Summer Series - Revisiting Phil Dudman - The Good Guy of Gardening (New Intro)
Release Date: 01/28/2025
Katie Finlay // Grow Great Fruit, Pruning, Grafting, Pest Control, Chamomile & Gin
Avant Gardeners
Katie Finlay is a third-generation orchardist who grew up on the family farm she now calls home. She received a Bachelor of Science from Monash Uni majoring in botany and genetics - which came in very handy when she returned to the farm 15 years later Katie and her partner Hugh are on a mission to help backyard growers and orchardists alike to create the abundant fruit trees of your dreams. Katie and Hugh run , an education hub that combines their decades of fruit growing experience into practical lessons through webinars, online courses, annual subscriptions and in-person...
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Scott Whitaker - Hinterland Bees // Bees, Honey, Varroa, Honey Mead, Hollyhock, Chickens
Avant Gardeners
Scott Whitaker is a visual artist and former art gallery owner who now runs with his wife Allyson Reynolds. They got their first hive back in 1996, and now manage more than 250 of them across orchards and rainforests in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Scott produces pure, natural raw honey and has become synonymous with swarm removal. His social videos are mesmerising to watch, opting for no protective gear when handling thousands of them. Scott lives, gardens and bee keeps on Jinibara and Kabi Kabi country in the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland. If you love or loathe...
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Nikki Husted - Purely Chickens // Homesteading, Chicken Life (And Death), Gardening with Chickens, Lindt Ball Hot Choc
Avant Gardeners
Nikki Husted, aka on Instagram, has been on our Dream Interview List for a very long time. Nikki is a former public school teacher turned chicken guru, who educates and entertains a community of like-minded chicken fanatics about all things poultry and homesteading. In 2023 she released her book , bringing together more than two decades of chicken know-how into a really practical resource. Nikki lives in Ohio with her husband, two young kids, and a menagerie including dogs, cats, goats, geese and - of course - dozens of chickens! Whether you have chickens or not, you're going to...
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Sue Stuart-Smith // From 'outdoor housework' to The Well Gardened Mind, Gardening for Mind & Body, the Power of Flowers, The Barn Garden
Avant Gardeners
Welcome to the first episode of our little mini winter series. We'll be talking about the birds and the bees, the mind and fruit trees. Thanks for being here. First up, we're having a fan girl moment chatting to . Sue is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of – a Sunday Times Bestseller. Sue originally saw gardening as 'outdoor housework', but it was the veggie garden that drew her in. She originally studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor and working in the NHS, where she went on to become the lead clinician for...
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Alex Elliott-Howery // Pickling, Courtyard Gardening, Telepathic Bay Leaves, Mushrooms, Preserving, Cornersmith
Avant Gardeners
--This episode is proudly sponsored by Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds. This Tassie-based, family run business are the go-to destination for veggie, native, herb and flower seeds, specialising in hard-to-get varieties. We love their search functionality - you can filter by colour of flower, whether you're after a full sun or part shade plant, even by what to plant in your climate by month. Their beautiful flower range is amazing, and just last year they exclusively provided Floret seed to the Australian market. Enjoy 15% off their entire range by using the promo code AG15 when...
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BONUS EPISODE // Flower Photography with professional photographer Sam Shelley
Avant Gardeners
is a Tasmanian-based photographer specialising in food, commercial, lifestyle & ad photography. What he often leaves off his bio is his partnership in the family-run, Tassie based business that his sister Bec founded in 2020. Sam is their chief photographer - amongst other things - and knows a thing or two about taking a killer flower pic. He lives in Nipaluna / Hobart with his wife, his two daughters, and a pretty serious fishing addiction. Sam is giving us a little tutorial today on how to get the best flower photos you can! Before we get to that we're drinking a Emily is swapping...
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Milli Proust // Seed Grower, Florist, Alma Proust, Anxiety, Drying Flowers, Compost Palace (UK)
Avant Gardeners
--This episode is proudly sponsored by Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds. This Tassie-based, family run business are the go-to destination for veggie, native, herb and flower seeds, specialising in hard-to-get varieties. We love their search functionality - you can filter by colour of flower, whether you're after a full sun or part shade plant, even by what to plant in your climate by month. Their beautiful flower range is amazing, and just last year they exclusively provided Floret seed to the Australian market. Enjoy 15% off their entire range by using the promo code AG15 when purchasing...
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Lauren Camilleri // Indoor Plant Guru, Plant Doctor, Monstera, Pottery, Fungus Gnats
Avant Gardeners
--This episode is proudly sponsored by Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds. This Tassie-based, family run business are the go-to destination for veggie, native, herb and flower seeds, specialising in hard to get varieties. We love their search functionality - you can filter by colour of flower, whether you're after a full sun or part shade plant, even by what to plant in your climate by month. Their beautiful flower range is amazing, and just last year they exclusively provided Floret seed to the Australian market. Enjoy 15% off their entire range by using the promo code AG15 when purchasing...
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Holly Wainwright // Discovering Gardening, Therapy Lettuce, Rat Battle, Searching for Zen
Avant Gardeners
--This episode is proudly sponsored by . We each bought a pair of these last year and have barely taken them off. They're UPF 50+ for the ultimate sun protection. They're fingerless AND have reinforced palms so you can do all the tough and fiddly jobs. We've discovered they are a saviour in the garden / on the zero turn / out with the cows / even hanging out the washing. Enjoy 15% off Bush Mits' beautiful range by using the promo code AG15 when purchasing from -- We're having a good old yarn today with Holly Wainwright. Holly is not a professional gardener. She is a writer,...
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Emma Bowen // Pocket City Farms, Permaculture Orchard, Julia Ostro
Avant Gardeners
--This episode is proudly sponsored by . We each bought a pair of these last year and have barely taken them off. They're UPF 50+ for the ultimate sun protection. They're fingerless AND have reinforced palms so you can do all the tough and fiddly jobs. We've discovered they are a saviour in the garden / on the zero turn / out with the cows / even hanging out the washing. Enjoy 15% off Bush Mits' beautiful range by using the promo code AG15 when purchasing from -- You'll often hear us mentioning our friend Emma Bowen in these episodes. Well we finally got her in to record an...
info_outlineWelcome to our short and sharp summer series where we revisit some of your very favourite episodes. We've added an additional little intro, reflecting on our chat with Phil Dudman and general updates since then.
We got so many amazing tips from Phil, and we hope you do too.
Here's the original episode spiel:
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