Welcome to episode 2 of the podcast! In this episode, Mum and I discussed the following:
•Where to download supporting images (0:00:15 – 0:01:13 + 1:05:33 -1:07:00).
•What we harvested from the garden this morning, from delicious smelling flowers, to tasty veg. (0:01:39 – 0:02:31 + 0:07:16 – 0:08:05 )
•Spotting of a low-down red kite and 3 buzzards, amongst other birds of prey and swallows. (0:02:58 – 0:06:31)
•The symbiotic relationship in the garden between birds and plants / nature. (0:08:04 – 0:10:47)
•My childhood nostalgia for local tourist attraction WWT Slimbridge. (WWT founder) Sir Peter Scott’s love of art and bird conservation, and our similarities to him. (0:10:58 – 0:18:56)
•Collaborating with WWT Slimbridge via their beautiful new shepard’s huts, as well as a new art exhibition in January, where Mum is eager to try new and different art styles. (0:18:46 – 0:23:05)
•“Secret squirrel” commissioned artwork for a big publisher, which Mum finished painting this week, and how the garden inspired her in the creation. (0:24:24 – 0:27:27)
•What’s our favourite part of the veg beds? Our new raised beds, built by my brother. How the veg garden went from an embarrassing area of the garden to one of Mum’s proudest parts. (0:30:07 – 0:34:12 + 0:37:43 – 0:38:23 + 0:39:08 – 0:40:19)
•How to lift dahlias for winter to prevent cold, persistent frosts and how to give your dahlias a head start for that year. (0:34:12 – 0:37:43)
•The joys of sharing flowers from our garden, and how the scent of them can bring back memories. (0:41:48 – 0:43:47)
•Plants which CAN’T grow in the poly tunnel. Benefits of veg beds over a poly tunnel. The freedom of “shoving plants wherever” as opposed to Mum’s well-thought-out planting design plans. (0:43:47 – 0:47:22)
•Crop rotation and the importance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for plant growth. (0:47:22 – 0:53:59)
•Crop circles and how to measure a perfect circle in garden design. (1:00:45 – 1:03:42)
•Plans for where we’ll record the next episode. (1:04:40 – 1:05:34)
Whilst this is an audio-only podcast, you can find supporting images of each episode’s location via the free #CreativeSpaceNatureSpark creative prompt sheets. To access these sheets: sign up to our mailing list or join our free online community ‘Creative Space’.
Links:
✨Sign up to our mailing list: http://eepurl.com/it3FoE
✨Join our free online community ‘Creative Space’: https://www.carolinetathamart.co.uk/join-creative-space
✨Website: https://www.carolinetathamart.co.uk/
✨Podcast show notes: https://www.carolinetathamart.co.uk/podcast-episode-2-why-we-love-our-productive-veg-beds
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Chapter Time-stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:15 Where to Download Supporting Images
1:39 What We Harvested From The Garden This Morning
2:58 Spotting Birds of Prey in Our Garden
8:04 Symbiotic Relationship Between Birds and Plants
10:58 Nostalgia for Local Tourist Attraction WWT Slimbridge and Our Similarities to Founder Sir Peter Scott
18:46 Collaborating with WWT Slimbridge
24:24 “Secret Squirrel” Commissioned Artwork for a Big Publisher
30:07 What’s our Favourite Part of the Veg Beds?
34:12 How to Lift Dahlias for Winter to Prevent Cold
38:23 What’s our Favourite Part of the Veg Beds?
43:47 Plants Which CAN’T Grow in The Poly Tunnel
47:22 Crop Rotation and the Importance of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium for Plant Growth
1:00:45 Crop Circles
1:04:40 Plans for Next Episode
01:05:33 Where to Download Supporting Images
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hello and welcome to episode two of the Nostalgic Garden Podcast hello my name is Emma and I am with my wonderful mother Caroline Tatum
hello
and today we are sat in our veg garden
but you they kind of have to take our word for that well they they can see they can see on the the photo
yes where’s the photo well actually I’m in thank you very much uh I meant actually depending on when you’re where you are listening uh on YouTube the the main image on the screen uh is the photo or on Apple or Spotify podcast it will be that particular episode image or if you want to see multiple images thank you mom uh you can sign up to our free online community creative space which you can do so by uh googling our website which is www.carolineet carolineatart.co.uk which will be in the description of this podcast uh and there if you join our free Facebook community you can access weekly sheets um where you will see multiple images of where we are sat this week i can currently see a beautiful male blackbird
and I’m sorry to trump your black is sparrow hawk
has just swooped overhead and landed in that falsicacia tree there oh the yellow one which no one else can see
all the little birds are flying away now cuz all the goldfinches are like I’m out of here
oh they’re back
oh they’re suckers for punishment
yeah that’s amazing and in fact first thing this morning you kindly I was just about to
You very kindly helped me harvest what were we harvesting it was
Oh all sorts
cut flowers
yes so from the veg beds themselves we harvested some some delicious sweet peas which uh uh mom has planted
very plentiful
i was going to say mom’s planted tons this year slightly too many i think they’re a bit disappointing last year so uh I’ve gone a bit OTT this year
no I don’t think you can do with with beautiful sweet peas we literally get like a vase a day it’s fantastic no it’s it’s wonderful anyway so we were harvesting some beautiful sweet peas and ders and eating peas moto twos
some of them some of the produce didn’t quite make it back to the kitchen no the a strawberry did did get devoured midpick
you got to sample the wares though i think it’s very important definitely
anyway um yes thank you for mentioning that because whilst we were harvesting on a beautiful summer’s morning which was just so pictures the classic English summer’s morning wasn’t it it really was it was a fantastic temperature like it is now very warm but not like Oh
not sticky and sweaty
i’m so hot yeah
no humidity it’s just lovely and fresh but still warm
oh I just heard a gunshot
yeah me too
dear anyway anyway so yes whilst we were doing our fantastic harvesting um I was walking away to grab something from the house and then mom shouted “Emma.” And I was like “What?” And she said “Look look look red kite.” And um I will include on the show notes uh which you can find in the description of this podcast it’s a link to our um website couldn’t think of that word uh a little video of that sparrow hawk that we saw cuz it Oh um red kite thank you red kite
so many birds of prey get we’ve seen buzzards today
we saw three buzzards today but that red kite was absolutely beautiful because I know you have seen them super low down cuz they’re usually super duper duper high up in the sky here in England and uh this was the lowest I’ve ever seen one and it was uh it was just so beautiful to see it
was amazing really amazing
really majestic
and they’re moving around the country they they used to be well they didn’t you never saw them here and then really from last year in my experience but I’ve heard other people have seen them before that they’re starting the to be uh seen more in more places across the UK so they’re headed our way which is I don’t think the buzzers are particularly chuffed uh I think they’re sort of a similar level of uh I I I don’t know why i’d like to think they have similar um
big raptors dietary requirements and I feel like there’s some arguing that you often see him in the sky arguing
and Milo Arawa definitely isn’t sure is he so he’s
he’s worried he’ll get snatched
yeah I think he could do you know yeah think about it they are he’s not they don’t want a fluff ball like him no meat on him
there is no meat no
he’s perfectly safe and uh yet again we veered off topic cuz this podcast really the sort of inspiration for it was to talk about the garden
and wildlife in it and wildlife in it and to do a different bit of the garden every time we make a podcast which we’re thinking maybe every Fortnite aren’t we every other week we’re sort of thinking where we’re at with that
but we seem to be really good at getting into a topic and going down a sid track
i think that’s what I personally love i love it because last time we made one we sort of ended up whichever way we turned we ended up back talking about history which is something I ain’t knowledgeable on but somehow it was like when you’re learning to ride a bike and you’re trying not to hit the post box but the more you think about it the more you steer back towards the post box that was history and me last podcast and this podcast it seems to be ornithology or birds doesn’t it and as you rightly say though
the birds are an intrinsic part of the garden and actually
typically and you’ll have to take my word for it just while we were setting up and everything and you were kindly sorting out the microphones
there was just the most lovely sound of twittering spar uh swallows
oh
swallows and of course the minute we started recording
they went away they were shy they said “No not yet.”
