The Ins & Outs - MASTERCLASSES on Soil & Kitchen Islands

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

Polly brings the LOLS with a funny joke this week, while Jojo takes us behind the scenes when it comes to arguing with her husband.Jojo also covers your questions on brass taps, kitchen islands, fireplace's in the bedroom and whether Boucle is in, or out!Plus, Polly goes deep on why it's so important to find out your soil type and covers everything we need to know on Pussy Willow.This episode is brought to you by our amazing sponsor Armac Martin. Since 1929, Armac Martin has been dedicated to creating design-led luxury brass hardware and accessories. Armac Martin is now an award-winning, fourth-generation family business and a leading name in the luxury interiors industry. Click the link below to visit their website!https://www.armacmartin.co.uk/Make sure you pre-order you copy of Polly's book, "How To Design A Garden" by clicking on this link https://geni.us/HowToDesignAGardenInstagramPodcast - @the_insandouts_Jojo - @houseninedesignPolly - @pollyanna_wilkinsonProducer Andy - @andy_rowe_WebsitesJojo - https://www.housenine.co.uk/Polly - https://www.pollyannawilkinson.com/Pod Rowe Productions - https://www.podrowe.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether renting, renewing a mortgage, or considering buying a home, everybody has housing costs on their minds. For free tools and resources to help you manage your home finances, visit Canada.ca slash ItPaysToKnow. A message from the Government of Canada. Green, the colour of true elation. Pond on a summer's day day see i've been waiting for you hello our lovely news and outies and welcome to this week's ins and outs podcast with myself jojo bar and the ever so lovely pollyanna wilkinson and this week we are sponsored by our very good friends at r mac martin who are the makers of the finest hardware and our lovely

polly here is obviously being kitted out for her new house and she has a little renovation update for us so exciting the kitchen is halfway in so the knobs are starting to go on so I've got the Cotswold solid brass bun knobs which is just fun to say they're so beautiful these diddy little knobs so they're looking absolutely stunning and then do you know what at decor x we went to go and visit our friends at our mac and uh had a good old perv on everything and what is it this is going to sound weird but the thing i'm the most excited about is is the loo roll holders the cotswold toilet roll holder is its official name but my god i have never seen a more beautiful loo roll holder in my life

can I just say something about knobs and handles and the importance of these heart this bits of hardware we're not it's on a cabinet you don't get to feel the weight of it but if you pick up R. McMartin's hardware if you if you hold one of those knobs yeah the weight of it they are weighty they are solid weighty beautiful the most the craftsmanship that goes into these is stunning I cannot rave about these guys more and also just adore them love dealing with them the best team and joyful joyful company aren't they so the knobs are on but the hat I have to say the loo roll holders and the robe hooks and the little hand towel rails and things are sexy they are i never knew i could be so excited about these items in my in my house but they are they're the cherry they're the cherry

on the uh the light switches are coming in a couple of weeks too now that that is the difference between an ordinary reno and a nice one is those things like light switches isn't it and you're like oh that's a nice detail. So I'm very excited for them to come too. So it's just, what a joy. Thank you so much for sponsoring us. You lovely, lovely people. Please do go and check out everything that they make over at rmcmartin.co.uk. On this week's episode, Polly tells a funny joke.

It is actually a funny joke. How I like to argue with my husband. Taking care of brass taps. Polly talks us funny joke. How I like to argue with my husband. Taking care of brass taps. Polly talks us through pussy. Willow. I give you some options for kitchen islands. How to find your perfect soil type. Fireplaces in bedrooms. Is this good feng shui? And is boot play in or out? I'll give you my opinion on that. So let's jump on in. opinion on that. So let's jump on in. Hello, my love. Hello, my love. How are you this morning? I'm doing all right. How are you? Haven't seen you in a while. I know. I feel like I've just,

just, just seen you. We've just been at DecorX, gallivanting around. It's so nice to actually physically see you because sometimes we're just, we're obviously so used to seeing each other on the screen and talking on the phone, but actually we'd rarely find the time to actually get together so it was jolly lovely just a couple of times a year just literally twice a year um it was so nice we were obviously at Decrex doing our talk yesterday and it was our little live Q&A and it was so nice to be sort of I don't know just greeted with so many lovely lovely warm smiling innies and outies meet so many of you it was so nice thank you so much to everyone who made the effort to come and see us yes thank you that was glorious give me a little catch-up what's been going down the book is officially live on all online retailers it's very exciting that got very

well received there was a huge amount of love so that's been a big highlight of the week oh mate that's a huge I hope you I hope you popped a bottle of champagne did you I did I went for lunch with my folks I mean your parents must be so proud they must be just so proud of you but I mean wow just I still still just wowed well done well done they are so that's that's been my highlight uh other than that you know I live in a I live in a dust hole and every time I go to bed now there's like patches of um filth on my bed where the dust has come through the light fittings you're so near so near the finish line my love so close

like Christmas sort of that's so close is it is it I can't quite taste it yet I can't taste it but I've got I've got a basin next week I might even have a functioning loo downstairs so that'd be exciting so you know come on it's quite fun to see all these things go in isn't it but look you you've told me that I haven't been funny enough recently so I've got a joke for you so Polly's not been very fun lately understandably so podcast producer andy and i were like paul are you all right mate you're a bit you know come on let's enjoy she said actually no her exact words were nothing fun is happening in my life at the moment that would be your words it's not very fun andy said come on then give us a good joke and apparently polly said Polly thinks she's got a really good joke for us I do so we love a joke come on okay so um so I've got this mate and he's called John and he's gone through a really tough time fellow divorcee like you know it's tough going through divorces

and he's had a really tough time and he was really missing his ex-wife but I was like get get back on the on the apps mate get back on them and we caught up for a drink and he was like right so got some news I'm dating twins I was like wow that's amazing how do you tell them apart and he was like well Beth paints her nails purple and Mike has a cock. Oh, it is good. Is it good? That's totally not my joke. That's like completely copied. All good jokes. Actually really good.

I appreciate that. That had me good. I'm really bad at remembering jokes i'm not very good at remembering jokes i hear a great joke and i'm like that was excellent and then i'll be like shit i can't remember it the next day there you go i've given you one very good well done there you go no i won't remember it but that was very good thank you so much pal do you know everyone's homework this week can be to share about the podcast and tell that joke actually tell the joke but also can people send in jokes send in the funniest smuttiest rudest joke that you know that would be great surely

somebody's got to we for some reason we get lots and lots and lots of questions but we don't get much back from you guys in the way of like funny stories we want some like fun renovation stories or something funny that happened with your builder or it wasn't funny you know just send us some fun stuff or indeed some really shit jokes good jokes but you know fun jokes well that's enough about me now now over to you oh funny one what's been going on I mean nothing that funny actually but interestingly yesterday I as for anyone that knows I um I'm doing up Sophie and Jamie um Lang's house and I was invited on the newlyweds podcast um which was great fun they are such a hoot that couple they are hilarious I mean just no filter

so it's really fun brilliant funding up the house anyway yesterday because I now listen to their podcast and they were interviewing Jamie Oliver the chef and his lovely wife um and they were talking about interestingly they were talking about arguments and how important they think it is to argue in a relationship and they actually said and it's so funny because I literally it stopped me in my tracks they said they have an basically have an argument it sort of slightly builds up and it's a crescendo sort of around three months where they have a massive blowout like a big big argument yeah and then they sort it out and then you're really in love again and i cannot tell you how how true that is of of me and brad that is so what happens in our

relationship where everything just seems like it's just so great and then it'll start to sort of slide something will happen he'll start to do something that will really annoy me it's usually me but it's me that gets annoyed about something he's quite chill right so i'll let it build and i'll let it build and then i'll mention a couple of times to him then he just then he'll start to get in a mood and then i'll get in a mood and then we both sort of start to drift apart and then it will just crescendo and then i'll just be like i'll just be like you don't have to do with this anymore why don't you do that and then and then he goes quiet so he's not an arguer he's he's goes very quiet and he's very sensitive soul oh really he's a quiet he goes sulky doesn't he's my kind of man really you're the you're the

rhino and he's the hedgehog well no because i'm not i don't get i'm very much to the point i don't have time for this i don't have time i need to just have this out right here and now. Let's deal with it right now. Yeah. Get over it. I'm a bit too, I'm quite impatient like that. Cause I just want to get it dealt with.

Move on. Okay. Okay. Whereas he goes slightly in on himself, in on himself, in on himself. And then I get really annoyed that he's getting in on himself. And then I'm like,

come on, just have a sensible conversation. And then it would blow up. And then it'll be like a few days of sort of not talking to each other. Oh, okay. It can go a few days. Yeah. And then it'll, then it'll be like me then, then being like, few days of sort of not talking to each other. Oh, OK. Can go a few days. Yeah. And then it'll then it'll be like me then being like, honey, come on.

You got to come out. Come out that cave. Come and talk to me. It's OK. It's safe out here. Yeah. He'll be like, OK, I'm really sorry. And I'll be like, better.

