Gardens, weeds and words Andrew O'Brien: gardener, blogger, podcaster
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- Leisure
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing. With Andrew O'Brien.
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Rosemary for remembrance. With Maya Thomas
Gardens, weeds and words podcast, S03E10 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
February; the natural world waking up; the bossiness of raised beds
2:00 Reading from I was right all along, on my Substack, Bramble & Briar
3:41 the resilience of the purple sage
4:45 Interview with Maya Thomas
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Diploma in Herbology
Ballymaloe Cookery School at Ballymaloe House in Cork, Ireland
Elisabeth Luard, author, journalist and broadcaster
Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka, where Maya’s great uncle used to work
Rewilding the Kitchen, Toast 2021, Maya Thomas
Returning to the Urban Wilderness, Toast 2021, Maya Thomas
Grow Easy: Organic crops for pots and small plots, Anna Greeland, Mitchell Beazley 2021
57:01 To Stand and Stare turns one year old
***
Thank you to Maya Thomas for joining me on this episode of the Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast.
You can find Maya on Instagram, and also on the web at The Modern Herbal
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.
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB
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Gardens for Good Causes. With Hattie Ghaui
Gardens for Good Causes, with Hattie Ghaui
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
The glory of October
3:25 Reading from Kew Gardens, by Virginia Woolf. Written in 1919, available in hardback from Kew Publications, 2018
Read by Milli Proust
8:19 Interview with Hattie Ghaui
9:00 A summary of Project Giving Back’s work...
10:56 … and how Hattie became involved
11:25 How PGB is funded
12:13 The original goal
12:30 Me, failing to get Hattie to preempt the announcement (made in late September) about the extension of the original remit
14:35 Hattie, repping the business world on Gardens, Weeds & Words!
15:00 Hattie’s own childhood memories of plants and gardens
22:20 Hattie’s present garden and gardening style
24:29 An unexpected plug for To Stand and Stare
25:15 Hacking Big Money for charities at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Can philanthropy really help?
31:02 PGB's due diligence process for charities and corporate partners
34:45 What kind of difference can Chelsea make to a charity?
Gardens for good causes, the PGB podcast https://www.givingback.org.uk/podcasts
40:27 The variety of different charities supported
41:36 Sustainability at Chelsea, and the legacy of a PGB show garden
45:23 Keep asking the questions, PGB and the RHS
47:20 A few stand out PGB projects
50:09 The long term impact of the gardens
53:41 Book writing – To Stand and Stare, and what comes next from me
***
Thank you to Hattie Ghaui for joining me on this episode of the Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast.
You can find Hattie on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/hghaui/
and Project Giving Back here https://www.instagram.com/project.giving.back/
and on the web here https://www.givingback.org.uk/
With thanks once again to Milli Proust for this episode’s reading. Milli’s beautiful instagram is here https://www.instagram.com/milliproust/
My own book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, is published by DK Life, and is available here https://geni.us/Qs2d
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.
A year of garden coaching If you'd like to find out more about my my 12 month online garden coaching programme, please visit the website, where you can read more details. There will be a few spaces opening up after Christmas, so do sign up to be the first to hear when you can book.
http://www.andrewtimothyobrien.com
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB -
Designing with flowers. With Hazel Gardiner
Designing with flowers. With Hazel Gardiner
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
Over the hump of the year
1:56 Vita Sackville west struggling with summer
Readings from In Your Garden, Vita Sackville West. Oxenwood Press, 1996
Read by Andrew Timothy O'Brien
5:30 Interview with Hazel Gardiner
5:55 Creating in relationship with others – elevating and encouraging.
8:25 Hazel’s career path. Dealing with burnout and serious illness
13:11 Retraining in floristry. Transferable skills.
