May 6, 2021 • 49 mins
It’s our last episode of the season and we’re looking back at the many lessons plants have taught us about being better humans.
Join Mango as he talks to fitness guru and garden geek Mark Peacock about the resiliency of plants. We also call up designer, lifestyle influencer and CEO of The Little Market Lauren Conrad and talk about her gardening journey and the lessons she’s taught her kids in the garden.
For more helpful tips on gardening and to connect with other growers in your area, download The Backyard app from your friends at Miracle-Gro. Scotts Miracle-Gro is a collaboration partner with iHeart Radio for "Humans Growing Stuff."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Years ago, I read this article and news scientists about
boring ology, where this reporter, Valerie Jameson, decided to spend
a week looking into the science of the most boring things,
watching paint dry, observing ditch water. But she starts the
week spending a day watching grass grow with scientists. She
learns there are more than nine thousand species of grass,
(00:26):
and the one thing that unites them is that, unlike
so many other plants that shoot up from the tops
of mature stems, grass actually grows from the bottom near
this embryonic tissue called maris stem, and as the cell
divides and multiply, you can apparently even hear the crackle
of it growing. But the most fun part of the
article is where the scientist has this digital voltmeter clamped
(00:49):
onto a little piece of grass, and as they watched together,
it starts flickering and in an hour it grows three
point five millimeters. And while that is so in significant,
Valerie points out that if the temperature holds, her little
seedling will grow seventeen millimeters taller by the time she
gets home that night, And suddenly she is buzzing with pride,
(01:11):
and she has been convinced that watching grass grow is
actually fun. I've been thinking about that article and also
about my own kiddos, who my wife and I spend
very long days within this pandemic, and while the daily
changes are imperceptible, it blows my mind how quickly time
has passed and how much they've learned and evolved and
(01:34):
grown into little adult Almost Ruby refuses to let us
help them with their homework. Henry would rather sneak off
to the neighbor's house and then walk to the bodego
to get snacks rather than kick a soccer ball in
the backyard with this old man. And it makes me
smile how they made themselves eggs and fended for themselves,
(01:54):
turning the upstairs into a four when Lizzie and I
contracted COVID at the end of last year. But growing
is good, at least, that's what I keep reminding myself.
And most of us are all growing and evolving even
well into our adulthood, and I know some of those
lessons have come from caring for plants. In fact, I'm
(02:16):
starting to think that plants maybe one of our greatest
teachers about how to be better humans. I mean, the
numerous basil plants I killed at the start of the
series have taught me to never give up, and to
be kind and forgiving to myself. Our MONSTERA has taught
me how to be flexible and find ways to adapt
in new environments. And all those seeds that Ruby and
(02:37):
I planted in our backyard totally scatter shot have taught
me to keep my expectations low and to be delighted
when things do sprowed up. While I've learned a lot
over the last fourteen months of the pandemic, I also
know that with each new change or shift to life,
or challenge or loss, there will be more growing and evolving.
(02:59):
But I feel confident that we'll get by with a
little help from our plant friends. Hey there, I'm Mongish Particular,
co host of Part Time Genius, one of the founders
of Mental Flaws, and this is Humans Growing Stuff, a
collaboration from my Heart Radio and your friends and Miracle Grow.
Our goal is to make this the most human show
(03:22):
about plants you'll ever listen to. Along the way, we'll
share inspiring stories, tips and tricks to nurture your plant addiction,
and just enough science to make you sound like an expert.
On this episode, our season finale, we are examining how
we're growing alongside plants and the life lessons we can
learn from our leafy green roommates. We'll discover ways plants motivators,
(03:44):
what they teach us about resilience and survival, and whether
or not caring for them can make us better humans.
Chapter fourteen, Learning life Lessons from plants. Despy at the
often delicate appearance of some plants, they can be incredibly
resilient snake plants, easy plants, Chinese evergreen, rubber plants, cacti,
(04:10):
and succulents. They're all very resilient and can handle minimal water,
lackluster light, and still somehow thrive. Take the cactus for example,
It's thorns are highly modified plant leaves, which protect them
from animals who try to access the liquid inside. The
top level roots collect water from the rain, and the lower,
(04:31):
much deeper roots collect water from deep below the surface.
They can store water for years, and the feisty cactus
does so by opening its pores at night, whereas most
plants open there is during the day, and as a result,
they are less vulnerable to warm temperatures that would ordinarily
evaporate that store of water. Think of how smart that is.
(04:53):
They are prickly geniuses. But plants are incredibly resilient, and
after an unexpected winter warm hit Texas this year, so
many people were shocked to see how native plants bounced
back after experiencing this true shock to their systems. I
want to talk to someone who witnessed this resiliency firsthand,
so I called up Mark Peacock. Mark is native of
(05:15):
Great Britain who recently followed his heart to Texas, and
although he pursued a career in fitness after school, he's
even graced the cover of Men's Health UK. Mark actually
studied horticulture and university and has been getting back to
his green roots and figuring out how to grow in
the challenging climate and soil of Texas during the pandemic. Hey, Mark,
(05:40):
are you there? Yes, I'm there, I'm there. Hello. Hello, Hello.
It is so nice to be chatting with you. It's
lovely to chat with you too. So I know most
of us had a really really hard with COVID and
the pandemic and just life in general. But it seems
like somehow you managed to have a few really nice
things happened this year. Yeah, I had some really nice
(06:03):
things happened. I mean, it was a huge different kind
of game changer of a year. You know. Obviously I
got married in the middle of part of last year,
so that was really nice. But it was very socially distanced,
and obviously, being English and my partner's American, we were
kind of a very small intimate. It was just myself,
him and the judge here in Texas. So yeah, so
(06:26):
we did that, and you know, I permanently relocated over
here and we bought a house and have a garden,
and I'm kind of learning, you know, the difference between
a very British garden and what you can do in Texas.
So I'm assuming you grew up around plants, but then
you decided eventually to study them. Yeah, and then I
(06:47):
kind of just fell into going to university. You know,
it was tough, but it was so interesting. You know,
every week you'd be given a sample of plants. So
it would be like, right, this week, we're going to
learn narcissus. You need to know the species of narcissus.
And they would line up twenty different narcissus bulbs and
you'd have one week to learn the difference and then
(07:08):
they would only put out ten or twelve of them,
so then you'd have to go in, and you go
in and this took for like five pc of your
whole degree or ten percent, so you had to be like, Okay,
that's narcissus tete, that's narcissus whatever. You know pheasants eye,
and you'd have to know it just from the singular bulb.
When they did it with roots, they did it with leaves,
they did it with everything. So it kind of helped
(07:30):
build up a good knowledge of plants. And you know,
even after I walked away and didn't end up going
into that field, I would always be walking along and
I would see plant and I'll be like a less
spectral apendula, or that's a moneage ponega or that, And
I would continuously always be testing myself and yeah, I
used to go to the Chelsea Flower Show every year
(07:52):
and my my friend Gerd he we went to the
Chelsea Flager one evening. I was walking around me and
he looked at this plant. He's like, that is called
fatcier japonica. And I'm like, yeah, what do you think?
I was just giving you some like Harry Potter Wizard
names these whole times, and it's like I just thought
you were making it up. I didn't think you actually
knew what these things were called. So yeah, I kin't
(08:15):
of surprised myself sometimes with like kind of what I
know and what I don't know. So what do you
get from being in your garden in the morning? What
do you get out of you know, mentally and physically
from from being in the space. I think it's just
an opportunity to really switch off and like there isn't
you know for me, gardening is kind of an ever
(08:38):
changing thing. You're never going to get to a point
where it's finished. Just being here in Texas is like
completely different to the UK, like the soil, but I
mean it's like what soil. I'm working on rock and
stone and take about half a foot and you've hit
bedrock and you're literally smashing in to try and even
(08:59):
get into the So there's lots of like technique, you know,
and I'm going to have I'm you know, setting up
a compost system because I really need to start building
more organic layer on top of what I've already got,
because what I have got it is shocking, Like you know,
it's not worth anything, it's useless basically. So yeah, so
there's lots of it is it's like and you're so
(09:22):
limited on the plants. Like being in the UK. Was
saying this to someone yesterday. I was like, I feel
like I've been spoiled because the climate in the UK,
your your ability to grow pretty much anything is so
vast and I don't really need to think about, oh
it's going to get too hot, and what I'm noticing.
It's like I'm putting plants in and a plant in
(09:42):
the UK that would take you know, six months life
cycle here because it's just so warm and humid. It's
just sped up the whole time. But the plant is
I want heype from my plants, but it's just it's
coming into flowers so quickly. So I'm literally like taking
the flowers off, trying to encourage a bit more gross
it doesn't put his energy into producing these flowers. So
(10:02):
but this is kind of my first full season gardening
here in Texas, so it'll be interesting to see kind
of how that pans out, and I'll learn a lot
this year as to what I can kind of can't do.
So what what what was the what was your thought process?
When you got to Texas, did you look out your
backyard and decide there has to be a garden here
or how did you decide to tackle the yard? Well,
(10:24):
I mean there was kind of some kind of garden here,
but I mean the first thing I did, like when
we moved in the where the vegetable garden is now,
it was like a skateboarding half pipe there. And then
when we moved in, they were like, would you mind
if we took the half pipe? And We're like, yeah,
(10:45):
by all me, you really do I look like a skateboarder.
So as soon as that went, then, um, I got
to work and I built the built the raised beds
from scratch. I was looking everywhere and I couldn't find
any so it's just what I'm just going to go
down to loads and buy some wood and kind of
buy myself a band sore, and I kind of just
(11:06):
started making it all. So it's just things like that.
Learning that and the vigetable gardens the first thing, and
the kind of just been working around with the kind
of loose structure we had in the back garden and
just kind of filling the beds out, seeing what works,
what doesn't work, and then eventually I'll tackle the front.
But the fronts literally like building on Mount Everest. It's
just rock essentially, So I don't quite know how I'm
(11:28):
going to tackle that one. But you can just put
skateboard ramps all over it. Oh yeah, just or a
toboggan run for when it snows again. Oh my god,
it's ludicrous. Everyone was like, if it snows here, it
just snows for a day and then it melts. It
(11:49):
never gets cold. And you know, luckily we weren't in
town when it happened. But beforehand, I'd like, I had
all these Dailier tubers and I'd like potted them all up,
and you know, I just left. We bought all these
citrus trees and I just potted them all up and everything.