OK. OK. Or I'm actually very good at saying sorry. I immediately am like, I'm sorry for my part in this. Now, where's your apology? It it's very stubborn Bradley's very stubborn interesting I mean I've always was it a counseling thing or I can't remember I know I just know there's two type of arguers there's the rhino who sounds like you who's just like we're dealing with this now confrontation let's do it and then there's the hedgehog who like rolls into a ball and it's like

I need to think about this I need to I can't formulate my discussion right now and that's um are you the hedgehog you're the rhino surely no I in my previous relationship I was the hedgehog and I would just go into a ball and be I just wasn't I just need to figure out what I think about something before I like come back with my answer about it like my explanation whatever um I'm a sulker oh you're a sulker love a little bit of silent treatment me and Brad are right there together but it would never work then would it because you'd just both be sulking at each other we'd just never speak again wouldn't we first fight and that would be it yeah you gotta have someone to be like come on then let's get it let's sort this out you know so you're the resolver Mr Big's

the resolver for us I will sit and wait it out and he'll eventually be like are we going to talk about it oh really yeah he's just a better person than i am so you have a big blowout every three months and then you love each other again i think it's probably every three months then we sort of have a you know makeup sex that's always really good for a relationship isn't it makeup sex is great okay and then it's you know back on the horse and then it's around you know goes around again speaking of fighting tell me have you watched nobody wants this yet on netflix no oh mate you're gonna love it nobody wants this nobody wants it it's um uh what's his name Seth Cohen from the OC uh yeah Adam yeah Adam Adam Brady Adam Brody Adam Brody not Adam Brady isn't he's Adam Brady okay um Adam Brody Seth

Cohen like come on tell me you loved him from the OC yes loved him like he's even hotter now because he's a hot rabbi well he's old he's older as well isn't he so oh he is like a fine wine okay if you thought he was good then and it's um is it kirsten bell is that her name from loads of stuff oh yeah really good like oh my god it's amazing it's um it's a love story it's just a really lovely love story it's not like but they they're like it's just a really healthy lovely love story and it's just joy you oh mate you are gonna sit and you are gonna watch that in like two sittings okay it is like a warm hug best thing I've seen on tv in ages even Esther Perel was talking about it the other day because she was saying the reason that everyone loves it is it's because a love story

about people in their 40s and what she was saying which I think was really interesting is most love stories are based around people in their 20s as if that's your only shot at love oh i see and like you and i can testify to that not being the case so absolutely not no you know it's out there for us do you know what else actually um what i've had done around the house i've got the most lovely decorator in at the moment and he's like just oh my god he's going around just i know we're having the house done next year yeah hopefully if Hopefully, if all the costs add up. But I've got the decorator in, and he's just doing all the rooms that he can do that aren't going to be affected. And it can't tell you what a good lick of paint can do.

And he's just brilliant. And he's using all that lovely coat paint, and he's spanked my downstairs loo. Has he? Yeah. Oh, I'd like to see that. I came home last night, and it was,

it came home with the kids, and the door was was closed and i opened this little downstairs loo which is east facing very dark um there's a massive tree behind it so it might as well be north it's got no natural light and before it's just white walls and it felt very very cold and i hate it everyone hates going in there to use the loo and then I suddenly opened the door yesterday and it's full, like floor to ceiling red. And it's so brilliant. It makes you feel warm. I'm telling you. It's such a cool colour.

Have you got a downstairs loo? Oh, please share a photo of that, my friend. It's difficult to take a photo of that room, but I'll share on the old, I'll share on the gram. I'm looking forward to spanking my pantry in the fullness of time. Oh, I'm really excited. You're going it you're gonna love it should we dive into some lovely questions okay i'm gonna start off with a question from alexa so about two years ago i chose to fit unlacquered polished brass hardware in my kitchen post reno including a kitchen tap and lots of knobs and handles i spent the first 18 months furiously polishing all of these but i've recently lost the will to polish especially the tap which marks quickly and i'm questioning my choices

my question to you is would you keep polishing or leave it to age huge fan love the podcast and would love to hear your opinion with many thanks alexa oh i'm very invested in this because you've gone and put a load of polish in mine, haven't you? Well, so there's a difference here. You've got polished brass and then you've got lacquered brass and you've got unlacquered brass. Lacquered means that it's got a coating on it, which means that it won't tarnish. Unlacquered means that over time, even just with the moisture in the air, it will start to tarnish. It will be like patina.

