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Sue has been CEO at SongBird Survival for the last three years leading the charity
in its ambition to protect the amazingly diverse but sadly declining songbird
populations across the UK. With its growing body of scientific research which is
fuelling solutions, SongBird Survival is advocating that we can and should take
action to protect these ecologically threatened creatures. Campaigns including
Gardens for Birds provide accessible and rewarding opportunities to play a part in
much needed practical ways to reverse the drastic declines many species are facing.Charlotte has been the research and engagement manager at SongBird Survival for
over two years, and her passion is in bringing science to the public. By overseeing
the research programme at SBS, she hopes to create the greatest impact on UK
songbirds possible. Prior to her role at SBS, she worked as a scientific researcher
and wanted to do more to connect scientific research and conservation.Links
SongBird Survival
www.songbird-survival.org.uk
Advice on the optimum methods for protecting birds in your garden
Downloads of plant lists and hints and tips to support birds through gardening
Whether you are a novice or an experienced gardener, see our tips for some ideas to
get gardening with wildlife in mind.Other episodes if you liked this one:
Britain’s Birds with Benedict Macdonald - This episode, I’m talking BioChar with Craig Sams, the co-founder of Carbon Gold, a company that produces a range of BioChar products for the garden but also for agricultural use. I interviewed Craig in his beautiful garden in Hastings, so please excuse the cries of the seagulls who tried to get in on the act around halfway through the interview.…
Garden Birdwatch - This week I’m speaking to Sue Allen of Microbz, which produces and distributes probiotics for gardens. The concept of probiotics in gardens is new to me, but it dovetails nicely with previous episodes looking at soil health and mycorrhizal fungi so I was delighted to speak to Sue and find out more about how probiotics work in gardens and what we can do to encourage them.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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This week, my guest is Los Angeles-based landscaper and fertiliser guru Erin Riley. Erin specialises in organic vegetable gardens and native, drought-tolerant landscapes and we’re talking today about her work to create fertilisers that are good for plants, people, animals and the planet.
About Erin Riley
Erin is stewarding a gardening renaissance: elevating organic fertilizers past their dependance on animal byproducts by founding the vegan fertilizer company. Her mission: to grow plants without killing the planet.
Links
www.cabbagehillfertilizer.com
Erin’s substack post “Does fertilizer matter?”
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Biochar - This episode, I’m talking BioChar with Craig Sams, the co-founder of Carbon Gold, a company that produces a range of BioChar products for the garden but also for agricultural use. I interviewed Craig in his beautiful garden in Hastings, so please excuse the cries of the seagulls who tried to get in on the act around halfway through the interview.…
Probiotics for your Garden - This week I’m speaking to Sue Allen of Microbz, which produces and distributes probiotics for gardens. The concept of probiotics in gardens is new to me, but it dovetails nicely with previous episodes looking at soil health and mycorrhizal fungi so I was delighted to speak to Sue and find out more about how probiotics work in gardens and what we can do to encourage them.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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This week, my guest is bee expert Kevin Hancock. Kevin has invented a honeybee nest box that’s the only self-regulating honey harvesting system in the world, meaning the bees will dictate how much honey you can take dependent on the environment that year. It’s a way of hosting rather than keeping bees and is an intriguing system. About the Eco Beehive “ECO BEEHIVE is the only SELF REGULATING HONEY HARVESTING SYSTEM IN THE WORLD! Wow that is so exciting!! But it is !! no really.. give me a chance and I'll explain. I am on a mission to strengthen the honeybee network across Europe!! You are automatically involved. First. What is strengthening the honeybees network? Honeybees don’t live in isolation. They are all interconnected though a network of colonies. No beekeeper is in isolation. Whatever they do impacts on the greater network around them. OK so why? To get more colony’s in the environment. Not apiaries. More hives spread out creates a network of interconnected nests, results in stronger genetics. Faster response to problems like predation and sickness, across the network. The problem is the network has collapsed. You can affect change by installing honeybees nest boxes. I recommend my nest box: Where did it all start you ask? Well as a little boy helping with the bees on my Grandfather’s farm in Africa, to catching my first swarm when I was about twelve years old. This then sparked the interest and evolved into my hobby of beelineing (tracking bees to find wild colonies). My story makes me uniquely qualified to design and build the ECO- BEEHIVE. With an interest in bees ( Apis mellifera ) not beekeeping! My interest is mostly investigating bees in the wild. These little insects are under pressure from all sorts of thing. But simplest of these to fix and something we can all get involved in and help with is to simply give them a safe, natural home to live. Solving this simple but big problem, is my mission! After trying many different designs over quite a few decades, and using all the data I have collected from observing bees, I have developed a nest that is so convincing, to bees, they will just move in on their own! But more impressive is they will stay, But even more impressive, is they will then thrive. This