Gardeners' World (1968) Season 58 Episode 30

Name: Gardeners' World (1968) Season 58 Episode 30
Uploaded: 2025-11-08T06:05:44+00:00
Duration: 59 min
Channel: Reality Insight Hub
Description: Gardeners' World (1968) Season 58 Episode 30 #Gardeners'World #RealityInsightHub 🎞 Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free, as soon as possible. ❤️Reality Insight Hub❤️ 👉 Official Channel: https://www.dailymotion.com/TrailerBolt 👉 THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Gardeners' World (1968) Season 58 Episode 30

#Gardeners'World
#RealityInsightHub

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00:00Hello.

00:02Hello.

00:04Hello.

00:06Hello.

00:08Hello.

00:10Hello.

00:14It's lovely to be back at Danvin Farm with this lovely autumnal light and dew on the ground.

00:35Yes, it's slightly chilly, but it's the perfect time for some good autumn gardening

00:39jobs.

00:40And one of those is division.

00:43So this patch here is in dappled shade and it's growing this lovely plant called tilima.

00:50Now it's a close relative of heuchera and tiarella and the leaves look very similar.

00:56Another word for it is fringe cup.

00:58So in the spring, this shoots up a spike of flowers with little white cups with lovely

01:04fringed petals.

01:05So a really pretty plant and now's the perfect time to divide it.

01:10Now from here, with a bit of careful prizing, I reckon we can get three or four good plants.

01:18But with a bit of extra, you could if you wanted to get even more.

01:23I'm going to get my dog absolutely covered in soil here.

01:29Go on, find somewhere else to play.

01:33Spring and autumn are the best time for doing division of perennial plants.

01:38Now the benefit from doing this now is that over the winter, these roots have even more

01:41chance to put on some growth, get really, really strong and well established.

01:46Maybe in the spring, the flowers will not be quite so prolific, but from then on and each

01:51year they should get stronger and stronger and be really healthy plants.

01:54And with getting them from the garden, all of the mycorrhiza, all of the bacteria that

01:59are already in the soil and interacting with this plant to keep it healthy, will go into its

02:03new home and keep these little new plants healthy as well.

02:23Now this is just one of the things I'm planning on adding to a container, but here are some

02:27of the other lovely things we have to share with you today.

02:31Arit explains the secret of great design from a couple's garden in Oxfordshire.

02:36The wraparound of glass obviously lets lots of light come into this part of the home.

02:42But also what it does is put the garden on view 24-7.

02:48We meet a teacher in Bristol who shares his appreciation for apples at a city centre allotment.

02:54Over 40 kinds of tree fruit probably are in one half of an allotment plot.

03:00And we get lots and lots of fruits off here and it's just wonderful.

03:05Nick shines a spotlight.

03:06Wow.

03:07On the plant science behind the importance of light.

03:10Gosh, the difference really is astonishing, isn't it?

03:13I mean, this is nuts.

03:16And we join Sue at home as she propagates and plans for next year.

03:20For now I'm going to pop them into water.

03:23Later on I'm going to put them into a peat-free compost and they should romp away.

03:27Now I have been coming here for the last couple of seasons and seen the garden change and it's always such a beautiful space.

03:48And that's really because Alison Jenkins who lives here and gardens here has put it together so very well.

03:55When I first came here, Alison and I planted some salads in containers just here on the decking.

04:01Now that all of the crops in here are well and truly over and the harvest is finished, it's time to replenish these containers.

04:11And although you might want to leave some of them clear to grow crops in again, this one here is going to become a permanent display of perennials.

04:19So what I'm going to do is just enrich the compost that's in here. I won't throw it all away.

04:27So I'm just going to add homemade compost to this container and that will bring nitrogen and potash and phosphates and all of those good plant nutrients that are needed for plant growth.

04:38But it will also bring with it some weed seeds.

04:41So when this is finished, I will just mulch the whole thing with some shop bought compost, which has been sterilized and that will act as a weed suppressing mulch.

04:52And the first plant I'm going to add to this is a bulb. Obviously autumn is bulb planting time of the year.

04:57This is a Narcissus daffodil called Thalia and it's one of my favorite daffodils.

