There are a number of reasons why, let’s start with this picture of a French Restaurant not that far from Lyon.
Natural materials, always weather well, they tend not to lose their colours so quickly, being much less affected by UV light. The wood for instance changes colour slowly, blending into the other colours, with a softer patina. The natural stone stays basically the same colour apart from the addition of dirt and moss etc., the rendering isn’t really natural, it was something started in the 1950’s for some reason in villages throughout France, some have returned to a more natural stone look by hacking the rendering off, others as here have allowed the rendering to weather and blend in.
Of course it helps to have the walls half covered in virginia creeper, with the windows festooned with trailing geraniums. The over all effect is soft on the eye and pleasing.
When selecting materials for a project, it’s always a good idea to see what natural ones are available first.
All the materials in the picture above are ‘natural’ as you can see they have a softer look to them.
They ‘weather’ in much better and seem to last longer.
This beautiful driveway was constructed with natural bricks to form the rain water gulley run offs – it actually took three bricks to form the channel.
The top wearing surface is a double coated natural dried Pea Gravel that has been applied with fibreglass rovings and a special binder to form an impervious surface. Surfaces like this need to be re applied every 5 years or so to keep up appearances.
The beauty of such a surface is that the gravel isn’t likely to ‘fly around’ much, and the surface lasts longer because it is more or less water proofed.
This attractive Gravel and Granite surface, will basically never change colour, it will always looks warm and inviting, sure it will need some aftercare to keep weeds and encroaching plants at bay, but it will be the same in twenty years time as it is today.
This secret garden, is really easy to construct, its basically larger gravel rolled into the soil, with stepping stone flat rocks leading to a a stone bench with a small statue acting as the main focal point… a great place to listen to Growing Trendsour downloadable internet radio show.
Here we used a low natural stone rockery with a low bridge across a pathway around the garden, as a starting point for an artificial stream, adding differing sized stones and rocks into the stream bed to create a natural appearance.
We will be having an interview with an ex Head Gardener of one of England’s great Estates shortly.
Do listen to Growing Trendsand let us know what you would enjoy hearing about.
Let’s dance !When Ann & I started ‘Growing Trends’ the web site, blog and radio show, we weren’t sure how to engage all of you. It seems a little wit, the odd anecdote and should I say a touch of knowledge has helped us enormously.
In a very short time we have built an audience of readers, listeners and fellow Horticulturists, they have come from :-
United States, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, Columbia, Germany ,United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, Romania, France, Netherlands, Jamaica,Barbados, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea,
We are just stunned… thank you all so much. Please if you have time send us a picture of your favourite space, garden or landscape with a few notes, we would love to hear from you.
Today, as we have a holiday weekend here in the USA, it seems that our blog should be a little in this spirit, so I’m going to try and find a bunch of pictures of projects we’ve completed along with pictures of unusual items used in the urban landscape that perhaps some have not seen before.. hope you enjoy them..
So let’s start with a really big tree being moved, it was one of many on this site, weighing some 600 tons and approximately 60ft tall!
One of my favorites a flower clock in Geneva, Switzerland.Geneva, Switzerland
This one was ‘snapped’ in Amsterdam, it’s an old cannon, now serving as a vehicle bollard !
The next is fairly common – creating a bubble fountain using an old natural millstone wheel.
Original granite millstone fountain
This method completely softens a brick pier and makes it look ageless – we used a single canted brick on each corner, and added a double layer of tiles ‘Creasing Tile’ before the soldier course, the resultant ‘shadow line creates interest and helps the wall to ‘weather’ much better.
Brick Pier with creasing tile
This one is much harder to do, it’s a circular patio of natural setts – they tend to be slightly different sizes. When laid like this, in a circular pattern creates a feeling of movement and space, in what is a fairly small area.
Small setts laid in a radiating pattern
When you have a natural random wall it is always hard to create a ‘finish’ , we solved this by bonding a brick coping to match the drive brick edge.
Brick Coping Course
What is really interesting is, if you look really carefully you can see the brick coping running into the driveway as the wall ends, this looked so good, the red tarmac ( which is quite expensive) helps with the overall effect.
Driveway
Many years ago, we needed to find away to create ‘Raised planters’ on a roof that were exceedingly light weight, contained and yet attractive. We think we succeeded with these specially made by us artificial rock faced grp planters. – we won an award for the project , which was fun !
Artificial Rocks
Some 30 years ago we started building gravity walls with ‘TimberGrid’ , then we thought let’s add some plants, it worked great..!
Treated Structural Green Wall
It wasn’t long before they started to ‘Grow’ well you know if you try hard enough it becomes a ‘Trend ‘
Tall timber gravity wall
Sometimes it’s fun to experiment, so here we came up with a ‘curved’ wall
Could you grow these?The Victorians, were an inventive bunch, they invented and developed so many things, today we seem to spend more and more time with new technical inventions rather than try and solve the many issues facing us with the environment.
Perhaps its simply we do not spend enough time outside to enjoy the sun, stars,landscape and the water?
Going back to the Victorians, they have been credited with developing the regimented summer bedding displays, they developed huge estate layouts with ponds or should I say lakes, they were instrumental in cut formal lawns, I think Ransomes was one of the first with a horse drawn mower?
What they also did was include vegetables within the garden landscape,as did the Germans and French, it’s a great way to grow veggies and herbs as it is almost invisible, yet so effective and pleasing to grow your own.Plus invariably the food is both fresh & free of those pesky pesticides.
Have you included herbs & veggies in your design? – a question for your landscape designer perhaps?The marigolds help reduce the bugs
Our first interview for our Growing Trends radio show,was with a couple that do just that, – we are due to return shortly to see how the fruits of their labour has gone..
Their garden has between 350 – 400 Trees,Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, and at least 75 Herbs & Veggies. It still has this beautiful pool to relax in !
Can you spot the herbs & veggies?
Even if you only have a small area it is very beneficial to grow say just a pot or two of herbs, not only are they fresh, they keep on producing throughout the season, (saving lots of money) all you need to do is water, and take any seed heads off as they form.
Stacked herb pot.
For the more adventurous a larger area can be created, this requires more commitment, the rewards are much greater with more produce grown and the satisfaction of growing your own food.
An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit
Of course you could get completely carried away, employ a full time team and develop a world class garden, that attracts thousands of visitors a year.. feeding an awful lot of folks into the bargain !
Simply stunning !
How do I start ? I hear you say. Well the best way is always start in a conservative way, the easiest is probably to start with herbs, which will grow throughout the growing season, once thats mastered, try a quick growing veggie such as lettuce, it has a short cycle and is relatively easy to grow. If you don’t want the hassle of growing from seed initially, it’s possible today to buy ‘plugs’ that are pre started and likely to produce quite quickly, then progress from here, adding interesting varieties of say garlic, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes….
Weekend Garden Kit from Picagardi
This garden was planted just 2 weeks earlier with pre started plants. The trick if you haven’t grown many plants yourself is to start small, then as you find that the weather and conditions are unpredictable, you can try a more adventurous approach. Remember though that even hardened gardeners find that some plants some years just do not flourish as expected.
The rewards are so worth the effort, producing your own food, saving money and having a healthy outdoor activity.
Hort Cuisine anyone ?
Ann & I will be talking to some new gardeners, along with some seasoned,experienced gardeners in the next few weeks… the trick is always to have fun and experiment just a little !
Most people are so interesting, it’s just a matter of coaxing them to talk to you, then asking the right questions.-
Are you passionate about your garden ?,
Do you have a favorite landscape ?,
Would you like to be interviewed ?
We started this series of horticultural based interviews with one simple idea, which was, that within our very diverse industry there were many people :-
both Homeowners,
Designers or Creators,
Builders,
or Visitors and Admirers,
who had fascinating stories to tell about their everyday lives.
We have not been disappointed , in fact, we have been surprised by how many folks have a real passion for all things outside, particularly by how many people would like to reconnect with nature.
Tiger Rhus
So with that in mind here is a day in the life of… Ann & Chris. the co-hosts of Growing Trends, we ventured out last Saturday, bright & early, just as the sun was rising :-
5.00 am Saturday
Ann & I had literally, a ‘field day’ on Saturday.
We each got up at the crack of dawn, and went to interview Farmer Steve, at Weston Red Barn Farm
We arrived at 7.30am and had already missed Steve, who had picked a crop of fresh peaches for Cindy ( his lovely wife) to take to market some 50 miles away.
Early one morning , Weston Red Barn Farm
Steve & Cindy have, for the past 25 years been slowly developing Weston Red Barn Farm to a traditional working farm, specifically to show kids how farms are part of the community. They have Apples, Peaches, Chickens, Goats, Horses, a Farm Shop, Pumpkin fields, along with a wedding venue. It keeps them very busy throughout the summer and autumn.
