Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden Podcast
EP202- Anya Lautenbach. Anya the Garden Fairy Turning Survival Skills into a Gardening Revolution
In this weeks episode John chats with Anya Lautenbach all about her gardening story, her new book "The Money Saving Gardener" and how she inspires so many people online with her channels "Anya The Garden Fairy".
Get ready to be inspired, enlightened, and drawn into the captivating world of gardening with Anya Lautenbach, more lovingly known on Instagram as Anya the Garden Fairy. Not your typical gardener, Anya takes us on a unique journey through her childhood in Poland where gardening was not only a survival skill, but also the foundation of her passion. We delve into how this early exposure to nature cultivated not just plants, but her love for propagation.
Join us as Anya offers revolutionary insights into the therapeutic benefits of gardening and how gardening and propagation got her through a tough period in her own life.
Get an exclusive sneak peek into her upcoming book, The Money-Saving Gardener which is available on pre-order here
https://geni.us/TheMoneySavingGardener
The Money-Saving Gardener simplifies gardening through clear instructions and season-specific projects. Listen in as Anya shares a relaxed approach to gardening designed for everyone, and how she has turned her ADHD into a powerful tool for success. So, whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this episode is packed with surprises that will make you think differently about the green world around you!
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com
Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/
Twitter:https://twitter.com/tweetsbyMMG
Until next week
Happy gardening
John
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com
Master My Garden Courses:
https://mastermygarden.com/courses/
Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/
Until next week
Happy gardening
John
I was going to everybody and welcome to episode 202 of Master and my Garden podcast. Now, this week's episode I know a lot of you listeners are going to enjoy because it's with Anya Leightonback, and Anya is sort of famous online in terms of her Instagram account she's Anya the Garden Fairy, and I know from what a lot of you guys, the listeners, share that you follow Anya and her brilliant tips online because I often see you sharing them and I often hear you speaking about her and, I suppose, taking inspiration from her. So Anya has a new book coming out the Money-Saving Gardeners out on pre-order now, available for delivery in February 24. And it is, I think, exactly what it says on the table the Money-Saving Gardener and all the tips that come with it. But, as I say, I know a lot of you guys follow Anya and would take inspiration from Anya, and I know, from watching what you guys do on your stories as well, that you are learning and sharing along the same lines as Anya. So, anya, you're very, very welcome to Master and my Garden podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks so much for such a lovely introduction and for inviting me.
Speaker 1:Well, as I said, a lot of my listeners share your content and I suppose that's where I would have originally come across you and, like you're a pretty big deal on Instagram. You have almost, I think, 450,000 followers and I suppose your videos and your content on Instagram particularly is. It's so easy to follow. A lot of how-to's in there and a lot of Money-Saving advice for people in terms of gardening, and now this book, I suppose, is sort of a follow on from that. So congratulations on all of that. Firstly and I know a lot of the listeners are huge fans so maybe before we sort of get to the book and your Instagram, tell us a little bit about your history in gardening and I saw on your Instagram profile it says Powered by ADHD, which is an interesting thing as well. So maybe tell us all about that and the origins of your gardening journey.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks so much. Well, so I am not a professional gardener, I am only a self-taught. Gardening has been my passion Initially. It started as a child.
Speaker 2:I'm originally from Poland and I was growing up surrounded by people passionate about nature, passionate about gardening. But gardening was a way of survival. Really, we had to grow to survive, and so I was exposed to it. I guess, in a way and what I didn't realise that over the years when I was growing up, my brain just recorded things without knowing. Later in my life, when I found myself facing challenges, serious challenges, I went back, in a way, I went back to my own roots and I realised that I had a knowledge I didn't even know I had. You know, as you mentioned my videos and my propagation. I got introduced to propagation by my mum when I was a little girl and I was obsessed for a long time. Everywhere I went, I travelled for quite a while, but everywhere I went I went with cuttings and when later I found myself in a challenging situation, I simply started propagating again and creating a garden by propagation.
Speaker 1:And so you found relief in that, and I suppose it's horticultural therapy in a way which is well known to relax and calm people and all of that. So you were drawn back to that during the challenging times. Yes, totally.
