Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - 80: Monty Don: Bare Bum, Begonias and British Gardens

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

Monty Don joins us to talk about British gardens, chasing cows in the nude and accidentally declaring war on begonias. You can order Monty's new book 'British Gardens' here: https://amzn.to/4sJh3HL��GET IN TOUCH📧 Email us: [e-mail]📱 Text or Voice Note: 07477 038795💬 Or tap here to send a voice note or message on WhatsApp:⁠ ⁠https://wa.me/447477038795 KELLOGG’S CLUB BREAKFASTJo is headlining a one-off breakfast rave for over-50s at The Lower Third in London on Saturday 18th April, starting at 09:00. There are 200 free tickets available (ticketed but free - registration required): https://Kelloggs_ClubBreakfast.eventbrite.co.ukDIG IT x FOTHERGILL’S – SOW & TELL SEEDSWe’ve teamed up with Fothergill’s to bring you our very own Sow & Tell seed packs - featuring cosmos and cherry tomatoes.Become an annual member of The Potting Shed to receive your seeds plus a Dig It tote bag:https://digit.supportingcast.fm/Check out amazing seasonal highlights at https://mr-fothergills.co.uk/ SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORSAncient + BraveGet 20% off your first three subscription orders plus £5 off your first order with code DIGIT5.Visit: https://ancientandbrave.earth/planetAlzheimer’s SocietyFind out more about dementia support, research and how you can help:https://www.alzheimers.org.ukCREDITSExec Producer: Jonathan O’SullivanProducer: Samantha PsykAssistant Producer: Eve JonesTechnical Producer: Oliver GeraghtyVideo Editors: Danny Pape and Jack Whiteside

Coming up on Diggett. My algorithm, when I get my Instagram account up, it is literally Ryan Gosling and then the pit. Ryan Gosling's pit, but more Ryan Gosling than anything else. The next day live on tell you, I heard myself saying, I really hate begonius. Oh, no. And I practically needed a bodyguard.

So I leapt out, started to run, at which point the towel disappeared and sort of fell off. Couldn't stop running. So wellies and stark bollock naked, rowing through the garden, chasing these cattle. All of that, right after this. We've got some really exciting news, haven't we, Joe? Digit has officially teamed up with Fathergills for our very own, drumroll,

sow and tell seeds. I love them. It's really exciting. It means that we can all, well, we can grow along together, we can compare seeds and the little seedlings that come along. We pick Cosmos and Tomatoes, varieties that are reliable, really rewarding. and work whether you've got a garden, a balcony or just a windowsill. Because we love seeing what you're growing.

You send us lovely pictures. And at Fothergills, they believe in the power of gardening to enhance lives and nurture a connection with nature, which is exactly, well, this felt like such an actual fit for us guys at Digit. And if you want to be one of the first people to get your hands on Fothergill's, sew and tell seeds like these, and also we'll throw in a Digit tote bag as well. All you need to do is become an annual member of the potting shed.

It's a very, very stylish accessory. If you're already an annual member, we'll be getting in touch to sort delivery. If you subscribed annually via Apple, all you have to do is drop us an email. Questions at digipod.com.com. You start your message with Apple subscriber and we'll take it from there. And we are so excited about this. It genuinely feels like a lovely little Digit community thing. I'm going to try and pop mine this week.

Probably going to keep them indoors for a bit because it's still a bit chilly. I know, God, the weather is making it so hard to get out there and do stuff. Cosmos, we always say, just fill those borders up really beautifully and it's so nice to actually grow tomatoes that you can eat. For four terms and conditions, check the show notes and our website. It's all there for you. Hey, welcome to Wednesday's edition of Digit and hi, Zoe. I really love your jumper you're wearing today. It's black and then a pale baby pink. It's really nice, stripy, should I say. Bit Kirk Cabanish. This jumper has been through lots of adventures with me, actually. I think I was wearing this jumper when it was announced that I was going to take over from

Evans. It's been through and I found it in the back of a drawer because my daughter keeps borrowing my jumpers and they all go missing. Can I just say you look really spring light? You've got a really lovely gorgeous green t-shirt. What does it say by the way on it? Oh, it says miraculous garden. I just, I saw it online and it's a really lovely turquoise colour and it's got green writing and I thought for Digit, this could not be better. So it's heralding spring because surely it's going to get warm soon. I don't know about you at the moment. My postman every time he comes that I've got so many brown boxes that keep arriving. And on Friday, another brown box arrived.

