Episode 150: Introducing the On The Ledge manifesto

Photograph: Flower Council of Holland/The Joy of Plants.

Transcript

Episode 150

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Jane: I've had a sausage roll lunch and a mint tea and I'm revved up and ready to go for episode 150 of On The Ledge podcast! I hope that life is treating you with the decorum that you truly deserve. Yes, it's episode 150 of On The Ledge podcast. Another milestone and I'm your host Jane Perrone, here with you since what feels like the start of time, bringing you tips, chat and fellowship on the subject of houseplants. In this episode, we look back at some highlights from the last 50 shows, I answer a question about growing tomatoes, we hear from listener Lydia in Meet the Listener and I present the On The Ledge manifesto. I'm hoping it's going to be a little more interesting than those party political documents that go up around election time and that you will all be on board with everything I've got to say, but it's just my summary of the things I've learned and the information I've crystallised over the past three and a half years of making this show and I hope you'll find it of interest.

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Jane: Many thanks to all of you who've been listening to old episodes while the show has been on hold for a couple of weeks. To those of you who have pledged a donation, Cassidy has become a Crazy Plant Person, Joanna and Stephanie have become Ledge-Ends, all three plugging their details into patreon.com where you'll find me at On The Ledge. This is a way of giving a small, monthly donation, which unlocks extra exclusive content and also helps to support the show. Thank you to Jonathan, Jenna and Lynn who've all made a donation on ko-fi.com. It occurred to me the other day that maybe I should be calling it ko-fi: Is it trying to say 'coffee'? I don't know! I've always called it ko-fi.com just because that's what it looks like to my eyes but, yes, ko-fi.com is a place where you can make a one-off donation. They call it buying me a coffee, so it's in denominations of $3, I think, and it's just a way of making a one-off donation if you don't feel you like can commit to something every month. So, if you want to support me that way, all the details for that, and for Patreon, are on my website: janeperrone.com and you'll find those details in every one of the show notes. A final thank you to Caroline, Casey and DaveOnLI who left me five star reviews. Thank you very much lovely people. I had a lovely message from Cassandra who was asking me about a Pilea plant that she had and I identified it as the cultivar Moon Valley which has the lovely crenelated and fascinating-looking leaves. If you remember I mentioned Pilea Moon Valley in episode 144 - the underrated houseplants episode - and Cassandra also introduced me to another cultivar that I've not come across before which is Pilea Pan Am. This is a cultivar of the aluminium plant, Pilea cadierei. The cultivarPan Am has got these dark chocolatey and silver striped leaves that are rather lovely. I'd also recommend you look out for the wonderful Pilea Ellen, which has got lovely, silvery leaves. They're not the easiest things to keep growing in the long term, but they are easy to propagate, so let's be seeing more Pilea in the world other than the ubiquitous Peperomioides because there's more to Pilea than that one particular plant!

Thank you to Susan who got in touch about the nightmare that is root mealybugs, sending me a link to a piece about how you can treat root mealybugs in a rather unusual way. As Susan put it - you can 'sous vide' them. What you can do is submerge the plant's roots completely under water, in really quite hot water. Let me just get the actual numbers. I was just looking at it just now. This was something that was trialled on Sedum, where they submerged the roots in water that was 120F / 49C for fifteen minutes. Then the plants were cooled down to 60F to 70F for ten minutes and then returned to the growing area. This technique seems unbelievable, you'd think that it would kill the plant but apparently it kills the mealybug but certainly the Sedum seemed to survive it. Certainly worth a try if you've got some really precious plants affected by mealybug. You just need to make sure you get the water temperature exactly right and that you're testing the temperature right at the centre of the rootball to make sure that you really are killing off all the pests. Don't blame me if you end up with a dead plant at the end of it though! I thought I would pass that on. I've heard it in a couple of places. I'm sure I've read it on the British Cactus and Succulent Society Journal, or possibly on their website, that people are trying this technique, so that's definitely worth a go if you have a problem with root mealybugs.

