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Good morning and happy Spring from Aotearoa, my deck at sunrise.

This episode is unedited with the natural bird song of the morning.

I cover 3 mistakes I'm seeing gardeners make right now.

- Not mulching their trees

- Pruning now! (No don't)

- Planting fruit trees now

I'll unpack why these are mistakes and what to do next.

Ask a Question – Submit a gardening question for a future episode.

About Sam – Learn more about the host of White Strawberries.

Support the Podcast – Buy Sam a Cuppa to help keep new episodes coming.

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What exactly is a plant guild — and how do you know what belongs in one?

In this episode of White Strawberries, I’m answering a listener question about guilds: what they are, whether they all follow the same principles, and whether the plants in a guild need to come from the same place.

A guild is simply a group of plants that support one another. Instead of thinking about a fruit tree as an individual plant that needs to be maintained, we can start thinking about the whole ecosystem around it — including nitrogen fixers, mineral accumulators, pollinator plants, ground covers, pest-management plants and plants that provide mulch.

I walk through four different guilds and the kinds of conditions and plants that suit each one: citrus, Mediterranean, temperate, and subtropical guilds, as well as the different functions plants can play within them.

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The big idea? You don't have to get your guild perfect. Start by understanding your land, observe what is happening, and then add plants that support what is already there.

If you're starting from scratch, map your land first. Look at temperature, shade, water and wind throughout the year, then consider which guild fits each area.

🌿 Want the Guilds Guide?

I've created a visual guide to the guilds discussed in this episode, with examples and pictures. Here it is.

And if you have a gardening question you'd like me to answer on the podcast, send me a voice message or write it in. I love answering questions about the things you're actually trying to figure out in your garden.

🎧 Previous Episode Mentioned

How to Grow a Subtropical Forest in a Cold Climate | With Steve Fawcett — Episode 19

Listen to the episode through the White Strawberries podcast feed.

May your guilds be in the right place and your strawberries white. 🌿💚 Sam

Ask a Question – Submit a gardening question for a future episode.

About Sam – Learn more about the host of White Strawberries.

Support the Podcast – Buy Sam a Cuppa to help keep new episodes coming.

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If you’ve ever looked at a beautiful plant and thought, I’d love one of those, you might not need to buy one. You might just need to take a cutting.

In this episode of White Strawberries, we’re getting into the wonderfully simple world of plant propagation — how to take cuttings and turn a small piece of an existing plant into a whole new plant.

I talk about taking cuttings from deciduous trees like figs, grapes and elderberries, why waiting until the leaves have dropped can be the perfect time, and how to recognise the leaf nodes where roots and new growth will form.

We also get into the slightly geekier side of cuttings, including cloning, diversity, grafted fruit trees, rooting hormones and why some plants have a much higher “take rate” than others.

And if you’ve received one of my fig cuttings in the mail, there are a few tips for getting it safely into soil and giving it the best chance of growing.

🌱 What You’ll Discover

• How to take hardwood cuttings from deciduous plants
• Why figs, grapes and hydrangeas are so easy to propagate
• How to identify leaf nodes
• Where to place leaf nodes when planting a cutting
• Why cuttings are clones of the parent plant
• Why diversity still matters when propagating
• When rooting hormone can help
• How to take cuttings from evergreen plants
• Whether you need pots, special soil or fancy propagation equipment
• How taking cuttings can help us share abundance within our communities

🔗 Free Cuttings Guide

I’ve created a free PDF with the basics of taking and growing cuttings:

Download the free Cuttings PDF

Take a walk around your neighbourhood, look at what’s growing, ask a friend for a cutting — and have a play. You might be surprised by just how many new plants you can grow for free.

Supercharge Your Garden
🪴30 cuttings / mix of 15 varieties of plants- Sent out September only

Ask a Question – Submit a gardening question for a future episode.

About Sam – Learn more about the host of White Strawberries.

Support the Podcast – Buy Sam a Cuppa to help keep new episodes coming.