Life with Nat - EP45: Gardening Club with Tom Allen and Make it Flourish’s Cara Thompson

Episode Date: September 22, 2024

As mentioned, we’ve slammed into the ber months, so in this ep Nat chats to Tom Allen and Cara Thompson about their home grown gardening successes. Do follow them both! And give us a shout about what you’re growing xx https://www.instagram.com/makeitflourish/ https://www.instagram.com/tomindeed/ Please subscribe, follow, and leave a review. xxx You can find us in all places here; https://podfollow.com/lifewithnat/view INSTA: @natcass1 We're also on Facebook now too: https://www.facebook.com/lifewithnatpod A 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] SHOW INFO: Life with Nat - it’s me! Natalie Cassidy and I’ll be chatting away to family, friends and most importantly YOU. I want to pick people's brains on the subjects that I care about- whether that’s where all the odd socks go, weight and food or kids on phones. Each week I will be letting you into my life as i chat about my week, share my thoughts on the mundane happenings as well as the serious. I have grown up in the public eye and have never changed because of it. Life with Nat is the podcast for proper people. Come join the community. ♥️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. Hello, Cara, how are you? I'm great. Oh my gosh, this is really weird. Oh! Last time I saw you, it was probably one of the roadways at Elf Street. It was. We were. We were wandering down a roadway. So, yeah, it's so lovely to see you.

It is so lovely to see you. Looking really, really well. Oh, no, thank you are. Thank you. Oh, bless you. How's life? What's going on? The reason I've got lovely Cara on today, let me tell you guys, is because we work together. Cara was an art designer at work, well, art director, weren't you? Yeah. So art director. So how do we describe that to the listener? You describe it because I'm a bit useless.

So you read through the scripts and you work with the director and the designer you you describe it because i'm a bit useless so you read through the scripts and you work with the director and the designer and you work out what props are needed and then the set design work with the production designer and then just making sure the overall picture is right continuity wise like no makeup bags are left on set, no coffee cups. And then, you know, the continuity, which I know you're always amazing at continuity. Us actors with our Costa coffee cups in the Vic, driving you mad. Yeah, I miss it because I haven't been back for a little while. I do miss it. But the reason you're here.

So I just thought it'd be lovely to talk to you on here because this episode we're coming to the end of the summer you know people are looking forward to the autumn and winter but some people don't and I thought it'd be a lovely way to kind of you know we're into the burrs now the burr months and I thought it'd just be lovely to do a bit of a gardening episode so you have really changed your career to do something that you love and I think that is amazing no matter what you know whoever does that in whatever way I just I'm in awe of them you know I just think it's amazing it's brave and I just thought it'd be lovely for you to tell us your story and how far you've come I can't believe it I do you know what it feels like not that long ago when I just first started

sowing my first seeds and you gave me a lot of encouragement then and I won't forget that and I can't remember who's filming but I think I think we was filming with June and it was quite a slow day but you gave me such encouragement so it all started in the national lockdown I just looked out my window one day I just said oh it was dull it didn't have one flowering plant we just moved in my boy was six months old and I just said oh I'm gonna make it flourish but I had no growing experience like I didn't have a childhood where I'd done loads of growing it just wasn't we had like a quasi childhood like always playing in parks and everything but we just didn't do growing it just wasn't part of our

upbringing yeah so I got hold of the seeds that I could find but at that time all the garden centres were closing so when I went in it was quite a bit of a lucky mix but I did try and choose things that I really liked like um cosmos and sweet peas and dahlias but then I brought them home and I was like oh my goodness what do I the other side of the packet it's like I didn't understand it it is really hard because you've got the green the yellow the red you know I was actually going to bring a seed packet up here and talk to you about them because I get really confused so what did you do you just put them in the beds or pots yeah I just started them off I bought a little zippy plastic thing which did end up blowing away I believe I've probably bought the same one as you on Amazon