05:05It's got a pure white flower and it's scented. And if you plant them really densely, they look great.

05:12Eventually when I actually plant them, I'm going to dig them down because they are quite large bulbs.

05:16And generally as a rule of thumb, a bulb needs to be planted about three times its own depth.

05:21So that will eventually be a good trowel's depth below the top of this container. So I will dig these in.

05:28That is not a dog bed. There we go.

05:48When you're planting a bulb, there is always an up and a down.

05:50So look for the root plate, the basal plate. That's this bit at the bottom.

05:54That's got the roots coming out of it. And then the tip is the growing tip where the leaves will come.

05:59And always make sure you're putting healthy bulbs in. Sometimes they can go a little bit soft,

06:03but a nice firm bulb should make a healthy plant.

06:15Now I'm going to add this compost to the top.

06:19So just a thick mulch to stop the weeds from coming up.

06:24There we go.

06:30In terms of the actual planting that's going into here, some of it comes from the garden.

06:34So there's the tenema that I divided just now.

06:38And also some melica, which has come from the garden.

06:41That is a beautiful ornamental grass, really, really underrated.

06:44There are also some plants that have been brought in like this.

06:49This is a Carex, Apalachica.

06:56And I'll put three of them in with a fern.

07:00This is a Polypody.

07:02And another three of those will give an evergreen structure throughout the pot.

07:07If I just get the placement of those first off.

07:10Sets of three or five do create balance in a container.

07:14And a slightly symmetrical layout will make this look good from every angle.

07:19Obviously, if you were putting it against a wall,

07:21you'd want more interesting things at the front and taller things at the back.

07:25So if I get them actually planted in,

07:28we can work the rest from that point.

07:30These are all very well adapted woodland plants.

07:44So this container is perfect for a shady position in the garden,

07:47which can be tricky to fill with interest.

07:50So I think one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that is to use evergreen.

07:55Use the colour green.

07:56Best colour there is anyway.

08:00There's a window here and a room behind.

08:03I think wherever you have a window and a view out onto the garden,

08:06if you're lucky enough to have that, you should fill it with beauty.

08:09So little containers like this draw your eye out and create something beautiful to look at,

08:15even in the depths of winter when you may not actually want to go outside into the garden.

08:20So the next thing to go in will be the talima I divided earlier on.

08:26And because that has quite a tall flower spike,

08:29that will look best in the middle.

08:31We'll just snip off the dead leaves and stems just to make it look really neat.

08:37Because I think when you have something in a container display,

08:41you really are displaying it.

08:43If I was just plonking this back in the border,

08:46probably wouldn't go to that much effort.

08:48But there we go.

08:49Nice and neat.

08:50Now the last plant I'm going to add is this melica.

09:00But just again, I'm going to tidy them up a little.

09:04So then go throughout and then sprout up through the whole display

09:11and create a little bit of chaos in this very symmetrical planter.

09:16It is so special to be able to look out of the window and see your garden and the way that our gardens interact with our homes is a really interesting element of garden design.

09:42Now Aret went to Oxfordshire to discover more.

09:49We gardeners get so attached to our outdoor spaces.

09:52And why wouldn't we?

09:53We spend precious hours nurturing and loving the space that is our unique garden, our piece of land.

10:00So when we have to reluctantly give it all up and move on, it can be heartbreaking.

10:11For Jan and Ken, moving from their cherished rural garden with sweeping views to a smaller garden was a huge decision.

10:19But it was also an opportunity to create something new.

10:23I'm delighted with how mature looking the garden is.

10:30And I'll get up and I'll walk around this garden at six in the morning and it's beautiful with the sunrise.

10:37It's really lovely.

10:38It takes on a different look.

10:40What was your sort of ideas and vision that you had for it?

10:42We decided the most important thing was to have a practical garden that I could always enjoy.

10:49The main thing was low maintenance.

10:51You notice there's no grass.

10:54And we're getting to the age where we thought we really ought to always be able to cope with it.

10:59It needed to be future proof.

11:02No steps.

11:03One level.

11:04One level.

11:05And that involved quite a lot of earth moving.

11:08It was a mud bath.

11:09Yeah, very, very wet.

11:11And then when I stood here and I thought, this is the weirdest shaped lot.