And I was like, oh, my God, what on earth is going on? And then I remembered, I'd ordered loads and loads of things like tubas, dahlia tubas and seeds. And all the plants have begun to arrive. And I just need it to be warm. So I actually get out in the garden and put them in. I still haven't potted at my dahlias. There's so many things sitting in my garden that are just getting battered by the wind.

There was a really bad wind here at the weekend. And it's knocked over my bleeding hearts, which are waiting to go in. Oh, I love them. a lovely blossom tree that's still not gone in. And then there's a great little place in Lewis called Fee's Yard. And Fee is such an amazing lady. I love going for a little mooch in there. And she just has all those plants that you can't often get in other places.

And I finally got my hands on some cephalaria gigantica, which I've wanted to grow forever then. The most beautiful, very tall, airy sort of yellowy flowers. And I found some in Fee's yard. and yeah, none of them have had the chance to go in because the weather's been awful. And I'm looking at them in their little pots thinking, they need to go in the ground.

They grow massively. I put those in last year, those cephalaria. They are huge. Let me just give you a word of warning. Like the leaves, leave a big space around them. Oh, really? Oh, God, I definitely should have put them further back in the border. But they're beautiful.

I mean, they're amazing. My Instagram feed is just full of people showing me their gardens and the color that's in there. And I keep panicking and thinking, oh, my late, am I late? I've message various nurseries. There's a place in Northamptonshire called Cramden Nurseries, which is the most amazing place to get Pelagoniums, beautiful Pelagoniums and Pensterman. It's a tiny local nursery, but the guy who's there is just great. So I was messaging him and I was like, oh my God, am I too late? And he was like, no, you're not too late. Everything's just beginning. Calm down.

Yes, calm down, woman. Yeah, anyone else, any other diggers who are just like me and Zoe, I think, panicking about we should have everything in. It should be flourishing in the garden. It's only March, and it's been really cold. So I think we all just need to be calm. What else has been going on? I went to see geese. Yeah. Oh my goodness me.

It was, I was in the older bracket of the audience. I loved the fact that there were loads of, I saw lots of boys with their dads. When I say boys, they're probably men. They're probably in their 30s with their 56-year-old dads.

It is definitely the era of the mullet and the mustache. I mean, it was like, wow, there is some, we had a great conversation about why the mullets is so prevalent at the moment. And actually, how I think I'm just a bit jealous, because I'd love to have a mullet. I mean, I know my hair has been some really messy jays, but I'm like, I'd actually like a mullet and a moustache right now. The moustache would cover a multitude of sins and the mullet. I was going to say, I thought you had got a moustache. Yes, exactly.

I have over spruced it up for you today. Lovely handlebar. Why does it grow so quickly? by the way. It's like literally overnight. Oh, there it is again. But, oh my goodness me, believe the hype. They were magnificent. I may have got to the age Joe where I might have to start wearing earplugs at gigs because my ears hurt so much afterwards because it was loud. But my lord, it was like a biblical experience. They were fantastic. And the lodger was complaining about the lighting because we were high up and the lights were right in our faces. So

You could, I mean, not that I would have been able to see Max the drummer, who is, I think, the most incredible drummer I've seen in a long, long time. And you know me, Joe, it's always been the drummers. And they are, they're just so good, so good life. And all I kept thinking was, Glastonbury, festivals, outdoors, listening to this. It was great to see such. Yeah, not this year, but next year.

But next year, I know. But I think they're playing lots of festivals across the summer all over the place. and just hearing everybody sing the words. And there's some of their lyrics I know. When I was young, I used to know the lyrics to everything. And now I do a lot of that kind of... Ha, nah, fa... Where I can pick it...

Yeah. I can pick it up as they go along. But honestly, I'm like the 15-year-old getting the lyrics out on the sleeves of the records, but then having to look them up on the internet because they're too small for me to really. But I loved it. Once the algorithm knows you've gone to see geese, then you'll send loads of geese stuff. Yeah. So this weekend I've had a lot of stuff about the pit, which I've become obsessed with,

and stuff about the other Bennett sister and stuff about geese. You talk about the algorithms. That's so funny because my algorithm is literally, it's Ryan Gosling, the pit. Ryan Gosling the pit, Ryan Gosling the pit, because I went to see Project Hail Mary and I've obviously been talking a lot about how unbelievably brilliant Ryan Gosling is. He is like that old Hollywood film star. He's got that quality, the charm, the charisma. Largely it's him and it's the little looks.

