Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

This week, my guest is Nikki Barker. Nikki’s long career in horticulture has seen her work across many sectors of the industry and she is now the Senior Horticultural Advisor at the RHS. She’s just had a book published called ‘A Gardener’s Guide to Propagation Techniques’ and I spoke to Nikki to get some general tips on propagation and to find out what we can be propagating at this time of year.  Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Allium leaf miners What We Talk About With peat being phased out, what are good alternative proprietary growing media for propagation?  Some common seeds that require light to germinate Seeds that can be particularly tricky to germinate Good ways of propagating plants at this time of the year Dahlias - good ways to propagate them The easiest methods and plants to try propagating if you don’t have a lot of space or equipment Links Gardener’s Guide to Propagation Techniques: The essential guide to producing plants by Nikki Barker - The Crowood Press Ltd, September 2022 Other episodes if you liked this one: Young Propagators’ Society Growing Under Protection with Guy Deakins Patreon Membership

This week’s guest is Carol Smith, garden designer, lecturer and author of the book ‘Gardening on a Gradient: Designing and Establishing Sloping Gardens’. Interestingly, the book is relevant to home gardeners and professional designers and covers everything from the initial garden site assessment and survey, right through the design process to the final stages of planting, as well as inspiration and ideas from sloping gardens around the UK. If you’ve ever faced the challenge of a sloping site, you’ll know how tricky they can be but fear not, Carol is here to help you tackle them. Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Large hairy house spiders What We Talk About Main drawbacks to gardening on a gradient and any advantages Is it more expensive than gardening on the flat? Gardens that slope back towards the house and drainage issues Making changes to levels and water run off Soil moisture and temperature ranges across a slope Surveying a sloping site Retaining soil More naturalistic ways to deal with a sloping site About Carol Smith Carol Smith is a professional garden designer and freelance lecturer. She has worked on several award-winning show gardens and teaches on all aspects of garden and planting design.  Links Gardener’s Guide to Gardening on a Gradient: Designing and Establishing Sloping Gardens by Carol Smith Other episodes if you liked this one: I Want to Like My Garden with Rachel McCartain  Natural Stone with Giles Heap of CED Patreon Membership

This week, making his second appearance on the podcast, is my guest Charles Dowding. Charles is the leading proponent worldwide of No Dig gardening. He’s authored and co-authored many books and articles on the subject, including his latest book No Dig which is the result of 40 years experience and looks set to become the definitive text on the subject. He produces enough food to sell to local restaurants and inhabitants, to feed all his course attendees and visitors and also his own household from his plot which until recently has only been a quarter of an acre in size, proving categorically that no-dig equals maximum productivity. He is a prolific generator of media content, his YouTube channel has over 55 million views and he’s bought the no-dig technique to a worldwide audience.  Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Spider silk What We Talk About How Charles got started out in gardening Why do we need compost for no-dig and is it essential to create our own? No dig techniques on different types of soils Giving the beds a year off (or not) and crop rotation No-dig and plant pests and diseases Why every last gardener in the UK hasn’t adopted no-dig! About Charles Dowding Charles Dowding is the leading proponent of no-dig gardening. Not only does he have a huge following, but his advice is born out of more than 40 years of growing, analysing, comparing, and recommending. He has been growing veg since 1981, having gardened in four different locations and grown hundreds of thousands of crops. Charles currently gardens his modestly sized plot Homeacres, in Somerset, from which he produces enough food to sell to local restaurants and inhabitants, to feed all his course attendees and visitors and also his own household. He is a prolific generator of media content and has bought the no-dig technique to a worldwide audience.  Links No Dig: Nurture Your Soil to Grow Better Veg with Less Effort by Charles Dowding - Dorling Kindersley, September 2022  www.charlesdowding.co.uk Other episodes if you liked this one: Feeding your Soil with Humanure with Joseph Jenkins Growing Food with Stephanie Hafferty Patreon Membership

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.  Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: The blue butterflies What We Talk About How catering to the senses can lend another dimension to the garden How many senses should we aim to stimulate in a garden? One good plant that will engage with each of our five senses How you can learn to engage your senses more when in the garden About Kendra Wilson Kendra has contributed to The Sunday Times, Gardens Illustrated, Guardian Weekend, Garden Design Journal, RHS The Garden,  and Vogue. She is a longstanding correspondent for Gardenista online and contributed a chapter 'The Gardenista 100' to the 2016 book, Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces. Kendra has worked on numerous projects including a limited-edition book for Mulberry and other books including My Garden is a Car Park and The Book of the Flower. Links Garden for the Senses by Kendra Wilson - Dorling Kindersley, February 2022  www.kendrapagewilson.com

