Plants Grow Here - Horticulture, Landscape Gardening & Ecology

Jeanette Severs is a journalist and writer that I'm friends with on Twitter who's a bit of a trailblazer in the agricultural journalism space. In this episode, she explains why biosecurity is so important, how Australia is well situated for defence against pests and diseases, and some of the outbreaks that have given us a good scare in the past. EPISODE LINKS Follow Jeanette on Twitter:...

Tom Wall is a guitarist in a band that plays music with plants called Cosmic Knot. They use a device that translates a plant's electromagnetic output using a node each in the root zone  and clipped onto a leaf. In this episode, Tom explains how he plays music with plants, and how they play back to him which is the closest thing I've ever seen to two-way communication with plants. Tom has...

Gary Moran has recently gone viral because of a Facebook post he did on putting his bin out for the first time in over 3 years. In this episode, he teaches us how we can practically minimise the amount of waste we produce, both in the garden and in other areas of our lives. EPISODE LINKS If you aren't following Gary on Twitter, go and do so now: https://twitter.com/arborsmarty Gary is a consu...

Joe Timar is a Twitter friend of mine from the US who's living a "homestead lite" life, where he and his wife produce a decent amount of food on their land, but they aren't fully self sufficient. We speak about why the black walnuts on his land make it impossible to grow most things, what his soil is like, and finding first nations' arrowheads that tell a story from a diff...

Ben Sims is a successful landscape business owner and a member for the Landscape Industry Association of Western Australia (LIAWA). In this episode, he's back to walk us through a topic that's often oversimplified and overlooked: weeds. What are they? How do we deal with them? Can we learn to love them in certain circumstances? Make sure you listen to this  industry-relevant discussion a...

Philippa Bassett is the PR and Communications Manager at The Forest Bathing  Institute in the UK, and in this episode she introduces the concept of forest bathing to us, and explains how to practically do this this style of meditation, or playtime, or whatever you want to call it! She also tells us about some of the studies the TFBI have undertaken that are showing us just how beneficial being in...

Sarah Wilson is a gardening business owner, as well as the host of the excellent gardening podcast called Roots And All. In this episode, we chat about the importance of ecology in a modern approach to gardening, how online content can be beneficial for formal and informal studies, and how each of us got into professional gardening in the first place. EPISODE LINKS Listen to the Roots And All podc...

Nathan Straume is a TerraCottem training, compliance and regional manager in Queensland and the U.S.A, as well as an account manager at StrataGreen and in this episode he explains what's so good about TerraCottem when compared to other "hydrogels" on the market, and how a non-organic product can build soil biology and structure. AUSTRALIAN GIVEAWAY Enter our giveaway for 750g of Ter...

Nick Bell and Tony Demasi are two lawn legends of Western Australia, and together they walk us through a range of benefits that turfed areas can offer to humans and the wider ecosystem, they share wisdom that they have inherited from first nations people, and they offer a number of handy design and installation tips. EPISODE LINKS Sign the Uluru Statement From The Heart: https://ulurustatement.org...

John Parker is the Technical Director for the Arboricultural Association in the UK, as well as a Stonehouse Town Councillor. He's back again, and this time we speak about trees in mythology - including people being forced to repay the bark stolen from sacred trees with their internal organs. EPISODE LINKS Check out the Arboricultural Association's website: https://trees.org.uk The AA als...

Calle is a friend of mine on Twitter who's doing a PhD in molecular biology, focusing on macro algae. In this episode, he helps us understand some of the basics of the primordial plants that we call algae. If you've always wondered what's the deal with algae, or you've never really thought about it until reading the title of this episode, give it a listen to familiarise yoursel...

Blaise Vinot is back for a second episode! This time we speak about maintaining your pruners, which includes looking after them, sharpening them and cleaning the rust and sap off them as well as a range of other tips and tricks. We also speak about how FELCO pruners make your life easier than other cheaper brands. Don't forget to follow us on social media and enter our awesome FELCO giveaway!...

