Gardens

Some folks were born with a green thumb while others seem to put an end to every plant we’ve ever put our paws on in the past. Nevertheless, a fruitful show awaits as we gather in the garden together gleefully. Grab your spades and hoses as we get into gardens on this week’s episode of FYI!

Transcript

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some folks were born with a green thumb while others seem to put an end to every plant we've ever put our paws on in the past nevertheless a fruitful show awaits as we gather in the garden together gleefully grab your spades and hoses as we get into gardens on this week's episode of f y i welcome to for your info english you got it[Music] hello hello hello and welcome to another exciting edition of fyi it's such a pleasure to have you with us on board the show continues to grow and that's thanks to you guys so thank you thank you thank you for listening for downloading for rating for spreading the word remember i don't have a budget i was going to say i don't have a big budget un gran presupuesto but i really don't have any budget for advertising public i wish oh man that would be great so i have to rely on you guys so thank you for spreading the word thank you for making some noise and remember if you guys have any ideas for upcoming episodes i'd love to hear from you send me a message i'm on social media you can find me anywhere or you can just go to my website albertoalonso.com and you can send me a message and some of the greatest topics we've done have been suggestions from our listeners so thank you thank you thank you and let's get into gardening today today we are going to look at something natural we'll look at nature nature is sustantivo it's a noun and natural is the adjective but either way it's nature natural future statue remember those words with t u you gotta pronounce it like cha-cha-cha let's take a look at the intro because as always it's chock-full of interesting vocabulary i started by saying some folks were born with a green thumb and folks is another way of saying people if you've ever seen the looney tunes at the end that famous line is that's all folks es estodo amigos so some folks were born with a green thumb que un but that doesn't make any sense well this just means you're good at taking care of plants i for example do not have a green thumb i'm in that other category those others that seem to put an end acabarcon every plant we've ever put our paws on and pause garas yeah sometimes we say it with humans in a joking way as well and in the past yeah believe me i've tried but for some reason i'm not good with plants my father oh man my father has got a green thumb he'll take a dying plant and bring it back to life and then i said nevertheless nevertheless significa no obstante a fruitful show awaits nos espera um programa fructifero as we gather in the garden and together as juntarsi and gleefully you might know this word from the series glee well gleefully escon alegria so glee evidently is alegria and then we heard a shovel or a spade remember shovels are the bigger ones and a spade is more that little one that you use in the garden well i didn't want to mix my words up there let's call a spade a spade did you get it let's call a spade a spade es las cosas and i also mentioned the word hoes joses mangera so are you guys ready to get into gardens well let's look at some of the other things we'll need some tools algonas we already set a spade or a shovel to dig our hole we'll need a hose or at least a watering can because we have to water our plants and this is a very logical word in english to water aguera no well that's to water down to water something down is to add water but to water asekas means regard i love those logical words in english like orthenyar do you know how to say that we milk a cow yeah all right let's look at some other garden tools you might want a rake i think you say rastrillo a rake if you have bushes or hedges arbustos well you might need some hedge trimmers and to trim is recorded so trimmers son estas tijeras que recortan usually we call these big scissors that they use in the garden those are called shears and be careful they're very sharp and should not be handled by children there's the father in me coming out now depending on what kind of garden you have and we're going to look at all the different kinds of gardens out there but you'll need pots and pots are the things that you put the plants in unless you're planting them in the ground then you don't need pots so again that'll depend on the kind of garden you have fertilizer always comes in handy as well fertilizant do you say well it's the stuff it's that poop i guess that makes the different plants flowers and herbs grow oh and don't forget about a pair of boots some old clothes perhaps some gloves especially if you have a rose garden because well roses what are they famous for oh yeah their beautiful smell but as the group poison once said every rose has its thorn so we can learn the word thorn and i guess you'll need some sunscreen is protected and depending on how big your garden is and what kind of garden it is you might even need a lawn mower and a lawn mower is uncortafed and a weed whacker i don't know how you say that in spanish it's that thing that cuts weeds and weeds on malasierbas nobody wants weeds in their garden that's why we weed them out which no solo es quitar las malasierbas pro es descartar lo malo we are going to weed out the weakest applicants there it is in context and that's called a weed whacker i love the name umata or umpega malasierbas a weed whacker you know the thing that goes[Music] i don't know if my sound effects are up to par sedan before we get into the types of gardens there are i'd like to look at gardens in history now what's the first garden that comes to mind if i say famous old school gardens did you say the garden of eden from the bible with adam and eve you know the original sin the forbidden fruit oh and we're gonna look at some really good expressions in the bonus episode today