Scribehound Gardening

About Scribehound Gardening

Join James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift every week where they tackle a garden topic, from the sensible to the completely ridiculous, armed with sharp opinions, 40 years’ worth of stories and a habit of wandering wildly off-topic. Listeners can also send in their weird and wonderful garden questions for the chance to win our treasured mascot - The Garden Collective gnome, Jekyll. Our only two rules? No dead plants and no dull questions. Got a burning garden question, or a bizarre problem you just need to share? Email us at gnome@jamesandjoegarden.com

Publisher

James Alexander-Sinclair & Joe Swift

Category

leisure

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

18 Sept 2024

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

9 of 77 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Should You Put a Swimming Pool in a British Garden?

   Garden designers James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift explore the practicalities and costs of adding swimming pools versus natural ponds to British gardens, offering insights for homeowners.

2. 

   29 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Question Time: Dying Birches, Dying Magazines, and James's Retirement Plan

   Garden designers James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift discuss landscape architecture, gardening problems, and the value of garden magazines in this interview episode.

3. 

   22 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   What's the Point of WASPS? (And Ticks, Midges and Chicken Mites)

   Garden designers James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift explore the ecological purpose of often-disliked garden creatures, revealing their surprising value.

Inside a recent episode

Should You Put a Swimming Pool in a British Garden?

Published 6 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Because the other thing about it, the thing that I've always find quite weird is that for many years, they were always that sort of Florida blue thing. Yeah. You know what I mean? Which doesn't sort of work with this country in any way, shape or form. And then I had some people who did that, who went the other way and went for a sort of black lining. And then it's even scary because you don't know what's at the bottom. You sort of want to know what's there, don't you? Well, I should fess up at this point because in France we have a swimming pool. Well, we put it in 20 years ago, and we've just had a bit of a refurb on it because the liner had gone all wrinkly. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

24 ratings

Spotify

4.6 / 5

61 ratings

Questions about Scribehound Gardening