then is the ECO--BEEHIVE. www.gardenersbeehive.com Other episodes if you liked this one: Urban Bees - My guest this week is urban apiculturist Mark Patterson. Mark founded and runs Apicultural where he work with businesses and communities to invest in natural capital, improving the environment for pollinators and delivering pollinator monitoring surveys for clients. He provides honey bee hive management solutions, beekeeping training and education and also supplies quality urban honey to a select group of establishments. So you’d think Mark would be all for the idea of urban honeybees, right? Listen on… Looking Out for Bumblebees - This episode my guest is Gill Perkins, CEO of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. We talk about bumblebee populations and habitats, what we can do to encourage and care for bumblebees in our gardens and about the role of bumblebees in tomato pollination, which came as a complete surprise to me! Support the podcast on Patreon
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This episode my guest is former jewellery designer to the stars, turned social media veg grower, Lucy Hutchings. Along with music festival organiser, Kate Cotterill, Lucy set up SheGrowsVeg, an heirloom seed company which is bringing the most unusual veg, fruit, and edible flowers to veg patches and plates everywhere. About SheGrowsVeg Would you like to enliven your dishes with homegrown veg that looks and tastes incredible? Jet black tomatoes, stunning pale pink chicory that looks like a rose or salad leaves that taste like wasabi are just a few of the tasty veg that could grace your plate thanks to exciting new seed brand, SheGrowsVeg. SheGrowsVeg is disrupting the seed market with its range of over 150 open pollinated heirloom seed varieties that promise the most beautiful, unique and delicious veg to give your dishes the wow factor. Launched by former jewellery designer to the stars, turned social media veg grower, Lucy Hutchings (@shegrowsveg), along with top marketeer and music festival organiser, Kate Cotterill, SheGrowsVeg is set to bring the most unusual veg, fruit, and edible flowers to veg patches and plates everywhere. SheGrowsVeg’s range is entirely open pollinated seed from heirloom or rare origins, meaning they are packed full of nutrients, are outstanding in the looks department and taste phenomenal. Explains Lucy, “We want to disrupt the seed market with varieties that, up until now, have largely been unavailable. We firmly believe that the only way to give yourself the most incredible range of ingredients, at a price that won’t break the bank, is to grow it yourself. You don’t have to be into gardening to grow food and we’ve created our range to give you beautiful open pollinated veg and the helping hand you need to get growing.” SheGrowsVeg wants to attract everyone from ardent growers, to kitchen garden novices, along with experimental cooks who are dreaming of using unique and delicious produce they simply can’t buy in the shops. To help those new to growing their own, ‘Sow, Grow and Taste’ Youtube videos can be found via QR codes on every single pack, giving confidence to all. So if you’re dreaming of bringing new colour, taste and variety to your plate, growing your own could be the answer and SheGrowsVeg will help you turn that dream into a reality. Each pack features stunning photography and jargon free instructions, making them a pleasure to collect. SheGrowsVeg have also carefully curated seed collections such as ‘chef’s choice’ and ‘top 5 heirloom tomatoes’ that make beautiful gifts tucked in little eco cotton bags. To find out more about the huge variety of seeds available and to buy online visit www.shegrowsveg.com. Other episodes if you liked this one: Edimentals - This week, I’m speaking to one of the world’s foremost experts in ornamental, edible plants, Stephen Barstow. Stephen grows a dazzling range of plants, some you probably haven’t even heard of, let alone eaten and more still that you may have heard of but may not have considered to be edible. Stephen’s book Around the World in 80 Plants looks at perennial, leafy plants from around the globe that play a big part in the diet of those living where these plants naturally occur in abundance. He’s grown and studied these in his garden in Norway and selected varieties for taste, growth performance and for nutritional, ornamental and entomological value. that please the eye, work from a maintenance perspective and can evolve successfully over time. We talk about what he grows in his garden, his passion for onions, his book and some of the varieties mentioned therein. Sky Gardening - My guest this episode is the super-talented and creative gardener and designer Brent Purtell and we’re talking about the Capitaspring Rooftop Garden in Singapore, which shares the ‘2nd highest’ building ranking along with 3 other buildings, all the same height. There are 3 gardens on the building, covering an area of 10,000 square feet and containing a mixture of ornamentals and edibles, all growing at dizzying heights. Brent was involved on the build and design side before he became the Head Gardener, overseeing the maintenance of Capitaspring Rooftop Garden. Support the podcast on Patreon
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This episode my guest is Alan Heeks, former corporate world inhabitant, organic farmer, coach and author of the book ‘Natural Happiness’. After his transition into organic farming, Alan realised that “a cultivated organic ecosystem is a profound guide to tending human nature, and that organic growth methods have parallels for people: such as composting your stress, and using crop rotation to avoid burnout.” We explore the idea further…
About Alan Heeks
Alan Heeks had a baptism by mud at age 42, when he dropped out of a successful business career and followed a wild impulse to start an organic farm as an education centre where young people could find their roots and direction as they entered adult life.