11:15What are we going to do with it?

11:19I really love that Jan and Ken were very specific in the fact that they did not want lawn in this garden.

11:31They'd had enough of it.

11:32But that means they get lots of plants.

11:35And I really love this planted palette actually.

11:37I think there's some nice touches.

11:39Using the grasses.

11:41This panicum here.

11:42And the hackanocloa.

11:44Continual movement that will be within this space.

11:47Which is important.

11:48There's a lot of open paving here.

11:50But then to have the static more solid plants.

11:54Things like the hyalatella firm here.

11:56The yew balls.

11:57That also holds the structure of the planting together.

12:00And that's really important.

12:02And having height within the space.

12:04Things like the persicaria.

12:06As well as that actaea.

12:08Gives you a sense of being immersed within the garden space.

12:11Not everything's down at a low level.

12:13But at the low level.

12:15Important ground cover.

12:16So things like the aduga here.

12:18That helps to keep the suppression of weeds.

12:21So this palette of plants is not only looking good.

12:24But there's functionality to it as well.

12:34Boundaries should always be considered in the garden.

12:36Either lose them.

12:38And make sure that they just become secondary within the design.

12:42Or here.

12:43Celebrate them and bring them forward.

12:46So this is large fencing panels.

12:51I have to say.

12:53I think it really does work.

13:00It was really important to Jan and Ken to have the garden on one level.

13:05And it's a good consideration when you're thinking ahead.

13:08Now this non-slip of this porcelain is very practical.

13:13But also as well it runs seamlessly into the rest of the house.

13:17But the designers also use this lovely brick paver.

13:21And I like how it's creating this meandered pathway.

13:24Around this border.

13:26Framing it.

13:27But it's also adding colour into the garden.

13:30And it picks up the accents of the stem on the actaea.

13:33Even the little flowers on the hack and the clover there.

13:36So this subtlety of colour.

13:38Is an actual very clever design punch in this garden.

13:55The house and garden are only two years old.

13:58And the borders are maturing so well.

14:00But a house when it's new can feel quite stark.

14:03And quite out of place.

14:05By cloaking it with climbers like this evergreen trackless burman.

14:09It starts to give it a sense of place already.

14:11A sense of age.

14:13So, got an empty wall.

14:15Put a climber on it.

14:17Having a water feature was a non-negotiable.

14:35Because it had the practical solution of helping to muffle the sound of the road alongside the garden.

14:42But as an actual focal point in this garden.

14:46I think it's wonderful.

14:47I love the copper reel here.

14:49It's going to patina so nicely.

14:51Give it a lovely verdigris colour.

14:53But this old trough.

14:55This stone trough.

14:56It's got such a sense of place.

14:58It really grounds the design.

15:08The wraparound of glass in this lower portion of the house.

15:11Obviously lets lots of light come into this part of the home.

15:15But also what it does is put the garden on view 24-7.

15:20What that means is that the planting and the design within it therefore.

15:25Has to be looking on point all times of the year.

15:28And that's been achieved through evergreen planting.

15:31Gorgeous trees that have got structural interest even when they defoliate.

15:35And it's even making sure that the perennials can work into the winter months.

15:41So things like the hack and the clower go a gorgeous golden colour.

15:44And don't need to be cut down until February or March.

15:47So when you've got a garden like this that is actually surrounding the house.

15:52Celebrate it.

15:53Bring it right up inside.

15:55And enjoy it.

15:56It's definitely true that as well as all the design challenges.

16:05that come with a new garden.

16:20There's that emotional wrench of saying goodbye to something you've put so many years and so much love into.

16:26It's always tough.

16:28Now this is or was the meadow.

16:32And it's now been cut back and turned into hay.

16:35And grass clippings in themselves can build up over the summer.

16:38And it's sometimes hard to know what to do with all of that plant material.

16:42But Alison actually has a very cool way of dealing with all of her cut back plants.

16:56Hi Alison.

16:57Hiya.

16:58Aren't we lucky with the sunshine?

16:59I know.

17:00Isn't it gorgeous?

17:01It's beautiful.

17:02Now tell me what you're going to do with this hay.

17:04Because I know this is where the squashes were growing before.