8.00am
One of Steve’s farm workers arrives to feed the chickens, goats, ducks, and horses, calls Steve for us, who appears over the horizon in a 4 wheeler…
We set up the Mics, the recorders,then we interviewed Steve for around an hour, it could have been much longer, Steve had a fascinating journey and one that you will be able to hear on our show shortly at Growing Trends Internet Radio
A few snippets : –
They have an amazing 12,000 – 15,000 school children visit them every year !
They have 67 weddings at the farm in a year.!
Old Milk Churns
I happen to know one of the current family members , of the family that invented the milk churn, their company was called Express Dairies, they developed the original milk churn to take milk from the ‘shires’ to London on the newly built railways, for the burgeoning population of the city.Needless to say they made a handsome profit !
Of course these days most milk isn’t delivered by horse & cart, or by electric milk floats – yes way back in the 60’s milk in England was delivered by battery powered eco-friendly milk floats, as a youngster I often helped the ‘Milkman’ on his rounds for an extra shilling or two.
Express diaries
Ok, so back to the interview.
The Farm is about to lay out it’s Pumpkins for sale so Ann found a few pumpkins lying around and ….posed for a quick picture – they sure look impressive !
It’s fun here…
There was even time for a spot of ‘picking’, in my miss spent youth we would go ‘Scrumping’
These look yummy !
9.30am
With our interview completed, it was time to rush back to interview our second fascinating person of the day.
Alan Sargent was over 4000 miles away, and 6 hours ahead of us, in Petworth, West Sussex in England.
A must for Head Gardeners.
Alan has a most varied career in horticulture :-
He has Built or,
Designed and Built dozens of Chelsea Flower Show Gardens,
Design & Constructed Award Winning Landscapes.
Formed a Trade Association,
Judged Garden Exhibits,
Written Books
Found time to be a Head Gardener at one of England’s finest and busiest Estates – the 12000 acre Goodwood Estate – with its 44 acre gardens, airfield, horse racing,and motor racing circuits.
Goodwood estate
the race course…
The Race Course
the motor racing circuit. – or for the Petrol heads as Alan refers to them !
Alan’s skills are legendary, and he has a keen eye for detail – I am a detail freak too, so I love his workmanship !
One of those more famous English Schools
His stone work is superb.
Ann and I were to coin an English expression ‘Plum Tuckered’ – you will need to look up it’s meaning, here’s a clue to replenish the reserves we stopped for breakfast..
10.30am back home.
It was time for that quick breakfast, and of course coffee – coffee in America is so good …
Then we quickly reviewed the recordings, packed up the recording gear. Headed off to the lake some 53 miles away for a well earned break, sailing our little racing cruiser ‘Stiletto’
Stiletto – Capri 25
It’s amazing how relaxing an afternoon sail can be.. this week it was a tad hot at 100f but still fun.
This Weeks Show
This weeks show will be about a fantastic store that brings in it’s very own miniature pony each weekend, where it has a small coral in the ‘Fairy Garden’ at the back of the store. – you can buy all many of things for creating a miniature garden !
We are also talking to Richard Benfield a Garden Tourist Guru, whilst he is on his travels, around the world, we caught up with Richard in Western Australia.. do listen to the show at.. Growing Trends Internet Radio if you, or you know someone that would be fun to interview drop us a line and we will get back to you.
In the meantime we have a website telling you more at www.grotrends.com
You will be able to hear all about Weston Red Barn Farm, along with Alan’s adventures in the coming weeks.
If you have someone in mind we could interview drop us a line briefly explaining who & why.
Ann & I thought it would be fun to explore in a little depth the opportunities to re-connect with nature and the ways we can all achieve this within our busy schedules.
Recent reports have shown that even a simple stroll in a woodland has beneficial results, as the trees give off a scent that is very calming to us all – the Japanese even have a word for this.
We also know that the soil contains beneficial microbes that act in a similar way to anti-depressants – perhaps this is why so many gardeners are happy dedicated folks ?
Our promenade starts at home…. with a stroll around a garden.Taking a contemplative stroll in a garden is very relaxing
By adding the artificial stream we created more interest as you walked around the garden.
