Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #32 - Changing Career Into Horticulture | Kat Pearson [girlinthegreen]

Transcript

#32 - Changing Career Into Horticulture | Kat Pearson [girlinthegreen] · The Shed Organics Show

0:00
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of our shared
0:04
organics show. We are flying through the
0:06
episodes. This is so much fun.
0:09
We are continuing to roll out every week.
0:11
And you know, I never expected starting this at the start of
0:15
the year. Well, I initially anticipated
0:18
doing once a month, but here we are.
0:20
We're we're over 30 episodes in. We're releasing every week and
0:24
we're building a community of people what, you know,
0:27
worldwide. Actually.
0:29
In fact, I was going to say worldwide, and then I realized
0:31
that's actually true. There's plenty of people all
0:33
over the globe listening to this, which is really fun.
0:36
So I'm glad to connect with all of you.
0:38
I'm so grateful for you guys listening in and sharing the
0:41
episodes and telling me which ones you enjoyed.
0:44
Today we have another fun guest. We have Kat Pearson or Girl in
0:50
the Green as she is referred to on her socials.
0:53
Kat is a horticulturalist here in Australia.
0:56
She lives in Brisbane, another Brisbane local, so happy to have
0:59
her on the show. We met at the Queensland Garden
1:03
Show and as she spoke about, she's a member of the
1:05
Horticultural Media Association here in Australia, She's
1:09
involved with riding, she's involved with so many of the
1:12
gardening events and she's speaking as well at some really
1:16
cool places too. So really knowledgeable and such
1:20
a fun lady. I'm so pleased that we got to
1:22
meet and I'm so pleased that we got to sit down and have this
1:25
chat. Now please at the end, if you
1:28
can, go through and check out all of the links because there's
1:31
going to be a couple here to some of her writings and some of
1:35
the things that she does. So please go and check out those
1:39
after the episode. And yeah, I'll be really
1:42
grateful for you to go and support her.
1:45
So without further, further ado, let's jump in and have this
1:48
conversation with Kat Pearson or a girl in the group.
2:09
What's the draw for you to study something like horticulture to
2:13
really get to understand all the different names of the plants
2:16
and everything like this? Why?
2:19
Why the fascination of going that in that direction with
2:21
gardening? So probs because I'm a nerd.
2:29
So bearing in mind like I have a degree in engineering, I have a
2:31
PhD and a postdoc, I like to learn.
2:35
Wow, I didn't know that. We should.
2:37
We should just highlight that for a second because that's
2:39
insane just to even attempt that and then to get through that.
2:44
So congratulations. That's amazing.
2:47
So you love to learn. Yeah.
2:49
Love to learn, yeah. And so I wanted to, I was a
2:53
little bit sick of what I was doing.
2:54
I wanted to do a career change. Thought I'll just do some study
2:59
just to see. Could just learn.
3:01
I might turn it into a career. We'll see where it takes me.
3:04
And I guess so. I have always gotten and my
3:07
mum's always gotten and I'm quite hands on.
3:09
And so I didn't want to just do the everyday.
3:14
This is how you put a plant in the ground, kind of.
3:17
Like what I do? No, I'm only joking.
3:21
Yeah, no, I didn't need to study that.
3:23
Like I was like, well, no, if this is not going to be getting
3:25
me anywhere, it's just my interest.
3:26
I'll study something I'm actually interested in.
3:28
But I picked a few botany and taxonomy courses in.
3:32
I mean, I did, I did some propagation and nursery work and
3:34
blah, blah, blah. But yeah, picked botany and
3:37
taxonomy and I mean, I, I was already kind of into plant
3:41
names, but that just opened up like a whole new world of how
3:45
things are related and how their scientific names will like
3:48
reflect something about the plant.
3:50
It's really boring when it's like a guy's name, but like
3:53
longer folio, it's got long leaves and stuff like that.
3:56
And it's just, I don't know, it's something you can sort of
3:59
get stuck into and. And like you said, if you're,
4:04
you've got this like urge to learn and kind of keep going
4:07
with something and dive into it like fully, then obviously when
4:12
you take any kind of subject matter, you're going to just
4:14
dive into it 100% and really want to learn it.
4:17
But see, for me, I struggle with remembering all of the different
4:21
names and things and, and I'll call things by their visual
4:25
description. So I'd be like, oh, you know
4:27
that one. That's the kind of this, it's
4:29
got this little blue flower and it kind of smells like this or
4:31
it looks, you know, whatever. That's my description of a
4:35
plant. And usually I can't even
4:36
remember the, the basic name. So I can't even remember
4:40
people's names. You're not good with people.
4:42
'S. Names, yeah, but so so like, is
4:46
it like sort of seeing an old friend where you kind of go, oh,
4:48
that's so and so the long leafed someone, you know, blah, blah,
4:53
blah, whatever it is? And are you thinking kind of in
4:57
terms of the everyday name that we think of or the long proper
5:03
Latin or wherever it's come from name?
5:06
It sort of depends. Like I still school stuff by
5:08
their common name and I still have brain farts all the time.
5:11
And I'm like, you know, like the, the plant with the, like
5:15
the long green leaves. But there's some plants I it
5:21
just depends. Some names really stick like
5:22
they, because they're Latin, they have that like kind of,
5:25
yeah. And that's their scientific
5:28
name. And some things I just call them
5:30
a common name, but I always, I try to make sure I've looked up
5:34
their scientific name at some point in time.
5:37
I remembered it. And sometimes I'll quiz myself
5:39
and then like what family they belong to.
5:40
I like to just, if I'm bored, we'll go around and we'll do a
5:42
little pop quiz of myself and see what I remember.
5:45
But. That's that's really clever.
5:47
So what does it involve studying?
5:51
So you studied botany and taxonomy.
5:54
And so I just did a certificate. I did a certificate in
5:56
horticulture through ACS, which is an online school, started off
6:02
as a horticultural school and he's branched out into lots of
6:04
other things. And then so I picked a
6:07
certificate in horticulture. And then I just picked like they
6:10
let you just pick your subject. So you sort of have to touch on
6:13
a few things, but I didn't have to specifically do their set.
6:16
So I picked Botany 1, Botany 2, taxonomy, propagation,
6:21
permaculture and something else. That sounds fun.
6:25
That sounds like it would be really interesting.
6:27
Anyway, I've I've thought about like kind of doing some extra
6:31
study. A lot of the types of things
6:32
that I've done are literally self learning.
6:36
So going onto the Internet, finding studies or finding
6:40
people that are, you know, good mentors type of thing, people
6:44
like yourself where I look up to and go, oh wow, they've already
6:47
studied it and they're explaining that's what this is,
6:49
that's what this does. And I'll go, cool.
6:51
And then I'll relay that and kind of put together all of
6:53
these different parts and live it.
6:56
Basically go out there and practice it and do what I do.
7:00
That's my way of learning. I can kind of get hands on and
7:03
stuff. But in school when you're
7:04
sitting down and you're kind of going, right, this one is this
7:08
one, and you're going to remember that, Nate, I'm out.
7:11
I'm thinking about what I'm doing later.
7:14
I used to love it, like I was the only one who loved exams.
7:17
I was just like, yeah, test my knowledge, see how much I know,
7:20
which is just. But that's cool because like it
7:23
just shows you know how that's a just a different way of.
