Buckle up ya'll, it's the final episode for Season 2 and we're welcoming one of the nicest blokes in gardening to the microphone, Mr Phil Dudman. With a diverse and colourful career that extends from touring with an 80’s rock band, to hosting garden tours in Italy, an epiphany when Phil was 27 sent him down the literal and metaphorical garden path and he hasn't looked back since. Phil is a trained horticulturalist, gardening talkback host on ABC Local Radio, the horticultural editor at...

Rodney Dunn's excitement when talking about gardening is like a kid in a candy store. Fuelled by a 'quest for flavour' and inspired by The River Cottage UK, Rodney and his wife Severine moved to Tasmania in 2007, opening The Agrarian Kitchen, a cooking school and garden that has grown to become an institution itself. In 2017 they added a restaurant to their offering and have recently opened up their phenomenal one-acre walled garden adjacent to the Restaurant and brand-new cooking school,...

We've both been obsessed with My Father and Other Animals for some time now, so when author and accidental-farmer Sam Vincent said yes to being interviewed we were quietly nervous. He joined us from his family's farm in the Yass Valley that he shares with his partner Lauren and daughter Orlando. This land has traditionally been inhabited by the Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri people. After his dad had a farm accident, Sam and his mum thought it would be wise to get Sam out to the property regularly...

Plantlovers, let us welcome Sophia Kaplan to the microphone. What a bloody treat to interview Sophia about all things floristry, moving to Paris, Indoor plants, and what she's growing at her place. Sophia's eponymous studio specialises in botanic set design for stills photography, floral styling for events, editorial and commercial projects. She's worked with an incredible lineup of brands including Louis Vuitton, Maison Balzac, Audi, Sydney Opera House and Mud Australia.  She is the...

In this episode, we return for part 2 of our conversation with Charles Dowding, the guru of no dig gardening.  If you haven't listened to Part 1, feel free to go back and brush up on the basics of no dig, composting and weeding, before diving head first into this episode where we explore planting by the moon, biodynamic, gardening with intention and what he's on (he must be on something, surely, if he's this happy all the time!). We also discuss why Charles is getting more politically...

Pinch us! We had the chance to speak with the guru of no dig gardening himself, Mr Charles Dowding. Over an hour and a half we meandered all manner of subjects including the obvious (no dig gardening, composting, weeding) and the maybe less obvious - the politics of gardening, UK alotments, microdosing.  To keep our episodes short(ish) and sharp(ish) we've split this into 2 parts.  Charles Dowding has been gardening organically and applying the no-dig method for the past 40 years. He’s...

We've been dedicated students of the Compostable Kate's School of Compost since wayyyyy back, so it's an absolute dream to interview her for this week's episode. Kate Flood (aka Compostable Kate) is a sustainability educator, compost queen and author of The Compost Coach (2023). She is prolific on Instagram, sharing all things Bokashi, worm farms and hot compost. She lives, gardens and composts in the Bega Valley, in southern New South Wales on the Yuin-Monaro Nations. We chat about what...

We're kicking off Season 2 with the delightful Jac Semmler, author, flower lover, and director of plant practice Super Bloom. Jac has held coveted positions including Head of Plants and Strategy at The Plant Society, as well as roles at The Diggers Club. Her debut book Super Bloom is a manifesto to all things flowers, and her 2023 release, The Super Bloom Handbook is all about maximum flowers for minimum effort. Heartland is the name of Jac's home garden, a suburban block turned flower...

To wrap up a season of dreamy guests, we spoke to Kirsten Bradley, co-founder of Milkwood Permaculture. Kirsten and her partner Nick Ritar founded Milkwood, kind of by accident, back in 2007 when they moved to Nick’s family farm with the intention to build a tiny home, grow veggies and lead a simple life. And it turns out they weren’t the only ones looking for this type of life.  Soon they were hosting events and workshops as teachers and students descended on their farm. That interest and...

Ashley James is a garden designer and horticulturist based in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. He started working in the industry when he was  just 14 years old, alongside his dad. He started his own business aged 23 and went against the grain, focusing on soft-landscaping and design, when all the cool kids were doing landscape construction. He went on to study horticulture, and now works on everything from vineyards, to large wedding and...

This week we're chatting to the super lovely Brenton Roberts whose garden we've coveted for a long time now.  Brenton lives in the Adelaide Hills with his wife Libby and young family, breathing new life into the garden and home, built in the 1860s. They moved to the property about 10 years ago, and commenced the thoughtful process of transforming it to a magical, whimsical and productive space. Brenton was a finalist in 2018's Gardener of the Year Awards, and has been featured on...

Sadie Chrestman didn't get into gardening until she was 40, but she's quickly made up for lost time. Sadie moved from inner-city Sydney to the Huon Valley in Tasmania, settling on a property called Puggle Farm, where she got stuck into everything from animal husbandry, admiring wood piles, and deep soil knowledge. Stepping it up a notch, Sadie, and her partner Matthew Evans, purchased a 70 acre property they named Fat Pig Farm, opening a market garden and setting up a restaurant. When one...

In this Episode we interview your friend and mine, Dimity May. Dimity's gateway drug to gardening was through market gardening, but she turned her attention to seedling growing just as the pandemic (remember that guy?) was just taking off, setting up Reid Tiny Farm in Canberra as a CSA model, for seedlings. In 2023, Dimity, her husband and two kids, made the move to Tasmania's Huon Valley, and since chatting with Dimity (she was our very first interviewee!), she's changed her business name...

Ep 03 - Welcome back Avant Gardeners!  We bring you Part 2 of our chat with friend and rose-die-hard, Pip Steele-Wareham from @The_Garden_At_Moorfield. In this chat we explore her 150m (no, that is not a typo) naturalistic garden, and then go deep on roses - why she loves them, how to tend to them, selecting the right rose for you and beneficial plants to keep them healthy.   If you didn't catch Part 1 of this chat, jump in now.  This week .... We're drinking a most delish Sailor...

Ep 02 - Avant Gardeners In this episode we give you Part 1 of our chat with our friend, and inspirational gardener, Pip Steele-Wareham who is doing magical things at her property Moorfield @The_Garden_At_Moorfield in Victoria.  A lot of this week's chat is about her and her husbands Hugo's previous property Little Oak and the challenges and successes they had there. We speak about Pip's approach to gardening (find what you love, and grow that), her obsessions with soil, and if -nay, when -...

Hi, and welcome to Avant Gardeners.  In this episode we give you an intro into the lives of Emily and Maddie, two friends who live, play and garden on Melukerdee country in Tasmania's Huon Valley, with varying success. Both have unexpectedly landed on properties, with vast gardens, and very little know how. In future episodes we'll be inteviewing others, but in this episode it's all about us.  What we're drinking Merry Spiced Cherry Amaretto Sour (based on  this, recipe but with home...