We added a small stream to flow alongside the path
Many of the gardens we have designed and built contain a pathway to walk around the garden, they are wide enough for two people to walk side by side, usually constructed of a long-lasting, hard wearing semi flexible surface, ( we avoided concrete as its everywhere in the urban environment, and we have found that natural materials almost always look better)
Here the pathway is made of bound limestone and leads around the garden, directly from the brick terrace.
Here the path acts as transition between the shrub beds and the more formal lawn, further over was a fenced in swimming pool.
Path along lawn edge
The amount of traffic, will to some extent dictate the types of finish materials best suited to the task – all will need a sub-base preparation that can withstand the intended loads. ( a reminder for designers).
A lunch break walk, or special trip to the museum , brings a different style of path.
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art , Sculpture Park
This beautiful pathway was repeated on the other side of the parkland setting
This heavily trafficked walkway above , is constructed of large rectangular pieces of natural stone, with a suitable load bearing base beneath, it is designed for many years of use.
Anyone for Badminton?
Some of us are lucky to have offices with roof top garden for us to relax in for a few moments, this one was attached to the staff restaurant in central London.
Wooden pathway on Roof Garden
This Roof Garden walkway is constructed of pre-treated wood and then stained, it’s laid on a spreader system, to allow the loads to be evenly distributed across the roofs entire surface ( one of those engineering requirement when working on a roof). We stained the wood green to soften it’s impact and to add to the whole ambiance.
Back home for a moment , this stepping path acts as a beautiful transition from lawn to path to pond
A little more adventurous, next to a small pond.
Walking to the rose arbor from the house….
The rose arbor was connected to the house by the pathway.
Constructed of large wooden pieces, this treated timber, then stained black stepping path has pea-gravel between the pieces so we could add scented herbs , which release their essence as you step on them, the edges of the shingle are stopped off with bricks set between the wooden pieces. Creating a soft, but effective pathway.
Some years ago at a Dutch Floriade we came across this superbly, educational pathway.
A somewhat unusual pathway
Designed so that users could observe nature on the floor of the pond, it was both inspirational and educational.
Almost all gardens benefit from a method to transit from one space to another, here we created a gravel path that took the place of a traditional lawn, serving two main purposes, it significantly reduced aftercare, and reduced watering, yet looked as if it was meant to be here.
By breaking up the gravel path with two angled lines of paving and setting a pergola between the illusion of a larger space was created.
This garden was only 10ft wide by the shed !
This roof garden, was the subject of an exhibition, so a great deal of work was required to create a suitable pathway around.
Sometimes it is necessary to go to great lengths to create pathways
The roof top garden was tracing the history of London’s gardens from the middle ages to the present time – well some 20 years ago.
Here’s how it finally looked..
Museum of London
I’ve no idea how it looks today !
Finally, if you want very low maintenance, it’s best to stick to hard surfaces, like this granite sett pathway..
This granite sett pathway is extremely hard wearing and yet very rustic looking.
If you want a softer look , using natural bricks ( as long as they are frost resistant) is another alternative to consider.
Brick makes a very attractive pathway
or perhaps for the busy executive, a pathway that’s covered by a pergola on either side…
The pathways are on either side of this beautiful lawn
Hopefully we have inspired you to step outside and wander down to your nearest park, playground or just enjoy outside.
Find out more, listen to the amazing folks that create, tend, are passionate about or just have built these beautiful relaxing gardens, our show is all about the people
When were you last seen walking around a garden, a city park, or through the woods?Rodin’s The Thinker 1880, probably cast 1949.
“The Thinker” – from one of our latest interviews…
Having always been a little ‘cheeky’ , I turned Descartes words around a little from ‘ Je pense, donc je suis’ to ” I think therefore, am I?” – my reports from school often said ‘ if – and then went on about my impish sense of humour’
Back to Growing Trends, our fun, friendly, internet radio show – our latest interview was from this superb Museum in Kansas City and the Kauffman Memorial Garden
Henry Moore Sculpture, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
Ever since Ann & I started our internet radio show we have had fun, sure it’s hard work to find the folks to interview, then arrange the best time to interview, especially with differing time zones.
We try and interview ‘on site’, so listeners can get a feel for how it really is, this proves challenging in windy conditions or inside cavernous stone buildings – the Museum springs to mind here.
The payback is simply stunning landscapes, interviewing amazing people!
Absolutely stunning at this time of year !
Our main goal is a desire to create interesting informative interviews that grab your attention and keep you interested – fortunately so many people in our industry have really interesting stories ,it’s really a matter of us letting them tell their story.