7:27
Being. In different learning, you know,
7:29
and I really wish that I had a bit of your learning style
7:35
because that would work so well. It doesn't mean like, OK, so I
7:40
believe in scientific names, they help with things, but then
7:43
it doesn't matter at the same time, like it's, it's just
7:46
whatever floats your boat really.
7:48
Like just follow. Follow what you're interested
7:50
in. Exactly.
7:51
Well, yeah, exactly. But then, you know, I'm trying
7:54
to brush up on my knowledge so that even if, and by doing that
7:58
through experiencing it, through chatting to people, through
8:00
learning, through mentors, trying to gather all of that bit
8:03
of knowledge so that when I actually go and take off one of
8:06
these pieces of paper that I can really feel good about having
8:09
gone and, and worked hard for, I know probably most of it anyway
8:13
through just learning myself. So then I I can learn it that
8:16
way and kind of get that way. Well, that's hard of it.
8:19
Like some of the subject, some of the stuff I do used to think
8:22
none of this is really new, but it's just confirming it or
8:26
putting it like, yeah, taking the paper, I guess.
8:29
And then sometimes you learn stuff.
8:30
And then what I really like about ACS is you can study at
8:34
your own pace and then you get assigned a tutor for each
8:37
subject. So I actually developed a little
8:40
bit of a relationship with some of my tutors and you could ask
8:42
questions and, and just all of a sudden, he, one of the guys told
8:46
me the story about his daughter's spider Lily.
8:49
I can't think of a scientific name for that, but he's not even
8:54
spiderly spider plant, you know, like the.
8:55
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, indoor ones.
8:57
I just got one. Yeah.
8:58
Sitting on his daughter's window sill and how happy it was rah,
9:01
rah. And it was just this whole like,
9:04
yeah, it's just nice to meet people to learn.
9:08
Yeah, I like structured learning, but that's because
9:10
that's how my brain works. I totally agree with you though,
9:13
being immersed in it with people who are already living that
9:17
everyday and and know the subject matter really well,
9:21
that's super important. I totally agree.
9:23
That's what the people part of it is.
9:26
It's passing on the knowledge. It's like learning stuff and
9:29
passing it on. Yeah, even going, even going
9:31
back to when I was at uni, the best lecturer we had was the guy
9:36
who used to be on board a ship all the time.
9:37
Like he would just have all these hands on stories about.
9:41
So when I say I started engineering, so I did naval
9:43
architecture. So designing ships, he'd have
9:46
all these stories about what makes like a good seaworthy ship
9:49
and what people want to work on as opposed to just the
9:54
theoretical tick the boxes. Yeah, yeah.
9:56
So yeah, it's definitely, that's definitely, that's just.
9:59
So interesting boats as well. That's what.
10:03
That's cool. Maybe a conversation for another
10:06
time because that's just got my sparked my interest.
10:08
I want to write it down and just be like, let me talk about that.
10:12
Yeah, sorry, that's kind of totally distracted me.
10:16
We we can go. I want to go into more of the
10:20
kind of writing stuff. So you got into all of this
10:26
horticultural botany blah blah blah certificate and then you're
10:31
making this change of your career change.
10:36
How, how did you do that navigate moving into doing
10:41
things like writing, like speaking, like getting involved
10:44
in all of the different and places like in events like where
10:46
I met you and how like what's that transition like from
10:51
something that's like this career you've really worked hard
10:53
on? And then you kind of just go, I
10:54
want to change and what's that like?
10:58
Good so I started so I did my study and I I started my website
11:03
it's like I'm a little bit behind the times with social
11:05
media and things so I've started like A blog blog type thing I
11:10
just write short little articles, usually focusing on
11:14
different plants and just try and have fun facts.
11:16
Lots of learning that's kind of hidden in amongst what I think
11:19
humour. Nobody asked me but yeah.
11:23
So I started with that and I was like, I actually really enjoy
11:26
the writing because it's, I like I, I pick a subject and usually
11:30
it comes really easy. Like if I, if it's not coming
11:32
easy, I'll just write about something else.
11:34
So. Yeah.
11:36
True, but like I'll pick a plant and I'll sort of usually
11:39
something I'm growing in the garden and something's it's
11:42
flowering or I've just found out something new about it and I was
11:45
like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
11:46
And then I'll give a quick, this is a scientific name, usually
11:49
try and pull like explain where the name comes from because it's
11:54
it's just that little bit, little bit of learning if you
11:56
just keep hearing stuff and just keep associating the different
11:59
Latin words with, with their traits.
12:02
It's the story that comes with it though, too.
12:04
I, I find people remember a story or something that comes
12:07
with that. So if you go, oh, it was from
12:09
this guy that travelled through blah, blah, blah, discovered
12:12
this and he found and he, you know, whatever.
12:14
And you remember that and you go, oh, that's the one that that
12:16
guy discovered. Yeah, and just like Dinella
12:21
brevafolia, like it's pretty is short and Folia is foliage, like
12:26
it's something because it's got a short foliage.
12:28
It is just little bit that it just, it just clicks.
12:30
And then I try and find something interesting and I put
12:32
that in there and then that's it.
12:34
And so I started doing that and then I was like actually really,
12:37
really enjoy the writing, which is interesting because I was
12:40
never really like the English person at school like I was, but
12:44
I was like, ah, quite enjoy this.
12:46
And I decided I wanted to try and write for something that
12:51
wasn't just my web page that probably only has 50 people that
12:54
I know who read it. So I thought I'll try and find a
12:58
local paper. And I reached out to the local
13:02
paper here. I had a look and I was like,
13:04
hey, you guys don't have a garden colonist, colonist.
13:07
Do you want one? And they're like, yeah, sure,
13:09
that'd be great. And that was it.
13:11
So I started. So they're monthly.
13:13
So I write for that. You can find it on.
13:15
So that's the community leader they.
13:16
We'll try and link everything that you're doing and written
13:20
writing in below. So and so just say, Yep, we'll
13:23
link that and then we're off you.
13:25
Can link it below. But they do Bayside sort of
13:27
where I am and then the Redlands area.
13:30
So I did that and then that was great.
13:32
And I thought, well, one day it'd be nice if this was not
13:36
maybe not necessarily a full time career, but something that
13:39
you can sort of grow old with. Yeah, totally.
13:42
Well to work on the tools anymore.
13:44
And, and so I joined. Oh, so I did start giving it
13:49
was, it was actually a old friend from school, his mum that
13:52
I met at a kids birthday party and she's like, do you give
13:55
garden talks? Like my Garden Club would love
13:57
to hear you talk. And I was like, yeah, cool.
14:00
So I did that. Got my name in the QCGC.
14:05
Something something in Queensland garden councils.
14:08
Oh yes. Yeah, I've got my name in there.
14:10
I've done a few different talks for different garden clubs and
14:15
then yes, then I thought maybe this is something I want to keep
14:18
going with. So joined HMAA, which is the
14:20
Horticultural Media Association and then that is how I got
14:24
involved in the Queensland Garden Show.
14:27
So to, I hadn't been to any of their meeting, hadn't been to
14:32
any meetings, but I went to their Christmas lunch and I met
14:35
Tom, who does the giant kitchen garden, and he says, hey, you
14:38
want to help? And I was like, yeah.
14:40
And that was it. So yeah, it's good.
14:43
Yeah, it's great. I think so.
14:46
Are you now full full time, are you moving over yet or are you
14:48
still doing a bit of both? Because I know that you.
14:51
Full time gun maintenance now. So quit my job, called my boss
14:55
in, and I said, oh, look, I'm leaving.
14:59
And she was like, I thought that would be what this meeting's
15:01
about. And I said, yeah, I'm going to
15:02
go into garden maintenance. And she's like, whoa, I wasn't
15:05
expecting that. Yeah, like, yeah, I just.
15:09
Try applied for. I was just like no that's it I'm
15:11
tired I want to change. Applied for a job, did a couple
15:14
of trials and got one. That's amazing.
15:17
I think I spoke to Carla, which would have been in a previous
15:21
episode that came out. She, she speaks about this
15:25
mentality of just saying yes and just kind of like, you know,
15:28
being really open to, to changing and pivoting.
15:30
I think a lot of people will get really, I guess nervous or
15:35
anxious about making that kind of switch, especially if it's
15:38
something you've worked on for so long and it's in your
15:41
wheelhouse and you've got, you know, a comfortable job or
15:44
whatever it is. It's hard to break out of that.
15:47
Yeah, Yeah, it is. I struggled.
15:49
So it was really only so. My husband was also a naval
15:54
architect. He also decided he didn't want
15:56
to do that anymore and he is now a windsurfing coach.
16:01
Goodness me. Yeah, so he's done.
16:03
So we call them lifestyle jobs. He's done that.
16:06
And he was the one who just pushed me.
16:08
He's like, just go for it. And I was all like, oh, but I've
16:11
got like a comfortable job and rah, rah.
16:13
And this is what I know. And he's like, just just do it.
16:15
Just give it a shot. What's the worst that can
16:17
happen? That's amazing.
16:19
I love the fact. That you are.
16:20
And I was like, oh, fair enough. Yeah, I love the fact that
16:23
you're both doing that together. That's crazy cool.
16:25
But it's, it just shows that you can be so much happier and more
16:28
fulfilled doing something, even if it's a pivot, you know, it's
16:32
whatever it is. The thing that got me was in my
16:35
old job, like watching the guys do what we did, They were super
16:40
passionate about it and I was just jealous.
16:43
It was like, I'm doing the same thing as you, but I'm jealous of
16:46
you because you really, really enjoy it.
16:47
And I'm kind of bit like. Yeah.
16:50
So, but yeah, so now I'm doing something that I'm passionate
16:54
about and it's just, it's this makes life so much more
16:57
enjoyable. I mean, like, there's still hard
16:58
days, but on the whole you move. Yeah, Yeah, it's just better.
17:02
Especially when your passion shines through what you're
17:05
doing. So then people are kind of
17:07
infected by that and they they get motivated by you and they're
17:11
kind of inspired, which obviously I am of you in doing
17:14
that and going and doing all this crazy studying and then
17:17
pivoting and coming back a different way.
17:19
That's amazing. You've done your podcast.
17:22
Well, I, I've done similar things, just kind of pivoting
17:25
out and trying to make something of this passion.
17:29
So that's kind of, and you know, a lot of the reason why I like
17:33
talking to people like yourself and all of these amazing people
17:36
I get to chat to is that I get to just have my passion come
17:40
out. I have these conversations
17:41
anyway, you know, like you go home and it's what would you
17:44
spend your spare time doing or what would you spend your time
17:48
doing if money was no object? And I'm that really like hit
17:52
home for me and think, you know what, what do I actually come
17:55
home and do I just tinker around in the garden.
17:57
I love to talk to people about stuff and teach people stuff.
18:01
So let's try and just do that, but on a more public scale and
18:05
try and turn that into something.
18:07
But yeah, amazing. So then the speaking and the
18:11
writing and all of this kind of thing, what I think the speaking
18:17
is probably got somewhat more of longevity because of the
18:21
introduction of things like AI with writing tools.
18:25
And that's. True.
18:27
How do you see that kind of future with writing and
18:30
magazines and news columns and things, with the fact that we're
18:36
getting to the point where this technology is able to answer all
18:39
these questions straightforward? It's kind of creepy.
18:45
I'm not, I must admit, like I come from a technology
18:47
background, but I'm not real keen on AI.
18:48
It's it's good for some things. It's not quite there for a lot
18:51
of things. I must submit.
18:52
Always check it, but I think I with that being said, we could
18:58
have III for talks too. It'd just be really for a lot of
19:02
place, but I'm sure they can come out with that.
19:04
It's just, I think it's learning and it's the same if you're
19:09
particularly if you're writing from someone you know, so you're
19:12
reading someone's writing who you know, what you've heard on,
19:15
so you're associating that. It's not just.
19:17
That's a. Very good point.
19:19
Like in some some bits and magazines and some articles,
19:25
it's like the interaction with the audience and the ability to
19:27
ask questions. And it's still like the people,
19:31
the people interaction thing, right?
19:33
Like that's what people like and particularly those who garden.
19:36
Like we're not techno geeks. We we like having like the soil
19:42
in our fingers and being outside, having fresh air and
19:44
just being a little bit more natural.
19:45
So I'd like to think that people still want to hear from a real
19:49
person. I'm pleased you said that and I
19:51
think you've hit some really good points because one is that
19:55
thing that you said the familiarity where they you've
19:58
built this trust with somebody already.
20:01
They you know, they are a real person and you know that
20:05
whatever they say is built on this foundation of trust.
20:09
So that's really amazing. But then also the stories thing
20:13
feel like having this human connection to what's going on
20:16
and AI is somewhat like quote UN quote perfect, right where?
20:22
You ask it to do something and it will do something the best
20:24
and most efficient way or whatever.
20:27
Yeah. Humans don't do things the most
20:29
best and efficient way, especially like if you watch me
20:32
try and do something, it's certainly not the most efficient
20:35
or whatever. It's a bit clumsy.
20:37
But that's, that's the fun of, of being human, right?
20:39
It's this humanized thing. And I'll reference something
20:44
really quickly in music, all right, because I come from a big
20:47
music background. When you write music, especially
20:51
with the digital format that we have on computers and stuff
20:54
these days, they have this kind of like grid, which sets out the
20:58
bars and the beats of the music. And when you play it in and add
21:02
in all of your things, there's this option to or, you know,
21:07
skill to input humanization, which means that it's not
21:12
perfectly on every single grid line and it's not perfectly
21:16
matched to the exact mathematics.
21:19
And what that does is it changes the complete feel of that song.
21:23
It feels so much more authentic when you just throw everything
21:28
off slightly. It's just moving things with a
21:31
slight imperfection. And that is what makes or breaks
21:34
the music. So this human element is
21:37
something that we're just not going to, well, I feel at least
21:41
personally, we're not going to. We're going to crave still in
21:44
all of these things. So yeah, yeah, we might.
21:48
We might have a hologram for speaking, but yeah.
21:51
Yeah. Well, and if, if people want to
21:53
learn, like, you know, if you're learning something new, you're
21:56
going to make mistakes. So you kind of want to hear what
21:59
mistakes other people have made. And like, you might learn from
22:03
them, you might not. I tend not to learn from other
22:05
people's mistakes myself, but it just, it validates you.
22:11
Like it's like, oh, it's OK to make mistakes because look at
22:14
this person who I actually quite respect and look at the dumb
22:17
things they've done before. So like it's, yeah, I just think
22:22
that interaction and the people and and hearing from someone
22:27
will be better. Yeah, definitely.
