Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

This week, Sarah is talking with Geoff Dann. Geoff is a Hastings based forager with a vast and by the sounds of it, pretty unique understanding of the mushrooms that grow in our landscape. He’s also the author of Edible Mushrooms. Geoff is a pioneer because many of the mushrooms in his book were not classified as edible and he’s taken on the role of a well-informed and cautious taster, but nonetheless has been a human guinea pig in many instances! As he mentions, his book is without parallel in terms of classifying the edibility of our mushrooms and is the bible for foragers.   They discuss: Why we’re a nation of mycophobes here in the UK How to get started with mushroom foraging Mushroom habitats Beginner levels edible mushrooms Mushrooms to watch out for    Links  Geoff’s website www.geoffdann.co.uk  Edible Mushrooms by Geoff Dann, published by Green Books, 2016  Natural Bushcraft Forum www.naturalbushcraft.co.uk    Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

This week, I’m talking garden birds with Kate Risely, Garden BirdWatch Organiser at the British Trust for Ornithology. Kate talks us through the trends that have occurred in our garden bird populations over the past 40 years, what and when to feed them, diseases that are on the rise and how you can attract more birds in your garden. Plus, Kate answers my question; are magpies vandals, living off the fat of our songbirds? About Kate: Kate leads the BTO's Garden Ecology team and co-ordinates the programme of garden ecology surveys and research, within the Communications department. Kate has overall responsibility for running for Garden BirdWatch, a 'citizen science' project where volunteers record birds and other taxa using their gardens on a weekly, year-round basis, as well as additional garden-based surveys. Kate is interested in the research and conservation applications of our garden wildlife data. We discuss: The BTO Garden BirdWatch & how you can take part Why the data collected through the Garden BirdWatch is so important Trends around garden birds over the last 40 years When and what to feed your garden birds Diseases in garden birds How to attract more birds to your garden Links: British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU Tel: 01842 750050 Garden BirdWatch www.bto.org/gbw Garden Wildlife Health: https://www.gardenwildlifehealth.org/ Feeding affecting bird communities: https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/peer-reviewed-papers/composition-british-bird-communities-associated-long Blackcaps: https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/peer-reviewed-papers/supplementary-feeding-gardens-driver-evolutionary Disease risks of bird feeding: https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/peer-reviewed-papers/health-hazards-wild-birds-and-risk-factors-associated Greenfinch declines due to disease: https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/peer-reviewed-papers/emergence-and-spread-finch-trichomonosis-british-isles Predator effects on bird populations: https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/peer-reviewed-papers/population-change-avian-predators-and-grey-squirrels   Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod Facebook @rootsandalluk   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

This week, Sarah is talking Peonies with Alec White of Primrose Hall Peonies. If you attended this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, you probably saw the amazing, gold-winning stand Alec put together in the floral marquee - it was the one with the bath, peonies spilling everywhere and the semi-nude model painted all over with peonies. It certainly caused a stir and rightly so, because it was stunning. Sarah was delighted to chat to Alec because, frankly, she has a chequered past with peonies. Under discussion are problems such as peony wilt and peonies that don’t flower. Alec also talks about the different types of peonies and debunks myths such as peonies can't be moved. Sarah asks expert-grower Alec how to get the best out of your peonies and if you're planning to add some to your garden or want to troubleshoot any problems you have, this is an episode not to be missed.    They discuss: The 3 main types of peony Peony wilt Moving, dividing, deadheading and feeding The reasons your peony may not be flowering Pruning tree peonies Growing peonies in containers Growing peonies from seed    Links  Primrose Hall Peonies www.primrosehallpeonies.co.uk  On Twitter @primrosehalluk  On Instagram @primrosehalluk  On Facebook Primrose Hall Nursery   Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall     

Just how free are we to walk around our cities and countryside? Who owns our parks and public spaces and who makes the decision what you can and can’t do in them and when they can be closed for ticketed events? What can you do to make sure our green spaces stay open and accessible to all? These are all questions I asked Neil Sinden, the Director of the London branch of the CPRE (Campaign for Rural England). I’d seen mention of the Urban Right to Roam, which piqued my interest and made me wonder about how much freedom we do have to roam across our cities and indeed our countryside. I had always assumed we had inalienable rights across public land but it seems it’s not as clear cut as I thought.  As Neil mentions in the interview, 2.6million people in the UK live more than a 10 minute walk from a green space. That’s hugely important as our country becomes more urbanised and it’s important if, for you, your local green space is your only garden.   We talk about: The CPRE and why it’s needed, even in towns and large cities like London   The Urban Right to Roam Rights of Way Privately owned public spaces Protecting and improving our green spaces   Links  www.cprelondon.org.uk   www.lfgn.org.uk Go Parks London How to register an unrecorded Historic Right of Way  Blog post by Groundsure about the implications for our Historic Rights of Way of a 2026 deadline to register them by.    Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod Facebook @rootsandalluk   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

A New Garden Ethic with Benjamin Vogt   Sarah talks to garden designer and author Benjamin Vogt about his book A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future. Benjamin writes in his book how it’s imperative that we take up a new style of gardening, a new garden ethic, and that we do so fast. Benjamin explains what it means for him to garden with every species in mind and what happens when we separate ourselves from the rest of our garden’s community.  Benjamin Vogt runs Monarch Gardens, a prairie garden design practice. His own garden was named a top outdoor space of 2012 by Apartment Therapy and has been featured in Fine Gardening, Garden Design, Nebraska Life, the Omaha World Herald, the Lincoln Journal Star, and on KOLN (Lincoln's CBS affiliate).   Benjamin wrote an award-winning garden column for Houzz for five years and has contributed to books such as Lawn Gone! and Pollinator Friendly Gardening. His book A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future was published in 2017 by New Society Publishers.     We talk about:   What is A New Garden Ethic Why it’s important that we feel part of the entire community that’s specific to where we live The effects of a disconnect from nature Benjamin’s definition of native plants Benjamin’s design work and plant palette  Objections to using native plants   Links    Benjamin Vogt - Monarch Gardens www.monarchgard.com  Benjamin on Twitter @BRVogt  A New Garden Ethic:Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future by Benjamin Vogt (2017)    Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall     

