Pippa Greenwood

Pippa Greenwood is an English plant pathologist. She appears frequently on the BBC’s long-running Gardeners’ World television programme and has been a regular panellist on Gardeners’ Question Time on BBC Radio 4 since 1994.

Pippa trained as a botanist at Durham University (BSc hons) and then gained an MSc in Crop Protection at Reading University. In 2007 Pippa was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science (DSc) by The University of Durham for her work in gardening and its science.  In 1985 she joined the staff of The Royal Horticultural Society’s Garden at Wisley in Surrey, where she ran the Plant Pathology Department, answering several thousand queries from gardeners every year.

1n 1988 Pippa began working for the BBC, joining Alan Titchmarsh for the gardening slot on BBC 1’s Daytime Live.  From 1989-2002 she was a regular presenter on BBC 2’s Gardeners’ World, presenting many items on garden pests and diseases, science and gardening, and creating and running her organic kitchen garden from her own Hampshire garden.

She is also a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, travelling the length and breadth of the country to present the programme throughout the year. In 2000, 2001 and 2002 she presented her own series, ‘Growing Science’ on Radio 4. For several years Pippa was the Presenter on BBC Radio Solent’s ‘Topsoil with Pippa Greenwood’, a three hour gardening and music show.  She has guested on a number of television and radio programmes including : Tomorrow’s World, You and Yours, The Today programme, Woman’s Hour, Free Thinking, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, GMTV, Breakaway, Grass Roots and Call my Bluff. Plus numerous regional and local radio programmes.

Pippa was the gardening consultant for the ITV murder mystery series Rosemary and Thyme starring Pam Ferris and Felicity Kendal, script checking and advising on the gardening sub-plots and other plant related matters, and the ‘gardening personalities’ of the two actresses!

Pippa has several regular writing commitments including BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, and a monthly page in ‘NFU Countryside Magazine’, Kitchen Garden Magazine and contributes to various websites.  For eighteen years Pippa was the gardening columnist for The Mirror newspaper. Pippa has her own blog which she has launched ‘Grow Your Own with Pippa Greenwood’, offers ‘AskPippa’ a garden advice service and makes topical garden comment and has launched a garden products area too.

Pippa has written many books including the Dorling Kindersley bestsellers, ‘New Gardener’ (in excess of one and a quarter million copies sold) & ‘Gardening Hints and Tips’, ‘Garden Pests and Diseases’, ‘Garden Problem Solver’, ‘Flower Gardener’, ‘Pippa’s Organic Kitchen Garden’; ‘A Garden for All Seasons’, ‘Pippa Greenwood’s Gardening Year’, ‘1001 Ways to be a Better Gardener’ (Mitchell Beazley). She co-authored ‘The Gardeners’ Question Time book’. Her latest book is ‘Gardener’s Year’ (Summersdale).