22:29
And then instead of I guess, yeah, looking to all of these
22:34
things online and going into AI and stuff, you're more present
22:38
in your garden and thinking about stories and connection and
22:42
community and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the things that
22:44
I love to preach about. Yeah, let let's talk about your
22:47
garden. You let me let me try and
22:51
remember 2018 is that when you moved into your property where
22:55
you are? We did January 2018 and it was a
22:58
little 3 bedroom weather board house on the big block of grass.
23:04
Beautiful. There's no weeds even we won't.
23:06
Maybe we won't go as far as cooling at grass.
23:08
We'll call it moan moan, low green things.
23:11
Amazing and having a clean slate.
23:14
Is that was that exciting to you?
23:16
Yeah, that was the best because I didn't have to, I like to say,
23:20
argue with my mother about taking anything out.
23:22
I mean, I'm a I'm a grown woman. Like I have my interests, but I
23:26
know that so and I have and I've done gardening on my own terms
23:31
as well and I do it differently to her, but I still look up to
23:35
her, right? Like she, she has a beautiful
23:37
garden. I learnt lots of things from
23:38
her. And I know that if we'd, I'd had
23:42
stuff in the garden, she would have been like, it's OK, just
23:45
leave that and I'd be like, and my husband would be like, I
23:49
don't care. The garden's not my thing.
23:52
So it was just nice to be clean and, and well, I'd like to say
23:57
not have any challenges. You don't have to work around
23:59
anything, but the fact that there was an empty slate is
24:02
challenging itself, particularly when you're like me and like,
24:07
I'm not really a garden, I'm not really into garden design.
24:10
Like it's good to have structural elements and have a
24:13
bit of cohesion, but I'm a plant person and I just want one of
24:17
everything. Like don't, I'm sort of trying
24:21
to make a style out of it, but it's really just a bit
24:23
mismatched. So the challenge then is to make
24:28
sure it has some sort of cohesion.
24:29
And so I, I broke it up and, and so I started small, like I
24:33
started with this tiny little 1m by 1m patch near the front gate
24:37
just at the beginning, like, because you know, when you move
24:39
into your house, there's so much stuff that has to be done.
24:41
And I didn't have time to start on the garden straight away, but
24:44
you just start with a little patch of flowers and that was
24:46
fine. And then I'd expand and put in
24:48
garden beds sort of around the house, but I had, I kind of had
24:51
rules about them. So the front of the house, the
24:55
house space is north and I'm really into edibles and I have
25:00
worked out that I'm more into perennials that don't require as
25:02
much effort. Not as well as tomato grower.
25:05
I do have a mad Keen Snoopy crop at the moment though.
25:08
So but yeah, so the front of the house facing north.
25:12
So I was like, right, I want to put a lot of veggies in here or
25:15
so that was everything in that garden bed that I did had to be
25:18
edible. So if I have a guy, I have a
25:21
veggie patch out the back as well.
25:24
And the front is a bit more food foresty because there's, I mean,
25:29
we're on a cul-de-sac. There's not that many people,
25:30
but there's a limit to how much out the front gardening I want
25:33
to do in my 90. I agree.
25:35
So it's a bit, it's quite food foresty, but that was the rule
25:37
for that. And then I was working on the
25:39
the fence line between US and the neighbors who I sort of
25:42
wanted to block out entirely, but, you know, have a bit of
25:46
have a. Little privacy.
25:47
So, yeah, so everything will need to be scented.
25:50
So then it's the challenge was to find something that that fit
25:53
that kind of slimmish hedgeish something.
25:56
But it had to smell nice and it had to be something that I like
25:58
the smell of. And yeah, so I sort of just
26:00
worked with vague theories and put my own rules on it so that
26:07
it was a bit of a challenge and it didn't just become too
26:09
mismatched. That sounds fun though, because
26:11
I, I get totally what you mean about just wanting the plants
26:15
that you want. And that's like that's something
26:18
that with the garden designers that I've spoken to, they will
26:23
come in and they have to be the the realist to us dreamers and
26:27
saying like, hey, like, look, yeah, the soil quality you have
26:32
here is not going to suit that plant or whatever it is, like
26:35
that kind of thing. So I mean, we need a bit of
26:38
both, right? And you sort of meet in the
26:40
middle. I guess what you would come up
26:42
against is then what's going to grow well in what part of your
26:47
garden, You might try something, you might have this idea, OK,
26:49
I'm going to put this there and then it gets sizzled 1 summer or
26:52
something and then you know, OK, well, I'm going to have to
26:55
either provide something next to it to give it some shade or I'm
26:58
going to have to try it somewhere else.
27:02
Is that kind of the approach that you took once you could see
27:05
the property over a full year and all the different weather?
27:08
Yeah, trying to fit it in somewhere where it fit in with
27:12
the plants around it. So it's like in and there's
27:15
areas I'm sort of starting to set up irrigation, but there's
27:19
areas that you see all the time, so it can have a lot of
27:21
attention. So you put you sort of your more
27:23
special things there and you put more Hardy stuff further away.
27:25
Like, that's the whole permaculture zones thing.
27:29
So you've got to find a spot where you plant matches the
27:31
other things with water requirements.
27:33
And then it has the right sun and it fits in with the like the
27:35
rules I've made, which can be a bit tricky.
27:38
And then the boundaries start to blur.
27:41
Now. Wild.
27:43
But yeah, it's just that, yeah, trying to fit it all in and not
27:50
I like 1. My boss actually said that
27:52
earlier. Well, you've really got one of
27:53
everything. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not
27:54
into, I've seen his designs. He's very repetitive and it does
27:58
make for a beautiful garden design.
27:59
But that's not me. Like I'm a plant person.
28:01
Like I said, I just want to collect, collect them all.
28:04
Isn't that a Pokémon? Yeah.
28:06
Pokémon thing so and just yeah, it's just trying to fit them all
28:09
in. That's cool.
28:11
And then how much are you thinking about, because
28:14
obviously you work with a lot of flowers or flowering plants and
28:18
a lot of colour in your garden across the year.
28:22
Are you planning and thinking about colours and where or when
28:27
sorry they are flowering in terms of that or or?
28:30
Just I like pink. So generally we just go with
28:33
pink is good. I'm not into but then it
28:37
depends. Some plants you just like and
28:38
they don't come in pink and you're like, so I do sort of
28:43
think to that occasionally I have theories like one of the
28:46
garden beds is a bit more pinky orange and then I've got another
28:49
garden bed that I'm sort of more bluey purple, but.
28:54
It changes. It just, it changes.
28:56
It changes and I never really think about when things flower.
28:59
As long as I've got stuff that's in flower all the time, yeah,
29:02
I'm happy. That's amazing.
29:04
What's your Hey guys, really quickly jumping in.
29:08
I just want to remind you if you are not subscribed to this show,
29:12
that is the number one thing that you can do to show me your
29:15
support. So if you're finding value from
29:17
this conversation and you're deeply engaged, I would love you
29:20
to hit the follow or subscribe button.
29:22
All right. Back to you.
29:22
Thanks. Feeding like for your garden,
29:26
How are you? How do you feed the soil?
29:29
How do you feed the plants? Oh yeah, so, so.
29:33
It will change for a few different things, obviously.
29:36
Yeah, so where I am, where I'm sort of on the, not quite on the
29:40
Creek bed, but we've got very silty, sandy kind of soil.
29:44
So I try to feed fairly regularly because it just washes
29:47
through. Yeah.
29:49
So I like organics. I use a lot of organic chicken
29:52
poo type things and I've really gotten into earth life.
29:59
Yeah. Rock manuals.
30:00
Exactly, Ling them around like there's no tomorrow sometimes.
30:04
Amazing, but you have your own chickens too, don't you?
30:07
I do have my own chickens, so the the theory with them
30:09
originally was that I was like a free chicken poop.
30:11
But yeah, I don't know. Oh, that whole thing is just so
30:17
they're free range. So that's an interesting concept
30:20
in itself because I've got so many little chicken, like
30:24
chicken wire mesh, cagey things, protecting stuff while it gets
30:28
established. And everyone's like phantoms.
30:30
Phantoms don't destroy your garden.
30:32
Yes, they. Do big holes still?
30:34
They're actually really lazy at the moment.
30:36
So that's good. And then then I get lulled into
30:37
this sense of self sense of security.
30:40
Like I'm like, oh, they're fine. And then I dig me up and
30:42
everything. And then you wait, the weather
30:44
will warm up and they'll be like grubs, right?
30:46
We're into it. So I do have chickens.
30:49
I clean them out. We cleaned that creep out for
30:52
regular and that just goes straight into the compost.
30:54
I went through a phase of trying to rot it in a bucket and it
30:57
just got smelly and gross and I got time for this.
31:01
So I've got two big compost phase where all of my clippings
31:05
go. I used to just Chuck it all in
31:07
there Hollis bolas, but I've actually bought myself a chipper
31:10
now. So cool fix.
31:12
And then every now and again I get my chipper out and then I
31:14
chip it all 'cause it just rots down so much.
31:16
Better. And isn't it the most
31:17
therapeutic thing ever, chipping something like through putting
31:19
this like enormous branch through it?
31:21
Gets jammed and then you've got to UN unwind it.
31:24
Everybody in there bloody safety requirements 'cause it screws
31:27
down, you've got to screw it off like no, sorry that you couldn't
31:31
put your hand into the chipper anyway, you know what you mean
31:34
this night not get it and it when I like had a run of not
31:37
getting chipper jet like I'm like yeah, I'm on to it.
31:41
So yeah, so that's really good. So then I, yeah, make my own
31:44
corpus and the chicken food just goes in there and I think Oh
31:46
well, and then whatever they go around the garden just enriches
31:49
everything. Yeah exactly.
31:50
Really well. They walk around, they fertilize
31:53
as they're going. That's the, that's the whole
31:55
benefit. And then have you ever used the
31:58
chickens to turn the compost? No, sometimes they get in there.
32:02
I don't got little chickens. Yeah, I suppose.
32:05
Yeah, with Bantams it's a little bit different, but yeah, I'll
32:07
certainly. I was in there digging it out
32:09
once, and they'll get in there once I'm turning it over.
32:12
But yeah, yeah, they don't really do it themselves.
32:15
They're bloody lady chickens preloaders.
32:17
That's cool, that's cool. And you're so we got to the
32:23
stage where you started putting in like all these different
32:25
garden beds around and and changing and things like that.
32:28
Do you have any plans for anymore?
32:30
Can you fit anymore or are we at capacity?
32:35
We're at capacity with the garden bed type situation.
32:38
I mean, you can always change stuff, but like the whole garden
32:42
is I've got some lawnish sort of you've.
32:46
Got lots and you've got things in pots, right?
32:48
Yeah, and I've got things in pots.
32:49
I wish I wouldn't do pots, but we've had so much rain.
32:51
It just gets like, it's like, oh, it's fine, I can keep them
32:54
water until we get the next drought.
32:55
And we're like, what? Oh, they're pots going.
32:59
I've got a few fruit trees in pots that are irrigated.
33:03
None of them are fruiting, but that's that point because just
33:07
I've got it. So yeah, no more plans for new
33:10
garden beds, but there's always plans for new plants.
33:13
Yes, yes. Like little redo sections and
33:17
things like that. And I've recently just redone my
33:19
veggie patch because it got embarrassing, to be perfectly
33:23
honest. And I've fenced it off entirely
33:25
from the chickens now. So it's just this lovely little
33:29
Zen area you can go into and be like, ha ha, ha, I'm in here and
33:32
you're out there. So yeah, just redone that so
33:35
that that was something. There's always projects.
33:39
There is. Hey.
33:40
And yeah, with your veggies, are you growing stuff that you just
33:46
like to eat? Are you trying to mix and match
33:49
and just grow a bit of everything?
33:50
Like your flowers where you're collecting plants, you're trying
33:53
to grow a bit of every vegetable.
33:55
Or are we trying to? No, I tend to grow, try and grow
33:58
what I eat. So I've got like the food forest
34:01
area at the front, which has got like some citrus trees and sweet
34:06
potato on the ground, which I never, I thought I would harvest
34:09
the tubers, but because I just let it go, they never get very
34:12
big and they're just pathetic. We do eat the leaves a fair bit
34:15
and stir fries. Cool.
34:16
So that's really good. And then out the back in the
34:20
veggie patch, I try and grow things I like.
34:23
Like I've got lots of herb because I'm really big on herbs,
34:25
so lots of herbs. I don't really like leafy
34:28
greens, but I try and grow some because they're good for you.
34:31
Snow peas. I'll always have a crack at
34:33
tomatoes so. Yeah.
34:35
I said eggplants. I really like eggplants.
34:37
I've actually turned one of the beds I've I've got some spring
34:41
onions in there at the moment, but it's actually my dahlia
34:43
patch. So I decided I need more
34:46
flowers, but I try and integrate like I've got a few perennial.
34:52
So I got really into the the perennial green alternative type
34:57
things. And there's a lot of them are
34:59
disgusting, to be honest. And I was like, just because you
35:01
can't and it doesn't mean you should.
35:03
But I've actually got a few that are like Okinawan spinach.
35:05
I quite like the sambang, Brazilian spinach, a few of
35:09
those and I try and just integrate them in the garden.
35:11
Like I've also got like a jackfruit tree at the back and a
35:14
custard apple which is never fruited.
35:16
Oh, I saw you take that jackfruit off crazy big have Did
35:21
you eat it? Yeah, so I we eat them green.
35:25
I processed them and then we put them in like curries and tacos
35:28
and yeah, pulled, pulled pork, jackfruit burgers.
35:31
Yeah, that's amazing. I've seen.
35:32
I've had one jackfruit ripe once and I've like that.
35:35
What's what's? Yeah, because I've only eaten
35:38
them when someone's cooked them, like you just said, like as a a
35:41
filling of some sort. What's what's their what are
35:44
they like ripe? What's is it a fruit more fruity
35:47
or? Yeah, it's fruity.
35:48
Like it's sweet fruity, but that tropical kind.
35:52
I mean, I don't know, some of them are apparently better
35:54
eating than others. This was one random piece I had
35:57
when we were overseas once, but it was just to.
36:01
Just no thanks. Yeah.
36:03
I was like, Nah, Nah, I'll just keep eating it green.
36:07
So yeah, I really like integrating veggies and
36:10
ornamentals. But like, originally I had views
36:15
of growing broccoli amongst my flowers.
36:17
And you've sort of got to be a bit more realistic.
36:20
Like, yeah, like all your annual veggies are really high
36:23
maintenance and and high feeding and like it's not practical to
36:29
have them scattered everywhere amongst the gardens.
36:31
So I've got more of the perennial things or some of the
36:34
self seeding things that like Celtus that just come up and go
36:38
wherever. But and then yeah, all of the
36:42
the annual more focused crops, you want to say I stick them,
36:46
keep them in the veggie patch? That's cool.
36:48
And you have a lot of sun, a lot of light at the at your place.
36:51
Yeah, yeah, we are pretty lucky. So there's a big decoranda tree
36:54
in the neighbour's yard, but that's kind of on the southern
36:57
side, so it gives us a little bit of shade in one area.
37:00
My veggie patch could have a little bit more sun, but you
37:04
know, I manage. And yeah, out the front is
37:06
pretty much full sun because it's all N facing so.
37:09
Yeah, OK, cool. Because I like I put out this, I
37:12
put out a post recently just kind of asking in general for
37:15
people to say what they struggle with most in their garden.
37:21
And because like I preach a lot of stuff that's kind of like
37:27
ideal situation based, you know what I mean?
37:30
We're aiming for what we're aiming for, but the reality is
37:33
like we don't all have full sun, which was a big one that came up
37:37
in. This I even like more.
37:38
So like we're lucky so our block is 600 square meters and our
37:41
house is quite small and we've put a deck on, but it's still
37:44
quite small and we're in a cul-de-sac and we're facing the
37:47
right way, which is a big part of me when what I wanted to buy
37:51
was something that I could have a good garden in.
37:53
But it's hard enough for people to find somewhere to live, let
37:56
alone to find somewhere to live with lots of sun.
37:59
And the density the buildings get, the less and less sun
38:02
everyone has. So it gets really tricky when
38:04
people people really want to garden and really want to grow
38:07
their own food. And you're like, well, you can
38:09
grow lettuce. Yeah, exactly.
38:11
And it came up a lot, you know, more than I thought initially
38:17
that it would come up a lot. And yeah, I was just, it got me
38:20
really thinking. Another one that came up was
38:22
weeds. Obviously that's like universal
38:26
about everybody dealing with a garden, but that one's easier to
38:29
tackle for me. The the other one was pests.
38:34
Yeah, OK. Insects, you know, everywhere is
38:37
fairly out of whack in terms of balance of predatories versus,
38:40
you know, praying stuff. So yeah, we're you're going to
38:45
be stuck a lot of the time with those types of things.
38:47
I'm talking about a whole circle approach where, you know, you've
38:50
got a balance of everything. We're trying to balance out the
38:52
ecosystem, which is the ideal. But then not everybody's living
38:56
with the situation. So it really got me like
38:59
thinking, OK, how can how can we help more people do things like
39:03
this? And what sort of strategies can
39:05
I come up with that tackle some of these things for people who
39:08
are wanting to just grow in their home space and in their
39:13
environment? I was wondering if you could
39:17
touch on like one or two of them.
39:18
For me, the first one was like lighting.
39:22
As I said, you most, most people, you're just going to
39:25
either have to deal with what you've got or add in some sort
39:28
of supplementary lighting. I was thinking about mirrors,
39:31
these types of things to try and strategically angle the sun.
39:34
But you got to be careful. It doesn't like burn anything
39:37
too crazy or, or color white balls.
39:39
Things like there's more reflection maybe, you know, you
39:44
probably like that one's a hard one, but what would you say for
39:47
people who are dealing with weeds?
39:50
Because my attitude is to get to understand them a little bit
39:55
more as to what they're doing, where they're coming from and
39:59
why. So then we can try and do that
40:02
job with maybe a slightly nicer plant.
40:06
And then kind of understanding, I guess that you know they are
40:11
you, we're going to have to live with these things a little bit.
40:13
What would what do you do for weeds?
40:15
How do you deal with weeds and what would you say to people
40:18
that are struggling? OK, so I just want to go, can we
40:21
just go back to the light thing for a second?
40:23
Oh, please, yeah, please add one.
40:24
Yeah. So yeah, painting white mirrors,
40:28
that's great. A lot of veggies do actually
40:29
need direct sunlight like. That proper?
40:32
Yeah. So grow what you can.
40:34
You can't like depending on how thin you want to get indoor
40:38
plant people always have grow lights.
40:40
You could always set up some sort of little system and pots
40:45
or movable wicking bed type things is another sort of
40:48
possibility that you could work with.
40:51
But if you're lacking a little bit of light, the best, like
40:55
there's, there's a limit to how much you can do, but you need to
40:58
have everything else on point. Then like if that's the thing,
41:01
you're not quite right to push that edge, you're going to have
41:03
everything else on point. And that would be soil health.
41:06
And then that's the same as weeds, like so different weeds
41:10
will tell you different things about your soil health.
41:13
I know things with a taproot are telling you that it's a bit
41:17
compacted. Things like Cobblers, pegs are
41:20
saying it's actually quite rich. There's other things that'll
41:22
only grow in sandy soil. If you're into that sort of
41:26
stuff, check out Kate Walls working with weeds.
41:29
Well, your improvement anyway, because she talks about that.
41:31
Great. Yeah, really good.
41:34
So work on your soil health mulch.
41:37
Mulch is really important. And there comes to the point
41:39
like if your your seed load, seed load, seed load is too big,
41:43
they're going to keep coming up. So mulch well and you're just
41:47
going to have to weed sometimes. But you get to that point like
41:51
if you mulch really well. And I'm a big fan.
41:53
So I set up most all of my garden beds.
41:56
I sheet mulch with newspaper, yes, and then mulch over the
42:00
top. So my veggie patches I sheet
42:02
mulched over the grass and I did layers of compost and manure and
42:06
store and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
42:08
And for all the other veggie beds, I just sheet mulched over
42:12
the grass and put mulch. So news, lots of newspaper thick
42:15
lots of newspaper really well overlapped because I can get up
42:17
in the in the gaps they can and then put mulch over the top and
42:22
just let it all break down. So that will reduce a lot of
42:25
your seat load to start with because that stuff dies and then
42:30
you just stay on top of it. But I find that like if you keep
42:32
your mulch up, don't have bare exposed soil, have healthy
42:36
plants, like I have a pretty big garden.
42:39
I don't really have that many weeds.
42:40
Like I'm quite eagle eyed. And if I see them, I get on top
42:43
of them really early. Yeah, but that's part of just
42:47
going out. And that was a part of that.
42:50
My veggie patch got way, way overgrown because I had it all
42:53
fenced off really awkwardly to keep the chickens out because
42:55
the chickens love digging in it. And then it got too hard.
42:59
And then I didn't weed. And then the more you didn't
43:01
weed and the more weeds that come, the more you just don't.
43:04
And it was just like, people would come to my garden and I'm
43:06
like, just don't look over there.
43:07
It was like some barren weedy. I don't have barren and weedy at
43:10
the same time, but. I know what you mean.
43:13
And then they go to seed. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
43:16
So I redid it all I got rid of. I used to have my veggie patches
43:19
with grass in between them, which I don't I don't do the
43:22
lawns boys job. Mitch was sick of my husband was
43:27
sick of mowing and whippers nipping in between them.
43:29
So I was like, right, I'm just I put newspaper down everywhere
43:32
and I put mulch down in between the beds.