The hardest part is finding enough sponsors to cover the myriad of costs for doing this. It’s a real chicken and egg situation, the sponsors want listening numbers before committing, the show needs sponsors before promoting more, and the merry cycle of business life continues.
Light at the end of the green tunnel ?
In the meantime, we are steadily building an audience, developing a really informative web site at Growing Trends with a soon to be added link to youtube short videos of where we are interviewing. Please , if you get a chance to listen, do so, and maybe tell your friends there is this really different show out there to listen to..
In the short time we’ve been doing this we have learned that there is a real desire for folks to reconnect with other folks, for buyers to talk to growers, for gardeners to talk to the gardener, for the sports person a bracing game of tennis or a round of golf. I confess to liking a few hours sailing, but then I am surrounded by green most days.
For the lucky some, that develop a lifelong passion it becomes a relaxing daily exercise, for others a calming walk in the woods is enough, for our children a healthy carefree romp in a playground, or just to sit outside reading a good book is enough. What is just right for you?
If only we could all enjoy everyday scenes like this !
Cities absolutely need green spaces for the people to unwind , connect with nature, report after report shows the benefits to this, even patients in hospitals benefit from gardens, we know how much kids love to play in a well laid out playground !
Our next group of interviews are going to be exciting, we’re interviewing a couple whose passion was to recreate a working farm, they have succeeded, it’s a magical place full of wonderful sights, smells, happy people and a great day out.
The nelson Atkins Museum of Art , Sculpture Park
Then we are interviewing a competitor of mine, who has had the most amazing time, building show gardens for the worlds most prestigious flower show, as well as designing & building award winning residential gardens, then as a head gardener at a famous English estate, whilst forming specialist trade organisations and now turning his hand to writing books… watch this space as they say !
We pre-recorded both of these interviews a few weeks ago, each is really quite special, and is the start of a series of Horticultural interviews with a Different Perspective.
We have to thank Dr. Richard Benfield for this, we interviewed Richard in Australia – he will be on the show shortly. Richard was fresh from watching three kangaroos demolish a fence in front of his vehicle as he drove in Western Australia.
Richard is a professor whose research has revealed some fascinating facts – for instance food & garden tourism attracts over 78 million visitors a year across the USA !
So here is the first in this series, we hope to add one a month within the programming, please do let us know what you think, any ideas or requests.“Did I say that ?”
This weeks show is from two truly outstanding places –
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s superb Sculpture Park.
Being a transplanted ‘Brit’ , living in Kansas City, I was amazed to find 13 Henry Moore statues in our midst, they are like a place of inspiration, and just get the creative juices flowing for this designer.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is a gem, here in the American heartland.
Anyone for Badminton?
The sculpture park is celebrating 25 years this year, it is a must see attraction in Kansas City. So on a rather windy evening Ann & I called in to interview the Sanders Sosland Curator, Jan Schall, Ph.D.
The park covers some 22 acres, in the middle of Kansas City, just along from the Plaza. It was opened in 1989, designed by Dan Kiley & Jaquelin Robertson, there are more than 30 sculptures.
The Sculpture Park is FREE to the public, open year round during daylight hours, and a wonderful place to have a picnic!
One of the many Henry Moore Sculptures
The Kauffman Memorial Garden
This is a truly beautiful garden, superbly maintained by Duane and his volunteer staff, the garden has so many wonderful plants in this walled garden’s micro -climate, the attention to detail , the care make this probably one of the best gardens in Kansas City
Absolutely stunning at this time of year !
The Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden draws inspiration from the couple’s journey through life and their commitment to share with others. It is an enduring gift for Kansas City that extends the legacy of a gracious couple and welcomes visitors to a vibrant landscape throughout the year.
The Kauffmans’ world travels inspired the creation of a space comparable to parks throughout Europe. The garden features bronze sculptures by Tom Corbin among lush and colorful annual and perennial plantings, pruned foliage framed by stone walls, brick walkways and playful fountains.
I don’t know about you but, it’s sure been a busy week. Here in the MIdWest the temperatures have been unseasonable , with lower temperatures than normal and lots of rain. This has had a bit of a calming effect on plant growth, with some unusual results – for instance it hasn’t been a particularly good season for of all things Rosemary.
My roses are just returning to flower after a prolonged intensive care program, which afforded harsh pesticides, insecticides and miticides use.