17:08But what is the plan with all of this?

17:10So I've been making these compost cakes for a few years now.

17:13And I adapted it from a method I learnt that was taught really as an approach to.

17:19It's a way you can make compost without having a compost bin.

17:23You can do a free-standing cake.

17:25But as I was learning it, I was thinking,

17:27oh, I've got loads of hay from my meadow.

17:30But I wouldn't reuse that as compost because it's got lots of grass seed in.

17:34But it actually works perfectly to build these structures in the field,

17:38to use them as a place to grow squash.

17:41Because they're big and sprawly and they can just spread.

17:44And we've all seen pumpkins that have germinated in the compost heap,

17:48being really happy.

17:50So what are these twigs doing at the centre there?

17:52So that's really made me to give some aeration in the bottom.

17:57And then layering different materials.

17:59So obviously I've got quite a lot of hay.

18:01And then whatever else we have to hand.

18:03So we usually have a lot of nettles, grass clippings.

18:07So just kind of layers of different materials and then wetting it in between.

18:12Right, shall we start the first layer?

18:14Yes.

18:15So what are these uprights for?

18:26The idea is to create a defined shape, not just a big pile of stuff.

18:31You need a relatively decent size, I'd say minimum two metres really,

18:36just so that you've got enough material for it to break down.

18:43So basically anybody could do this with whatever materials they're cutting back.

18:47So long as you've got that good balance between your browns and your greens,

18:51your carbon and the nitrogen.

18:53Woody material and leafy material basically.

18:55Yeah.

18:56So I do this side?

19:11Yeah.

19:12Thanks.

19:13I guess it's going to be quite tall.

19:15In the middle it would be bone dry for a long time if it wasn't wet.

19:18So yeah, each layer we tend to water.

19:21It just helps everything break down.

19:23So the microorganisms need a moist environment to be active.

19:30There you go.

19:31So what is the next layer going to be now?

19:34Well we can use some of the old compost from the previous year's compost cake.

19:39So yeah, if you just have a little feel of what's going on in there,

19:44it's just, you know, it's all really composted down.

19:47Oh wow, that's really, really nice isn't it?

19:50It's a beautiful texture.

19:52Perfect.

19:53Yeah, so we reuse that and we'll layer that between all the new layers of hay

19:58and other herbaceous material.

20:00Amazing.

20:01I'm going to try this on my allotment.

20:02I'm going to do it.

20:03It's inspired me, Alison.

20:04Good.

20:17I'm just gathering a few of the windfalls that are way beyond eating to add to Alison's compost cake and ones that have rodent damage.

20:29Now it's a really common worry if you have a compost heap that you don't want to add food to it because you can bring things like rats in.

20:36But here I figured they're going to be eating the apples when they're on the ground rather than bothering to go to the effort of burrowing into a compost heap to get them.

20:44So I'm going to put a few windfalls into that compost cake.

20:47Now isn't this orchard just beautiful and idyllic, but you do not need acres and acres to be able to grow a lovely, beautiful and very productive collection of apples.

21:01At the moment, this country imports probably about 85% of the fruit and admittedly a fair amount of that will be citrus and bananas.

21:15But we could grow so much more and I'm really interested to see how much we can get into a small space and that anybody can do that.

21:22My name's Tim Foster and this is my allotment and I teach gardening here in sunny Bristol.

21:30Over 40 kinds of tree fruit probably are in one half of an allotment plot.

21:39It's a very abundant plot and we get lots and lots of fruit off here and it's just wonderful.

21:47So to enable us to get as many trees in as possible, we've used a number of different techniques.

21:54So simply one of the most obvious ways of trying to get fruit into a small space is to have a small plant.

22:02And with a tree, you would normally think that's not possible.

22:05But here we have a little apple tree and this particular variety is one called Darcy spice.

22:11And just behind me in the brassica cage, we've got kale and purple sprouting broccoli, which is probably larger than this little tree.

22:20What determines the size of a tree is the rootstock.

22:24And every tree that we buy, virtually anyway, has been grafted.

22:29That means that a piece has been taken from a variety, which will have the fruit that you want to eat.

22:35That's called the scion and it's grafted to attach it to the top of the very dwarfing rootstock.