Despite Alan's lack of any relevant experience, the project succeeded, and gave him a huge education too. He explains, "I realised that a cultivated organic ecosystem is a profound guide to tending human nature, and that organic growth methods have parallels for people: such as composting your stress, and using crop rotation to avoid burnout."
Alan's new book about this approach, Natural Happiness, also draws on the workshops he has led for hundreds of people sharing his insights, from troubled teenagers to super-stressed NHS doctors. Alan and his wife Linda live in Hay-on-Wye, and grow many of their own vegetables.
Linkswww.naturalhappiness.net
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTubeOther episodes if you liked this one:
Forest Bathing - Forest Bathing, or Shinrin Yoku, is the practice of immersing yourself in nature as therapy. It’s the perfect antidote for those who feel disconnected from the land and unattached from nature, which is increasingly likely to happen in a world where 55% of us live in urban areas. In this episode, I speak to Stefan Batorijs who founded Nature and Therapy UK in 2017, as a response to a growing need to foster a spiritual and psychological connection to the land. If you’ve always wondered what Forest Bathing, or Shinrin Yoku, entails, this is the episode for you!
Gardening for Your Senses - This week I’m chatting with writer Kendra Wilson. Kendra has written a vast amount about gardening but I was particularly interested in speaking to her about her book Garden for the Senses. Engaging all your senses can lead to a deeper connection with the landscape and it can be an unusual and transformative experience. I wanted to find out how we can all learn to better use our senses and firstly, what prompted Kendra to write the book.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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Hello and welcome to this week’s episode where my guest is Mark Schofield, Plantlife’s Road Verge Advisor for the UK. Mark has a huge amount of experience when it comes to green space conservation and is currently involved in a number of projects across the country to manage road verges better for wildlife involving biomass harvesting trials and the use of AI in surveys. He’s also one of Plantlife’s representatives for the #NoMowMay campaign, and in this interview, he talks about how we can maintain both private and public green spaces more sympathetically for wildflowers and the wildlife they support.
About Mark Schofield
Mark used to work for the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust before he joined Plantlife as their Road Verge Advisor for the UK. He has 15 years of experience of road verge and urban green space conservation and has organised extensive citizen science surveys. He is currently involved in a number of projects across the country to manage road verges better for wildlife involving biomass harvesting trials and the use of AI in surveys.
Mark is also one of Plantlife’s representatives for the #NoMowMay campaign, and has written much of the guidance on the Plantlife website for how we can maintain our lawns and public green spaces more sympathetically for wildflowers and the wildlife they support.
LinksNo Mow May and lawn management guidance:
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay/
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/advice-learning/managing-grassland/
Trends in green space management:Report from APSE with good news from local authorities for meadows and biodiversity priorities
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Tapestry Lawns - This episode, I’m talking to Dr Lionel Smith, horticulture lecturer and author of the book Tapestry Lawns: Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers. As the title suggests, a tapestry lawn replaces grass with flowering dicots, increasing biodiversity, lowering maintenance needs and seriously upping the aesthetic value of a lawn. Living with a tapestry lawns involves a little bit of self-education around how you treat plants and I start by asking how to overcome one of my own biggest worries about having one…
Gardening for Your Senses - This week I’m chatting with writer Kendra Wilson. Kendra has written a vast amount about gardening but I was particularly interested in speaking to her about her book Garden for the Senses. Engaging all your senses can lead to a deeper connection with the landscape and it can be an unusual and transformative experience. I wanted to find out how we can all learn to better use our senses and firstly, what prompted Kendra to write the book.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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This episode, my guest is Sam Frings who founded The Organic Plant Nursery. Sam explains in his own words how he got started and how things have been along the way. It’s not easy being a pioneer, but listen on to find out how Sam and his family have battled against the odds to do it right.
Links
www.organicplantnursery.co.uk
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Running a Green Nursery with Chris Williams of Edible Culture - This week I’m speaking to Chris Williams, co-founder of Edibleculture, an inspirational nursery based in Faversham in Kent. From the day the nursery was established 5 years ago, ethically and ecologically sounds principles have been employed to create the brilliant business that exists today. We talk about how the nursery succeeds where so many others are failing to make changes; using peat-free compost, gardening organically without chemicals, eliminating single use plastics from their sales output and many other initiatives that make this nursery truly revolutionary.