I'm also planning an episode on scale. I've always been a bit blasé about scale, but I had a really bad infestation on my Pellionia repens, the Watermelon Begonia Vine - not a Begonia - which became apparent when I got back from a trip away for a week and boy is it dire. It's really difficult. In my everlasting desire to do episodes that help myself, a scale episode will be on its way.

What have I done so far? Well, the usual thing of getting my hand lens out, washing off the scale as much as possible and removing the worst affected leaves, so we'll see how that goes. If you're having a problem with scale, or if you've got any amazing treatments for scale, then do let me know.

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Jane: Now it's time to bring you the On The Ledge manifesto. It's important to say that this really is a work in progress. I had a Zoom meeting with my Patreon subscribers a while ago and asked for their suggestions and some of those are incorporated in this, but I'd also love to hear your thoughts. This is going to be an evolving document that I might add to as I go along. It just gives you an idea of some of the core beliefs and views that underpin the show.

Manifesto point 1 - Everybody, absolutely everybody, can be a plant person. There are no such things as green thumbs, or black thumbs, or any other silly phrase to do with thumbs. Anybody can be a plant person and it starts with one plant, which you may well kill and that's fine. This show is completely open to everybody, whatever their age, background, location, religion, race, all those other things that other people try to use, to put us into boxes. I don't really care about any of that stuff. I just care about helping people learn about plants. So that's the first thing to say: anybody can be a plant person. Do not feel held back by the fact that you think you're not very good at science, or that you have killed plants in the past, or that you don't know what you're doing. Everybody gets on a journey and starts learning and that is absolutely cool. So you are a plant person. If you have a plant, you are a plant person. So that's manifesto point number one.

Manifesto point 2 - Every plant has a story. What does that mean though? Well, every plant comes from somewhere, has a native home, and the more you can understand about the ways that your plant grows in its native home, how it was used by the people where it grew and where it evolved and how other people have "discovered" - I say that in heavy inverted commas because usually these plants are very well known by the people who live around them - but the story that's been built up around a plant, the more you know and understand that, the more you can understand how to look after your plants in your home. I just add a little side note to that about plant names: do question plant names. Let's not underestimate the degree to which the plants we own today came to us thanks to the labours of enslaved peoples, the slave ships across the globe, and travelled to Africa and Latin America. They carried the plants that we know and love to Europe and the rest of the world. I'm going to cover this in more depth in an upcoming episode. It's worth knowing about the journey that our plants have taken to reach us and the ways in which they've been interpreted and named and labelled by generations of people, mostly men, it has to be said, and let's just get rid of a lot of the really pejorative names that are attached to so many houseplants. Just because you've heard people calling a plant by a particular name, it doesn't mean that name is acceptable or that you're not perpetuating horrible stereotypes, from Mother-In-Law's Tongue, to Wandering Jew and much worse. It's time to find alternatives to these names. There's loads of alternatives already out there, so Tradescantia can be called Wandering Dude or Spiderwort, or dare I say it, Tradescantia. Sansevieria,it's the Snake Plant.

In the show notes you'll find a link to a piece in The Scientist magazine, published in 1991, by science writer Melvyn Hunter, and in that, he urged botanists to change their ways about naming. Some of the really offensive names have been dropped out of use since then, but some of them haven't, shockingly. Do go and read that piece and have a think and just have a check through your head and maybe start thinking about some more positive names for some of the plants that you own. If you haven't thought about that before, that's just something to have a think about.

