My Gardening Philosophy
Salisbury Grange founder, Phoebe Grealy with farm dog Banjo
Who and what is Salisbury Grange?
Salisbury Grange is me, Phoebe Grealy and I am ably assisted in the garden by my dog Banjo.
What was the first thing you ever grew?
The first thing I ever grew were mammoth sunflowers. I ordered them off the internet, I can’t even remember where from. I had absolutely no idea what to do with the seeds or how much to water, but they did grow and they were HUGE! It snowballed from there.
What made you get into gardening in the first place?
I really do think it was fated for me and there are 2 answers to this! The first is I was a food writer and love to eat the best food and best produce and I started to notice how the quality of what people grew in their home gardens was so good, so I had that motivation in the back of my mind. The other part of the story was that I moved into my grandparents house and out of nowhere a tomato bush came out of the ground in their (now retired) garden. I didn’t even notice it until it had hundreds of sun-ripened, super sweet tomatoes on it! I realised if that could grow on its own, I could definitely plant some things that I wanted.
Where is your garden?
My garden is wherever I am. I first started experimenting with growing things in my grandparents garden which is in the Brisbane suburb of Salisbury. It’s the namesake of my business Salisbury Grange and my grandparents and their garden and way of life is the biggest influence on me and my business. When I bought a property of my own in Toowoomba, I also cultivated an organic garden there and many of the seeds I sell have been grown both in Salisbury and Toowoomba.
With COVID and quarantine I am now back in my hometown of Brisbane and am lucky enough to have some plots at Northey Street City Farm. In the future I envision Salisbury Grange will be my own large property that people can come and visit filled with an orchard, olive grove, vineyard and an incredible Gingko Biloba tree and huge proud English Oak Tree.
Who do you look up to in business?
I have so many influences, I love Ruth Reichl for food writing and Michael Reynolds for sustainable design, but my key business inspiration is Erin Benzakein from Floret. She is so organised, well read, down to earth and produces the most incredible flowers and has built her company up from nothing into something so incredible it has inspired many people across the world to get into the garden. I took her online course which was a huge expense for me at the time and I have never regretted it once.
What’s your gardening philosophy?
I have many thoughts and philosophies on gardening, on being organic and the environment. However, I will say my overriding philosophy is simply that growing is easy and I believe anyone can grow anything they want. I have one gardening rule and this is that I will never put chemicals anywhere near my soil. I’m obsessed with my soil!
How does Banjo help this whole operation?
Banjo, my 5 year old Maltese pooch, loves to be in the garden. He always helps me by pulling the hose in his mouth when I’m watering! My mum saw a psychic recently and the psychic said she was seeing a small white dog in a garden and that the message she was getting was that the dog likes helping with the gardening! Banjo!
What’s next for Salisbury Grange?
I’m always growing new things to add to my seed range, currently ancient wheat and medicinal herbs/organic teas. I’m also researching biodynamics more because I want to learn to become biodynamic myself. And having seen so many peoples gardens now — so many customers and clients send me photos of what they’re growing — I’m creating online tutorials to get people off to the best start. I truly want to see as many people growing their own home garden as possible!