American gardener Joe Lamp’l presents this interesting and informative podcast in an accessible and encouraging way.
He’s a great presenter with bags of gardening advice to share. There’s a good episode on tips for summer gardening. It’s packed with useful ideas such as having everything to hand. He has a dry mail box near his beds with gardening tools, gloves, pruners, sun screen, a hat, bamboo stakes, all ready to go. He packs in a notepad with his list of jobs, a sharpening tool and alcohol spray, admitting he would never sharpen his tools if the kit wasn’t nearby. He also talks about prioritising bed prep before planting as you will never do it later and to make sure you space your plants properly for light and air circulation. He suggests, for example, using a growbag for extra tomato plants rather than squashing them together.
In another episode he talks about how to prepare your garden before going on holiday. His 12 top tools to make life easier includes everything from pruners and secateurs to weeders such as his favourite scuffle hoe with pointed wings each side of the head, and his Hori Hori Knife.
And as an organic podcast, there are episodes on bees, encouraging predatory beneficial insects and diversity in the garden. Joe also looks at the challenges of using coir and peat-free compost.
His guests are equally knowledgeable and hugely varied, making for a great listen. There’s an interesting interview with horticulturalist and writer Abra Lee about the contribution of black Americans to gardening history and actress Maria Failla on how growing houseplants rescued her from a bad time in her life. In other episodes he goes in deep on growing specific plants such as chillis and figs, inviting specialists as guests to explain all you need to know. It’s a treasure trove of advice that translates well across the pond.