how the future of the Wollemia pine (once thought extinct) has now been secured. Also on the programme, the new trail at Belfast’s Botanic gardens dedicated to John Templeton sometimes called the ‘father of Irish botany’ and Huw Richards on his new book ‘The Self-Sufficiency Garden’. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

This week Gardeners’ Corner visits what must be one of most beautiful classrooms in the country – the walled garden at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus in County Antrim. David Maxwell joins CAFRE’s Lori Hartman for a look around, as work begins to renovate some areas including the hot border and a brand new brick pergola. At Mount Venus nursery, in the hills above Dublin, Oliver Shurmann has some spring highlights and Colin Agnew introduces the new Templeton trail at Belfast’s Botanic gardens. In Killinchy, Anne Fitzsimmons is enjoying the spring heat in the polytunnel where she is sowing some perennials and she explains why it helps to pre-sprout your courgettes. In studio, Anna Hudson joins David to answer questions and provide some spring inspiration. Email the programme at gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

While damp weather is making it tricky to get in to the garden there is still plenty to keep Dave and Jules Hardy busy at Esker Farm Daffodils. Since David’s last visit the county Tyrone couple have added a large garden area which shows how the daffodils can be grown in mixed borders. Amy Kelly kicks off the Great Gardeners’ Corner Grow Along by sowing Beetroot, Carrots and Sugar Snap Peas. In Dublin, Oliver Shurmann picks some seasonal highlights at Mount Venus nursery and friend of the programme Jekka McVicar joins David to chat about her new book ‘100 Herbs to Grow’. Also on the show, Claire McNally is in studio to answer questions and suggest some garden jobs for the St Patrick’s weekend. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk.

This week, David Maxwell visits Brendan Little in his garden on the shores of Mulroy Bay in county Donegal. What was once a formal lawn is now covered in naturalised spring flowering bulbs. Brendan explains how he hopes to extend this riot of colour into late spring and summer – something he hopes will mean he won’t need to get the mower out until September! The propagating operation at Mount Stewart is ramping up as part of a new 3 year project. After a career in publishing, Jacky Hawkes is leading a team which is producing hundreds of plants for the garden and the sales area. Oliver Shurmann chooses Omphalodes cappadocica as his perennial of the month and Mary Doris joins David in studio to answer questions, explore the uses of wild garlic and plant up a spring container. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

As Spring officially begins, David Maxwell heads to Jimi Blake’s Hunting Brook Garden in the hills of County Wicklow where he has brand new borders in mind. At the National Trust’s Mount Stewart, work begins on a tree nursery that will produce 600,000 trees a year and gardener Archie Parke retires after five decades of service in Belfast’s Botanic Gardens. In studio, Cherry Townsend will take questions and provide some spring inspiration and wildlife Katy Bell on what to look out for in your garden this spring. Contact the programme on gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk