The Garden Mixer

Chickens in broth and chickens in gardens are under the penetrating Garden Mixer gaze this week as Leslie Harris & Marianne Willburn move past their respective Christmas viruses and valiantly into the new year.

Suffering her way through a strong cup of homemade broth while Leslie goes back to the red wine, Marianne makes a case for why chickens have made sense for her soil, plants, and kitchen for the last 22 years. But why is she so militant about keeping them cooped?

Mahonia, Galanthus, and Garden Tours feature in this episode; as well as Marianne's channeling of Debbie Downer for her latest anti-tech rant on GardenRant. Proving once again that if you’re going to any event, you’ll have way more fun with Leslie.

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Full show notes, links and chicken soup recipes at ⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast⁠

Comments? Questions? Suggestions for better drink choices? Send them all to ⁠[email protected]⁠ or check out their Instagram @thegardenmixer

Leslie Harris and Marianne Willburn mix old books, new coats, and the usual laughs in the first episode of 2025.  In response to a listener’s request, Leslie is forced to indulge Marianne’s book recommendations for the winter months; and adds a surprising number of titles herself – pondering the secret sauce that makes a book capture her otherwise 8-minute attention span.  True to her nerd identity, Marianne delivers her list of favorite reference books with affected speech patterns; but due to her shameful (and unresolved) issues with envy, the girls can’t come to agreement over the merits of Vita Sackville-West or indeed, how many servants and/or lovers she had. And what do Carhartt and Barbour now have in common anyway?

Full show notes at The Garden Mixer Podcast

Comments? Questions? Suggestions for better drink choices? Send them all to [email protected] or check out their Instagram @thegardenmixer

In this episode of the newly logo'd and newly music'd The Garden Mixer, Marianne tries her hand at interviewing Leslie -- posing transparently self-serving questions about Leslie's transition to a tiny garden in order to make herself feel better about the future.

In her  (self-described) "penetrating and 60 Minutes-esque style", Marianne is after information that all gardeners secretly wonder about in their more overwhelmed moments:

Do I want to garden here forever? Can I garden here forever? What does it feel like to downsize when you love your big garden? What does it mean to have a balanced life like normal people?

Other discussion topics include bulbs (yes, apparently the two of them are still planting); exciting group trips to the UK and Portugal that Marianne is planning with her travel buddy Andrea Gaspar;  and how to gather interesting greens and garden bits without being caught by your neighbors. 

Questions, comments, or kudos? They'd love to hear them at:

comments@thegardenmixer

This week on The Garden Mixer, Leslie Harris, Marianne Willburn, and their guest, Scott Beuerlein from The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, continue to wrestle over the big topic of bulbs for the benefit of listeners who still have bags of obligation awaiting them in the garage. 

Big ones, little ones, early ones and late ones are discussed on their merits and – as Marianne is involved – their possible vulgarity.  Sales are discussed. Vendors are endorsed. Scott once again endears himself to listeners by commiserating over post-bloom daffodil foliage, while Leslie issues judgement over braiding it, and offers alternatives.  Meanwhile, Marianne talks about one of the problems of foliage that has nothing to do with looks but everything to do with successfully pairing bulbs with the rest of your garden. As usual, it’s a fun and informative mix up of plants and points of view, with the promise of more sophisticated drinking choices in future episodes.

In this week’s episode of The Garden Mixer, Leslie Harris & Marianne Willburn stir up a spirited two-part discussion about all things bulb with their inaugural guest, Scott Beuerlein of The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Horticulture Magazine, and GardenRant.

Whether you’re going for naturalistic layers or the hypnotizing effect of thousands en masse, there’s more than one way to make the most of what you’ve still got left to plant, and they’ve all three got an opinion over which is best.  Scott and Leslie inevitably gang up on Marianne’s design ideas and drink choices (even as Scott quaffs boxed red wine and admits some of his best displays are by accident); Marianne sexually harasses Leslie and snidely rejects her Bulb Spiral; and Leslie reveals her worst bulb planting mistake made while under the influence of inexperience (which they all agree is fairly common when you’re just starting out).  And what does a poached egg have to do with bulb planting anyway?  Marianne thinks it makes for a profound analogy, even if Scott is irritatingly better at expressing it.

On this episode we talk about the premeditated murder of some large Abyssinian bananas, how Leslie is meh on winter berries, peonies (Leslie protests the look of singles, Marianne protests Leslie's color choices), a good thing to do with excess cherry tomatoes (an alternative from leaving them in unlocked cars). We do several "Book Moments". Who are we kidding... only Marianne has book moments while Leslie continues to rely on the brain that lives in her back pocket. Deer deterrents, when plants fail, is it our fault and should we consider Mahjnong if we have a a black thumb? Also, Black Thumb; is that code for "I don't like to fuss with plants"? Winter annuals, and then finally (it's another long one, good people), shouldn't we have a guest for the next episode?

Marianne and Leslie are ready to start stirring things up in their inaugural podcast episode of The Garden Mixer. Jumping into the fray of native plant zealotry, they cool down a little with normal topics such as perennials with great fall color, only to argue about botanical name pronunciation while offering botanical Latin sources for those who need to see the words they're attempting to say. It promises to be fun mix up of garden, drinks, plants, and laughs. Welcome!

Topics include: What should we name this new enterprise of doing this podcast together? Don't worry, we quickly get into garden things such as...

What's blooming in the fall garden right now? What plants are worthy of our winter indoor space and how do we get them ready to join us?

Can we improve the sound on this podcast so it doesn't sound like Leslie's sitting in the bottom of the barrel?

Come with Leslie Harris and Marianne Willburn as they talk about gardening in a new podcast yet to be named, but formerly known as Prince. Kidding-- former known as Into the Garden with Leslie.

If you like gardening, you can't not enjoy traveling to see gardens. The inspiration that you can get from any scene, pattern, color scheme or even a simple plant pairing is so great to take home. Karl Gercens of Longwood Gardens has been to see THOUSANDS of gardens over many years and he tells us his secrets of when to go, how to prepare (hint: that may not be a thing) and how to enjoy a good garden trip.

Well, we go over my Instagram saga, but you can FF through that if you want! By the way, I am back on now, @LeslieHarrisLulu and hope you follow me. Marianne and I discuss "de-browning" the garden, plant pronunciation, the chop and drop method of composting, arthritic hands, and other gardening nuggets for you.