“She” – who much be obeyed, had given due notice that she would not be amused if they continued to look like a cross between a spiders web and a spotty leaf.
This week was also National Farmers Market Week, so we interviewed some really interesting growers at a market, we then interviewed an amazing couple who have literally planted thousands of unusual trees on their mini estate – loved the Larch, and a Zelkova, and a magnificent specimen Oak.!
All this interviewing had us thinking – well the brain cells were stimulated a tad more than normal. We realized we were noticing a trend that I suspect is becoming more prevalent, in which people are missing the contact they once had with their suppliers. The market was just bustling from early in the morning, with regulars, who really wanted to converse with the many producers, all the wonderful folks we’ve been interviewing all really enjoyed talking about their garden passions.
We could see time and again, that there is a need to engage folks, and that youngsters are part of this, they are seeking information on a one to one basis, sure you could find this on your phone or tablet, but thats only half the story, the big stores are impersonal, some even intimidating, what we are seeing is a return to the more, small personal specialist. It will be interesting to see if it continues. Big may not be as beneficial as it once was !
Some of you may know that Ann & I have started a daily radio show, we call the show Growing Trends, it’s on at 1pm & 7pm daily at www.cravingtalkradio.com it’s really an extension of this blog, where we talk to people who are connected with our industry or homeowners that have a special interest or just an interesting landscape, or perhaps just a passion for gardens.
This past week we have been really fortunate to find some exceptionally gifted folks, our first was a rose grower, who in addition to working a very busy day as an executive still managed to come home and relax by working in his rose garden until late at night, he has a really interesting twist to this but you will have to wait until we broadcast the interview to hear it.
As our heading says this week is National Farmers Market Week, so Ann & I decided to take an early morning trip to one of our local farmers markets last Saturday morning. Well ok, a quick confession, Ann was early, I was late. We were both much later than the first customers who arrived long before 7am to buy the pick of this very fresh crop – some of the farmers were up at 3am to make sure they brought their produce to market!
Parkville, Missouri
The growers and customers were a very happy group, many were regulars who knew all the growers and would talk with real enthusiasm about the produce they were buying, you will hear this in the interviews.
All the growers had a wealth of knowledge and experience, which was one of the main reasons the customers came back week after week, they liked the idea of talking to the growers, understanding their efforts to produce good quality despite the variable weather conditions we all experience, some came because they had tried to grow crops themselves but just couldn’t quite succeed.
Everyone felt that they were obtaining value for money, and just loved the freshness, flavorsome and at times unusually shaped produce.
We talked to at least half a dozen or so growers and could have if time had permitted talked to many more, we also talked to a number of customers who were clearly regular visitors to the market.
What struck us most was that everyone was there because they enjoyed meeting each other,the customers liked talking to the growers and the growers really liked meeting their customers, it seems that more and more we see this as we broaden our interviews.
We wrote to some of our friends and colleagues this week to ask if they would listen to our new internet radio show ‘Growing Trends’ on www.cravingtalkradio.com , it’s on air daily at 1pm and 7pm central time. You can also find us on LIve365 if you have the free app, or you can download a broadcast from the site to listen to it as a podcast.
The next ‘Big’ media is Digital radio
We made it this flexible, because unlike most radio shows you can hear us anywhere, so the shows time might be great in the USA but a little different in say England 7pm and 1am GMT. – I know we are good but, staying up until 1am to hear Ann & Myself is a bit of a stretch.
Digital Radio, always on, step through and listen now !
What I really wanted to write and say was thank you, thank you for listening, we gained a huge number of new listeners this week, which enabled us to sign new sponsors – yes we need sponsors like everyone else. The sponsors are great, they agree to sponsor us for a modest monthly fee, we in turn give them at least four free interviews a year, and mention them at least once a month when they are not being interviewed.
Listen to our digital library anytime
If this sounds interesting and you would like to be a sponsor, drop us a line we would love to hear from you. If you are passionate about your garden landscape and you would like to talk about it, drop us a line
Have you taken a trip to the woods today?
The Japanese have discovered that trees give off scents that actually have a calming effect on us, listen to Kelly Daniels ( the picture above is one from her gallery – The Kelly Gallery) talking about this in her interview airing at 1pm & 7pm daily.
I read today that antidepressant microbes in the soil have been discovered, called Mycobacterium vaccae, it’s been found to mirror the effects on neurons that drugs provide.
