Claire Ratinon and Alice Vincent discuss cauliflower recipes, the joys of down jackets and why the pungent scent of a house full of paper white daffodils is essential for the transition into winter.
Despite the cold late winter days, the atmosphere of this photo shoot at Bonnington Square Gardens in south London was warm and cozy. In the 1990s, with the help of designer Dan Pearson, this wartime bombing site, located on the other side of the Thames from Westminster, was transformed into a thriving community. Saturday Magazine's two new gardening columnists celebrate their moments in front of the camera with cookies and bursts of laughter.
Starting next weekend, alternating columns between the two authors (one week Ratignon will write about growing food, the next Vincent will talk about growing flowers) will allow us to immerse ourselves in a conversation about plants that has been going on for years. However, none of the women fit the stereotype of the avid gardener who sits on her parents' laps, farming and weeding; Both felt isolated from the normal world as children and only discovered the joys of adulthood in their twenties.
Rattinoni, 39 , was a documentary producer and living in New York in 2012 when he had an epiphany about the rooftop farm. Overlooking New York Harbor, Brooklyn Grange grows organic vegetables for the city's residents, and the sight of cabbages, carrots, tomatoes and peppers hanging over the city streets inspires us to think about the origins of the food we eat for the first time.
"I was drawn to this amazing place in the middle of this huge city, where wonderful, beautiful, delicious, generous plants grow," Ratignon says. He volunteered there before returning to the UK two years later to continue his horticultural education, including growing food for Yotama Ottolenghi's plant-based restaurant and working as a school gardener. He now lives in East Sussex and raises chickens and vegetables on his own plot.
Vincent, 34, grew up in the country but largely ignored plant life until his twenties. He was working as a journalist when he began to hear the buzz about people in their 20s and 30s taking plants. "I understand the world by studying it and writing about it, so I ended up not understanding the difference between annuals and perennials," he says.
Moving to an apartment with a balcony prompted him to experiment with plants, to grow herbs for his kitchen; You assumed you had a big yard, a lot of money, or a lot of time. I didn't have any of that, so I started writing about it and documenting it on Instagram."
Instagram allowed the two gardeners to bond, though their first face-to-face meeting at a rain-soaked food festival cemented their friendship. With hardly anyone coming to listen to her garden, the pair chatted for hours and eventually headed to a local pub for more free chats.
"We're not done with the conversation, and it's still happening," Vincent said.
Ratingen and Vincent connect without feeling part of the cozy cycle that permeates the garden world. "None of us felt accepted or comfortable planting a garden," says Vincent. "Maybe at Chelsea I could do well, but deep down I'm still the guy who went to the library and tried to figure out how to grow up."
“Most of the time I still feel like a beginner and I want to get better at it. Many of us garden because it allows us to constantly learn. For me, it's as much about the results as it is about the exposure."
One of their common goals in their columns is to improve understanding of what it means to be a gardener or farmer. Ratignon said: "For a long time I did not have a piece of land to which I could devote myself steadily. I always worked on other people's land. There are many gatekeepers who can call themselves gardeners."
The climate crisis added an additional sense of urgency. "We're in a situation where we can't believe that gardening can be fun for people who have the means," says Vincent. “We need to interact with the world around us because it is disappearing as we know it. And the only way to save her is to understand what she is doing to us."
This could mean challenging our preconceived notions of what a "beautiful garden" is, Ratingen adds. “When you consider how much your land contributes to the wider ecosystem, the concept of 'beauty' becomes something else. We cannot live in the old way, because it no longer serves us."
The search for retinol is the peak of the growing year. Feeding others with local produce is her "love language". Vincent's kingdom is now the kingdom of flowers. She describes her best gardening moment as getting up at 6.30am in early summer to enjoy pottery in her garden in south London.
Neither of them expects to encroach too heavily on the other's growth territory. "It made sense for me to divide the column into different subject areas," Vincent says. "I think he's the rare gardener who really does it all."
But they hope that their hives will talk to each other and find a common language, especially when it comes to edible flowers. Both love nasturts. Vincent for its sufficient comfort, Rotinone because every part of it is edible.
"I think we should raid each other's gardens when they're at their best," says Vincent. "I can try to make a flower arrangement out of Claire's vegetables and she can make a salad out of my flowers."
Her friendly approach should appeal to people who aren't sure if gardening is for them. They also intend to sing of his prosperity. "You feel better when you're sick, and if we can make it easier, great," says Vincent.
Ratignon also hopes that his columns contain poignant moments "about bullying by moles and badgers". Composting and loss stories are also confirmed.
Vincent remembers the time Rotenon came to fix the smelly compost pile.
"It healed," Ratingon said, adding that the bag also contained a "vaccination" from his compost pile. And now, Vincent adds, "a little bit of your yard in my yard."
Flowers: Kathy Musgrave, unrulyflowers.co.uk. Ceramic mug: Rosamund Coady