Speaker 2:You know it was, and I'm very passionate about mental health and, as you have just mentioned, adhd, because I myself have been diagnosed with ADHD and traits of autism. I understand so well the connection between neurodiversity, mental health and the horticulture and what I realised is that when you propagate because propagation is the main kind of a topic that I'm so passionate about when you propagate, you feel like you are in control and we are facing humanity. We are facing so many challenges whether that is the news or climate crisis and things can make us be out of control, which then directly relates to anxiety, can be depression, but when you propagate, it's almost like your own little world and you are in control and propagation means progress. Propagation means new life and you are in control and it's so powerful and so good for your mental health.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's amazing and I suppose there is a grounding effect in gardening and propagation. Obviously you're talking about the control side of taking cuttings or sowing seeds during control of the elements that go in there, and then the successful outcome obviously is morale boosting and so on. But there's definitely a grounding in gardening that I'd even notice myself. Especially if you have days where you're spending a lot of time on computers, you get a bit wired and like Saturday was a prime example for me last week at an extremely busy computer-based week and Saturday was just a day in the garden cutting hedges, planting garlic and onions and all of that and it was just you'd be a different person at the end of the day than you would have been at the start of the day. So there's a huge grounding effect in gardening obviously as well. That's really helpful. Yes, totally.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know when we go on holidays and when we come back. It's usually you know when we go abroad and it's nice and warm and sunny, and then you come back and it's dark. But I always have something to look forward to, because as soon as we arrive in our drive and I still have my suitcases in the car, but the first thing I just run to my cuttings and my seedlings and just quickly check the progress and it's just something you have, something you can always depend on out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so online now. The garden fairy is, as I say, a huge channel on Instagram and it's a lot about propagating plants and we're going to get into all of that. But you mentioned that the origins of it were back in Poland, where you were grown out of necessity or the families were grown out of necessity. So do you still grow food for yourself, or is that? Is it more on the ornamental side now, or completely on the ornamental side?
Speaker 2:No, I'm totally self-sufficient when it comes to veg and I definitely want to start sharing more content about edible side of the garden. I'm totally self-sufficient, you know, I keep bees. I've got my chickens and a large vegetable plot.
Speaker 1:Okay, and when you say totally self-sufficient, are you grown 100% of your vegetables over the course of the year?
Speaker 2:now, Actually I should correct it A totally self-sufficient. In the summertime it's very difficult. I mean, you know, in Poland we used to grow all our food and we stored it as well because there was nothing in the shops. It's difficult to do it in the winter time, but yeah, so in the summertime I'm totally self-sufficient.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I was thinking there, because I have friends who are from Poland and certainly here in Ireland we don't have a great history of how we store food and fermenting and pickling. We're very good at growing and that's an element that we're probably not as good at, and I know I've Polish friends and they're exceptionally good at storing, pickling, fermenting and all that sort of thing. It was just interesting to know where you're doing a lot of that at this point in time.
Speaker 2:Yes, we were like hamsters in Poland, you know.
Speaker 1:As I say, it's mostly on the ornamental side now that you're currently basing your page on and your new book on, so it's a lot of propagation tips mainly. Let me take us through that and your own gardening journey, because I think from reading your story, when you were starting into gardening you were starting with, you know, from a financial perspective there wasn't a big budget to spend on it, so you had to find these ways of doing it yourself. So maybe just tell us a bit about the story and how you came into the propagation part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was lucky to have a large garden, but there was nothing growing in it. I've got about half an acre and the developer, as they always do, got rid of absolutely everything that was growing in this garden. There was absolutely no ornamental nothing, really nothing. And when I found myself in a challenging situation and I do share this story on my own Instagram it all started when I discovered that my sister had a baby and the baby was born with serious genetic issues and we knew it's terminal. And again back to your mental health, or the mental health side of my Instagram, and just what I do I was so desperately sad and just heartbroken.
Speaker 2:At that point, I didn't plan to create a garden because I had a full-time job in sales. I had a new born. Later on I had a toddler and a newborn. Life was busy, but the only accessible thing was the garden. And again, it was almost like going back to my roots.
Speaker 2:I have not planned to become a gardener or to create a garden and take it to the level I have taken it to, but things just happened and evolved and I always say that I turned every bad news from home into another herbaceous border and I was turning bad news into more cuttings, more lavender hedges and only four years later I realized that I have created a garden. I was frantically propagating planting, always gardening without gloves on. It was extremely positive and it was like a release of you know. It was just truly amazing that feeling. After every session I would put my baby I had a baby, a newborn always put him in a little swing next to me and just gardening. And what I realized after four years? All those four years I haven't even realized that I have created a garden. I was so desperately sad for my sister who in the meantime lost two boys, and my boys were thriving. I was so desperately sad that I actually haven't noticed that I have propagated thousands of plants and I have created a garden.
Speaker 1:So you kind of got into autopilot.
Speaker 2:Totally, and it was one picture that I have. I always I love photography, so I was always taking pictures. My mother-in-law told me to be to get into gardening as well and I always shared the progress. But I wasn't even aware. You know, I couldn't see the bigger picture. I was just focused on those cuttings and just surviving, just another day to survive, you know, to stay strong for my own family, for my own boys.
Speaker 2:But because I wanted to support my sister, I was always in touch with her so I would know what is happening and the happenings were just devastating and heartbreaking and the propagation kept me going. So I started. You know, my mother-in-law used to say just put it in the ground, just put it in the ground. So as soon as you would divide the plant or just put it in the ground and I would see the progress, you know the plants growing and gradually I sometimes think there was some sort of magic involved in what I was doing, because I am not a professional gardener. Yes, I have been witnessing people gardening, but how on earth did I manage to propagate thousands of plants without spending any money and create a garden? It was truly amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I suppose, as you've taken these cuttings, divided these plants, sowed the seed and it's evolving into a proper garden, as you said, after four years, and all of the beauty and, I suppose, pride that comes with that, there was, I guess, a sense of how would you call it. You were coming to the end of a cycle with a really positive feeling, which was your garden, and that probably helped as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, totally, and that was, you know, when I realized what I have created. That was the day where I just thought I can actually inspire other people. I can share, you know, I can share my knowledge, my, you know, the legacy of the previous generations, people that are now gone, like my own grandparents, my mother-in-law, but they have given me all that knowledge that I can now pass on to the next generation. And whether that is my social media you mentioned Instagram. I'm also my biggest social media channel is Facebook, where I have nearly 700,000 followers, and sharing this experience and sharing my knowledge is so rewarding because there are so many stories where people come and I do read quite a lot of it, because it's so positive how something so sad got turned into so much positivity. Not only I have created a garden, my sister has created a garden, and thousands of other people around the world, and now the book will be just a continuity, the extension of that positivity.
Speaker 1:Yes, brilliant. I wasn't aware at all of your the backstory of how this started come along, so that's really interesting and really inspirational, and I can see now why, as I said at the start, so many of the people that listen to the podcast share your content. So they're obviously deeply connected to it as well, and I'm sure they all know the backstory. But it's really interesting, so well done. In terms of the book, let's have a look at it. It's for pre-order now, available in February 24. So what about the outline of the book? Obviously, propagation is going to heavily feature in it, but take us through the various chapters. Any highlights in it? Anything that's really really different than it?
Speaker 2:Well, we, as I said, it's all a very practical, full of very easy to follow instructions. Propagation is obviously a main topic, but there is so much more. We have included very, very interesting projects, very easy to achieve and basically showing people how you can create something truly amazing at the fraction of the cost. And you can only achieve it by gardening in harmony with nature. And I give very useful tips to people because our gardens can be seen as our own garden centers. There is so much that our gardens produce that can be turned into something useful and that could be grass cuttings that can be used as mulch. All the plant support, even mole hills, you know. Moles deliver the most amazing topsoil. So instead of seeing them as pests, I just collect all this topsoil and use it for pots and just top it up with a bit of compost, instead of buying, you know, bags and bags of compost, because there's never enough of your own compost you make at home. But just simple instructions.
Speaker 2:A lot of people don't realize that stinging nettles are a fantastic source of nitrogen and can be turned into fertilizers country which grows wild everywhere and is available to anyone. You only need a little bit of water and country leaves and it's truly amazing. What I have also done is obviously sharing the results on my social media. So when you say you can make a fertilizer, people often struggle to see how can that result in something amazing? And I can prove by sharing the results which is my garden how things perform better by, you know, making your own fertilizers, using the grass cuttings as mulch.