School Gardening - This episode I’m joined by 3 guests; Louise Moreton who heads up the horticultural programme at Wicor Primary School and 2 of the MiniHorts themselves, Rebecca and Kieran. Louise set up a horticultural programme at the school 11 years ago, initially in a voluntary capacity. The programme became such a success she’s now employed by the school and works 4 days a week to deliver what has become a vital part of the curriculum. Rebecca and Kieran are Year 6 pupils who are members of the after school gardening club and leads in the MiniHorts programme, passing on their knowledge and enthusiasm to younger pupils. The MiniHorts have been in the media quite a bit, including featuring in an episode of Gardeners’ World in 2017, so they’re seasoned pros at this sort of thing! If you don’t have children or children of school age, I think you’ll still find this episode interesting and inspiring, it’s well worth a listen.
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This episode, my guest is Sarah Dodd AKA the Tree Hugging Lawyer and founder of law firm Tree Law. Sarah specialises in civil and criminal claims arising from disputes with trees, in particular trees causing damage to properties. She’s also the host of Tree Law TV channel on YouTube and today, we find out all about her background, her work and the law as it relates to trees.
What We Talk About
Common neighbour disputes when it comes to trees
Subsidence
Cutting trees that overhang your property
Is there such a thing as a right to light or a right to privacy?
How TPOs work
Is enough done to protect trees through the law?
About Sarah Dodd
Sarah is the Tree Hugging Lawyer and founder of law firm Tree Law. Sarah specialises in civil and criminal claims arising from disputes with trees, in particular trees causing damage to properties. Sarah acts for various clients including homeowners, commercial properties owners, insurers, local authorities and developers. Sarah is a past chair of the Subsidence Forum and a member of the LTOA, MTAO and the Arboricultural Association. Sarah is the host of Tree Law TV channel on YouTube providing free contents answering some commonly asked questions about trees.
Sarah is hosting the Tree Law summer conference in London on 17 September. Tickets are on sale for that event at Lincoln’s Inn via Eventbrite - Treelawconference
www.treelaw-ap.co.uk
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Trees with Peter Thurman - Selecting and planting trees can be a minefield. Never fear though, help is on hand as ‘legend in the world of trees’, Kew-trained, Peter Thurman is here to provide straight-forward advice about what to do and what not to do when buying a tree and planting it out. Discover how to select the right tree for your garden’s soil type and which species of tree will help you create the effect you are targeting. Learn how pleached trees can become an attractive alternative to fencing, just beware of the High Hedges Act! Does it pay to have patience when growing your tree, or is it easier to have instant impact?
Pick up some valuable tips and tricks on the planting process. From deciding which food you should feed your prized specimen with, to mulching and watering, your questions are sure to be addressed in this informative episode.Irreplaceable with Julian Hoffman - This episode’s guest is writer Julian Hoffman and we’re talking about his book ‘Irreplaceable’. I read the book a few months back and as you might expect from reading the blurb, it’s about those irreplaceable wild environments and the species we’re in danger of losing. But it’s also about the people who are so deeply connected to the landscapes and the animals they’re battling to save. Julian speaks about why it’s imperative that we stop the destruction of precious landscapes, how we can help at the individual level and why it’s vital to maintain the connection between people and place.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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This week my guests are Northern California based musical duo Misner & Smith. Sam, who is Misner, and Megan, who is Smith comprise one of the most acclaimed acts in the Americana world. Blending elements of that genre with bluegrass, traditional folk ballads, and more pop leaning ideas, they’ve been described as making music that is gloriously nonconforming. Aside from their musical chops, Sam & Megan are expert gardeners who focus on pollinators, sustainability and community gardening. Listen on to find out how their connection to nature feeds into their music.
What We Talk About
Sam & Megan’s gardening backgrounds
Gardening sustainably and for the community
Gardening as a creative outlet?
How gardening inspires when you are looking for creative promptsHow gardening factors into their music?
The garden soundscape
About Misner & Smith
Northern California based unclassifiable duo Misner & Smith treasure the unpredictability of
their band. Technically precise songwriting mirrored with an improvisatory spirit and soaring
harmonies have made the band consisting of Sam Misner and Megan Smith one of the most
acclaimed acts in the Americana world. Blending elements of that genre with bluegrass,
traditional folk ballads, and more pop leaning ideas, Misner & Smith makes music gloriously
nonconforming.The duo first met at a Shakespeare festival as professional actors in California in 2002 but began working as a musical duo two years later when Sam and Megan discovered a
mutual love of roots music, Woody Guthrie, and in particular, harmony singing. Before the
release of their career defining sixth LP ALL IS SONG, the duo had released five critically
acclaimed records, including Halfway Home (2004), Poor Player (2008), Live at the Freight & Salvage (2010), Seven Hour Storm (2013), and headwaters (2017). It was that 2017 release that found the group stripping their sound back down to where it began, two voices and two instruments. headwaters was recorded live in the studio and features the duo doing what they do best. On ALL IS SONG, they build upon that momentum and turn in their finest work to date, an album of inspired declarations to the power of music, song, and, most importantly, collaboration.www.misnerandsmith.com
YouTube
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Natural Fibres - This week’s guest is multi-media artist Hanna Varga. Hanna incorporates the natural world into her work and her current projects involve foraging for fibres she turns into both useful and beautiful items. The conversation began with Hanna talking about her work past and present and developed into a really important conversation about the value of items at their more than fiscal level.
Soundscapes & Landscapes - This week I’m speaking to Dr Mike Edwards, Chief Listening Officer at Sound Matters, a company focussed on using sound and listening to create more sustainable and resilient futures. Sound Matters provided the soundtrack to the Rewilding Britain garden that one best in show at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Mike recently spoke passionately about climate change, soundscapes and landscapes at the Beth Chatto Symposium and wowed a lecture theatre full of rapt listeners with his prowess on the didgeridoo.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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This week my guests are Kevin Philip Williams and Michael Guidi, authors of a new book ‘Shrouded in Light: Naturalistic Planting Inspired by Wild Shrublands’. I’ll let Kevin and Michael say more about the idea behind it but a book about horticulture that compares natural landscapes to graffiti and branch frameworks to sigils catches my attention immediately…
What We Talk About
The premise behind the book
What is a shrub?
Why have shrubs fallen out of fashion?
Which of the global shrublands most inspires and informs their planting design at the garden level
Good examples of designed shrublands
The future of innovative garden design
Shrouded in Light: Naturalistic Planting Inspired by Wild Shrublands by Kevin Philip Williams and Michael Guidi
Other episodes if you liked this one:
The View From Federal Twist - This episode features James Golden, talking about the naturalistic garden he’s built around his home in New Jersey. James’s garden has been created intuitively over time and sits perfectly within the landscape, in fact is a landscape in its own right. Sometimes baffling, sometimes threatening and without utilitarian purpose, the garden is nonetheless life-affirming, vital and dramatically beautiful in different ways from one moment to the next.
Gardening in a Changing World - My guest this episode is garden and landscape designer and writer, Darryl Moore. Darryl is one of the most, if not in my opinion, the most informed voice on gardens and design in the UK and his new book Gardening in A Changing World: People, Plants and the Climate Crisis presents an overarching perspective of the complexity of plant life, and the ways that we can begin to appreciate and work together with plants, rather than against them, in addressing the rapidly changing conditions affecting the planet.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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This week my guest is Carolyn Dunster. Carolyn is a planting designer, botanical stylist, garden writer and author of a book all about eating flowers entitled ‘A Floral Feast: A Guide to Growing and Cooking with Edible Flowers, Foliage, Herbs and Seeds’. We discuss how to expand your culinary endeavours to encompass the ornamental parts of your garden.A Floral Feast: A Guide to Growing and Cooking with Edible Flowers, Foliage, Herbs and Seeds by Carolyn Dunster
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Edible Flowers with Jan Billington - In this episode, I’m speaking to Jan Billington of Maddocks Farm Organics, a flower farm in Devon growing and selling organic edible flowers. We talk about the easiest and tastiest flowers you can grow, colour trends, some more unusual edible flowers and how you can use edible flowers for your own special event. The episode starts with Jan telling us about her farm and why she feels her business needs to give something back.
Welcome to Mintopia - This week’s guest is Dr Si Poole, founder of Mintopia, a website dedicated to mint featuring its own online reference library for the different types, the mintopaedia. Si holds one of the National Collections of mint and holds getting on for 200 different cultivars. From his plastic-free, organic nursery, he sells themed collections of mints and he’s passionate and knowledgable about every aspect of the Mentha genera, impressive given that there’s much more to this plant than mint sauce and mojitos.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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My guest this week is Kumud Gandhi, a food scientist, author and founder of The Cooking Academy. Kumud has written a book called The Garlic Story, a look at the history of garlic and its culinary uses. We talk about how garlic has been celebrated and revered throughout history, the different types and uses and how you can incorporate more of it into your life.
'The Garlic Story' is a celebration of all things garlic with over 50 delectable recipes, promising a flavourful journey that showcases the diverse and irresistible facets of this humble ingredient.