43:34
Much better idea started again. We did it all fresh mulch and he
43:40
just every time you're out there picking something, if you see a
43:42
weed, just pick it and pull it and you I usually just Chuck
43:45
them like unless it's got seeds on it, in which case, oh, it's
43:48
the sort of weed that might reroute, but I can't think of
43:53
those that I've got. I do.
43:55
I have a bucket that just sits in the veggie patch and I just
43:57
wake them in there if I don't want to Chuck them anywhere.
44:00
But I'm very big on just picking a weed and chucking it somewhere
44:04
else. I love those tips.
44:06
Just quickly on, on that bucket thing that's I, I've done that
44:10
before just with an empty pot and just kind of throwing them
44:13
in and then I'll just pick them up and use that in a like a brew
44:18
or a ferment or something 'cause you can't.
44:20
Or just if, if they're not going to see it, if you've got them
44:23
early, like you said, you can throw them straight in the
44:25
compost or straight back on the beds.
44:27
Like if they're not going to re root or seed or anything.
44:29
Like that actually get back to the compost, but the compost is
44:32
a long way away. So that doesn't make it easy if
44:34
you've just got a bucket there and the bucket fills up in the
44:36
rain and like ferment on their own is just sludgy mess.
44:38
But you just want just make it easy for yourself.
44:41
Like, oh, you're picking dinner. Just go, oh, wait.
44:43
Just just the more you're out there, the more you see it.
44:46
But if you can keep your mulch up and you can have healthy soil
44:50
and well, like dense plantings your weed, your weeds aren't
44:54
usually too much. Yeah, you're absolutely right.
44:57
And those, those tips are, are wicked and fabulous.
45:02
So yeah, we covered a couple of those.
45:04
So there was lighting. Yeah, there was weeds, yeah.
45:09
Do you have anything on the pests that you you tackle and
45:12
how you work with insects in? Your body, yeah, that sort of
45:16
depends what the pests are. I'm really lazy.
45:20
I tend to just leave them and see what happens.
45:22
Occasionally that's. That's good though, probably.
45:23
That's not a good thing. My citrus bugs have got oh right
45:26
control. For citrus bugs, I recommend a
45:28
vacuum cleaner. Yeah.
45:30
I bought cheap vacuum cleaner from Kmart and I just go and
45:33
suck them up. It's actually quite therapeutic.
45:34
It's awesome, yeah. Yeah, for other pests I fight
45:40
like pests often attack unwell plants.
45:44
So again, it's back to soil health and making sure your your
45:47
things are, especially if you're growing like annual veggies.
45:51
They grow hard and fast. There are lots of food and if
45:53
you're not feeding them really well, they'll be a little bit
45:56
weak and sick and you get pests in.
45:59
So keep all your plants healthy. There's nothing you can do about
46:03
cabbage white butterflies except net like or just, or just deal
46:06
with it. I mean, I've got, I have a
46:08
couple broccolis to grow at the moment and they seem fun.
46:10
So also obviously in Brisbane, we grow our Nebraskas over
46:14
winter because they're a little bit less.
46:18
Other things I might pinch or I just just don't grow stuff that
46:22
gets covered. I mean, I mean, if we go to
46:25
ornamentals, like my roses often have aphids and I'm just like,
46:29
sure, probably fine. Like it's often the sappy growth
46:31
that the aphids go for and it hardens off and they disappear
46:33
or the ladybugs come in and it's fine.
46:35
Or if I really think of them, I'll squish them or hose them.
46:37
But you kind of just got to roll with it a little bit and maybe a
46:42
little bit of pest identification.
46:44
So you know what you can kind of get away with leaving.
46:48
And there's a few things that you really do need to get on top
46:50
of. I had been bean beetle, I think
46:57
it was called in my beans last summer.
46:58
And it was just little green bugs, bean bean bug, little
47:04
green thing. It was just atrocious.
47:06
And I was just like, that's the end of my crop and ripping it
47:08
all out and we'll see how I go this summer.
47:11
But if it doesn't work, I'll I'll try again.
47:13
I'm really not into spraying what I eat, regardless of what
47:19
you're spraying. Like it's just I'm going to eat
47:21
it. You're going to eat it.
47:22
So you want to make sure that whatever you're spraying is
47:24
something that you're going to eat.
47:26
Yeah. OK.
47:26
Things. You can, but I don't enjoy
47:30
spraying. Gardening should be fun so just
47:34
if it's not working, just RIP it out.
47:36
I like, yeah. Put that on AT shirt.
47:41
Do not let fruit fly get out of control.
47:42
So I had really bad fruit fly in my chilies once and I was like,
47:45
oh, just let it go. Yeah, that was not, not a good
47:48
idea. Staying on like particularly
47:52
grow, choose what you're growing well and bag it if you need to
47:55
and definitely pick up all of your fallen fruit.
47:57
Like don't just I'm a giant mess.
48:00
You've nailed so many good points there.
48:02
You're backing up a lot of what I talk about as well with the
48:06
healthy soil and and making sure that your plants have everything
48:10
they need so they're not giving off the single that their signal
48:12
that they need to come and be decomposed.
48:16
I never thought of it like that, but yeah, I guess that's.
48:18
It's basically that's it die and.
48:20
Help me die. Yeah, like the insects are there
48:23
for a reason. They're our our decomposers.
48:25
They're coming to come and take that away.
48:27
So that's kind of what they're doing.
48:28
They're going, hey, like we're not healthy, we're not work.
48:31
You need to come and send us on our way.
48:35
I think what you said as well about kind of the densely
48:40
planting for the weeds and things as well works well with
48:42
pests as well. If you're into planting and and
48:45
confusing stuff and putting things in different places,
48:48
traps and companions can work here and there.
48:52
But having that baseline knowledge, as you said, about
48:55
knowing, OK, that one, the aphids, I can leave a little bit
48:59
because we want to introduce, oh, there's a butterfly, sorry,
49:03
a ladybug larvae. And I know that that's bringing
49:08
in ladybugs and they're going to come and eat the aphids.
49:11
And we know that these types of relationships happen and we can
49:14
watch that and kind of, you know, OK, I'm going to monitor
49:17
that one for a bit and see how it goes versus something like
49:21
fruit fly where you go. We need some help ASAP in here
49:25
because that's going to go rampant and ruin everything.
49:31
Yeah, that's really that's covered so much of that kind of
49:34
topic because the pests and the weeds are ones that come up so
49:38
often for people growing in suburbia and too many people
49:44
including myself, I'm putting myself on notice here about
49:48
talking about this ideal kind of full circle scale approach.
49:51
Don't have that understanding from what it's like working with
49:57
minimal kind of, you know, they're unable to close the loop
50:02
and close the ecosystem. Yeah.
50:05
So like for instance, I live right next to a main road, I'm
50:07
trying to garden right on the side other side of the fence to
50:11
this main road and main bus stop and everything.
50:13
So hopefully me showing people that hey, like, look, I'm on the
50:17
other side to like a really dirty St. that where the bus
50:21
fumes come and just fill the air every 5 seconds.
50:25
We can still work on maybe the soil health and try and promote
50:29
that through the soil and kind of mitigate all those things and
50:33
show people all of these real life experiences.
50:36
Yeah. And I just thought of something
50:38
else. So I'm very big on like only do
50:43
as much as you can manage. So don't like you, you, you
50:48
might not have enough time. I don't I don't nowhere near
50:51
self-sustaining what I eat from the garden.
