1 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:08,440 Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Mangasicul're a co host of Part Time Genius, 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 1: one of the founders of Mental philoss and this is 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart Radio and 4 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: your friends at Miracle Grow. Our goal is to make 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: this the most human show about plants you'll ever listen to, 6 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: and along the way, we'll share inspiring stories, tips and 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: tricks to nurture your plant addiction, and just enough science 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,639 Speaker 1: to make you sound like an expert. We are on 9 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,520 Speaker 1: summer break right now, but because Molly and I cannot 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: stop our plant addictions, we are bringing you some mini 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: episodes to brighten up your feed and grow your plant curiosity. 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: Throughout the summer, we'll be dropping incredible stories from growers, 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: advice from experts, and we'll even have some fun conversations 14 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: around fascinating plant facts. So for this bonus episode, we 15 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: are sharing some of the most interesting and unusual places 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: people have grown vegetable gardens, proving no matter where you are, 17 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: you've got enough room for a garden, from tiny houses 18 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: to difficult soil. We love hearing about the clever ways 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: people have grown plants and seemingly ungrowable spaces, just personally 20 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: I feel like it gives me even more motivation and 21 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: no excuse for not keeping my plants alive and completely 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: ordinary circumstances. So today we are sharing four unexpected places 23 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: you can grow plants. Number one potholes. So we all 24 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: know no one likes a pothole. But in Toronto, residents 25 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: in the Summerhill area had been complaining about a giant 26 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: pothole to city officials for like months, and when the 27 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: complaints fell on deaf ears, they decided to take these 28 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: matters into their own hands by launching a highly unusual protest. 29 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: All these fed up locals planted protest tomatoes inside the 30 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: road hazard to make a community garden of sorts, and 31 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: as the tomatoes grew and found their way onto social 32 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,919 Speaker 1: media as things do, all these embarrassed city officials quickly 33 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,399 Speaker 1: addressed the issue and fixed up the pothole. Now, as 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: for the tomato plants, they also got a happy ending 35 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,239 Speaker 1: because they were transferred to a local community garden where 36 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:22,119 Speaker 1: they're living out their lives above ground. Two make use 37 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: of an abandoned train tunnel. So in New South Wales, Australia, 38 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: Dr Noel Arnold has found a unique place to grow 39 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: exotic mushrooms, and he uses an abandoned railway tunnel. He 40 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: doesn't just produce a few mushrooms for home cooking, though. 41 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: Dr Arnold actually manages to produce over one point five 42 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: tons of mushrooms every week, every week, and apparently the 43 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: tunnel's damp conditions create an unusually controlled environment for both 44 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: temperature and humidity. Because mushrooms don't need light for photosynthesis, 45 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: they are also not bothered by this lack of sunshine, 46 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: So today Dr Arnold grows everything from shitaki and chestnut 47 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: mushrooms to fluorescent pink and blue oyster mushrooms at his 48 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,639 Speaker 1: least sun exotic mushroom farm. The mushrooms are sold to 49 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: restaurants across the country, but if you want to sample 50 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: the wears in person, Dr Arnold gives tours of his 51 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: mushroom farm twice a year, three on a ball gown. 52 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,519 Speaker 1: In two thousand twelve, Stevie Famulari launched a line of 53 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: dresses known as Garden Parties, and her dresses use this 54 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: felt like fabric that holds seeds and retains moisture in 55 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: a unique way, such that the dresses actually grow flower 56 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: and reseed themselves. It's literally like wearing your garden around, 57 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: and they are renewable. As she told Syracuse dot Com, 58 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: one of the opera gowns she designed has already died 59 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: once and grown back. Instead of floral prints, each dress 60 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: has over five thousand living blossoms, including poppies, violets, and 61 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: baby sprouts. But the idea for the fashion line comes 62 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: from an unusual place. Famulari actually came up with the 63 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: idea when she first saw these landscape engineers studying geo 64 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: textile erosion. They were spring down the road and trying 65 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: to make seeds grow on a vertical surface without falling off. 66 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: So after years of experimenting with that technology, she came 67 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: up with this fabric that creates its own ecosystem. Of course, 68 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: the dresses aren't just appealing to hobbyist gardeners. They've made 69 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: waves in the fashion world too, and as one stylist noted, 70 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 1: Familarity's opera gown is beautiful, but it's her stylish long 71 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:31,919 Speaker 1: coat that could actually work as a replacement for for 72 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: in years to come. Plus, it supposedly smells like spring 73 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,280 Speaker 1: for under the sea, the ocean is home to a 74 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: lot of vegetation like seaweed and kelp, But do you 75 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: ever think about basil growing there. Nemo's Garden off the 76 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: coast of Noi and northwestern Italy is using underwater pods 77 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: to grow vegetables and herbs in the ocean. So this 78 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: all started in two thousand twelve when Sergio Gamberini, who's 79 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: a scuba diving professional and trade chemical engineer, was hanging 80 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: out with some local farmers whose crops were suffering. It 81 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: was all disastrous because of the cold weather, and so 82 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 1: on a lark, he wondered if he could grow plants 83 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: underwater where they wouldn't be subject to the same weather 84 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: conditions or even things like pests. So after building this 85 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: little plastic biosphere and watching basil plants sprout underwater in 86 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: less than forty eight hours, Gambrini knew he was onto something. 87 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: Today he has six greenhouses underwater where he maintains a 88 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: farm of over seven hundred plants, including strawberries, lettuce, tomato, zucchini, peas, 89 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: mint time and even alo vera. And for me, I 90 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: just loved the idea that when I go blueberry picking 91 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: with my kids, it will be underwater from now on. 92 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: That's it for today's bonus episode. Check back here again 93 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: for more bonus episodes this summer, and don't forget no 94 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: matter what season it is or where you're at in 95 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: your gardening journey, there's some incredible resources for you on 96 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: the Miracle Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is a collaboration 97 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. 98 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: Our show was written and produced by Molly Sosha and 99 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: need Mongy Chat. This episode was edited and engineered by 100 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: Matt Stillo.