This week’s guest is ecologist and author Julian Doberski. If you think about compost heaps, how much do you really think about the living micro and macro organisms that dwell within them, how they contribute to the composting process and how what you do to your heap can increase or decrease their chances of survival? Julian has written about the science of what goes on in a compost heap and about the living organisms who provide the ‘hard graft’ of transforming waste organic matter in his latest publication The Science of Compost. I spoke to Julian to find out more.  Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Fuchsia Gall Mite What We Talk About What is compost? Does what go in also come out? Eg if we want a high nitrogen compost product should we use raw materials that are also high in nitrogen? How do you know what you’ll be getting as an end product? How do you get the right balance of the organisms that break down the heap? The correct ratio of woody versus green materials in a compost heap What makes a compost heap break down, apart from the organisms in it?  About Julian Doberski Julian Doberski has degrees in Zoology (BSc Southampton), Forestry (MSc Oxford) and a PhD in biological control of insects using fungi (Cambridge). He has thirty years of teaching experience at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge (and its predecessor institutions) where he was a Principal Lecturer in Ecology. He has jointly published a resource pack for A level ecology students and a range of scientific research and science in education papers. He is currently retired and lives in Cambridgeshire. Links The Science of Compost: Life, Death and Decay in the Garden by Dr. Julian Doberski Other episodes if you liked this one: The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments with Nigel Palmer Mycorrhizal Fungi with Jeff Lowenfels Patreon Membership

This week I’m speaking to Juliette Goggin, perfumery consultant to some of the most recognised brands in the world, upcycling and reusing champion, owner of the cosmetics company Hand Made by Juliette and author of the books Handmade Beauty and Handmade Spa. We talk about how you can use plants from your garden to create products that are natural, inexpensive, easy to make and that actually work.  Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Gooseberry Sawfly What We Talk About Juliette’s background in perfumes and cosmetics The impetus behind the books Handmade Beauty & Handmade Spa Why should we try to make our own products?  How are they better than what you can buy? Do you need a lot of equipment? Do you need to source fairly specialist ingredients?  How you can incorporate items from your garden into your products Prepping ingredients About Juliette Goggin Juliette trained in perfumery evaluation, and worked for a Fragrance house in Grasse in the South of France to develop bespoke products for niche brands in the UK. Throughout this time Juliette was always keen to learn how everything was made and to expand her knowledge, combining this with a natural love of crafting which she developed as a child forever making things from cast off bits and pieces.  Juliette teaches classes in Natural Skincare and Candle Making, based around her Handmade Beauty and Handmade Spa illustrated books. The books also acted as a springboard to creating her own Collection of natural skincare and home fragrance products in 2018, appropriately called Handmade by Juliette. Links www.handmadebyjuliette.com Instagram @handmadebyjuliette Other episodes if you liked this one: Sensory Herbalism with Karen Lawton The Rose in Perfume with Mairi MacKenzie Patreon Membership

