DIY Greenhouses & Embracing Trial and Error | A Chat with Sam from Avonlea Cottage Gardens

A Chat with Sam from Avonlea Cottage Gardens

BIO: Sam is a keen gardener, mum of five, and the creator behind Avonlea Cottage Gardens. She shares her journey of transforming bare grass into a whimsical cottage garden, inspiring others online to create beautiful, life-filled gardens of their own.

Sam's location: South East Queensland, VIC

To learn more about Sam:
Instagram: @avonlea_cottage_garden
TikTok: @avonlea_cottage_gardens

More about this episode:

In this episode of How I Grow, Nat chats with Sam, the creator behind Avonlea Cottage Gardens. Sam shares how her gardening journey began as a beautiful way to give her five children the same fond memories of picking fresh food that she had growing up. What started as a blank slate of grass and gum trees has blossomed into a stunning, sanctuary like cottage garden in the South East Region of Queensland. She also opens up about the peaceful joys of creating a space that both nurtures her family and serves as a personal creative outlet.

Along with the wins, Sam keeps it relatably real about the natural ups and downs of gardening, from unpredictable weather to learning through simple trial and error. She also shares the heartwarming story behind her custom timber greenhouse, which she built using reclaimed windows and the helpful guidance of a retired builder. Looking forward, Sam talks about her shift toward relaxed, low maintenance planting and her dreamy plans to build a life sized fairy garden for her children. It’s an inspiring conversation for anyone looking to add a little more magic to their own backyard!

'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd.
Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au

'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd. 
Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

You're listening to How I Grow, a podcast by the Seed Collection. I'm your host, Nat Buckley, and today we're joined by Sam from Avonlea Cottage Gardens in the south-east of Queensland. Sam is a mother of five who has spent years turning bear grass into a whimsical subtropical sanctuary. In this episode, we'll be talking about the inspiration behind Avonlea Cottage Gardens, growing in a warmer climate and the pests that come along with it, and even how to make your own rustic greenhouse out of recycled materials. Sam also tells us about her future plans for her garden, which includes a fairy garden that is heavily inspired by her childhood. Hi Sam, how are you going?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

I'm good, how are you, Nat? Thank you so much for having me.

Why She Started Gardening

SPEAKER_00 0:51

You're so welcome and thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Now I'm super excited to speak with you today because we've been following along on social media and absolutely love watching what you're up to. Oh, thank you. Um and so I just yeah, wanted to sort of find out a little bit more about you and your garden and um yeah, like what inspired you to start gardening.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah, well, thank you. Um, I guess being a mother, I have five children, and as a child I have really fond memories of picking oranges off trees and eating food straight from the garden. And I wanted to give my kids that experience as well. And naturally, kids are very fussy, and I thought, what a great way to try and encourage them to eat some more fresh fruit and veggies. So um that's I guess what spurred me to start gardening, and then it has just kind of taken on a life of its own. It's become everything, and it's something I do every day and just an absolute passion.

Creating A Cottage Garden Microclimate

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Yeah, definitely. And I can agree there. Having two young boys myself, I find that getting them involved um in food and how food is grown is really important and it actually helps them eat better when they're involved in the process. So and so I guess with your garden, um how long ago did you start? Because I've noticed that obviously you have um not the standard um style of garden for a subtropical climate. Um you've obviously got a beautiful cottage style garden and it's um yeah, beautiful to see, but obviously in your climate, like I'd love to know more about what inspired you to obviously create that kind of garden and also how you adapt it to your climate.

Powdery Mildew And Dahlia Pests

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah. Um I guess what inspired me was my mother-in-law is a wonderful gardener and she lives up here as well. So we're in Toowomba, um, well not in Toomba, but a little bit out. So up on the ranges. So our weather is a little bit of a microclimate. We do have cooler winters, we get a couple of frosts. So um, because of that, we can actually grow some more of your typical English cottage plants, which is, you know, really exciting because there's a lot of challenges growing those plants in a more subtropical area like the rest of Queensland. Yes. Um, yeah, so I guess my mother-in-law has this beautiful garden, and every time we'd go and visit, I'd just be like, oh, I just I want this for myself. I want to be able to go outside and just feel like I'm in a sanctuary. So I started working on my so we moved in here at the end of 2023 and it was just grass and gum trees. There was no gardens um at all. And it was a complete blank slate. And I thought, great, this is an awesome opportunity to just create what I want. And yeah, that's kind of how it started. Um, in regards to the chop, like the subtropical, we do have some things are really hard to grow. We have quite a high humidity. Um, we've got a lot of trees around. It's almost like a almost like a little rainforest in this particular area that I'm in. So we get a lot of issues with um powder mildew um in some and the same sentence, it's too hot for some other plants. So it's honestly for me, it's trial and error. I will just plant something, and if it grows well, then I'll plant more. And if it doesn't, then I either give up or I try again later.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, and I I'm starting to get the picture now. I'm not familiar with uh where you are, like me being down here in Melbourne, but it sort of seems like a warmer version of where I am in the Danny Nong Ranges. So a lot of forest around, and I'm actually having my first bout of powdery mildew right through my Dahlia patch, and I'm finding usually um I'd get another month out of them, but I'm finding that the powdery mildew is just taking over. It's such a pest.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

It really is. It's really been the bane of my existence the last couple of months. Just it's it's either two extremes here. It's either no rain or so much rain that there's just powdery mildew and mold on everything.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah. And it's just it's just one of those things, isn't it? Like every season is so different, and one year things grow amazing, and then you sort of bank on that the year after, and it's just not the case. I think I had dahlias until oh, like Easter last year, like further. I think even nearly May. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

A little bit of a rough season for dahlias.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, it's not been nice. I saw that you had my did you have mites with your dahlias?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I feel like I've had everything this season. Like my first season was this time last year, and everything was beautiful. They grew so easily. And this year I thought, great, I'll plant 10 times more and it'll be amazing. I'll have a garden full of dahlias. And then I got mites and I got um thrips and I got everything. I got found a couple of my tubers had the virus, and so it was it's just been an uphill battle with my dahlies this year. And yeah, it's been a challenge.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, and I kind of think as well, dahlias, I think you would probably agree, you get really addicted, and then when you start dividing the tubers, but it's yeah, it's overcoming all these things. Like I remember my first year was maybe about five years ago, and I grew no issues. And this is the first year I'm just having like the cascade of issues, but it's good because you can sort of um plan ahead now. Like once you've experienced, you're like, I don't want to do this again. Exactly. So you're like, Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

What can you do differently? Yeah.

Tough Plants That Keep Winning

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah, exactly. Um, but gardening is such, it's like, what is it? Like, I always forget the saying, but it's um, yeah, a labor of love. It is really and it's a lot of trial and error. And that's I think if you stick to it after all, you know, these things happening, it's just it's so rewarding. But that's how we grow in the garden. Absolutely. Um, what are you growing this year that is actually doing well and not succumbing to so much pest and you know, turmoil?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Well, I guess I have a lot of luck with perennials. Um, like, you know, your your landscape sort of plants, salvias and um, those things just nothing kills them. You don't have to water them, you don't have to do anything. So they are thriving. Um, I guess all of my annuals, my like my zinniers and dahlias are struggling. But um, what grows well, I guess every yeah, for pretty much just perennials. Yeah. But even my typical pren perennials, like my roses and my foxgloves, are still having struggles. But yeah, you win some, you lose some.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah, definitely. And I think as well, like salvias are a real cornerstone um feature of a cottage garden. And I feel like, you know, they give that real whimsical feel. So I'm glad the salvias are doing well. They're such a reliable plant, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And they they grow so fast and they're so easy to divide. And they just, yeah, if you have to plant one thing in your garden, it has to be a salvia.