So you get that lovely patina look which i personally love more so than polished i actually when i usually put taps or handles in and they're very shiny and they're gold i i like it when that brass starts to tarnish um so i would give up on the polishing and let them let it let it be let nature take its course but um interesting i remember years ago i used to i when I was um in my teenage years I worked in a bar a couple of bars actually and it was my job to clean the fonts and every morning I'd have to get that bar what's it called that stuff barkeeper's friend barkeeper's friend and it was my job to polish all the fonts and I used to fucking hate it I wonder if that's actually

instilled in me now why I love unknackered brass so much but um as soon as I put my taps in in my bathrooms they were they were unlacquered brass obviously that very shiny shiny brass yeah and I've let them go and they go this really cool patina patterned look sort of you know dotty I love that I love that look no let it go let it go let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Can I ask a follow-up question to that? If you have an unlacquered brass shower heads, you know, and I'm thinking of like when it gets all clogged with limescale or whatever, do you have to use special material,

like cleaning things on it? So when you go with one of those big shower roses, that isn't a modern shower rose, that doesn't have those little rubber bits that you can get the, you know, you can fiddle with and then the lime scale comes out you will obviously get lime scale build up and it's a lot harder i think you sort of have to take the head you unscrew the head you can sort of leave it in vinegar or something to sort of disperse or lime scale remover um but it is a bit

of a job so i would always try and encourage anyone to get a soft water filter fitted so that you don't have to worry about that. I had a water filter fitted two years ago and I've never had to clean my shower head. So do look at that as a, you'll still get obviously all the patina and all that's that lovely look, but you won't get the buildup of lime scale in the little tiny holes, which when you're trying to clean brass is a lot more difficult. It's a bugger,

isn't it? Yeah, it's a bugger because it's really hot. L isn't it? Yeah, it's a bugger. Because really hard, limescale is literally like, it's almost like coral. It's really hard, like solid, solid, solid salt. Hard packed. Particularly if you live in London, it's such hard water, isn't it? Oh, London hard water.

It's awful. Yeah. Hi, my darling. I'm going to run out to the garden with a cup of tea. I've got one here from Stephanie. Hi there. I'm so happy your podcast is back after the summer break I have an outie question for Polly I planted a mt a so pink pussy willow last winter and it's

doing well I read that it's a good candidate for coppicing but I'm scared what do I need to know not to ruin this nice shrub thank you so much yeah so pussy willow willow in general and also things like cornice it's not just willow um but cornice is a great option for this too is um so you coppice it every kind of late winter or early spring and coppicing just means cutting it down to like 30 centimeters from the ground which feels really scary because people like no i'm gonna kill it but it's so you know um well everyone sort of knows what willow is but cornice is the one which has really bright stems in winter okay um so you can get loads of different ones like midwinter fire and yeah there's loads um bright red stems bright yellow stems so come

very late winter or kind of early spring so i'm talking sort of february february march you cut it 30 centimeters above the ground and then you can use the whips like for ornamental things if you want hence like willow you know that's how they gather willow for willow weaving uh or for you know pussy willow is lovely as a as a thing to put bring into the house isn't it as a sort of spring the little fluffy buds in vases yeah i love it but so you would just cut it above the ground you cut the whole thing um which feels really daunting because with a lot of other shrubs the sort of general rulers don't cut more than 30 but these are just so robust and they just keep bouncing back so it will just you'll end up by doing the coppicing what happens is you're going to get bushier growth so it's going to be a way healthier plant uh in the form of pussy willow if you coppice it you're going to get more catkin production so the newer sheets create prettier

and more decorative catkins which is kind of one of the reasons you're growing it i assume so that would encourage it it also controls its size so it means it doesn't get absolutely monstrous and that's the same with cornice as well like if you want the bright stems you need to coppice it if you don't coppice it each year it kind of they sort of go dirgy colors it's that fresh growth which is giving you that so really lovely lovely plant what I would say if I'm planting a new willow or a cornice I will usually leave it a couple of years before I start cutting it back just so that it can spend its time sort of getting established and putting its roots in so you said you planted it last year you you could coppice it next year um given that would

kind of be two cycles um but if not you can wait for the year after but don't be scared just make sure your um secretaries or your loppers are really, really clean and sharp. Okay. There you go. Great. Whether renting, renewing a mortgage or considering buying a home, everybody has housing costs on their minds. For free tools and resources to help you manage your home finances, visit Canada.ca slash it pays to know. A message from the Government of Canada. This episode is brought to you by Google Pixel. I'm Jessi Cruikshank. I host the number one comedy podcast called Phone a Friend. I also have three kids. I need help making every day

easier. So I switched to Google Pixel. It's a phone powered by Gemini, your personal AI assistant. Gemini can help you summarize your unread emails, 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. Tips. Okay, I've got a question from Becky. I'm an innie and an outie in equal measure but with our next renovation on the cards my current question is for inside when designing a kitchen island do you go sink cooker breakfast bar or can it just be a beautiful standalone piece of furniture does it

