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Avant Gardeners

Avant Gardeners

By: Madeleine Gasparinatos & Emily Allen
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About this listen

With lots of enthusiasm and very little know how, Emily and Maddie love chatting about gardening, often with a glass of wine or cocktail in hand. In each fortnightly episode, we speak to people who inspire us in the garden, in order to unearth some much needed knowledge.2023
Episodes
  • Rubie Gallagher // Gardening with a Disability, Starting a Micro Flower Farm, Dahlia Cuttings, Running Away From Home
    Apr 21 2026

    This week's guest is the delightful, talented Rubie Gallagher. Rubie is an illustrator and micro flower farmer, who met Emily when she and her husband Max took a Calm Birth class ahead of their first child.

    After an accident in 2019, Rubie she spent time in rehabilitation at the Royal Talbot Rehab Centre in Melbourne which our recent guest Steven Wells created. The two crossed paths there during Rubie's rehab.

    Since her accident, Rubie and her husband, along with some very helpful friends, have worked together to create Rubie's Flower Farm, a micro farm growing flowers for florists, DIY buckets and edible flowers out of Mount Rumney just outside of Hobart.

    Rubie talks about memories from the rehab garden, what led her to create her farm, how gardening with a kid is bloody hard, and how she deals with the cold weather (hint: she draws). We talk about improving soil, taking cuttings, sneaking cuttings and not sweating the small stuff.

    Before we get to this great chat with Rubie, we're talking about geraniums, using kids to get away with things, roses in abundance, Elephant Garlic, Helen Goh's Pear & Caramel Self Saucing Pudding in the Good Weekend.

    Rubie recommends the following books during her chat:

    • Phosphoresence, by Julia Baird
    • If Women Rose Rooted, by Sharon Blackie

    "Grass is going to grass, and weeds are going to weed." - Rubie Gallagher

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    44 mins
  • A Hospital Stay, Writing Lists & South Sydney's Jacaranda History
    Apr 14 2026

    We are back, and we felt like drinking something tried and tested, so Emily's cracked a Sigurd, Chenin Blanc.

    Emily shares an unexpected stay in hospital, and she's got a lot of thoughts about the paediatric ward 'sgarden (very topical as we've recently spoken to Nurse and Therapeutic Horticulturalist Steven Wells - listen to that episode here).
    Maddie interogates how Emily gets so many things done, so we go deep on lists.
    Emily's planting garlic and spending time in her outdoor bath.
    We're processing tomatoes.
    Maddie shares a story about South Sydney's jacaranda history, and a recent event at Longley Organic Farm that looked oh so wholesome.
    Emily has got on board Tiny Farm Tas's CSA, and is growing Romanesco.
    Maddie has raspberry success, a scale scenario, and a twitch sitch.

    Maddie is recommending the benchtop bin from Bokashi One (use AG15 at checkout for 5% off).


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    42 mins
  • Jac Semmler // Flower Power, Pivoting to Horticulture, Super Bloom, Writing Books, Poppy Hacks
    Mar 24 2026

    We are the founding members of the Jac Semmler Fan Club. This is the second time we've been lucky enough to interview Jac, celebrating the launch of what will become an absolute gardening book staple, Flower Power.

    In this episode we answer a bunch of your questions, including
    -How and should I pivot to horticulture
    -How do I get my poppies to germinate
    -What are some surprising performers in the garden

    We talk about changing climate, bogan pronounciation of plant names, the amazing work Jac's doing at Super Bloom, and so much more.


    Before we get to that:
    Maddie and Em are drinking a dirty cacao (cacao powder, maple syrup, cinnamon, sea salt, shot of coffee), we're talking agastache, liquorice plant, planting in pots (inspired by Connie Cao), Flannel Flower, Succulents, Mother in Law's Tongue.

    Thanks for being here.


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    53 mins
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