because mine blew away as well but you know what things started growing and at a time when there wasn't much hope in the world it was just giving me like seeds of hope each day yeah it kept me going through quite a hard time oh no it's absolutely brilliant absolutely brilliant so then you've got these flowers right you're in lockdown you've really enjoyed doing that you obviously came back to EastEnders and doing all your art directing and what have you but Cara you've got nearly 20,000 followers now on Instagram your Instagram is at make it flourish and then I'm looking at your stories obviously because I follow you you're my friend and I'm thinking bloody hell she's at gardeners world she's at the shows you've created a community

garden I'd love you to tell me about how you've got there and how you're now involved with the BBC doing stuff you know with their shows that day that I said I'm going to make it flourish I've decided to record it and then a year down the probably six months down the line I started doing sew alongs online grow alongs online and then a few years after that I had this itching feeling to get out with people it wasn't enough doing it online like I had to be sewing seeds physically with people and I had that sort of want to do it through the whole lockdown and and then the years later so then yeah the year before last year last year year, I kind of made a meet-up group in Great Dunmow where we'd meet and we'd have a different flower focus.

But that was like my gym. That was voluntary. Mentally, I loved, like, it was just my social and... Better than a gym for me. Planting some flowers, yes, please. Rather than sweating my nuts off on a running machine. How boring. Yeah, that was amazing.

And that then led to, I designed a show garden last year at Gardeners World Autumn Fair. And that was kind of very community. Everyone from that meetup group made that garden happen. We was all growing flowers for it. So I designed it with everyone's flowers in. So good. So great done, Mo. Look, it's not a really big place. So how many people got involved? we was all growing flowers for it so I designed it with everyone's flowers in so good so great done Mo look it's not a really big place so how many people got involved in that what you're saying you're making my heart sing because it's a bit like doing this I just love talking to people

you know I've got my whatsapp group and I chat to everybody but at the same time I do try and I want to talk to people and I want to meet people as well. So I completely understand what you mean about it all being online. Yeah. So how many people got in touch with you? What, for the garden last year? Yeah, for the garden last year and, you know, the community sew-ins and stuff. We had about 15 to 20, you know, key people that would come every week. All different ages.

You've got like new mums with children and then the eldest grower was 98. brilliant john he was a world war ii veteran spent time in boston and he was such an amazing friend i only knew him for a year oh sadly he passed away about four months ago back in march he knocked on my door and he said car car my daily is they've turned out I'm not very good at accents he's from Lancashire I just felt this like urgency that I've got to plant these daily is right straight away I don't you know because I don't know he was an amazing man he became a really good friend of mine so the next day we planted up his daily is and then sadly a few days later he passed away um it really it was yeah really quite heartbreaking but his dahlias I went to the community garden today and there they look

are they beautiful there's this amazing red one and it's just it's just John like it's amazing that is so good yeah it's so so so good yeah we got a lovely memorial waste for him as well in there and but the actual community garden itself there was a lot more people involved in that because it was a lot of physical work of course but also you're getting together you know like you say the physical work of it but also the meeting up people that are a bit lonely something to look forward to oh yeah it's that sort of team like you say just that community that you're building is so special I desperately want to come down I've been so busy and you've invited me to things and I'm so sorry I've not been around but I am going to we'll do a pod like in the spring next spring

we'll do a sew along yeah we'll do a sew along together and we'll do it for like in the spring next spring we'll do a so long yeah we're doing so long together and we'll do it for the pod it'll be so lovely but i love your garden you've shared a little bit of it i've seen like little bits here and there bits and pieces yeah i did a little something for qvc which was lovely and i showed my sort of roses and stuff lovely they're special and i i'm um talking to would you believe it, Tom Allen later on in this podcast. Oh. Because he loves his garden, loves his vegetable growing and flower growing. And I'm going to show off my chillies and tomatoes, Cara.

Oh, you're going to grow them? We've got bundles. Mark does more. You know my Mark. But he actually does all the seeds and we get them all out. And we have got hundreds of chillies and tomatoes. They're amazing. Wow. Absolutely amazing. Yeah, amazing wow absolutely amazing yeah really good really really good but next year I really want to grow flowers so I can cut them for a vase yeah I remember you saying you love sweet pea

I love sweet peas but I would love peonies I know they don't last for long just yeah hydrangea things that I can cut roses but yeah I'd love your help on all I know they don't last for long. Just, yeah, hydrangeas, things that I can cut, roses. But yeah, I'd love your help on all of that. What would you say to me to get started, to get to a point where I can go out in the garden and cut a vase of fresh wildflowers? Peonies and hydrangeas are amazing, but you can't grow them really from seed.

I would grow cosmos, echinaceacea but you want flowers that are like mainly cut and come again so maybe the cosmos and zinnias i mean there's hundreds of different flowers no oh it's lovely no we'll talk about all of that but i just i just think it it's just it brings joy doesn't it the garden and flowers are just they brighten up any room they make someone's day if you give them to them or if you treat yourself to them i love treating myself to a bunch of flowers i don't do it often but you know there's something about treating yourself you know you clean all the house and i'll pop past the florist and i'll treat myself to a bunch of flowers in the kitchen i

love that then imagine growing them like the joy is so much great. Like, because I always used to buy them, like, even when I used to go to Tesco. But when you grow them, it's like, I don't know, I think I've gone growing nuts because it really has been life-changing for me because I just, that joy and then sharing it with other people. I completely understand it because I'm picking tomatoes. Yeah. And picking chillies and cooking them I love cooking yeah yeah yeah something so different about picking something that is in your garden and

cooking it I see I need tomato advice I mean I do grow tomatoes but I think sometimes you're one or the other more veg or more flowers do you reckon yeah you kind of steer more to one than the other but this year we grew broad beans peas and my son loved it we grew other tomatoes and we did try a few other things did it make your son try them and eat them he ate broad beans raw and I was yeah he loved it but then I googled it how it can give like a bit of shire if you're evil. He didn't love you. And I was like, oh, no. And I posted it on social media.

And I was like, oh, no. He ate a load of broad beans for all of it. Was he all right? He was fine. He was so proud. He'd done this little video. He was like, my name's Gabriel, and I've grown these broad beans. And then he ate about 10 of them.

And then it's like, my name's Gabriel, and I've been on the toilet for eight hours. I know. Bless his heart. He was absolutely fine. So sometimes Google can worry you a bit too much. But with vegetables, I'm still learning. You know, I mean, broad beans is really basic. You learn to grow them at reception.

Yes. Yeah, of course. So I'm looking now at your Instagram. Am I right in saying you are now sponsored as well? You've got a sponsor? Yeah. So Mr. Fothergill Seeds. I've seen his little face in the garden centre on the packet. I like him. Well, so Mr. Fothergill, they're based in Suffolk. So they trial all their seeds before they go on market. Right, okay. So with the Gardeners World Autumn event, I kind of transformed this plain marquee.

We had a lovely flower wall and we had like planters outside. But I dug up loads of plants from their amazing trial fields in Suffolk. But it was a little bit ambitious. I had a lovely guy that helped me dig him up but um i drove a van for the first time in my life have you got a van yet we've make it flourish on the side no i hired a van but now i want now i can do it i want a van you want one yeah you'll have a van what do you mean you want one i will have a van by when do you want the van for yeah i mean it was a long transit but that was really big for me.

Like, I was really nervous. Well, you're only tiny. Can I just say that Cara looks like, she's like Kylie Minogue, that sort of size. You know, like girls allowed. She's like a tiny person. When she's talking about driving a transit van, it is quite funny. It was really, it was an extra long one. But anyway, when I hired it, I was like, right, I've got this.

And I sat in and I couldn't even put the thing in reverse. I had to call my mum's partner because you have to push the button down. Yeah. There's a whole big button you have to. Anyway, so I was a bit late to the trial fields, but we dug up all the plants, put them in the van. And then I planted them into these big planters. And do you know what? They survived.