18:50 Choosing the floristry path, rather than gardening or garden design
21:50 The through-line in a varied career
24:00 Fearless. A parental gift of confidence
27:10 Building a team
29:23 A typical week
30:45 Incorporating artificial flowers
33:15 Hazel’s early gardening memories
40:46 Creating installations that flummox – Hazel’s ideal brief
43:12 A ‘chewy’ style – texture, layer and story
46:15 How people interract with the work
48:00 The place of sustainability, seasonality and a responsive approach
51:28 Natural mechanics
52:22 Hazel’s own garden
56:38 Bramble & Briar, the Substack for the more confessional side of my gardening content. Sign up at https://andrewtimothyobrien.substack.com/
57:28 An extract from my book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, DK Life, https://geni.us/Qs2d
***
Thank you to Hazel Gardiner for joining me on this episode of the Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast.
You can find Hazel on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/hazelgardinerdesign/
and on the web here https://www.hazelgardinerdesign.com/studio
My own book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, is published by DK Life, and is available here https://geni.us/Qs2d
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.
A year of garden coaching If you'd like to find out more about my my 12 month online garden coaching programme, please visit the website, where you can read more details. There will be a few spaces opening up in September 2023, so do sign up to be the first to hear when you can book.
http://www.andrewtimothyobrien.com
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB -
To Stand and Stare. With Andrew Timothy O'Brien
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
Cracking ice while walking through the fields – is it too soon to say, or is winter beginning to think about handing over to spring?
A great time for mulching.
Reading from To stand and stare 3:02
Read by Andrew Timothy O'Brien
To stand and stare: how to garden while doing next to nothing, by Andrew Timothy O'Brien. DK Life, 2023.
https://geni.us/Qs2d
05:47 Interview with Andrew, by Alice Vincent
06:40 role reversal
07:35 Introducing the book – Andrew
09:14 Introducing the book – Alice
10:00 A book that grants permission
11:12 on the plus side of getting it wrong
11:46 jumping to the book's Acknowledgements
14:00 how the book came to be
17:56 Alice on 'looking'
20:48 Alice on gardening as 'a tiny altering'
21:52 being empowered to garden the way you want to, rather than the way you feel you *should*
22:33 Andrew on the pros and cons of lists
26:08 Pottering
A breath from elsewhere, by Mirabel Osler. Bloomsbury, 1997.
https://amzn.to/3Stlvr9
28: 41 How much the soil holds – memories, stories, our selves
33:15 Bill's place in the book
38:15 The 'how to' sections
43:19 The research – the 'science stuff'
46:30 Andrew's recent standing and staring – and Andrew answer to an Alice question
***
Thank you to Alice Vincent for her table-turning stint in coming to interview me on my own podcast! Keep an eye out for Alice's upcoming book, Why Women Grow: stories of soil, sisterhood and survival, published by Canongate on 2 March 2023. https://amzn.to/3k6yu75
You can find Alice on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/noughticulture/
and the Why Women Grow podcast here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/why-women-grow/id1659885168
My own book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, is published by DK Life, and is available here https://geni.us/Qs2d
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.
A year of garden coaching If you'd like to find out more about my my 12 month online garden coaching programme, please visit the website, where you can read more details. There will be a few spaces opening up in spring 2023, so do sign up to be the first to hear when you can book.
http://www.andrewtimothyobrien.com
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB -
Flower & Story. With Milli Proust
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
Winter bringing new and rare experiences – December snow in Kent, and recording the audio version of my new book.
Reading from To stand and stare 2:10
Read by Andrew Timothy O'Brien
To stand and stare: how to garden while doing next to nothing, by Andrew Timothy O'Brien. DK Life, 2023.
https://geni.us/Qs2d
04:35 An introduction to From Seed to Bloom: a year of growing and designing with seasonal flowers, by Milli Proust. Quadrille, 2022
https://amzn.to/3hGlcNg
Reading from From Seed to Bloom 5:15
Read by Milli Proust
09:29 Interview with Milli Proust
10:55 The original plan
12:45 Working with intention – Milli loves a strategy
13:45 The other aspect of Milli's professional life!
