Avant Gardeners

--This episode is proudly sponsored by Bokashi One. Reduce landfill and boost the efforts in your garden in a fuss-free, no-smell way. Enjoy 15% off the entire Bokashi One range by using the promo code AG15 when purchasing from www.bokashi.com.au between now and 1 Jan, 2025-- When Petrina Burrill was in grade six, she wrote, ‘When I grow up I want to be a florist,’ such was her conviction and obsession with blooms. Since then, Petrina Blooms - as she’s known on Instagram. has had a diverse career, but has landed back in the garden where she belongs. She’s now known for her secret garden-esque backyard in Melbourne and her epic annual ranunculus, aka ranunk, schedule. 

For over a decade, Petrina has lovingly transformed her family's backyard into a year-round spectacle of beauty, from where she hosts workshops and events and picks bunches of flowers for lucky recipients. 

Petrina lives, works and gardens in Ivanhoe Victoria, on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.

The days are longer and we're drinking a Willie Smith's Organic Cider. It's yummy and not too sweet. Perfection! We're talking about rooster dramas, kiwi fruit, espaliering stuff, wormwood for chickens, what the heck is a corm, Bokashi, and dreaming of a Hannah Maloney-esque pumpkin arch. We've also been mismanaging our potatoes. face palms.

Check out Petrina's magical garden escapades here Follow us on Instagram here. Thanks for being here.  Feel free to leave us a review. We would LOVE that. 

--This episode is proudly sponsored by Bokashi One. Reduce landfill and boost the efforts in your garden in a fuss-free, no-smell way. Enjoy 15% off the entire Bokashi One range by using the promo code AG15 when purchasing from www.bokashi.com.au between now and 1 Jan, 2025--  Matthew Evans was a chef and food critic who left Sydney in search of flavour and to become closer to food production. He landed in Tasmania’s Huon Valley and he, his partner Sadie Chrestman and son Hedley call the 70-acre Fat Pig Farm home. Matthew is the author of books including The Real Food Companion, The Dirty Chef, Not Just Jam, Soil and his latest book Milk, published in 2024. 

Matthew is gearing up to host the inaugural GROUNDED Australia conference at Fat Pig Farm on December 4 + 5, 2024. This two-day immersive event is part food festival, part writers' festival and part farming conference, which will interrogate how to do farming better. Over 40 amazing speakers will descend upon the Huon Valley for workshops, discussions, networking, amazing food and drinks and even a mobile sauna! 

Matthew lives, gardens and farms on the land of the Merlukerdee people.

To celebrate, we're drinking the dregs of a limited-release Fat Pig Farm Rhubarb Gin. Over ice. It's delicious. We're chatting tomatoes, our seedling dealer, our grevillea era (loving the Bronze Rambler). We're upcycling milk cartons, tomato trellises are up, and there's a story about the dangers of mowing. 

Check out Grounded Australia here and here. Follow Matthew and Sadie's adventures at Fat Pig Farm on Insta here. Follow us on Instagram here. Thanks for being here. 

We came across Huw Richards perhaps the odd-way around, first picking up his amazing book 'Veg In One Bed' before discovering his huge online presence. Huw has been gardening since the age of 3 on his parents' smallholding in mid-west Wales. He started a YouTube channel aged 12, which has since received over 100 million views. Huw's gardening is driven by curiosity, experimentation and impact planting. It's obvious how much joy he derives from striving for flavour and beauty in the garden.  He's a brilliant communicator and oh boy did we love this chat with him.  Check out his Substack, find him on Insta or Youtube. Huw's latest book is called The Self Sufficiency Garden. 

In this episode we’re drinking Waubs Harbour Distillery whisky (yep, we've gone top shelf). We're talking about Australia's Big Things, Clematis 'Freckles', the cows have set Em's native trees back a couple of years and we're recommending 'Growing Vegetables South Of Australia' by Steve SolomonAll the things. Thanks for joining us. Follow us on Instagram here.

We’ve had Hannah on our list for a looooong time, so it’s a bloody thrill to have interviewed her.

Hannah Maloney is the inspiring force behind Goodlife Permaculture, an organisation all about sharing concepts of education, community and design to help people create good lives and landscapes. 

Hannah is a host on Gardening Australia on ABC, a best-selling author with two books in the bag and another on the way, and by all accounts, an infectious ball of energy and good vibes. Hannah lives, works and gardens in Nipaluna/Hobart with her partner Anton, her daughter Frida and a menagerie of animals including chickens, goats and ducks. 

In this episode we’re cracking a pistachio Cicchio Spritz by the legends at Zonzo Estate, We’re recommending Nettles and Petals, we’re talking fertilizer, asparagus, cows, rhubarb. All the things. Thanks for joining us. Follow us on Instagram here.

Justin O'Brien was one of those in the online gardening world that welcomed and embraced us. So it's an absolute treat to get the man himself behind the microphone to chat all things gardening.

Perhaps better known as his Instagram alias of Urban Farmer, Justin O’Brien has been gardening in some form since he was a kid, and was an active member of the Camden Community Garden for nearly a decade, seeing it through the floods of 2022., Justin and his wife Chantelle purchased their current home nearly 3 years ago, and Justin documents the garden transformation, sharing plenty of useful tips and lots of laughs, as he creates a home for his veggies, his chickens and his family. Justin is also a fiercely competitive gardener and may or may not still be touchy about last year's failed competitive pumpkin growing. 

But before we get to that we're drinking a classic - Campari and soda. 

We're utilising Jac Semmler's succulent growing tips, we're loving Hannah Maloney's The Good Life, Maddie hard recommends Maggie McKellar's Graft. We're talking Organic Gardener Magazine, chimmichuri, putting up jute netting, and making the most of the spring rain thanks to a well-timed installation of a new gutter and tank system. Hurray! Find us on Instagram @avantgardeners.podcast.

And pretty please share our podcast with a friend of yours and / or rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for being here :-)

S3 E2 -- here we go! This week we've had the pleasure of chatting to pun-tasting garden coach Chloe Thomson, aka Bean There Dug That.

Chloe is a horticulturalist who is inspiring and teaching gardeners just like you. She recently  founded Sprout School, an online course to help provide you with knowledge and conference, no matter how or where you're gardening. Chloe and her family live, garden and outdoor bath in Hurstbridge, on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin nation, on the outskirts of Melbourne. We talk to Chloe about shade gardening, interpreting plant labels, and growing fruit trees in pots. She's a delight.

But before we get to that we're drinking a 2023 Brash Higgins Free Ball. It's bloody delish.  

We're pronouncing hellebores with far more artistic flair than necessary. 

We're complaining about possums and what the heck is up with indoor pots these days! Despite lush growth on my indoor plants, we're struggling with finding good indoor pots.  Emily has had brand new calves, Maddie has brand new baby lambs.

Maddie is very optimistic about the upcoming gardening season, Emily has done all her seasonal rose prep a la The Garden at Moorfield's Rose Guide.  Maddie's watching (and crying in) Clarkson's Farm Find us on Instagram @avantgardeners.podcast.

And pretty please share our podcast with a friend of yours and / or rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for being here :-)

Oh hey there! We've missed you. We're back for Season 3 with one of our faves, Erin Lovell Verinder.

Erin Lovell Verinder’s entire career is about reconnecting the people with the plants.

She is a woman on a mission to bring people along on her journey to become in tune with the natural world and inspire others to heal through the beauty of plant medicine. 

Erin is a nutritionist, a herbalist, a teacher, and a writer, having published Plants for the People in 2020, followed by The Plant Clinic the following year. Her popular TED Talk on Herbalism, the quiet rebellion, is a must watch. 

Erin and her husband Noah currently live, work and garden on the land of the Bundjalung people, in the Byron Hinterland in NSW. They recently relocated there from their stunning and lovingly restored home in a church in the aptly named hamlet of Blessington, in Northern Tasmania. Their Tassie property, The Cedar Church, is available for your own divine getaway.

In the episode Emily and Maddie are catching up on 2 months of no-gardening-chat and there's been a lot going on.  We're drinking bootleg gin from Maddie's neighbour Bill with Friendship Syrup from our amazing friend Rachel Valentine. We're talking about Paulette Whitney's Broccoli & Other Love Stories, we're making chilli oil, we're growing and cooking Brussel Sprouts. And we're drooling over the perennials, and the colour collections, at Veggie & Flower Garden Seeds. We're going to need a big heap of Milkwood's Perfect Seed Raising Mix to grow everything this spring. Watch out when you mix lavenders :-)

Buckle up ya'll, it's the final episode for Season 2 and we're welcoming one of the nicest blokes in gardening to the microphone, Mr Phil Dudman. With a diverse and colourful career that extends from touring with an 80’s rock band, to hosting garden tours in Italy, an epiphany when Phil was 27 sent him down the literal and metaphorical garden path and he hasn't looked back since.

Phil is a trained horticulturalist, gardening talkback host on ABC Local Radio, the horticultural editor at Organic Gardener Magazine, has written books and is a familiar face on TV, Youtube and social media.

Phil runs workshops and courses both online and from his own backyard, and you can explore what's on offer at www.growyourfood.com.au.

Phil lives and gardens on the land of the Widjabul-Wai-bal people of the Bundjalung Nation in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

We chat to Phil about pests, garden design, attracting birdlife to your backyard and weeding with wine at 10am.  Before we get into it though, Emily and Maddie are drinking a Jauma grenache. We're talking about online marketplace purchases and tip shop wins. We're using Google Images to sort out our plant ID issues. We're sluggish with the garlic, and Maddie is barely keeping the lights on with her garden. Emily's finally sorted the pesky carport out, and her 7 year old daughter is winning at gardening this month. 

Follow Phil on Instagram here, check out his YouTube here and his website here

Rodney Dunn's excitement when talking about gardening is like a kid in a candy store. Fuelled by a 'quest for flavour' and inspired by The River Cottage UK, Rodney and his wife Severine moved to Tasmania in 2007, opening The Agrarian Kitchen, a cooking school and garden that has grown to become an institution itself. In 2017 they added a restaurant to their offering and have recently opened up their phenomenal one-acre walled garden adjacent to the Restaurant and brand-new cooking school, making it the trifecta of all things agrarian dreams.

We chat to Rodney about what he learned from the 'old garden', the new no-dig method they've used, we go deep into mycorrhizal fungi, tips to take on-board when starting a new garden, and what his last meal would be.

Before we get into that, we're drinking a Negroni (equal parts gin, campari and vermouth, shaken and served over a big fat icecube with an orange garnish) and it's delicious.

We're chatting dibblers, garlic, golden beetroot, Lactic Acid Bacteria and so much more.

Emily's recommendation is The Practical Australian Gardener by Peter Cundall, Maddie's recommendation is this salad dressing - honey, grated garlic, salt, sherry or white wine vinegar, oil. Put it on everything. 

Explore classes and garden tours or book a lunch at The Agrarian Kitchen here, and follow them on Instagram here. Find Rodney on Instagram here.

We've both been obsessed with My Father and Other Animals for some time now, so when author and accidental-farmer Sam Vincent said yes to being interviewed we were quietly nervous. He joined us from his family's farm in the Yass Valley that he shares with his partner Lauren and daughter Orlando. This land has traditionally been inhabited by the Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri people.

After his dad had a farm accident, Sam and his mum thought it would be wise to get Sam out to the property regularly in a bit of a babysitting capacity, which Sam said gave his weeks structure and his life purpose. Over the years it became an apprenitiship of sorts and gave Sam both a solid understanding of how much of a conservationist and regernative farmer his dad was, and a taste of living on the land. 

In this discussion we talk about hiding squash in drawers, the idea of turning the whole farm into a garden of sorts, rotational grazing, tagasaste (tree lucern), figs, farming with his daughter and a whole lot more.

Before we get into it, Maddie and Emily are drinking....coffee. Yep, just plain white coffee. We're midly disappointed in ourselves but it was 9am and we couldn't face a fig cocktail. 

We're also talking indoor plants - inspired by our chat with Sophia Kaplan and getting our hands on Plantopedia, friends with green thumbs, compost (when are we not talking about compost!), hakea, brahmi, tagasaste, getting more white on your leeks and more.

Recommend: Call of the Reed Warbler by Charles Massy. 

Find Sam on Instagram here, and get your hands on My Father and Other Animals here