Dr Glenn H Shepard is an ethnobotanist, medical anthropologist and film maker whose work focuses on the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. He speaks eleven languages and has done fieldwork with diverse native groups in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East researching shamanism, medicinal plants, and traditional environmental knowledge. His work features in the documentary Spirits of the Rainforest.  We talk about: - Glenn’s work with the indigenous people of the Amazon forest - Biopiracy - Medicinal/Psychoactive plants, in particular ayahuasca  - How psychoactive plants may be used in the West vs the countries they originate from - The ecological and legal consequences of exporting psychoactive plants - The fires in the Amazon forest   Links  Dr Glenn H Shepard Jr Blog - Notes from the Ethnoground  Glenn on Twitter @tweettropiques  Spirits of the Rainforest Documentary  The Ethnobotanical Assembly www.tea-assembly.com   Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

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.    What We Discuss: Where to source edible flowers and what to look out for Using them in a variety of ways Flowers you can grow yourself Flowers for insects Colour trends Unusual flowers   Links Maddocks Farm Organics - www.maddocksfarmorganics.co.uk The Scented Kitchen: Cooking with Flowers by Frances Bissell  Botanical Baking : Contemporary baking and cake decorating with edible flowers and herbs by Juliet Sear Jekka’s Herb Cookbook by Jekka McVicar    Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

Alyson Mowat runs her studio out of Shoreditch in London and has been creating botanical masterpieces for the past 5 years. She works with indoor and outdoor plants to make visually stunning green displays and specialises in terrariums, jarrariums, aquascapes and kokedama to stage plants in unique ways.  We talk about using plants to create visual statements, finding sources of inspiration and how you can try some of these techniques for yourself. For more information about Alyson, please check out her website www.alysonmowat.com and her book Terrariums and Kokedama  Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

This week I’m speaking to Dr Wilson Wall of Bewdley Orchids. Dr Wall is also the co-author of How to Grow Native Orchids in Gardens Large and Small and is a foremost expert on UK native orchids. In this episode, he talks about growing orchids in lawns, borders, containers…they’re much more versatile than you might expect! Not only are they beautiful and versatile, if you grow them, you’ll be doing your bit to conserve these plants as their numbers in the wild diminish.   About Dr Wilson Wall Wilson Wall is the Director of Bewdley Orchids, provider of native British orchids for individuals and groups to grow in their garden or meadow. Elected Fellow of the Institute of Biology (now the Royal Society of Biology) and Chartered Biologist, Wilson has a PhD in genetics and a long interest in growing orchids from seed. He has written several books before, of both single and joint authorship and was editor of The Clematis, journal of the British Clematis Society.   What We Cover:   The relationship between orchids and fungi Which orchids are suitable for growing in gardens Orchids that work in containers Soil requirements The sourcing of plants Common pests and diseases   Links Bewdley Orchids www.bewdleyorchids.com How to Grow Native Orchids in Gardens Large and Small - by Wilson Wall and Dave Morgan. Published by Green Books. https://www.greenbooks.co.uk/how-to-grow-native-orchids-in-gardens-large-and-small    Get in touch; Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link; Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall 

This week I’m speaking to John Little. John founded the Grass Roof Company in 1998 and for the past 20 years, he’s been designing and implementing gardens in public spaces that work for people, for plants and for wildlife.  Often working in urban locations, he installs wildlife habitats and planting in some unusual places including on roofs and structures such as cycle shelters. He also includes many edible plants in his schemes in order to create beautiful and useful spaces that engage the community.  Maintenance and management is a key focus, and is vital to the success and longevity of his projects. We also talk about the need to revise traditional maintenance practices in order to reduce costs, save time and preserve wildlife.    About John Little “John’s life with green roofs started when he self built his own home in Essex. The green roof on John’s new house consisted of the standard green roof structure, onto which he literally dumped soil from the foundations. That was 17 years ago and the roof is still growing strong. A few years ago a colony of Bee Orchids appeared from nowhere!! He has since designed and built small green roofs buildings throughout South Essex and London over the last 20 years. often combining the living roofs with habitat walls made designed to support solitary bees. John’s company the Grass Roof Company does landscape contracting and green roof construction in Essex and London. John also part owns Green Roof Shelters, a company that produces modular design bike, bin and freight container green roofs.."   What We Cover: How John creates gardens that mimic brownfield sites Green roofs The Clapton Park Estate project Including edible plants in a community garden John’s favourite trees and herbaceous plants for wildlife    Links John’s Design Practice - The Grass Roof Company https://www.grassroofcompany.co.uk  Green Roof Shelters - the sister company to The Grass Roof Company, specialising in buildings and structures incorporating green roofs of all types https://greenroofshelters.co.uk  Online Guide to building Green Roofs - co-authored by John Little & Dusty Gedge https://greenrooftraining.com  John on Twitter @grassroofco https://twitter.com/grassroofco?lang=en   Get in touch: Email podcast@rootsandall.co.uk  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall Instagram rootsandallpod   Patreon Link: Help us keep the podcast free & independent! Donate as much or as little as you like at https://www.patreon.com/rootsandall