Did they? into these big planters and do you know what they survived did die the main grower at mr fothergill's lovely man called brian who's in i think he's in his 70s he's been doing it i asked him his age last time i was there but he's got an amazing kind of knowledge just knowledge of it all knowledge in horticulture and i asked him so do you think these annuals because digging up things like cosmos which you know some people say i might not take but they he went give it a go it might And I asked him, so do you think these annuals, because I was digging up things like Cosmos, which, you know, some people say I might not take, but he went, give it a go, it might. And it was in his might that I thought, okay.

I'm going to do it. He said might. Yeah. Yeah, I can do it. He said might. Might work. And they were like the showstoppers at the event. I mean, this time round, I didn't get judged. So it was like less pressure and it was nice to enjoy tell

me your next big thing that you're doing so are you going to do another garden next year I am pencilled to do another a show garden next year but um I don't want to say where just in case thing is show gardens are like a really big commitment and yeah so i'm just kind of making sure that the idea is right and the concept and that you have the time and you just want to get it right if you're going to do it you want to do it properly yeah so but yeah there is a potential exciting show garden oh fantastic so what i'm going to do is make sure i'm going to put your Insta handle on the bottom of my episode. But for everyone listening, it is at Make It Flourish. And you need to follow Cara because it is just joyful.

And if you get up in the morning, have a cup of tea. Some of the stuff we scroll through isn't great for us. But I'm telling you now that page is. It's absolutely brilliant. And Cara, I really mean it. We've got to do a so long. Let's get lovely Christmas out the way autumn out the way um but next year we'll do a really nice one oh we can do it in the autumn there's so much you can sew in the autumn oh really all right then

okay I'm useless I'm sort of like oh you know flowers are summer yeah all right we'll sort it and we'll do it soon oh I'm excited it'll be good it'll be brilliant well done for everything and making the changes you have no thanks so much i'm loving the podcast it's i'm loving mark on as well oh yeah he really makes me laugh because obviously i know him from work as well and yes yes yes he wasn't going to come on and now he's a star yeah oh it's brilliant keep them coming oh thank you so much thank you nat lots of love talk soon bye darling happy growing i know that you're rushing off so i need to talk to you oh no no problem firstly my outfit mr allen has gone slightly wrong,

but I wanted to make an effort because it was you. And I have never, ever had a guest on my pod where I've been bothered. And I thought I need to chuck on a blouse. It needs a bow. And it hasn't gone quite right. I like the bow. Do you like it? I have to say.

I like it. Yeah. Lovely. Lovely. I think a bow is always great livening up any outfit, actually. Do you? Oh, I'm pleased you've said that. And animal print's very in at the moment.

Very in, very in. It's lovely. Tom, you can't move for leopard print. I mean, people love it, don't they? I don't have anything in it myself, but then that's the way I am. And a leopard never changes its spots. Absolutely. I was listening to your wonderful pod, Like-Minded Friends, this morning. You know what it makes me think? I wish I was posh.

But we're not posh. You know that. Yes, but I wish I spoke like you two. Oh, that's very kind of you to say. I mean, we're both, you know, absolute fakers, really. And even the podcast doesn't have any structure. We did a live show. We realised we don't really know what this is. But sometimes that's the way with things, isn't it? You don't have to understand it.

When I started mine, obviously, I'm a real newbie and I've only been doing it for a few months, but exactly the same. And I said to Emma, you know, oh, what's it going to be? You know, do we need 10 minutes of this and 10 minutes of that and it just sort of works itself out doesn't it really works itself out it's all fine people just want a bit of company it's lonely it's a lonely world yeah and people just want to be um reassured that's what i tell myself anyway i just assume people are like me and want just company well

like-minded like that's what I hope anyway, like-minded in some way, one way or another. Now, you were talking about the orchestras. Oh, yeah. That bit of cockney rhyming slang. I loved it because cockney rhyming slang

reminded me of my dad and I've got one for you. Oh, yes. Which is two bob bits. My dad used to go, have a look at her two bits that's very funny because my dad would always say thruptney bits that's interesting yes so there you are so he would say look at the thruptneys over there yeah well it's got a thruptneys out but i love it i think you should talk more in um

cockney rhyming slang and bring it back. Maybe bring it back. Speak exclusively in Cockney rhyming slang. It's funny, isn't it? It's lovely. It's such an old thing and not many people do it. I mean, Danny Dyer still sort of carries the torch for it.