have to have a function thank you so much and please keep your podcast going forever that's so it's a very broad question this one actually because there is no absolute right or wrong i would say if you've got the space then always have an island because it's a beautiful focal point it's a really nice sociable gathering space it's a lovely place for people to come together if you've got kids sitting up on the bar yeah you know husband comes home late or you come home late and you're sitting there having a chat having a glass of wine it's lovely so for that reason i think it's great what you put on the island is a real consideration because there's a number of factors that you have to think about we will my my preferred option would be to have your cooker on the island the reason

being is that we don't really want to have a sink on the island because it can get usually think about what your draining board looks like 90% of the time it's got things turned upside down drying next to it so what we don't usually want to put a sink on the island if we can help it because usually you've got things stacked up next to a sink low maintenance especially when you've got kids and you've constantly got plastic bottles upturned on the island totally so you're always feeling like your kitchen's a mess. We try and put them against the back run where possible. However, I'm a bit torn on this one because there's two trains of thought here. Your cooker, first of all, needs extraction.

And extraction can go really well on a back wall and obviously directly above. You have your cooker hood against your cooker, which is great. So that means visually it's actually really nice to have a cooker on a back run with your lovely cooker hood above extraction is great easy for the contractors easy job job done if the cooker if the cooker is in the island you've got to have either a pop-up extractor or something that's coming down from the ceiling or you don't have to have one if you've got really good ventilation in the room but you will have to get your pet ceiling repainted every so often because all the cooking in the steam and stuff so but the reason i will also i would always put a cooker on the island if there is a window on the back run of the of the kitchen because there is nothing nicer

than standing at your kitchen window doing what is the most boring thing in the world washing up things in your kitchen sink and if you've got a kitchen sink that looks out of the window i will always try and position the kitchen sink in front of that window. So I know that's giving heaps of different options and heaps of variation. I know also you asked about the could you just have a standalone island? If you've got the space on the back run. So if you've got, say, an L-shaped kitchen and you've got space to get your high level kitchen a high level fridge freezer your sink on the back run and your cooker on the back run then absolutely have a beautiful prep

station your island can basically be a prep a prep station so we did that recently a client's house where we had this really cool but almost like a big butcher's block that you put your pans and things on below and you can hang garlic and stuff above it and pans whatever you like um or even just literally have it as a big prep station with your bins underneath so that's where you do all your chopping and prepping and stuff so it really depends on the size of your kitchen and there's a huge amount of options there would you always have bar stools under them where possible yeah if it's a very skinny small we've done a townhouse where we did a where we had a little prep um island in the middle of the room and a few little

lights above and there was no room for barstools but wherever there's space i would always have barstools because it's such a nice sociable thing it's so nice even just for the kids to come and sit you know or you know your husband or wife totally my kids will i mean in my old house and certainly when you i expect that they'll eat most of their food at the kitchen i think so you know the dining table feels like more of a procedure yeah well also i think you will enjoy cooking more because you'll have your family sitting with you or your friends yeah and then whilst you can be cooking your dinner so i think you then become much more interested in and you know invested in what you're cooking because you're actually it's becoming a much more sociable scene totally no there's heaps of different options there's

there isn't there isn't really a true right or wrong the my perfect kitchen would be a sink under a kitchen window yeah cooker in the island but if there wasn't a sink if there wasn't a window against the back wall yeah then it's it doesn't matter you could do either okay my love i've got one here about soil this is from medding's home thank you both the best for the best podcast ever so glad i've discovered you pollyanna quickie question for you please would you give us some advice on how to find your soil type and what plants and trees will and won't thrive in those soils that's a really good question actually i like to find your soil type okay well there's kind of two when talking about soil type there's like two types

of soil type in terms of two ways of testing it you need to know your ph so how acid or alkali your soil is but then you also need to know like what it's what it's formed of so we notice pardon me how do we know what our ph is um so best way well there's sort of you can do so with your eyes in so far as you can have a bit of a guess from what's growing around you so if you live near a woodland for example then chances are your soil is probably a bit more acidic because um your soil becomes acidic when things like leaf like leaf drop and sort of leaf mold from something like coniferous plants acidify the soil so or if you live near a heathland that's likely to be more acidic whereas if you live um like out in the chiltons for example you're going to have really