And then as soon as we left, it was like
winter storm coming in. So you know, I had to
try and get it wrapped and see what survived. And
(12:11):
I pull the potatoes in the ground already, and I
was like, oh my god, it's going to go. And
then we just We've got so many like cedar trees
around here, and they were just like falling left Bryant
Center and the I was just getting fed back pictures
of the garden. I was like, oh my god, I've
lost of the garden. And then then you know, after
a couple of weeks and you know, as soon as
(12:31):
the sun comes out, I'd say we've probably lost my
kind of guests probably turned into more like so you know,
the plant's kind of surprised that you know, they just
kind of gone all the way back to the ground,
but they were still actually like you know, little life
forms under the ground ready to kind of come back.
I mean, we lost a lot of the height and
(12:51):
scale and the bushiness of a lot of the plants
that would take probably a good year to kind of
come back. But in terms of you know, the structure
of kind of having the plants, you know, we've managed
to retain them, and you know, financially, I mean it's
a huge thing, like the amount of plants that there's
so many people that had giant palms, Like you're driving
around and these huge palm trees that people have gotten
(13:13):
they're just like, I don't even know they're going to
come back. They're like three four or five thousand dollar
trees that people have everywhere, and you're like, you lost
ten twelve of them and I'm like, you feel a
bit sorry for them, So it's a learning curve kind of.
I'm just kind of gauging what survived, and I'm like, okay,
well I'm going to you know, bulk up that, you know,
air towards that side of planting, because in case it
(13:36):
ever happens again, you never know what the climate is
going to be doing in the future. So um yeah,
that's kind of my goal essentially. Well, I do want
to ask you about the resilience of plants, and you know,
you talked about this storm that came and it really
hurting a lot of the garden and plant life. Was
there anything you were surprised by that it bounced back
(13:58):
or or surprised by the resilience of any certain plants.
I mean, I thought my potatoes I put in the
ground before I left were gonna even though they were
under the ground. I was just like, this is cold,
and I'm I don't even know if I don't know
if they're going to rot under the ground or but
you know, they came back and they were absolutely fine,
and like some of the palms, you know, they were
(14:20):
they were like just a bronze color. They were they
were gone. But you know, and this is the thing
about gardening is all about patients. I'm a strong believer
that it is about patients. Like just leave those let
them be and see what the plant's going to do,
you know. And and some of you know, some of
them are starting to reshoot again. So whereas before I
(14:41):
would have you know, could have got trigger happy and
just pulled everything out and started again, you know, actually
just leaving it and letting it recover. You know, you
are kind of amazed by kind of what what can
pull through. Um. Yes, so that's kind of that was
kind of the thing, kind of the palms that kind
(15:02):
of grew the bamboo as well. I mean around us
a lot, there's a lot of bamboo, and it is
it was just it was dead above ground, really, you know, yes,
like funny, I wouldn't imagine it seems like such a
sturdy plant. It was obliterated. You're driving it just looks
like a desolate war zone kind of driving through where
(15:23):
we were. When we came back, it was just like,
oh my god, cedar trees had fallen down everywhere, and
you know, bamboo was just this golden dead, like all
of the leaves dead and so but now, like you know,
those stems, you know they need to be cut off,
but people are keeping it for like screening for their houses.
But you know, underneath it, it's just like you know,
(15:46):
it's firing up everywhere. So the resilience of that is
quite amazing. I didn't think that would pull through, but
you know, you just give it a month and you know,
see what happens. Yeah, I mean I know one person
on this um this podcast said, um, their plants want
to grow, and you just kind of have to remember
that there's like there they want, they want to grow
(16:07):
and and and and so um you can do less
and be patient and and and they will they will
for you. I guess I think that that's the thing.
It is all about patients, you know. And you know,
I always think if someone hasn't got a lot of patients,
then garden is a good way to learn. How can
I learn patients? Garden? Because you cannot push a plant.
(16:32):
A plant will grow at whatever rate it you know,
wants to grow out. There's no there's no way of
you you can help it long. But you know, at
the end of the day, you're at the mercy of
that plant, and you know, you just got to nurture it.
And it's just kind of like the same as you
know a person. You kind of have to nurture it
(16:53):
and you know, look after it and it will kind
of reward you in the end, be at one with it.
I mean that makes me like, really hippie it is.
It's just like, just take a step back. What's the rush?
What is what's the immediate kind of rush for it
to be there? Now? It's just like, you know, go
with it. Let's see what happens. When you came to Texas,
(17:17):
did you did you sort of enjoy the challenge of
like figuring out what does grow here and what native
plants are or or um? Did that just feel like
a like a bit of a hurdle. No? I mean
I love I love the challenge. And you know, I
came in a little bit blind thinking I can just
you know, do what I did back home and kind
of do whatever I want. And you know, the longer
(17:39):
I've been here, I have kind of learned that do
I can't just bulldoze and do whatever I want. But
you know, walking around some of the guns and some
things that are like house plants in the UK, I'm
like Oh my god, I can grow that outside here.
I'm like, yes, right, we're changing No longer I gertru
g coal with your herbaceous yes, a tropical house plants.
(18:02):
We're bringing them outside, you know. Um so yeah, that
that's been a fun thing to kind of learn and
adapt from. And I think that's the thing. It's all
about adaption. You know. I'll be able to kind of
gauge kind of what is right and what is wrong.
And I'll make loads of mistakes this year, but it
doesn't really matter. I like that you said that's not
(18:24):
my vision because I feel like that's my entire experience
of gardening. It's like a garden that's not my vision.
But um, but that, but that, but that gives you
always think that's the best. Like whoever, whoever has a
first idea and that's the perfect idea. I always think
it's the second or third kind of idea that you
may have. I mean, when you get to idea twenty seven,
(18:45):
then your change tack. But you know, when you have
the first idea, you're always been like, but then when
you kind of evolved that idea, you know, I think
that's when you get the best ones and that's when
you learn, like, you learn by mistakes, and those mistakes
creates something far better than what you probably would have
envisioned the first time. Oh I like that. I'm going
to carry that with me. That makes me think about
(19:07):
this belief that we can adapt, even you moving from
London to Texas, right, it is adapting exactly. I think that. Yeah,
that's it. It's like this year has been a bit
of a crazy year of change. But you know, I
don't believe changes are wrong, a bad thing. It's it's
a good thing. And you know, who wants to stagnate
(19:28):
and just be the same forever, you know, very caution
to the way and do stuff you know, make may change.
And yeah, I think that's that's that's a good thing.
So Mark, before I let you go, is there anything
else you want to add about the resiliency of plants
and what we can kind of learn from plants? I
don't think so. I think it is just mainly that
(19:49):
patience thing. Just just don't be in a rush, you know,
look at them, you know, you know, and if they're hurt,
help them. You know, if a branch is hanging off,
would you want someone to passed you with your arm
hanging off. No, like get in there, like look for
that kind of safe point to cut it back, to
cut it back, stop that disease getting in, you know.
(20:11):
And that's kind of vice aversa. You're going to help
the plant, and but then also take that lesson and
help someone else if you see someone, help them the
same way you would help plant. And just remember that
plants are the masters of adaption. You know, they will adapt,
but it's kind of if you want the best out
of them, it's probably best just to kind of just
(20:31):
look up its origin and then kind of just be like,
even if you don't know like anything about Spain, you
might know something about the Mediterranean. It's hot, it's dry, Okay,
well I'm gonna it's this bit area, this sunny area
is going to be good for it. Then you know,
you can kind of use it's kind of origin as
your kind of the idea of what you should do
with it. You might get it wrong, but it doesn't matter.
(20:54):
You can move it well. Mark, thank you so much
for spending time with us and talking plants with me,
and and it was it was a real pleasure. It's
been a pleasure for me. Thank you for having me
humans growing stuff will be right back after a short break.
(21:20):
Plants are incredibly resilient, but they also know a thing
or two about being flexible and adapting to the resources
around them. Take the venus fly trap, for instance. Charles
Darwin was such a fanboy of the plants that he
wrote the venus flytrap is the most wonderful plant in
the world. He even dedicated an entire book to them.
But the tiny toothy plants are carnivorous for a reason.
(21:43):
Venus fly traps grow in very poor soil, and they've
evolved to eat insects because they need those nutrients to
sustain themselves. It is not uncommon for plants to get
creative about how and where they get nutrients based on
their environment, and honestly, it's just one more thing as
humans could learn from plants. As the climate crisis becomes
more immediate, there are a lot of ways we can
(22:03):
all reevaluate our diets to get the same nutrients but
from a different source that will help maintain and restore
our climate and the environment rather than hurting it. I
personally haven't said goodbye to meat, but we don't eat
that much of it at home and we've been exploring
all these plant based substitutes. Things have come a long
way since the poor Bello burgers I was forced as
(22:24):
a youth. But we've seen the evolution of things like
impossible burgers and beyond meat substitutes that look and even
bleed like a real burger on the grill. And now
they are vegetable butchers cropping up at places like Vita's
in Columbus, Ohio, where you can get plant based cheeses,
cold cuts, and sausages. And while a lot of it
tastes a lot like meat, more importantly, eating a more
(22:47):
plant based diet is the way we can adapt to
our changing environment and keep it from changing exponentially. It
reduces the impact of climate change of greenhouse gas emissions
come from food production and three fourths of that hers
from animal product production, and it saves water to producing
one pound of beef requires eight gallons of water. That said,
(23:08):
if plant based protein isn't your thing, maybe insect based
proteins are like cricket powder or even stink bug. Just
get in touch with that inner venus fly trap and
enjoy that crunch. They're not hard to find either. Some
are already being sold at places like Whole Foods and
other grocery stores. The more time I spend with plants,
(23:33):
the more they teach me about taking care of others
but also the earth. I'm not only looking at my
home through the perspective of my plants, I'm also rethinking
my everyday habits with a more sustainable and environmentally friendly
intention and purpose. You may know Lauren Conrad as a
television personality, New York Times best selling author, fashion designer,
or philanthropists, but Lauren is also an avid gardener and
(23:57):
using a lot of what she's learned about plants in
the environment to create more sustainable products. In two thousand thirteen,
she co founded Little Market dot Com, a nonprofit with
a mission to build sustainable partnerships with artisans around the world,
connecting them with customers through an online marketplace, and empowering
women artisans to rise above poverty and support their families.
