What your garden wants from you
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Spring is well and truly here, and so is garden designer and writer Jack Wallington, whose book Wild About Weeds has been keeping us company for these last few episodes, gently schooling us in how to work with what the garden really wants to grow. We celebrate the frothiness of spring flower, and wonder just how far a gentler, more natural approach to planting has any cut through beyond the gardening media. And I bring you the fourth and final instalment of my series on easing into harmony with your garden.
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Gardens, weeds and words podcast, S03.5 E04 show notes
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
These notes may contain affiliate links.
Garden soundtrack
00:40 spring settling in, and it’s been a warm, dry start
02:34 what your garden wants from you, the last in my series of readings on how to find yourself in a state of harmony with your garden
reading
08:00 ‘Cow Parsley’ from Jack Wallington’s Wild About Weeds, read by Milli Proust
interview
10:52 Jack joins us to talk about the impact of his book five (now six!) years on, how practical it really is to incorporate weeds purposefully into our gardens, and whether a gentler, more natural approach to planting has any cut through beyond the garden media.
12:08 Did Jack’s pro-weed stance feel like a lonely position to be adopting back in 2019?
13:28 The effect on Jack’s garden design practice
13:54 The manifesto approach to writing your first book
14:42 Has there been a noticeable change in the attitude of gardeners towards weeds since the publication of the book?
17:50 Has there been any trickle down to the general public from a wilder look embraced by top garden designers at shows like Chelsea?
22:54 A plant in the wrong place? Weren’t they here first? But gardening is largely about declaring what we want to grow and where. How does Jack find a middle ground?
25:25 Managing a weedy population – regular culling
26:22 Jack’s wildflower meadow and help with weeding
27:15 Practical steps with embracing weeds – where do you start with becoming wild about weeds?
29:22 A weedy through-line – how weeds flow through all of Jack’s work
***
Thank you to Milli Proust for her delightful reading from Jack’s book, Wild About Weeds, published by Lawrence King in 2019.
My own book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, is published by DK Life, and is available here
I’m ever appreciative of all my listeners for your continued support and reviews, I really do appreciate them. You can support the podcast by buying its producer a virtual cup of coffee for three quid, at https://ko-fi.com/andrewtimothyOB. Proceeds will go towards equipment, software and the monthly podcast hosting fees.
substack: Bramble & Briar
website: www.andrewtimothyobrien.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, writer, photographer, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking this image.