chalky soil um which is alkaline because it's limestone that's alkaline so but that's i mean can i just ask why would you have clay soil it's actually wet no clay is just sort of a part of the fabric of our soil profile here in the uk it's it's more just um those are really distinct examples but you can also judge it by the plants around you so for example if you're looking around and you've got loads of rhododendron and azalea and camellia chances are you've got acidic soil because that's where they thrive okay um whereas chalky soil i mean that's a bit harder to tell but i mean as soon as you put a spade into chalky soil you'll get lumps of chalk in it so um so but really the best way to find out your ph you can have a little bit of a guess from

looking at your surrounds but your best way is just to scoop up a little bit of soil and do a soil test you can buy like for a tenner on all good online retailers you can buy a little ph test it's going to take you back to science lessons and you put a little bit of soil in with a liquid and mix it and the color tells you what ph your soil is most of the time your soil is pretty neutral like most of the time um or you can actually send it off to the rhs and they will do a full soil profile for you which is really worth doing like if you're doing big works in the garden and you've got like a substantial size garden I really suggest you you get a full like soil work up so that's your ph and then you've also got your type and your type is things like chalky

sandy clay loam silt oh god this is fascinating i've got so many questions my mind is like spilling over with soil questions see i find this fascinating but i'm sorry if i'm boring everyone okay so can i can i know can i ask a question so yes if you're renovating and you're doing a whole new garden and you're sort of starting from scratch you're sort of completely i don't know what you're whatever you call it sort of starting from scratch and then you're bringing new soil in does the soil that you're bringing in have to be of one of those types because of the area that you're in great question jojo no it doesn't so whenever we're doing a build we will first of all scrape off the top soil and the top soil is is the first sort of layer of your soil and that's

usually unless it's been a building site that's your like your real goodness and that's usually um a really beautiful usable soil beneath your topsoil and that's usually i don't know 20 30 centimeters down is what you're dealing with in terms of is it clay is it chalk is it sand um so i for example on nearly 100 percent sand so i've got this really thin sliver of topsoil and then pure sand. Whereas actually, really interestingly, we've got a client at the moment who's quite literally on a quarry. And it's just white chalk from like three centimeters below the soil. It's incredible. So if you're doing a new build, we will always say let's pile up your topsoil in like safe piles.

And we reuse that because let's pile up your topsoil in in like safe piles and we reuse that because it's it's good stuff but if we need to add more because uh we're recontouring or we're raising the ground or whatever then no we would just bring in a really great grade topsoil which is going to improve um it's going to improve your soil because frankly the sort of general rule is if you've got chalky soil we're going to want to add organic matter if you've got sandy soil we're going to want to add organic matter because we're trying to get it to something more to do with a loam so loam is like the gardener's dream it's sort of free draining but holds a bit of moisture really fertile um i'm going real geek now but basically the different soil profiles have

different nutrients so people get really upset about having clay soil but clay soil is just because the particles are really close together so it's actually great in terms of nutrients all right okay but equally it's clay's tricky because it dries out in the summer and goes very wet in the winter is that why the worms like it because i do find if i'm i've got loads of worms in my clay soil. Well, if you've got loads of worms, that suggests that you've got really good soil because worms are aerating your soil. So we love worms.

Yeah. But what, do you know what makes my heart sink? And actually this has happened quite recently. I'm like, oh no. Is the reason I care so much about soil is because it will dictate what can plant. And I know part of your question was asking what can grow. And what always devastates me is when it's, we've instructed the house builders to do the garden i know we've talked

about this before my heart sinks because they're going to do the hardscape and you're like no because it means they're not going to look after the soil they're going to get all of their material like they're big diggers and they're going to store things on it and they're not going to wear it and they're going to compact it they're probably going to throw loads of crap from the build in it you know rather than being like no we need to make this really beautiful soil and then what happens is we get a phone call going can you suggest some soft landscapers to plant the plant everything and we're like well no one's going to want to touch this because the soil is going to be ruined and it's going to be so much

remedial works to get it to a good place for planting so sorry unless the contractors happen to also be expert landscape no there are other contractors we've worked with and again we're doing so now who know their stuff completely and they're like don't worry we're cordoning off areas we're going to be aerating it we've piled the top soil here we want to do this this you can tell instantly your contractor has experience in the landscaping like he knows what he's doing don't just assume that you're into your interior contractor is going to be able to do your garden for you so to know your soil type which is why this is such a brilliant question yes to know your soil type is one of the most important things that you can actually know before you start going out shopping for plants? Yes. Oh, I mean, I feel like that's like 101.

This is amazing. To answer the question very quickly, acid soils, you're going to grow things like camellias, rhododendrons. They absolutely thrive in them. Alkali soils, like chalk soils. Lavender really thrives. I'd say it's less of a good list for the alkali soils. And then clay soil, which loads of people get very worried about.

