Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 134: The Love Lives of Birds with Laura Erickson Apr 12, 2021

Show notes

This week's guest is Laura Erickson, talking about her brilliant book the Love Lives of Birds. Find out why some birds mate for life whilst others play the field, why some value age and experience, which birds lay their eggs in other bird's nests and which stash their young in riverbanks and why there's so much dancing involved!

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Bee Flies

This episode is brought to you The Seed Sistas, who have been community herbalists for over 20 years. Their work took a turn last March and they converted their passion for plants, people and the planet into an online course called the Pathway to Peace. It is an engaging Seven-day immersive journey with lots of wonderful content. If you suffer from stress or anxiety this course may well be able to offer you connection to herbs and tools for stress management, better sleep and nourishment for your nervous system. The next course starts again on April 28th.

What we talk about:

Why bird courtships so varied and whether there's any correlation between courtship patterns and life span/size/habitat

Why there's so much dancing involved

The issue of age and its relevance when finding a partner

Nest parasites and why they steal other birds' nests

Kingfishers and where they nest

The need for privacy when mating

Why some birds mate for life whilst others can have multiple mates in a breeding season

About Laura Erickson

"Laura Erickson, 2014 recipient of the American Birding Association's prestigious Roger Tory Peterson Award and the 2020 Minnesota Ornithologists' Union's Thomas Sadler Roberts Memorial Award, has been a scientist, teacher, writer, wildlife rehabilitator, professional blogger, public speaker, photographer, American Robin and Whooping Crane Expert for the popular Journey North educational website, and Science Editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. She's written twelve books about birds including, in 2020, The Love Lives of Birds. (also the ABA Field Guide to the Birds of Minnesota, National Geographic Pocket Guide to Birds of North America, the best-selling Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds (co-authored by photographer Marie Read); the National Outdoor Book Award-winning Sharing the Wonder of Birds with Kids; 101 Ways to Help Birds; and The Bird Watching Answer Book for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. She's currently a columnist and contributing editor for BirdWatching magazine. Since 1986 she has been producing the long-running "For the Birds" radio program for many public radio stations; the program is podcast on iTunes. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota." - https://www.lauraerickson.com/about-laura/

Links

www.lauraerickson.com

The Love Lives of Birds: Courtship and Mating Rituals by Laura Erickson - Storey Publishing, 2020

Pathway to Peace course - starts 28th April - more details.

Episode 67 with Karen Lawton of Sensory Solutions

Episode 133: Horatio's Gardens Apr 05, 2021

Show notes

This week's guest is Stephen Hackett, head gardener at Horatio's Garden South West. We talk about this amazing garden which was designed by Cleve West and is managed by Stephen, with the help of and for the benefit of the staff and patients at the adjacent spinal injuries unit.

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Brimstone Butterflies

What we talk about:

About the charity Horatio's Garden and the South West

How the gardens help people with spinal injuries

Managing a garden from a therapy as well as a horticultural perspective

The features of the garden which make it useful to patients and staff

The most rewarding part of the job

Visiting the Horatio's Garden sites

About Stephen Hackett

Stephen Hackett grew up in Lancashire, before studying at Oxford and Nottingham.

He spent several years teaching Cultural Studies in Southampton before joining the Arts Council in 2000.

Subsequently he worked in in adult education, and was Principal of a residential adult college in Oxfordshire.

Always a keen gardener, Stephen trained in Horticulture at Sparsholt College in 2010 and established a gardening business in the Salisbury area.

Stephen joined Horatio's Garden South West in 2016 as Head Gardener. He lives in Salisbury with his family, and has written gardening columns for magazines including Wiltshire Life and The English Garden.

Links

horatiosgarden.org.uk

Online Spring Raffle running from 29th March - 3rd May

Horatio's Garden Summer Art Auction which opens on 15th May for two weeks until 30th.

Pathway to Peace Course - starts 28th April. Sign up now.

Episode 67 with Karen Lawton of Sensory Solutions

Episode 132: Adventures in Eden Mar 29, 2021

Show notes

This week's guest is Carolyn Mullet. Carolyn is an author and garden tour organiser. She recently released a book about some of the most beautiful gardens she's visited in Europe, called Adventures in Eden. In the interview, I speak to Carolyn about the book and (with barely concealed envy) I ask her about the trips she undertakes and the gardens she sees with her company Carex Tours.