But it would be lovely to hear someone as well-spoken as you and as smart as you to be going around. Wearing my whistle. Wearing the whistle. Absolutely. Well, people always say stairs, don't they? Apples and pears. Apples.

Apples. Walking up the apples. But I don't, how often you would actually reference the stairs is not clear to me. Yeah, I was walking up the apples one day. It's not very interesting. There was a burglar at the bottom. Oh, yes. That would be interesting.

Yeah, that's sort of old did you ever do Our Country's Good did you ever do that play at school or anything no I remember I had a lot of old there was a

I think she was supposed to be an actress back in like the 1700s and Timberlake Wharton writes in proper old London

not just rhyming slang but just general slang really you know and it's very interesting all that old language yeah oh it's lovely it's great lovely yeah I do think it's fascinating isn't it language how it changes yeah it is poetry really in its way well now it's um light light light light light light light can you get can you get can you get me

yes that I mean are you saying that because I've said that? Or have you come, are you saying this? No, I say it a lot because my brother says it all of the time. This is my concern. Sorry, I'm only saying that because I thought, are you flattering me by, or are you actually? Well, unfortunately not. I should have said yes. No, no, no, no.

I'm pleased. It's a thing that my brother and I talk about a lot. Can you get me a coffee? You know. Well, and I was like like I'm so obsessed with that so I'm leaning I'm sort of standing in a sort of slightly crouched way because I put the microphone on a ledge which is slightly too low down are you comfortable are you going to do your back in now no it's good it's actually a good stretch the reason I mention it is I don't like being in a

coffee shop and somebody walks in and says I'm gonna get a latte. If I worked in that coffee shop, I'd say, you'll get what you're given with that language. Absolutely. May I have? Yeah. Is it so difficult to say? I would like, or could I possibly have? I'm going to get, I'd like to get.

Can you get me? Oh, no. Oh, please. Yeah. I may be cockney, but you know what I mean? I've got standards. Well, that's what I'm always fascinated about as well is that sort of, like my family, my dad's family especially, it was a big thing to know how to behave. Do you know what I mean? Even though they were from Penge, so they're South London, but Penge and didn't have any money or anything,

but it was always very important to know how to conduct yourself so that you would, despite not having any money, the thing you can control is your deportment. Absolutely. I've got a really funny story actually. When I started in EastEnders years ago, my mum used to be my chaperone, God bless her, not with us anymore. And very, very working class, housewife, mother, you know, that was her job. And she came in and there was a lady in the art department sorting out the set and she was blackening a light switch my mum my mum went bloody mad she said excuse me they're the cleanest houses in the east end she said are you joking she went working class houses you could eat your dinner off the floor yeah it's so true. I remember thinking that actually, watching EastEnders. I was like, gosh, why would there be like a sort of yellowing sort of tinge

on some of the walls and things? And I thought, I don't remember anybody I know would have a wall like that or any, you know, everything would be immaculate. Never in a million years. My dad worked in a news agent. He worked from 4am in the morning, finished at seven, came home, had his dinner, and then he used to decorate the house until 2 o'clock in the morning. Very, very house proud. I mean, not every night, obviously. I was going to say, that must have been so house proud. We had to have a new decor every day.

It was every six months my mum would want to change things. Oh, really? She'd say, I'm bored,'d say I'm bored child I'm bored let me do the bathroom yeah so working class people rock I did see a meme the other day as well about someone saying um there's no strength like the strength of a of a woman on her own rearranging her furniture which really made me laugh about my family that would just be like my grandmother would just change the whole arrangement of a room. I mean, you know, like a 70-year-old Irish lady. Fantastic.

Just no problem about shifting a sofa across, you know. Yeah. Or maybe to a different room. Don't know how she did it. It's very good. Absolutely bang on. I do that if I'm bored, though. I like to shift furniture.

