So you've just moved into a new house. The keys are in your hands. You're looking at your front door.

And you're also looking at a lot of lawn and probably some unappealing landscaping.

Where do you even start if your dream is turning this blank slate of a lawn into a thriving, gorgeous garden?

This week on Growing Joy, we are diving into this with ecologist writer and new author Becky Searle, who just wrote a book called Grow a New Garden, which explores this topic.

It's about how garden design can work with nature instead of against it to create the kind of lowest maintenance, most successful garden that you can have and how to do it in a new space.

Because Becky herself has had multiple gardens and allotments over the course of many

different homes.

And she's learned a lot about starting from scratch and shares so much about how to invite

biodiversity, balance, and joy into a garden that you will love.

So whether you're standing in front of your brand new yard, staring at your lawn with overwhelm,

or maybe you're just craving a deeper connection with your existing garden,

this conversation is packed with so many practical tips that I'm so excited to share

with you. So let's dive in.

Yeah. that I'm so excited to share with you. So let's dive in. Welcome to the Growing Joy with Plants podcast, where we not only learn how to care for

plants successfully, but how to simply and affordably use our plant babies to cultivate more

joy in our lives by doing so. I'm Maria, former plant killer turned

happy plant lady, author of Growing Joy, The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness,

speaker, podcaster, and most importantly, your new best plant friend. On growing joy with plants,

you'll find conversations about house plant care, gardening tutorials, and wellness through the lens

of plants.

Plant care is self-care on growing joy.

Becky, welcome to growing joy.

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