Next up, there's an idea that gardening is green. Okay, literally, plants are green, but manifesto point 3 - Gardening isn't green, by which I mean eco-friendly, unless you make it so. I'm talking about indoor gardening and outdoor gardening here, really. As you'll know if you've listened to the show before, sustainability is something I'm really passionate about. I'm not saying I've got all the answers or done everything right myself, but the more I learn about plants, the more I want to respect the resources that we have and try and not waste them and to use things in a responsible way. That extends from everything like careful use of non-renewable resources, like perlite and pumice, using peat-free compost to avoid denigrating and destroying our world's peat bogs, thinking hard about whether I really need to send away to Thailand for a plant, when I could go to a plant-swap locally, propagate my own plants and do swaps, give plants away. The more you learn about propagation, the more you deeply understand your plants. It doesn't mean you can never buy a plant again, but do go back and listen to the episodes where I've talked about the downsides of buying from big box stores and think hard about whether there's a local nursery or grower that you could support, or a plant swap that you could go to, so that some of that valuable money that you're putting into plants is going to local experts who are paying a fair wage, who are growing responsibly, because that is a really key part of being a responsible houseplant person.

4 - Find the right number of plants for you. That might be one plant, it might be a thousand plants. Try not to compare yourself to that person on Instagram. Gosh, this happens so often. There was someone on Gardener's World recently, a lovely guy who has got hundreds of plants in his small house. That was great, lovely and wonderful, but don't feel like you have to be that same person in order to be accepted in the houseplant community because having a literal house full of plants does not suit everybody. That's a heck of a lot of work. The magic number may change as your life moves on. I hope, in retirement, to be the owner of hundreds of plants and split my time between riding horses and engaging in mad propagation experiments. Right now, I've got two children who need quite a lot of my time, I've got to earn money to keep myself and my family in baked beans and the odd vintage brooch, so I've got rid of some plants recently and it felt really good, I have to say. I did not have to worry about them any more and I could focus on taking care of the plants that I really loved and cared about. Find the right number of plants for you.

5 - Do not be afraid of bugs. It's really tempting that to think that we can keep our plants as a creature-free zone. The reality is that bringing plant life into your home, you're inevitably going to get creatures as well. From the welcome ones, like the occasional hover fly that decides to hang out on a flower, to the less welcome ones, the thrips, the aphids, the fungus gnats, the mites. I see so many posts on social media saying: "How do I get rid of fungus gnats forever?" Here's the tea, you are never going to get rid of all the pests. I know that's, for some, that's an existential crisis moment, where you're just like, "Ahh, I can't do it!" but you know what? It's fine. All you can hope to do is to achieve a kind of balance. The best way of stopping undesirable bugs taking hold is really your eyes and your time. As I say, I had noticed a couple of scale on this Pellionia plant a few weeks ago and I rubbed them off and thought no more of it. If I'd have actually spent the time to sit down with that plant and my hand lens and look at it carefully, I could have seen that infestation coming and stopped it much more quickly. Now, I still might lose the plant, whereas if I'd have done that back a few weeks ago, it would have been absolutely fine. So, don't try and find the magic bullet because there isn't one. Enjoy your plants and if you have a few pests and some brown tips to your leaves, chill! It's fine! On that note, I've forgotten where we're at now.

6 - One yellow leaf does not a dead plant make! How many times have I had a message from somebody saying, "I've got this plant but it's got a yellow leaf and it's looking terrible"? Sorry if my voice is going funny. It's because I'm looking up at the ceiling, despairing at these questions! Still send me questions please! If you've got one yellow leaf on your plant, particularly if that yellow leaf is the smallest and probably an oldest leaf on the plant, that probably means the plant is just doing its thing, which is shedding an old leaf that is no longer useful. If we, as humans, never lost any dead skin, we'd be a walking dandruff flake! It's a bit like this for plants. The leaves do not last forever and the oldest ones will gradually go yellow and fall off and that's part of the rich tapestry, that that leaf in nature will then hit the ground, start to decompose, then the humus from that leaf will then go back into the soil and enrich the plant. It's all a rich tapestry. Obviously, in the home, you may not want to be seeing a yellow leaf. Obviously if your plant is all yellow and it shouldn't be, then that's a problem. But don't worry about the odd yellow leaf. Lots of these questions come from people who have had their plants for a few months and they've all been good from the houseplant shop and then a yellow leaf comes and they panic, but don't panic about yellow leaves. They're just part of the cycle.

