Being In The Garden Is Good For My Head

Radio 2’s Jo Whiley talks to Jack White about gardening, Glastonbury and the plus side of getting older.

- Jack White

Sorry, we’re just sorting the dog out!” Jo Whiley calls as we arrive at her gorgeous home in Northamptonshire. It’s a barn conversion with a huge garden, so it’s no wonder Brodie the Sproodle likes to get up to mischief. Once Jo, 53, has him under control, she ushers us into the kitchen, offering tea and cake, making sure the w&h team is taken care of. This maternal side to Jo shouldn’t come as a surprise: her eldest daughter India is 27, followed by son Jude, 19, second son Cassius, 17, and 10-year-old daughter Coco – so she and husband Steve Morton have had plenty of practice. Jo’s been a pivotal part of British entertainment for more than 30 years, and her current professional home is BBC Radio 2, but we’re here today to talk about another of her biggest passions in life – gardening.

Jo is undoubtedly one of the coolest women in the business, and while some may say gardening isn’t a thrilling pastime, she disagrees. “I do think it’s something that you grow into,” she says. “But I’ve always had an interest in gardening because it’s a family thing. My grandad always gardened and so did my mum, so I’ve always had it going on around me. But it’s true – the older I’ve got, the more I’ve enjoyed it.”

I love weeding!

It’s not just all the nice things about her garden that Jo loves because one of her favourite things to do outside is weeding. “It’s so good,” she laughs. “When you’ve got an area that’s all cluttered, and then you take away all the weeds and it looks nice and clean at the end, it’s really satisfying.”