The Garlic Story by Kumud Gandhi
www.thecookingacademy.co.uk
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Unusual Edible Plants - This episode I’m speaking with Kevin Hobbs & Artur Cesar-Erlach, authors of EDIBLE: 70 Sustainable Plants That Are Changing How We Eat which looks at edible plants from around the world that are revolutionising how we grow, eat and appreciate food. It tackles important questions like what do we eat when our usual diets are no longer sustainable, how do we future proof food and how can we be more mindful about what we eat and considers what the future of global food production might look like.
Climate Cuisine with Clarissa Wei - this episode of the podcast, I’m speaking to journalist and host of the Climate Cuisine podcast, Clarissa Wei.
On her podcast, Clarissa shares the stories of the crops grown sustainably around the world. The goal is to highlight climate-centric conversations about crops and the food we eat as they become increasingly important to the resiliency and survival of our food systems.
Support the podcast on Patreon
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My guest this week is Nadine Charlton. Through her business Home Spring Gardens, Nadine provides specialist services to the horticultural and landscape construction industry, advising on sustainable best practice and creating beautiful gardens and landscapes with an environmental conscience. We talk about the importance of sourcing sustainable garden products, how you can tell whether what you’re buying is sustainable and whether enough is being done on this front.
About Nadine Charlton & Home Spring Gardens
Nadine provides specialist services to the horticultural and landscape construction industry
with commitment to sustainable best practice and creating beautiful gardens and landscapes with an environmental conscience.She has exhibited personally at RHS shows, and has project managed and advised on multi award winning gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Nadine has an ability to see a vision and make it happen, connecting people and bringing
teams, partners as well as commercial objectives together with demonstrable results. She
has a lifelong passion of historic landscapes and architecture and is an advocate for using
traditional methods with the benefit of modern insights and techniques.A passionate lover of outdoor living, Nadine is committed to innovation and education;
inspiring the next generation.www.homespringgardens.co.uk
Nadine is currently working with Landscape Architect Michael Lote on his debut show garden ‘It doesn’t have to cost the Earth’ which will be featured at RHS Malvern Spring Festival 9-12 th May 2024 showcasing innovative sustainable construction products and methods.
The garden will be repurposed to Woodoaks Farm which is owned by the Soil Association Land Trust to create a permanent training and educational space to facilitate learning for school children and adults, growing together with the horticultural and agricultural industry.
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Historic Roses
Irises
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My guest this week is Polly Nicholson. Polly is the owner of Bayntun Flowers in Wiltshire, and holds the national collection of Tulipa (Historica) with Plant Heritage. Polly has also written a book called ‘The Tulip Garden: Growing and Collecting Species, Rare and Annual Varieties’ which is released on the 21st March and today she shares her knowledge of this complex and fascinating group of plants.
About Polly Nicholson
Specialist flower grower and tulip expert Polly Nicholson is the owner of Bayntun Flowers in Wiltshire – growers of organic flowers cultivated in walled gardens and a one-acre field at the foot of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire. Nicholson holds the National Collection of Tulipa (Historic) with Plant Heritage, and has featured on BBC Gardener’s World, Radio 4, in Gardens Illustrated, Country Life, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The World of Interiors, and House & Garden.
Links
The Tulip Garden: Growing and Collecting Species, Rare and Annual Varieties by Polly Nicholson
www.bayntunflowers.co.uk
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Historic Roses
Irises
Support the podcast on Patreon
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Hello and welcome to this week’s episode where my guest is Kyo Maclear. Kyo is an author and her latest book is centred around family secrets, her mother and how gardening shaped their relationship and helped her frame their mutual experiences.
About Unearthing
Kyo Maclear's Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love & Family Secrets is published on 7th March 2024. It’s a gripping and emotionally eloquent memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the transformative possibilities of growing plants.
A memoir of inheritance that goes far beyond heredity, Unearthing is about what happens when we give up the watered, weeded, and pruned plots of our family histories and embrace a more expansive view of kinship. Told through the passage of seasons with exquisite illustrations by the author, it is a tender testimony to the ineradicable love between a mother and daughter for readers of Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart and Katherine May’s Wintering.
When Kyo Maclear receives the result of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her, whose death she is grieving, are not biologically related, she is suddenly a detective in her own life, desperately seeking answers from her ailing mother whose memories and English are failing. Maclear no longer speaks Japanese, her mother's first language, so she turns to her mother's second fluent tongue: the wild and green language of gardening, to provide them with a way of connecting. This beautifully constructed, intricate memoir is a work as unique as its author, and yet, movingly, achingly relatable.
About Kyo Maclear
Kyo is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and children's author. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages and published in over twenty-five countries. She is the author of the hybrid memoir Birds Art Life (2017,) and winner of the Trillium Book Award. She holds a doctorate in environmental humanities and is on faculty at the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA.
