Grow Cook Inspire

The podcast is back after a short break. The kids are back at school so now is the perfect time to take stick and look what has worked and more importantly what hasn’t worked out in our growing spaces. I chat through my failures my agenda for the year ahead, plus I’ll be taking you on a seed safari. 💚💚💚. Grow Cook Inspire is supported by Plant Grow UK.

In today’s show I chat with Daisy Desire aka The Drag Queen Gardener, live from this year’s Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. We catch up a year after she made her debut at the festival & how she is combining drag and gardening, by adding a little ‘couture to your manure’. And hear how she has dealt with the haters following her appearance on Gardeners World. 🌸 Instagram; @dragqueen_gardener...

Today’s episode is all about Tomatoes! I share my top tips about how to look after them plus I chat with the chef and food writer Claire Thomson, aka The 5 o’clock Apron who has just publish a brand new cook book, aptly titled, Tomato. The book is jam packed with recipes that celebrate this much loved fruit. 🍅Plus I’ll let you know about The Festival of Growing taking place in Glasgow this week a...

In today’s show I interview good writer, teacher and chef Gill Meller about his fourth cook book, Outside, which celebrates everything that is great about cooking and eating in the great outdoors. We also chat about his gardening endevours. 🌾 Instagram @gill.meller Plus making the headlines this week, research by the RHS & University if Reading reveal that healthy lush, green houseplants can boos...

In this week’s show I chat with cook, writer, Co founder of Wahacca & Master Chef winner Thomasina Miers. Thomasina has just recently published her 8th cook book Meat Free Mexican. We talk about her love affair with Mexico, her journey into the food industry as well as her involvement in Chefs in Schools. Plus we chat about soil, a subject which comes up time and time again in the podcast, underli...

In the final instalment of my RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022 preview series I talk with Juliet Sargeant about life as a doctor before her life as a garden designer as well as the garden she has designed for Chelsea which will be the new Blue Peter Garden. The focus is on soil, the life line of our planet. She wants to excite the next generation and educate them about soil, highlighting that it is mu...

In part three of my special RHS Chelsea Flower Show preview series, I chat with garden designer Lottie Delamain. The textile garden she has designed is for the charity Fashion Revolution, funded by Project Giving. It will highlight the positive power which plants have on our clothes and make us consider what is actually in our clothes and where do they come from. This is Lottie’s very first garden...

In the second episode of my RHS Chelsea preview series I speak with award winning gardening designer, Polly Wilkinson. We discuss the garden she is creating for the Charity Mothers for Mothers, supported by Project Giving Back. It is titled This Too Shall Pass, and explores mental health issues and the challenges faced my women during motherhood, challenges magnified over the last two years. 🌱www...

This is the first episode in an exclusive new four party mini series of the podcast where I will be delving behind the scenes of RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022 and exploring three special gardens funded by Project Giving Back, which provides funding for charitable organisations to exhibit at the show. But first I caught up with RHS Chelsea Show Manager Gemma Lake, to find out what we can expect from...

A second bonus episode this week. I chat with Neil Butler from Dandelion about the inspiring project, Unexpected Gardens, which will take place throughout Scotland. Twelve gardens will be created in the most unlikeliest of places, breathing new life into communities.🌱 www.dandelion. Scot Plus I chat all things pumpkins, as we look to get our very own pumpkin patch underway and I share what’s goin...

In today’s episode we get get to grips with all things soil and peat free compost as I chat with Tommy Dale, the man behind Caledonian Horticulture. Plus I’ll be looking at what to sow in the garden as well as the benefits of companion plants. And asparagus is in the spotlight in the kitchen this week. It’s a good one! Please remember to subscribe, review and share.

Welcome back. In todays show I interview Kayleigh Love, the young Dairy Farmer who featured on the latest series of the BBC’s This Farming Life. She and her family have taken control of the milk they produce on their farm on the south west coast of Scotland, selling it straight from the farm gates. Doesn’t get much fresher. 🌱 Instagram @the_wee_aird Plus after the glorious weather of March we tal...

