Put your burning chilli questions to the BBC R4 gardening panel

Chilli Fiesta - Posted on 15th July 2016

Do you have an original chilli-growing question for one of the BBC Radio Four Gardeners' Question Time? Well, now's your chance.

On Friday 5 August Chilli Fiesta welcomes the well-known expert panel, chaired by Eric Robson. The BBC team will be recording a special Chilli Fiesta edition of the show and festival-goers and gardening experts will have the chance to put their hot topics to Christine Walkden, Matthew Wilson, Bob Flowerdew and Bunny Guinness.

The show will be recorded in front of a studio audience and you can be a part of the fun. Tickets are limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis only on the day between 4pm and 5pm from the Chilli Hub at Chilli Fiesta.

The Gardeners' Question Time Chilli Fiesta show will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Friday 12 August at 3pm and Sunday 14 August at 2pm.

STOP PRESS

Please note the presenter will now be Peter Gibbs and the panel will consist of Matthew Wilson, Bob Flowerdew and Bunny Guinness.

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Meet the gardening experts

Mark Diacono, food writer, grower and photographer at Otter Farm, will be appearing at Chilli Fiesta on Sunday 7 August. Mark says he is "lucky enough to spend most of my time eating, growing, writing and talking about food". He is the author of seven award winning books, including A Year at Otter Farm which won the Andre Simon Food Book of the Year 2014.

Visitors will have the opportunity to pick up growing tips from Sarah Wain, Gardens Supervisor and a chilli growing expert. Sarah and husband, Jim Buckland, Gardens Manager, were recently noninated Outstanding Winners of the Custodian Award by Horticulture Week for 25 Years of Glorious Gardening at West Dean.

Sarah will be giving informal talks around the walled kitchen gardens, featuring 13 fully working Victorian glasshouses, designed by Foster & Pearson between 1895 and 1901, where she grows an abundance of fruit and vegetables, surrounded by colourful flower borders.

It is 25 years since Sarah and Jim began the remarkable transformation of West Dean Gardens from a derelict site into the internationally renowned 19th century landscape of today. Inspired by the BBC's Victorian Kitchen Garden (1987) the renovation of the walled gardens were one of the first projects, taking two years to complete.

Now show us yours!

Don't forget to bring your Demon Red chilli plant - or any other chilli variety you have grown this year to be judged in the Chilli Hub on Sunday 7 August. Sarah Wain, West Dean Gardens' chilli growing expert and Thompson and Morgan's gardening expert, Kris Collins. will be awarding prizes to the best in show.

There willl be a 'Chilli Creche' where you can leave your plant while you go and see what else Chilli Fiesta has to offer so you don't have to carry it around!

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