It's the lines. It's everything about him, the nuances. He's so fantastic in this. And I love sci-fi. You know I love sci-fi. So I was really excited at the prospect of going to see something that was involved space. But Ryan Gosling, I've just been obsessed ever since I literally watching every clip about him and Eva Mendez, how in love they are, about their relationship about everything else. about everything else that he's done.

Yeah, I keep getting fed footage of Ryan Gosling when he was like six doing that. Was it the Disney Club? He was part of that. Yeah. Doing those dances. Doing the dances. I mean, he was a gift from that point. It's funny because I've always been obsessed with him since he did that thriller with Sandra Bullock.

I can't remember the name of it. It was really good. And he's quite young. And I don't know whether she's the detective or something or another. But he was so good in that. And then, of course, the notebook. Which I could probably... Which I never watched.

What? you've never seen the notebook. How can you know? I don't like crying. I don't like, I can cry really easily. I don't like being made to cry. You'll only cry at the end. All right.

It's such a beautiful film. I tell you, and you will sob at the end, and I cry every time I watch it. But the chemistry between him and Rachel McCadams, I know they did actually date. But the story of these two is so lovely. And there's just some of the cinematography. And, oh, it's never over.

Oh, my God. It's so good. If you're loving diggits, please hit follow or subscribe wherever you watch or listen. That way you get brand new episodes directly to you as soon as they're out. Also, I finally got HBO Max. We have it over here. It is launched. I think you can get it on Sky, get it in various other ways.

So we can finally watch the greatest television show of recent years. The Pit, which is set in an emergency department, an A&E in Pittsburgh. That's what it's called The Pit. but it's also struggling as all these places are. And it is all headed up by Dr. Robbie, played by Noah Wiley. I had to check whether he was playing the same character from E.R. But he's not. And all the incredible doctors and nurses, the teams.

Yeah. It is so good. I love it. Although I was watching it, I was like saying to disco Steve and Cass, we've got to watch it. It's won all the awards. You know it's won all the awards. And the more I said it, the more they were like,

is glazing over. And we started to watch it. And then all of a sudden, Steve was just like, it's casualty, right? And I went, no, but it's won all the awards, but it's casualty. Like, I mean, this is casualty. We're watching like American casualty. And I was funny, really hard to defend it in the end. I was like, well, no, it kind of is like casualty, but it's, but it's in America. And I don't know why it's different to casualty, but it just feels it. It's got a bigger budget. But it's essentially, yeah, you're just watching what unfolds and what they have to deal with and how high pressure it is working in accident and emergency. It's very good. It's very gripping. Also, I finished the other

Bennett sister last night, which has all finally dropped on the eye player. And if you just want some escapism from a world that is ever terrifying around us, that is delightful. It's the BBC doing period drama so beautifully. And it's, the entire cast are so good. There are so many reasons to love this show and I cried. I cried at the end and it's, I won't tell you with it because I was happy or I was sad, so no spoilers, but it has been a delight and I'm really going to miss them all. Oh, I must go out and get a life. Tip top telly at the moment. Hurrah, well done everybody. Today's guest is someone who for many people has changed the way they look at gardens. He's someone who doesn't just love gardens but really thinks about what they mean,

what they say about us and also why they matter. Here to tell us about his. Here to tell us about his brand new book, British Gardens, Monty Don, welcome to dig it. Do you know how long we've waited to say that? What makes a garden British, Monty? It's a very good question. One of my favourite gardens, and I've always asked what my favourite garden is, and obviously there's no answer to asking what your favourite piece of music is or your favourite painting, is that, but one of them is definitely Woolerton Old Hall, which is in the book,

and it's just glorious, and made by a couple. And what it has is that mixture, that very British mixture of wonderful plants, you know, interesting plants of all kinds, a really subtle, very skilled use of colour and design, plus very, very high levels of horticulture. You know, everything's grown very well. But it feels natural and easy and just thrown together. it's that element of easy charm hiding a mad paddling underneath the water that's gone on and does go on. And I think other countries, with honourable exceptions, never quite get that. The second thing is, and this is the thing that came over, which I loved most about, this whole process.

