BBC Two's Gardeners' World uproots to new location
Date: 27.02.2009
Category: Factual & Arts TV; BBC Two
Gardeners' World, the BBC's flagship gardening series is embarking on one of its most exciting and ambitious challenges to date as it moves to a brand new home in the heart of Birmingham.
In the new series, starting in April, new presenter Toby Buckland and his team will face the challenge of transforming a muddy grassy playing field into the nation's new back garden, and viewers will be able to follow its progress across the coming year.
Toby's ambitious plans for the site include creating a huge and colourful "urban meadow" sown from hardy garden annuals and featuring a stunning range of sunflowers and dahlias. This will be a haven for city insects and especially for the declining bee population.
His new city vegetable garden will give inspiration to the many trying to grow their own in their own back yards.
The garden location will also feature a row of front and back gardens, reflecting the very small urban and suburban spaces that many of us have to garden in.
Toby Buckland said: "After six wonderful years at Berryfields, it's really exciting to be moving to a new location. It's a little daunting to be creating a new garden from scratch but I can't wait to get stuck in.
"We'll also be offering lots of tips and advice on what to do in the garden right now.
"Whether you've got a window box or a suburban mansion, spend 30 minutes in the garden at the weekend or garden every day, there will be something on the programme for you."
The programme will feature viewers' gardens and passions more than ever before with a regular feature called Me & My Garden, and Joe Swift, the team's garden designer, will show viewers how to redesign their gardens in a step by step manner, in a new feature called Design Made Easy.
Carol Klein will be holding expert masterclasses in her garden in Devon on pruning, propagating and planting to show three novices how to become great gardeners. She will also highlight the "must have" plant of the week in the "in bloom" moment of the programme.
Thrifty gardener Alys Fowler will be showing viewers just what you can achieve in the garden on a shoestring by using all sorts of items we discard to make useful and innovative gardening items, such as pest defences or even herbal tea bag recipes!
The programme will also be joining forces with a BBC Learning campaign called "Dig In" which aims to show viewers how to grow, cook and eat their own food.
And more than ever before, Gardeners' World will encourage its viewers to join the gardening debate about all sorts of topical horticultural hot potatoes through the BBC.co.UK/gardenersworld website.
The team will be inviting viewers to come into the new GW potting shed at the end of the show, to discuss pictures and messages and decide "what's hot and what's not" in the gardening world each week.
Gardeners' World returns on 13 March with a special programme, Plant Addicts, presented by Carol Klein.
There will then be two more weekly specials until the new series from the new garden begins on 3 April.
