The Ins & Outs - Beds, Bulbs & Brightening Up Your Living Room

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

We are BACK!!In this episode, proudly brought to you by our amazing sponsors B&Q, Jojo gives us some great advice on buying a new bed and how to brighten up your living room.Polly talks to us about repotting plants, how we can hide our bulbs from the squirrels and how to deal with Honey Fungus!Plus we answer more of your questions and discuss "What's In, & What's Out?"SponsorsB&Q - https://www.diy.com/InstagramJojo - @houseninedesignPolly - @pollyanna_wilkinsonProducer Andy - @andy_rowe_WebsitesJojo - https://www.housenine.co.uk/Polly - https://www.pollyannawilkinson.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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suggest what to make with the food in your fridge, and it helped me achieve a family photo where everyone is smiling at the camera. I didn't think it was possible, but it is with Google Pixel 9. Learn more at store.google.com. Breaking news happens anywhere, anytime. Police have warned the protesters repeatedly, get back. CBC News brings the story to you as it happens.

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So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. you waiting for you welcome back to the ins and outs sponsored by b&q this is episode seven i am jojo bar and i am polly wilkinson on today's episode we will be answering questions from our innies and outies i'm going to cover a little on bedrooms and what types of beds you should be going for it is planting season so polly is going to give you some valuable hints tips of beds you should be going for. It is planting season so Polly is going to give you some valuable hints and tips on what you should be doing in the garden right now including probably another nudge on bulbs and we have a brand new feature called What's In and What's Out.

Hi Paul. Hello mate. So we're not in my living room. We are at the spotify studios which is rather surreal i'm very excited stroke nervous let's just let's take a moment to acknowledge we're in the spotify studios and that we have precisely no chill about it i'm so on chill we've just been hanging out in the green room basically stealing stacks so many snacks all the lights are making me quite nervous. Okay. I know. I've got three headlines for you. Oh, go on. So we've not seen each other in a bit. Yeah.

Oh my God, you're pregnant. I absolutely not. Absolutely not. Cut that. No. Number one, I have honey fungus. Or rather my garden. Oh God, I'm so sorry. I think there's a cream you can get.

You knew I would see. You set me up for that. My garden has honey fungus. This is a big deal. Moved into a new place. And it's not good news. That's, yeah. Okay, what's honey fungus? Let's learn a little about honey fungus.

It sounds kind of fun. It does, doesn't it? And it's like, oh, can you eat it? Yeah. But also a bit gross. Do the bees make it? Do the bees make fungus? Well And it's like, oh, can you eat it? Yeah. But also a bit gross. Do the bees make it? Do the bees make fungus? Well, it's called honey fungus.

I think that's to do with the colour. Oh, not so fun then. Basically, it's a fungus. It's like a mushroom that grows and it kills things in your garden. Okay. It's bad news. Oh, dear. It's something that you need to get rid of or basically trees start to die, shrubs start to die.

It's not great news. First bit of news, which is not good news. Number two. Good news or bad news? I think it's the best news ever. I've learnt how to glass blow. That's exciting. Glass blowing.

I have been obsessed since I watched this show on Netflix called Blown Away. It's like Great British Bake Off, but for glass blowing. OK. And then I've always wanted to try it. So you sort of blow and then you turn, don't you? There's lots of turning and blowing. It's really hard. Is it? Do you have to blow quite hard?

No, ever so gentle. Oh. It looks like they're really puffing. OK. But I was awful at it and it takes years and years to master it, but it was the most fun ever and now I just want to end everything and be a glass blower. and it takes years and years to master it, but it was the most fun ever. And now I just want to end everything and be a glassblower.

So tell me, do they get the heat? Because I find it fascinating that a glass, we never think about these things. Tell me how a glass becomes a glass that you drink from. So do you know what's really interesting? It's a bit like if you were to put a cocktail stick into a jar of honey. So you've got like molten glass, which is made from silica and

sand and they did explain i've forgotten but it's a boiling hot furnace and you you stick your rod in and you have to twizzle it and then you have to pull it out without the molten glass which is exactly like really runny honey dropping off the stick so you've got to twizzle it and then you get it out and and it sort and it starts to harden immediately. And within about 30 seconds, it's hard. So you've only got the amount of time that it's boiling hot. Then you like little blow. How amazing.