Speaker 2:People often say to me your soil is amazing, but I have clay. I had clay soil, so it's truly it's. Everything is so accessible, but many people don't realize. You know, even the grass cuttings they also act as a slug protection, because slugs what I found and I'm very close to nature I've got two boys who are obsessed about butterflies and moths, so we often go at night with torches and we watch the garden at night and what I realized? That the slugs absolutely love grass cuttings. So when I spread the grass cuttings around the plants that the slugs in particular love, such as delias or sweet peas, the slugs eat the grass cuttings and not the delias, and it's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:So I use the grass clippings as well on beds here and it's a phenomenal. It's a really totally underutilized resource that we have in our gardens because I have turned there was one area which was really poor yellow clay from a bit of excavation work that was done and I've turned that into a really good quality garden soil, with nothing else on the grass clippings on top over a period of probably 12 months, but it has transformed it so it is hugely beneficial. But I haven't or I hadn't seen that benefit of the slopes, so that's an interesting one.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean. You know, I often encourage my followers to take a torch and walk around the garden at night because they will also see how the earthworms pull the grass, cuttings under the soil and they come at night and when you walk with the torch they get scared of the light and they quickly go under the soil, which is quite nice for kids to see. And, as you say, many people don't realize that the grass cuttings are such an amazing source of nitrogen as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen that where you go up the torch and the worms disappear, you can actually see them burrowing back down really quickly. It's an interesting site and definitely they do sort of bring the grass down into the soil, which is good. In terms of the books, obviously it's propagation. You're talking about cuttings and what not. So what are the main ones that you're talking about? And you mentioned some projects within the book.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean, basically, the book is simplifying things. I think that this book will be more accessible to people. Perhaps we're obviously using a lot of Latin names when we talk about plants, but I find that many books make things slightly more complicated than they really are. I'm very relaxed about things in the garden, and perhaps this is just because I have created it as a non-professional kind of gardener and I could see that I can create something truly amazing without following too many rules, with being just simply relaxed about it and almost feeling like I'm part of the ecosystem and I don't take it too serious. And if you do something wrong, in fact, there is nothing wrong that you can do in the garden as long as you achieve the right results. So there is never one way and the book just gives very clear instructions.
Speaker 2:We obviously have to include loads of measurements, and people who follow me on Instagram will know that my video is one minute long, so in the book you will also have extra information which plants can be propagated. So let's say we take roses. I have just shared a video about propagating roses by hardwood cutting in the winter time, but the book will give you other examples of plants that can be propagated the same way, because a lot of things can happen in the background as you work on other projects and you have just mentioned projects. So for each season we have included very easy to achieve but spectacular things that you can create using things that are grown in your own garden, and there are things that I haven't shared on social media which people will be surprised about when they see the beautiful photography of the projects. So it's basically using everything that is produced in your garden and turning it into something spectacular.
Speaker 1:Your videos. You have kind of struck, I suppose, what my thoughts were. Your videos are very simple and to the point, and I agree with you in terms of gardening books not all, but a lot of them do make things sound a little bit mystical and a little bit difficult, and yours are totally the opposite. Your videos, and I'm sure the book, are totally the opposite. They are really simplified, and it's funny.
Speaker 1:You mentioned something there in terms of my main growing here is growing your own food. That's, I suppose, my biggest passion. I have ornamentals as well, but it is mostly growing your own food. But when it comes to ornamentals it's funny. I actually the names of the various plants and the varieties don't interest me so much at all. I like choosing something that's interesting, that looks different or that might be a little bit different. But after I've had planted I actually don't care what the name is anymore. It's there for a particular look, for a particular flower, but the name never bothers me. I really like a lot of people are into that, but I'm not, so I find that you're that simple approach is what I like personally, and I know a lot of people that listen to the podcast would be similar in interviews as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, totally. Oh, thank you. But another thing is that people have to realize that you don't need a gadget for every step of the work you make in the garden. People come up with all sorts of ideas. I hardly buy any equipment. I have the most basic equipment, and in the book I mentioned that one of my favorite tools is a stick that has been sharpened by my son and it's it's. It's really is the case. I don't have any sophisticated equipment. I've got a good lawnmower because I've got, you know, quite a big garden, a lawn mower that is mulching as well, but I hardly spend money on things. But in my book I say that the day when I have to buy new plastic pots will be the day when I stop gardening, and we all know that that will never happen, because there are so many pots on this planet. I just need to find my way to them.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what are your, your, your top tips for? For someone who's looking to get started with propagation? What would you find to be the easiest start in point? Obviously, you have cuttings, you have sowing of seeds, you have, you know, division and so on. So there's so many. But if you were, if you say somebody who's starting from scratch, who's never done it before, what would you? What would you say? Would you say so and seed is the best, the best starting point, or would you think cuttings?
Speaker 2:I think cuttings are the most, the most rewarding, because, again, I believe that we produce dopamine from seeing roots on cuttings, the same as as we see a clutch of eggs. It's something positive comes to our mind and it's it's so accessible. I would say cuttings because you can actually root so many plants in water and you can do it on your windowsill. And once you see a result, once you see a success, you want more of it. And I always say that one success will lead to the next. And you can just take a cup of empty cup, put a little bit of water and cut a few stems, or even get them from a supermarket, a few herbs and put in a bit of water. Most herbs can be propagated in water on your windowsill, so you actually don't even need compost. You don't need any trays, just a cup or a glass of water and a few cuttings, and you will be surprised how quickly you get into propagation from that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it builds, it builds a, and I find that on the on the grow your own food side which, as I say, is my, my main passion in gardening and it's the, it's the success, the little success, that you get from your first harvest Twitter that's. You know, it doesn't have to be a big, a big harvest. You're not talking about being self-sufficient for a year. So if you're able to bring in a head of lettuce, some spring onions, and you're able to create a dish with your own salad, there's a kind of a pride and a and a satisfaction that you get with that and that becomes infectious and you're looking for it all the time then, and I do think that that's when it comes to gardening, when it comes to growing your own food, that is a huge part of it is that little wins start to build, and I hadn't thought of it in the way that you've mentioned, that it's like a dopamine hit, but I guess it is. You know, you're looking for that then and you're chasing that the whole time and so, yeah, that's why, that's why, as I say, your content is, because it's, it's simple and and successful. I think that's why people have have a sort of followed on from it.
Speaker 1:So much so the book. Then it's out. It's on pre-order only now. So it's it's quite a big book by the looks of it. I haven't physically got a copy yet, but you've just showed me a copy before we started recording. It's quite a big book, so there's a good bit in it.
Speaker 2:Yes, we've got 192 pages and I think it's you know. Every page is packed with so much information. I think people will find it useful and I hope they will be. I'm extremely proud of of this book for many reasons, even obviously very practical. People will be able to create their dream gardens at the fraction of the cost. It's almost like recipes how you get to it, how can you achieve it. But what I'm really excited about it as well is the fact that this book is a great tool for me to raise awareness about neurodiversity, about ADHD, mental health, because I only started speaking English 15 years ago and I couldn't understand anything. And now I'm holding my own horticultural book, and that was only possible because of my neurodiversity, because of my hyper-focus and because of my ADHD, which is often seen as as as as something negative, when in fact, I believe that ADHD is a superpower and the book is just a proof of that.
Speaker 1:And, from a medical perspective, has, has anybody you know, any doctors or so on latched onto that? That point that you've made where you see super ADHD as a superpower, because you're right, there is an element of that being something that can propel you onto great things just like yourself. But, as you say, a lot of the time it's overlooked. But if the right people start to see it in that way, it could be transformational generally in society.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I believe that this book will make a difference. This book will make many people think, not only because of the practical way of it, how you can simplify things and again, neurodivergent people have a different way of looking at things and the fact that so many people say to me that I simplify things, that my videos are easy to follow and they are slightly different, just tells me that this is my superpower and the book will be translated in all languages around the world. So we're launching it first in the UK and the US and it will then follow and will be translated in all languages around the world and will be available all around the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's February 24th when it's available.
Speaker 2:Yes, the first of February is our launching day, but people can pre-order it now.
Speaker 1:Okay, brilliant. It's been a really interesting chat. I didn't realise the backstory of it, so that has been really interesting and really inspirational. As I said already, what you're doing online and now with the book is definitely helping people in their gardens, which is superb. And, as I say, a lot of people who listen to the podcast are following the techniques that you talk about, because they show the pictures of what they're doing and then they add in the stories and so on. They add your reel or your clip of it, and it's definitely resonating with people. So well done on all of that. Where can people find you? I know there's a website on the way, but maybe not quite ready yet, but obviously you can be found on social media and tell people where they can find it and the link for the pre-order link for the book and so on.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I'm Anya the Garden Fairy on Facebook and Instagram. I'm on all social media channels, but the busiest is the most active, is Instagram at Anya the Garden Fairy, and my website is again we're working on at the moment is AnyaLautenbachcom, and the link to the book I think we can just share in our podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll put it in the show notes anyway, for sure, anya. It's been a really interesting chat. Your work online is inspirational in your book. I'm really looking forward to getting a copy of it. It sounds like it's going to be really helpful for people at ground level very, very simple stuff and that people will be able to get benefit out straight away. It's been a really brilliant chat and thank you very much for coming on, master McGarrett podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you so much, john, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1:So that's been this week's episode, as I say, really inspirational. I didn't realise the backstory and that is, you know, that's a brilliant, brilliant backstory and it just goes to show that you know there's superpowers in everyone. The book is, I'm sure, going to be fantastic. Anya is super on our social channels and, yeah, lots of people are learning very, very simple techniques of creating beautiful gardens, and so, yeah, it's really really positive. Great chat. And that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening. Until the next time, happy garden.