Episode 186: rescuing plants with Sarah Gerrard-Jones
Plant rescuer Sarah Gerrard-Jones with one of her Devon Rex cats. Photograph: Stephanie Belton.
Transcript
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Like so many household objects, plants are often discarded for the “crime” of being slightly imperfect - but Sarah Gerrard-Jones is out to change that. I meet Sarah, aka The Plant Rescuer, to discuss her obsession with saving every houseplant she can. And I answer a question about a lanky avocado.
Photograph: Sarah Gerrard-Jones.
This week’s guest
Sarah Gerrard-Jones aka The Plant Rescuer has a huge following on Instagram, where she documents her large collection of houseplants rescued from DIY stores, supermarkets and Facebook Marketplace.
You can watch some footage of Sarah at work in this ITV report. Scroll down for more pictures of her plants.
Patreon subscribers at the Ledge End and Superfan level - you can listen to An Extra Leaf 70, where I talk about a couple of plants I have rescued recently.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Kara wants to know how to make her newly sprouted avocado plant more bushy - it’s decidedly lanky even through she has already chopped it once. I recommend leaving it to allow more foliage to develop before chopping again, and also giving the plant time to develop a good root system. When you do snip, make the cut just above a node - the point where the stem meets the leaf.
I also suggest sprouting some more avocado pits (my preferred method is explained in this episode), because every avocado grows slightly differently, and some may be more naturally bushy than others.
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!
THIS WEEK’S SPONSOR
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CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku and I Snost, I Lost by Doctor Turtle. The ad music was Dill Pickles by the Heftone Banjo Orchestra. All tracks licensed under Creative Commons.