plus i'll give you some gardening tips not for me but from experts plus i'll tell you about some of the most amazing gardens i have ever visited and one of them is high on everybody's lists i'm talking about the kirkenhof what the cookinhoff where's that well that's the one in holland it's about a half an hour away from amsterdam i'm sure you've seen it rows of tulips and every kind of flower under the sun and don't forget about the windmills los molinellos but i'll tell you all about that and so much more in the bonus episode i just want to remind you guys every week you can have access to a bonus episode of this show with additional content in english as i said we're going to look at over 15 or 20 idiomatic expressions that have to do with gardening and nature and we're going to look at all of that in the bonus part plus you can have access to tons of pdfs with all the vocabulary and remember if you sign up now you have access to all the material that we have from this day all the way to the first post so in other words you will have access to every post on patreon just by signing up that's pdfs and then if you're in our higher levels you can be in a class with me every week where we review each episode and what a great group of people we have i want to send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students javier roberto david jose maria mila alex and edgard and don't forget about my interstellar students issa paco diego and carmen remember if you guys want to join our curious community or you just want some more information go over to patreon.com alberto alonso and join us we are having so much fun and as i always tell the students you guys aren't the only ones learning so join our exciting english adventure on patreon you won't regret it now let's get back into the history of gardens the enclosure of outdoor space probably began around 10 000 bc so guys the garden of eden was not the first garden by far and historians say that the first enclosure was a type of barrier it was used for excluding animals maybe people who were coming to rob them and take their crops or their flowers and they said that it began in west asia and then it spread sextendio to south and east asia and then westward afia to greece and europe so like many things it originated in the east and the modern words that we have garden and yard are descendants of the old english word i don't know if i'm pronouncing it right because i don't speak old english but that word means a fence or an enclosure so the word garden literally means a piece of land that is fenced in i had no idea see i'm learning so much and then after the emergence of the first civilizations wealthy citizens wealthy or well-to-do adventurados well they began creating gardens for aesthetic purposes because remember at first it was they had to feed themselves we were first hunter gatherers but then we learned agriculture so again we're going to look at the types some gardens are functional and some are purely aesthetic and others can be both they found some egyptian tomb paintings and remember it's not dom that word it's tomb and these were from the 16th century bc and this is the earliest physical evidence of ornamental horticulture oh my god say that five times fast ornamental horticulture and landscape design and landscape that's an interesting word because landscaping is beautifying your area your land around your house making the bushes look nice planting flowers it's a big business in the united states and when i was a kid in the summers i used to work in landscaping and i had to quit because i have something or i should say i have an allergy to something called poison ivy we have in the united states poison ivy poison oak poison sumac and i don't wish it on my worst enemy i mean it is the worst thing that can happen to you you break out in a rash sarbuyido that lasts for three weeks and it itches like crazy so just uh a word to the wise if you go to the united states beware of these poisonous leaves another classic garden from history is the hanging gardens of babylon by the rivers of babylon yeah well this was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world listed by the hellenic culture the greek culture and they said this was a remarkable feat of engineering it wasn't just gardening it was the way they organized everything and that there were different tears no not tears lagrimas tears are like gravas so i think of a wedding cake a wedding cake is tiered or i think of perhaps also on patreon there are different tears difentes gradas or niveles and there were trees shrubs shrubs again another way to say bushes vines it was very elaborate and gorgeous and that's why we still talk about the gardens of babylon today which are located in present-day iraq now i'd like to take a look at the different types of gardens and i probably left some out but i decided to take a look at some of the most common ones that i've seen throughout my life throughout my experiences and i guessed one of the first ones and this you call una huerta which blew my mind when i realized that callie huertas was really vegetable garden street or herb garden acurate in english it's a vegetable garden like parsley oregano well that's called an herb garden just be careful because the british they say herb they pronounce that h we don't in english i mean in real english in american english so i guess we could put those into one category vegetable slash herb gardens then you've got flower gardens right those are very common as well and you can have them dedicated to one kind of flower like a rose garden or a tulip garden or maybe orchids are your thing but flower gardens are gorgeous they're so colorful and as far as i'm concerned the more colors the better right isn't that what you want you want to see a kaleidoscope of colors and don't forget about the smells oh there's nothing like the smell of a fresh garden and fresh cut grass oh it's absolutely beautiful or the smell of petrichor which is the smell after it rains oh man i love those earthy smells now some