Loads will grow in clay just as long as you get enough drainage in it that was a long talk about soil sorry guys no i feel like we could have gone on and on about that i thought that was really fascinating thanks paul hope you stayed with me i've got a last question for you here from katie i've recently discovered your podcast and you ladies are now the soundtrack to my showers oh hello i love that cooking working absolutely love it and have been super helpful as we just moved it to a beautiful victorian house please settle a big debate in our household we have an original fireplace in our bedroom and we currently have our bed on the opposite wall the view out the window would be nice if we had

the bed on the fireplace wall but this would mean taking the fireplace out and creating a fake wall to stop anything needing to be done to the chimney most people have said the fireplace is a beautiful original feature including the husband so would be better to keep the fireplace in bed in its place but change the surrounds i feel the feng shui would be better if we took out the fireplace but lots of people telling me we would be crazy what are your thoughts jojo i mean i haven't seen a picture of the fireplace so if it's a really stunning marble fireplace or something which I don't think it would be if it's Victorian it's probably a painted wooden it'll be a wooden painted you know but first off don't listen to

anyone else because it's your house and you're the one that's living in it and waking up in that bedroom every single day including the husband pal including the husband well it's an argument between them both i mean what you could try and do is you can sometimes box in fireplaces so you don't actually need to remove it so that you can always i think she said she was going to do that she's going to create a fireball no i know but you'd still have to take it out as in remove the fireplace because the hearth is going to be sticking out quite considerably. Oh, I follow, yeah. So you would need to remove it. I don't know if it's a working fireplace. Are you actually using it in your bedroom or is it just purely sort of aesthetically something nice to look at?

So I think you need to think functionally. Do you have other fireplaces in your house that you get enjoyment from? If I was starting from scratch on a client's house, I mean, it really depends how beautiful it is. If it's a really stunning piece and you're like, wow, it really, like, it's gorgeous, it's a really stunning piece and you're like, wow, it really like it's gorgeous. And a part of me would probably say don't. But I think if it's really changing the way that you use the room and functionally and aesthetically and the fact that you can't look out your window and have that lovely view, then I'd probably say box it in. If you've got nice fireplaces elsewhere and you've got lovely original features and you've got sometimes things have got to go they you know that that is just the way it goes with the

renovation you know we we don't live like we used to we don't we don't need fireplaces in bedrooms anymore so a lot of people think it's a completely impractical bizarre thing to have anyway um but one point i will make is that if you do have a fireplace in a bedroom and you're thinking of completely taking out the chimney breast itself to gain back space, which I don't think she does. Sounds like she's doing. She's boxing it in. There's quite an expense in doing that because you'll have to have a structural engineering and actually have a structural beam put in to support the seat, the rooms above. So that's quite or even just hold the roof up.

So it's quite a big job if you're going to thinking of actually taking it out. And obviously, if you're boxing it in, you might be losing some space yeah no question yeah but anyway just a consideration so um i'm on the fence send us a picture actually why don't you send us a picture i'll um i'll share it on the page it's a toughie isn't it because it's sort of saying you know which is more important your view out the window or your view within the room exactly but it's also i mean is are you are you saving space could it be nicer you know I think your bedroom is so important and feng shui is extremely important in a bedroom yeah yeah funny thought is that she's going to be washing her bits whilst listening to that response

I wonder if her husband will be in there with her that leads us to obviously a very important question of what is in and what is out this week pollyanna i've actually got a question for you on this because i don't know whether it's in or out and i'm really curious because i've been seeing some rumblings oh rumbling in the jungle i've seen rumblings that boot clay furniture is on the out and i wondered what your thoughts were on that i think boot clay definitely went through a trend it went through a huge like oh my i feel like everybody was putting booklet in their homes yeah i always am a firm believer in it not being the fabric itself so much as to what it's actually on that is okay it's going to date

so if you have it on a particular chair that was like a real chair of the moment like style that might date right i also think it's the quality of the boot clay because there's boot clay and then there's boot clay you've got like cheap polyester boot clay that every knockoff shop was doing yeah and it's quite bright white and it looks a bit kind of cheap that will date for sure got it but then if you have a really good quality really quality boot clay that looks beautiful, it will stand the test of time. And if it's on the right chair, then or chair or sofa or whatever, you've got it on the footstool. It's all about how you dress things.