It cuts through race, class, colour, creed, everything. I reckon there are only three things in. British life that do that is gardening, football and dogs. And those are the three absolute lingua frankers. Are you saying there's no snobbishness in gardening? Oh no, no, there's terrible snobbishness. Come on, we all know this. Let's say, of course, there's snobbishness, there's exclusivity, there's absurdity. But that's human life. And also, we all know that snobbishness is nothing to do with class or education. I mean, you can be a terrible snob from any walk of life. Gardening encompasses all human frailty.

Obviously, we've got Chelsea coming up, which I know you're going to love. And you haven't got a garden this year, so you must have some kind of, like, yeah, such a huge really, it's been wonderful. But gnomes are going to be at Chelsea this year. The King's Garden will have gnomes in. So I would love your stance on this. You know, I feel very torrent. I don't have gnomes in my own garden. So I can't pretend that they are a big thing in my life, but I don't object to them in any way. And in the book, we have a good, known of story.

There's a place called Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire. By the way, I'd never really been to Northamptonshire before. It's a beautiful county. It's lovely, isn't it? Yeah, it's where I am. The brick is gorgeous. Yeah, I know, it's beautiful. And Lamport Hall went to, which has a wall garden full of cut flowers.

It's marvellous. Pete Aldolf, supplied. the plants is all, you know, horticulturally very, very good and a great head gardener. But they also have a really quite badly built rockery, which was built in the 19th century by the owner, a man called Sir Charles Isham, who was a benign sort of vegetarian, white hair, and in the 1840s, he was the first person to introduce the garden gnome into Britain. And he went to Germany, where gnomes apparently were a big thing. and bought back a gnome and built this vast rockery with his own hands,

which, you know, for a 19th century Victorian Toff was quite a thing to do. And then got many more gnomes. And the key thing was he absolutely believed they were alive. I mean, no, they were living. They were alive. And he spent the next 50 years looking after them. And he provided them work and he fed them. And he's got pictures of they went on strike.

had to sort out the strike and they did all. And he wrote, he said that anybody who is not aware of their living entity, and then he put in block capitals, does not have the sight. And he died in 1902, and he had two daughters. And obviously, reading between the lines, the daughters felt aggrieved that the love was going to the gnomes and not to them. So after his death, they held a party, issued everybody with a gun, and they shot all the gnomes. except for one one drop down was knocked by

a ricochet or whatever behind the rocks and was found many years later so I asked to see it and they came out and it's this little thing I mean it just looks like a little garden and it's insured for a million pounds wow wow wow where did they keep it they keep it indoors under lock of key yes I bet they do yeah absolutely

what a wonderful story I mean it's like small profits I love that. It did not have the sight. You see, this is a wonderful thing. Is there anything that you particularly don't love in gardens? You know, there are plants we all love. There are ones that we've tried. There are ones that we've given up with, perhaps. Are there any that have been a terror to you?

I remember we were filming at Chelsea, and the producer came up to me. It was a Thursday. And Thursday for us at Chelsea is we've done everything. We've covered every garden. We've covered every stand. We've spoken to everybody who will speak to us. You know, by then we've done about 18 hours of telly. And everyone's exhausted.

The night before the Thursday, producing up to me, and said, is there anything you particularly, you know, really don't like? And I said, well, begonius, really. I don't like be bonoenius. And she said, would you be prepared to say that? And I said, yeah, fine. And I, the next day live on telly, I heard myself saying, I really hate begonius, you see.

Oh, no. And, of course, the producer loved it, because every paper, every day. And I practically needed a bodyguard to go into the temple. And then the next day they sent me to interview a begonia grope. Oh, no. Of course they did. Well, I mean, you know, I was just grovelling.

You know, I had to say, look at the thing. Not your begonias, of course. You know, your begonias are lovely. And of course, I've been flooded with begonias from people sending me begonias, you can imagine. But I still have to say I'm not really converted to begonias. I tell you what actually I don't like. I don't like obviously tropical plants in a British setting. Okay.

When it gets really jungly and lurid, when you take the flora of Papua New Guinea and transpose it to Serveton or even longer then, to me it doesn't work. I think context is really important. Will you just share with this the story which I heard about with the cows that invaded your garden? Oh, well, that was, yeah. Take us back there. What was going on? Longmeadow is surrounded by fields. And there is cattle graze on two sides from now through to October.