On today’s show I talk with Lauren one half of the mother and daughter team behind Days of Dahlia, a flower farm and design studio located in Scotland. We chat about her family’s roots in floristry and her move from working in the arts to growing cut flowers with her mum. If you are looking to create your own cut flower patch this year, Lauren is on hand to share her wisdom as well as some of her...

We’ve made it into March and we’re sowing caution to the wind and sowing seeds with gusto. Today’s guest is Joanna MacGregor, one half of Farm Ness, who also features on the fifth series of The BBC Show This Farming Life. We talk about her move from the classroom to the farm yard, her farm shop endeavours & much much more. 🌱Instagram @farm_Ness https://🌱www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b094mqlx Plus I c...

In today’s show Helen Interviews Andrew Perry, about his journey from studying history at university to growing herbs and launching the hugely successful online shop, Urban Herbs. 🌱 https://linktr.ee/urban_herbs_ Plus we chat about the limbo month that is February, planning with a little help from Sarah Raven’s Spring/Summer collection, The Scottish Snow Drop Festival 🌱 https://www.discoverscott...

In todays show Helen reminds listeners about the importance of the RSPB’s big bird watch which runs from the 28th January until the 30th January. In the last 50 years the UK skies have lost 35 million birds. 🌱www.rspb.org.uk Olys Helen interviews author, writer, gardener, podcast host & supper club host Kathy Slack. They discuss Kathy’s debut book The Veg Patch and her path from the high pace wor...

In today’s show we welcome The Beardy Gardener back on to the podcast. Leigh Johnstone, who is a mental health advocate and Instagram gardening sensation found solace and hope from his garden during a very difficult period in his life. He now wants to share the joy of gardening with those who don’t have their own green space through the launch of The Giving Garden. 🌱Instagram @thebeardygardener w...

Welcome to a brand new series of Grow Cook Inspire. To kick of the New Year I am joined by gardener, author & TV presenter Frances Tophill, who’s new book The Modern Gardener is due to be published this spring. We chat about intentions for 2022, perennial veg as well as her new book. We also touch on that all important question what plant or seed would you take to a desert island?! 🌱 Instagram; @...

Today I share my highlights from this years RHS Chelsea Flower Show as well as my top things to do in the garden as we slide into autumn. Plus I have a few special guests, including the Prince of gardening, Arthur Parkinson, food writer Kathy Slack and Lucy Calder of Kilduff Farm. And to round things off I have some pumpkin and blackberry recipes.

In this weeks episode we head to Aberdeenshire to visit Rora Dairy, where we speak with Jane Mackie the driving force behind the no nonsense yogurt. Plus there are great ideas for things to do in the garden and I tell you more about Radio 2’s Big Bee Challenge Competition. To round things up we’ll be foraging and cooking with elderflower. {www.roradairy.co.uk, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...

Kicking off a brand new series I bring you all the latest news in food, farming and horticultural, plus I will share a fantastic conversation with Anna Lamotte, who helps run Guardswell Farm and Guardswell Grows in rural Perthshire. The team in this idyllic hideaway are not only rewilding the countryside but also their guests. You can find out more about Guardswell over www. Guardswell.co.uk or fo...

In the fourth and final episode of my special mini series of Grow Cook Inspire to coincide with National Gardening Week I chat with Ally Mitchell, the driving force behind Ocean Plastic Pots. The commercial diver turns plastic waste from the sea and turns them in to plant pots! And if you can please do vote for Grow Cook Inspire in the podcast category of the Great British Growing Awards 2021. You...

We are half way through National Gardening Week and in today’s episode of this special mini series I will be sharing my third inspirational story. Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to visit the Woodlands Community Gardens in Glasgow and find out how a green oasis in the middle of the city has helped to bring a community together during a very difficult year.

In the second episode of this special mini series of Grow Cook Inspire to coincide with National Gardening Week I chat with the lovely Lisa from Lisa Marie’s Kitchen as she plans a garden focussing on mental well-being for Gardeners World Live later this summer.

This is the first of a special mini series of Grow Cook Inspire in association with Plant Grow UK. It coincides with National Gardening Week and I’ll be sharing inspirational stories with people who have benefitted from the power plants and gardening, helping to improve their physical and mental health. Kicking the series off is my chat with the Beardy Gardener plus a recipe for apple and carrot c...