Question Time: Etsy Witches, Rainy Weddings, and Garden Etiquette

2026-06-16

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We’re back with another listener Q&A! As always, James and Joe are answering your most urgent (and slightly unhinged) gardening questions. This week, we tackle the "elephant in the room": what is the official etiquette for bathroom breaks when you’re working in a client’s garden? (Spoiler: It involves a lot of "feral weeding" and shed-related anxiety). We also dive into the ethics of urban gardening—is it botanical cruelty to cram 30 cosmos into a tiny window box?—and take on a listener’s challenge: for every new plant you buy, you mu...

We also dive into the ethics of urban gardening—is it botanical cruelty to cram 30 cosmos into a tiny window box?—and take on a listener’s challenge: for every new plant you buy, you must purge one household item. Plus, we discuss the efficacy of paying a witch on Etsy to save your wedding day weather.

In this episode:

The Bathroom Protocol: How to handle the lack of facilities without ruining your client relationship.
Urban Gardening Ethics: When does "abundance" cross the line into plant torture?
The One-In-One-Out Rule: James and Joe try to decide which household junk to bin for their latest plant haul.
Witchcraft & Weddings: Should you demand a refund from an Etsy witch for a rainy wedding day?
Reality TV Dreams: Which reality shows would James and Joe actually survive?

Got a question for the next Q&A? Drop it in our DMs.

This episode is sponsored by Kress, leaders in robotic lawnmowing and battery landscaping tools. Learn more here: https://www.kress.com/en-gb/

About our hosts

James Alexander-Sinclair is a garden designer, writer and broadcaster. He is an RHS Vice-President and was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal for outstanding contribution to horticulture in 2022. He is the RHS Ambassador for Garden Design and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers.

Joe Swift is a familiar face on television as a presenter of BBC TV’s Gardeners’ World and other gardening programmes. He is a garden designer, broadcaster, writer and design director of Modular.

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