The James & Joe Garden Show

This week, James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift open the shed doors and ask the big question: do gardeners really need this many tools… or are we all just emotionally attached to rusty metal?

What follows is a gloriously unhinged inventory of spades, shovels, mattocks, mysterious iron bars, and at least five different types of string (James has a system, apparently).

We cover:

– The difference between a spade and a shovel (and why getting it wrong should get you gently escorted off a landscaping course)

– Golden spades, vintage forks, and the tool that’s been lost and rediscovered five times in a compost heap

– The great hoe crisis

– why none of us really knows how to use one properly

– Edward Shovelhands (yes, really)

– The rogue thistle-beheading device inherited from James’s grandfather– Why Japanese toolmakers don’t believe in long-handled edging shears

– The romance of linseed oil and cricket bats (unexpected crossover episode)

– Multi-tools, fruit pickers, ditch-rakes and the mythical lost mattock of 1994

– And the real answer to the question: should you declutter your shed?

No lectures. No rulebooks. Just two gardeners defending their tool addictions with confidence.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1. The next live episode is will be in January 2026 – don’t miss it!

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored by Kress, the global leaders in robotic lawn mowing.

Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/ About our hosts

James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe now⁠: https://join.scribehound.com/gardening?ref=share&sharer=uu4ouXbbErgc54CBD&shareType=SbzpSgeEBK&channel=gardening%E2%81%A0

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garden_collective_/

Contact us: ⁠[email protected]⁠.
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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With James & Joe away, we are diving into a topic AND questions episode, prepared in advance by your delightful hosts so you NEVER miss out on your weekly content...

What starts with school detentions and gardening-as-punishment quickly escalates into chainsaws, harnesses, cowboy tree surgery, Viking arborists, and the strange satisfaction of watching branches fall into a chipper. James confesses to some deeply questionable early career decisions. Joe admits a lifelong obsession with people who climb trees for a living.

Along the way they explore:
– Why gardening should never be a punishment
– The difference between tree surgeons and arboriculturalists
– Why good tree surgeons are artists, athletes, and engineers
– Tree Preservation Orders and why you can’t just “have a go”
– Planting trees you later have to manage – the long game of gardening
– Why trees matter more than ever as the climate heats up

There’s storms outside the window, Olympic-level tree surgery fantasies, and a surprising amount of respect for people who willingly climb oaks in high winds.

YOU too can put your questions to James and Joe in real time by subscribing to the Garden Collective for just £1.

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/ 

About our hosts

James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Subscribe now⁠.⁠⁠⁠

Follow James & Joe on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠.

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠.

⁠⁠⁠Contact us⁠.⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s Ask James & Joe time – the episode where your gardening questions get answered with maximum charm, minimum restraint, and a suspiciously high chance of gnome-related bribery.

James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift lay down the only two rules: no dead plants and no dull questions. In return, you get:
– A surprisingly deep dive into how to design an Arsenal-inspired garden without turning it into “blood and bandages”
– Botanical tattoos, family poppies, pirate-era decisions, and whether young people are about to go off tattoos entirely
– A full-on debate about how to pronounce Latin plant names without sounding like a posh idiot (or doing accidental Italian cosplay)
– The real talk on getting younger people into gardening – and why gardeners should be paid properly
– Tool bags vs buckets vs belts, the tragedy of the missing hori hori, and the underrated genius of painting your tools bright yellow

Plus: a reminder we’re going LIVE – 10 March, 7pm, - Nicholson’s Nurseries (West Oxfordshire).

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/

About our hosts

James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Subscribe now⁠.⁠

Follow James & Joe on ⁠Instagram⁠.

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠.

⁠Contact us⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift rip up the Valentine’s rulebook and dive into The Secret Language of Flowers – aka the Victorian-era “Snapchat” where you sent a single bloom instead of a message you’d regret.

We cover:
– Birth-month flowers and what they supposedly say about you (James gets Hawthorn + Lily of the Valley – “humility” and “sweetness”… apparently)
– The dangerous art of sending the wrong flower (yellow blooms, narcissus, and accidental insults)
– Why Valentine’s Day roses can feel like the least romantic thing on earth
– The grim reality of petrol-station romance – miserable roses, nylon teddy bears, and out-of-season strawberries
– James’s most unhinged romantic flex – 200 red roses delivered in full kilt-era confidence
– And the modern reboot – if plants could send texts, what would you post through the letterbox?

Plus: a reminder we’re going LIVE – 10 March, 7pm, - Nicholson’s Nurseries (West Oxfordshire).

Follow, rate and subscribe on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/

About our hosts

James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.

Support James and Joe by becoming a member of The Garden Collective - a community for anyone who loves plants, gardens and sharing what they love - a place where experts and fellow gardeners all come together to inspire, entertain and keep us company whilst we’re weeding (or staring out of the window at the rain).

You'll get access to articles written by some great gardeners, live Q&A sessions, livestreams, podcasts and loads more.It’s more than a platform - it’s a place where we can answer questions, offer biscuits and share our triumphs and disasters.⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Subscribe now⁠.⁠

Follow James & Joe on ⁠Instagram⁠.

Follow The Garden Collective on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠.

⁠Contact us⁠.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices