Listeners.  To be honest I think it’s one of the bits I ponder the most.  I recall a podcast talk where someone said: “you’ll always have 3 listeners - your mum and a couple of friends!”

Well granted - my 94 year old mum has listened to everything I’ve made, from that first vox pop onwards!   She’s also been part of the Potting Shed crew who’ve listened to pilot episodes. (We’ll come back to this special group.)

As I read and watched articles and talks about podcasts, I was told to build an imaginary listener that I could describe.  I find this tricky because gardeners are everywhere but sometimes you only stumble upon these kindred spirits by chance.  I have had conversations about plants in the most unlikely places.  Travelling home on the bus, I had some unwieldy cuttings in a plastic bag and got into a lovely conversation with a couple and ended up sharing one of the plants.  But are they my listeners?  I met a wonderful young woman this week who is a florist and has such a passion for flowers which was inspired by her mum - could she be my listener?

Then there is the issue of assuming that everyone is listening to podcasts!  Recently we had the back of our house scaffolded - for a small roofing repair.  I got in conversation with the scaffolder who was hanging outside my editing space, two floors up!  He asked what I was doing and when I explained, he was curious about podcasts and said he didn’t really know where to find them.  At 32, I had been sure he was the target audience for lots of podcasters.  Anyway we established that what he would listen to was podcasts on trucking and I duly found him some and showed him where to download them.

A week later and the small job has turned into a whole new roof and he’s back to scaffold the front of the house!   He immediately tells me he has started listening to the trucking series we found and he’s got hundreds of episodes to catch up on. 

But my point is, there may be lots of plant people who might like these stories but are they listening to podcasts? So perhaps this blog may be an answer.  If you don’t listen to podcasts or your mum (like mine) doesn’t but you think you or she would like ‘Our Plant Stories’ then by subscribing (it’s free) to this blog, we will make sure you know where and how to get it when it is published.

Perhaps this is also a place to share with you some of the podcasts that I listen to at the moment. If it is more gardening you crave then I really enjoy the Roots and All - Gardening Podcast. Each week horticulturalist Sarah Wilson chats to people from the world of plants and gardens. Most episodes are under half an hour - we’ll return to the subject of length in a subsequent blog post. If you love stories then I would really recommend The Comb from BBC World Service. It’s hosted by Kim Chakanetsa and is described as ‘combing Africa for stories about the unseen forces that bind us together and tear us apart’. These stories are beautifully recorded and told. Do let me know if you have favourite podcasts.

 I’d love you to join me on this podcasting adventure. All the content is free and if you like it do share this blog with a friend so we can build our plant story community ahead of the launch!