In the beginning, social media and gardening seemed meant for each other. After all, how better to teach than to show?

But it does feel like we might have lost our way in the last few years. Now we’re pushed towards viral moments, not moments of true discovery. Now we watch sexy six packs selling six packs; and find ourselves navigating a manufactured reality that makes everyday gardeners feel inferior, not empowered.

Are we doing more following than we’re actually doing gardening? We’re talking to gardener and garden influencer Amanda Nadeau of The Ever Hopeful Gardener today about who to trust, why to trust, and when to just let go and have fun.

Even Leslie’s cocktail is trying to be #authentic, today on The Garden Mixer.

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Deer Damage. Few things crush a gardener’s spirit faster than to stroll outside and see that Bambi has invited himself for dinner.

Coincidentally, few things crush Marianne’s spirit more than referring to these four-legged agents of the Devil in cute terms such as ‘Bambi’.

What’s on their perfectly curated menu? Pretty much all of your favorite garden plants. Sprays, granular applications, and motion sensors can keep those deer at bay, for a minute or two. But what about the ultimate solution?

No, the other ultimate solution — a fence. Leslie’s been there, and loved it. But just how tall, how expensive and how ugly does it need to be to protect our plants?

The answer may surprise you. Today, the girls discuss the pros, the cons, and the many considerations of deer fencing, deer spraying, and all the things in between, as Marianne prepares to have her garden world rocked by the installation of a Bambi-blocking fence.

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Promises, promises. We all make them at the beginning of each year. And — made desperate by the cold claws of winter — gardeners make even bigger ones at the beginning of each growing season.

Today on The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne take journalistic integrity to a new level and actually follow up with the promises made, the products they loved, and the season they foretold back in February when they hosted Erin Schanen, The Impatient Gardener.

They’re catching up with this popular Midwestern gardener and social media star over large cocktails and larger garnishes, and Marianne is throwing out some suspiciously large statistics in honor of the first anniversary of their Substack debut.

From the angst of sweet peas to the unbridled joy of bananas, it’s definitely confession time, and no-one’s skimping on the honesty or the drinks. Join these three gardener-friends as they beat their chests and rend their garments.

Or is that just Marianne?

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Let’s be honest and dispense with the illusion of carefree, perfectly decaying, infinitely Instagrammable, late fall gardens.

In reality, the leaves have blown off the trees, the decorative pumpkins are getting soft spots, and there’s a whole lot of flattened, crushed, eaten, and dejected going on where you had envisioned majestic seed heads, trusses of berries, and full-on fall splendor to welcome friends and family home for Thanksgiving.

Today, Leslie and Marianne have some tips for successfully curating the reality of that garden. How do we uncover the good, downplay the bad, and plan for better next year? How do we put lipstick on this pig?

The girls are transitioning to the winter garden — beautifully. Today on the Garden Mixer.

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How better to take advantage of the experience, skill, and time of others than to buy and plant a plumped-up, pumped-up, ready-to-bloom-for-you bulb?

Or maybe two hundred.

When perennials need a couple years, shrubs insist on commitment, and trees require a selfless gift to future generations; bulbs are all about YOU — and it’s time to indulge. Granted, it’s the you of six months from now — but where else in life can you successfully pull off a surprise party for yourself? And afford the florist?

Today, Leslie and Marianne explore all the options. Which ones will delight the senses, which ones will delight the critters, and which tools can help you get them in the ground. It’s not too late to grab those last-minute deals and give yourself the spring surprise party your family keeps meaning to throw.

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Cool air and warm soils mean that it’s a great time to divide and multiply the plants that you love, and Leslie and Marianne want to help you do it easily, efficiently, and with the least amount of plant pain as possible.

What are they dividing in their gardens and how are they doing it? And why is it so good for the plants to rip them from happy homes just when they were thinking of taking a well-earned nap? For that matter, why aren’t the girls sipping pumpkin lattes and waiting ‘till spring?

Set down that bulb planter and grab those two forks, because it’s all about FREE this week on The Garden Mixer.

(Just for the record Marianne hates pumpkin lattes. Leslie's a fan.)

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Today, The Garden Mixer is highjacked by two jetlagged women drinking way too much coffee and trying to pull themselves together to adequately describe the many sights, tastes, and eureka moments of nine days visiting gardens in Cornwall and the Southwest of England.

From new naturalism and earthworks at Wildside, to the breathtaking views across Tresco Island, to extraordinary fairy tale hotels, the girls discuss special moments and numerous takeaways — both for their gardens at home, and for future visits to this very special area of the UK, often under-visited by American garden-trippers looking for “The Big Five.”

(Though which gardens constitute “The Big Five” is still up for debate.)

For the WHOLE story, this is an episode you’ll particularly appreciate by following up on The Garden Mixer Youtube channel, where the video version is #jamfirst packed with photos and snark. (Even if Marianne insists it should be #creamfirst.)

What the heck is she talking about? By the end of this episode, you’ll not only know what clotted cream is, but you’ll be well versed in the right way to layer it on a scone.

At least according to Marianne.

Plus, microscopes, dahlias, & unbelievably, Beavis and Butthead. All on this week’s Garden Mixer.

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September has snuck up on most of us and cold weather is right around the corner.

Suddenly it’s time to walk through your garden and decide who’s making the travel team and who’s sitting out this season in the great hereafter. Can you set aside sentiment and choose the strongest and healthiest to make winter a joy instead of a chore? Do you know when to bring them in? (And what you can get away with?)

From bathing them, to babying them, Leslie and Marianne share personal anecdotes and practical tips for managing houseplants and storage plants, addressing pest control, and deciding which plants to prioritize based on space, aesthetics, sentiment, and good old-fashioned guilt. The girls are not always on the same page, but they’re generally aiming for the same ending: To avoid the last-minute first-frost scramble and a herniated disk.

Plus, Damn I Wish I Planted That for the late September garden, ritualistic flogging in Clear Up Corner, and a fine red wine lessened un peu by a lousy French accent — all on this week’s episode of The Garden Mixer.

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Pumpkin spice may have snuck itself onto the shelves (and into Leslie’s cheesy introduction), but that doesn’t mean that the pollinating insects in your garden have stopped searching for pollen to store and nectar to sip. On today’s episode, Leslie and Marianne discuss some late blooming species you can grow to keep those pollinators healthy and gearing up for winter — and which will also make you smile as the garden moves from summer-sizzle to autumn-fizzle.

Soil is warm, bugs are low, temps are cool, rains are coming, and nurseries are selling. Time to give that hard-working garden a few new picks to extend the bloom season until (and sometimes after) frost. Between them, the girls will give you nine terrific choices. But wait there’s more! A set of Ginsu knives, AND two further great plants for this time of year in Damn I Wish I’d Planted That.

All this and competing tropical cocktails, Choppin’ Broccoli, and some serious cultural confusion over Matthew Perry resolved, on this week’s episode of The Garden Mixer.

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As a gardener, you are not just creative, you are a creative. Your job is to go out there and create your tail off. But the other job you must strive to do well is that of an editor, tightening the voice of your garden with strategic cuts that help it shine and become the garden you envisioned (even when those cuts seem counterintuitive).

This means that cruel things are going to happen. Cruel, and perhaps unusual.

In this episode, Leslie and Marianne talk about everything from volunteer seedling strategies to de-browning the borders. Get ready to yank flowers, cut limbs, discard seeds, and mop your brow. It’s going to be bloody, but it’s going to be good.

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