Which reminds me, I was digging in the soil today and I came across this large black disc with grooves all over both sides, I put it to my ear but I couldn’t hear anything…. if you get time do tune in and let us know what you think, or if you have some suggestions, we want to make the show about the all the wonderful people connected to our industry.
Ever since we started our radio show, I’ve come to realize how diverse, passionate and simply fascinating today’s gardeners really are.
Whilst still at school, working in the vacations a friend and I would plant new woodlands in England, we planted well over 1 million trees in that period – of course at the time they were tiny 2+ 2’s ( thats two year old twice transplanted). In subsequent years, I’ve designed hundreds of gardens and commercial properties with the team planting many hundreds of thousands more trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, herbs, bulbs and corms. The most amazing sight , during this time was , seeing a chap in America transplanting trees ( about thirty or forty actually) some weighing over 650 tons, that were 60ft tall, with a 15ft deep x 45 foot wide rootball – now that is impressive, requiring a multitude of additional skills, not least irrigation some 40ft high into the tree itself!
Over the years we have met some truly wonderful people, who have a real passion, for flowers, or just orchids, or roses, or lawns, or even garden structures.
I remember building a gazebo for a client, who then asked for a copper roof, we then had to weather it so it went green quicker.
Or the client who’s passion was a weed free lawn – he would ‘swish’ the dew off the lawn every night before he went to bed !
Or the client who always tried to ‘scalp’ his lawn – the solution was to quietly add some washers to his mower settings and thus prevent the blades being set to low – not sure if he ever figured that out.
Or rose grower who tended his roses at night using a miners type lamp..
Or a lady who spent more than 8 hours everyday in her absolutely stunning perennial garden.
The one thing in common was that they derived a huge amount of peace and relaxation, working in the garden in touch with nature, it was like the ultimate stress release.
One of our radio show interviews touched on this when we discovered that research shows that woodland trees give of a chemical that we find calming as we walk through a woodland.
The point is they all had a passion that drove them to achieve results most of us would struggle with in all walks of life
In other words they got the maximum achievement out of each and everyday, and the garden helped them recharge their batteries just as a good nights sleep does !
I’ve always believed in attention to detail, striving to find the easiest yet pleasing on the eye finish to areas, using where ever possible natural materials, such as bricks, timber, wrought iron ( if you can find it), etc. to complete projects. When it comes to planting you cannot beat using a color wheel to develop contrasting colors schemes and have them blend with one another to create a complete picture.
If this all sounds familiar and you have a passion for gardening, no matter where, drop me a line and we will try and interview you for our show. It can be as short as a hello or as long as an hour, that’s really up to you.
In the meantime do tune in, as it’s digital radio you can listen anywhere, you will find Growing trends on www.cravingtalkradio.com daily at 1pm & 7pm central US time, or if you prefer using an app were on Live365.
If this year is anything to go by we are definitely experiencing some changes to our weather patterns. We have more rain than I can remember, I know this because the power has gone out an amazing 13 times in the past 6 weeks ( yeah I hear you say why are the lines not buried, and how can a squirrel knock out power to a whole town, well the same way a dump truck can when it tips it’s load, or too many birds take a break on a power line and it shorts out).
Back to the weather, instead of 90f plus temps they have been 75f and at night instead of 75f they have been 55f, it’s almost English weather, except over there the temps have been much higher.
We have also had nearby, a huge increase in Earthquakes ( by this I mean hundreds of small quakes) this year, many place the blame on this, to the new habit of ‘Fracking’ , which I’m sure isn’t helping.
We’ve a serious issue with lack of bees to pollinate the crops , it’s not just the honey bees the wild bee population is suffering as well, as is the bird population, which probably means that the insect population is affected as well. In sure mother nature doesn’t like it when us humans mess with what was once a very balanced eco-system.
Some areas of the country are experiencing record droughts, which if it continues will have a far reaching impact on food production and where folks chose to live.
So with all this turmoil around us, a couple of friends and I decided it was time to change how we grew herbs & veggies…
So today we are launching Hort Cuisine something we have been working on for a few years now, it’s a rather fun way to grow at home.
It starts with our Hort Cuisine patented grid system
Here’s an example Hort Cuisine, herb garden
and here’s the beginnings of a Hort Cuisine ‘Knot Garden’
here’s the Knot Garden sector planted
We are going to make smaller ‘Balcony’ sized versions too
Which should be an ideal size for balconies.
In the next few days you will see just how easy these kits are to do yourself at home.