Amazing. And then you sort of shape it into, how does it shape into? You blow and that makes it bigger and then you keep shaping it. And then you put it back in the furnace, get it hot again so it's squidgy again. Right. But not too squidgy. And then you've got these metal, proper names, calipers? I don't know.

Like big metal scissors. Yes, I've seen it, yes. And then you sort of stretch the hole. Right. Don't. Resist. Resist. Okay, carry on.

It was like a smear test all over again. It was a smear test. I was going to go smear test. I was going to go smear test. I was going to go smear test. Shit. And then, yeah, and then you sort of bonk it off its stick and you put it in an annealer, which is like a very slowly cooling oven because if you cool it too quickly, it cracks.

And then I made a glass. It's awful. It barely stands up, but I feel I'm frankly an artisanal glass blower now. We think we should add a picture of that so we can all see a glass. It's awful. It barely stands up, but I feel I'm frankly an artisanal glassblower now. We think we should add a picture of that so we can all see your glass. That's amazing. Well done, pal. And then we're on to number three.

Number three. And then the podcast will be over. I listened to the Britney Spears book and I think it's iconic. Oh, okay. That's my news. She didn't know she had a book, I'll be honest. It is brilliant i watched obviously the documentary on her but it was fascinating and very sad it is very sad the

book's very sad but if you if you're looking for a listen on a long drive britney spears i'll give it a go do it thanks mate all right so that's you all caught up on my life you'll notice we've got a structure now for this podcast. We need structure. We all need structure in our lives. We do in the garden, in the house. We do. And in the podcast. Yes.

What have you been doing in the house and garden? Well, it's coming up to three years since I moved into my new house. It's three years of March. I don't know what happened. I feel like I blinked and it just flew. And when I first moved in, I was really gung-ho about wanting to change things and the number one thing I did was to evict the orange pine because there's every down to the skirtings the architraves the doors you remember it was just pine pine pine so gradually apart from the central staircase

because we're moving it eventually I've pretty much gone around the paintbrush and done everything everything else bar that I've sort of just given up on until this weekend when I sort of got a little DIY spring in my step again and started sort of going around the house and painting bits again and sanding down the odd windowsill. I suppose I've got a bit of a revived feeling, but I think it's something about this time of year that makes, because we're sort of turning our attentions from outside, if you don't mind me saying, to the insides,

I think we sort of go through a bit of a nesting phase at this time of year. So I've changed up my bedroom, I've changed my headboard, I've sort of gone quite autumnal in vibe. And I think that's sort of quite a normal thing to do. It's quite a nesting period before Christmas, I always think. We're at home, we're enjoying the creature comforts. You've changed your headboard. I've changed my headboard.

Is that something you just sort of do seasonally, like a cushion? No, it's actually not, but I think that might now happen. It's given me so much joy to change up my whole bedroom. It went from being quite summery and quite light and sort of stripy, and I've gone very dark autumnal. Brown is a real in color at the moment I think it's like really I'm really finding my groove with the colors of autumn do you know what the reason I need to change my headboard is is because of a greasy head not a greasy head

it's always his the greasy heads all its hair wax what it's hair wax so you'd want to be really really really considerate of that when you're choosing a new headboard. Anything like the velvet that isn't a sort of contract velvet, you're going to get that sort of nice little halo. Halo of grease.

Yes. Either don't have a man sleeping in bed next to you or don't have a velvet headboard. What about a linen thing though? Well, linen will as well. Any colour. So what do you do?

Scotch scotch? Scotch scotch. No, just make him put the cushions up behind his head. Or put a shower cap on his head. Training your gentleman. Train your gentleman. A headboard is not there to be leaned on with your head. It's not called a headboard for nothing.

It's called a headboard. Put cushions up behind his head. Or could you give him a little flap like what they have on an aeroplane? You know, the little sort of... Oh, yeah. Like one of those sort of napkin that comes down off the back of your headboard. Yeah. And then in the morning just remove it so that your bed looks nicely dressed.