(24:17):
In two thousand eighteen, the Little Market launched their first
brick and mortar location in l A. I called of
Lauren because I wanted to hear about how gardening has
made her think about sustainability more on an everyday level,
and lessons she's teaching her own kiddos about life as
they grow together in the garden. Hey, Lauren, are you there.
(24:39):
I'm here. Oh, it's so nice to chat with you.
You too, How are you doing well? Well? Thank you
so much for being on the program. You know, I
know you as this sort of incredible designer and influencer,
but I only just realized that you're a gardener as well,
and I'm so excited to talk plants with you. Need too,
I am. I'm relatively new to the space. It's just
kind of a hobby that I've picked up the past year.
(25:00):
So I'm still very green. Well that's both of us,
I guess. So tell me about how you decide to
get into gardening. Now. Last year I unexpectedly had a
little more time on my hands, so I we have
on the side of our house now, we had kind
of a just like a strip of land that we
don't really do much with it, just kind of like
(25:22):
whatever grows there. So I cleared out a little area
that was like, I mean maybe like three by five
feet and ordered some plans and I really did it
just as something to do with my son, who's turning
four in a couple of months. So, you know, it
was probably just about to turn three, and uh, and
I just kind of did it as something to do
with him. And then also I really love the idea
(25:44):
of kids understanding where food comes from. And that's where
it started. Because it's gotten a little while now, basically
anywhere anything will grow, I've taken over in our yard.
I'm figuring out now how to like make it more
aesthetically pleasing because it's a little it's a little funny,
but I tore out, like all a bunch of rows
is in our front yard so I could do like
a vegetable garden really in the front yard. Yeah, yeah,
(26:05):
I mean I definitely could use a little work. But
I also I don't know, I just I kind of
love edibles as like like kind of landscaping as well
because it's like a dual purpose. I think it's nice. Yeah.
I actually saw someone who was planting herbs that way,
like different basil plants, and it's amazing how architecturally you
can get with it. Yeah. I've always done that with time,
and I did that while I did it with mint,
(26:27):
which is a huge mistake if anyone's ever put mint
in like a contained area. I just took over but yeah,
I've always kind of done that. Yeah, do you think
you'll try to keep some of that space for yourself
as we move into a sort of a crazier world. Uh, yeah,
it's just getting worse, and whereas I'm about to like
clear like basically the last space I can and I
(26:47):
just also took over a deck and created a container garden,
so it's becoming a full time job. I've definitely probably
I've probably beiten off more than I can chew. But
it's so fun. I love that. So so it sounds
like it's started very much with these like few vegetables.
And then and where are your ambitions going? Um, anything
that will grow. I've been doing a lot of research.
You know, where we live is we're right on the water,
(27:10):
so the salt in the air it kind of limits
what I can and can't grow. Um. And also just
like the way our house is positioned. So I've just
been researching and kind of like trial and air, I
spent a lot of time figuring out what would grow.
And then I kind of turned my office into a greenhouse, which,
as strange as it sounds, um, it's like a wall
of windows and it gets really, really really hot in there,
(27:31):
so I just sort of took advantage of it. But
then I also learned that starting plants in a window
is not the best idea because it kind of makes
for weak plants. So that's where I'm at now. So
I'm learning a lot of lessons. Yeah, that's incredible. And
do you have any friends that you sort of share
tips with or or pick things up from. Have you
found community and gardening a little bit? Yeah, I've actually
made a couple of new friends and actually started this
(27:53):
hobby with a couple of friends. Um, so it's it's nice.
It's like a I don't know, it's so it's so
door key that I'm like sent as a KINI picture
literally sending like pictures of zucchini to my friends being
like look what I threw. I don't know. It's like
I don't know. It's just like a fun new thing
we can talk about and it's just simple and you
know what I mean. No, I mean I feel that
(28:14):
way too. I mean, so I you know, I used
to run a magazine. I headed up development at at
my Heart for all these podcasts and stuff, and I
had no time and then suddenly, with you know, the quarantine,
were stuck at home and I was just looking for
ways to hang out with my kids and do something
that felt productive, you know, in this way where you
can actually see something grow and and and hold a
(28:36):
vegetable or whatever. And it is amazing how quickly you
can dork out about these things. Yeah, it is. Yes,
I feel it's actually like really embarrassing. The other day,
it was like in my office kind of like going
through all the seedlings, and I'm kind of like talking
out loud, and my husband opened the door and he
was like, are we talking to the plants now? Yeah?
(28:56):
I think so. I think we went there. Um. I
think that one of the really nice things about planting,
once you've kind of got all the basics down is
just like the idea of planting something is just it's
just possibility. And and in a time where we were
all kind of stuck in a rut and everything felt
like Groundhog's Day and the future was so uncertain, it
was like this one very simple thing I could do
(29:17):
and watch grow, and it was a little different every day.
It made each day feel, you know, some something to
look forward to, something different. Yeah, I agree with that,
and something positive in in a world that was so
sort of um claustrophobic, with so many, so many issues.
So I'm curious what do you feel like you get
out of gardening and caring for these plants, and maybe
(29:37):
even what are some of the things you're learning about yourself.
I think I don't know. It's it's sort of an
unexpected hobby for me. I think if you had asked me,
like ten years ago, like are you going to get
super into this? I wouldn't. I would have said no,
it's interesting that that I got so into it. I
think it's it's been good for me because it's it's
forced me to kind of sit still and do something
(29:58):
kind of quiet and simple, which is the challenging for me. Yeah,
it's interesting that you say that because a lot of
our guests have said it's very meditative for them. Yeah.
I've never been the type of person who can meditate.
It's really difficult for me to clear my mind, and
so this is kind of the closest thing I get
to that. Um, you know. I I like what you
said about noticing the salt air and the light and
(30:19):
the way your land is because for me, it's it's
really interesting to sort of gain this new perspective of
the world. Yeah, that's so interesting. I so you're gardening.
Do you have like a little balcony. I do, I've
I've got a little balcony in a little space outdoors.
But when I started this, it was mostly house plants
that I was tending to. I feel like house answer
(30:41):
is so difficult. I think I killed them all. Well,
I just keep moving them around until they started start
doing better. And yeah, yeah, I have. There's one I'm
not going to know the name of it. I think
I want. I think it's called like a mermaid fern
or something. It's some sort of fern. It's really delicate
but very beautiful, and like every two months I buy
(31:02):
one and I'm like, this time, this time, I'm not
going to kill it. But it's like the type or
like the soil can never dry out or else, it
just like immediately dies. I'm I'm yet to really keep
one alive more than a few weeks, but they're so pretty. Yeah.
Have you learned anything from the failures of being in
the garden? Yeah? Right now. The biggest thing right now,
honestly is I grew. I'm not exaggerating. I grew sixty
(31:23):
tomato plants in my office. Yes, yeah, I did. It
doesn't make any sense. It's a I have it's a
big window. But anyway, so and then I had to
harden them off and do all the things. But because
I grew them in a window, they got like the
the stems are like really long and thin. They're kind
of leggy, and so they're not very strong plants. So
I picked the best ones and I'm like putting them
(31:45):
in the tomato garden and creating an area. And now
I have like a bunch of really sad tomato plants
sitting outside that I can't get rid of because I'm like,
I grew them from seed. I can't get rid of them.
But also like what am I there? They like can't
stand up by themselves. I think, I'm just it's hard
to let go. I did I did it wrong. But
I'm also like it's like a living plant, and like
a couple of even have like tomatoes on them. I'm like,
(32:07):
I can't give up on them. I have a hard
time letting go. So tell me about your kids in
the garden, because I'm curious about this. I know I've
seen photos of one of your kiddos toddling around and
and like eating pea plants. I think probably, Yeah, it's funny.
I've noticed that, you know, in our family at least,
(32:27):
that my kids are so much more excited to eat
something off a vine than off a plate. And like
we have just like shelling peas growing in our front
yard right now, and when we're out there, I'll usually
just grab a few and be like, whose wants peas?
And they'll like fight over them, which is so funny.
And so I think that that's been a really nice thing,
is just not only them being familiar with oh, our
food comes from the earth, we should take care of it,
(32:49):
and like you know, the domino effect there. And I
also like my my younger son, Charlie. It's like a
year and a half, he's he's very much like me.
He just wants to be dirty all the time, Like
I was always just coming in mud. But like whenever
I'm clearing space or anything, I'll just let him go
there with like a little like a little sand shovel
just to dick and he just loves it and be stilthy.
Like literally we don't know how to wash him up,
(33:11):
Like can we even put him in a shower like this.
He's so dirty, but it makes them so happy, and
I just think, I don't know, I think there's something
to that. I think that kids they should play in
the dirt and they should get dirty like that, and
they don't do it as often anymore. So Yeah, I agree.
So what are you excited about planning the boast the
season right now? I'm so excited because every year I
grow sweet peas, and there's something about like where I am,
(33:35):
but they just like explode like they're taller than me.
There's hundreds of sweet peas in the front of my house. Yeah,
it's like a it's a statement and I love it.
And it smells. I like, literally in the morning when
I'm walking into the car, I just like stick my
face into the just like massive flowers and breathe because
it's just the best smell. Yeah, this is one of
my favorite times of year. It's just because I know,
(33:55):
I get like a wall of sweet peas. So tell
me a little bit about what gardening with your kids
has been like and what you sort of hope they
get from this experience. Gardening with the kids. It's been fun.
I think it's trying to think of how to say
this nicely. I'm like, you know, my son will get
really excited about the idea, and then when it comes
(34:16):
to like doing more than two minutes of digging, he's like,
I'm out, but he's really in it for the harvest.
