Melanie Walker's Grounded

The Trials and Tribulations of getting the Best Plants to you! Kathy Varney (Marketing & Product Manager at Ball Straathof) For years, Ball Straathof have been striving to bring colour, beauty and tasty morsels to all gardens and landscapes. The BS Trials give all those in the gardening industry - and the public too - the opportunity to see what new plants are coming up in South Africa. One of the...

Start your Gardening Year off Greenly Cary Goodwin (Spokesperson Life is a Garden, Head Garden Girl at Colourful Group) The beginning of a New Year generally heralds new resolutions. If you haven't made one yet, let it be this - I am going to get Grounded! From starting from scratch and getting your soil right, to bringing this year's colours into your space, Cary Goodwin gives us all of Life is a...

And 100 of them you should get to know! Megan Emmett Parker (author and senior producer in the environmental world) With a Masters in environmental management, a conservation degree and a decade working as a senior producer on 50/50 on tv, Megan Parker has a solid grounding on all topics environmental. Her book, Game Ranger in your Backpack, has been selling out and reprinted yearly since release...

Christmas in a Garden with Life is a Garden Cary Goodwin (Life is a Garden | Spokesperson and Colourful Group | Head Girl) The summer holidays are a time to kick back and relax - and after the dreadful year many have had - thank you 2020! - with many people (still) staying home, it’s the perfect time to enjoy the fruits of your backyard labour. Cary Goodwin tells us what indigenous trees are...

Regreening Africa the Greenpop way Misha Teasdale (Co-founder and Director at Greenpop Planet deforestation and carbon emissions have become watchwords in the global environment and economy. Our new ‘climate-reality’. With this in mind, in 2010 Misha Teasdale set about creating a community that reconnects humans with nature through tree planting and other environmental and social mass...

Get out into your Garden Cary Goodwin (Spokesperson Life is a Garden, Head girl at Colourful Splendour Group and Peebles Plants) Life is a Garden (the PR part of the South African Nurseryman’s Association) grants the public all the gardening know how necessary to create your own little piece of Eden in your backyard, through their website and ongoing events - live and virtual - as well as su...

Friendly by Nature. The Greenest Way to Grow Donvae Hooker and Cathy Church (EcoBuz) Environmentally aware gardeners are always looking for the best way to look after their plants while looking after their soil and surroundings. Donvae Hooker and Cathy Church explain how through some great scientific developments, safe, effective, chemical-free pest control solutions are now available to South Afr...

Garden Day SA - Growing Memories Gundula Deutschlander (Master Gardener, Garden Day Ambassador) Garden Day SA on Sunday 11th October, is the perfect day to invite friends and family to celebrate your garden and green spaces with you. Master Gardener Gundula Deutschlander, one of the Garden Day ambassadors, gives us the lowdown on why gardening is good for you, and what is happening around this Glo...

Be a Green Winner Wena Michaela Rowley (VegePod SA) Now that spring is sprung, the rains have come and we’re all itching to get our fingers into the soil, what better way to celebrate being Green than with the opportunity to win a healthy hamper of Green Goodies! This Spring promotion is happening from the 7 - 16 October 2020, and includes some great stuff from not only Vegepod, but from Jan...

Scaling Up The Wonderful Cycle of Life Justin Hess (Ichthys Aquaponics | MD) It used to be hydroponics was just a nod, nod, wink, wink, word for pot growing. Now it is accepted by consumers as a preferred method of growing high-quality food. Taking it one step further in Johannesburg, Ichthys Aquaponics have cast their line into the water and under the leadership of keen fisherman and g grower Jus...

Time for Some Summer Fun! Cary Goodwin (Spokesperson Life is a Garden and headgirl at Colourful Group) Lockdown gave us time to prepare for spring in the garden - and now it’s upon us, it’s time to get geared up for Summer. It’s a busy month out there. What with It being Arbor Month! Trees are very much on our minds, and Cary a Goodwin of Life is a Garden tells us what we should...

Summer Treasure Hunt! — Blooming Marvellous Bulbs Charles Barnhoorn (Hadeco Bulbs | CEO) Rudyard Kipling May have said - Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade - but sometimes gardens are made by things hiding in the shade. Over the years, people eagerly await the heralds of spring, the beautiful array of winter bulbs that show their lovely heads the mo...