50:53
Like I'm good with my parsley. I never buy parsley, but
50:55
everything else like we shop and sometimes I just can't be
50:58
bothered going to the veggie patch and rather just pull it
51:00
from the fridge. But anyway.
51:03
So don't, don't over over exert yourself and stick to a patch
51:08
that you can manage because then you can keep it weighed and you
51:10
can be on top of your pests. But but at the same time, think
51:15
of your whole garden as a system.
51:16
You if you've only got that one square meter veggie patch that
51:20
you've got time for, that's fine.
51:22
Plant other stuff that doesn't require any effort but is still
51:26
going to build your ecosystem in the rest of your garden.
51:29
Like I think sometimes put in flowers to bring in beneficials
51:33
you don't have. It doesn't have to be stuff that
51:35
takes a lot of effort. It can just be natives.
51:38
It can just be other stuff. But don't just have your little
51:42
one square meter veggie patch surrounded by an empty lawn and
51:47
cement. Calling out to all the.
51:49
Insurance. It's gonna be harder for
51:50
yourself then. Yeah, really good point.
51:53
Because I think going back to that point about being a dreamer
51:58
and kind of wanting one of everything and having a fresh
52:02
open slather to go and go, I'm going to put this here and not
52:05
there. And very quickly, after six
52:08
months, two years, something like this, you're going to
52:10
realize that was too much. I can't keep up with the
52:12
maintenance. There's so much going on here.
52:16
So you do need to check yourself and be like, look, I need to
52:19
just work with how much time I have.
52:21
How much time do I actually have to be out in the garden?
52:25
Yeah, and you want to be enjoying the time you've in the
52:27
garden, not being like everything's overwhelming.
52:30
So just start small. We it's taken me a while to, to
52:33
get what I've got. You just add little bit by a
52:36
little bit, sort of get that under control, add a bit more.
52:39
And then you get to a point you're like, you know what, I'm
52:41
good. Like I haven't got time.
52:43
I haven't got time to do that. I just want this little bit
52:46
here. As long as as long as you just
52:49
do a life in your garden, I mean, I mean, if all you can
52:53
manage is 2 pots of herbs on your balcony and you don't have
52:55
another garden to add anything else to it, well, that's better
52:58
than nothing. It is.
52:59
Yeah. But low maintenance everywhere
53:01
else. Something that'll bring in all
53:03
the bit beneficial bugs. Yeah.
53:06
Beautiful. Can I ask what's on the top of
53:09
your mind at the moment with your next fascination and study?
53:14
Because you're obviously one that craves learning and is
53:19
excited by lots of things. What are you spending your time
53:23
thinking about at the? Moment I have actually enrolled
53:26
in another 3 subjects with ACS because why not?
53:32
So I work in, I do work in garden maintenance.
53:36
We're really lucky. We've got greenkeepers who do
53:38
the grass and the haute team, which is I'm part of them.
53:41
We just do the gardens. But I have had a number of
53:44
people ask me questions about their lawns that I couldn't
53:48
answer, and I didn't like that. So I've actually enrolled in a
53:50
few GRASS subjects. Amazing.
53:53
Which is really interesting because lawns can be just like
53:57
chemical pits like let's be honest, if you're looking after
54:01
a sports turf like that's just what it is.
54:05
But I've I've started with just turf ID like I just want to know
54:11
all the different different types of turfs one can grow.
54:14
So that's been really fun. And then I've, so that's the
54:16
subject I'm doing now and I've got another one on turf care and
54:19
I'm just interested to see how they do it.
54:22
I learn a lot from the greenkeepers I work with and
54:26
like, I take all that in. Like it's not like at work, we
54:30
never spray anything, but it's, it's good to have all that
54:32
knowledge and then you can see how it affects things if I
54:36
clearly do it differently at home.
54:38
I've actually, my husband doesn't even mow now because he
54:40
didn't do it often enough for me.
54:41
So I pay the kid up the street and I just we just mow it.
54:46
Like I don't spray it. I don't, I just embrace the way
54:49
he messed that it is. If it's short, it looks that is
54:53
to make your garden look nice, cut your lawn, do your edges and
54:57
mulch it. And then you can make anything
54:59
look so much better. So true.
55:02
But yeah, so that that's my next thing is just because I need to
55:05
know. I need to know how it works.
55:07
The more I can understand how things grow, what's important,
55:10
the more you can sort of change that would say change it to be
55:13
organic, like it was organic just or maybe it wasn't because
55:16
the turf's not a really natural thing.
55:17
But anyway, that's my current my current thing as I'm.
55:21
I love it. I knew there'd be something that
55:23
you're thinking about and you've got like some little project
55:26
that you're working on in terms of that.
55:28
What about? Yeah.
55:29
What about a home project or a home kind of outside of study
55:33
and things like that? What's what's next?
55:36
View in the garden or around the chickens, around the things like
55:39
this? Is there anything that you want
55:40
to be doing or implementing or happy happy camper?
55:45
I despite the fact we've had lots of rain and I try, I try
55:49
not to have a garden that relies heavily on irrigation, but I am
55:55
trying to rejig my Erie in some spots.
56:00
So I've got a whole bunch of irrigation pieces that are
56:02
sitting in the shed and have them put them together.
56:04
Garden lighting I've done, I've interred I got for my birthday,
56:08
birthday I got a soldering iron and some reels of cables.
56:11
So I've started like lighting up everything and connecting
56:13
everything. That's amazing.
56:16
So that's been kind of fun. I can solo solo the world
56:18
together much. That's great.
56:22
And yeah, I just, I'm just trying to get on top, on top
56:27
again, changing a few things and putting a few more bulbs out the
56:30
front and just, yeah, I don't know.
56:33
I haven't got anything big in the garden at the moment.
56:35
I'm actually quite happy. And I'm trying to be like, don't
56:37
you don't need something big all the time.
56:39
Like just enjoy the garden. Just enjoy it.
56:42
You don't have to be like, I like to be in it.
56:44
I love pruning. The problem with pruning is you
56:46
start pruning and the next minute you've got like a pile of
56:49
sticks and you're like, just cleared What?
56:51
I just put everything through the chipper and now another,
56:53
another pile. Yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to
56:57
enjoy it for what it is, I guess.
56:59
Add more light so I can see it at night time and yeah.
57:18
Beautiful. What an amazing way to wrap up
57:21
that conversation. Thank you again to Kat for
57:24
joining us. It's been so much fun getting to
57:26
know her and meeting her and seeing the fun bubbly
57:29
personality that she is and just getting to pick her brain on a
57:34
few of these fun topics and passions that we share.
57:37
So in the description or in the the show notes or wherever
57:42
you're listening or watching, there will be a couple of links
57:45
for Kat's work. Now go and check it out and give
57:48
her a follow. If you could let her know what
57:50
you thought of the episode, let me know as well and share it
57:54
around if you enjoyed it. Now, you can also give the show
57:58
a rating on the platform that you're listening or watching on
58:01
and that will help bring it to a wider audience.
58:04
It's your way of saying thank you to us for putting this on
58:08
and trying to help others really find some value in these
58:13
conversations. So very grateful.
58:16
Thanks again, and I very much look forward to seeing you on
58:19
the next episode. Take care, bye for now.