THE MODERN MINT BLOG
The Vegan Gardener is a new book by the brilliant garden writer John Walker, who you may better know as The Earth Friendly Gardener.
I came across John’s work and writing years ago now, and was always struck by his passion and how directly he follows his instinct for using gardening as a way to better the world.
His approach to living on this earth may be soft, light… but his writing is the opposite – hard, useful, straight talking advice on improving soils, not wasting sunlight and balancing garden predators with those who ‘prey’ on your plants.
I interviewed John for this blog and he spoke about how he began making his ‘bracken-riddled’ garden in North Wales. Please do take a read here.
Or go buy his new book – The Vegan Gardener – to learn how to use vegan-organic techniques to be as friendly as possible to the planet.
Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue
With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …
Aesthetic Pruners Association – New Talk In December
An organisation I love and have been learning lots from in the last two years is the Aesthetic Pruners Association based in the USA. Sharing knowledge with them about clipping and the overlap – and differences! – in style is something worth exploring, so I recommend a visit to their website and to join onto their events and talks, which are all on Zoom meaning you can access them from anywhere in the world. No excuse not to learn! The next event will be led by Jocelyn Cohen and be about ancient trees in the British Landscape. This is such …
The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus
Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …