S5 Ep11: November - The botany of the kitchen garden with Helena Dove

S5 Ep11: November - The botany of the kitchen garden with Helena Dove

From The Organic Gardening Podcast by Garden Organic

November 4, 2025 · 57 min · Season 5 · Episode 11

About this episode

Fiona chats with Helena Dove about the botany of the kitchen garden and autumn gardening tips.

This month, we’re celebrating the slow beauty of autumn, from the changing of the leaves to creating colourful bulb trifles. There’s still so much joy you can get out of your garden, as we prepare for shorter days and longer nights. In this episode, Fiona chats with Helena Dove, Kitchen Gardener at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Helena has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the physiology of vegetables, and teaches us how we can better understand the makeup of plant life. In the postbag, Fiona, Chris and Emma answer your questions on using black plastic on the compost heap, how to help overwintering larvae, and how to prevent your apples from developing bitter pit.

People in this episode

Host: Fiona

Guest: Helena Dove

Topics covered

  • autumn gardening
  • kitchen garden
  • vegetable physiology
  • plant life
  • composting
  • overwintering larvae
  • apple care

Keywords

  • kitchen garden
  • autumn
  • vegetables
  • compost
  • larvae
  • bitter pit
  • bulb trifles

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

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