That's a much better idea. Trademark that. Put that on your... With H9 on it. A flap. Yes, a headboard flap. They could be electric. They could be on a little motor that you sort of press. Yes, a headboard flap. They could be electric. They could be on a little motor that you sort of press.

Husband's getting into bed. And now you can put your head back on the headboard. Stop that! Don't touch the headboard! Like that. Okay, good, because I've spent too many hours looking for a headboard, so, well, you've solved my problem there, my friend. Have you done anything in the garden?

Something you've really got me thinking about in my own garden is how shit my small pots look. Especially now they've got nothing in them. They're just these little slightly mouldy-looking terracotta pots and there's lots of them. And now I get it. Big is better. Bigger is better, isn't it, when it comes to pots?

It is. Do you know, I did an outsider, which is like an outside advice session yesterday with the loveliest human. And she had loads and loads of pots. And she said, and I love the way she summarised it, the problem is it just pulls your eye right to the ground, doesn't it? And she was right. You've got these little pots that are low down and your eye just goes down, like staring at the floor. And that's not what we want to do, you know?

It's also clutter, terrible clutter. I think they work, though, in a sort of country garden when they're sort of filled with lots of lovely little spring flowers and summer flowers. But I think as soon as they're not, they don't really have anything in them of interest, they just look, it looks messy. I have to say, it doesn't look good.

It does. So my exception to the rule is, and this is what I say to clients, if you've got loads of terracotta pots, and do too then i stuff them full of spring bulbs put them out of sight until spring and then when spring comes i'll put them en masse in a big show by the front door or by the back door or something as a big cluster so it's a really impactful spring show and then i take the pots away again because they look exactly as you say beautiful for spring bulbs the rest of the time it's a hell of a lot of work keeping all of those tiny pots watered okay so just sort of move them out the way yeah so actually display even in small gardens

bigger things actually still look better I've realized like three big pots full of lovely things you got it um okay thank you pal for that bit of advice and also one thing I haven't done in my garden which I'm still I'm still on the fence about, I haven't cut my hydrangeas. I've got these great big, tall, brown hydrangeas. I know you love them, and I have left them alone. Leave them alone. Yeah, they just look...

No, Jojo, they don't look. You know what you're going to say? It's a real Marmite subject, this. I feel like people... Because, yeah, you know I'll always listen to you? It's a real Marmite subject, this. I feel like people... Because, yeah. Mate, you know I'll always listen to you. I'll always take your advice. I know everyone goes, oh, they look dead.

Most male gardeners like to cut them down. Keep it neat and tidy. Oh. Keep it neat and tidy. Tidy up that garden for winter. Right, OK. That's a massive generalisation based on gender. I apologise.

But there does seem to be a bit of a divide. Most designers like you to have winter structure. Winter structure is dead plants. It's seed heads. It's skeletons. And actually hydrangeas in particular, the flower heads when they turn into a seed head are really pretty. If you look at them close up,

they're like a little butterfly wing. So you've got to change your perception to seeing it as you've got to change your perception to seeing it as you've got to find the beauty in decay my friend and it's i would personally rather look at an amazing row of brown hydrangea heads than earth yes not to mention it's friendlier for nature it provides shelter for insects and if you leave seed heads up on certain things not hydrangea but certain other things it's food for the birds so if you can suspend your desire for everything to be incredibly neat and tidy over winter, just leave them alone. And also they provide protection to the plant.

If you cut a plant, you're essentially creating a wound. And that means if we have a really horrible winter and it's not protected by any foliage, it's more likely to die than if it's got the old foliage on it which is essentially acting a bit like a winter rug do you follow so I like it so the new house the new house what have you done in the new house the new house feel like you've been quite busy do you know what when you move house you spend a lot of time in b&q don't you oh you do um so I've been trotting around the aisles and I have just bought a lot of paint. Had it all paint matched because I didn't feel like buying the really expensive paint for my child's bedroom, don't judge me.

So I need to, I haven't got round to painting it. I've got all the paintings and I keep looking at them going, I will get to you. But step one is done. They're in my hallway. Well, they've got a brilliant paint mixing department. Well, it's so nice because you go up to the chap and you're like, here, I want this. And then obviously he puts it in his clever machine and then it goes, they shake it all up for you

and off you go with your paint mix. And it's brilliant. It's fantastic. Well, this is the thing. I really wanted this. There's one particular blue I really wanted, but it's only for one wall because madam over here said it's okay for me to have a feature wall in my child's bedroom.