7 - Start with the roots. I think almost every plant enquiry that I get starts out with my advice that the first thing that you should do is take the plant out of its pot and check the roots, because below the surface of the soil, that's the engine room of your plants and it's also a place that trouble can lurk unseen and begin to grow. So learn to recognise what a healthy root looks and smells like. Don't be afraid to stick your finger into that rootball and see what's going on and familiarise yourself with the different things that make up soil so that you can identify the difference between a fertiliser pellet and a slug egg, which often get mixed up. Slug eggs are pearly little round balls and, oftentimes, they look very similar to the fertiliser that some manufacturers put in their potting mixes. Little things like that will help you and again, as I've said before, get yourself a hand lens and use that hand lens on the roots as well as the leaves. The hand lens is your friend. It's so useful. I can't tell you how many times I have used my hand lens. It's usually in my pocket because that way I can know where it is through the course of the day. So, start with the roots, look at your roots, that's where things start to go wrong first.

So there you have it, my manifesto for On The Ledge. Got anything to add? Drop me a line ontheledgepodcast@gmailcom or leave a comment on the show notes. I'd love to hear your thoughts and we can build on this manifesto as we go. Now it's time for Meet the Listener and our listener this week is Lydia.

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Lydia: Hello, thank you so much for having me. My name's Lydia, I live in the Boston area of Massachusetts in the United States and I've been a dedicated plant lady for just over a year now.

Jane: Question one. There's a fire and all your plants are about to burn, which one do you grab as you escape?

Lydia: If I needed to choose one plant to grab in a fire, I would probably grab, though it's a difficult question to answer, my Philodendron Brasil. It's about a foot long, it's in an eight inch pot and it really makes a statement. It's also very easy to take care of. I feel like it would be easy for it to adapt to a new environment if I needed to put it somewhere else and I can propagate it fairly easily as well, if I needed to.

Jane: Question two. What is your favourite episode of On The Ledge?

Lydia: My favourite episode of On The Ledge has got to be the grow lights episode with Leslie Halleck. It helped me understand a lot more of what my plants need for light and light is honestly more important than watering it seems, at this point, and I've really been able to transform my space and help my plants out a lot since then and they've really started to thrive with the knowledge that I've gotten from that episode.

Jane: Question three. Which Latin name do you say to impress people?

Lydia: The Latin name I say most often kind of to impress people, but also just because it's currently my favourite plant, is Ceropegia woodii subspecies linearis, and I personally prefer the variegated version just because I really like pink plants, as a lot of people do.

Jane: Question four. Crassulacean acid metabolism or guttation?

Lydia: I'm going to have to say guttation because I am certainly an Aroids person and I really like to be able to see what my plants are doing. I think it's a really cool reward to watch them drip in the evening when it's cool and just to see them take on their own personalities. While the Crassulacean acid metabolism is pretty awesome, I just like to see my plants in action, so I'll have to go with guttation.

Jane: Question five. Would you rather spend £200 on a variegated Monstera or £200 on 20 interesting cacti?

Lydia: £200 on a Monstera or interesting cacti? I'll have to go with probably the variegated Monstera. I am not good with cacti. I have a very difficult time keeping them alive and I really like to water my plants and I haven't quite gotten the right soil mix yet. I'll have to go with the Monstera because I'm able to keep quite a lot of Aroids alive but I've killed very many cacti.

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Jane: Thank you Lydia. If you'd like to hear your own voice on the show, all you need to do is drop a line to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com and my assistant, Kelly, will be in touch with the very straightforward instructions for getting onto this particular slot. Right, let's crack on with Question of the Week, which comes from Chris, who addressed me as Ms Perrone. Very formal, Chris! The question from Chris is concerning tomato plants. For some reason, people often decide that they want to grow vegetables for the very first time and tomatoes are the things that they pick to grow, which is a bit like deciding you're going to get into cooking and attempting a Heston Blumenthal recipe as your first recipe, because tomatoes are not the easiest thing in the world to grow. It's not rocket science, but there are things you need to bear in mind. I did see a post from somebody on Twitter recently saying: "I can't believe it. I've just discovered that the tomato plants that I've been caring for all year, I'm going to have to sow seeds all over again next Spring!" so there is a lot involved in caring for tomato plants. They're not the easiest things to grow, particularly if you're trying to grow them in containers, or you're even daring to grow them on your windowsill. They are not the easiest of plants. Let's hear what Chris has to say and we'll figure out how to help him.

