40 years of growing and learning, Jekka McVicar and Charles Dowding in Conversation

Seeds of change since the 1980s, Jekka McVicar and Charles Dowding discuss attitudes and approaches, then and now.. Jekka is world renowned for her knowledge about growing and using herbs. She grows organically, and grew up near to my home area in Somerset. Her home village of Pilton is site of Glastonbury Festival. She knows Michael Eavis and played at the first festival in 1970. Her work is growing herbs for sale, and teaching how to grow and use them: https://www.jekkas.com/pages/jekkas-t... 00:00 I introduce Jekka McMcVicar 00:48 Jekka explains how gardening has been part of her life since childhood, and how she came to start gardening as a profession 03:08 Jekka talks about the way she views the role of soil 03:42 I add my thoughts on the importance of the biology of the soil 03:59 We discuss people’s views towards our ways of thinking back in the 80s 04:54 Jekka talks about rewilding – the importance if rewilding with certain plants, and how to let nature rewild by itself 06:39 I talk about my concerns about weeds when I first started no dig, and how organic farmers in the 1980s would deal with weeds 07:23 Jekka talks about her past difficulties with being classified as an organic grower when growing in pots, and goes on to explain how she continually reuses the same pots for growing and why she sometimes cleans them… 08:52 …whereas I never do! 09:12 Jekka describes how she lost an entire crop of cuttings through using recycled water, and how she now uses mains water to minimise the risk, as well as using biofungus on her raised beds 10:19 We discuss the increasing interest in growing your own veg 10:57 I talk about my interest in microbes, and their beneficial effect on gut health 11:14 I explain the unexpected reason that I failed an exam in kinesiology 12:33 We talk about the first Glastonbury Festival, which Jekka played at 14:06 I talk about when and why I became interested in soil health 15:00 We talk about poisonous pyralid weedkiller… 16:11 ..and how growing is a continuous learning process 17:42 Jekka describes the positive outcome from not treating green fly 19:12 Jekka talks about our different approaches to propagation! 20:06 I give my thoughts on the power of the internet for teaching and cultivating change 21:38 Jekka gives an example that demonstrates the resilience of plants 22:25 I talk about my love for teaching 23:00 We discuss our mutual desire to impart the knowledge we have, and think about our next discussion! We also made another video with Jekka in June 2021, which is all about growing and using herbs:    • Growing and using herbs, with Jekka McVickar   Read about growing herbs in my Skills book https://charlesdowding.co.uk/product/... Filmed and edited by Edward Dowding https://edowdingfilms.onfabrik.com/po... You can join this channel by paying a monthly fee, to support our work with helping gardeners grow better, and to receive monthly videos made only for members:    / @charlesdowding1nodig