The Recycled Greenhouse Build

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Yeah, I couldn't agree more, actually. Yeah, and the the massive variety, yeah, it's endless. I don't think people um use salvia enough, um, especially when they're starting out in gardens. Um, and I think it's a really good um alternative for lavender too, in a lot of climates um where things sometimes struggle if you get too much rain. And um down here we've got clay soil. So, you know, selvia is always a really good alternative, yeah. So I guess as well, um I'd love to know more about your greenhouse because that's actually how I found you on social media. Um, was your greenhouse video, which I find um yeah, is one of my biggest inspirations, honestly, like to create my own. So I'd love to sort of know more about that. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Um basically I knew that I wanted to have a greenhouse after I'd done the kitchen garden. I thought I need something, a space to, you know, practical sakes, starting seeds and repotting and to have all my tools in. And I looked at getting an aluminium kit, and by the time I priced that up, um, getting it delivered and all the time building it, I thought, you know what, if I'm gonna spend that much money, I may as well go all out and just build something that's one of a kind out of timber that's going to last 20 years with no plastic components. And um, there's actually so something about where I live, tourma, it's the city of gardens, they call it. And every spring there's a competition, and there's a another local mum who won the the Garden of the Year prize, and she has this beautiful um little greenhouse that's very similar with the stained glass window, and I saw that and thought, oh my gosh, that's so pretty. Um so yeah, jumped on Pinter jumped on Pinterest and had a look, and I just um yeah, I just said I'm gonna build this, and my husband is not a builder, he's fantastic at helping me landscape and he's great at fixing things, but he's not build builder mindset. So I thought, well, I'm not gonna pay a trade E just to build it because it will cost me my left arm and a kidney. Yeah. Um, and I also love learning things and challenging myself. So I thought I'm going to find an old builder or someone that's willing to teach me and help on, you know, on the weekends for a little bit of cash money and we could build it slowly over a long term. And that's pretty much what I did. I put a call out on my face on a Facebook community page, found a retired builder, Steve. And when I met him, um, yeah, I just knew he was going to be the person to help me. And yeah, we it was fantastic. He'd come over on weekends and teach us, he taught us how to lay bricks and taught me how to install the windows, and yeah, it was really, a really fun process and yeah, something I'm really proud of and something I wish everybody could get to experience.

Finding Windows And Cheap Materials

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Yeah, wow. It's just it's so refreshing to hear that you just really wanted to take on like such a big project. And I think as well, like how did you go about um sourcing your windows um and all your materials?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah, so with the bricks, um, a lot of it is just Facebook marketplace, honestly. Um people throw away so much, and especially old windows, like they just nobody wants um they all want aluminium windows, so everyone's renovating these beautiful old Queenslanders and yep, just either giving them away or paying, you know, ten dollars a window. So over a couple of weeks, I just um, you know, drove around, collected these windows. I put out a call on an unconsumers page. A lot of communities have, you know, people just giving away stuff. I said, Does anyone have any laying around? And I had heaps of people say, Yeah, just come and take them. Um yeah, and with the bricks, someone had a pallet they weren't using and um we got that delivered. So it was so much cheaper than buying them brand new. So with the timber, we just use structural um exterior grade like construction timber from buddings um because I wanted it to last and not have any issues with rotting. And also reclaimed timber is pretty much more expensive than new timber, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yeah. Yeah. It definitely is, and I've found that with projects as well. Um I am a big marketplace buyer. I love everything sort of reused and recycled, and we do have a lot of windows at our house, and we've just taken out a lot of the old um Louva or Louvre windows out of our house, and I've just put them aside to build a greenhouse one day. Um and yeah, heavily inspired by your video, which is so nice. And I feel like you've probably inspired a lot of people out there to definitely give it a go. But I know how much work um when and dedication went into your project, and it just looks amazing. Oh, thank you. Looks like a nice little sanctuary. And I obviously you said you've got five kids, and yeah, I think garden is multi-purpose for that. So involving your kids in the garden is really important, but also having that time out for yourself. Yeah, absolutely. To go out and enjoy. Um, yeah. And I guess um, so with your greenhouse, are you um like propagating? Are you growing from seed? Like what's your favorite, I guess, um, like method of starting off plants in your greenhouse?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah, sowing from seed. I feel like I have the greatest success with seeds. I have dabbled, I'm dabbling in taking cuttings. Um, it's been very hit and missed, hit and missed, hit and miss with uh propagating. So yeah, I've just sown a more seeds this morning. Um, yeah, definitely seed sowing. It's my favorite. And what are you sowing at the moment? So today I sowed a couple of perennials to put in my new garden area. Things like yarrow and agustache. I don't know, sorry if I butchered the name. I don't know how to say it, but that's how I say it. That's how I think I say it. Agastache. Agastache, yeah. Korean mint. Agustache, agustacei. Um, it's one of those words. Um, yeah, I've started some of those and some giant scaby osa. Um goodness. And I've also got a like a lot of um status and bunny tails, those sort of um annual plants that are will be going into my winter garden for cut flowers. So I've got got a lot, got a lot going. And so do you grow a lot of cut flowers? Yeah, I do. I love growing cut flowers. Um I I'm an ADHD gardener. I want to do it all. I can't just kind of fit myself into one box at certain type of growing. So I have to, yeah, I have my toes in everything. But yes, I love growing cut flowers. It's really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah, I think it's really rewarding as well and being able to, you know, gift them. And um do you sell or like do anything with your flowers?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yeah, so I I sell um a lot of my dahlias wholesale to florists just because I have so many that um I need them not to go to waste because it, you know, it's such a shame when you grow all these flowers and and um you know you can't give them away fast enough. So I I do sell them and I do give them away. And I did for a little while open a farm stand to sell my flowers, but that's that's been a challenging, um not as easy as I kind of thought it would be. So yeah, I've kind of taken a step back from that. Um it's just getting very disheartening seeing a lot of my flowers just because of the heat just going to waste in the farm stand. So I thought I'm not gonna waste them, I'll just give them away and sell wholesale.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah, and I think that that's a good idea as well. Like, you know, and and as we were talking about before, everything's sort of trial and error. So, you know, um at least you're giving everything a go and you're getting to the point where you're finding the best way for you. And I and I think as well, you know, when you're a hobby grower and you know, you you're growing so much, um, you're doing it because it makes you happy, but it's also good to be able to fund that hobby as well. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

I put the money straight back into my next projects because gardening can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be, but yeah, and I feel that as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

And you were talking about having really good success with seeds before.

Selling Flowers And Veggie Beds

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Do you grow any vegetables or anything like that? Yeah, I do. I have two, two of my raised garden beds are dedicated to vegetables. Um yeah, so at the moment I'm getting my cool season plants, veggies ready to go. I've planted a couple of snow peas and uh I put my garlic in. I don't know if it was too early, but you know, who knows with the weather at the moment, just kind of put it in and hope for the best.

Next Projects And The Fairy Garden

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, I think as soon as it's kind of autumn and as soon as it starts cooling down, I think it's kind of go time. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I guess um what's next for you in your garden? I know you're already doing a lot, but do you have any plans or um any ideas of what you're sort of hoping for like the next few seasons, or have you got like a new space or something that you're thinking of creating?

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yeah, so I'm already on to the next section. So um, as I mentioned before, we have an acre and a half and the house is in the mid in the middle. And basically I started, you know, if it was a clock, I started at 12 o'clock and I'm sort of working my way around the yard. So the next section um we've just carved out the path up this past weekend. So I'm doing a like a picnic table area with a pizza oven and a little fairy garden for my daughter, like a not like a little fairy garden in a pot, but like a large fairy garden, real, real life size kind of fairy garden. And um, yeah, doing some naturalistic orders. I'm really kind of into that style at the moment. It's sort of a mix between um cottage gardens but low maintenance, which I'm loving because yes, the garden I have at the moment is um the annuals are high maintenance. The perennials are great. You just sit and forget and do a little bit, but yeah, so I want more of the low maintenance perennial cottage, less of the, you know, high maintenance annual.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah. I can definitely, yeah, I feel you on that one. I think it's um are you sort of talking about like the more grasses and um the kind of like that lived in sort of yeah, ornamental feel. Yeah. Really inspired by Tim Tim Pilgrim. Yes, that's exactly what that's exactly what I was thinking. Yep, that's exactly the vision that I had in my mind when you said that.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yeah, the beautiful, you know, the silver grasses with the with the salvias, and you know, uh, I bought his book, so I'm I'm a little bit obsessed with that style at the moment. So all the seeds that I bought are recommendations from his book, and I'm like, oh, I've got to sow a heap so I can plant them in hopefully in spring. So yeah, that's that's the next instalment of the garden.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Yeah, his gardens are really beautiful. I love seeing um the span um where he takes the same photo from each season to show you how the garden looks in every season and really letting things die down. So, you know, when you've got your alliums and your agastashi and stuff like that, actually letting it go brown and um it it looks really cool and it gets the spider webs and like the the raindrops on it. It's very beautiful. And the fairy garden, that sounds amazing. That's like every child's dream, isn't it? Like, you know, giving your kids such good memories. I think how how big are we talking?

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Um, look, I think it's probably gonna be maybe three meters by three meters, a large area. I'm I'm envisioning, you know, those toadstools that are like this big and having sensory plants that she could kind of pick and make potions with. Yeah, that that's what I'm envisioning.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

I'm gonna need to make one for myself.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yes, yeah, I know. I'm like, here it is me talking about for my kids, but definitely something my inner child.

Kids Learning Respect For Nature

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Yeah, really, it's gonna be for you. Yeah, 100%. Definitely. That sounds like my idea of a um really good time. I would have loved that as a kid. And I think as well, um, when you're going back to the start of our conversation, um, having those nostalgic memories of obviously eating oranges and um, you know, things as a kid, like these are really good memories that will stick with your kids and you know, the dedication to giving them that experience in the garden is just so special.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yeah. It just really instills like a love and a respect for nature too. Like my little boy, you know, he'll see a bug and you know, just watching that and understanding how precious the tiny bugs are and how important they are, rather than, you know, this mentality of, oh look, there's a spider, let's kill it. It's like how about we just leave it alone and you know, respect that everything has its part.

Where To Follow And Closing

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Yeah, definitely. And we went through that with my six-year-old on the weekend, actually, like having a um a really slow moment with a grasshopper and just letting the grasshopper, you know, go along his hand and just saying we respect, you know, we respect the insects and really, you know, make him focus on that it is another living being and you know, good for our gardens. And it's just good to yeah, instead of yeah, getting a stick and whacking ants and things like that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Which, you know, you know, we're all kids once. So it was great to have you chatting with us today, Sam. And um yeah, we obviously love following along on social media. Um, but yeah, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Well, thank you so much for having me and and letting me tell a bit of my story. I've really, you know, it's really exciting and I really appreciate the opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yeah, well, obviously, um, if anybody wants to follow along um on Sam's garden journey, you can follow her on Avonlea Cottage Gardens. But I will put all of Sam's links um in the podcast below and in the description. So if you want to follow along, um, yeah, definitely give her a follow and check out Sam's page. And yeah, um again, thank you so much, and thank you for giving us your time today. It's much appreciated. No worries. Thank you so much, Nat. You've been listening to How I Grow, a podcast produced by the Seed Collection in Melbourne, Australia. It's our aim to make gardening more accessible to more people, and this podcast is one of the many ways we're doing that. If you don't already know who we are, jump online and visit www.theseedcollection.com.au and you'll find a treasure trove of gardening information as well as a huge range of seeds, garden supplies, and accessories. Thanks for listening and happy gardening!