Chris and his wife came home from a trip away and the tomato plants in containers had an inch of water sitting on top of the soil. Argh, noooo! This is not good. The neighbour had watered and his son also watered as well, so there was a bit of watering confusion going on and the plants, as you can imagine, were drowning by the time Chris got back. So, Chris did the right thing in removing the plants, and the sludge, and drying them out on a piece of newspaper and then putting the plants into the container with new soil and keeping them out of sun for a day to recover on his deck. Really good work there, Chris. That was exactly what I would have recommended that you do. He's finding that even though he's given it a little while, the plants are still looking really sad. So what would I recommend?

The trouble with plants that have been starved of oxygen at the roots, as these plants have just by a load of water, is that it really does set the plants back. It damages the plants and they will take a while to recover, particularly tomato plants. They've got fairly specific requirements and if those aren't met, they won't look great. I've got some sitting outside my office here, on my patio, which are in two small pots and they've responded by curling up their leaves and looking miserable. They've still got some nice fruit on them. If I get time, I will put them into a bigger container if I can find one, but tomatoes will show you, quite quickly, when things are going wrong.

In this case, the foliage may never totally recover. That's already there, it may always look a bit miserable and you may find that you still struggle to get good fruit off these plants because they really have been set back. That said, I think there is a chance that they will grow and you'll get something in the way of fruit out of them. I would just be very careful to make sure that they don't get over-watered and that you keep feeding them with tomato feed once the fruits have actually set. Then you can start giving them specialist tomato food, as opposed to just a regular nitrogen fertilizer. Hopefully the plants will revive. You've done all the right things, Chris, you've got rid of the sludgy water around them, you've put them in new soil so they've got some new soil with lots of air in it, which is good.

Hopefully, the only other thing that may have happened is that you may have had some actual rot around the roots and that may still be happening, or the damage may not have been removed if you didn't cut away those damaged roots, you may be finding that there's still a bit of rot going on. To be honest, it's hard to know. I would leave them as they are, keep watering and see where it takes you. You're not growing them to look beautiful, so some tomato plants will look all kinds of weird and twisted, but actually they'll still produce some good fruit, so I wouldn't panic too much. Lots of people do try to grow tomato plants indoors. On the whole, I would say, bad idea. There just isn't enough light indoors. If you've got some good grow lights indoors, you could certainly put them under that.

The trouble is, most tomato plants just get massively too big, I did stumble, though, across a tomato cultivar that I'm going to try growing as a windowsill plant next year. Don't get too excited because these are out of stock from the only company in the UK that I've found selling these. They are called House Tomato and they are listed on the Real Seeds website, which is a wonderful vegetable seed company here in the UK, selling open-pollinated seed that you can then save yourself. This heirloom variety was, apparently, bred in Russia and then brought to Canada in the 1890s and it really is a dwarf plant that you can grow on a windowsill and it's only about a foot tall, it sounds great and this is one that I would really like to try. I will put a link in the show notes so that come November you too can order some House Tomato seeds if you happen to be in the UK. These were brought back into circulation by Annapolis Seeds which is in Canada and they are listed on their website, so I will also add a link to that in case any Canadian listeners want to try to get hold of some from there, or possibly people in the US as well.