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Bay Sucker Psyllid

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Natural Grower. Launched in 2019, their award winning liquid fertiliser and plant feed and soil conditioner is made entirely from maize. Naturally rich in nitrogen, potash, phosphate and other trace elements that plants and vegetables love, it is approved by the Soil Association, Vegan Society and Organic Farmers and Growers. Their concentrated natural fertiliser can be poured around the base of plants, whilst the plant feed and soil conditioner can be mixed into the soil or compost and used as a mulch on the surface as a long-term slow-release fertiliser. The fertiliser can be used for all outdoor and indoor plants. As a special offer for listeners, Natural Grower are offering 15% off all of their range. Simply go to naturalgrower.co.uk and enter ROOTS15 on checkout.

What we talk about:

How Carolyn chooses gardens to visit

How does a garden make the grade for the book or to be included in a tour?

Whether there is any correlation between an owner's personalities and the type of garden they have

The ways Carolyn has noticed private gardens changing over the past decade or so

The recipe for a successful garden

The most exciting place for garden design and innovation right now

About Carolyn Mullet

Carolyn Mullet is a retired award-winning garden designer who practiced in the Washington, DC metro area for over 30 years. She received her formal training in residential landscape design from George Washington University. She is also the owner and creative director of CarexTours offering international garden tours each year for the discerning garden traveler. Her book "Adventures in Eden: An Intimate Tour of Private European Gardens" was published by Timber Press in 2020. In addition, she produces popular social media posts daily showcasing gardens from around the world on both Instagram and Facebook for a large international community of garden and plant enthusiasts.

Links

CarexTours

Facebook

Instagram

Dig In: Harvst Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

This is the first episode in the series and it features Rik Sellwood who along with his business partner Chris Tanner, has launched a company called Harvst. They build greenhouses for home gardeners, which can be controlled via an app. During the episode we talk about Harvst's products of course, but we also talk about managing crops in greenhouses and how technology can be applied in a garden setting to make our lives easier.

Listen to the end for the 15% discount code!

Shop Harvst

Information on the technology

App information and to register for the app go to app.harvest.co.uk

Introducing Dig In Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

Hello. This is a short introduction to a new episode that's being released on Thursday called Roots and All: Dig In.

Dig In is a new series which came about because I've been contacted by various companies who would like to come on the podcast and talk about the wonderful products they have to sell.

So do drop by on Thursday when I'll be speaking to Rik Sellwood of Harvst about, that amongst other things, a greenhouse you can water and ventilate via an app. Clever stuff!

Episode 131: The Garden of Equal Delights with Anni Kelsey Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

This week's guest is forest gardener Anni Kelsey. Anni is an experienced grower of edibles and she follows the principles of forest gardening - if you're not sure what that means, all will be revealed. Her latest book The Garden of Equal Delights sets out principles for managing a garden in order to maximise its productive yield but it's much more than that, it's about gardening sustainably and using techniques that many conventional gardeners might find unusual but which work.

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Signalling

What we talk about:

What is a forest garden?
Anni writes in her book "how would I describe or explain what I do in the garden to someone else?". Given her gardening style is very intuitive and site specific, find out how she manages to communicate her principles to others
The practice of bringing nothing in and taking nothing out of the garden
How Anni brings uncultivated areas into production
Dealing with weeds
Why she doesn't compost
Why all plants are special

About Anni Kelsey

"Anni Kelsey has been passionate about gardening and the natural world for as long as she can remember. As her concerns about the unsustainability of our present food system grew she began to 'edibilise' her garden aiming to find a way of growing food that required as little time, effort and skill as possible. She based her experiments on forest gardening but adapted this to fit in an average sized back garden. This led her to focus on experimenting with perennial vegetables, obtaining and growing as many as she possibly could.

As she gained experience and enthusiasm for this style of gardening she wanted to convey what she had learned to others which in turn led her to write Edible Perennial Gardening or the book she would have liked to have been able to read years ago, if it had already been written! She hopes that it will inspire and enable others to grow perennial vegetables which are little known but tasty and rewarding crops.