22:44And then the rootstock is in the ground and will influence the size.

22:51Something people say is why you're growing so many apples.

22:55Well, each individual tree doesn't necessarily produce a huge amount.

22:59So it's the range which is quite important.

23:02The total quantity of apples, yes, we've got quite a lot, but they're all used and they are spread out over the months.

23:09And so, yeah, we need them all.

23:13So another way of getting a lot of fruit into a small space is to actually grow them on single stems.

23:24And we've got seven trees in a line along here.

23:28That means I've got seven varieties of apple and when one doesn't produce in one year,

23:34it doesn't matter because I've got the others there.

23:37The very first one is one called Tom Putt.

23:41It's an early cooker and that means it's ready when the blackberries are ready.

23:46And that can't be any better than blackberry and apple.

23:49At the other end of the row of cordons, we've got a complete contrast.

23:54This is a dessert apple and it's one called Pitmast and Pineapple.

23:58And it's just a delightful little fruit, which genuinely do have a hint of pineapple about them.

24:12Magic.

24:13You won't get anything like that in a supermarket. You've got to grow it yourself.

24:25Cordons are grown in their particular way for a reason.

24:28And the cordons themselves are at 45 degrees, not upright.

24:33That's because those branches are being stressed slightly and it encourages flowering and fruiting.

24:39We can do a very similar thing with a freestanding tree where the branches are upright and none are not fruiting terribly well.

24:46So we can bring the branches down from the vertical towards the horizontal by tying a weight on it.

24:51It's called festooning.

24:53Lovely name.

24:54All it is is simply stressing those branches and getting them to fruit a little bit more easily.

24:59After time, if this works, the weight of the apples themselves will keep the branch down and we won't need these,

25:06which is quite handy because when you're moving around you quite often get a face full of log.

25:17So another great way of getting fruit into a small space, having that variety, is to have something slightly strange

25:25and that's have to have one tree with more than one variety on it.

25:29It's called multi-grafting.

25:31And this particular tree has got four different varieties on it and starting with discovery,

25:40which is a slightly strawberry-tasting fruit, fairly mild, but it's ready in August.

25:48That's followed by Ellison's orange, tastes of aniseed.

25:53Really a unique apple.

25:56The third one on here is called Winston and that's terrific for storage.

26:02So we'll be eating those well into the new year.

26:05A little bit small, perhaps should have been thinned.

26:08Who's in charge here?

26:10Finally, at the back is a fourth variety, which I was donated because it's a very special one.

26:17It's called Cat's Head.

26:18Some places call it pig snout because of the shape of it.

26:21And the reason why it's special is because it's possibly from Roman times, certainly pre-medieval times.

26:30And I'm growing it possibly for that reason alone, because it's a pretty foul taste.

26:37I'd find it really difficult to pick out a particular variety, which I'd say is the best.

26:47But if I was really pushed, it might be this one here.

26:50And this is a variety called Ashmead's Kernel.

26:53It's a really lovely crisp, creamy white flesh and the flavour is so complex and rich, it blows everything else out of the water.

27:04And this will store really well as well.

27:06I'm very pleased the way this has all turned out.

27:15It's a little sanctuary as much as anything.

27:17And I hope anybody visiting here will be able to see what is possible.

27:22And as a teacher, I quite like the idea that people could learn from how to grow trees and particularly how we can all fit fruit trees into a small area and make sure that we all have homegrown fruit.

27:36I love that project.

27:49Tim seems such a lovely man and the generosity of growing, learning yourself so that you can pass on not only the plants and the fruits to other people, but all that knowledge as well.

28:00It's such a lovely way of approaching gardening.

28:03Come on, Rue.

28:05Now this may not be an edible fruit like an apple, but just look at the berries on this tree.

28:14They're like a metallic blue with this pink calyx behind.

28:18Really, really gorgeous.

28:19This is a Chlerodendron trichotomum.

28:21It's a lovely tree and when it's in flower, they're also heavily scented so they fill the whole air with a beautiful smell.

28:28And I'm actually going to take some cuttings.

28:30Now, this is a plant that does throw up suckers and one way of propagating it is to dig those suckers out with some roots as well.

