Chef, grower, teacher, herbologist – it’s always hard to categorise my guests on the Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast and Maya Thomas is no exception. Suffice to say that a love of plants or people – and usually both – infuses everything she does, and so where better to focus our conversation for this episode than on the subject of herbs…
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Love it or hate it (and why would you hate it?), the RHS Chelsea Flower Show offers a fantastic platform for charities to promote their work. In this episode, I’m joined by Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, whose Gardens for Good Causes initiative brings together designers, landscapers and charitable organisations, creating headline-grabbing show gardens with the power to bring change where it’s most needed.
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There’s an intricacy and generosity of spirit to the work of floral artist and broadcaster Hazel Gardiner that betrays her love of story telling, as well as hinting at her ability not just to absorb energy from the creatives she works along side, but to amplify that vibrancy and share it back around. In this episode she joins me to talk about her varied career path, the roots of her artistic approach and, of course, her garden
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To celebrate the publication of my first book, To Stand and Stare: how to garden while doing next to nothing, I’m having the tables turned on me. For this episode, I find myself on the other side of the mic as friend of the podcast Alice Vincent drops by to interview me about how the book came about, how it relates to my wider work, and why a title that’s very much not a ‘how to garden’ manual still manages to have so many ‘how to...’ sections in it.
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I’m so delighted to have florist and grower Milli Proust on the podcast for the last episode of 2022. Her book From Seed to Bloom was one of the highlights of the year for me, as it has been for many others, and the images of her floral arrangements and beautiful growing space in West Sussex continue to provide a gorgeous backdrop to pleasant reveries. We discuss her emphasis upon the seasons and the land, on story and theatre, and the impact that becoming a mother has had on her work. And laugh, a lot.
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Susanna Grant’s mission seems to be to make gardening easy for people; particularly people who live in the city, where space is at a premium and buildings huddle together to crowd out the light. From behind an unassuming garden gate in Hackney, her courtyard store Linda glows, filled with the kind of lush, green growth that thrives in these conditions. We talk of shade and weeds, community gardens and cake, perennial window boxes and sending worms through the post.
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 4
“Something I believe is missing from conversations about the climate crisis is the need for us to build a stronger emotional connection to our planet and each other”, writes Hannah McDonald in the wake of COP26. In this episode, we consider how our readiness to engage with the great outdoors not only benefits our own sense of wellbeing, but lies at the heart of necessary and urgent change.
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This tendency of ours to want to stick a label on everything might make the world seem neater and easier to manage, but it’s as joyless a process as it is reductive. You couldn’t stick a label on my guest in this episode of the podcast even if you tried – Jackee Holder’s business card says ‘Cultural Creative’, but that’s only a partial description of her work. When we met online to talk, we started with trees, and travelled on together from there.
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 2
There’s a community of souls working in relative isolation, surrounded by nature, perhaps in a shed or outhouse in the garden, whose plant-inspired practice infuses the entirety of their output. Its light and energy is baked into the porcelain used by Birmingham based potter Katie Robbins, and reflected back into the world from the gorgeous glazes she takes such pains to develop. In this episode, we’re invited on a tour of Katie’s garden studio, while we discuss her pots, her business, and the influence of the natural world upon both.
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 1
The Gardens Weeds & Words podcast is back with season 3, and in this first episode I’m joined by Jennie Spears of Lemon Tree Trust. We talk about the work of the charity with refugees and internally displaced people in northern Iraq, and how plants and gardening can help to create a sense of home.
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I’m joined on this episode by the powerhouse of the garden design world that is Ann-Marie Powell, who tells me how her gardens abide by the mantra Plants, People, Place, while I ponder over matters of gratitude, privilege and responsibility, and how they manifest in my own gardening practice.
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Back behind the mic with my podcast buddy, in this episode I get to quiz garden writer Laetitia Maklouf about her latest book, The 5 Minute Garden, as well as delving into the secrets of her relationship with a HotBin composter.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 9
In this episode, I’m joined by copresenter of ITV’s Love Your Garden, Katie Rushworth. We discuss her Yorkshire roots,and what she believes to be the fundamental ingredients of a really good garden.
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A chance to discuss our relationship to the land and the food it can produce with organic grower Claire Ratinon, whose urban veg growing exploits began on a New York rooftop and continued in London’s East End. I’m introduced the concepts of the “delectability of vegetables”, food-as-love, and what it feels like to be a grower of colour.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 7
If there’s one person who should know how to get kids gardening, it must be ex Blue Peter gardener, host of the Skinny Jean Gardener Podcast and author of a new book called exactly that. Lee Connelly joins me in this episode to talk about his work.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 6
The nature memoir is something of a publishing phenomenon just now – but I can’t imagine a time when I’ll weary of hearing about yet another book in which I get to read of another’s life experience set within the context of the natural world. In this episode, I talk to Alice Vincent about how she found the process of writing Rootbound. Rewilding a Life, and some of the key themes of the book.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 5
How can gardening help, when the world appears to have gone mad, and half up in smoke? Alys Fowler joins me on the podcast where we grapple with the capacity of nature to heal us, and the responsibility we have to reciprocate.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 4
Nature and technology might seem unlikely bedfellows, but there’s no real reason why they shouldn’t co-exist in comfort. In this episode, I’m joined by Sara Tasker to discuss how a relationship with nature influences her work in a virtual space.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 3
Weeds are generally shunned in the garden, entire sections of industry dedicated to their eradication. But what makes a weed, and who gets to decide? Garden designer Jack Wallington thinks we should not only be looking with a more kindly eye on these maligned plants, but using them with purpose in our gardens. We discuss his new book, Wild About Weeds, and discuss the practicalities of getting his message out there.
Read moreThe Gardens, weeds & words podcast, Series 2 Episode 2
The qualities of boldness and of courage are often linked to the action of going somewhere new, though I have a suspicion that wisdom is to be found in the examination of unknown ground under our feet. In this episode I’m joined by Berlin-based photographer Grant Simon Rogers to discuss seeing and storytelling in the landscape, and how these influence his work.
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