So I promise you they were here you might feel their presence but they they’re gone hopefully they’ll come back
talk about classic English summer
yes I know i’m always really sad when they go not that they’re going to do that for a while yet but that’s when they arrive it’s summer for me when they go it’s autumn’s not that far away
and when do they go would you say
it’s a really good question i would have to look it up to be certain but it’s the end of the summer it probably depends on the weather a bit exactly when they leave but that’s always a sign for me that you know autumn is just around the corner yeah so so yeah that time of year it’s amazing how seasons do vary
according to the weather
well and you and I were saying a couple nights ago that um we’re very blessed to live in uh in England as much as it may rain
we love it really
we love it really but um yeah I I personally definitely enjoy living in a country where as you said yourself the seasons are so so different it’s it’s really nice having that variety
it is it is but um
yeah I guess if you live in a country where it’s a bit more even you can go away to experience different climates we’re very lucky it’s sort of on our doorstep
it comes to us
yeah and actually the other bird we’ve seen today yes
sorry I’m You got to get out i got to apparently this seems to be my thing this time um we were down in the poly tunnel weren’t we
we were indeed
and we’ll do a podcast from there another time and I think we’ll save that for a rainy day literally um because it’s a great place to be in the garden when it’s raining it’s quite cozy in there and snug
makes great noises the pitter cluttering it’s quite loud actually
it might be too loud fantastic you might might actually not hear us you
might be fighting
which might be a good thing i don’t know
shut up already
i came to this podcast to listen to the rain you’re getting in the way
but well we were there this morning and can you remember what we were harvesting in there this morning
corettes and cucumbers
yes corettes and cucumbers it was a
great big pile of them is fantastic
so it’s going to be a thousand1 recipes with corettes isn’t it this time of year corette soup you said which is a great suggestion roasted corettes and all the rest of it
anywh who um we saw a ren the day i think it it looked to me like it had just fledged so late in the season
probably a second clutch I think um but they’re so sweet renens aren’t they
they’re lovely yeah the shape of them is very uh very unique and they’re very flighty
i’m not sure about them and beautiful loud song from such a tiny little bird
yeah I agree
i thought they were our smallest birds but apparently gold crests are smaller
and not not very common in around where we live
i haven’t seen I know them because you have a paint called Lucky Mr gold Crest i believe
they’re more up in Scotland than they are down with us but uh I think Ren certainly where we live Ren is our smallest bird but um
small but mighty
small but incredibly mighty that’s a great way to say it yeah and always make me think about the sort of symbiotic relationship between birds and the garden and the plants in the garden and in fact we’ve one of our paintings one of our bestselling prints isn’t it is is sort of about that and it’s got a a ren surrounded by foliage because
we tend to have been brought up to think that nature is all about you know death and destruction and competition and
you know survival of the fittest and I’m sure to that’s true to some extent but the bit we’re not so well educated about is how nature cooperates with itself and supports each other and birds can actually cause the stomata on the leaves which is like the little pores
on the leaf surface to open through their song so they’re helping to control or encourage or however you want to look at it the photosynthesis in all the plants and around where they liveing which is incredible if you think think about it incredible i love that
and because of research on that and it’s all documented it’s not just you know I am an aging hippie but it’s it’s like you know proper science and inverted commas um but because of that farmers sort of tested and experimented with playing classical music
to corn right was it cornific
same sort of frequency yeah
and you get a much much you everyone laughed at farmers doing that like they were idiots until their their yield was three times higher and then everyone stopped laughing so you know there’s a lot more the the other example I think is canopy shyness
i was literally going to mention that i was going to say we’ve we either spoke about this on last episode last time’s podcast
or I believe we talked to the postmad about it and I can’t remember which
we lived such a sophisticated life or maybe both knowing
maybe both
shut up about canopy shyness already
no I think it was the postman anyway
we’ve got a lovely postman we were just saying weren’t we post ladies
we do yeah we do we’ve got the best post people we’re so they’re more like friends aren’t they they’re great for catching up on what’s going on in the village because where we live we’re we’re very blessed we’ve sort of got the best of both worlds because we’re not actually in a village
no we’re in a hamlet i
We’re on the edge of a very nice village yeah and we used to live previously in our previous house we lived in a village and I ain’t knocking it because it’s very sociable and lots of people love it but we felt a little bit sort of like we wanted a bit more privacy and so we’re very lucky where we live in a a hamlet as you say called Gossington which is right on the edge it’s the same parish actually as Slimbridge which is a bigger village still tiny
but it has a village hall and a little tiny post office/shop
yeah a church
and a church
and the Slimbridge WWT wetland center which is one of the big biggest tourist attractions in England so if you take that
into account I know how blessed are we with that really i mean it’s not in the village is it that’s about a sort of mile or so
no it’s part of Slimbridgeidge
oh it’s totally but it’s not in geographic right at the end of the village as you’d expect it’s in the wetland so it’s on the estie yeah
um but yes absolutely it’s very much the cult part of the culture around here and we’re so blessed to have that someone who ended up doing a lot of paintings of birds
to have the wetlands down the road is super amazing and also when you guys were little
just somewhere to go
i loved it well Boot Land oh my gosh I’m going to have to very quickly explain well Bootland it was just this lovely little
I don’t know how to explain it like a little play play area uh but it was designed really well still there still there that’s true i was just uh recalling my youth
i sound like I’m 80
exactly 80 going on 19 going on 80 um and it was just like these lovely little man-made sort of um rivery water things and you put your wellie boots on which I don’t know if um you know all our listeners not viewers uh from all around the world know what Wellington boots are it’s like rain boots um and you just splash around in the water and they had these great little metal dividey things where the water would flow through this path yes and then you could put the barrier down and you could stop it flowing through that one and it had this like circle almost like you know the London Eye or whatever but tiny tiny tiny and it had little cups on it and then you could spin that round and scoop up the water and it was just really fun i loved it and there was a little um one of those roundabout things
more traditional things like the roundabout and I love it because in your mind it probably felt like quite a big you know
it did in my mind and I look back since and it’s it’s like a bucket and a piece of string i’ve been trying being very mean cuz it isn’t it’s beautiful and wonderful
but it’s funny i know that’s such an obvious thing to say but it is funny isn’t it when you look back at places from your childhood and you’re like I could have sworn that place was as big as three football fields and it’s actually like 3 m squared you’re like what it’s almost I think that phenomenon partly because you are physically smaller
well that definitely that obvious aspect
but actually I also think it’s kind of testament to the power of a child’s imagination is that the moment that they are playing in it is that big to them it’s their entire universe because kids kind of get caught up in the moment and they do you know