Yeah. Oh, I do too. Actually, I'm thinking about Change is as good as a rest That's what they say isn't it If you can't go on holiday Just move your coffee table Move it round a bit

Now I know you've got your stand up show Completely out at the moment I'm going to tell you We haven't watched it yet My Eliza is 14 at the end of this month And absolutely adores you Oh that's so nice And I said to her yesterday My Eliza is 14 at the end of this month and absolutely adores you. Ah, that's so nice.

And I said to her yesterday, Miss Cool Mum, I said, oh, I'm really blasé. I said, I've got Tom Allen tomorrow doing a little something with him on the pod. And she stopped in her tracks. Bearing in mind, she's a teenager now. She doesn't really listen. She stopped in her tracks and she said you you've got tom allen on your podcast she couldn't quite believe it really really she absolutely adores you so we're waiting for a nice evening where we want to get eyeballs and watch it together it's on your itvx on it absolutely yeah that's it looking forward to it looking forward to it but tom

actually the real reason that i've called you on we could talk about your success as a comedian and writer and and all of your presenting jobs and everyone knows about that i want to talk to you about my tomatoes and chilies oh my goodness oh my now there is a um what i'm trying to think what the pasta sauce is with chilies and tomatoes. Arrabbiata. Arrabbiata, that's it. I was trying to say amatriciana, but I don't know what that is. Natalie, you have done very well with those tomatoes. We haven't got one.

Well, you did pop them out quite late, let's be honest. Let's be honest. I did. I thought I'm going to keep them on the windowsill to keep them safe. And then it was sort of too late by the time I put them outside. Now they're outside. They're absolutely thriving. Oh, are they?

But there's no fruit on them. There's flowers coming, though. There's no fruit. When did you actually sow them? Well, actually, I think I was giving them as small plants by Alfie's mum. Okay. Back in, it must have been April, May time. So I should have really got them out shortly after that, really, because they were doing

well on the windowsill. But I was worried about the blight. I got blight last year. I absolutely understand. And may I just say that this isn't really my doing. This is my mark. So he has grown all of these from seeds which were two years old. So we picked all of the best tomatoes and he dried all of the seeds.

Kept all of the seeds. Yep. So they're seeds from two years ago and we of the best tomatoes and he dried all of the seeds. Really? Kept all of the seeds. Yep. So they're seeds from two years ago and we picked the best ones and they've just gone absolutely nuts. Did you sow them like inside first? We sowed them inside and then we had lots and lots on the windowsill like yourself from about March up until mid-May because I was also, I was very scared because it was still chilly. Yes, that's what I was worried about. I they'll go outside they'll be dead i was it was chilly but we bit the bullet probably the end of may got them out and we've just not stopped this and i love i love i wanted to talk to you because i'm not a gardener as such but i absolutely today when i had that bowl and i was picking those tomatoes and chillies,

I don't think anything makes me happier. That's what Alfie says to me. He says, everything's all right with you when you're in the garden. All the stresses go away. And it's true, actually. Just picking off a dead leaf or getting a slug off a branch or whatever it is, or moving something, repotting something. It does melt away all the anxieties of the world, I think. Have you gardened or is it a new thing or have you always been interested in it it's

relatively new because i lived at home with my parents for a long time and they um my dad liked to grow vegetables and my mum still likes to she's very good at like making up a pot or a hanging basket or a you know she my mum really likes gardening. And my dad did as well. But when my dad died and I'd not long moved into my first home, I thought, well, actually, it's a good thing to do, actually, in his memory. So I got a vegetable patch and started growing vegetables. But then, of course, it gets ever so emotional when the vegetables don't work out

or they die. Well, I guess. More grief. You guess. More grief. You know. That you don't know. More grief. If anything, the vegetable perhaps

actually brought more grief. Yeah. So, it'd be a nightmare. I've got some peas that I bought at the garden center. Oh, yes.

And I've got some really lovely courgettes because I love the courgette flour. Oh. I'd love to grow a courgette flour and then stuff it with ricotta and deep fry it. Oh, yes. Deep fry. Absolutely. Like you're on holiday in Greece.

