Gardeners' Question Time Live

Our GQT panel: Matthew Biggs, Christine Walkden and Matthew Wilson

A couple of Monday's ago, I had the hottest ticket in the county when Gardeners' Question Time came to record at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon. A quick exchange of tweets a couple of months ago meant I was there in the super company of Cally and Sara (of #britishflowers fame), thanks to Cally securing the tickets for us.

We met up beforehand at a local farm shop for coffee and cake to keep us going - doors opened at 5.30pm and recording finished just after 8.30. We puzzled over our individual questions, before gaining all round approval of their worthiness then agreeing that all of them were far too long and we stood no chance of posing them to the panel. Thus we took our seats at the top of the auditorium safe in the knowledge we could sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

How wrong we were.

Eric Robson called out my name, followed swiftly by Sara's, so we had to make our way down to the front row to sit ready to pose our questions. For me this came with the added benefit of a peck on both cheeks from Matthew Wilson! *blushes in front of around 300 people*

The panel don't know the questions beforehand, which means there's a frantic scribbling of notes whilst they're asked. I was really pleased to see this was the case as I had quite an argument with F up at the allotment a few months ago, who swore blind the panel had plenty of time to think of their answers.


Today my question will be broadcast to the nation, so I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of the subject. I'm hoping most of the answers remain in the final edit as I had no means of noting all of the advice given at the time.

Broadcast times are today (Friday 29th November) at 3pm pm on Radio 4, with a shorter repeat on Sunday afternoon at 2pm. I'll put a link into the iPlayer version when it goes up (and here it is - my question is about 7 minutes in).

You may also like

My account of what happened after I asked a question when the show came to Chippenham a few years ago.

Comments

  1. Haha! Just read your blog post and switched straight to today's GQT 7 mins in. Yours was the next question! Excellent - you sounded far more cool-headed than I'd have been. Interesting answers too. Glad to hear you keep them thinking - bergenias, no thank you. Sounds like a fun experience. Look forward to seeing what you do with the border.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Helen - thank you :) Apparently I don't sound like me ;)

      Delete
  2. Doh... I missed tuning in. Hope you caught all your answers ;-) So... what was your question again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was asking for suggestions for planting up this very narrow border post spring bulb time.

      Delete
  3. Matthew was not giving out kisses at the Rosemoor recording. Humph.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dare I tell you I hsd another one on Wednesday...

      Delete
  4. Well done you for getting on the radio! I shall try and listen on Sunday. I didn't bother going when they came to my little town, and I really regret it now, I'm sure they won't come back. So glad you got lots of advice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm sure they'll come to your area another time. Do go, it's a lot of fun, even if you don't ask a question.

    ReplyDelete
  6. How exciting VP. We attended a GQT recording many moons ago at Liverpool University but there were no kisses from handsome men being bandied about. Usually try to listen on Sundays but we were celebrating our wedding anniversary yesterday. Will catch up with the recording this week and will listen out for you and Sara.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you had a lovely anniversary Anna :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Things in unusual places #26: Rubber Ducks

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Merry Christmas!

The Resilient Garden

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Introducing the #mygardenrightnow project