It's a funny one, isn't it? Because I think obviously things do come into trend. They get picked up. So you'll see designers start to use them first. I always say that top of the sort of triangle there where the sort of trendsetters. And then it gets picked up by, you know, home renos. And then it gets picked up by sort know home renos and then it gets picked up by sort of just the everyday consumer yes and so it takes there's a real trickle it's

usually sort of from the top down to the bottom it's usually about two years total and then it feels like something starts to become you but you see things too much you're like oh my god i see it in everybody's house and then you kind of get bored of it and then you want the next best thing yeah so but i think no i'm a firm believer in um if you buy you know buy right then so we're going to pop that in in or we're going to pop that in out oh no let's put it in out actually it is out because i think most i think you're seeing it as that you're asking in a broad sense of the word we're on the downward slope of the downward slope we're coming out the other side and i just think yeah it's how okay what's what would you do you have an out for this week tell me what you're doing about dressing for this

weather because all I've got is a load of long jeans that are like down to the floor because that was that's the sort of cut of jeans at the moment isn't it it's sort of a longer look but with the rain do you know what I know we've talked about this before as well but skinny jeans are like 100% on the way back now they are before they were rumbling oh god I tried to get into them I put mine on two days ago and I don't fit in them anymore I don't fit in my I don't fit in my skinny jeans pal no and then I was like surely that's just not if that's just one and then I tried another pair and I was like oh my god I think when you get so used to wearing comfortable mum jeans yeah lovely high-waisted

nice loosey-goosey ones yeah you squeeze yourself into her skinnies it's like this just doesn't feel good you feel like you feel like a sausage i quite like the support of them when they're nice and high up but i just like wearing them with a big chunky boot which you can't do you can't wear boots with wide leg jeans not in the same way you've got it you've got it right there unless you get there's a really good levi 501 do a really nice high-. Unless you get, there's a really good Levi 501, do a really nice high-waisted jean. And it's a straight leg. And if you turn up the bottom

and then you wear it with a nice pair of biker boots, they look fab with a nice knitted jumper. But I do agree, you can't beat a biker boot with a pair of skinny jeans and a nice big jumper. Okay, so in for me would definitely be the quest for the perfect jean. I'll never find it gene i'll never find it i'll never find it so what's in this week tell me piano lessons i have started with my little

girl ziggy piano lessons and it's we had our first lesson this week so for in for me is learning an instrument we if anyone remembers our diehard and he's now to this is a long time ago when we filmed in the spotify studios with tara swart and she took spoke to us all about learning languages and learning instruments later in life is what keeps us young you're gonna get that neuroplasticity baby i am and you know what i i learned i did the violin to grade three when i was little and then i did do a bit of guitar um i learned a bit of guitar and i i love i've always had a burning desire to be good at a musical instrument but something about the piano so I

it was it's something that is I think such a beautiful instrument when people can play you know you know like when you go into a friend's house

and there's a piano in the corner of the room it's always that one friend that just opens it up and just so chic isn't it yeah what of it

what a lovely and I feel like it's the sort of thing if you had it home you would just play to yourself wouldn't you just sort of i just had a really hard day i'm just gonna start riffing on the keys i love that really lovely so yep so ziggy has been really keen she's been showing a real interest in music lessons and piano so i was like i'm gonna jump straight on this she's the right age yeah piano piano teacher and and so she's teaching me as well so i can help her learn as well as teaching myself so for me this week in

is learning an instrument good on you mate keep that brain young what's your in my darling uh in for me is pre-ordering the most exciting garden design book you'll ever read oh what's it called it's called how to design a garden and it's by pollyanna wilkinson oh god it sounds great she is a self-titled leading garden designer award award winning she is award winning uh it's it's available on all good online retailers just imagine when you pre-order and how lovely it will be when one day there's just a knock on the door and it's the postman and he hands you a parcel. And you're like, what's this I've ordered? I don't remember ordering anything. And you open it up and there is this beautiful book by our pal, Pollyanna Wilkinson.

It's going to be a good day, guys. I'm going to be there. It's like a warm hug teaching you how to design and look after your garden. So in for me, pre-ordering my book. And the link to pre-order is in the show notes as well. So you can find it there. If you're at a point in life when you're ready to lead with purpose, we can get you there. The University of Victoria's MBA in Sustainable Innovation is not like other

MBA programs. It's for true changemakers who want to think differently and solve the world's most pressing challenges. From healthcare and the environment to energy, government, and technology, it's your path to meaningful leadership in all sectors. For details, visit uvic.ca slash future MBA. That's uvic.ca slash future MBA. This episode is brought to you by Google Pixel. I'm Jessi Cruikshank. I host the number one comedy podcast called Phone a Friend. I also have three kids. I need help making every day easier.

So I switched to Google Pixel. It's a phone powered by Gemini, your personal AI assistant. Gemini can help you summarize your unread emails, 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. Are you sure you parked over here? Do you see it anywhere?

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visit Canada.ca slash It Pays to Know. A message from the Government of Canada.