28:43This one hasn't yet got big enough to do that, but this I would say is perfect for hardwood cuttings.

28:49It's got straight vigorous growth that goes right the way up.

28:53It's non-fruiting, non-flowering, so it's really going to be great.

29:06Look, one snip of a branch and that is going to get me loads of potential new trees.

29:12I'm just going to go and check with Alison where she wants me to put them.

29:16Look at that, it's really coming on.

29:23Oh, Alison, that is so satisfying, isn't it?

29:27They're quite satisfying to build.

29:29Is it finished now?

29:30Yeah, so we'll leave this now for the winter and of course it will gradually kind of compost down to maybe half that size by June, you know, when we're ready to plant the squash out.

29:43I have snipped off a piece of your clarodendron.

29:47I was going to take some hardwood cuttings from it, but do you have an outside bed I could stick them in?

29:51Yeah, there's a little bit of a nursery bed just down by the compost bins.

29:55OK, perfect, I'll do that then.

29:58See you soon.

30:02Who wouldn't want more of these beautiful shimmering berries of clarodendron?

30:07It may be early in the season for hardwood cuttings, but as the leaves are starting to turn yellow, it shows it's starting to enter dormancy.

30:15Taking hardwood cuttings is a really magical thing to do because from just one branch you can actually get loads and loads of new plants.

30:33But the key to success in it is, number one, patience. Let things stay out in the bed for a good while.

30:40It might even be a year before they're going to have good roots on them.

30:44And number two, it may sound obvious, but remembering which way's up and which way's down.

30:50Because in the middle of winter, if you're taking hardwood cuttings, there won't be leaves to help guide you.

30:56The way that I remember is I make a flat cut on the bottom just below a node and then a diagonal cut on the top above a node.

31:08And the theory for that is that it means here water will slide off the cutting and not sit on the top and rot it.

31:15You can do this with things like hazel, willow, alder, elder, loads of woody plants will take well from hardwood cuttings.

31:28From one branch that's been pruned off that needed pruning off anyway, I've got 13 cuttings.

31:34They probably won't all take, but even if half of them do and hopefully even more than that will,

31:40that's loads and loads of trees, a whole forest of chlorodendron.

31:46Now what I will do is just push them straight into the beds.

31:51If you had very stony or tough ground, I would dig a little trench, lay them in it and then firm it back in

31:57so you don't damage the nodes as they go into the ground.

32:00But this is really nice soil.

32:02It's really important to remember that you label any hardwood cuttings

32:06because they will just look like twigs in the ground.

32:10They should start putting on shoots next summer and then in the autumn,

32:15when they're going into their dormant period, that's the perfect time to move them.

32:18Now I'll give them an initial water, but the great thing about doing this in the autumn

32:21is that they should get rained on fairly regularly.

32:24Isn't that incredible? Magical almost to be able to create so many plants from just one branch.

32:30Now speaking of magical plants, Nick has been looking at plant science

32:34and today he is taking a deep dive into light and how plants use it.

32:45As gardeners, we know light is essential for our plants to grow and flourish.

32:50You'll remember from school days that plants photosynthesise.

32:58They gather the energy from the sun via the green chlorophyll in their leaves

33:03and then combine it with water and carbon dioxide which then goes on to fuel their growth.

33:09It seems a remarkable feat for leaves, but these days scientists are discovering even cleverer skills.

33:17It turns out that plant cells can differentiate between different types of light

33:23and have evolved astonishing ways to get just the right amount that they need,

33:28depending on where they live.

33:33Many flowers in our borders need masses of light to flourish.

33:38But those on tropical forest floors have adapted to thrive in very deep shade.

33:44As a result of this, we are going to be able to see the right amount of light.

33:47Associate Professor Heather Whitney is the incoming Scientific Director

33:51here at the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens.

33:56Gosh, so this really does kind of set up that, I guess, tropical forest thing,

34:00just layers and layers of canopy creating masses of shade down on the ground, right?

34:05Absolutely. It can get really dark under here, but there are plants that can live right down at the bottom,

34:10but they've got some really strange adaptations to survive on tiny scraps of light.

34:17Begonias are classic tropical shade plants, and they've evolved ingenious ways to thrive.