Anni's garden is in a challenging situation high on a hill facing Wales in one direction and England in the other. When she is not in the garden she loves nothing more than exploring the local countryside and coffee shops" - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anni-Kelsey/e/B00N8XJMPK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

Links

Anni's Veggies Blog

The Garden of Equal Delights by Anni Kelsey - Permanent Publications, 2020

Episode 130: GrowVeg with Benedict Vanheems Mar 15, 2021

Show notes

Podcast 101 - GrowVeg with Benedict Vanheems

This week I'm talking to Benedict Vanheems, gardener, author, editor and face of the popular GrowVeg.com YouTube channel. If you're thinking about growing veg this year, whether you're an old hand or new to it, you're bound to hear something of value from Benedict, who's innovative approach to growing food takes the hard work out of things.

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Black Garden Ants

This episode is brought to you by Natural Grower.

Launched in 2019, their award winning liquid fertiliser and plant feed and soil conditioner is made entirely from maize. Naturally rich in nitrogen, potash, phosphate and other trace elements that plants and vegetables love, it is approved by the Soil Association, Vegan Society and Organic Farmers and Growers. Their concentrated natural fertiliser can be poured around the base of plants, whilst the plant feed and soil conditioner can be mixed into the soil or compost and used as a mulch on the surface as a long-term slow-release fertiliser. The fertiliser can be used for all outdoor and indoor plants. As a special offer for listeners, Natural Grower are offering 15% off all of their range. Listen to the episode now to access the discount code.

What we talk about:

Is growing edibles right for everyone? And is it worth it?

Tips for getting seeds started in open ground

Moving seeds from indoors to outdoors

What should we be doing in our veg gardens right now?

Upcycling and repurposing household items as containers for growing in

Labour intensive jobs in the veg garden and ways to make them easier/quicker

Keep things low maintenance

Growing mushrooms

Sprouting seeds

About Benedict Vanheems

Benedict Vanheems is a passionate home gardener specialising in delicious, organically grown fruit, vegetables and herbs. No stranger to dirt under his nails, Benedict's fascination with plants started at an early age. As a young boy he could often be found digging holes, experimenting with sowings, or helping his granddad plant leeks or pick climbing beans on his veg patch.

As a teenager, Benedict worked during his school holidays at a nursery supplying plants to many of the UK's top garden designers. After completing a degree in Horticulture he went on to edit gardening publications, including Garden Design Journal and Grow it!. He has written for Grow Your Own magazine and is an ongoing contributor to Kitchen Garden, Britain's longest established edible gardening title.

In 2014 Benedict joined the team at GrowVeg.com where he has become the face of their YouTube channel, growing it from 20,000 subscribers to more than 280,000. A firm advocate of growing in tune with nature, he continues to produce compelling gardening content for the respected GrowVeg.com website, inspiring both new and seasoned gardeners to get more from their space.

Benedict lives in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire and has recently moved house, taking on a third-of-an-acre garden where he is creating two kitchen garden areas to indulge his horticultural hunger.

Links

growveg.co.uk

GrowVeg: The Beginner's Guide to Easy Vegetable Gardening by Benedict Vanheems - Storey Publishing, 2021

Episode 129: The Regenerative Grower's Guide to Garden Amendments Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

This week's guest is Nigel Palmer, an experimental gardener who brings to bear his experience as an aerospace engineer to analyse, identify and organise the various components that make plants grow well. From his research, he's compiled a recipe book of garden amendments, some easy to make and some involving more complex methods, but all of which you can recreate at home and use on your garden for better plant health and resilience.

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Darwin's Worms

This episode is sponsored by gardencourses.com

What we talk about:

The book 'Natural Farming Agriculture Materials' by Cho Ju-Young and how it influenced Nigel's work

When making soil amendments and fertilisers and having them analysed in a laboratory, how does Nigel know the results will be consistent for future batches?

Why is local biological material important for a garden?

The theory behind feeding a plant with its own 'ancestors'

The ability of a plant to change the soil pH in the immediate vicinity of its roots

How plants need different nutrients and minerals at different stages of their development

Using a refractometer

Fermented plant juice and its uses

What difference can these amendments make to a garden?

