THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Oct11

Need A Talk For Your Garden Club Via Zoom?

Need a talk for your garden club? Via Zoom because of Covid-restrictions this winter?

Then I can help!

It is great you are trying to keep your club going, and though Zoom is not the same as getting a group together and talking about gardening live, of the moment, right now it is the best alternative we have got.

How I Do A Zoom Talk For Your Garden Club

I’m very happy to do Zoom talks and have moved about 20% online so far (from end of March 2020 to the start of October 2020) – although that number is growing in the last few weeks!

I did a talk on Thursday night for a group, who were using Zoom for their garden club for the first time… it felt a big step, and the committee had understandable nerves about if it would work… but we ended up having a great time…

Click here for their reaction.

Just so you know more about how a Zoom talk would work, I can:

  • Set up the meeting and send you the link to login the day before we start. You then circulate this amongst members who are attending.
  • Cost is £75.
  • Talks tend to be 45-55 minutes, with a following q and a. I try to use the benefits of Zoom rather than just copy a normal talk – so screen sharing, polling, reactions and discussion are all thrown into the mix.
  • At the start I go through how it all works so anyone new to Zoom can get a feel for it too – but so far all Zoom talks I’ve done have been great fun.

If you feel you need a little more help beforehand, I am happy to book a 15 minute practise with a few members or your committee, for an additional £15.

This can be done anytime before the talk, to go through how it will all work, get a feel for polling and reactions etc… and anwer any questions you may have. This may well be useful for you in helping to make sure your group has a fantastic experience and wants to continue.

The 5 talks I have so far adapted for Zoom are:

A Very British Garden – about compost making, dealing with slugs, great plants for your borders and no-dig vegetable growing.

Clippings – about how to prune, roses, wisteria, fruit trees, shrubs and topiary.

Helping The Honeybee – about the best plants for bees.

What Do I Do With This Space – sharing good ideas for your garden about reducing maintenance, stopping plants being eaten and choosing native species.

Diluted – how we use water in the garden, wisely and… not so!

I have more talks planned on further topics when the topiary season finishes for me, and time becomes a little freer…

Any questions do please contact me. But I hope this helps and that we get to meet in person one day, but certainly via Zoom at your garden club if that continues to be impossible for the near future!

Contact Darren Now.

 

 

 

Feb10

Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary

I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …

READ MORE

Jan30

Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book

This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!

Jan30

What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book

Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …

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