Links
Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love & Family Secrets by Kyo Maclear
www.kyomaclear.com
Other episodes if you liked this one:
A Rolling Stone Gathering Moss
All My Wild Mothers
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Vicky Chown is a Medical Herbalist, foraging instructor and self taught permaculturist. She’s head gardener at Omved Gardens, a fascinating community garden in London which focuses on food, creativity and wellbeing.
What we talk about
The idea behind Omved Gardens
How nature factors in to the garden
Where food and creativity fit in
The design of the site and how it feeds into the purpose and the overall experience for visitors
Who uses the site
The activities that take place
About Vicky Chown
Vicky Chown is a Medical Herbalist (BSc), foraging instructor and self taught permaculturist. She is head gardener at Omved Gardens and Coordinator of their Seed Saving Network.
Links
Vicky Chown on Instagram @handmade_apothecary
The Seed Saving Network @seedsavingnetwork
Omved Gardens @omvedgardens
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Gardening for your Senses
Permaculture
Support the podcast on Patreon
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Caroline & Jon have created the most amazing swimming pond in their back garden and have documented their journey on social media, posting videos of year-round swimming adventures and pond-life. If you need inspiration to tackle a garden project you’ve always thought was just a pipe-dream, listen in as Caroline & Jon offer their refreshingly optimistic and can-do approach.
What we talk about
What made Caroline & Jon install a pool in their garden?
Planning permission
Filling the pond
Cleaning the pond
Swimming year round
Bringing in wildlife
The planting scheme - aesthetic or functional?
Build cost
LinksCaroline & Jon on TikTok
Caroline & Jon on Instagram
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Creating Wildlife Habitats
Bats
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Alexandra Steed is a passionate landscape architect with a profound commitment to art, sustainability, and the transformative power of landscapes. Alexandra recently authored Portrait to Landscape and we talk about the possibility of and the necessity for shaping our landscapes so they may help to heal the earth.
What we talk about
Why portrait to landscape?
The biosphere
An overview of Alexandra’s ideas for better landscape design and management?
Urban vs rural landscaping
Can we rely on change that comes from the top down?
How individuals can make a difference
About Alexandra Steed
Alexandra Steed, a passionate landscape architect and Fellow of the Landscape Institute (FLI) and the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), has a profound commitment to art, sustainability, and the transformative power of landscapes. In 2013, she founded URBAN to bring joy to people’s daily lives through landscape design that enhances beauty and fosters well-being. Steed actively advises and serves on expert panels for organisations such as the Design Council UK and the Government’s Office for Place. As a lecturer at The Bartlett, UCL, she shares her knowledge and volunteers her time to support community empowerment and inclusive public spaces. Steed’s exceptional contributions to landscape architecture have garnered prestigious awards, including the WAFX Award for innovative global solutions and The LI Award for Excellence in Tackling Climate Change. With a strong focus on preserving biodiversity and ecosystems, Steed’s dedication to integrating natural processes into her designs is evident. Through her work and advocacy, she champions climate change mitigation and inspires others to connect with and appreciate the natural world.
About Portrait to Landscape“Portrait to Landscape: A Landscape Strategy to Reframe Our Future” is a ground-breaking book that calls for a transformative shift in our relationship with the natural world. Written by a renowned landscape architect, this book offers a new perspective on our place in the world and a compelling vision for a regenerative future.
In an era plagued by environmental disasters and global challenges, the book argues that our exploitative and fragmented relationship with nature is at the root of these issues. Drawing upon the metaphor of a self-focused portrait versus a wide-angle landscape view, the book illuminates the profound impact of our narrow perspective. It offers a roadmap for reconnecting with the larger community of life.Through a captivating narrative, the author explores the interconnectedness of the living world and the urgent need to shift from a human-centric mindset to one that embraces the wisdom of nature. It demonstrates with inspiring examples from around the world how landscapes can become catalysts for healing and regeneration, leading to improved well-being and sustainability.
“Portrait to Landscape” presents a holistic approach to restoring the earth, addressing not only the symptoms but also the underlying causes of environmental degradation. The book outlines practical strategies for policymakers, activists, and individuals to protect and restore landscapes, emphasising collaboration and long-term stewardship.
With passion and expertise, the book calls on global citizens to take action and become active participants in the healing process. It offers a powerful message of hope and possibility, envisioning a future where humanity and all nature coexist in harmony.
This thought-provoking book will inspire readers to reconsider their relationship with nature and join the movement towards a more sustainable and regenerative future. It is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of our place in the world and how we can inhabit it with integrity.
Links“Portrait to Landscape” is available here.
