Podcast #5 – Selling Sustainability

Everyone (including me) hates how the word “sustainability” has been overused and misused. Yet there are some good concepts associated with the word that can help gardeners make rational decisions about products and practices. This week’s podcast deconstructs sustainability into specific actions that gardeners can easily follow:

  • Discovering and nurturing the natural processes that keep your gardens and landscapes healthy and functional
  • Choosing plants and products wisely to conserve natural resources
  • Creating gardens and landscapes that don’t require constant inputs of packaged fertilizers and pesticides

The podcast illustrates each of these points.  First, there’s a research article that demonstrates the benefits of polyculture in growing vegetables.  Next, there’s a critical look at a website presenting a “Sustainable Garden Starter Kit: 10 Must-Have Products for the New Green Grower.” Lastly I dispel the myth of “instant landscaping”, which is code for “long term disaster.”

The interview this week is on building your own garden pond. Dr. Jim Scott (PhD in horticulture), turns his talents to the plumbing, electrical work, and aesthetic disguises needed to build a really great garden water feature. Lucky for me, he also happens to be my spouse!


Jim and Linda try to figure out how many years it took to do a week long project

Decks…

…cleverly disguise pump system…

…and filter system

Seasonal guests

Permanent residents (the little orange guys in water)

Please let me know what you think of the podcast; you can email me directly or post a comment on the blog. Suggestions for future podcasts are most welcome!

Podcast #4 – Going Native

Another one in the can! This week the podcast focuses on native plants; I’ve got an interesting research item about using mixtures of native grasses for lawns.  You’ll also hear why sometimes native plants might not be the best choice, whether the goal is attracting fruit-eating birds or creating a sustainable urban landscape.

And you will love this week’s interview with Lacia Bailey – Seattle gardener and urban dairy goat maven. Once again I enlisted my son Jack to capture the moment on film:


“I’ll bet that camera is edible, too!”

Lacia and Dalli (the goat who thinks she’s a lap dog)

The goats make short work of most garden and yard waste

My podcasting producer Tina makes some new friends

Chickens are part of the system, too. They eat bugs from the used goat bedding.

Lacia setting up the milking station

Please let me know what you think of the podcast; you can email me directly or post a comment on the blog. Suggestions for future podcasts are most welcome!

Podcast #3 – Plants, Drugs and Rock and Roll

I’m starting to have fun with these!  This week the podcast has some fun items about the wide world of plant secondary compounds, which are all those interesting chemicals that aren’t related to the basic building blocks of life (the carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids).  Plus there’s a myth segment on how music affects plants – is “acid rock” as bad for plants as it is for young developing brains?

And the highlight is my interview with Robin Haglund – Seattle gardener and urban beekeeper.  Both she and Corky Luster, owner of Ballard Bees, describe what it takes to open a bee hotel on a small urban lot.  My son Jack took some great photos of Robin’s garden, some of which are below:


Linda, Robin and Corky

Bee fountain

Bee heaven – nectar and lots of water

Corky opens the hive

Bees and honey!

Art and the garden

Please let me know what you think of the podcast; you can email me directly or post a comment on the blog. Suggestions for future podcasts are most welcome!

Podcast #2 – Garden Concoctions

I’m getting my feet under me with podcasting – it’s becoming more fun and less scary.  The theme for this one is “Garden Concoctions,” so the Plants in the News and Myth Busting segments are along those lines.

My interview this week is with Maurice Skagen, owner and designer of Soos Creek Botanical Gardens.  This 23 acre plant collection has been carefully cultivated over the last 30 years and just recently opened to the public.


A volunteer visits with Maurice


Soos Creek draws visitors of all ages


The pond


The long borders


Clematis canopy over trees


Demonstration vegetable garden

Please let me know what you think of the podcast; you can email me directly or post a comment on the blog. Suggestions for future podcasts are most welcome!

Podcasts are here!

Today marks a grand experiment…I’ve made the leap into podcasting. Each episode is less than 30 minutes and contains (among other things) an outdoor interview with someone who does something interesting with gardens and landscapes. This week’s podcast features Seattle landscape designer Richard Greenberg, who took me on a tour of a garden he’s been working on for 20 years:


Linda with Richard Greenberg

The nice thing about having the blog host the podcasts is that I can include some photos from my interview sites.  Here are some shots of this lovely (but tiny) urban landscape, which features a huge sequoia right in the middle.


Yes, a sequoia in the middle of the garden


Fritillaria, I assume? (Please don’t mock my taxonomic ignorance)


Very cool iris

Please let me know what you think of the podcast; you can email me directly or post a comment on the blog.  Suggestions for future podcasts are most welcome!