Molly Wansell, 42 Management & Production
https://www.42mp.com/
15:18 A sustainable business
Paris Alma Flowers
https://parisalmaflowers.com/
17:08 Working as part of a team
On the business with Paris, on the book with photographer Éva Németh
https://www.evanemeth.com/
18:54 The visual aspects of the book
Theatre, storytelling, atmosphere.
The human experience of connecting with nature.
23:03 Milli's earliest plants and gardens memories
26:53 A gardening (self)education
29:00 Why grow your own floristry supplies?
30:43 Using foliage, and the stories of plants in weather
34:00 Design principles in floral arrangement
38:00 From Seed to Bloom:
40:51 How becoming a mother might impact Milli's creative practice – new perspectives and opportunites
45:45 A seasonal perspective
48:30 Grower, or gardener? What's the difference?
***
Thank you to Milli Proust for giving up her time to talk to me about the beautiful work she brings into the world from her patch of land in West Sussex.
You can find Milli on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/milliproust/
Or on her website: https://www.milliproust.com/
My own book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, will be published by DK Life on Feb 2, 2023, and is available to preorder here https://geni.us/Qs2d
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.
A year of garden coaching If you'd like to find out more about my my 12 month online garden coaching programme, please visit the website, where you can read more details. There will be a few spaces opening up in spring 2023n, so do sign up to be the first to hear when you can book.
http://www.andrewtimothyobrien.com
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB -
Where the sun don't shine. With Susanna Grant
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
The joys of October in the garden.
Reading from A breath from elsewhere, by Mirabel Osler 4:28
Read by Jemma Cooper
A breath from elsewhere, by Mirabel Osler. Bloomsbury, 1997.
https://amzn.to/3Stlvr9
06:52 Gardening in the shade
08:10 Interview with Susanna Grant
08:20 First encounters
Wild about Weeds, by Jack Wallington
https://amzn.to/3FbVU31
09:17 Sharing weeds (and weeds)
10:48 How the name – and the business – 'Linda' came about
12:35 A Jack of All Trades – Susanna's other work
16:11 A Fair Weather Shop
19:26 Susanna's childhood memories of plants and the natural world
Flower Fairy books, by Cicely Mary Barker
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09PGM2YBD?binding=hardcover&searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_bs_series_rwt_thcv&qid=1666786266&sr=1-19
Observer Book of Wild Flowers
https://amzn.to/3SxxWCo
21:26 Arnold Circus and the Boundary Estate – the community garden
Radicle, edited by Sui Searle aka @decolonisethegarden
https://radicle.substack.com
Volunteering: a problem and an opportunity? by Joanna Pidcock
https://radicle.substack.com/p/volunteering-a-problem-and-an-opportunity
29:49 From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, by Susanna Grant and Rowan Spray, published by Rough Trade Books and The Garden Museum
https://amzn.to/3Dpdrn4
35:31 Practicalities of window box gardening with perennials
***
Thank you to Susanna Grant for giving up her time to talk to me about her creative nature-inspired practice.
Susanna's book Shade is published by Bloom, 2022, and is available here
https://amzn.to/3F6eGsu
The Rough Trade/Garden Museum pamphlet by Susanna, with photography by Rowan Spray is From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, and is available here
https://amzn.to/3Dpdrn4
Pamphlets in the same series, such as Horticultural Appropriation by Claire Ratinon and Sam Ayre, are also available here
https://roughtradebooks.com/collections/editions
You can find Susanna on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/hellotherelinda
Or on her website: https://www.hellotherelinda.com/
My own book, To Stand and Stare; how to garden by doing next to nothing, will be published by DK Life on Feb 2, 2023, and is available to preorder here https://geni.us/Qs2d
I'm so grateful to Jemma Cooper for lending us her lovely tones for the reading from Mirabel Osler's A breath from elsewhere. You can find Jem on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/thecountrynurse_
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.
A year of garden coaching
If you'd like to find out more about my my 12 month online garden coaching programme, please visit the website, where you can read more details. There will be a few spaces opening up early in the new year, so do sign up to be the first to hear when you can book.
https://www.gardensweedsandwords.com/garden-coaching
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB