This week on the podcast we’re joined by Kaye Kittrell, an actress, photographer and gardener. Kaye has performed in theatre, film and TV including Cheers, Gilmore Girls and Saturday Night Live. As well as featuring in over 100 commercials, Kaye has also written and directed two award-winning short films. In 2012 Kaye created Late Bloomer, which is an award-winning urban garden web show where you can learn how to grow food from her Los Angeles garden, as well as learn some useful organic...

This week we’re joined by Gary Pilarchik from The Rusted Garden all the way from Maryland, America. Gary is a keen tomato and vegetable gardener, which he dedicates his YouTube channel to. For the past 6 years Gary has also been using his YouTube channel to teach gardening to people. Not only will you learn about vegetable growing, you can also learn about the construction of the whole garden, which consists of planting, seed starting, harvesting, disease and pest management, as well as...

Mark Lang from Thrive joins us on the podcast this week to talk about how Thrive uses gardening to help bring positive change to people’s lives. Thrive is a charity and for 40 years they have been using social therapeutic horticulture and gardening to support and work with a range of people, such as people with ill health and disabilities, by using plants and gardens to improve their physical and mental health, communication and thinking skills. Thrive work across their three sites in...

This week we’re joined by Sharon from Gary the Gardener, which is a children’s entertainment, and inspirational and educational YouTube channel. Sharon and her brother, John come from an entertaining background and they both created the Gary the Gardener character when they were touring around schools to promote healthy eating to children. Last month, Sharon and John launched the Gary the Gardener YouTube channel to continue to promote healthy eating and educate children about fruit and...

Joining us this week is Kevin Dutton, a photographer who produces photographic prints of plants and flowers grown in his garden and allotment. This week Kevin won a gold medal at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show at the RHS Lindley Hall in London. He also recently displayed his work at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and has had his work displayed at art shows in Stockholm, Manchester, London and New York. During his photography career Kevin has worked for The RHS, Observer,...

An author, journalist and an avid blogger for The Middle-Sized Garden. An award-winning UK top 10 Garden Blog, The Middle-Sized Garden blog provides useful information and inspiration for other middle-size garden owners and writes about everything from low maintenance garden pots to garden trends. Alexandra also provides blogging/writing coaching by providing one-to-ones and workshops. She has also helped people get started as authors and in the last year, three of the people who Alexandra...

Tanya Anderson is an organic gardener; soap maker and beekeeper and she joins us on the podcast this week to discuss all things skincare with her soap making and plant-based beauty products she makes. Born in America but now living in the Isle of Man, Tanya runs a blog called Lovely Greens where she shares gardening tips, plant-based beauty and soap recipes and DIY projects you can do at home. She sells her products direct as well to various local shops on the Isle of Man and has a very...

This week we’re joined by Charles Dowding, an author, vegetable grower and the guru of no dig gardening. Charles’ gardening journey began when he left university in 1981 and by 1982, he was creating a 6000m2 market garden and since then has established and run four market gardens in two countries, all of which use the no dig approach. Charles has featured on the Gardeners’ World programme and frequently provides talks to individuals and groups, as well as providing courses where you can...

Joining us this week is chilli grower Shaun, AKA Chillichump. Shaun first started growing chillies in his home country in South Africa and his craze started in 2006 when the ghost pepper was making headlines. Shaun also makes his own chilli sauces and is always experimenting with different recipes, which he shares on his YouTube channel by recording the process. Shaun combines his love of technology with his gardening and you’ll learn all about how he automates the drip irrigation, air...

Lisa runs Edulis Wild Food (which means edible in Latin) where she runs wild food walks and a range of foraging courses including identifying, using, fermenting, preserving and cooking. With 15 years’ experience of picking wild fungi, fruits, flowers and foliage, Lisa has impressively taught herself all her foraging knowledge. Her whole journey as a wild food specialist started by finding out one tiny fact… porcini mushrooms grow in the UK. Lisa was totally amazed as she had bought a pack...

Gennaro is an American green builder and artist living in New York City. Led by Gennaro is the artistic green contracting and design firm, Eco Brooklyn which is recognised by the National Association of Green Builders and LEED AP. Gennaro uses his firm to turn New York green by creating living walls which not only enhances the aesthetics of living spaces, but also improves the environment and the quality of life of all living creatures. Living walls are a great way for people to grow plants,...

A lover of all things house plants, Jane is a presenter and producer of indoor gardener podcast On The Ledge and a freelance journalist who specialises in plants and gardening. She writes for a range of publications and regularly has her work published in The Guardian, The Financial Times, Gardens Illustrated and Garden Design Journal. Jane’s background in news journalism started when she worked in local newspapers for more than 20 years, then joined The Guardian as a reporter online and...

