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Elegies from a Suburban Garden

Elegies From a Suburban Garden: Episode 2

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Episode 2

Elegies From a Suburban Garden

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Elegies From a Suburban Garden, Episode 2Search BBC

For botanist Phil Gates, late spring in the garden brings with it a sense of expectation.

Botanist Phil Gates reflects on the emotional rollercoaster every gardener experiences as the seasons change. Late Spring arrives and with it, feelings of expectation.

"If we're lucky", says botanist Phil Gates "we gardeners get to experience the seasonal rollercoaster of gardening emotions about 70 times. Just 70 spring, summer, autumn and winters in a lifetime... and with each passing cycle those that remain become even more precious". In this series, recorded over a year, the relationship between a gardener and his garden are explored, and the emotions evoked by each season. In a modern, high-tech consumer society cultivating a garden remains perhaps the most direct way in which we can maintain an emotional and sensual link with the natural world.

It's now late Spring and in Phil's suburban garden in County Durham, there's a real sense of expectation as buds swell, and a songthrush sings for a mate from a high tree perch. A woodpigeon nests in the Pear Tree whilst blackbirds and wrens set up home elsewhere. The dark hues of winter are transformed into a rich variety of greens. Duckweed runs rampant across the pond, cloaking it with an emerald veil. In the glasshouse, the strawberries which were planted earlier in the year are now ready to move outside, and all across the garden the green shoots of spring are bursting through the soil. After the long cold months of winter and the wet days of spring, Nature is gearing up to blossom and grow in the weeks ahead. 

Presenter Phil Gates
Producer Sarah Blunt.

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Factual: Homes & Gardens

BBC Radio 4 Extra

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Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Botanist Phil Gates reflects every gardener's experiences as the seasons change.

Botanist Phil Gates reflects on the emotional rollercoaster every gardener experiences as the seasons change

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