34:25So you can see that some begonias have this metallic colouration,

34:29and there's a range of ways they can produce sort of these metallic colours,

34:32one of which is to take the light-harvesting structures in their leaves

34:37and actually then turn those into layer upon layer of structures,

34:42and those layers actually help slow the light down so they can squeeze every bit of energy out of the light.

34:48In such deep shade, though, their growth is slow,

34:54and it's thought patterned and shiny leaves may also help deter hungry predators.

35:00We've got some evidence for the fact that these metallic colourations

35:04might then protect that harvested light by really confusing the herbivores,

35:08because most leaves aren't metallic and aren't strange colours.

35:11Yeah, I mean, I guess a sparkly leaf isn't an obvious choice in your salad, right?

35:15Exactly. I don't think I've ever had an iridescent sweet.

35:21Evolving ways to cope with deep shade is clever, but it's a fraction of plants' abilities.

35:30As humans, we see sunlight as one colour,

35:32but shade-tolerant and sun-loving plants can recognise the rainbow of wavelengths and colours within it.

35:38So there are the usual red, yellow, blue and green that we all learn about at school.

35:47But sunlight is also made up of several other light wavelengths,

35:51such as ultraviolet or there's even one called far red.

35:55And plants are not just able to distinguish between these different types of light,

35:59but they employ them in different ways and for different tactics.

36:09Professor Kerry Franklin is a plant scientist specialising in how sun-loving plants actively avoid being in shade.

36:17And it's all about those different light waves.

36:22So two of the most important wavelengths for plants are red and blue light,

36:26because they absorb these wavelengths and use them for photosynthesis as a source of energy.

36:32And so something like this, this aster is going to be absolutely delighted.

36:35It's in full kind of open sunlight there and it can it can fully function.

36:39Absolutely, because if a plant grows over the top of your plant,

36:43it's going to block out all its light and stop it from photosynthesising.

36:49And amazingly, plants can recognise if they're being shaded by a life-threatening neighbour,

36:55rather than a passing cloud, by measuring red and far red light.

37:03Kerry has a handy brolly for illustration.

37:06When a plant grows over the top of another plant,

37:09the red light will be absorbed by the canopy, the leaves above and used for photosynthesis.

37:15However, the far red light, which isn't used for photosynthesis, will pass through the canopy.

37:20So what the plant detects is less red light, but not less far red light.

37:26And that's the signal that it's being shaded by another plant and not a cloud.

37:31Wow. So the fact that the shading plant ahead is absorbing certain wavelengths

37:35is what tells the little plant below that it's a plant that's shading it out.

37:39That's right. And that's a desperate situation for the plant,

37:42so it rapidly elongates its stems to try and either overtop its neighbours

37:47or to find a gap in the canopy above.

37:50Wow. So it's going to send up those shoots and elongate cells as quickly as it can.

37:53That's right.

37:54Back at the university, Kerry can show us exactly how that shade avoidance plays out.

38:04She has growing chambers which can shine different types of light on plants.

38:09So within these chambers, we can actually change the lighting on different shelves to actually mimic canopy shade.

38:18Wow. So in one cabinet, you could effectively have, you know, a top section that's full blazing sunlight

38:24and a lower section that's emulating natural shade.

38:27Yeah, that's right.

38:29Three weeks ago, Kerry set up an experiment for us.

38:34She sowed two identical trays of mixed seeds.

38:39And once they'd germinated, she put one in full light and one in shade conditions.

38:46She also popped some radishes in for good measure.

38:50And they've all been growing.

38:51Wow. They're so different. You can see the top batch are compact and chunky.

39:03I can see down here everything's so, so stretched and elongated and desperately seeking the light.

39:13On closer inspection, the results are even clearer.

39:17Between the plants in full sun and those in shade conditions.

39:25Gosh, the difference really is astonishing, isn't it?

39:28I mean, looking at these, you can see they've grown fairly conventionally.

39:31They're quite sort of squat and compact, ordinary-looking plants.

39:36And this is nuts. This is nearly 50 centimetres tall in contrast.

39:41Wow. I mean, all of this just because of light.

39:44Absolutely. And this is what happens if plants stay in the shade.

39:47So they'll start off by elongating their stems.