This week’s guest is Hawaii-based writer and grower Ja-Ne de Abreu. When the pandemic began, Ja-ne became an instant 24/7 caregiver for her hanai mother. To keep things positive, she started growing food and discovered it also grew peace and calm to their lives amid the ongoing chaos. Ja-ne had an intuition to write Sassy Food to share the inspiration that everyone can grow food at any time of year, anywhere in the world on any budget and harvest peace in the process. We talk about growing in small spaces, how growing food can foster positive connections in difficult times and what happens when the creative spark catches.  Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Butterfly decline What we cover The idea behind Sassy Food The climate in Hawaii and what you can grow Why it’s important that we all grow food where we can Seeds that can be eaten as sprouts Grow tents to increase indoor growing space Easy and cheap/free ways to propagate edible plants Washing produce and some easy, natural products to use Why is food like music? About Ja-ne de Abreu When the pandemic began, Ja-ne de Abreu became an instant 24/7 caregiver for her hanai mother. To keep things positive, she started growing food and discovered it also grew peace and calm to their lives amid the ongoing chaos. Ja-ne had an intuition to write Sassy Food to share the inspiration that everyone can grow food at any time of year, anywhere in the world on any budget and harvest peace in the process. Sassy Food has won two first place book awards and was a finalist in two book contests for the book cover as well as interior design.   De Abreu’s other award-winning books are a memoir with her sister and brother-in-law, Chasing the Surge: Life as a Travel Nurse in a Global Pandemic, and her debut novel, The Energy Inside Valsin’s Choices. In addition, de Abreu also published five books of the Richard Tregaskis Classics Collection under the JMFdeA Press imprint last year and will publish five more in the near future. Ja-ne’s focus is exploring the energy inside our choices and the resulting responsibilities and freedoms by telling stories through various methods.  Links Join Sassy Food Farms on Instagram  Ja-Ne de Abreu’s website www.jmfdeapress.com Ja-Ne on Facebook Ja-Ne on Twitter Ja-Ne on Instagram Other episodes if you liked this one: Abundance and Self-Sufficiency with Liz Zorab Patreon Membership

This week I’m speaking to Founder of Wildflower Turf Limited and author of the book ‘How to make a wildflower meadow’ James Hewetson-Brown. James has a vast amount of experience creating meadows at domestic and public scales, is passionate about creating species rich habitats which are attractive to people and wildlife and which have the added benefits of pollution mitigation and carbon sequestration. We talk about the nuts and bolts of meadow making but also about why meadows can be the solution to so many of our landscaping needs. Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Tardegrades What we cover Why meadows can be a quick solution to bring biodiversity to previously relatively barren areas, particularly in urban environments If you build it, will they come? Or is biodiversity too depleted already? The best ways of establishing a meadow Convert an area of lawn to meadow Annual species, perennials, and mixtures of both Do you need grass species in a meadow? Unusual or interesting projects James has worked on Links www.wildflowerturf.co.uk How to make a wildflower meadow: Tried-And-Tested Techniques for New Garden Landscapes by James Hewetson-Brown - Filbert Press, 2016 Other episodes if you liked this one: Meadows with Keith Datchler Patreon Membership

My guest this week is naturalist, conservationist and writer Benedict Macdonald. Benedict has recently released a new book ‘Cornerstones’, which talks about how by restoring cornerstone species we can help turn around the current impoverished state of nature in the UK. His previous book ‘Rebirding’ was how I first came to know of his work and I’ve been a great admirer of his work ever since. We talk about the numbers of UK birds, how land management needs to change in order to stop the loss of species in this country and what we can do at a garden level to make changes. Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Box tree moth What we cover - Do we waste money propping up untenably small populations of threatened species in isolated areas? - Bird species that are the ‘walking dead’ in Britain - Achieving cooperation between individual land owners to create the large scale and connected habitats that are needed to sustain populations - Adopting a build it and they will come approach -  Are we wasting our time trying to make a difference at the garden scale? If not, what can we do to make a difference?  - Some of the problems mentioned in Rebirding are directly related to the EUs common agricultural policy. How could this change given Brexit? - Ecotourism About Benedict Macdonald Benedict Macdonald is a conservation writer, field director in wildlife television, and a keen naturalist. He is passionate about restoring Britain's wildlife, pelicans included, in his lifetime.  During his extensive global travel experience, Benedict has found inspiring examples of why desecrating our country’s ecosystems is both entirely avoidable and against the national interest. This book is his attempt to ensure that this generation, for the first time in thousands of years, leaves Britain’s wildlife better off, not worse, than the generation before – for wildlife and people alike. Benedict is a long-time writer for Birdwatching magazine, as well as a contributor to the RSPB Nature’s Home and BBC Wildlife. He has been fortunate to work on TV series for the BBC and Netflix - most notably the grasslands and jungles programmes of Sir David Attenborough’s conservation series Our Planet. Links Cornerstones: Wild forces that can change our world by Benedict Macdonald - Bloomsbury Publishing PLC , 2022 Orchard: A Year in England's Eden by Benedict Macdonald - HarperCollins, 2021 Rebirding: Restoring Britain's Wildlife by Benedict Macdonald - Pelagic Publishing, 2020 Other episodes if you liked this one: Irreplaceable with Julian Hoffman Patreon Membership