Yeah. Wouldn't it be lovely? However, I've not got round to it this year. And the packs says so by 2023. Do you think I've completely wasted these or can I give them a go next year I think give them a go do you know what

pop them in a in a pot and and maybe put them on the windowsill and see what happens and when they're ready you could put them

in the garden next year do you know what I mean so you think just chuck these on the windowsill now maybe late maybe towards the

towards Christmas maybe what's the harm well you know we do half then and half in spring i sort of think well what's the worst that can happen they don't grow it's worth having a go isn't it rather than just throwing them away it's such a terrible waste i'm crossing myself such a terrible waste i mean we got some really cheap seeds and put them in our garden patch our vegetable absolutely flourished really really. Oh, that's lovely. Do you do cauliflowers? No, I'm a bit scared of a brassica because we're doing cabbages for the first time this year.

I've seen. They've gone wild, haven't they? They've done very well. And of course, I put them too close together like an idiot. But they're actually doing well and they're starting to form. They look like a cabbage now. They're starting to come together. Oh, that's lovely.

So I'm pleased about that. Although I did find a slug in amongst them one day. That was not well met. But I do like doing that, actually. But I've not done anything as exciting as a cauliflower or broccoli. Have you? No, I haven't, no. Honestly, it's just tomatoes and chillies.

But next year, I mean it, I'm desperate. I need to branch out. I need to stop being so busy. and I want more days in the garden. I want to grow more vegetables. Well, and as well, if you can put an irrigation on a timer, that makes a big difference, I think. Yeah. Mark's done a little irrigation system.

Oh, great. For all the tomato and chili pots. It's not on a timer, but, you know, just a tap and it's done. So it doesn't take forever. But yes, I just think it's so lovely. And the taste of these tomatoes. I go in Marks's, right? Packet of piccolinis.

Even the collection ones, they're beautiful. But they're, you know, £4.55 for 12 or 13. And they don't taste like these. These are like sugar lumps. They're proper tomatoes. The only thing I will say is the ones that we grow ourselves, they do probably cost about £85 and they do take about 400 man hours to get there.

That's true. No, you're right. You're right. No, there is something about homegrown. Have you ever done potatoes? I've never done a potato. They're quite straightforward, actually. And my goodness, the taste of them.

Really? Yeah. Lovely. What potatoes? Have you done a Maris Piper? A Marie Piper. Or is it just a Marie Piper? Maris Piper?

King Edward? Or are we just going white potato? I don't even know what they were. I never know which ones which they were the red ones oh the Desiree Desiree

yeah Desiree gotta be strong you gotta Desiree and um and another and the other ones

but I I got given them actually and I just shoved them in and I thought well I don't know what's going to come of this and um went on holiday

it rained and Anne Bean's son he came back and they were absolutely blooming we had so many potatoes from them it was really lovely really lovely do those because again i at the moment there's no veg patch it's a wraparound dish garden i just haven't got a lot of spot so i feel i need to do a lot of containers i need to do some you know get some containers some big pots and stuff like that how would i do my potatoes then can i chuck those in you know what do i do i did them in a big sort of i was given these when i did them i was given like a sort of uh buckets sort of large bucket size ones okay you could use okay probably a any kind of bin or anything like that sort of size or

even probably actually to do them in like a, in a big sack, actually like a, you know, like they come in with a grove. That sort of thing. As long as it's got drainage, I suppose.

That's, that was my experience. Anyway, there's probably people out there going, no, you can't do that. But that was my, that was my experience.

And of course you can plant them in the ground. If you've got, yeah, got access to the ground. And you love flowers as well, Tom, as well as veg dahlias have done very well very good and nice to pick them bring them in and um what else have we been picking and bringing in we've had dahlias and we've had um rebecca's the yellow ones they're

nice oh i don't know those i saw your lovely peonies they're beautiful oh they're my favorite but they they're my favorite they but they... They're my favourite. They last five minutes, don't they? They do. Do you... Now, here's a fact for you. We are nearly... We're a month and one day apart. We're exactly the same age.