So we fence them off. You know, we have they're fenced out. And we have a gate which goes into, actually, it's a common land, which we can graze cattle on if we want to, which should be properly shut and fix. So cattle, sheep, people, dogs. Dogs can't get out, cattle can't get in. Anyway, one day I was having a bath, and it was sort of a summer's evening, so it was light, got into the bath. I just got in, so I dipped my buttock slowly down into the hot water. And I heard a moo from outside the window. So I peered outside, and there was a Hereford cow looking at me through the window. So I leapt out, and I thought, oh my God, I was on my own in the house, no one else there. at all. So I leapt out, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist, ran downstairs, put on my

wetties. So I'm in towel and wellies. Right outside, there were about 20 grazing in the garden. Started to run, at which point the towel disappeared and sort of fell off. Couldn't stop running. So wellies and stark bollock naked, rowing through the garden, chasing these cattle. The gate was open. Luckily, they sort of, after about five minutes, they made... their way out having sort of amazed, terrified by this dreadful man. The sight of it all. Yes.

So that was my car story, yeah. My goodness thing, I don't know quite what that story will do to some of our diggers, by the way. I know you do have quite a strong effect on people, Monty, of both sexes and all ages. And, you know, whenever I say we're talking to Monty, Joe, you probably have the same thing, that it's the Monty Don effect,

where, you know, there's a sort of a stampede of people going, is he here, is he here? Or people calling me up saying, because you have that effect. So I think that story will, yes, some people might need to have some salts after them. I don't think it was particularly sexy. It was a sort of combination of bovine wellies and also, because the water was hot, so I was probably bright red, you know.

That water site. I had a load of sheep got into my garden, into my vegetable garden one year. I went away on holiday, and I got a message and some photographs from someone going, oh my God, the sheep have got out from the next door field. And when I got back from holiday, there was no colour. I mean, it was the height of summer. I had nothing left. Sheeper terrible.

Chickens, too, the lettuce, for example, they just shred it completely. They can do it in two minutes, just shred the whole lot. Hey, I'm getting a new puppy, Monty. Oh, you're? Brilliant. Yes, yes. Brilliant. Yes, a couple of weeks time.

Yes, very excited. That is exciting. Any advice when it comes to the lawn? Because we're getting a girl and someone said that that was not a good idea. Well, they will pee on the lawn and there will be brown circles and there's not much you think about it. Okay. Is that what happens? I often get asked about how to make a garden dog friendly and I sort of pontificate and go out to the garden with Ned and then crashes through the garden and not something over.

I do think actually that if you have them with you in the garden from day one, they will go where you go and do what you do. do. And I think there is something in that. I mean, whereas if you, if it's sort of there's anxiety involved from the beginning and you let them out and it's all about I hope they don't do this or I think that transmits. Whereas I think

if you just potter about with them do they get used to that. Which is what we've seen with Ned. I mean, the connection between the two of you and having been at Longmeadow and seen your relationship. It's just so lovely and he hangs on your every word and every motion. He does and he's in a complete state at the moment. Why? My

My son's dog is in season. Oh, gosh. And he's not eating. He's not sleeping. He's barking. He's just sex-starved. It's completely sex-stabbed. And, of course, being Ned, doesn't know what to do.

Doesn't know, you know, it's not good. Not good. We've had a question from Laura, who's one of our diggers. I've asked you about slugs before, Monty. Where are you with slugs at the moment? How do we live side by side and how do we stop them from eating all the produce that we grow? You can't stop slugs. Slugs live by the million in your soil.

And any normal back garden will have thousands of slugs, most of which live in the soil. Essentially, most slugs live in the ground, and most snails will find somewhere drier to hold up in. That's why you tend to get snails in towns and slugs in allotments and the countryside. You're not going to get rid of them. That's my point.

They are there. They are part of, you know, this is where I'm, I can't remember, they're part of the wildness that we want to re. Yeah. You know, they are just as much wildlife as a beautiful butterfly or a wonderful songbird. We are creating in our gardens slug heaven. It's the perfect environment. They have evolved to feed off decomposing material.

