About this episode

John Little discusses innovative gardening practices and the importance of investing in gardeners for biodiversity and community engagement.

(00:00) Introduction (01:00) Early influences and growing up with a permaculturist grandfather and in post-industrial landscapes (03:00) From retail to professional horticulture without formal training (04:00) The shift from native plants to wildlife and habitat creation (05:00) Green roof experimentation and breaking free from conventional substrate wisdom (08:00) Topography as an underplayed design tool (10:00) Effects of putting substrate on top of soil (13:00) The art of seeing landscapes (17:00) The importance of ruderal vegetation and hand weeding for biodiversity (19:00) Care Not Capital and investing in gardeners instead of infrastructure (22:00) Lessons from social housing and listening to residents over imposing ideas (25:00) Free training for gardeners in community engagement, ecology, and green infrastructure (28:00) Creating structural habitat with dry stone walls, cob buildings, and dead wood (33:00) Redesigning horticulture education (37:00) Valuing bare ground and the importance of entomologists in design (40:00) Balancing ecology with aesthetics while making it beautiful for humans and wildlife (44:00) Working in poorest communities and why green space investment…

More episodes of The Plantastic Podcast

• Tim Boland on Lessons from Polly Hill Arboretum (#52) · April 5, 2026 · 1h 22m
• Shaun McCoshum on Natural Habitats and Wildlife Gardening (#51) · March 19, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Dr. Allan Armitage on Common-Sense Gardening (#50) · February 7, 2026 · 1h 14m
• Rachel Lindsay on Regenerative Design (#49) · January 5, 2026 · 1h 7m
• Molly Hendry on the Bergamo Landscape Festival (#47) · November 8, 2025 · 1h 21m
• Pam Penick on Gardens of Texas (#46) · October 4, 2025 · 1h 11m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Plantastic Podcast podcast page.