Tomatoes may be more possible to grow on a windowsill than I thought before, but it's all about cultivar choice. Choose the dwarfiest tomato that you can possibly get and you will need lots of extra light. It's better off on a balcony or a tiny patio or a front step bathed in sun and, hopefully, you'll have success. I do have a tomato growing guide on my blog, which is for growing outdoor tomatoes. I will post a link in the show notes if you're interested, I've been growing tomatoes outside for many years and never cease to find new things to get wrong because, as I say, they aren't the easiest things to grow. Lovely to try and you do get some very interesting tomatoes as a result. I'm growing some black tomatoes this year and another variety which have pink and green stripes, don't you know! I love a tomato but they will challenge you every step of the way.

ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com is the place to send your queries and I will be doing a Q&A special in the coming weeks, so do drop me a line if you've got something that you want to know. I will endeavour to help!

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Jane: Now, as promised, some highlights from the last 50 episodes.

We're in the hallway of your home and the first thing I see is something that's got me very excited, which is your little pots of delights.

It's doing the classic Hoya thing - people worry about this but it is totally normal for Hoyas and in fact many plants that scramble and climb about - which is putting out completely bare stems with no leaves on them at first and you start to panic and think, "Where are my leaves?"

The On The Ledge Sowalong is now in its third year. Can you believe that? It's quite simple. It's our way of getting to know our houseplants better by growing them from seed.

Quite a lot has been happening, hasn't it? It's been quite hectic, quite panicky, quite strange, unprecedented I think is a word that's being rather over-used in the media at the moment, but this really is an unprecedented time. As I always knew, you guys have really stepped forward and are being wonderful in lots of different ways.

Jane: Now, more than ever, we need our plants, don't we?

Maria: Oh man, absolutely, I've never been more thankful. Especially because I'm in Long Island City, in New York City. I'm lucky enough to not be on the proper island, but I'm in a tiny, one-bedroom apartment with my fiancé, we have the tiniest balcony that we can't really sit on. I have never been more thankful for my houseplants, my 150 house plants.

Jane: What about pests with these? Are they mealybug magnets or any problems like that?

Brian: It's Baboons.

Jill: Oh, you mean in the wild! We haven't got many baboons in the garden.

Jane: I think I'm okay for baboons! I don't think that'll be a problem in my greenhouse!

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Jane: That just about rounds up this week's show. I will be back next Friday and it is a relaxation special. I shall be putting on my most relaxing voice. Don't worry, I won't be sounding like that! It's a relaxation special, designed to let you de-stress and think about lovely things, which is much-needed in these times, so I'm looking forward to bringing you that. If you aren't sick of the sound of my voice, you can hear me on a BBC Radio 4 programme this week, called Open Country, where I am talking about pavement plants, as part of an episode of that series, which is really fun to contribute to, talking about why it's important to learn about the plants that grow in your streetscape. I'll put a link to that in the show notes to peruse if you wish. In the meantime, remember, you are the bees knees, don't say I never told you. Bye!

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Jane: The music you heard in this episode was Roll Jordan Roll by The Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar, Love Wins by Lee Rosevere and After The Flames by Josh Woodward. The ad music was Whistling Rufus by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. All tracks are licensed under Creative Commons. Visit JanePerrone.com for details.

Subscribe to On The Ledge via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Stitcher, Overcast, RadioPublic and YouTube.

In this milestone 150th episode, I lay out my manifesto for On The Ledge and answer a question about growing tomatoes, plus we meet listener Lydia and look back at some highlights from the last 50 episodes.

Here's my seven-point manifesto… but what did I miss? Send your comments and thoughts to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.

1. Everybody can be a plant person. In fact, if you have a plant, you are a plant person! Green thumbs don’t exist! It starts with one plant, which you may well kill, and that is fine! OTL is open to everybody regardless of your background, age, location or other factor.

2. Every plant has a story. The more you know about a plant’s native home, the more you understand it at every level. It’s worth knowing about the journey our plants have been on to reach us. Enslaved peoples were responsible for bringing us many of the plants we know and love, and it’s time to acknowledge that. (I’ll be covering links between the houseplant trade and the slace trade in an upcoming episode…) Let’s get rid of the horribly prejudiced names that accompany some of your plants, and replace them with something better! This issue was being discussed in the early 1990s, and although there has been some movement, we need to do better!

