Loading...

PODCAST

The Underground

The Underground Pod

Exploring the future of garden care. The underground podcast is a place where the disparate worlds of horticulture and marketing collide. Kate Turner, the Gardener Guru and Phil Wright, co-founder of creative agency WrightObara, team up to discover the trailblazers and innovators shaping the future of garden care in the UK. With content that’s as relevant to start-ups as it would be to established players, we look to cover the hottest topics and trends you need to know. From plants to products,

leisure home & garden

All Episodes

00:21:24

Green-fingered to clean-fingered: meeting the...

The Underground ·

2026/09/29

What does the next generation of garden customers actually want from us?Recorded at Glee 2026, Kate Turner is joined by Natalie Boynton, Sales Director at Happy Plants, and Ed Hill, Managing Director of The Horti House, for a conversation about a customer who may look very different from the traditional green-fingered gardener.Natalie introduces the idea of the affectionate “plonker”: someone who wants gardening to be accessible, straightforward and easy to enjoy. From hanging baskets you can simply

en

00:36:33

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Why Grow Your Own...

The Underground ·

2026/09/23

What happens when growing your own food becomes about much more than what ends up on the plate?Recorded live on stage at Glee, Phil Wright and Kate Turner are joined by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef, broadcaster, author, campaigner and the man behind River Cottage.Hugh takes us back to the childhood experience that first sparked his fascination with growing, and explains how that relationship with food eventually helped inspire River Cottage.The conversation explores why growing food can be an

en

00:44:47

Michael Perry on Gardeners’ World, AI and the Future...

The Underground ·

2026/09/16

Whenever Michael Perry joins The Underground, the conversation is unlikely to follow a predictable path.Recorded at Glee 2026, this relaxed and wide-ranging chat sees Michael join Phil Wright and Kate Turner to discuss what could come next for Gardeners’ World, whether gardening television needs to become more commercially aware and why different parts of the sector need to understand the audiences they serve.They also explore what makes a new plant stand out, how good storytelling can help a

en

00:50:17

Houseplants, Chelsea and Knowing Your Worth, with...

The Underground ·

2026/09/01

Gemma Haigh’s route into horticulture hasn’t exactly been conventional.After starting her career in museums and heritage, she turned a lifelong love of plants into The Plant Parlour, working across houseplants, content creation, design and interior landscaping. She also created a Houseplant Studio for the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, inspired, perhaps unexpectedly, by the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us.But this conversation goes well beyond houseplants.Gemma joins Phil and Kate to talk

en

00:37:18

How to Survive Glee: The Garden Industry’s Best Tips

The Underground ·

2026/08/17

Glee is one of the biggest dates in the garden industry calendar. It’s also three very long days of walking, talking, networking, discovering new products and trying to remember who said what by the time you get home.So, ahead of Glee 2026, we’ve delved back into Season 1 of The Underground and brought together some of the best Glee survival advice from our guests.And between them, they’ve clocked up a lot of exhibition miles.We hear tips from garden centre leaders, suppliers, marketers, PR

en

00:30:42

The Future of the Garden Industry: One Year On

The Underground ·

2026/08/11

With Glee just a month away, we’re heading back to Birmingham, as well as the conversations we recorded there last year.At Glee 2025, we asked every guest who joined us one simple question:What’s one change you’d love to see in the garden sector over the next five years?The answers gave us a fascinating snapshot of where the industry thought change was needed.We heard calls for more young people to discover gardening and horticulture, better training for people entering the industry, greater support

en

00:33:45

Plants, People and the Growth of Perrywood Garden...

The Underground ·

2026/08/04

From a four-acre smallholding growing strawberries and potatoes to three award-winning garden centres, Perrywood’s story is one of family, plants and steady growth.In this episode, Phil and Kate talk to Hannah Powell, HR and Communications Director at Perrywood Garden Centres, about how the business has expanded without losing the values that shaped it. Hannah explains why plants remain at the heart of Perrywood, how industry standards have encouraged continuous improvement, and why knowledgeable,

en

00:48:10

How People Choose: Emotion, Strategy and Creative...

The Underground ·

2026/07/27

This week, the tables are turned as Kate interviews The Underground co-host Phil Wright, co-founder of creative marketing agency WrightObara.Phil recently wrote an in-depth article exploring how people choose one product over another. In this conversation, he explains why those decisions are rarely driven by facts, features and price alone — and why good creative marketing needs to do more than simply explain what a product does.The discussion begins with Phil’s slightly irrational desire for an

en

00:51:48

From Dig for Victory to AI: How Gardening Is Changing...

The Underground ·

2026/07/21

Garden writer and horticultural lecturer Ross Pearson joins Phil and Kate to talk about his ambitious Dig for Victory allotment project and what wartime growing advice can still teach gardeners today.Ross has set out to grow food using guidance originally produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, exploring what might have been lost as gardening has become more convenient. The conversation covers the importance of healthy soil, compost, manure and crop rotation, alongside the growing expectation that

en

00:29:09

Why Print Still Matters in Garden Retail – Nick...

The Underground ·

2026/07/13

At a time when so much marketing is measured in clicks, what can a physical magazine still offer garden centres, suppliers and their customers?In this episode of The Underground, Phil and Kate are joined by Nick Trachillis, director of The Garden Centre Magazine.Nick explains how the business creates bespoke magazines for garden centres across the UK, free to both the centre and its customers and funded by national and local advertisers. They discuss the importance of useful editorial content, how

en

00:49:04

Dr Ana Attlee on Seedball, Wildflowers and Pollinators

The Underground ·

2026/07/07

We're back for a brand new season of The Underground Podcast!In our first episode, Phil and Kate are joined by Dr Ana Attlee, co-founder of Seedball, to talk about wildflowers, pollinators, biodiversity and the role garden centres can play in helping people make more wildlife-friendly choices.Seedball was created to make growing wildflowers from seed as simple as possible. Ana shares how Seedball grew from academic research and a passion for conservation into a mission-led garden product stocked

en

00:29:58

The Next Five Years of Garden Retail – Voices from...