Simply Delicious! — Catching up with the Delicious Jane Griffiths Jane Griffiths (Author | Jane’s Delicious Garden and many others!) Delicious Jane is a writer, television producer, traveller and artist, who began her journey to becoming a ‘veggie garden guru’ due to her being inspired chef who very seldom cooks the same recipe twice - and was frustrated about not finding t...

O-Live The life you Dream — How to become a master urban farmer Malcolm Gooding (The Voice | Gooding's Grove Olive Farm | Owner) Over the last decade or so, the demand from the public to know exactly where their food is coming from and how sustainable it is has had a fairly large impact many stores And what they stock. And the demand to grow our own edibles has grown too. Garden centres and...

Dare we say it? Spring’s around the corner — Getting prepared for warmer weather! Cary Goodwin (Spokesperson Life is a Garden, Headgirl at Colourful Group and Peebles Plants) Yes, we can feel it in the air - but spring is still hiding its Colourful head - for now. It’s the time to get yourself and your garden prepared for warmer weather - NOT to do things like top dressing your l...

Waste not, Want not — Waste minimisation. And what really happens to waste? Colleen du Toit (Abstract Waste | Founder and CEO) Many of us don’t give much thought to what happens to all the stuff we discard. Fortunately, with landfills filling up almost to full capacity, those environmentally conscious amongst us are working on ways to lessen our impact when it comes to tossing rubbish....

Saving Our Environment — Reducing Business’s Impact on Nature Eckart Zollner (EDS Systems | Head of Business Development) Climate change is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges to threaten the existence of mankind and an issue that the SA Government is attempting to tackle head on. This is not just a governmental issue however - businesses need to come to the party too. The 5th Ju...

Why 70%? And other hand sanitiser questions — Keep your hands clean! Gently and safely Bruce Turner (The Bespoke Amenities Co. | MD) Today Melanie talks to Bruce Turner, Managing Director of The Bespoke Amenities Company about hand sanitiser, as well as those little things (like shampoo and body wash) you like to take home from hotels. Contact Bruce directly bt@tbac.co.za Connect with Bruce...

Life is a Garden — Make your Garden a Reflection of your Life Cary Goodwin (Spokesperson for Life is a Garden, Peebles Plants and Colourful Group) Winter is a time when many people hang out indoors, leaving their garden to fend for itself. However, winter is a great time for taking stock of what’s going on in your own backyard. Cary and Melanie chat about ways to make your space work f...

Lockdown doesn’t mean Shut Down — And Stay at Home doesn’t mean Say Inside Michael Rickhoff (Master Designer) Staying onside, not staying inside, has been the way of thinking for those who enjoying growing and have been kept at home by the Lockdown. Michael Rickhoff gives us Green ideas for your space, whether you have a lovely garden or just a sunny windowsill. And looks at the...

Switching on your garden — Preparing for a burst of spring colour with Bulbs - turn it on! Charles Barnhoorn (Hadeco Bulbs | MD) and Michael Rickhoff (Master Designer) Gardening during lockdown has been something of a trial for those who love to plant. But with the opening of Garden Centres for trade, this is the time to not only look at what food plants to get your hands on, but also to pre...

In this challenging time of the Covid-19 (SARS-CoronaVirus-2) outbreak, with people being encouraged to self-isolate as much as possible, we must remember that essential services need to be kept running. Many services are under major pressure, one of which is the South African National Blood Service. With people working from home, schools and universities closed, and fewer visitors to Shopping cen...

All about Ecobricks, saving the planet and educating children about the importance of reducing plastic pollution, recycling and taking responsibility for making the planet cleaner. Meet Sean Williams and help him change the world https://swcontracts.co.za/meet-sean-williams/ Learn more about Anthea and Eco Balance Lifestyle https://ecobalancelifestyle.com/ Connect with Melanie on Facebook https://...

Going into autumn, life becomes interesting in your backyard. Cary Goodwin let's us in on all the must do and must haves for the upcoming month. From veggie gardening to what's on the hard gardening calendar, you'll hear about it here! Connect with Melanie on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/melstreasures.co.za/ When you're ready to produce your own podcast, contact the podcast experts at SolidGo...

Winners - not binners. That was the first thought when finding out what Winnie 'Upcycle' McHenry was up to. Landfills are filling up to capacity. There's plastic pollution in our oceans. The 70s and 80s notion of 'consume, consume, consume' is not only outdated, but should be outlawed! Fortunately there are some people who are doing something drastic (and not just by cutting the plastic). Winnie h...