Holly Wainwright // Discovering Gardening, Therapy Lettuce, Rat Battle, Searching for Zen
Release Date: 03/25/2025
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_outline--This episode is proudly sponsored by Bush Mits. 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 bushmits.com--
We're having a good old yarn today with Holly Wainwright. Holly is not a professional gardener. She is a writer, editor and podcaster who recently made a sea change, moving outside of a city for the first time in her life which has given her the space (mental, not necessarily geographical) to take on what she describes as her first true hobby... gardening. And boy is she glad she found it!
Holly is the Executive Editor at Mamamia and a familiar voice on Mamamia Out Loud as well as her new podcast MID. Holly’s fifth novel, He Would Never, is set for release in April 2025. Holly credits Therapy Lettuce for its positive impact on her mental well-being. Holly lives, writes and gardens south of Sydney on the lands of the Jerrinja and Wandi-Wandandian people, on the Yuin nation with her partner, Brent, and their two teenage children.
We're both intruiged by our mate Gemma's Pleach (yep - a plum peach interspecies!).
Maddie and Emily recommend the walking onion, growing potatoes, and the hardenbergia to Holly, while Holly reciprocates and recommends Virginia La Trioli's 'Friday Night Fog' (Two nips vodka, One nip Cointreau, Half a lime - optional ruby red grapefruit juice.)