The Underground ·

2025/12/10

What’s the one change you’d most like to see in garden retail over the next five years? At Glee 2025, we put that question to all 20 of our guests who joined us in The Underground podcast booth – from garden centre owners and suppliers to marketeers, educators and innovators. The result is a sharp, hopeful snapshot of where the garden sector wants to head next. In this compilation episode you’ll hear from voices including:Amy and Libby Stubbs (British Garden Centres), Kate Ebbens (Woodlodge),

en

00:50:07

Soil Health, Plant Food & Profit: The Future of Plant...

The Underground ·

2025/12/03

The science of plant nutrition is moving fast, and it is reshaping everything from peat-free compost to profit margins on the shop floor. In this Glee 2025 special, Phil and Kate sit down with Steve Harper, MD of Grass Gains and Chair of the Responsible Sourcing Scheme, and then with Simon Taylor and Helen Thomas from Empathy, Plantworks, to explore what comes next for lawn care, plant feeds and bio-fertilisers in garden retail. Steve explains how Grass Gains is bringing professional-grade lawn

en

01:00:36

Loyalty, Ads & Footfall: Modern Marketing for Garden...

The Underground ·

2025/11/26

Marketing for garden centres is changing fast. In this Glee 2025 episode of The Underground, Phil Wright and Kate Turner sit down with two specialists to explore how loyalty data and paid media can work together to drive footfall, sales and long-term customer value in the home and garden sector.First up, Vanessa Cranford from Spring Marketing explains why garden centre loyalty schemes should be treated as profit engines, not cost centres. Drawing on two decades of experience and data from over 100

en

00:42:22

Tony Kersey, GIMA & Belle Richardson, Seal Stop: Live...

The Underground ·

2025/11/19

Recorded live on the show floor at Glee 2025, this episode of The Underground discovers how the garden sector is nurturing innovation, supporting newcomers and helping customers navigate a changing retail landscape.Phil and Kate first sit down with Tony Kersey, Membership Ambassador at GIMA, to explore why the trade association is seeing record growth, how it is supporting over 200 members, and what smaller suppliers really need to know to make the most of a show like Glee. Tony shares how the

en

00:59:22

Make It Memorable with Paul Pleydell & Barry Knight -...

The Underground ·

2025/11/12

Garden centres aren’t just about plants anymore. Recorded live at Glee 2025, Phil & Kate sit down with Paul Pleydell of Pleydell Smithyman and Barry Knight of The Full Range to unpack how experience, smart design and a considered food offer can lift margins, smooth seasonality and win younger families. From “make it better before you make it bigger” to being famous for something (yes, even a lemon meringue pie a foot high), this episode is packed full of ideas for teams who want their site to be

en

00:55:39

Lee Connelly & Sipcam’s Nigel Thompson on Schools,...

The Underground ·

2025/11/06

Recorded at Glee 2025, Phil Wright and Kate Turner sit down with Lee Connelly, the Children’s Gardening Coach (formerly Skinny Jean Gardener), and Nigel Thompson, Sales & Marketing Director at Sipcam Home & Garden, to explore how the trade can engage families, support schools, and modernise product ranges for today’s consumer. Expect practical ideas for garden centres, insight on brand-building as a challenger, and new product thinking across outdoor and houseplant care. What you’ll

en

00:41:00

Glee 2025: Live Q&A with Blue Diamond’s Alan Roper

The Underground ·

2025/10/29

In this live Glee Q&A, Phil sits down with Alan Roper, Managing Director of Blue Diamond Garden Centres, for a frank look at what really drives performance in modern garden retail: culture, commercial discipline, and relentless differentiation.Roper explains why scale only works when the “engine room” is tuned for profit and cash, not vanity growth; why benchmarking and ownership culture beat top-down control; how demographic waves continue to pull new gardeners into the category; and where the

en

01:09:11

Michael Perry's “Future Plants” and Canada’s Urban...

The Underground ·

2025/10/21

This episode takes on a distinctly international feel: once again at Glee 2025, Phil and Kate sit down with two voices from opposite sides of the Atlantic who share a common mission: get more people excited about nature, and make it easier for retailers to serve them brilliantly.First up, Michael Perry (Mr Plant Geek) explains why he now calls himself a plant promoter, what makes a plant “promotion-worthy,” and the nine trend pillars he’s been touring the halls with: from “Go green or go

en

01:01:34

Stronger Together: YPHA’s championing of young talent...

The Underground ·

2025/10/15

This episode pays homage to the support systems that make horticulture special. Phil Wright and co-host Kate Turner talk with Nat Boynton and Meg Warren-Davis from YPHA about practical ways the community invests in young professionals: from bursaries and employer-backed time to train, to sponsors and partners who step in when it matters. Then Kaz Edwards (Heart of Eden) shares how the trade rallied when she was made redundant, opening doors within weeks and proving why this sector’s people-first

en

90 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

The Homestead Challenge Podcast | Suburban Homesteading, Gardening, Food From Scratch, Sustainable Living

Brittany Gibson - Beginner Homesteader

FamilyGeekery - A Podcast About Comics, Video Games, and Anything Else Geeky!

QuickPixel Media

Modified Rides Podcast

Modified Rides Podcast

Living Clutter Free Forever - decluttering tips,home organizing, minimalist living

Caroline Thor - Professional Organizer...