Kitty's bedroom. So that's what he's having we're going with a chelsea theme because my son likes football and he supports chelsea i know um so that's what we're going with so it's a blue wall and i'll get to it i will but outside i've been very productive all the bulbs in the ground bit of tree surgery going on we've got to deal with that honey fungus but the focus has been on bulbs and ripping out loads of slightly random plants because when you take possession of a new garden much like a new house there's things you're just like i don't want to look at that yeah so have you put tulips in your pots and the and the ground or just pots i love this question both so i've had a lot of fun. Going to get geeky now. So I've done my bulb lasagnas.

Yes. And as you know, I did the bulb guides this year. Yes. So because I'm an epic geek, I've got clusters of pots with each collection in because I want to obviously see how they go. I've got new pots with next year's collections in. And then I've dug a big old trench in the garden and put about 500 bulbs in of new ones that I want to trial in the ground as well. Wow. So it's a proper test bed. That's a lot of bulbs.

It is loads. Okay. Question for you, because squirrels love bulbs, don't they? Squirrels love bulbs. What do you... Hold on. They're called clost... Clostres.

Clostres. Cloisters. Cloisters. Are my clothes? Keep going. Clost... Clostomy. Clostomy bags. Is that what you use?

It's something like that, isn't it? It's called like a... Would you like me to rescue you? Yeah, go on, rescue me. Closh. Closh. Closh. That's it.

Only because I bought some because I thought they were really pretty but realistically the only issue is with them is that they're so cloches are these sort of you'll be able to explain it much better. No I like it when you explain it. Come on. What is it? I don't even know what they're made of. They're sort of a bark of some sort. I've failed already. You have. They're made of bamboo. Bamboo okay. So they're sort of bamboo and it's like they look like a something you put over a cake to stop things getting at them. Yeah, they're like a upside down basket that you put on top of pots to stop squirrels. Yes, but the only thing is about that,

if you had a thousand bulbs, which it sounds like you do, you can't have that many ploshes, can you? So I've done cloches on most of my pots, and where I haven't, I've got chicken wire and I've cut it and wrapped it over the top of the pot. And then in the ground, I've just laid, because it's a test bed, and this is a bit tricky, because if you're doing this in a mixed perennial bed and you've got other stuff, you can't do this. But if it's a big old empty bed for bulbs, I've just laid chicken wire down and sort of got some bamboo canes to hold it down. Little bastards. got some bamboo canes to hold it down. Little bastards. I'm truly terrible at keeping up with emails. I use Gemini to give me summaries of my inbox, which is a lifesaver. And if I'm feeling stuck creatively, I just ask Gemini for help and bam, instant inspiration.

You can learn more about Google Pixel 9 at store.google.com. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not, just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Squirrels this morning though came in. They've tunnelled under the chicken wire.

Oh right, yeah I was going to ask. Okay so say chicken wire, pick up what rolls of chicken wire. Exactly so. And then roll it out on top of your bed. On your bed. How do you pin it down? Well I just got some bamboo canes and just sort of put it in various holes so it sort of stays still. Where it becomes challenging is where you're planting in turf or in a border with things in. And then, I mean, people do all sorts of things, but I've tried using cut up rose cuttings before because the thorns are sort of slightly a deterrent.

Others like to plant it, the bulbs with paprika or chilli powder. Oh, that's a bit cruel, isn't it? Well, I don't know whether paprika's cruel, but chilli powder is. So I've not done that because I'm not here for the cruelty. But the paprika, I think, is more of a scent thing. OK. But if you have a massive problem with tulips, and a lot of people have deer in their garden,

I wouldn't even bother with tulips because deer love them as well as squirrels. Alliums are a better bet. Squirrels don't like them, nor do deer, because they're very strong. You know, they're an onion. Yeah, of course. So they're much stronger scented. So if you've got real problems with it and you can't do anything about it, then go to Alliums instead. We are now going to head over to take some questions from our innies and outies.