They're part of the cleaning up process of nature. But what they can't tell the difference from is a decomposing leaf and a young, leaf that has the same sort of qualities. Anything you sew, if you possibly can sew it, if you haven't got a greenhouse on a windowsill or a porch or a germinator with a cover, to protect it at that very, very vulnerable stage. That's number one. And then if you prick it out and harden it off so that it grows strong, it grows healthy. What they love are unhealthy plants or damage plants. And if you have a strong healthy plant, they won't go for that because that's not the food they want. So if you're growing,

anything in a pot, make sure you feed it. Make sure the pot is big enough. Make sure that the soil is, you know, as good as it could be. Grow your plants hard, which means don't mollycoddle them, so they adapt and are tough, but at the same time, make sure they're happy. And by and large, that's much better than trying to get rid of slugs. First time we've had the word mollycoddle on the podcast as well. And I love the way you say mollycoddle. It's a great word. Monty, we've done a lovely thing for some of our diggers. We are sending out Cosmosseeds and cherry tomato seeds. Wonderful.

Any tips for our diggers? Cosmos are really forgiving and I love Cosmos and everybody should go to them because by and large, they're pretty trouble-free. They are tender, so there's no point in sewing them direct now, unless you live somewhere where you know there's going to be no more frost. but for example, where I am, we can always get frost in April. So I would, if you've got them now, I would sew them, sprinkle them on seed trains, fine. But sprinkle them thinly. You don't get more flowers by sewing seed thickly. Ideally, or if you've got good eyesight and patience, put them into plugs, in individual plugs.

Cosmos seeds are long and thin. They look like, you know, they're wispy. Sprinkle them. They'll put them somewhere warm to germinate. Remember that they come from. Central America, so that they're sort of subtropical. So my warm to germinate, which needs to be at least 18 degrees, but a window cell over, a radiator's fine.

As soon as they appear, give them lots of light. And then when they have a true leaf, which is a, not the seed leaf, which is sort of smooth and round, but when you get the serrated cosmos leaf, prick them out. Grow them on so that by the time the weather is better, which, let's say early June, late May, early June, they've got nice little plants about that big, plant them out, that's it, they'll look off themselves,

they don't need fancy soil, as long as they've got some sunshine, and then the other thing about Cosmos is deadhead, dead head, deadhead, keep deadheading, and they will go on flange until November. Tomatoes, everybody should grow tomatoes. I mean, they're just wonderful, and I love cherry tomatoes, I've got my grandkids here with me today,

and what they love is going into the greenhouse and nicking them, and they just eat them straight off, they're just perfect for children, and I love them too. and the secret of good tomatoes is consistency. They don't like it too hot, they don't like it too cold, they don't like it too wet, they don't like it too dry. Don't plant them out until June. There's no point because the nights be too cold.

You won't get any tomatoes any sooner if you do that. Keep them warm growing on and gradually harden them off. And all that means, when we talk about hardening off, it just means put them outside for a week somewhere a bit sheltered. So they're not going from your windowsill or your porch, out into a cold blasted allotment or bed. There's a transition stage. Plant them deep.

Tomatoes, you should always plant. I plant up to the bottom leaf. So you plant the stems up to the bottom leaf, then roots will grow from that stem and that will anchor them. If they're cordon, which is probably a good idea, stake them, bamboo, something like that.

Obviously, we do things like pinch out the side shoots, but we're getting ahead of ourselves there. Monti, can I just ask the really stupid question, pricking out, just in a sentence, or two, what is pricking out? Well, pricking out is when you take a seedling, you've grown in a seed tray, and transplanting it either into a plug,

which is a tray of containers, or a pot. And the idea being is, as soon as they develop what's called a true leaf, which is basically the signature leaf of the plant, you know there are roots. Hold them by a leaf, never the stem, because if you break the stem, that's it, game over.

Whereas if you break a leaf, it can grow another one. And you, with a label or a dibber or a pen or a pen knife, tease out the roots very carefully. So you hold it by a leaf and you just tease it out, and it comes away quite simply. And there'll be a mass of little roots, lower that down onto some compost in the pot,

fill back around it, water it, and very quickly, I mean, within a week, it'll really start to grow and grow away. Whereas if you leave them in the seed tray, you'll have a rash of young seedling. none of which are strong, none of which are going to develop very well. Thank you. Very well explained. And if you watch Gardeners World this Friday, you'll see it as well as here.

You will see the master class. Okay, thank you very much. Yeah, and don't forget Gardeners World is on Fridays on BBC 2 at 8 o'clock, but all of Gardeners World episodes you can find on iPlayer to watch whenever it suits you. And we love it. And this is Monty's beautiful book, all about British Gardens. As I said, Monty Don and Derrimore, beautiful photographs. It's just such a lovely, lovely thing.