3.  Gardening isn’t green unless you make it so. Sustainability is an aspect of houseplants we all need to work on. Let’s respect the resources we have , and that extends to careful use of non-renewable sources such as peat, perlite and pumice, thinking hard about use of big box stores. Instead, let’s get tuned into plant propagation, plant swaps and supporting local growers!

4. Find the right number of plants for you. That might be one plant. It might be a thousand. try not to compare yourself to the person on instagram or on the TV with hundreds of plants. If you find yourself starting to dread looking after your plants because you can’t keep up with everything that needs doing, it’s time to look long and hard at your collection and decide where you can let some plants go - be that to the compost heap, or given away.

5. Don’t be afraid of bugs. It’s tempting to think we can keep our plants as a creature-free zone, but the reality is that bringing plant life into our homes inevitably means creatures arrive too. From the welcome ones, like the occasional hoverfly that decides to hang out on a gesneriad flower, to the less welcome ones - the thrips, the aphids, the fungus gnats, the mites. You are NEVER going to get rid of every single one. All you can hope to do is achieve some kind of balance, and the best way of stopping undesirable bugs from taking hold is your eyes and time. 

6. One yellow leaf does not a dead plant make. Can I tell you how many times I am sent a picture of a gorgeous plant with a single yellow leaf? Plants do lose their oldest leaves occasionally, it’s just part of their cycle: they will go yellow then fall off. Only get concerned if a number of leaves start to do this at once. (If you never lost any dead skin you’d be a walking dandruff flake.)

7. Start with the roots. If there is ANYTHING wrong with your plant, start by taking the plant out of its pot and checking the roots: this is your finest diagnostic tool. Below the surface of the soil is the engine room of your plants, and a place that trouble can lurk unseen. Don’t be afraid to stick your finger into the rootball. Get yourself a hand lens and turn it on the soil! In the process you’ll learn to recognise what a healthy root looks and smells like.

Some other useful links from today’s episode…

• If you are interested in the root mealybug hot water treatment I mention- here’s some more info from a cactus grower and some info from the University of Hawaii.

• You can hear me on BBC Radio 4’s Open Country talking about pavement plants here.

• Want to take part in Meet The Listener? Just drop a line to ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com.

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LEGENDS OF THE LEAF

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Question of the week

Chris got in touch about his overwatered tomatoes: he did the right thing by removing the sludge and repotting in fresh compost, but the plants will still have been set back - they may not recover from being effectively starved of oxygen at the roots, but it’s certainly worth a try! Here’s a link to my outdoor tomato growing guide.

If you are intrigued by the ‘House Tomato’ windowsill variety I mention, you can find details here. (Annapolis Seeds’ website is down as I type…)

Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue!

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HOW TO SUPPORT ON THE LEDGE

Contributions from On The Ledge listeners help to pay for all the things that have made the show possible over the last few years: equipment, travel expenses, editing, admin support and transcription.

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• The Ledge End tier gives you access to two extra episodes a month, known as An Extra Leaf, as well as ad-free versions of the main podcast on weeks where there’s a paid advertising spot, and access to occasional patron-only Zoom sessions.

• My Superfan tier earns you a personal greeting from me in the mail including a limited edition postcard, as well as ad-free episodes.

If you like the idea of supporting On The Ledge on a regular basis but don't know what Patreon's all about, check out the FAQ here: if you still have questions, leave a comment or email me - ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. If you're already supporting others via Patreon, just click here to set up your rewards!

If you prefer to support the show in other ways, please do go and rate and review On The Ledge on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen. It's lovely to read your kind comments, and it really helps new listeners to find the show. You can also tweet or post about the show on social media - use #OnTheLedgePodcast so I’ll pick up on it!

CREDITS

This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, Chiefs by Jahzzar, Love Wins by Lee Rosevere and After The Flames by Josh Woodward. Ad music is Whistling Rufus, both by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. 

Logo design by Jacqueline Colley.