More radio times

Yesterday I made my usual five-to-six-weekly visit to Chelmsford to do my guest spot on BBC Essex' Down to Earth gardening programme with Ken Crowther. I've been doing the show now for about 14-15 years and really enjoy it - I'm told I have a face for radio!

It's a two-hour programme that concentrates purely on gardening - no music, just a lot of chat and phonecalls, e-mails, letters and texts from listeners who want to talk gardening or have their problems solved. We even had an e-mail from a listener in Spain - probably thanks to the BBC listen again option via the website.

Our main topic of the week was pests & disease - what's a problem this year, how to spot problems and how to deal with them. One listener phoned in to say what had happened to aphids and whitefly this year. I agreed that my garden was clear of both of these, and felt sure it was due to the cold and wet period of summer weather.

As usual, there was a good range of questions asked including powdery mildew on cucumbers, flower colour in hydrangeas, harvesting onions, leaf blotches on walnut, controlling clover in lawns, flowering yuccas, no flowers on campsis and removing ivy from walls.

If you want to hear how we got on, go to www.bbc.co.uk/essex hit the listen again button and then find Down to Earth.