I was I think that is a fantastic observation which I’ve never thought about before just as you were saying it I was thinking that reminds me of a a mindfulness practice not that I’m any expert at all i’m working on this of uh being in the present moment and not worrying about the past or the future um you’re just in the now and the now is all that matters so So yeah I absolutely love that i’ve always associate I actually think about that fairly often about how oh my gosh that place looks so different from when I was a child and I’ve always thought oh it’s just cuz I was physically smaller but I love that the more sort of mindful spiritual you could say as well so
and it’s not just about um tourist attractions is it Slimbridge i mean it is a huge tourist attraction like you say
uh but for us I think one of the brilliant aspects is not only is it a center for birds and I love painting birds
and birds are very connected to the garden it’s also very associated with art m
it’s got that heritage of the art as well as the the sort of conservation and the whole bird side of things so um
it’s kind of perfect
it’s a kind of double it’s a double whammy really isn’t it um
and also a very minute fun fact um the gentleman who set it up what was his name again
oh I was I always want to call him Peter Cook which
Peter Scott peter Scott poor old Peter Cook was a wonderful comedian i always My dyslexia is I always get people’s names wrong so yeah same with me i think Sir Peter Scott
sir Peter Scott who is I believe you told me the son of Scott of the Antarctic which will probably
just blew my mind when I found that out because weird I we’ve been living here for 10 years or something and it was just like someone mentioned it as a real sort of matter of fact i was like what
yeah yeah i don’t know if that means anything to anyone listening outside of the UK but he was Scott of the Antarctic was a big deal was he English he must have been must he um just back to history blind me and that famous saying I maybe some time when one of his men
um knew that they knew they were going to die it was really sad cuz they um just ran out of they were they were in a race as to who would get to the North Pole I think or South Pole forgive my appalling
i think probably South because North is Santa whatever i do apologize or the Antarctic wherever that is
shameful geography and history so I apologize oh interesting bird noises
somebody’s wants to Someone’s not happy with my terrible lack of
recording awareness um yeah and they didn’t make it and sadly died but um one of the one of his team sacrificed himself
oh didn’t they eat him or they Sorry I misremembered
i think you’re mixing it up with a sort of fiction film yeah I hope so but no they definitely didn’t
sorry to bring that up i thought that was true
and and rather than delay them he he which is such a brave and amazing thing he just said um I’m going out for a short time
oh I’m going out i maybe sometime and it was like an unspoken thing they knew that he was basically committing suicide so literally gave me actual chills
yeah because they didn’t want he didn’t want to hold them back
wow
isn’t that amazing he gave and unfortunately they they died anyway but um yeah amazing very very amazing thing that so that was he
sorry I was I was just going to butt in rudely with my comment which is that yes his son who is s Peter Scott who set up Slimbridge WWT wetland center uh he as well as being interested in bird conservation and nature and art he also was a pretty good figure skater which is like this guy has done everything including being Scott of the Antarctic done
it’s all things you love going
i was going to say skating
i am a figure skater myself not the absolute best in the world but um twice a week very good oh thank you a lot of people much better than me but I I certainly enjoy it so uh so we both have things in common with Peter Scott
yeah amazing man and you people forget in his day he was like the you know big cheese of wildlife television and a bit like um you know we have celebrities now
who’s that main one can’t remember David another sir you go yeah so he was that of the day really and in fact um lot the BBC did lots of filming at WWT regularly there so which we sort of forgotten in our culture now but anyh who um so I love that there’s that art tradition and we’ve had exhibitions there
we have
we’re very excited we’re planning and building up to uh another exhibition in January
yes which we’re halfway to through the year which is a bit scary so so yeah I’m thinking of trying some different styles cuz I think having a big exhibition like that it gives you the opportunity to try create a body of work
which is needs to be cohesive but maybe it’s an opportunity to try something a bit different because you’re you’re kind of showcasing it
in a different platform i’m really sorry to interrupt there’s some sort of bird or possibly a mouse and Milo is really excitedly running after it and he’s in a bush now and he’s very excited sorry you were talking about your new exhibition artwork exactly so well I think we’ll talk about that a bit more because at the moment I’m just literally arguably the most exciting phase i’m just trying stuff out in my sketchbook just to decide what I want to do and I’ve got lots of ideas too many ideas um and I’ll refine that later so I will be looking to the garden
for inspiration and the other thing I’m very proud about with Slimbridge is that they’ve got our prints in their shepherd’s huts
yeah oh my goodness you can go and say and I think we I remember talking about them before i don’t know if it was on our last week’s
podcast i’m afraid i can’t remember i don’t think we did we did do a dry run of this podcast never saw the light of day and it may Why was it
i don’t know definitely someone remembered to charge the device
and it definitely was me who remembered to charge the device it wasn’t that we did a whole podcast and then found it hadn’t recorded
no still it was good practice
moving on
it was a good practice but um
maybe it was them but yeah if if anyone wants to visit the slimbridge wetland center
and not that we are in
we don’t have connected but they’ve just put in some shepherd’s huts that you can go and stay overnight and we were very lucky we were invited to the um go and look around them because they were photographing them for their publicity and everything and they asked to put our prints in shepherd’s hut has one of our artworks in it
and it has a different artwork which is lovely different designs there’s five and I know there’s five shepherd’s huts cuz we’ve provided five five prints
five artworks
uh five artworks
and they’re selling them in the shop so that’s really cool
so I’m very proud to be have a tiny little part Yeah of Caroline’s art which is sort of part of Slimbridge now
absolutely because it’s part of your childhood it’s very nostalgic to me yeah
and they’ve done such a good job renovating it
oh my goodness over the time that we’ve known it it’s gone from being you know lovely but if we’re honest a bit smelly and a little bit sort of you know English in a in a kind of you know not particularly glamorous way and it’s not over glamorous now but it’s
Well I I think it’s pretty
they’ve done a really nice They But I mean it’s not like they haven’t overdone it it’s not like Disney World or something no they’ve kept I think they’ve done a really good job of keeping it true to its origins it’s still very natural and it doesn’t feel English in a good way in in not in a NAF way in a kind of more sophisticated and polished um but very down to earth but brilliantly done way and all credit to them actually
for reinventing it in the way that they have but it’s a very special place
it’s fantastic and yeah I’m I’m very excited and proud of all of it but I am especially proud of those shepherd being a part of those shepherd’s huts as you say a very small part but oh my gosh they are just so beautiful these huts you can see images of them uh on their website but they are just absolutely beautiful they’re straight out of Pinterest they’re gorgeous they are
um but yeah and I’m not sure if we’re allowed to talk about it in detail so maybe I’ll be very vague but we do have some plans um for hopefully some
some art courses coming up again not anytime super soon but um but that should
That’s exciting isn’t it yeah so hopefully we we’ll see how things go
oh well I’m looking forward to having lunch in that delicious canteen yeah although again keto
it’s keto it’s not very keto they do fantastic chips
oh fish and chips
you can’t eat fish well I can have fish but it’s all in a lovely batter
yum
i’m sure I can have soup and yay don’t mind me with my little bowl of soup you enjoy your chips well I feel a lot better for my keto diet so that’s the thing
well and it’s actually benefited your uh gardening if I’m if I’m right in saying you’re you’re able to get up you know just really silly little things like you’re able to uh get up and off of the poly tunnel sort of
those beds much more easier
much more easy and you can walk to and from the poly tunnel way faster like I said this morning when we were doing our lovely
you were pushing a really I was going to say laden with about five tons of
gett but even so I wasn’t going at snail’s pace and I said mom slow down whereas before you know not that I minded but I was walking a little bit further in front and uh you’ve uno reversed it so there you go i just need to give you five tons of coettes whenever we go anywhere just just as ballast just to hold you back
love it amazing uh another random side uh side quest side topic we could talk about is uh we’ve had a very exciting week this week which we can’t talk about in detail too much as it’s a super this is mom’s favorite thing secret squirrel get the squirrels out of my veg garden get out um his mom has just done a fantastic uh almost A1 just a little bit smaller than A1 artwork uh for a a publisher which we’re very excited about which we can’t talk too much in detail but um
it is a secret squirrel mission but it was lovely to get that commission and uh how annoying that parents always correct their children but it’s kind of nearly as wide as A1 but not as tall so thank you very much sort of quite a lot smaller than A1 in terms of height Anyway
thank goodness cuz it was all hand painted but it was an absolute joy to do and I thought a lot about our garden here because it was a scene including lots of wildlife and
kind of fanciful plants and things and my inspiration for that is the garden and thinking about the kind of birds and animals that we see in our garden beautiful
makes that creative process a lot easier but uh I I think we got commissioned didn’t we about 3 months ago it was quite a long time they were very kind and gave us a long time to do it
and so I was absolutely thrilled because it came out of the blue didn’t it that inquiry which was wonderful
um but also slightly terrified and sort of I thought terrified isn’t I knew I could do it but just the I just really wanted to do a good job so I sort of felt that pressure um which I loved you know I love that absolutely love it um but it’s also a bit of a relief when you’ve done it and you think “Oh I’ve actually done an okay job and I genuinely am proud of it.”
Good
um
and we got the feedback saying that they’re really happy with it and they’re going to make a couple minor tweaks but they’re going to they’re going to show us the tweets which is really kind so near the time when we’re allowed to talk about it
we’ll put some information on the website but I have to say it’s Christmas 2026
yes so uh mark your diaries but we’re going to sell some on our website as well aren’t we which is very exciting and we’re going to try and forget what’s inside all the windows cuz Oh well we haven’t mentioned what it is cuz we weren’t just doing the artwork for the cover we were doing the obviously what’s inside the windows
well we haven’t we’ve just said it’s an artwork we haven’t said what kind of product no I don’t I don’t believe so would you like to mention it
we’re allowed to say what kind of product it is maybe not sorry anyway forget I mentioned windows but h anyway it was a joy to do uh it was quite a lot of work and I’m really proud of it uh
I think it looks just Oh my gosh thank you
honestly like really beautiful you can really tell how much effort and thought and love has been put into it but equally it doesn’t in my opinion look overact there’s always a bit of a knack with art and actually that’s just reminded me of something sorry to go off on yet another tangent you know when we did the still life day course recently in the school because we do courses online and in our little school here don’t we
and we were very lucky that someone who’d done a one-year garden design serious like professional qualification with me a few years ago came back to do that day so it was lovely to see them
and she I don’t know if she was just being kind i don’t think she was just being kind i think she really meant it and she’d actually seen a piece of art that we’ done again it was a a scene um inspired by the garden which ended up being used on the cover of uh Country Life magazine
yes
and she said she saw that I think in Waitros or somewhere in the shop and she said as soon as I saw that picture I knew it was something to do with you
it’s amazing know I was doing illustrations
yeah and it doesn’t it has your name in that magazine but you know on page eight or whatever and maybe she was being kind but I think you do put a bit of your soul into art
oh I think you put Absolutely i think that’s what art is really it’s an expression you know you’re expressing yourself and you know a feeling or whatever
and for me it’s the passion that I feel for the garden beautiful that’s why I’m really excited to be doing this podcast actually going around the garden um and just sharing what I love about it it’s actually really inspiring me now I want to go away and do a painting based on the veg garden
yeah well maybe
full of ders and sweet peas you know
and lots of lots of little birds all the birds we mentioned we can have the black birds and the the buzzards and everything the
kites but um but yeah so wonderful to get that commission and brilliant to finish it and the best part of that is now I can move on to the next thing which is so exciting and my head’s buzzing with ideas of what I want to do and there too many at this stage it’s like I want to do this and I want to do that i need to calm down
take a moment go for a walk in the garden get some inspiration
exactly but I think I’m going to try some more slightly abstract things cuz my work’s very figurative and representative
well mostly I would say it’s it’s representative but in a naive style yes it’s not like an oil painting where you’re you’re trying to make it photographic
um but yes you were showing me some uh some lovely Yeah of more abstract uh pieces and we thought we’re not sure yet but we thought we could start doing some abstract prints and also possibly some courses this may be a bit further into the future we’re not planning anytime super soon if it goes well
uh but yeah we’re going to have a little play around
so that’s very exciting
very good
what is it may I veer off subject well away
I’m veering back onto subject um can I ask what your favorite part about the veg beds are which we are currently sitting in
i like it
we’ve got three beds you could even opt for your fave for each bed or just go for your overall fave i don’t mind
thank you well there’s I’m going to start with the fact that there are three beds um which is thanks to your brother
yeah well done Adam
i used to have nine veg beds so three that sounds really
Three seems like a major downgrade it does until you discover that actually the three are the nine all joined up into where there were three separate ones he had the idea to turn each run of three into a single run times three so that’s what we’ve ended up three and it was such a good idea because it used to be an absolute pain sort of managing the grass in between them and it was really fiddly and now I just
much easier to manage plus I’ve got more space to grow stuff so it’s like a triple whammy and even better than that he built them for me so that’s amazing um out of oak sleepers so I’m very grateful for that as I am grateful for you helping me harvest from
so what is my favorite well that would change at every possible moment so
what about this very
catching me at this precise moment uh well I’m enjoying talking to you in them that’s for sure but in terms of what’s growing I think I can’t really avoid the old sweet peas m that was my first one
to be a be a biggie i mean they’re very present aren’t they i’ve got them growing up
