Garden Club Talks

I did my first paid garden club talk on Tuesday last week.

It went really well and I received great feedback.

I did the talk on unusual fruit, veg and herbs - something I know lots about! 

I got the audience guessing and trying lots of different things, had funny anecdotes to tell along with 30 slides to guess what each one was. I'd also made up some sauce and brought in a some different herbs, flowers and leaves to try. 

Afterwards I had lots of questions as well as people coming to chat after the talk which was really nice and welcoming. 

Doing this public speaking type thing is something I wouldn't have considered before I did my first talk at Hellens but I actually really enjoy it, and although I'm a little nervous before I go on stage the nerves soon disappear, especially as I felt really well prepared and practiced for it. 

I also did an assembly at my wife's school on Friday, a very different audience - 400 children! it went well and although it certainly wasn't as slick as my garden club talk, the children seemed to enjoy it (even though I spilt a bag of wheat on the floor!). 

I think I certainly need to work on my speed of delivery (I talk far to fast in life anyway and I'm worse when I'm on stage!), but I'm sure that will come with practice. 

So I'm going to start putting my name down for being a garden club speaker or for the WI and see how it goes. I've already got another talk booked in February next year on unusual veg again and one for preserving the following autumn, hopefully this will be a way to help make all the gardening I do pay for itself! 

Anyone on here do any public speaking?

What's your tip for the top?

Attended A Talk By Charles Dowding

I do check my local gardening clubs speakers list sometimes to see if there'd be anything I'd be interested in (although I'm not a member). 

I saw earlier in the year that Charles Dowding was doing a talk on gardening myths and misconceptions (he has a book of the same title), and as I'd long been a fan of his and owned one of his books I decided to attend. He is best know for his work on promoting the "No Dig" method of gardening. 

The village hall was packed out - I think they had over 140 in attendance and he didn't disappoint. He's certainly a well practised speaker and delivered an interesting and witty talk about trying to avoid some of the misguided wisdom that we sometimes inadvertently follow.

I was quite pleased as many of the things he mentioned I already do, although maybe not to the level he does (the no dig is an example of this as for the area I garden it's hard to find enough compost and organic matter to cover all the beds with 3 inches). 

I was also pleased to hear that he puts nettle roots into his compost and doesn't suffer from nettles popping up everywhere, something my mother always tells me off about if she's round when I do it! He also talked about the pointlessness of netting melons, ho you can compost blighted tomato leaves, and using fleece to protect crops, not hardening off as he plants out. 

It was a really enjoyable talk and I recommend anyone that gets the chance to go and see one of his talks, he also has a great YouTube channel here as well with some really informative videos on there. I like any gardener that tries to break the norm and generally make our lives a little bit easier and he's certainly one of those!

Who have you seen as a really interesting garden speaker?

Garden Talk By Phil Allen

Last night I went to my mothers gardening club to sit in on a talk they were having. 

She quite often tells me when there's a talk I might be interested in and I have been before although only once. When I do go I think I must half the average age in there, there's lots of hushed "is that her son" going on as well! 

I'm doing a talk at her club later in the year on unusual vegetables so I'm look forward to that, hopefully i'll make it funny and informative. 

Head Gardener - Phil Allen at the entrance to the garden area

I was really keen to go this time because the talk was by Phil Allen, the head gardener at Apley Walled garden. I went last year and spent the day with him (you can read the post here) and it was one of the most interesting and inspiring days I'd had in a long time. 

He's a really passionate guy with a great sense of humour and this really came through in the talk he gave about the history of the walled garden. I had loads of questions for him afterwards and he also gave me some great ideas and revenue streams that i could follow up on. 

I also said I'd love to volunteer up there for a few days to see him in action and learn even more, he seemed keen on this so we've swapped details and I'm already looking forward to learning more from him, there is no better way to learn in my mind that to go and do something and to be shown by someone who can do it well.

Has anyone else been to a good talk/lecture about something they're interested in and given them loads of ideas?