Or as we're going to call it, mind your B&Qs. Mind your B&Qs. Right then, our first question for Jojo is from Wells. Beds. I want to buy a new one. So do I, Wells. Currently sleeping on a knackered, vise-spring, divan-based bed.

Are divans a bit old hat now or should I go for one with a bed frame style instead? Comfort is priority, but style is too. And I have sub-questions about this, but we'll come to them. Okay. No, divans aren't old hat. We use them, I i would say in 90 of

our projects so there's a few things to consider when selecting your bed and why you would choose a divan divans are good because they don't move as in even over time the divan base i mean it's literally it's a really simple structure it's just sort of got four sides and a sort of wooden top that just keeps your mattress secure so if you're a real bed rat like this is the one no matter how hard you go at that thing it ain't moving that's okay you don't you're not going to get any you know so if you want a sturdy bed for you if you want to study divans are great they're they're they're a solid object and then you've got your mattress on top whereas anything like a frame bed you're you're relying on four feet that are i've got something on them and therefore over time there's

more risk of the screws and everything sort of slightly becoming a bit you're going to get a squeaky situation going on there yeah exactly so i'm i'm all for divans and the great thing is about divans as well if you are short in space you can get divans with drawers you can get divans now where the the end actually lifts up so that you've got storage underneath the underneath the mattress you can upholster a divan or so you can have an upholstered divan which is a bit more of a contemporary look or you can just get an old-fashioned valance we love valances there's a valance the dangly bit that it's just a skirt it's a it's a yeah it's a valance it's a sort of lovely pelmet skirt that sits on top of it, which you can change over time.

It gives you flexibility to change it. So should wells get a divan? Absolutely get a divan. Is that your choice? Your bed of choice? I would say divans are my number one choice. And if you were to get another vice spring or something, then yes, a divan base is usually how it would come. They're solid.

They stand the test of time. Like I said, if you think about a frame bed, the way it's constructed is it's going you know dowels and screws to hold it together and over time with all that sleeping action that you're doing it might eventually vigorous sleeping it might eventually collapse well here's here's a problem though don't put on wheels for god's sake oh well we don't end up in the inside of the room well we say divan but uh i had a bit of a fail here didn't i when i ordered a divan for my child's room and i couldn't get out the stairs oh please measure if you if you're ordering anything for this is like this is just 101 if

you've got a staircase don't ever order a bit of furniture without figuring out if it goes up the stairs mattresses by the way mattresses and divan bases are the one thing that people don't consider how how awkward they are because it's not just the sort of the depth of them but it's the length and the width and actually the turn on those is tricky so a mattress is gosh if you've got a six foot mattress super king mattress and you've got to get that thing up the stairs you can't bend it. It's a thing. A big old lump. How big? What size? Super King mattress. Yeah. Two.

Divans that are two singles that get bolted together. Yes. Couldn't get them upstairs. You couldn't get the divans up, but you got the mattress up. Yeah. Right. I'd love to have seen you do that. Like that episode from Friends.

Pivot? It probably would have been. I couldn't. Pivot! Pivot! Well, it's a fail because now I have a bed in have been. I couldn't. Pivot! Pivot! Well, it's a fail because now I have a bed in my garage. Oh, no. That I can't use.

Interesting. I know. Well, you know, so that's a valuable... Solid piece. So check measurements, my friends, my innies and outies. Do check with your... My innies, sorry. Check your measurements before shoving anything up the stairs

because they're not always going to go. Especially sofas. I have just realised you've called them innies because you were talking about the interiors. before shoving anything up the stairs because they're not where it's going to go, especially sofas. I have just realised you've called them innies because you were talking about the interiors. And so I've got the outies. Oh, Polly. Oh, Polly, you didn't. So my tribe are the outies and your tribe are the innies?

You come on. Is this like the You're Beautiful? Is it? Oh, did you know he had a poem? Did you know he wrote a song, You Are Beautiful. Is it? Did you know he had a poem? Did you know he wrote a song, You Are Beautiful? I swear Polly's really smart. Is she not? Look, I didn't realise we were dividing the innies and outies into yours and my tribe.