metal obelisks which are my favorite actually they’re from Garden Trading just an online place but I did treat myself this year there’s a company and I can’t remember the name unfortunately but I just got got them on Google um by searching up willow obelisks and it’s a a company I think near Milton Kees and they are handmade they’re my favorite they’re again very cottage core yeah cuz I looked on Amazon and there’s lots that have been imported from China and stuff and they’re kind of a bit dry and aged bit like me
oh no
whereas these were one not not much more expensive and all lovely fresh and just been made soing and also nice to support a local firm I think localish
um so yes I’m I’m glad I treated myself to those because they’re they’re doing really well and then what tends to happen um through the season is I get less picky so soon I’m just ra whacking in some bamboo canes that’s good enough it starts off all very beautiful I think because early on in the season there isn’t so much plantage
so you’re much more aware of the the actual beds themselves and the supports and everything
that makes sense
and by sort of we’re nearly at midsummer aren’t we i mean by this sort of time in the year there’s so much going on in terms of plants you kind of can’t see beyond all the froth if you know what I mean so
so um asking me what’s my favorite thing well definitely the sweet peas and the supports and I’m just feeling really grateful and appreciative
to have that cuz the old raised beds that we had when we had nine
were absolutely embarrassingly falling apart and they’d been in a terrible state for years and they were literally could stick your finger into the wood you know 90% goo you know 10% wood um and so I it’s gone from something I’m really really embarrassed about and are sort of apologizing for because we run the gardening school we’re always showing people around the garden to now I go “Well come and see my veg beds.” Would you like to see
yeah you’re seeing them when you like it or not
the Amazon man comes oh thank you for the pass would you like cover my veg beds poor man he’s probably terrified so yeah love that uh at this time of year also the ders are just starting to do their thing
and I treated myself to some they’ve overwintered really well i think I lost one oh
which isn’t bad for leaving them all in the ground cuz you can lift the ders
what does that mean
so you can the sort of traditional way to grow them is they’re tubers a bit like potatoes not the same shape but effectively does the same job it’s like a storage organ um and that’s over winter the ders are designed to die down and all the goodness goes back into the tuber like a potato and then you plant it again the next year if you’re in a country that doesn’t have frosts like that kind of climate we were just discussing earlier
you can leave them in the ground all the time because they just naturally in winter die down you leave them in the ground and they come like a perennial they come back the next year because we can get pretty chilly winters if they drop too cold they can usually cope with one frost
but if it’s like a long very cold persistent frost
the uh tubers kind of turn into a mush and they then that’s it
they get a bit stressed out
they can’t quite cope
they get a bit mushed and they ain’t going to grow after that so there’s always a gamble and I’m very lucky though because I’ve sort of I’m in the garden design business i can buy things wholesale and sort of not so expensive so ders only costs 70p to me so
therefore it’s not such a risk you know if you’ve bought them from a fancy catalog and they’re £5 each
that’s quite an investment and you probably want to lift them yeah
and you that all you do is you just after the first frost you dig them up
and ideally you keep them somewhere well well ventilated because your big enemy is things going moldy so to help prevent that as well good ventilation and you can put the tubers into a very free draining uh sort of uh substrate like sand
so it’s not going to hold on to moisture
mhm
because that again that um encourages fungal infections so all the time you’re trying to prevent them going moldy basically
makes sense and then you keep them in that frostfree environment and then plant them out again in the spring orient or after all risk of frost is gone or you can do one of the reasons I’ve got ders now which is a little bit early if we’re honest and kind of me flexing any of the gardeners oh yes we’ve got so many ders it’s not even midsummer it’s because we started them off in the poly tunnel
so you just pot them up um now I didn’t save my ders i I bought some more because I was so excited about my new raised beds
so I’ve potted them up um in about February
and then put them in the because they they’re going to be okay temperature- wise in the poly tunnel and they’re going to be well irrigated
wow
and that way they get off to an earlier start cuz we always say um time is about 6 weeks ahead in the poly tunnel don’t we
uh and then once the risk of frost has gone outside
Yeah
then we can plant them out and I was very I was I was a bit cheeky and I I did it a little bit early same with putting out the sweet peas although they are hardy um I don’t like to put them out too early but this year I was a bit overexited if I’m honest most years I mean but I was especially over excited because of the new beds
and thankfully we didn’t have a cheeky late frost which we can do we had one of those last year and it’s it it’s so sad cuz everything’s just started to get going and you’re getting all excited and then one night of frost and you Yeah so we didn’t have that this year so I was lucky cuz you gambled
i did the gamble paid off it doesn’t always so that’s why I can sit here and say “Oh yes my multitude of ders are my favorite.” But yeah so that I’m very pleased with the broad beans actually as well they can very easily get blackfly and this year so far we haven’t
brilliant
we nearly picked some didn’t we this morning they’re just on the verge we thought we’d just leave them a little bit longer but
I shall be feasting on that i’m going to make a kiche with those in i’m really looking forward to
I love that you’ve planned it i know with your kiche are you going to have a bars of sweet peas and ders just for the aroma
absolutely i love it i’m looking forward to making a meal that’s entirely made of just things out of the the veg beds which is really nice yeah now now I’m on a keto diet yeah
that’s a lot easier although I can’t have potatoes which is an absolute pain i love my potatoes but
um I can definitely have you know a lot of things that are growing here actually shouldn’t really have even broad beans and peas
wow
got to draw the line somewhere that’s my treat
yes and bananas am I right in saying
yeah I had a banana last night so guilty about my bananas they were lovely it really was yeah
brilliant
just watching the goldfinches back to birds definitely this week’s topic isn’t it history and birds history last time
i can see them
they look really good in that yellow leaf tree don’t they it sort of matches their general vibe
like a lovely little yellow plant
optimistic and Yeah
yeah summery
yeah maybe that’s why they love it so much
so um thank you for sharing your favorite
what’s your favorite
oh well I’m afraid unfortunately very similar to you which is not very exciting to listen to uh definitely the sweet peas and the ders come to mind first
um
can I point to you what is that white umbiliferous umbrella
very good umbif uh plant
that is always a perennial favorite that is Valyriana
afficionalis i think we mentioned this one last episode
god was so repetitive well I did say it was one of my favorites last so there you go this is a really good one
i do love that white again cottage core very
cowp
exactly very cowpyesque it’s just very romantic and just beautiful and natural and and meadowy and I just Oh I just love it it makes me think of summer and um just makes me very happy and excited
i do also like the nesters cuz they’re they’ve got a nice pop of color very very orange they’re very
I was eating them in my salad today yummy as well
so
Oh Milo’s putting in an appearance speaking of colorful orange things
that’s true he is all all
Milo being our Chihuahua i think we should explain
yes we did mention him last episode he’s going to star every episode i think he certainly is
yeah he likes to keep his eye on us doesn’t he he’s got a habit of sort of constantly turning up where we are and then say “Stop following me.” He does but actually he’s the one that sort of always pops up and usually is walking right where you’re going to put your feet so you nearly nearly trip over him
and then you have to apologize then he gets all you have to give him fuss and love and preferably beef strips his favorite treat he did but he he so far is respecting the rule of not going in the veg beds
is he cuz he didn’t before i know interesting why do you think that is
i don’t know i’d like to think he’s finally decided to be obedient but we That’s ridiculous
i think I know why just a bit too high up too high up they’re taller now
i think these are I think they’re a bit taller yes I think you’re right
being lazy he Yeah he he still goes in the bed raised beds in the poly tunnel
that’s what I was thinking about yeah
and if we’re honest he’s looking for rats which isn’t a very romantic thing to do
well it’s helpful unfortunately where you’ve got poly tunnels you’ve usually got rats um but where you’ve got a terrier you’ve got a rat deterrent so that and he’s not really a terrier but he thinks he is
he thinks he is his sister’s a half terrier so he thinks he’s think he’s one of them yeah he does he does so yeah but I am absolutely so grateful for this vegetable garden and
we’ve already picked some flowers to give as a gift we went to visit our friend Dave
didn’t we was that yesterday
that was yesterday that feels ages ago
i know
and he’s not feeling 100% so it was very nice so we made him some lunch didn’t we
oh you did and we took him some flowers from the garden and there’s something deeply pleasing about giving someone flowers and then just sort of adding in in a throwaway way oh yes I grew them myself of course it’s all about you it’s not about me kind of way and I absolutely love doing that oh and the other person we we had some flowers for
um this week was Granny
was it Granny was it cuz dad went to visit granny on Father’s Day that sparrow hawk’s just flown off
oh I missed it again
honestly I’m not making I know last episode we had the same thing as well i can’t remember what but it might have been a sparhawk and I just said I can’t see him but I’ll believe you i think maybe it was a buzzard anyway sorry dad went to visit granny on Father’s Day
and it was lovely because he took her some of our sweet peas and we were saying because we’re all about nostalgia aren’t we in this podcast
i can remember when Adam was born your brother so my first born um and I was very proud of myself and Granny bought armfuls of sweet peas with her um and she that was her first cutting of the year first sweet peas so so yeah there’s a nice connection there granny’s got uh dementia hasn’t she so her memories unfortunately have sort of gone but they say that scent
is a great way of rebooting memories so I’m hoping that the scent of the sweet peas which is so particular and so identifiable maybe that brought back some memories for I’d like to think so
especially because it was also uh my brother’s birthday uh this week
that’s right so um so maybe that brought back some memories of 22 years ago
so yeah
yeah so the nice thing about having the raised beds here is they’re much closer to the house and and the poly tunnel is just such a gift because it’s so productive and it’s a nice big space and can literally grow almost anything in there although actually funnily enough not really sweet peas anything in the legume family so that’s the peas and the beans whether they’re um decorative peas or edible peas um they don’t seem to appreciate the humidity in there and I’ve just I don’t know if that’s the thing but I’ve just learned that through experiences so things like French climbing beans or French dwarf beans or runner beans any of the beans
any bean Mr bean Mr he doesn’t really enjoy the poly tunnel well who knows but um they don’t seem to like humidity and they just really don’t do very well which is interesting
and that’s why I’m growing those in the raised bed so having these raised beds are a joy because they’re closer to the house
um because the polyon oil is great but it’s a bit of a shle down there as well it’s just to go and pick a bit of salad
if it’s lunchtime and you just want a little something like oh I don’t want to go down that’s why in the raised beds here by the house I’ve got things like onions
and garlic and herbs
oh well it’s the kind of stuff that you just want to grab a handful of and not have to make it a massive deal so so yeah that’s the other thing I love about the raised beds the convenience and uh and yeah
they’re very beautiful they’re gorgeous cuz we when we were harvesting this morning we just um walked through this little walkway uh and then we saw the raised beds and it was just as we mentioned it was just beautiful sunny day it was blue skies no clouds nice and warm sun beating down and just these veg beds just full of life and growth and flowers and greenery and and I was even saying that um one of the veg beds on the far left I remember it had a lot of soil on show even you know 3 weeks ago or something and since then it’s just grown so much that it’s just it’s just all green can see and it’s and there’s so many colors you know we’ve got blue flowers and purple and there’s this one particular iris which is just gorgeous this this beautiful blue I think with purple and it’s just so colorful and so joyful and
maybe that’s one of the things I like about the raised beds cuz I do planting design professionally and when I’m putting a planting plan together I’ve got to think really carefully about how everything sits together the colors and the shapes and the textures and the succession so I need to think about all the seasons and there’s so much to consider whereas I’ve got the absolute joy and luxury in raised beds just shoving stuff in i mean you can be more planned and meticulous but I think I almost rebel because I can
and I I just love it i just break the rules
s it i’m going to put my you know bronze fennel
next to my broad beans
mother how that banana eating come on
i’m just losing it you are i guess the only bit of succession I do do here just to make use of the space is I was sort of congratulating myself that I put some um seedling lettucees next to some uh
crosanthemums and I thought oh that is clever cuz I could see that the lettucees are going to be ready to harvest
just before the chrosanthemums have grown so much that they need that space
so that that is sort of a little bit of planning ahead and of course the other thing you can do which I honestly don’t bother with that doesn’t mean it’s not a very good thing to do in fact it is i just you know I’m a bit of a a veg bed rebel but if you’re not being a veg bed rebel um you can do crop rotation
which is a really good thing to do and that
sort of There’s two big ideas behind crop rotation
can I annoyingly I think you’ve told me one of them many moons ago can I get in there
go for it thank you beautiful butterflies just gone right in front of our eyes again that happened last time my god everything’s everything’s happening again um is one of the reasons crop rotation is good because lots of different nutrientes get into the soil and it makes it quite rich and quite Yeah just nice for the next plant is is that one of the main things
yes that’s it just to add a little bit more but yes that’s basically exactly it just to add a bit to that but you’ve got the general idea really well um the sort of the way to remember I think about crop rotation is to remember that um legumes so that sweet peas and all of those good things mr bean
Mr bean
they fix nitrogen into the soil so clover is an example and lots of organic farmers will set clover in a in a field and leave that just for a year
wow and the clover is taking nitrogen out of the atmosphere and putting it into the soil
and then they might grow wheat after the uh in the next year because wheat is very hungry for nitrogen
wow
because nitrogen feeds um foliage leaves
amazing
so that you’ve got three basic nutrients and there’s of course it’s much more complex than this but in terms of the good stuff that plants need to grow the three biggies are nitrogen potassium and phosphorus and nitrogen is the the bit that feeds the leaves
and then um you’ve got feed for flowers and feed for roots
makes sense
so and when you buy commercial fertilizer it’s got NPK on it