South Essex Estuary Park Project, UK
Sponge City Project, China
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Led by the Land with Kim Wilkie
Responsibly Designing the Built Environment
Support the podcast on Patreon
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Perrine Bulgheroni is a renowned farmer who, along with Charles Herve-Gruyer, co-authored the Living with the Earth series of books and co-founded the famous Bec Hellouin, an ecoculture farm in Northern France. We talk about growing produce, closed loop farming, how food growing helps capture carbon and how to manage your natural environment for maximum benefits for people, wildlife and ecosystems.
What we talk about
What ecoculture is
Does it take up less space than traditional agriculture?
The ecoculture approach to rainfall and soil
Volumes two and three of Living with the Earth
Ideal land area for a plot
The Flow of Organic Matter
How ecoculture contributes to carbon capture
About Living with the Earth: A Manual for Market Gardeners - Volume 1: Permaculture, Ecoculture: Inspired by Nature
by Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer
Living With The Earth is a three volume series bringing together years of hands-on
organic growing experience and research from the world-renowned Bec Hellouin Farm
in France.In 2006, Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer set out on a mission to discover a new form
of agriculture that provides organic crops, creates healthy soil and brings meaningful
employment to the local community. A combination of biointensive methods and
permaculture design, which they have named ‘ecoculture’, and backed by scientific
research, has resulted in a highly abundant market garden that sequesters carbon and
frees up land for Nature.This beautifully illustrated, comprehensive first volume shows you how natural
systems work, and explains how a wide range of simple and effective techniques can
create ecologically diverse gardens or highly productive farms. The in-depth chapters
on weather patterns, soil types and ecosystem services, give the reader a sound
understanding of the environment they are growing in.The book covers everything you need to design a farm and implement a high-yielding
food system from scratch, from understanding permaculture and its tools to the full
design process, using the successful systems at Bec Hellouin as examples. Chapters
on composting, mulching, fertilisers, green manures and working with beneficial
microorganisms offer the reader a selection of tools for creating healthy soil within the
farm ecosystem.About the Authors
Perrine Hervé-Gruyer pursued a career as a lawyer in Asia before devoting herself to
psychotherapy. She is now a farmer. An educator by training, Charles Hervé-Gruyer
travelled the globe aboard the training sailboat ‘Fleur de Lampaul’ for 22 years. He is the
author of several books. Perrine and Charles became certified permaculture teachers in 2013.Links
Living with the Earth: A Manual for Market Gardeners - Volume 1: Permaculture, Ecoculture: Inspired by Nature
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Urban Smallholding
The Garden of Equal Delights
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Miles Hayward is a dendrophile and keen plantsman, who discovered a passion for Japanese Maples and soon began to accumulate a wide variety of different cultivars. He started Miles Japanese Maples in 2016 specialising in Japanese Maples, after becoming frustrated by the lack of good quality trees in garden centres and local nurseries. He now grows high-quality trees in relatively small numbers, focussing on quality over quantity.
What we talk about
What is a Japanese Maple?
The different species
Preferred growing conditions
Should you feed your Japanese maple?
Where to site them
Growing maples in containers
Pruning maples
Miles’ favourites
About Miles Hayward
Miles Hayward is a dendrophile and keen plantsman, having studied Botany at Reading University in the late 1990s before going on to work at a hardy exotic plant nursery for ten years where his love of trees flourished. While exhibiting at various flower shows around the country, he discovered a passion for Japanese Maples and soon began to accumulate a wide variety of different cultivars.
Miles decided to start a small nursery in 2016 specialising in Japanese Maples, frustrated by the lack of good quality trees in garden centres and local nurseries. We like to think of ourselves as ‘small batch growers’, producing high-quality trees but in relatively small numbers, due to lack of space! Each tree receives a lot of care and won’t be sold to a customer until Miles is completely satisfied that it is the best it can be (or he really likes it and wants to hang on to it!)
Miles Japanese Maples has been peat and pesticide free since inception, although there is always experimenting and tinkering to find the perfect compost mix. The trees have been grown in Air-Pots for the last 5 years or so, to ensure that they have the best possible root systems.
The nursery is open to visitors by appointment or we are at various plant fairs around the south-east at some lovely venues. We were delighted to exhibit for the first time at Chelsea Flower Show last year and will be returning in 2024.
Miles is a member of The Maple Society of Britain and Ireland, The International Dendrology Society and various others too numerous to mention!
Links
www.milesjapanesemaples.co.uk
Miles Japanese Maples on Instagram
Green Heart Horticultural Services on Facebook
Green Heart Community Nursery
The Nursery Fundraiser
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Bonsai with John Hanby
Hardy Eucalyptus
Support the podcast on Patreon
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