people don't have a yard or a big piece of property so they would have an indoor garden or maybe a garden on their terrace or on their balcony in new york city you'll see a lot of roof gardens in la fortea you'll see hanging gardens again people have to be creative when space is a thing well then you have to find other ways to plant things using roofs using the sides of buildings and even these urban gardens or these community gardens are getting very popular you know they're taking these lots estos descampados or these these areas that don't have buildings on them and they're giving people little plots i've seen them in new york city and it's absolutely beautiful to be on 52nd street sitting in a garden you know looking at uh tulips and azaleas it's absolutely amazing so those are nice because in the city i think those are the places where you need gardens where you need trees the most and what better way to teach your kids to eat right than to teach them how to grow their own food i think this could be even more important than algebra again this is just my opinion sorry mathematicians but let's say one day carrefour closes its doors the one by your house do you know how to plant and grow your own vegetables my father does his family did but our generation we've lost that we're used to just getting deliveroo and i think i believe with all my heart we've got to go back to that we've got to learn how to get our own food who knows now they're always talking about food shortages hey it can't hurt i love the gardens out in asia as well because you'll find bamboo and all kinds of other plants from all around the world especially asia but they also play with rocks and these are called rock gardens or zen gardens where there are waterfalls little ponds right a little pond and i'm also a big fan of those labyrinth or maize style gardens as well that you can walk through it reminds me of like generalife or these gardens that are almost like pathways pariten tunalis it's absolutely beautiful what you can do you know if you know a little bit about landscaping and gardening but i'll stop beating around the bush[Laughter] and i'll stop beating around the bush our boost okay bad joke next up we are going to take a look at some of the most famous vegetables in spain and when to get them because we are very lucky here we have a cornucopia of amazing fruits and vegetables and now we know in a grocery store in a supermarket you can get tomatoes all year round but we know us as spaniards as people who love our fresh fruits and vegetables and don't ever change guys don't move over to that processed crap there's nothing like fresh fruits and vegetables and i have to keep reminding myself of that as well but today we're going to take a look at some of spain's classics and when to get them and just remember a lot of these are grown in the greenhouses where my father is from las yeah but a greenhouse is invernadero all right well let's take a look we'll start with some artichokes i hated them when i was a kid and now i freaking love them artichokes the best time to eat artichokes is from december to may that's when they are in season next up we've got asparagus but remember we've got green asparagus and white asparagus if green is your thing then march in april if white asparagus is your thing then it's april through june hey we can practice our months as well next up we've got aubergine as the british call it we call it eggplant you say berna the best time to eat those may through november there are some that are all year long beetroot for example or beets which is remolacha carrots there's another vegetable that you can eat all year long and they say it's good for your vision my vision is 20 20 and it's because i eat a lot of carrots i'm convinced well have you ever seen a bunny wearing glasses okay okay bad joke it's a classic joke from our childhood other things that you can get all year round shard or swiss chard a felga in spanish garlic which is one of my favorite ingredients keeps the vampires away ajo leaks and leeks this is an interesting one puertos onions same family radish and lettuce so i didn't know that those are things that you can eat fresh all year round because they grow in many different conditions and i love lettuce but let us move on[Laughter] okay i had to do it i couldn't hold back next up we've got brussels sprouts i don't want to be that guy but yuck my wife loves them well the best time to eat those is november to february then you've got button mushrooms or white mushrooms which is september to june not to be confused with wild mushrooms which are generally just in may cetas then you've got cabbage it's cabbage i think you say and that is from september to june cauliflower from october to march hey remember this is a good way to know all the vegetables you'll find in spain cucumber that's a big one in almeria too a cucumber pepino not to be confused with pepe niyo which is a pickle but just be careful with the pronunciation cucumber and we have an expression if somebody's as cool as a cucumber is he's as cool as a cucumber but we're going to look at more idiomatic expressions in the bonus episode don't forget about your green beans judias bear i love those and the best time to eat those february to october green peppers march through november another product from almeria but if you like red peppers well that's september to december i had no idea i thought they were in season at the same time what about peas gisantes those the best time to eat those is february to may and what about popeye's favorite oho salton popeye right popeye you say spinach no spinach it's spinach the best time to eat that is october to may and we'll wrap up with a classic tomatoes now tomatoes or tomatoes as the british say are traditionally best in march through november however like many fruits and veg these days you will find them all year round we have to wrap up the first part of today's show but i hope you will continue to grow your english with us in the bonus episode of today's fyi[Music][Music][Applause] you