So you talked about the fact that you started gardening
with your kids in mind, and I'm curious, whenever they
do participate in the actual gardening process, have you found
that you've been able to teach them any life lessons
as you teach them about growing and gardening. You know,
(34:36):
we talked to them a lot about this is just like,
you know, we're gonna plant this plant, and we're gonna
be patient. I think patients is a big is a
big lesson here too, because you know, we'll plant something
in the next day. He's like, is it done. It's like, no,
we need to be patient. And each day, well, we'll
check on progress and kind of talk about how the
plant has to grow and then we you know, we'll
see the first fruit whatever. The plant be kind of
really tiny start and you know, explaining the process I
(34:58):
think is really nice. It's really nice. How old are
your kids. My kids are a little older. They are
eight and ten. Yeah, but but when we started gardening,
I'd say it was my kid just turned eight, my younger,
so so it was like six when when we started
doing some of the stuff. It's been fun to watch
them play and and also just be very cocky about
(35:20):
the stuff that they really like, walking around telling me like,
like what I'm doing wrong? Stuff like that, which is
sweet and fun. Um. Obviously, gardening has helped us all
think about the way we give back and take from
and connect to the natural world around us. Right. But
I'm curious, because you do this with your little ones,
(35:41):
do you think you know, since becoming a mother, you've
started thinking more about your relationship to the earth than
you had maybe before you became a parent. Absolutely. I
think when you have a child, you know that they're
inheriting the earth that you're taking care of right now,
it sort of changes things. And I don't know if
that means I was more selfish before or if I
just you know, hadn't thought about it. But yeah, I mean,
(36:03):
what in their lifetime, what changes are going to take place,
like what's going to happen? Um? And it's always on
the top of my mind. I'm curious what you think
we might be able to take away from your experiences
with plants. I think. I mean, I can say my
takeaway this year has been you don't need that much.
I always talk to my son like, what does a
plant need to grow? Needs? Sunshine, water, nutrients, that's it.
(36:28):
And I think that a lot of people experience this
in the past year or so is just you don't
need that much. And I think that, you know, when
you get really busy, you just you kind of forget
to live simply sometimes and and things get really complicated
and it's it's you know, bigger, more better. But I
think that we, you know, my family simplified our lives
a bit this year and it's it's been really kind
(36:50):
of a welcome change. Yeah. I like that a lot. Lauren,
thank you so much for being here. Do you have
any final thoughts on gardening for our listeners? No, I think,
I mean, the only thing I would say, like such
a tork, I would just really encourage you will to
try it because it's really it's really fun. I think
it's a fun family activity. I think if you do
(37:10):
it properly, it's pretty easy. In low metance, you can
kind of set up a garden. You know with plantet
drip system and then you kind of just get to
enjoy it. So I think it's like an intimidating idea.
But even if you're just starting with like a few
containers on a balcony, like I don't know, I would
just encourage you will to give it a try. Yeah, wonderful, Well, Lauren,
thank you so much for being on the program. I
(37:31):
really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me.
This was lovely. Not long ago, my friend nailed me
a plant as a gift, but when it arrived, my
family and I happened to be out of town, and
so it just sat there waiting for us in the hallway,
And when we finally opened the box, the plant looked pathetic,
(37:53):
like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. The soil had dried out,
the leaves that hadn't fallen off were well about to
fall off, and at the time I wasn't even sure
if the plant was still alive. But it was a
gift from a dear friend, and I wasn't ready to
part with it, so I repotted it and moved it
to the sunniest spot in the house, somewhere where my
(38:16):
other plants would be jealous of it. I checked the
soil and watered it regularly, and one day, as I
was debating whether to relocate it to the compost bin,
I decided instead to prune the remaining leaves. It was
like giving a haircut to a bald man. But as
I looked for dead leaves to trim, I saw this
little bright sprout emerging, the sign of life, and I
(38:40):
got so excited. Suddenly I realized those months of warmth
and care that I've been pouring into it had thrown
this thing a lifeline. And I don't know whether it
was my persistence or the plants, but together we somehow
figured out a way forward. I mean, you could tell
that or a few ways right. You could say that
(39:02):
I took a plant that was about to die and
just kept feeding it the nourishment it needed, the sun
and the water, and it clung on until spring, long
enough to thrive. The story where I just helped out
the plant, where you could tell it the way I
think about it, that this plant came into my life
at a time when I was exhausted, worn down by
(39:24):
the news cycle and the grind of working and parenting
and schooling. From home and in that exhaustion, this plant
gave me another space to pour my love. It gave
me something to hope for and asked for my patients.
It trained me to realize that if you look out
the window, yes, you can see all the difficult things
(39:46):
the world is dealing with right outside, but you can
also feel the warmth and count on the day's light
to stream through one day after the next. It was
something to bask in and look forward too, because, of course,
my little plant needed that light, but so did I.
(40:06):
I've learned a lot of lessons throughout the season of
humans growing stuff. Some of them have been more gardening
and plant care related, like how to properly care for
air plants, that earthworms are great pets and even better
contributors to good soil. I've learned not to trust groundhogs,
especially when it comes to planning for spring, and I
witnessed just how much you can do with a little
(40:27):
bit of space. But I've also learned a lot about
what it means to be human. Throughout the season, Molly
and I have asked the same question to every friend
who's picked up our call. Do you think taking care
of plants can make us better humans. And the answer
to that question is always yes, but the reasons are
(40:48):
so often different. Plants are tough, plants are resilient plants
and want to grow. That's a good lesson for humans
because I always think that we are more billions and
tougher than than maybe we think we are. Sometimes even
a delicate flower if you look at what that had
to do to grow and become that, that's resiliency. If
(41:12):
you look at a plant and you realize it just
kind of was programmed to do that and it's going
to do that same thing for humans. Oh gosh, vegetables
produced food. It's it's all about what I love to do. Honestly,
seen from where it starts to where it ends on
the plate and it's consumed is just such an experience.
(41:36):
I think humility and patience is really what gardening is about.
You can create communities with something as in with a garden,
you can create friendships and bonds and just you can
just you can restart the world. You know, it starts
with life from these plants that's growing and they're giving
(41:58):
themselves to as and we move on and we give
ourselves to other and it is connects and it keeps going.
I mean, it's not not everybody can really really understand it.
I mean sometimes my friends come over and they're like,
how can your indoor plants are so amazing? I'm like, well,
I always play music in the house. It's not like
I'm walking around talking to my plants, but I might
(42:19):
and like I love them, you know. I mean, I
dust the leaves on my on my fig trees in
my house because I know they need to breathe. I
see how they change shape because I know that they're
moving towards the light. Who would notice that unless you
are really aware of what's going on in your environment.
You know it's it's really important. I would say one
(42:43):
gardening and plant care make us better humans because they
teach you empathy and you become so grateful when you
realize whoa this grew from this to this, and you're
thinking about how grateful you are for this. So you're
cultivating gratitude in your body, in your spirit, in your mind,
and then when you go out into the grocery store,
(43:03):
when you go out into the mall, when you get
on a plane, you have that gratitude that you've cultivated
inside your body, that you now carry with you, and
that started when you watch your bell pepper grow. It
really does make them way more attuned to the people
around them and way more connected to the communities around them.
(43:23):
And I think that anytime you're more connected to your
community and the people around you, that's that's going to
lead to more empathy. I think nature gives you all
life lessons. You could put out anything from nature and
there would be a lesson. We've been it. We as
humans think we're so clever, we're actually pretty stupid, stupid
(43:44):
and our desire to want everything and we're not patient.
If we were more patient with everything, we'd be in
a much more harmonious world. But we're not. We're just
so eager. We need it now, We need it now,
We need it now. You know, Just take a step,
look at what's around you. Look at that nature, Look
at that tree, Look at that little thing. It's going
(44:07):
to go in its own time. You can shout and
scream and brings as much carbon on it as you want,
it's not going to grow any faster than what it
wants to grow. So just nurture it. You're going to
get out of it as much as you put into it.
Gardening is about taking time and being patient. So if
(44:29):
you're impatient, it might be the perfect thing for you.
I'm a very impatient individual, but I have I have
a much better relationship with loss and the circle of
life than I did going into it, and so I'm
more comfortable with life, I want to say, because I
(44:50):
understand the whole process now and I can. I can
handle it. It's not it's not easy, and I don't
think it's easy for anyone, but I can. I can
do it, and so I think that's that's something I've
I've really come to appreciate about being out here. Do
(45:13):
you think you have to be an optimist to be
a farmer? That's a very good question. I don't know.
Before I was I would say that I was an optimist.
I don't know. That's a that's a great question. I
think it helps for sure, because you can see the
light at the end even when it's really dark. What
(45:34):
do you think I think I think you do. I
think you need to believe that your patients will bear out.
And I think you have to believe in the earth
and the seeds you're planning and and expect that things
at the end of the day will will go right
even if they go, hey, why a little bit, You're
(45:55):
still going to have a bounty, you know, if not
this year, next year, And I think it is an
optimistic practice. M hmm. I think you're right. So much
(46:16):
of what we take from our time with our plants
is personal. While a lot of us are finding comfort
from plants and being in the garden, we respond to
that interaction differently. Some of us are energized after a
few hours working out. Others go to our gardens to
find peace and solace. It's a lot like the way
(46:37):
we're all attracted to different plants. We all have our
own plant niche, and with different plant preferences come different
life lessons. For some of us, we learn about struggle
and we use it to make ourselves stronger. I think
about how the grapes that make the sweetest wine are
the ones that persist through the most difficult conditions that
(46:57):
they have to bear stress to deliver sweetness. But how
while those grapes are going through that struggle, they don't
know the greatness that they're destined for. Or tiny plants,
because maybe you're a tiny plant person just embracing the
beauty and the joy that the tiniest of plants can
radiate across the space. As this season of humans growing
(47:19):
stuff comes to a close, I find myself naturally looking
back at all the lessons I've learned, and the biggest
lesson that keeps coming up for me is patients. I
am quiet by nature, but I'm not patient. And the
way our phones have trained us to constantly be rewarded
by tweets and likes and social media updates and just
knowing everything immediately, I'm not sure any of that has
(47:43):
trained me to be a more patient person. But plants
tuning out the rest of the world and focusing on
helping these little things grow, that has made me more patient.
I've seen it with my wife, my kids, even myself.
Plants never question what's ahead of them. They just trust
(48:04):
that they'll find a way. They stretch their roots, figure
out how to reach towards the light, and they know
they'll thrive. And think about that. That makes me incredibly
optimistic about what's ahead for my family, for myself, and
quite honestly, for all of us. This is our last
(48:30):
episode of the season, so I hope you've enjoyed it.
I know I have, But we'll be back soon with
more content for everyone from the master gardener to the
plant parent to the plant care curious. In the meantime,
you can hang out with us on social. You can
find updates and more great content on the show on
Instagram and Facebook at Humans Growing Stuff and on Twitter
(48:51):
a Growing Stuff pod. Don't forget no matter what season
it is or where you're at in your gardening journey,
there are some incredible resources is waiting for you on
the Miracle Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is a collaboration
from I Heart Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow.