About Nigel Palmer

"Nigel Palmer has been a lifelong gardener in New England relying on the amazing complexity of nature to inspire his gardening philosophy, as well as working as an aerospace engineer sorting, organizing, and resolving complex technical issues. He is the instructor and curriculum developer of the Sustainable, Regenerative Gardening program at The Institute Of Sustainable Nutrition (TIOSN). " - https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-regenerative-growers-guide-to-garden-amendments/

Links

The Regenerative Grower's Guide to Garden Amendments: Using Locally Sourced Materials to Make Mineral and Biological Extracts and Ferments by Nigel Palmer - Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020

www.tiosn.com

Dr James Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Episode 128: Pollinators & Pollination with Professor Jeff Ollerton Mar 01, 2021

Show notes

This episode I'm speaking to Professor Jeff Ollerton, author of the brilliant new book 'Pollinators and Pollination', another must-have to add to your ever burgeoning reading pile I'm afraid! I loved the book and as you'll hear during the interview, it threw up all sorts of interesting questions about pollinators, their role in our lives and gardens and how much we need them.

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Queen Bumblebees

This episode is sponsored by gardencourses.com

What we talk about:

What is a pollinator?

Apart from being nice to look at, why should gardeners want pollinators to visit?

How pollinators navigate via linear features in a landscape and what this means for plants situated near these features

Would it be fair to say the increase in pollinators since older times has gone hand in hand with that of humans? Did our populations increase in tandem?

Now we seem to have the upper hand and are disregarding the pollinators, will we ultimately be damaging ourselves, at least from a food growing point of view?

How useful is it to measure the number of species of pollinators that visit a garden? Are species over-represented in gardens due to the garden's value as a food source?

Top tips for inviting pollinators into the garden

About Jeff Ollerton

"During a career spanning more than 30 years, Professor Jeff Ollerton has established himself as one of the world's leading experts on pollinators and pollination. The author of more than 120 articles and book chapters, his highly-cited, ground-breaking research has been used by national and international agencies to support efforts to conserve pollinators and their pollination services. Jeff is also in demand as an advisor and consultant to governments, local authorities, printed and broadcast media, and funding organisations.

Although he is based in the UK, Jeff's field work in support of his research and advisory activities has been conducted across Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Australia. He received his PhD in pollination ecology in 1993 from Oxford Brookes University, and holds Visiting Professor positions at the University of Northampton in the UK and Kunming Institute of Botany in China. Jeff has previously held visiting researcher positions at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil and the University of New South Wales in Australia." - https://jeffollerton.co.uk/about/

Links

www.jeffollerton.co.uk

Order a copy of Jeff's book and get 30% off with the offer code ROOTS30

Episode 74: Wasps with Richard Jones

Episode 127: Cats and Gardens Feb 22, 2021

Show notes

This week, I'm speaking to Danielle Draper, Manager of the Cats Protection National Cat Adoption Centre in Surrey and we're talking about that sometimes contentious issue of cats and gardens. Cats are part of gardeners' lives, particularly if you live in an urban area. Love them or hate them, you can't get away from them and Danielle's here to talk about learning to live harmoniously alongside the neighbourhood felines…

Dr Ian Bedford's Bug of the Week: Narcissus Bulb Fly

What we talk about:

How many cats there are in the UK - is cat ownership growing or declining in popularity?

Where do cats factor in the big picture of wildlife decline?

Can we exclude the neighbourhood cats from our gardens? Or deter them?

Is it myth that cats don't use their own gardens to go to the loo? Can we deter them from doing it?

What can we do if all the neighbourhood cats choose to use our garden as a battleground?

What can we do if we want to feed the birds but keep them safe from cats? What about if we put food out for foxes, hedgehogs?

Ways to avoid wildlife casualties

Plants cats particularly like/don't like

What benefits can cats bring to a garden?

About Cats Protection

Cats Protection is the UK's largest feline welfare charity in the UK and helps around 200,000 cats and kittens every year. Formed in 1927, when it was known as the Cats Protection League, Cats Protection (CP) has grown to become the UK's leading feline welfare charity. Its vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its need and it has simple and clear objectives to help cats:

• Homing - finding good homes for cats in need

• Neutering - supporting and encouraging the neutering of cats

• Information - improving people's understanding of cats and their care

More information about the work of the charity can be found at www.cats.org.uk. To make a donation, please visit https://www.cats.org.uk/donate

Advice about cats and gardens:

https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/home-and-environment/garden-and-outdoors

https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/home-and-environment/keeping-cats-out

https://www.cats.org.uk/help-and-advice/home-and-environment/dangerous-plants