which is nitrogen phosphorus and potassium and there’ll always be a ratio so and they’re always in that order so if it says 10 and then like a colon and then five five that’s rich in nitrogen if that makes sense so it gives you the proportion of the fertilizer anyway so so all of that slightly perhaps boring stuff um is is underpinning crop rotation so if I in let’s say I’ve got three uh raised beds which I have
there you go if in the first year in the first bed I grow lots of legumes and then when I cut them down I I don’t yank the roots out and everything because the roots of the legumes have little um sort of sacks on them little nodes and that’s where all the nitrogen is so ideally you cut the plant off at the ground level yeah and let the roots break down in the soil yeah and that that retains all the nitrogen in the soil so then you can imagine if the following year in that same space I grow crops where I want to eat the leaves
like lettucees and uh brassacas then they’re going to do really well and I’m going to get the benefit of the nitrogen from the year before
amazing yeah that makes sense does that make sense
absolutely so that’s the sort of idea and then things then the third year so year one you’d have the legumes year two the brascas and then year three you’d have the root vegetables so things like carrots and parsnips where you’re eating the root part of the plant
um
potatoes
yeah yes potatoes absolutely and then you can just leave it fow for a year to recover and I used to poo poo that a bit uh and you can even put in green manure which is plants which again feed the soil
and you’re never going to uh eat them you’re just going to dig all that back into the soil
uh and I used to be a bit poo poo about leaving things fellow
poo poo of manure
no way yes um and I used to like leave seed potatoes in over the winter a bit probably mostly cuz I’m lazy until we got lots of rats and then I realized oh it’s in terms of managing pests it’s quite good to have that fow year yeah where and even just things like um I was I was really pleased with myself with on my new raised beds because I was growing my brascas and I was not getting any damage and in the previous raised beds I had a real problem with pigeons they love brascas and they’ll just devastate cauliflowers cabbages
broccoli even that kind of thing
uh and I was doing really well until one blooming pigeon obviously yeah and as soon as it attacked one everything was gone you know
do you think it was the same pigeon or do you think it pigeon friends
i don’t know i don’t know and you know if I was bothered I could put netting over it but I’m not that bothered in fact you can see there can you see that devastated that and I just put it down to experience and luckily that is one of the good things about the poly tunnel is that it’s more enclosed so we don’t get so much of that in there we do get birds in there but not to the same extent because it smells of humans and they they don’t
And it’s enclosed hard to get that
so yeah
I was going to ask how would you prevent that but I suppose you’ve answered the question netting most people do and there’s nothing wrong with it i just don’t particularly want to do that so
doesn’t look as pretty even it’s nice to walk through a full veg bed of just plants and
so I I just accept the fact that I’m not going to grow any bruskers in here and I’ll grow them in a poly tunnel and that’s okay i’m very lucky I’ve got the options so now we’ve sort of explained what you should do oh and the other reason we do crop rotation is because of diseases and pests as well which tend to be quite specific so if you’ve got carrots that get carrot fly
the lavi from that can live in the soil and affect next year’s crops so by not ever growing not growing crop carrots again in that same spot for 4 years
wow
then you can imagine that nature does its thing
nature does its thing detoxes that’s the other reason why we do that so having explained in great detail what you’re supposed to do in reality what I’ve got is things shoved in everywhere they are in straight lines this year they are in beautifully straight lines
adam your brother insisted but I like it it makes harvesting a lot easier oh good
yeah much easier
great but I love having you know edibles next to ornamentals all bit cheek by gel it’s it’s a very cottage garden traditional way of growing things you just have to be careful cuz you know I’ve got some silly things like you know fox gloves next to lettuce
oh dear
and even we uh we had a little laugh this morning cuz um you were telling me that you only just recently found out daily uh petals are edible and I said “Really i never knew that.” And I said
“Oh what about this one what about this one?” pointing to different plants and I said “What about poppies?” And you said “Well you can do but that is heroin.” So I said “Maybe we’ll skip that one.”
That’s the seeds heads
right so not the petals not the Well I don’t know maybe there’s whatever i know i’m not I wouldn’t play too much
i’m glad you’re not much of a heroin expert
all I do know is I used to buy a lot of seeds from a wonderful company called Cedaholic
which is a great name isn’t it because I’m totally a cedar holic but they happen to be based in southern Ireland so um I think after the whole Brexit thing or sometime around there I can’t remember exactly when
there they changed the importing and exporting laws
um because Southern Ireland was then no longer part of the same arrangement in terms of trade
they couldn’t they couldn’t import anymore to or export to me but in in the intervening period before they made the government made that decision um things got a bit tighter but still possible and I received a letter basically saying “Oh are you sure you’re not a drug dealer?” Cuz technically I all I’d done is buy poppy seeds but they were considered you know slightly iffy so I was contacted by I think the um I don’t know somebody contacted me and I had to write a thing to say “No I’m just growing them on the How would they know?” I mean I know you are just growing
declare it i think maybe on next when they changed law I’m not sure somehow they Yeah
so So is it just because of the quantity of poppies that you bought it was a bit Yeah maybe or was just because you bought poppies
i don’t know
i’m just really interested in this
no I’ve sort of ventured into yet another area i don’t know which drugs
i definitely had that experience it was being questioned and that’s because technically it is yeah wow mhm
how fascinating
papavia ciniferum
sorry
papavier ciniferum which is that the name of a puppy there you go say it’s very pleasant sitting here in this dappled sort of shade which beautiful
we’re very lucky aren’t we one end of the veg beds is in dappled shade under the damson tree which I noticed
I just walked under it this morning is starting to uh give dams yeah oh so before we know it and that always feels like oh no something’s coming to an end when that happens
i think of that as midsummer but you you get it more than I do but in my terrible memory
I know what you mean actually but the peaches are nearly ready to be harvested so that’s always a sign there that is summer as well actually peaches definitely whenever I think of damsons I think of two things damsels in distress in my blooming dyslexia i’m like I can’t remember which one it is um and the other thing is I just think of them being all squashed on the floor cuz they often are
there’s so many isn’t there we never get them all
yeah but we make jam with them some years
yeah dad likes them dad loves them
yeah and they make such a lovely jam because it’s really
somehow really intense in terms of color when you spread it on your toast not that I’ll be doing that on my blooming keto diet
i say that i’ve got some keto breads which I’ve ordered from a company online is does have sugar
did I mention it last time no I don’t think so
i don’t think so
well yeah technically you could make it with sweetener if you wanted
but does dams and fruit have sugar in it well natural fructose natural sugars no I’m not really supposed to no no you’re quite right i’ll give up all thoughts of dams
i was going to say I’m sorry to remind you
but no there’s lots I can have i’m allowed melons and um what else am I allowed strawberries berries i’m good on berries blueberries oh yeah oh awesome
i can do berries and I can do melons and watermelon different from melon hey listen when you’re down to two things
melon and melon is different
so different
don’t get between Oh no i’m not going to finish that sentence i know where you were going with that anyway we’ll move swiftly on