Our show was written and produced by Molly Sosha and
me Monga Chatigler in partnership with Ryan Ovadia, Daniel Ainsworth,
(49:14):
Haley Ericsson, and Garrett Shannon of Banter. Until next time,
be patient with your plants and each other. I'm Manga there.
Thank you so much for listening.
Years ago, I read this article and news scientists about
boring ology, where this reporter, Valerie Jameson, decided to spend
a week looking into the science of the most boring things,
watching paint dry, observing ditch water. But she starts the
week spending a day watching grass grow with scientists. She
learns there are more than nine thousand species of grass,
(00:26):
and the one thing that unites them is that, unlike
so many other plants that shoot up from the tops
of mature stems, grass actually grows from the bottom near
this embryonic tissue called maris stem, and as the cell
divides and multiply, you can apparently even hear the crackle
of it growing. But the most fun part of the
article is where the scientist has this digital voltmeter clamped
(00:49):
onto a little piece of grass, and as they watched together,
it starts flickering and in an hour it grows three
point five millimeters. And while that is so in significant,
Valerie points out that if the temperature holds, her little
seedling will grow seventeen millimeters taller by the time she
gets home that night, And suddenly she is buzzing with pride,
(01:11):
and she has been convinced that watching grass grow is
actually fun. I've been thinking about that article and also
about my own kiddos, who my wife and I spend
very long days within this pandemic, and while the daily
changes are imperceptible, it blows my mind how quickly time
has passed and how much they've learned and evolved and
(01:34):
grown into little adult Almost Ruby refuses to let us
help them with their homework. Henry would rather sneak off
to the neighbor's house and then walk to the bodego
to get snacks rather than kick a soccer ball in
the backyard with this old man. And it makes me
smile how they made themselves eggs and fended for themselves,
(01:54):
turning the upstairs into a four when Lizzie and I
contracted COVID at the end of last year. But growing
is good, at least, that's what I keep reminding myself.
And most of us are all growing and evolving even
well into our adulthood, and I know some of those
lessons have come from caring for plants. In fact, I'm
(02:16):
starting to think that plants maybe one of our greatest
teachers about how to be better humans. I mean, the
numerous basil plants I killed at the start of the
series have taught me to never give up, and to
be kind and forgiving to myself. Our MONSTERA has taught
me how to be flexible and find ways to adapt
in new environments. And all those seeds that Ruby and
(02:37):
I planted in our backyard totally scatter shot have taught
me to keep my expectations low and to be delighted
when things do sprowed up. While I've learned a lot
over the last fourteen months of the pandemic, I also
know that with each new change or shift to life,
or challenge or loss, there will be more growing and evolving.
(02:59):
But I feel confident that we'll get by with a
little help from our plant friends. Hey there, I'm Mongish Particular,
co host of Part Time Genius, one of the founders
of Mental Flaws, and this is Humans Growing Stuff, a
collaboration from my Heart Radio and your friends and Miracle Grow.
Our goal is to make this the most human show
(03:22):
about plants you'll ever listen to. Along the way, we'll
share inspiring stories, tips and tricks to nurture your plant addiction,
and just enough science to make you sound like an expert.
On this episode, our season finale, we are examining how
we're growing alongside plants and the life lessons we can
learn from our leafy green roommates. We'll discover ways plants motivators,
(03:44):
what they teach us about resilience and survival, and whether
or not caring for them can make us better humans.
Chapter fourteen, Learning life Lessons from plants. Despy at the
often delicate appearance of some plants, they can be incredibly
resilient snake plants, easy plants, Chinese evergreen, rubber plants, cacti,
(04:10):
and succulents. They're all very resilient and can handle minimal water,
lackluster light, and still somehow thrive. Take the cactus for example,
It's thorns are highly modified plant leaves, which protect them
from animals who try to access the liquid inside. The
top level roots collect water from the rain, and the lower,
(04:31):
much deeper roots collect water from deep below the surface.
They can store water for years, and the feisty cactus
does so by opening its pores at night, whereas most
plants open there is during the day, and as a result,
they are less vulnerable to warm temperatures that would ordinarily
evaporate that store of water. Think of how smart that is.
(04:53):
They are prickly geniuses. But plants are incredibly resilient, and
after an unexpected winter warm hit Texas this year, so
many people were shocked to see how native plants bounced
back after experiencing this true shock to their systems. I
want to talk to someone who witnessed this resiliency firsthand,
so I called up Mark Peacock. Mark is native of
(05:15):
Great Britain who recently followed his heart to Texas, and
although he pursued a career in fitness after school, he's
even graced the cover of Men's Health UK. Mark actually
studied horticulture and university and has been getting back to
his green roots and figuring out how to grow in
the challenging climate and soil of Texas during the pandemic. Hey, Mark,
(05:40):
are you there? Yes, I'm there, I'm there. Hello. Hello, Hello.
It is so nice to be chatting with you. It's
lovely to chat with you too. So I know most
of us had a really really hard with COVID and
the pandemic and just life in general. But it seems
like somehow you managed to have a few really nice
things happened this year. Yeah, I had some really nice
(06:03):
things happened. I mean, it was a huge different kind
of game changer of a year. You know. Obviously I
got married in the middle of part of last year,
so that was really nice. But it was very socially distanced,
and obviously, being English and my partner's American, we were
kind of a very small intimate. It was just myself,
him and the judge here in Texas. So yeah, so
(06:26):
we did that, and you know, I permanently relocated over
here and we bought a house and have a garden,
and I'm kind of learning, you know, the difference between
a very British garden and what you can do in Texas.
So I'm assuming you grew up around plants, but then
you decided eventually to study them. Yeah, and then I
(06:47):
kind of just fell into going to university. You know,
it was tough, but it was so interesting. You know,
every week you'd be given a sample of plants. So
it would be like, right, this week, we're going to
learn narcissus. You need to know the species of narcissus.
And they would line up twenty different narcissus bulbs and
you'd have one week to learn the difference and then
(07:08):
they would only put out ten or twelve of them,
so then you'd have to go in, and you go
in and this took for like five pc of your
whole degree or ten percent, so you had to be like, Okay,
that's narcissus tete, that's narcissus whatever. You know pheasants eye,
and you'd have to know it just from the singular bulb.
When they did it with roots, they did it with leaves,
they did it with everything. So it kind of helped
(07:30):
build up a good knowledge of plants. And you know,
even after I walked away and didn't end up going
into that field, I would always be walking along and
I would see plant and I'll be like a less
spectral apendula, or that's a moneage ponega or that, And
I would continuously always be testing myself and yeah, I
used to go to the Chelsea Flower Show every year
(07:52):
and my my friend Gerd he we went to the
Chelsea Flager one evening. I was walking around me and
he looked at this plant. He's like, that is called
fatcier japonica. And I'm like, yeah, what do you think?
I was just giving you some like Harry Potter Wizard
names these whole times, and it's like I just thought
you were making it up. I didn't think you actually
knew what these things were called. So yeah, I kin't
(08:15):
of surprised myself sometimes with like kind of what I
know and what I don't know. So what do you
get from being in your garden in the morning? What
do you get out of you know, mentally and physically
from from being in the space. I think it's just
an opportunity to really switch off and like there isn't
you know for me, gardening is kind of an ever
(08:38):
changing thing. You're never going to get to a point
where it's finished. Just being here in Texas is like
completely different to the UK, like the soil, but I
mean it's like what soil. I'm working on rock and
stone and take about half a foot and you've hit
bedrock and you're literally smashing in to try and even
(08:59):
get into the So there's lots of like technique, you know,
and I'm going to have I'm you know, setting up
a compost system because I really need to start building
more organic layer on top of what I've already got,
because what I have got it is shocking, Like you know,
it's not worth anything, it's useless basically. So yeah, so
there's lots of it is it's like and you're so
(09:22):
limited on the plants. Like being in the UK. Was
saying this to someone yesterday. I was like, I feel
like I've been spoiled because the climate in the UK,
your your ability to grow pretty much anything is so
vast and I don't really need to think about, oh
it's going to get too hot, and what I'm noticing.
It's like I'm putting plants in and a plant in
(09:42):
the UK that would take you know, six months life
cycle here because it's just so warm and humid. It's
just sped up the whole time. But the plant is
I want heype from my plants, but it's just it's
coming into flowers so quickly. So I'm literally like taking
the flowers off, trying to encourage a bit more gross
it doesn't put his energy into producing these flowers. So
(10:02):
but this is kind of my first full season gardening
here in Texas, so it'll be interesting to see kind
of how that pans out, and I'll learn a lot
this year as to what I can kind of can't do.
So what what what was the what was your thought process?
When you got to Texas, did you look out your
backyard and decide there has to be a garden here
or how did you decide to tackle the yard? Well,
(10:24):
I mean there was kind of some kind of garden here,
but I mean the first thing I did, like when
we moved in the where the vegetable garden is now,
it was like a skateboarding half pipe there. And then
when we moved in, they were like, would you mind
if we took the half pipe? And We're like, yeah,
(10:45):
by all me, you really do I look like a skateboarder.
So as soon as that went, then, um, I got
to work and I built the built the raised beds
from scratch. I was looking everywhere and I couldn't find
any so it's just what I'm just going to go
down to loads and buy some wood and kind of
buy myself a band sore, and I kind of just
(11:06):
started making it all. So it's just things like that.
Learning that and the vigetable gardens the first thing, and
the kind of just been working around with the kind
of loose structure we had in the back garden and
just kind of filling the beds out, seeing what works,
what doesn't work, and then eventually I'll tackle the front.
But the fronts literally like building on Mount Everest. It's
just rock essentially, So I don't quite know how I'm
(11:28):
going to tackle that one. But you can just put
skateboard ramps all over it. Oh yeah, just or a
toboggan run for when it snows again. Oh my god,
it's ludicrous. Everyone was like, if it snows here, it
just snows for a day and then it melts. It
(11:49):
never gets cold. And you know, luckily we weren't in
town when it happened. But beforehand, I'd like, I had
all these Dailier tubers and I'd like potted them all up,
and you know, I just left. We bought all these
citrus trees and I just potted them all up and everything.
