As you read this at the end of the first week of January 2023, I am pleased to report that I have stuck to my January resolution to concentrate on pulling together the first 8 episodes of the podcast. For some of them I have got all the component parts and just need to write the script, record it and then stitch everything together. For other episodes I may have the story recorded but the podcast also includes encounters between the storyteller and others who share their passion, so I may still need to record that conversation. Other episodes are an idea about to take shape, there’s a very beautiful plant story featuring a Magnolia tree that I have just fixed to record.

In the Autumn there was a lot of learning to do. How do you build a website? How do you publish a blog? How do you publish a podcast? All of it was really important but now I need to focus on the voices I have already gathered - the stories waiting to be told.

This week I was working on the plant story of a young Ukrainian student called Anya, who is staying with Pam in London. For me, in radio or podcasting, it is all about conjuring the pictures in the listener’s mind, though words and sounds. So I hope you can understand my excitement when, whilst editing Pam’s story about how she came to be hosting Anya, I found this piece of audio. Picture the scene, it’s March 2022, and the war in Ukraine has just begun. As you walk across Tralfalgar Square you see a flash mob, an entire orchestra seated with their instruments playing the Ukrainian National Anthem.

Just hearing this flash mob play this National anthem gives me goosebumps and when mixed beneath Pam telling the story, it helps to transport us all to that moment.

In other matters, the pile of gardening books beside my bed has grown post Christmas! Does anyone else have such a pile on the floor or their bedside table?
My sister-in-law gave me - Thoughtful Gardening by Robert Lane Fox. I have already identified with this sentence in the first chapter: New Year Resolve - “I will not leave flower bulbs unplanted in brown paper bags.” It is comforting to know that others do this too.

My son gave me - Plant Words - A book of 250 curious words for plant lovers. He thought it would help to provide inspiration when I am looking for and thinking about stories. I love this. My family have been brilliant in supporting me in this project. Anyone else already know that the word mulch stems from the German mölsch’, which means soft and rotten?

My mum gave me - the RHS Gardener’s Quiz and Puzzle Book. 100 Brainteasers for Gardeners Who Know Their Onions. Do you know who is the patron saint of gardeners? Answer in next week’s blog unless someone gets there first in ‘comments’.

Jane gave me - In the Garden: Essays on Nature and Growing. (I gave her the same book!). This is a collection of essays in which ‘fourteen writers go beyond simply considering a plot of soil to explore how gardening is a shared language, an opportunity for connection and a practice that is always evolving.’

As you can see my family and friends know me well. Did anyone else get any garden books that they’d like to recommend to the rest of us? Do pop them in the comments section, I’d love us to share recommendations. And if you think there any other gardeners amongst your friends who might enjoy these blog posts do share the website as I am beginning to think that ‘word of mouth’ maybe our best friend when it comes to growing our audience for this podcast.