See, I think there's a different kind of smart going on here, because I'm not intellectually smart, but I'd say I'm pretty quick. I don't know what's happening here, Andy, but this is almost like a strange sort of almost like a i know when i think about i think about the belly button oh but why would we talk about that pal we're called the ins and outs but any so what do you call your belly button are you in it i'm an in my belly button isn't but apparently in this in in this podcast she's you're an outie pal it's

because we're talking about the ins and outs okay i'm all caught up gosh ask me a question quick quick ask us something intelligent right oh next question we've got from an outie is for polly this comes from maggie please could you let me know whether i can repot a bay tree and a pyrus now or should i wait until? Wait until spring for any repotting wait until spring the reasoning being you want to repot it when its roots are going to start growing again otherwise if you repot it now it's going to essentially sit in the wet so with anything in a pot do it in spring but what I would also say is with everything in pots you have to repot these things every two years or so you need to think about everything in a pot is essentially

reliant solely on the soil and nutrients in that pot. And I get a lot of clients asking why they've got sort of sad looking bay trees. And then I ask them when they planted it and when it's been repotted since. And the answer is, well, we've never done anything with it. So a little tip with your pots is every two years or so, you need to take that tree shrub, whatever it is in your pot, take it out. You need to replenish the compost so that it's got essentially new food. But also when something's been in a pot for a long time, the soil essentially sort of sinks down a bit, reducing the amount of air between the soil. And also the roots get bigger, so the roots have nowhere to go. So when

you take it out, you can either root prune the tree or shrub which just means that you're cutting back a few of the roots just to freshen them up but also by adding new compost you're adding more air which is giving space for the roots to spread again. So all of this you want to do in spring but just remember with your pots you have to feed them. You're starving your plants if you put them in a pot and never replenish the compost and don't feed them in the spring and summer our next question is for jojo and it comes from laura romaine hello thank you ladies so much for such an awesome inspiring informative podcast you are welcome we put that bit in uh my question i'm

buying my first house yay and it's a grade two listed building, so I understand I'm limited with what I can do. So how would I make the living room brighter, please? It has low beam ceilings with dark wood, three wall lights on the opposite side of the room, one window and a back door with frosted windows. I hope you're keeping up with this. The walls are currently white, wooden floor, brick fireplace. Go. Okay, sometimes a grade two listed property. So grade

two listed means that you're very restricted to what you're allowed to do. It's a listed property, which means you can't go painting the beams. You can't go taking things out. Everything has to go through planning if you want to do anything to it. So I tend to say with a grade two listed, something like a cottage that's probably got low ceilings and it's got dark beams. And the beams tend to either be dark oak or black. Believe or not you're never allowed to paint those you're actually not allowed to paint beams so I tend to say with these sorts of properties where it's low ceilings lean into it lean into the fact that it's a small dark room and don't try and make the walls white it just feels so contrasting it feels like you're trying to do something contemporary in a room

that's just not so I would say actually lean into the warmth go with a sort of lovely warm colour on the walls and where you've got a window it sounds like I think she said she had a frosted the back door with a frosted window that doesn't that wouldn't be I don't think that would be the listed part so I would say remove the frosting if you can where you've got a window I would say try and get a Roman blind up above the recess to let a little bit more light in but lean into colour go a bit more moody almost go on the walls you could even go I mean I don't know was it her living room did she say living room yes go light with the furniture so sort of bring in like nice oatmeal to sort of make the furniture feel a bit more inviting but more sort of you know lively

but then on the walls I'd say go a bit more moody. Okay. Question here from an outie. This is from Holly Brown. Question for Paul. I have a new build garden. In my border, I have pleached hornbeams, hydrangea, Annabelle, and your white spring bulb kit, and some night's eyes, muscari. Should I, or what should I plant in between the Annabelles? Great question, and something classic that a lot of people do.

Annabelles are great, but you can't just plant annabelles unless it's for a hedge. If it's for a border, first of all, you need some structure. So annabelles are quite bare-legged so that, you know, they sort of come up and then you've got this cloud of white above it. that you know they sort of come up and then you've got this cloud of white above it so I mean if you wanted to keep it really simple you could just put in some domes of something like pittosporum golf ball is a good choice because it's quite a well-priced shrub that gives you the same effect of more expensive things where we might have used a box ball before or a u-ball which we still use but they're quite a premium option pittosporum golf ball is a lovely lush green dome that looks lovely.