And then as soon as we left, it was like
winter storm coming in. So you know, I had to
try and get it wrapped and see what survived. And
(12:11):
I pull the potatoes in the ground already, and I
was like, oh my god, it's going to go. And
then we just We've got so many like cedar trees
around here, and they were just like falling left Bryant
Center and the I was just getting fed back pictures
of the garden. I was like, oh my god, I've
lost of the garden. And then then you know, after
a couple of weeks and you know, as soon as
(12:31):
the sun comes out, I'd say we've probably lost my
kind of guests probably turned into more like so you know,
the plant's kind of surprised that you know, they just
kind of gone all the way back to the ground,
but they were still actually like you know, little life
forms under the ground ready to kind of come back.
I mean, we lost a lot of the height and
(12:51):
scale and the bushiness of a lot of the plants
that would take probably a good year to kind of
come back. But in terms of you know, the structure
of kind of having the plants, you know, we've managed
to retain them, and you know, financially, I mean it's
a huge thing, like the amount of plants that there's
so many people that had giant palms, Like you're driving
around and these huge palm trees that people have gotten
(13:13):
they're just like, I don't even know they're going to
come back. They're like three four or five thousand dollar
trees that people have everywhere, and you're like, you lost
ten twelve of them and I'm like, you feel a
bit sorry for them, So it's a learning curve kind of.
I'm just kind of gauging what survived, and I'm like, okay,
well I'm going to you know, bulk up that, you know,
air towards that side of planting, because in case it
(13:36):
ever happens again, you never know what the climate is
going to be doing in the future. So um yeah,
that's kind of my goal essentially. Well, I do want
to ask you about the resilience of plants, and you know,
you talked about this storm that came and it really
hurting a lot of the garden and plant life. Was
there anything you were surprised by that it bounced back
(13:58):
or or surprised by the resilience of any certain plants.
I mean, I thought my potatoes I put in the
ground before I left were gonna even though they were
under the ground. I was just like, this is cold,
and I'm I don't even know if I don't know
if they're going to rot under the ground or but
you know, they came back and they were absolutely fine,
and like some of the palms, you know, they were
(14:20):
they were like just a bronze color. They were they
were gone. But you know, and this is the thing
about gardening is all about patients. I'm a strong believer
that it is about patients. Like just leave those let
them be and see what the plant's going to do,
you know. And and some of you know, some of
them are starting to reshoot again. So whereas before I
(14:41):
would have you know, could have got trigger happy and
just pulled everything out and started again, you know, actually
just leaving it and letting it recover. You know, you
are kind of amazed by kind of what what can
pull through. Um. Yes, so that's kind of that was
kind of the thing, kind of the palms that kind
(15:02):
of grew the bamboo as well. I mean around us
a lot, there's a lot of bamboo, and it is
it was just it was dead above ground, really, you know, yes,
like funny, I wouldn't imagine it seems like such a
sturdy plant. It was obliterated. You're driving it just looks
like a desolate war zone kind of driving through where
(15:23):
we were. When we came back, it was just like,
oh my god, cedar trees had fallen down everywhere, and
you know, bamboo was just this golden dead, like all
of the leaves dead and so but now, like you know,
those stems, you know they need to be cut off,
but people are keeping it for like screening for their houses.
But you know, underneath it, it's just like you know,
(15:46):
it's firing up everywhere. So the resilience of that is
quite amazing. I didn't think that would pull through, but
you know, you just give it a month and you know,
see what happens. Yeah, I mean I know one person
on this um this podcast said, um, their plants want
to grow, and you just kind of have to remember
that there's like there they want, they want to grow
(16:07):
and and and and so um you can do less
and be patient and and and they will they will
for you. I guess I think that that's the thing.
It is all about patients, you know. And you know,
I always think if someone hasn't got a lot of patients,
then garden is a good way to learn. How can
I learn patients? Garden? Because you cannot push a plant.
(16:32):
A plant will grow at whatever rate it you know,
wants to grow out. There's no there's no way of
you you can help it long. But you know, at
the end of the day, you're at the mercy of
that plant, and you know, you just got to nurture it.
And it's just kind of like the same as you
know a person. You kind of have to nurture it
(16:53):
and you know, look after it and it will kind
of reward you in the end, be at one with it.
I mean that makes me like, really hippie it is.
It's just like, just take a step back. What's the rush?
What is what's the immediate kind of rush for it
to be there? Now? It's just like, you know, go
with it. Let's see what happens. When you came to Texas,
(17:17):
did you did you sort of enjoy the challenge of
like figuring out what does grow here and what native
plants are or or um? Did that just feel like
a like a bit of a hurdle. No? I mean
I love I love the challenge. And you know, I
came in a little bit blind thinking I can just
you know, do what I did back home and kind
of do whatever I want. And you know, the longer
(17:39):
I've been here, I have kind of learned that do
I can't just bulldoze and do whatever I want. But
you know, walking around some of the guns and some
things that are like house plants in the UK, I'm
like Oh my god, I can grow that outside here.
I'm like, yes, right, we're changing No longer I gertru
g coal with your herbaceous yes, a tropical house plants.
(18:02):
We're bringing them outside, you know. Um so yeah, that
that's been a fun thing to kind of learn and
adapt from. And I think that's the thing. It's all
about adaption. You know. I'll be able to kind of
gauge kind of what is right and what is wrong.
And I'll make loads of mistakes this year, but it
doesn't really matter. I like that you said that's not
(18:24):
my vision because I feel like that's my entire experience
of gardening. It's like a garden that's not my vision.
But um, but that, but that, but that gives you
always think that's the best. Like whoever, whoever has a
first idea and that's the perfect idea. I always think
it's the second or third kind of idea that you
may have. I mean, when you get to idea twenty seven,
(18:45):
then your change tack. But you know, when you have
the first idea, you're always been like, but then when
you kind of evolved that idea, you know, I think
that's when you get the best ones and that's when
you learn, like, you learn by mistakes, and those mistakes
creates something far better than what you probably would have
envisioned the first time. Oh I like that. I'm going
to carry that with me. That makes me think about
(19:07):
this belief that we can adapt, even you moving from
London to Texas, right, it is adapting exactly. I think that. Yeah,
that's it. It's like this year has been a bit
of a crazy year of change. But you know, I
don't believe changes are wrong, a bad thing. It's it's
a good thing. And you know, who wants to stagnate
(19:28):
and just be the same forever, you know, very caution
to the way and do stuff you know, make may change.
And yeah, I think that's that's that's a good thing.
So Mark, before I let you go, is there anything
else you want to add about the resiliency of plants
and what we can kind of learn from plants? I
don't think so. I think it is just mainly that
(19:49):
patience thing. Just just don't be in a rush, you know,
look at them, you know, you know, and if they're hurt,
help them. You know, if a branch is hanging off,
would you want someone to passed you with your arm
hanging off. No, like get in there, like look for
that kind of safe point to cut it back, to
cut it back, stop that disease getting in, you know.
(20:11):
And that's kind of vice aversa. You're going to help
the plant, and but then also take that lesson and
help someone else if you see someone, help them the
same way you would help plant. And just remember that
plants are the masters of adaption. You know, they will adapt,
but it's kind of if you want the best out
of them, it's probably best just to kind of just
(20:31):
look up its origin and then kind of just be like,
even if you don't know like anything about Spain, you
might know something about the Mediterranean. It's hot, it's dry, Okay,
well I'm gonna it's this bit area, this sunny area
is going to be good for it. Then you know,
you can kind of use it's kind of origin as
your kind of the idea of what you should do
with it. You might get it wrong, but it doesn't matter.
(20:54):
You can move it well. Mark, thank you so much
for spending time with us and talking plants with me,
and and it was it was a real pleasure. It's
been a pleasure for me. Thank you for having me
humans growing stuff will be right back after a short break.
(21:20):
Plants are incredibly resilient, but they also know a thing
or two about being flexible and adapting to the resources
around them. Take the venus fly trap, for instance. Charles
Darwin was such a fanboy of the plants that he
wrote the venus flytrap is the most wonderful plant in
the world. He even dedicated an entire book to them.
But the tiny toothy plants are carnivorous for a reason.
(21:43):
Venus fly traps grow in very poor soil, and they've
evolved to eat insects because they need those nutrients to
sustain themselves. It is not uncommon for plants to get
creative about how and where they get nutrients based on
their environment, and honestly, it's just one more thing as
humans could learn from plants. As the climate crisis becomes
more immediate, there are a lot of ways we can
(22:03):
all reevaluate our diets to get the same nutrients but
from a different source that will help maintain and restore
our climate and the environment rather than hurting it. I
personally haven't said goodbye to meat, but we don't eat
that much of it at home and we've been exploring
all these plant based substitutes. Things have come a long
way since the poor Bello burgers I was forced as
(22:24):
a youth. But we've seen the evolution of things like
impossible burgers and beyond meat substitutes that look and even
bleed like a real burger on the grill. And now
they are vegetable butchers cropping up at places like Vita's
in Columbus, Ohio, where you can get plant based cheeses,
cold cuts, and sausages. And while a lot of it
tastes a lot like meat, more importantly, eating a more
(22:47):
plant based diet is the way we can adapt to
our changing environment and keep it from changing exponentially. It
reduces the impact of climate change of greenhouse gas emissions
come from food production and three fourths of that hers
from animal product production, and it saves water to producing
one pound of beef requires eight gallons of water. That said,
(23:08):
if plant based protein isn't your thing, maybe insect based
proteins are like cricket powder or even stink bug. Just
get in touch with that inner venus fly trap and
enjoy that crunch. They're not hard to find either. Some
are already being sold at places like Whole Foods and
other grocery stores. The more time I spend with plants,
(23:33):
the more they teach me about taking care of others
but also the earth. I'm not only looking at my
home through the perspective of my plants, I'm also rethinking
my everyday habits with a more sustainable and environmentally friendly
intention and purpose. You may know Lauren Conrad as a
television personality, New York Times best selling author, fashion designer,
or philanthropists, but Lauren is also an avid gardener and
(23:57):
using a lot of what she's learned about plants in
the environment to create more sustainable products. In two thousand thirteen,
she co founded Little Market dot Com, a nonprofit with
a mission to build sustainable partnerships with artisans around the world,
connecting them with customers through an online marketplace, and empowering
women artisans to rise above poverty and support their families.
(24:17):
In two thousand eighteen, the Little Market launched their first
brick and mortar location in l A. I called of
Lauren because I wanted to hear about how gardening has
made her think about sustainability more on an everyday level,
and lessons she's teaching her own kiddos about life as
they grow together in the garden. Hey, Lauren, are you there.
