518: Perilous pumpkins, ghoulish garlic, boo-tiful bats

It’s spooky season, and what better time to investigate three garden topics that are indelibly linked to Halloween. Pumpkins are everywhere, carved into grizzly expressions and displayed outside homes and workplaces. If you’d rather eat your home-grown pumpkin than scare people with it, RHS grow-your-own guru Liz Mooney offers a perfect pumpkin masterclass. We love all wildlife in our gardens but as it’s a spooky special, let’s talk bats and how to encourage them into our plots. Bat expert John Pearse reveals all. It’s Liz Mooney’s second growing guide of the episode, this time it’s a seasonal vampiric bulb, garlic of course. And we’ll round off the episode with listener questions answered with Gareth and Jenny Laville.

Host: Gareth Richards instagram.com/thegrrdener

Producer: Dan Cocker

Contributors: Liz Mooney, John Pearse, Jenny Laville

Links:

How to grow pumpkins (rhs.org.uk/vegetables/pumpkins/grow-your-own⁠)

Gardening for bats (rhs.org.uk/wildlife/bats-in-your-garden⁠)

Bat Conservation Trust (bats.org.uk/⁠)

How to grow garlic (rhs.org.uk/vegetables/garlic/grow-your-own⁠)

Send your questions to podcast@rhs.org.uk