amazing brilliant well I think um do you have any closing thoughts on the veg beds closing thoughts on the veg beds well the knowledge that within a week it’ll all be completely different it’s amazing how things the other thing we’ve we’ve got in here sorry to go off on a new tangent
is the angelica
which I’ve grown which is that yellow umbiliferous plant
and I nearly didn’t bother with that
i’ve sort of bought some a few years ago i don’t really know why I got it because I don’t you can crystallize it
with sugar which obviously I’m not allowed cook um but I sort of just I don’t know why I just ordered some I think I did I ordered a load of other things I thought oh I have some of that as well and so I nearly didn’t put them in for this year’s growth and I thought might chuck them out and make some more space but I thought no no I’ll keep them and I’m really glad I did um not because I’m going to eat the angelica but because they’ve been fantastic for flower arranging They’re quite statuesque and I picked armfuls of them last week didn’t I and we had them in the hall in two
massive they were like on a table
they were like nearly touching the ceiling
they’re beautiful
and lasted really well lasted for a week so um I’m really I will definitely keep them so Angelica for flower arranging it’s yellow which isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time
your least favorite color in flower
but it’s it’s a kind of nice charty green yellow it’s not like a hard yellow and also because I love purples and pinks so much it’s a really good foil to those colors it kind of
It’s a good word
yeah bit of contrast so so that’s cool so anyway yes I just thought I’d give an honorable mention to the Angelica
it’s got to be done doing a good job brilliant
but now I think that’s it i I think it’ll all be different i’m sure we’ll come back here in a few weeks time
particularly in the autumn because obviously that’s big harvest time
and I’ve got lots of seedlings in at the moment which aren’t particularly noticeable i mean by the autumn the ders will be insane and things which are looking quite small and insignificant at the moment like the chrosanthemums for instance
will be huge and producing lots of flowers and they’ll be the stars of the show by then so so there is a bit of succession here isn’t there having said there wasn’t much
but this this time of year
I feel like is the golden time
it is yeah it is yeah
well may I ask a question before we go and when we were talking about was it crop rotation which I found very informative i found that very interesting really interesting to learn it’s amazing how um
how much you have to plan in advance if you want or not you know
i know you don’t have to but but you could choose to you know plan a whole year the reality is you’ll get better crops if you do
so it makes perfect sense
yeah but anyway I found that very interesting um so this is of an odd question so that’s crop rotation yes
i have asked you this before and I I know it a little bit but not fully i know this is quite different what is crop circles
oh crop circles
isn’t that like a kind of spiritual thing
well I think the short answer to that is nobody knows
that’s what I thought the answer was it’s a mystical thing i think there’s a range of answers to that some people think they’re like extraterrestrials that come here and create these patterns that have a sort of hidden meaning to them i’m not very knowledgeable on any of this I would say but you know that I definitely think symbols can be sort of significant spiritually and you know um culturally definitely and then there are some people that think it’s just farmers going out with a piece of cardboard flattening the you know but if it is that they’re blooming precise you know but maybe there are you know artists do that in the snow and there are ways of using string
to to to you know well just marking out a garden when I’m doing garden design if if you’ve got a big circular lawn it seems like a tricky thing to get a perfect circle in the garden all you do is get a you know a p a length of string equivalent to the radius of the circle put a big old pole in the middle and and draw you use that like a compass to draw a circle so I think incredible i’d like to believe that they are something special yeah me too me too
there’s something spiritual there or extraterrestrial or whatever angelic
yeah but I don’t know so what kind of Sorry I know this is really off topic but um I don’t fully understand crop circles and I think maybe that’s kind of the point but what kind of like what kind of shapes do they make or is it all different types of shapes
just have a look online i think just Google crop circles but um I and again I definitely am no expert but some of the patterns are very beautiful and they tend to be geometric
and quite circlebased okay there you go
hence the name but not just a one circle there’ll be a series of circles making a pattern and I I watched a video actually about them fairly recently and allegedly they appear really quickly as well that’s the other reason they feel that they’re not made by human beings necessarily is that you know they sort of appear within hours these quite intricate complicated patterns but I don’t I don’t know i’d like to know more about that myself actually
well sorry to ask you a question on that topic
yeah amazing
well I will say thank you very much mother for joining me today
always nice to chat to you
yes likewise thank you and thank you so much to our listeners and I got that right didn’t say viewers um and yeah I would just ask our fantastic listeners if you enjoyed this episode to please very kindly wherever you’re listening uh rate or review or give it a like or all that good stuff um and follow us or or whatever you know whatever platform you’re on um
and what platforms are we on
well I think we’re going to grow our platforms but we are currently on in not Instagram that is not true youtube um Spotify podcasts Apple podcasts and uh we’re going to branch out into some new ones as well exciting so uh so yeah
fantastic well thank you uh thank you for joining me thank you for setting it up and organizing it
not at all so we’ll have to have a little ponder
about where where we’re going next i I would like to think maybe the lake well we call it the lake it’s a pond really stew pond
the big pond
isn’t it maybe down there if Yeah
would that Would you be up for that yeah that sounds good what is a slight shame is we’ve missed the beautiful um spring season in there when they’ve got fantast and it’s nice cuz it’s um obviously very um a lot of foliage yeah so it’s quite green and lush
very green and lush and it’s got like a nice canopy yeah
we’ve got like this big lake and then there’s this kind of walkway right in the well sort of in the middle off to one side but you can walk past the lake and this lovely stream which is like a waterfall so
yeah so I think that’s an excellent Well we’ll do our sheet again so we’ll include some images
we certainly will and I was Thank you very much i was going to mention just another reminder to our fantastic uh listeners if you want to see more of where we are um in the veg garden right now you can check out either the show notes or to get the full uh series of images then you can have a look at creative space which you can find on our website or you can search uh creative space on Facebook it’s a Facebook group free to join and uh yeah you can use those sheets just to have a little look around our garden or if you wanted to create any uh any type of artwork at all you know it could be a a painting or a sculpture or or ceramics or whatever um then you’re very welcome to post that in our free Facebook group and uh get some comments some positive feedback i’m glad because I think maybe the bit we could have reiterated right at the beginning um is that the reason we’re going around different bits of the garden is that’s what’s inspiring my art yes
and our art business so um even in the veg garden although we’ve just taught gardens and that is mostly what we want to do in this podcast there’s it’s rich with colors shapes and textures and I’ve put a color palette together yes
on that weekly sheet which is the kind of thing I do before I start a painting so I’m hoping that will help people kickstart some creativity for them as well
yeah love it fantastic well thank you very much next time we will say byebye garden yum yum yum