(24:39):
I'm here. Oh, it's so nice to chat with you.
You too, How are you doing well? Well? Thank you
so much for being on the program. You know, I
know you as this sort of incredible designer and influencer,
but I only just realized that you're a gardener as well,
and I'm so excited to talk plants with you. Need too,
I am. I'm relatively new to the space. It's just
kind of a hobby that I've picked up the past year.
(25:00):
So I'm still very green. Well that's both of us,
I guess. So tell me about how you decide to
get into gardening. Now. Last year I unexpectedly had a
little more time on my hands, so I we have
on the side of our house now, we had kind
of a just like a strip of land that we
don't really do much with it, just kind of like
(25:22):
whatever grows there. So I cleared out a little area
that was like, I mean maybe like three by five
feet and ordered some plans and I really did it
just as something to do with my son, who's turning
four in a couple of months. So, you know, it
was probably just about to turn three, and uh, and
I just kind of did it as something to do
with him. And then also I really love the idea
(25:44):
of kids understanding where food comes from. And that's where
it started. Because it's gotten a little while now, basically
anywhere anything will grow, I've taken over in our yard.
I'm figuring out now how to like make it more
aesthetically pleasing because it's a little it's a little funny,
but I tore out, like all a bunch of rows
is in our front yard so I could do like
a vegetable garden really in the front yard. Yeah, yeah,
(26:05):
I mean I definitely could use a little work. But
I also I don't know, I just I kind of
love edibles as like like kind of landscaping as well
because it's like a dual purpose. I think it's nice. Yeah.
I actually saw someone who was planting herbs that way,
like different basil plants, and it's amazing how architecturally you
can get with it. Yeah. I've always done that with time,
and I did that while I did it with mint,
(26:27):
which is a huge mistake if anyone's ever put mint
in like a contained area. I just took over but yeah,
I've always kind of done that. Yeah, do you think
you'll try to keep some of that space for yourself
as we move into a sort of a crazier world. Uh, yeah,
it's just getting worse, and whereas I'm about to like
clear like basically the last space I can and I
(26:47):
just also took over a deck and created a container garden,
so it's becoming a full time job. I've definitely probably
I've probably beiten off more than I can chew. But
it's so fun. I love that. So so it sounds
like it's started very much with these like few vegetables.
And then and where are your ambitions going? Um, anything
that will grow. I've been doing a lot of research.
You know, where we live is we're right on the water,
(27:10):
so the salt in the air it kind of limits
what I can and can't grow. Um. And also just
like the way our house is positioned. So I've just
been researching and kind of like trial and air, I
spent a lot of time figuring out what would grow.
And then I kind of turned my office into a greenhouse, which,
as strange as it sounds, um, it's like a wall
of windows and it gets really, really really hot in there,
(27:31):
so I just sort of took advantage of it. But
then I also learned that starting plants in a window
is not the best idea because it kind of makes
for weak plants. So that's where I'm at now. So
I'm learning a lot of lessons. Yeah, that's incredible. And
do you have any friends that you sort of share
tips with or or pick things up from. Have you
found community and gardening a little bit? Yeah, I've actually
made a couple of new friends and actually started this
(27:53):
hobby with a couple of friends. Um, so it's it's nice.
It's like a I don't know, it's so it's so
door key that I'm like sent as a KINI picture
literally sending like pictures of zucchini to my friends being
like look what I threw. I don't know. It's like
I don't know. It's just like a fun new thing
we can talk about and it's just simple and you
know what I mean. No, I mean I feel that
(28:14):
way too. I mean, so I you know, I used
to run a magazine. I headed up development at at
my Heart for all these podcasts and stuff, and I
had no time and then suddenly, with you know, the quarantine,
were stuck at home and I was just looking for
ways to hang out with my kids and do something
that felt productive, you know, in this way where you
can actually see something grow and and and hold a
(28:36):
vegetable or whatever. And it is amazing how quickly you
can dork out about these things. Yeah, it is. Yes,
I feel it's actually like really embarrassing. The other day,
it was like in my office kind of like going
through all the seedlings, and I'm kind of like talking
out loud, and my husband opened the door and he
was like, are we talking to the plants now? Yeah?
(28:56):
I think so. I think we went there. Um. I
think that one of the really nice things about planting,
once you've kind of got all the basics down is
just like the idea of planting something is just it's
just possibility. And and in a time where we were
all kind of stuck in a rut and everything felt
like Groundhog's Day and the future was so uncertain, it
was like this one very simple thing I could do
(29:17):
and watch grow, and it was a little different every day.
It made each day feel, you know, some something to
look forward to, something different. Yeah, I agree with that,
and something positive in in a world that was so
sort of um claustrophobic, with so many, so many issues.
So I'm curious what do you feel like you get
out of gardening and caring for these plants, and maybe
(29:37):
even what are some of the things you're learning about yourself.
I think I don't know. It's it's sort of an
unexpected hobby for me. I think if you had asked me,
like ten years ago, like are you going to get
super into this? I wouldn't. I would have said no,
it's interesting that that I got so into it. I
think it's it's been good for me because it's it's
forced me to kind of sit still and do something
(29:58):
kind of quiet and simple, which is the challenging for me. Yeah,
it's interesting that you say that because a lot of
our guests have said it's very meditative for them. Yeah.
I've never been the type of person who can meditate.
It's really difficult for me to clear my mind, and
so this is kind of the closest thing I get
to that. Um, you know. I I like what you
said about noticing the salt air and the light and
(30:19):
the way your land is because for me, it's it's
really interesting to sort of gain this new perspective of
the world. Yeah, that's so interesting. I so you're gardening.
Do you have like a little balcony. I do, I've
I've got a little balcony in a little space outdoors.
But when I started this, it was mostly house plants
that I was tending to. I feel like house answer
(30:41):
is so difficult. I think I killed them all. Well,
I just keep moving them around until they started start
doing better. And yeah, yeah, I have. There's one I'm
not going to know the name of it. I think
I want. I think it's called like a mermaid fern
or something. It's some sort of fern. It's really delicate
but very beautiful, and like every two months I buy
(31:02):
one and I'm like, this time, this time, I'm not
going to kill it. But it's like the type or
like the soil can never dry out or else, it
just like immediately dies. I'm I'm yet to really keep
one alive more than a few weeks, but they're so pretty. Yeah.
Have you learned anything from the failures of being in
the garden? Yeah? Right now. The biggest thing right now,
honestly is I grew. I'm not exaggerating. I grew sixty
(31:23):
tomato plants in my office. Yes, yeah, I did. It
doesn't make any sense. It's a I have it's a
big window. But anyway, so and then I had to
harden them off and do all the things. But because
I grew them in a window, they got like the
the stems are like really long and thin. They're kind
of leggy, and so they're not very strong plants. So
I picked the best ones and I'm like putting them
(31:45):
in the tomato garden and creating an area. And now
I have like a bunch of really sad tomato plants
sitting outside that I can't get rid of because I'm like,
I grew them from seed. I can't get rid of them.
But also like what am I there? They like can't
stand up by themselves. I think, I'm just it's hard
to let go. I did I did it wrong. But
I'm also like it's like a living plant, and like
a couple of even have like tomatoes on them. I'm like,
(32:07):
I can't give up on them. I have a hard
time letting go. So tell me about your kids in
the garden, because I'm curious about this. I know I've
seen photos of one of your kiddos toddling around and
and like eating pea plants. I think probably, Yeah, it's funny.
I've noticed that, you know, in our family at least,
(32:27):
that my kids are so much more excited to eat
something off a vine than off a plate. And like
we have just like shelling peas growing in our front
yard right now, and when we're out there, I'll usually
just grab a few and be like, whose wants peas?
And they'll like fight over them, which is so funny.
And so I think that that's been a really nice thing,
is just not only them being familiar with oh, our
food comes from the earth, we should take care of it,
(32:49):
and like you know, the domino effect there. And I
also like my my younger son, Charlie. It's like a
year and a half, he's he's very much like me.
He just wants to be dirty all the time, Like
I was always just coming in mud. But like whenever
I'm clearing space or anything, I'll just let him go
there with like a little like a little sand shovel
just to dick and he just loves it and be stilthy.
Like literally we don't know how to wash him up,
(33:11):
Like can we even put him in a shower like this.
He's so dirty, but it makes them so happy, and
I just think, I don't know, I think there's something
to that. I think that kids they should play in
the dirt and they should get dirty like that, and
they don't do it as often anymore. So Yeah, I agree.
So what are you excited about planning the boast the
season right now? I'm so excited because every year I
grow sweet peas, and there's something about like where I am,
(33:35):
but they just like explode like they're taller than me.
There's hundreds of sweet peas in the front of my house. Yeah,
it's like a it's a statement and I love it.
And it smells. I like, literally in the morning when
I'm walking into the car, I just like stick my
face into the just like massive flowers and breathe because
it's just the best smell. Yeah, this is one of
my favorite times of year. It's just because I know,
(33:55):
I get like a wall of sweet peas. So tell
me a little bit about what gardening with your kids
has been like and what you sort of hope they
get from this experience. Gardening with the kids. It's been fun.
I think it's trying to think of how to say
this nicely. I'm like, you know, my son will get
really excited about the idea, and then when it comes
(34:16):
to like doing more than two minutes of digging, he's like,
I'm out, but he's really in it for the harvest.
So you talked about the fact that you started gardening
with your kids in mind, and I'm curious, whenever they
do participate in the actual gardening process, have you found
that you've been able to teach them any life lessons
as you teach them about growing and gardening. You know,
(34:36):
we talked to them a lot about this is just like,
you know, we're gonna plant this plant, and we're gonna
be patient. I think patients is a big is a
big lesson here too, because you know, we'll plant something
in the next day. He's like, is it done. It's like, no,
we need to be patient. And each day, well, we'll
check on progress and kind of talk about how the
plant has to grow and then we you know, we'll
see the first fruit whatever. The plant be kind of
really tiny start and you know, explaining the process I
(34:58):
think is really nice. It's really nice. How old are
your kids. My kids are a little older. They are
eight and ten. Yeah, but but when we started gardening,
I'd say it was my kid just turned eight, my younger,
so so it was like six when when we started
doing some of the stuff. It's been fun to watch
them play and and also just be very cocky about
(35:20):
the stuff that they really like, walking around telling me like,
like what I'm doing wrong? Stuff like that, which is
sweet and fun. Um. Obviously, gardening has helped us all
think about the way we give back and take from
and connect to the natural world around us. Right. But
I'm curious, because you do this with your little ones,
(35:41):
do you think you know, since becoming a mother, you've
started thinking more about your relationship to the earth than
you had maybe before you became a parent. Absolutely. I
think when you have a child, you know that they're
inheriting the earth that you're taking care of right now,
it sort of changes things. And I don't know if
that means I was more selfish before or if I
just you know, hadn't thought about it. But yeah, I mean,
(36:03):
what in their lifetime, what changes are going to take place,
like what's going to happen? Um? And it's always on
the top of my mind. I'm curious what you think
we might be able to take away from your experiences
with plants. I think. I mean, I can say my
takeaway this year has been you don't need that much.