Growing up in Romania, Iulia Barta has always had a passion for learning about nature and the positive effects that medicinal plants can have on people’s lives. Natural remedies are a huge part of the Romanian culture and she explains in this episode how she was a sick child and talks about her first experience of being treated by a medical herbalist. Naturally, this led to her moving to the UK to study Western herbal medicine at the University of Westminster. Since then, Iulia has helped...

David has become a popular figure in the horticultural world and is well respected for his knowledge by nurserymen, professional gardeners, journalists and the gardening public. Discovering his love of gardening as a child, David has now been growing plants for more than 40 years. Growing on a range of different soils and regions in the country, David has worked in many gardens and nurseries and has discovered different plants and gardens around the world. In fact, he has travelled to every...

Recently listed in the Top 5 Women Influencers in Horticulture by Grow Your Own Magazine, Ellen has had a passion for gardening since she was child where she enjoyed her parents’ Norfolk kitchen garden and learning organic gardening methods from her uncle. Since then she’s been busy writing gardening content, hosting a horticultural radio show on Future Radio, as well as TV presenting and travelling the world providing talks about gardening and growing your own food where she aims to...

Joining us on the podcast this week is Lee Connelly, also known as The Skinny Jean Gardener. Specialising in children’s gardening, Lee is the co-founder of The Skinny Jean Gardener and is best known for his work as the CBBC Blue Peter Gardener. Lee’s interest in garden started in 2014 when he began gardening on a local allotment with his brother, learning his new hobby through social media. Later, he moved onto TV’s Jimmy Doherty’s farm to build a new kitchen garden for his restaurant and...

In this episode we’re joined by David Stevens who’s a garden designer with over 40 years’ experience. David has worked on a wide range of gardens around the world, including the legendary Bobbie Moore’s garden and has become one of the best-known designers around. David originally trained as a landscape architect and went on to be offered the first Chair of Garden Design at Middlesex University. He then pioneered garden design on the BBC television series Gardens by Design, followed by...

On this weeks episode I am joined by Catherine Chenery an award wining garden designer and we chat all things garden design. P.S this is a fab episode if you have a small garden and aren't sure where to start with from a design point of view. A Bit about Catherine Chenery. Catherine is a garden designer and botanical stylist. She has a history in art, as well as a life long love for plants and gardening. In 2013 Catherine graduated from the London College of Garden Design with a...

On today's podcast I am joined by Jay and Dave from the Clifton Chilli Club. We chat all things chilli. As I mention in the intro I had a few technical issues during the interview but we can hear Jay and Dave with no issues at all which is the most important bit. A Bit about Clifton Chilli Club Created during 2009 and is a not for profit organisation based in Bristol, UK. It began with four friends who enjoy chillies. After they visited Sea Spring Seeds in Dorset, UK. They were amazed at...

Abi started propagating plants in her parents' Cumbrian garden from a young age and clearly had a flair for working with seedlings or cuttings and cajoling them into pots where they would flourish. The growing of our plants is down to Abi and her team. Abi will constantly scour plant catalogues and look out for exciting new introductions that she feels the nursery and garden should include. Tom also started working with plants in his parents' garden but working in a traditional Cumbrian...

Episode 2 Plants and Me Podcast with Helen from Elder Farm This week on the Plants and Me podcast we are joined by Helen Kearney from Elder Farm. As a Medical Herbalist Helen gives a fascinating insight into what both her and Stuart (Helen’s Husband) do and what exactly a Medical Herbalist is! Plus, Helen gives you another good reason (besides the obvious) to be digging dandelions out of your lawn. A bit about Helen and Elder Farm Helen lives with her husband Stuart at Elder Farm which...

Podcast with Kevin Espiritu Our first guest on the Plants&Me Podcast is Kevin Espiritu from Epic Gardening, based in San Diego, USA. I first discovered Kevin through his Instagram account (@epicgardening) which has over 100k followers. Through his social media platforms, Kevin gives an excellent range of different gardening tips. Kevin began gardening as a hobby in 2011 at the age of roughly 23 and began his website around the same time. Since that time, Epic Gardening has reached...

The Plants and Me podcast is presented to you by Alan Lodge from Newlands Nursery. This is going to be a weekly podcast where Alan will discuss plants and gardening topics with various guest speakers. This podcast is going to be about the people and their passion for plants. People who make a living from growing plants, gardening and using plants for their product. Alan has been involved with plants all his life. Newlands Nursery was founded over 65 years ago by his grandparents. The...