My birthday's May the 13th. Oh, how funny. Oh, it's that peony season we are. There you go. It must be. Do you think people born in december just love christmas trees yeah a bit of holly holly probably oh yeah yeah oh peonies i love they're beautiful peonies absolutely beautiful you can get some that are as big as your head can't you i also love hydrangeas

well i i inherited i was very lucky when i moved in here that the previous owners had put in hydrangeas either side and so um i enjoy growing them but we get a lot of flowers and then it rains and it knocks them off to the ground it's yeah knocks them bandy and then they look awful don't they then they can look a bit sad but you can bring them in do you do that with yours i haven't got hydrangeas in the garden sometimes i do i'm very upset this year because i have a rose so it's called the Evelyn Rose and after my mum and someone bought it for my dad. So then my dad had it. And when I moved,

we planted it here and it was really, really good. And this year it's got the most terrible black fly. So do I just, I've had a few blooms from it, but it looks horrendous. My dad would be turning his grave really. So what do I do with that?

Can I cut it? Do I just chop that right back at the end of the year and hope for the best? Well, if they're like aphids sort of thing. So they are called aphids. I heard that a little bit of washing up liquid in water sprayed on them will knock them. Try that. Really? Oh, I will do that.

Maybe research it. Because I think everyone gets them i mean some people say i'll encourage other life in the garden and then they'll eat those aphids but i've never quite never always thrived with that sometimes i'll just brush them off with my hands actually um this is really you know the leaves are it just doesn't look well i mean maybe i mean what i've realized with roses there's roses in the front and um i've learned that actually they are quite robust you can trim the back and actually sometimes the more you prune them the more they do come back so you know maybe if the washing up liquid

doesn't work then just do that prune it back oh thank you i hope you don't mind me talking to you like you're monty don but i just think it's lovely i mean i like this i feel very flattered do you that um i'm not an expert i'm merely an enthusiast i know but it's so lovely mean i like this i feel very flattered do you that um i'm not an expert i'm merely an enthusiast i know but it's so lovely to have hobbies and passions isn't it especially what you know you're such a busy man and it's it's a it's time out for you to relax and does alfie enjoy it as well please send him my loves tell him i said oh he was very excited i was talking to you today um yeah i think we do enjoy it you know and just sort of i don't know what it is we do but just sort of basically even just going out to look at what's grown overnight or what's not grown or

what's coming on or what's not coming on that is just such a nice way to start the day that actually it's i'm not very good at meditation but i sort of suppose that is a sort of meditation isn't it just being out yeah i agree with you i've got one problem you see well two problems and that's children so the time is of an essence you know i don't really i'd love to go out first thing in the morning with a cup of tea and look around to see what's bloomed but quite frankly when you've got to shove uh pee kits in bags and make sure they've got the right equipment for school it's not quite there but i see it as a future you know when they fly the nest i feel like i'll be a real gardener oh yes and maybe get them involved would they do that

or is that not there not at the moment eliza's into you know her makeup skincare and boys oh bless her well yeah well well you know um we've all been there we've all been there you know and one day she'll go oh actually I remember my mum used to love a bit of gardening

I'm going to do that now yeah I've got to look after those roses that she needed that rose garden she created yeah

oh god yeah it'd be a real burden for her oh well I tell you what it's been so lovely having a chat oh no thanks so much for having me i've been really looking forward to this catch-up but uh do message me anything anything well as i said i'm not an expert but uh if you want to chat anything through let me know oh bless you i'm sure i will see you soon but i hope to see you around soon i'd love to come to your next live show.

Any time you want, just let me know. Yeah. All right. Lots of love. Lots of love. Thank you so, so much. Pleasure. All right.

Bye. Bye for now. See you later. Bye. Bye. Wasn't that lovely? Hi, this is Chris McCausland. And this is Diane Boswell.

And we've got a new podcast, haven't we, Di? We do. What's it called? Winning. Isn't? Everything. Every week, me and Diane, we're going to be having a little catch-up on the back of Strictly, aren't we, Di? We are.

I've missed you, Chris. I've missed you too. We're going to talk some nonsense, so why not tune in? Available everywhere you get your podcasts.