The Garden Mixer

Compost: it’s so misunderstood. Vilified by HOAs, and loved by gardeners, it’s been ignored, worshiped, blamed, blessed, and then quietly banished to the far corner of the yard. Yet this magical garden process keeps working anyway, taking our scraps, our weeds, our gardening mistakes, and even items that we should have cleaned out of the fridge last month and turning them back into organically rich soil.
What are the issues? What are the joys? What are the things that make the whole process easier? Leslie and Marianne don’t want you to overthink it, they just want you to start it — as they simplify and celebrate the compost pile, today on The Garden Mixer.
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They’re BAAAAAAAK!
Season II kicks off today — WELCOME if you’re new and welcome back if you’re not! Even Leslie and Marianne have been missing the weekly mix of seasonal relevance and irreverence — and a chance to raise a glass in support of our gardening audience all over the world who are dedicated to the proposition that gardening shouldn’t be boring.
The Garden Mixer is bringing you one of those gardeners today — Rochelle Greayer, the new editor of The American Horticultural Society’s American Gardener Magazine.
Are you an AHS member? We hope you will be by the end of this episode.
In a country of over 340 million people that covers over 3.7 million square miles of extremely confusing but necessarily detailed eco-regions, what exactly does it mean to be an American Gardener?
Are the characteristics of an American Garden as easy to recognize as those of a British, Italian or French Garden? What are we adding to the conversation around gardening, and where are we owning it? And why does the RHS get all the good press anyway? July 2026 marks a big birthday for this country of gardeners — perhaps it’s time to take the microphone back and celebrate our strengths.
We’re indulging our revolutionary tendencies today, on the Season II kickoff of The Garden Mixer!
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In the beginning, social media and gardening seemed meant for each other. After all, how better to teach than to show?
But it does feel like we might have lost our way in the last few years. Now we’re pushed towards viral moments, not moments of true discovery. Now we watch sexy six packs selling six packs; and find ourselves navigating a manufactured reality that makes everyday gardeners feel inferior, not empowered.
Are we doing more following than we’re actually doing gardening? We’re talking to gardener and garden influencer Amanda Nadeau of The Ever Hopeful Gardener today about who to trust, why to trust, and when to just let go and have fun.
Even Leslie’s cocktail is trying to be #authentic, today on The Garden Mixer.
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Deer Damage. Few things crush a gardener’s spirit faster than to stroll outside and see that Bambi has invited himself for dinner.
Coincidentally, few things crush Marianne’s spirit more than referring to these four-legged agents of the Devil in cute terms such as ‘Bambi’.
What’s on their perfectly curated menu? Pretty much all of your favorite garden plants. Sprays, granular applications, and motion sensors can keep those deer at bay, for a minute or two. But what about the ultimate solution?
No, the other ultimate solution — a fence. Leslie’s been there, and loved it. But just how tall, how expensive and how ugly does it need to be to protect our plants?
The answer may surprise you. Today, the girls discuss the pros, the cons, and the many considerations of deer fencing, deer spraying, and all the things in between, as Marianne prepares to have her garden world rocked by the installation of a Bambi-blocking fence.
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Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Promises, promises. We all make them at the beginning of each year. And — made desperate by the cold claws of winter — gardeners make even bigger ones at the beginning of each growing season.

Today on The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne take journalistic integrity to a new level and actually follow up with the promises made, the products they loved, and the season they foretold back in February when they hosted Erin Schanen, The Impatient Gardener.
They’re catching up with this popular Midwestern gardener and social media star over large cocktails and larger garnishes, and Marianne is throwing out some suspiciously large statistics in honor of the first anniversary of their Substack debut.
From the angst of sweet peas to the unbridled joy of bananas, it’s definitely confession time, and no-one’s skimping on the honesty or the drinks. Join these three gardener-friends as they beat their chests and rend their garments.
Or is that just Marianne?

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Full Show Notes at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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