Blaise Vinot is the retired Managing Director of FELCO Australia, and has come onto the show to explain how to choose the right pruners for our hands, as well as for the type of pruning that we intend to perform. He walks us through what factors we need to consider as well as some of the most popular options that the famous FELCO brand (easily the most celebrated makers of secateurs) has to offer....

Mark Valencia is someone you'll probably recognise from his excellent organic backyard veggie gardening YouTube channel called Self Sufficient Me, or maybe you've read some of his blog posts - he's been doing it for over a decade! We had planned to speak about backyard gardening, but we ended up having a personal chat where we speak about his journey in the online world, how long it...

Dr Samantha Grover is back! This time she teaches us about soil carbon including how it gets out of the air and into the ground, and why we want it there in the first place. It turns out carbon isn't evil, in fact it forms the basis of life on earth for all of us carbon-based life forms! EPISODE LINKS Here's a link to that carbon cycle diagram that I mentioned in the episode: https://en....

Randal Breen is a farmer that raises beef, chickens and pigs on the same farm for a number of reasons which we discuss during our interview, as well as the importance of biodiversity, native vegetation not only to the overall ecosystem but also to an animal's health and the nutritional density of its meat. EPISODE LINKS The Echo Valley Farm website: https://www.echovalley.com.au/ Contact Echo...

Ros Gleadow is a professor of plant sciences at Monash University, President of the Global Plant Council and a board member at Eucalypt Australia, and in this episode she walks us through some of the basics of plant biology, including the 4 different types of plants, where the meristematic tissue (a.k.a. stem cells) are located,  and plant reproductive strategies. This episode is a must-listen for...

Thomas J. Elpel is a personal hero of mine - I've learnt so much from his resources, both before I began my formal training and then again during my plant identification unit during Tafe. In this episode, I'm so excited to introduce all of you to the work he's best known for, which is identifying plant families using flower patterns. Make sure you check out his links so that you can...

Andre Pedroli is the managing director for Perth Materials Blowing (PMB), which is a company that moves mulch with a giant reverse-cycle vacuum on a truck, but make no mistake: he's done his hard yards when it comes to moving mulch by hand. In this episode he walks us through some of the benefits of mulch, some of the different types, and how to move it easily with a mulch fork and wheelbarro...

Kevin Folta is the host of the Talking Biotech Podcast and a professor of the Horticulture and Sciences department at Florida University. In this episode, he takes us through some of the pros and cons of monoculture crops, which get a bit of a beating in many circles, but there might be more to the story than you've heard. EPISODE LINKS Check out the Talking Biotech Podcast website: https://w...

Gary Moran is back for a second episode! You guys loved him in Episode 22. Trees, Etc. and this time he's here to speak about some of the signs of a risky tree. Is the tree in your backyard safe for children to play beneath? What is the likelihood of being crushed by a branch while you're sleeping in your bed? Are all eucalypts "widow makers"? Find out in this episode! EPISODE...

Dr Peter Ridland is an Honorary Fellow in the Bio Sciences department of Melbourne Uni and an Aussie leader in the field of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In this episode, he walks us through 6 broad methods of IPM and gives us a number of real-world examples of strategies that have worked in his experience working with all sorts of pests, especially those of the insect variety which are his sp...

Russell and Theri are a couple of urban foresters from the UK who are really excited about community-led urban forestry projects, and in this episode we speak about how local people could be more involved in urban forestry projects, including watering new trees and formative pruning, as well as why it's important to seriously take stock of trees before urban development projects go ahead. EPI...

Paul and Linda Mitchener are back, and this time they're walking us through the 12 principles of permaculture. You might be surprised just how deep this philosophy runs beyond the garden and into our life and the relationships we have with others. EPISODE LINKS Permaculture Design Course (PDC): https://permaculture.com.au/pdc-permaculture-design-course/ Linda and Paul recommended Permaculture...

Linda and Paul Mitchener are two passionate gardeners and the owners of a fabulous Perth-based soil company appropriately called Green Life Soil Co., which is organically certified. In this episode, they help us understand what the term "organic" actually means, why we might think about making the switch to an organic gardening approach, and some of the ways we can practically garden org...