So thanks for talking to us, Monty, and we'll see you at Chelsea, hopefully. It's been a great pleasure. Yes, I look forward to it. Thank you, Monty. Enjoy the grandkids. I will. I'm going to be protecting you from all those hordes that attack you every year. I'll be your bodyguard.

Thank you. That would be lovely. Gosh, how exciting. We'll see you there. Thanks, Monty. Have a lovely day with your grandkids. Thank you so much, Monty. Bye.

Bye. This week's crate digging is brought to you by Kellogg's, who have noticed, Joe, that our generation simply doesn't get to dance enough. And they're going to do something about. it. Yes. Absolutely. And Kellogg's launching its very first breakfast rave. It's called Club Breakfast. It's named at over 50s. And it's happening at the lower third in London on Saturday, the 18th of April from 9 in the morning. So proper breakfast time. And I'm going to be DJing there. Joe

Wiley headlining a breakfast rave. Indeed, a once in a lifetime opportunity. And get this. Tickets are completely free. You just need to grab one. The link is in the show notes. I'm doing my carball box like in prep already. Big fish, little fish, carball. God, I would love to see you down the front. I mean, I've seen this for myself with the 90s anthem shows that I do how important moving and singing along and being together is. So this is for anybody who maybe hasn't put their own well-being first in a while. People who've been minding kids, looking after parents, and life just might be getting in the way of their own enjoyment and looking after themselves. So

hopefully you can carve out a morning, have a proper dance and just enjoy yourself. Movement is so good for your body. We've got to keep moving as long as we can. It's good for your brain and it's a great way to start your day. So in honour of club breakfast, we thought this week's crate digging should be all about the music you would put on to get people moving or perhaps the records you put on at home like I do here when I just need to cheer myself up and have a little kitchen, rave. Joe, I'm obviously hoping to inspire your set list, but I do figure that you know what you're doing. Well, for me, it's, you know me. You know me. I have ADHD.

I can't possibly. It's really impossible for me to choose like just a couple. But some of the great bands that have made me dance over the years, Chemical Brothers, Underworld. I remember listening to your show one night and you playing Underworld. And I just stopped everything and danced like a lunatic around my bedroom. And I was so happy afterwards. And also for me, it's got to be a bit of disco because I love disco.

So I would probably have a disco compilation album, a taste of honey, some sheikh, some Patrice Russian, and the Stone Roses. There you go. They're just some of the bands. And that's some of the music that would make me dance. It's so hard, isn't it? And also, you have different moods, so you want different types of music. Yeah, what mood you are doing? Disco, I am 100% with you.

I think it's the one type of music that just makes me feel fabulous and will just make me forget everything else. I adore you, Fred again and Obong Jaya, which I think I might have mentioned before. But God, I love that song. It's just so blissful. There's a song called Jerusalemer by Master KG. And I don't know whether you know this song, but God, it's just pure joy. It came out around the COVID times. And I interviewed Master KG.

He was in Nigeria at the time. And it was just, it feels like a symbol of joy after COVID. So when I play that song, it will make you dance. So they're my two big songs for a playlist. I think McCallmont and Butler, yes. is an unbelievably uplifting song. And my fourth one, I know we were only told to pick two. They were like, just picked two songs.

And then we just run away with it. McCall Mountain Butler and yes. There you go. Brilliant. McCallmont and Butler and yes, that will give you a big old uplift. So it's very hard. And everyone will have their own favourites as well. But if you do fancy coming down and just join you in while I'm on the decks DJ.

And Kellogg's Club Breakfast is the lower third in London. It's on Saturday the 18th of April. So obviously you need to get yourself to London. doors open at 9 a.m. I would love to see you there. Tickets are completely free, but you do need to grab one. The link is in the show notes. You can also find all the details over on our Instagram. If you're subscribed to our substack, there'll be an email in your inbox today with everything you need to know. It's first come, first served, so be quick, gang. I really, really hope to see some of you down there. Fingers crossed, you can get yourself there. It's going to be a lot of fun. Yes, get your dancing shoes on, get your glow sticks out and your whistle in hand. Cannot wait. Bye, Joe. See you.

Take it. Digit is a Persephonicah production.