PODCASTS

JOEL BARNETT INSTYLE GARDENS

Podcasts have been around since 2004 and have continued to grow in popularity, really starting to ramp up in the last 5 or so years. At the end of 2018 there were 550,000 podcasts to choose from, and by the end of 2019, that number was 750,000. That’s 750,000 different podcasters, some with hundreds of podcasts. There are A LOT of choices, and a podcast for just about anything you can think of, including landscaping!

Frustratingly for a lot of podcasts, there’s no regular intervals between the release of each episode, sometimes they’re weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes there can be months between, and that’s just from the one podcast! This is possibly due to the fact that there’s not a lot of money to be made from Podcasting. It’s more something people do to elevate their own personal profile/brand, or to elevate the industry. And any business or money that comes from it, is a bonus.

I first started listening to podcasts about 4 years ago, before any landscaping podcasts (that I was aware of) were being recorded by Australian businesses. The first podcast I listened to was by Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur from the USA who’s known for his exceptional work ethic and marketing abilities. I listened to it daily while driving around in my ute, and eventually knew what he was going to say, such was the strength and repetitiveness of his message about business.

The first Landscape podcast I became aware of was published at the end of 2017 by Shah Turner of Pitch Box and it was called The Green Room Podcast. It was marketed as a “business podcast exclusively for residential landscape designers and contractors”, with the first interview being with Chris Weiss from Formation Landscapes. The Green Room episodes were quite short, around 20 minutes each, and included interviews with John Corban from the Landscapers Coach, Joseph Nagel from Definition Landscape, Ineke Clark formerly of Master Landscapers of SA and also an interview with myself. This podcast appears to be finished for now with the last podcast being recorded in January 2019, but it’s still available to listen to and being short chats, it is a good introduction to podcasts with just 10 episodes in the series. In March of 2018, The Full Landscape, a podcast for our industry had its first episode published. This podcast is created by Clint Adams who owns Waterpro, an irrigation shop in Adelaide. He sits down with someone within the greater landscaping/horticulture industry and discusses how they got where they are and how they do things in their business. The podcasts are also filmed and put on their YouTube channel, along with other Waterpro videos, more to do with irrigation. Some of the guests on The Full Landscape have been Mitch Davies from Sand and Stone Landscaping, Josh Hooper from Landscape Techniques, Tim Harper from Space Capsule Garden Co, Matt Nash from Prestige Surfaces, as well as some big names in the horticulture industry such as Carl Heyne from Heyne’s wholesale Nursery and Matt Van Schaik from Bio Gro.

There are currently 33 episodes of The Full Landscape, with the most recent one being published on the 11th of March. Episode length varies from 40-90 minutes.

With perfect timing, when The Green Room podcast finished making new episodes, yet another podcast for the industry came along with the Plants ‘n Sh*t podcast by Tim Harper and Stephen Read. Tim owns Space Capsule Garden Design and Stephen owns Stephen Read Landscape Design. Their podcast mission is that it’s a podcast “by creatives, for creatives” and they speak with not only landscape designers, but also other artists and business owners. This podcast is a little less industry based, but well worth a listen.

They’ve spoken with Steven Wells and the most recent episode with Brent Reid from Candeo Design was a great listen, discussing the Covid-19 impact on the industry and the cancellation of MIFGS. The episodes are around 30-60 minutes and there are currently 13 episodes with the most recent being published on the 3rd of April. This podcast is not currently available on iTunes but can be found on PodBean. All other podcasts mentioned in this article can be found on iTunes.

The newest landscaping podcast I’ve discovered only had its first episode published on the 12th of March and is the first landscaping one I’ve listened to from the USA, but the similarities in the message these guys are pushing is exactly the same as Landscaping Victoria Master Landscapers. It’s called the Landscapes and Pancakes podcast and is made by a husband and wife team, Neil and Samantha Best, who also run Magma Design Group in Massachusetts. One of their common phrases is “Elevate the Industry” and they refer to using licenced designers and contractors, and the importance of getting a landscape designer involved early in the building process.

Their first episode was with a natural stone supplier, the second was with a high-end garden maintenance person and the most recent episode was with Sara Bendrick, a Designer/Builder/TV personality. They’ve got plenty of guests lined up for the coming months so this is definitely one to subscribe to.

The three episodes have been spaced about 10 days apart and are just over an hour in duration.

As I mentioned, there are hundreds of thousands of podcasts to choose from, and probably more than 100 current and noncurrent landscaping related ones, however the ones above are the best I’ve listened to. If you like listening to people talk about landscaping/ business, give one of these podcasts a try.