I always talk to my son like, what does a
plant need to grow? Needs? Sunshine, water, nutrients, that's it.
(36:28):
And I think that a lot of people experience this
in the past year or so is just you don't
need that much. And I think that, you know, when
you get really busy, you just you kind of forget
to live simply sometimes and and things get really complicated
and it's it's you know, bigger, more better. But I
think that we, you know, my family simplified our lives
a bit this year and it's it's been really kind
(36:50):
of a welcome change. Yeah. I like that a lot. Lauren,
thank you so much for being here. Do you have
any final thoughts on gardening for our listeners? No, I think,
I mean, the only thing I would say, like such
a tork, I would just really encourage you will to
try it because it's really it's really fun. I think
it's a fun family activity. I think if you do
(37:10):
it properly, it's pretty easy. In low metance, you can
kind of set up a garden. You know with plantet
drip system and then you kind of just get to
enjoy it. So I think it's like an intimidating idea.
But even if you're just starting with like a few
containers on a balcony, like I don't know, I would
just encourage you will to give it a try. Yeah, wonderful, Well, Lauren,
thank you so much for being on the program. I
(37:31):
really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me.
This was lovely. Not long ago, my friend nailed me
a plant as a gift, but when it arrived, my
family and I happened to be out of town, and
so it just sat there waiting for us in the hallway,
And when we finally opened the box, the plant looked pathetic,
(37:53):
like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. The soil had dried out,
the leaves that hadn't fallen off were well about to
fall off, and at the time I wasn't even sure
if the plant was still alive. But it was a
gift from a dear friend, and I wasn't ready to
part with it, so I repotted it and moved it
to the sunniest spot in the house, somewhere where my
(38:16):
other plants would be jealous of it. I checked the
soil and watered it regularly, and one day, as I
was debating whether to relocate it to the compost bin,
I decided instead to prune the remaining leaves. It was
like giving a haircut to a bald man. But as
I looked for dead leaves to trim, I saw this
little bright sprout emerging, the sign of life, and I
(38:40):
got so excited. Suddenly I realized those months of warmth
and care that I've been pouring into it had thrown
this thing a lifeline. And I don't know whether it
was my persistence or the plants, but together we somehow
figured out a way forward. I mean, you could tell
that or a few ways right. You could say that
(39:02):
I took a plant that was about to die and
just kept feeding it the nourishment it needed, the sun
and the water, and it clung on until spring, long
enough to thrive. The story where I just helped out
the plant, where you could tell it the way I
think about it, that this plant came into my life
at a time when I was exhausted, worn down by
(39:24):
the news cycle and the grind of working and parenting
and schooling. From home and in that exhaustion, this plant
gave me another space to pour my love. It gave
me something to hope for and asked for my patients.
It trained me to realize that if you look out
the window, yes, you can see all the difficult things
(39:46):
the world is dealing with right outside, but you can
also feel the warmth and count on the day's light
to stream through one day after the next. It was
something to bask in and look forward too, because, of course,
my little plant needed that light, but so did I.
(40:06):
I've learned a lot of lessons throughout the season of
humans growing stuff. Some of them have been more gardening
and plant care related, like how to properly care for
air plants, that earthworms are great pets and even better
contributors to good soil. I've learned not to trust groundhogs,
especially when it comes to planning for spring, and I
witnessed just how much you can do with a little
(40:27):
bit of space. But I've also learned a lot about
what it means to be human. Throughout the season, Molly
and I have asked the same question to every friend
who's picked up our call. Do you think taking care
of plants can make us better humans. And the answer
to that question is always yes, but the reasons are
(40:48):
so often different. Plants are tough, plants are resilient plants
and want to grow. That's a good lesson for humans
because I always think that we are more billions and
tougher than than maybe we think we are. Sometimes even
a delicate flower if you look at what that had
to do to grow and become that, that's resiliency. If
(41:12):
you look at a plant and you realize it just
kind of was programmed to do that and it's going
to do that same thing for humans. Oh gosh, vegetables
produced food. It's it's all about what I love to do. Honestly,
seen from where it starts to where it ends on
the plate and it's consumed is just such an experience.
(41:36):
I think humility and patience is really what gardening is about.
You can create communities with something as in with a garden,
you can create friendships and bonds and just you can
just you can restart the world. You know, it starts
with life from these plants that's growing and they're giving
(41:58):
themselves to as and we move on and we give
ourselves to other and it is connects and it keeps going.
I mean, it's not not everybody can really really understand it.
I mean sometimes my friends come over and they're like,
how can your indoor plants are so amazing? I'm like, well,
I always play music in the house. It's not like
I'm walking around talking to my plants, but I might
(42:19):
and like I love them, you know. I mean, I
dust the leaves on my on my fig trees in
my house because I know they need to breathe. I
see how they change shape because I know that they're
moving towards the light. Who would notice that unless you
are really aware of what's going on in your environment.
You know it's it's really important. I would say one
(42:43):
gardening and plant care make us better humans because they
teach you empathy and you become so grateful when you
realize whoa this grew from this to this, and you're
thinking about how grateful you are for this. So you're
cultivating gratitude in your body, in your spirit, in your mind,
and then when you go out into the grocery store,
(43:03):
when you go out into the mall, when you get
on a plane, you have that gratitude that you've cultivated
inside your body, that you now carry with you, and
that started when you watch your bell pepper grow. It
really does make them way more attuned to the people
around them and way more connected to the communities around them.
(43:23):
And I think that anytime you're more connected to your
community and the people around you, that's that's going to
lead to more empathy. I think nature gives you all
life lessons. You could put out anything from nature and
there would be a lesson. We've been it. We as
humans think we're so clever, we're actually pretty stupid, stupid
(43:44):
and our desire to want everything and we're not patient.
If we were more patient with everything, we'd be in
a much more harmonious world. But we're not. We're just
so eager. We need it now, We need it now,
We need it now. You know, Just take a step,
look at what's around you. Look at that nature, Look
at that tree, Look at that little thing. It's going
(44:07):
to go in its own time. You can shout and
scream and brings as much carbon on it as you want,
it's not going to grow any faster than what it
wants to grow. So just nurture it. You're going to
get out of it as much as you put into it.
Gardening is about taking time and being patient. So if
(44:29):
you're impatient, it might be the perfect thing for you.
I'm a very impatient individual, but I have I have
a much better relationship with loss and the circle of
life than I did going into it, and so I'm
more comfortable with life, I want to say, because I
(44:50):
understand the whole process now and I can. I can
handle it. It's not it's not easy, and I don't
think it's easy for anyone, but I can. I can
do it, and so I think that's that's something I've
I've really come to appreciate about being out here. Do
(45:13):
you think you have to be an optimist to be
a farmer? That's a very good question. I don't know.
Before I was I would say that I was an optimist.
I don't know. That's a that's a great question. I
think it helps for sure, because you can see the
light at the end even when it's really dark. What
(45:34):
do you think I think I think you do. I
think you need to believe that your patients will bear out.
And I think you have to believe in the earth
and the seeds you're planning and and expect that things
at the end of the day will will go right
even if they go, hey, why a little bit, You're
(45:55):
still going to have a bounty, you know, if not
this year, next year, And I think it is an
optimistic practice. M hmm. I think you're right. So much
(46:16):
of what we take from our time with our plants
is personal. While a lot of us are finding comfort
from plants and being in the garden, we respond to
that interaction differently. Some of us are energized after a
few hours working out. Others go to our gardens to
find peace and solace. It's a lot like the way
(46:37):
we're all attracted to different plants. We all have our
own plant niche, and with different plant preferences come different
life lessons. For some of us, we learn about struggle
and we use it to make ourselves stronger. I think
about how the grapes that make the sweetest wine are
the ones that persist through the most difficult conditions that
(46:57):
they have to bear stress to deliver sweetness. But how
while those grapes are going through that struggle, they don't
know the greatness that they're destined for. Or tiny plants,
because maybe you're a tiny plant person just embracing the
beauty and the joy that the tiniest of plants can
radiate across the space. As this season of humans growing
(47:19):
stuff comes to a close, I find myself naturally looking
back at all the lessons I've learned, and the biggest
lesson that keeps coming up for me is patients. I
am quiet by nature, but I'm not patient. And the
way our phones have trained us to constantly be rewarded
by tweets and likes and social media updates and just
knowing everything immediately, I'm not sure any of that has
(47:43):
trained me to be a more patient person. But plants
tuning out the rest of the world and focusing on
helping these little things grow, that has made me more patient.
I've seen it with my wife, my kids, even myself.
Plants never question what's ahead of them. They just trust
(48:04):
that they'll find a way. They stretch their roots, figure
out how to reach towards the light, and they know
they'll thrive. And think about that. That makes me incredibly
optimistic about what's ahead for my family, for myself, and
quite honestly, for all of us. This is our last
(48:30):
episode of the season, so I hope you've enjoyed it.
I know I have, But we'll be back soon with
more content for everyone from the master gardener to the
plant parent to the plant care curious. In the meantime,
you can hang out with us on social. You can
find updates and more great content on the show on
Instagram and Facebook at Humans Growing Stuff and on Twitter
(48:51):
a Growing Stuff pod. Don't forget no matter what season
it is or where you're at in your gardening journey,
there are some incredible resources is waiting for you on
the Miracle Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is a collaboration
from I Heart Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow.
Our show was written and produced by Molly Sosha and
me Monga Chatigler in partnership with Ryan Ovadia, Daniel Ainsworth,
(49:14):
Haley Ericsson, and Garrett Shannon of Banter. Until next time,
be patient with your plants and each other. I'm Manga there.
Thank you so much for listening.
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