Roots and All - Gardening Podcast Sarah Wilson

This week, my guest is watercolour artist Lisa Gardner. Lisa is inspired by the natural world, the connection between breath and brushwork and rare wild plant species on the edge of extinction - seemingly far flung interests that come together in a beautifully natural and synergistic way in Lisa’s work.
About Lisa Gardener
Lisa Gardner is a watercolour artist inspired by the natural world, the connection between breath and brushwork and rare wild plant species on the edge of extinction.
Passionate about wild plants and the vital role they play in the health of our environment, Lisa’s  art strives to connect people to nature, to improve their wellbeing, and inspire action to save species and their habitats.
Links
Lisa has created 6 video workshops that share her journey with Plantlife, they can be found here.
 
Short film mentioned in the interview 
 
Plantlife's important work can be found here.
 
Information on the Grassland Action Plan Lisa and Plantlife are campaigning for can be found here.
 
You can also get involved and volunteer for the National Plant Monitoring Scheme.
 
Other episodes if you liked this one:
Garden Sculpture  - This episode I’m speaking to Victoria Leedham, Co-Curator and Gallery Manager of the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden. I visited the garden earlier this month and even in winter garb, it was beautiful, set as it is in ancient woodland with streams running through it that pour down from Leith Hill in Surrey. The sculptures in the garden are diverse in character and look stunning within the location, each one fitting harmoniously into the backdrop of planting and landscape. Victoria is responsible for sourcing and placing sculpture in the garden, alongside owner garden designer Anthony Paul. We spoke about Victoria’s work, about the sculpture garden and also how you can select and place sculptures in your own garden.

Plants as Art - Sarah chats to Alyson of Alyson Mowat Studio and author of Terrariums & Kokedama. 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.
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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

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
 

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!
 
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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,

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.
 
Links
www.naturalhappiness.net 
Twitter 
Facebook 
LinkedIn 
YouTube 
Other 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. 
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