The Beet: A Podcast For Plant Lovers · Epic Gardening

Cultivate Confidence and Joy with Graylen Brown

·1 hr 4 min·4 clips

Graylin Brown says gardening changed him from a violent, angry person into someone who protects daily peace.

Jacques opens by welcoming Graylin Brown, also known as Gray Urban Gardening with Gray, and notes that they first met in Maine while working on a special project together. Graylin says he gardens in Zone 8B in the Dallas-Waterford area, just south of Dallas, and he talks about liking the challenge that comes with Texas gardening. The conversation turns personal quickly, because gardening is not just a hobby for him. It is part of how he found his way back to himself. He says he had been mad at the world because he could not find his purpose. Rediscovering gardening brought back peace and serenity, and that change has affected the way he handles stress. He does not let things he cannot control bother him the same way anymore. Jacques and Graylin keep the tone loose and friendly as they move through garden life. Graylin describes the reality of animals getting into beds. He talks about raccoons, skunks, and possums as different kinds of trouble, with raccoons causing the most chaotic damage. He gives a specific example of replanting a raised bed only to find it disturbed again and again. He tried red chili flakes first. They worked for a few days, then lost their effect after getting wet. So he set up a GoPro and a motion light to see what was happening overnight. The camera showed three raccoons digging through the bed. He figures they were after grubs. He can even appreciate that they were eating the grubs, but he would have preferred they finish the job in one night and leave the bed alone after that. The story keeps the conversation grounded in the kind of problem solving gardeners actually do. Jacques and Graylin keep comparing notes, and the talk feels like two people trading stories rather than delivering a lesson. Near the end, the conversation shifts into strawberries and a little new fact Graylin picked up for himself. Jacques asks people to look him up as Urban Gardening with Gray. Graylin says he is on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. He calls himself a friendly neighborhood gardener and says he is there to help people grow. He and Jacques close by talking about how much they both love tomatoes and tomato memories. Graylin invites Jacques to come by San Diego in late spring if he wants to try the white mulberry and see whether he actually likes it. The ending leaves the sense of two gardeners who enjoy the same kind of conversation: practical, personal, and built out of memories from real plants and real seasons.

As heard by us

A warm, practical garden conversation about reset, pests, and the calmer outlook that comes from growing things.

The conversation works best when it stays close to lived details: Zone 8B heat, Texas gardening, raccoons tearing up beds for grubs, and the calmer outlook that comes from getting back into the garden.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play if you want garden wisdom that sounds like a real conversation, not a lecture.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Beet: A Podcast For Plant Lovers