You could just do a few of them. I wouldn't do them in between every single one, but just sporadically dot them would look beautiful, give you a little bit of winter structure and permanence. But then with that, and I go on about this one a lot, whack in some geranium rosanne. The reason being they get really big, they're big clouds of purple

and they're going to hide the feet of the hydrangea which is just looking at sort of bare earth so just those two alone would make an enormous difference i mean i could list hundreds of plants you could use but geranium rosanne a pittosporum golf ball and then if you were feeling snazzy you could also put some hackanacloa macra which is a grass a low growing very lush green grass which I love to use under hydrangea because they both like quite moist soil as long as it's well drained but why they're lovely is because they're a hummock of green that then turns to a russet brown over the autumn and winter so you're still getting a bit of interest even in the winter season and so you've got the green of the pittosporum dome but then you've got the brown of the hydrangea and the grasses in the winter so that's that would be a very nice mix greens and purples and do you tend

to say you did say sporadically do you tend to say how would you go sporadic so if you're looking at say you've got a i don't know four meter long bed yes she's got her lovely annabelle's how do you know where to place those balls like would you tend to go three or four you an even person or odd person or do you space them out not space them out equally i'm an odd person we know this i know you're fairly odd um we both like odd odd numbers do that uh in design we try and go with odd numbers but what i would try and avoid is complete uniformity so every two meters there's a post-sporum i find that to be far too rigid for a garden that's not really nature so I would be doing one and then one in three meters one in one meter when it so it's it's you've got to try and

achieve a slight feeling of randomness and is it quite nice if she was to have her pots with her grasses in her and they're quite small presumably when you first buy them yes got a pot of it is it just nice to stand back lay them out like in their pots just stand back look at them rearrange just kind of get a feel for how they look exactly that's how we do every single garden we ever plant is we set out the plants which is a bit like you know arranging a bookcase indoors i imagine you sort of you set it all out so we set out the pittosporum and when i've told you these plants i really mean for you to repeat them do not just buy one of each they have to be repeated for it to be cohesive you've got got this long run of hydrangea. So you need, I don't know, five, seven, nine of the pittosporum. And then you would do the geranium. Geranium get quite big. They get to

about a metre. So you can plant them individually as opposed to doing clusters, which is what we do with quite a lot of other perennials. But again, you would repeat them and then you could also repeat your grasses. but try and avoid doing it exactly in in uniform i think that could be a little jarring great okay so new feature that we're going to end every podcast with is to say what's in and what's out and this week i'm asking jojo jojo what's in what's out so what's in is the color brown lean Lean into the browns. Browns, autumnal colours. Think sort of like lovely burnt, rusty reds and oranges and browns.

That is a colour that's not going anywhere. That is just, I think that's here to stay. It's so earthy. It's as close as you're going to get to nature. So I'm really happy to say I think that colour's going to be around for a while. And like I said earlier, it's not just in interiors.

You can see it across even in fashion now and you can see it in the garden in all of your plants so i'm here for it yeah i'm on board with the brown okay what's out what's out is nipples it's cold out there guys i mean i can't lie can't can't disagree with that one. So I'd say, you know, just invest in some really good jumpers. Yeah, knitwear. Knitwear is also in, to be fair. Knitwear. To prevent your nipples being out.

And that brings us to the end of this episode of the In's and Out's. Have you missed us? Do I need to ask Polly what's in and out? No, we're doing you this week. I'll do it next week. Shit. What a pleasure, guys. As always, you know we love asking you this.

Please remember to like, subscribe, and share this podcast with all and sundry. Right. Now that we are back, back, back, we want to keep this entertaining for you guys. So please do send us in your questions to our Instagram page. The underscore ins and outs underscore. So please do send us in your questions so that we can continue to educate ourselves as well as you so we are also very conscious that so many people ask questions about careers and business and working mum life and that's something we'd really

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Bring the color of true relation. This episode is brought to you by Google Pixel. I'm Jessie Crookshank. I host the number one comedy podcast called Phone a Friend. I also have three kids. I need help making every day easier.

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