39:49But if the shade signal persists and they're really in trouble,

39:53then they flower immediately to try and set seed.

39:56And that's a kind of panic response, thinking I need to reproduce as fast as I can.

40:00Yeah, that's exactly what it is, yeah.

40:02And I guess we've all seen the same kind of thing at home.

40:04If we've over-sown a crop or something's kind of shaded out something we're growing,

40:08it sort of behaves in the same way, right?

40:10So that's why planting density is so important.

40:12You need to space them out enough to get enough light so that they grow healthy,

40:17like the plants over there.

40:19But looking at the radish roots, the difference is even more stark.

40:25The one in full light is healthy and tasty-looking,

40:29while the shaded plant has bolted with barely any root at all.

40:33And all of this is due to plants recognising different light wavelengths

40:41and using them for information and growth.

40:45We've all seen the plants in our garden stretch as a result of heavy shade,

40:51but to understand the science of how and why that happens

40:55gives me a whole new respect for these amazing organisms.

40:58When you see those two seed trays as a direct comparison,

41:19I know I've had seedlings like those unhealthy ones

41:21and then plants that I've put in the ground and have become like that,

41:23and just seeing how directly the light impacts it unlocks maybe where I've been going wrong in the past.

41:29So learning that plant science can really inform us to be better gardeners.

41:39The other thing that all plants obviously require is the correct temperature.

41:42And at this time of year it's starting to get chilly and there are some plants that will prefer to be indoors for the winter.

41:50So things like salvias, this is a blackcurrant sage, might be okay with a cold winter as long as it's not too wet,

41:58but to be on the safe side I'd bring that one in.

42:01This is salvia elegans or pineapple sage and the leaves actually do smell really strongly of pineapple.

42:06It's a lovely thing. It's not yet flowered. It has red flowers that should come very, very soon.

42:12But by looking at these leaves I can see they've begun to brown slightly.

42:16This is a warning for me that they need to come in now and get protected.

42:20This is another lovely, lovely, slightly tender plant.

42:25This is lemon verbena.

42:26So it can actually live outside if you're in a very mild and very dry area.

42:32But to be on the safe side I would bring this in if it's in a pot.

42:36And I would put them all into an unheated greenhouse or an unheated conservatory.

42:40And if you don't have either of those things,

42:43against a south facing wall and then keep your eye on the weather forecast.

42:46If there's a frosty night forecast, cover them with some fleece or a blanket.

42:50Then they should be fine for next year.

42:51It might have got a bit chilly, but there are still some things that are going to be fine for next year.

42:52It might have got a bit chilly, but there are still some things that are going to be fine for next year.

42:53It might have got a bit chilly, but there are still some things that you can put out even at this time of the year.

42:56It might have got a bit chilly, but there are still some things that you can put out even at this time of the year.

43:22Biennials that have been growing this year, but will hopefully flower next year, can now be planted out if you've got them in modules like this.

43:46Some of them are not fully hardy and some of them are fully hardy, so it's always worth checking what will and what won't survive the winter.

43:56But I've got two here that should, one that definitely will.

44:01This one is Hesperus, so it looks very much like a rocket, but it's really beautifully scented and that will flower next year.

44:10But you can see by the slightly purpling leaves that it's getting a little bit stressed now in its module.

44:16It's got a really good root system, absolutely perfect for planting out.

44:21So this should put on some roots and start getting some really healthy, vigorous green growth on the plant just in time for the winter.

44:30Hello, Roo!

44:34This next biennial is stock and they are half hardy.

44:41So there is a chance that they'll survive the winter out here if we have a mild one.

44:45If you were in doubt you could put some horticultural fleece over the top of them for the coldest parts of the year.

44:52But there is also a chance that the frost might kill them.

44:54So half of these I will pot into nine centimetre pots and put them in the greenhouse for the winter and half of them I'll give a chance growing outside.

45:01But they're such lovely plants.

45:02In fact, both of these flowers are scented in the evening, so they're perfect for nighttime pollinators like moths.

45:11I'm giving them plenty of space in between each one.

45:15You could plant these where you want them to actually end up, but Alison isn't yet sure exactly where she does want these to end up.

45:20So this is kind of a holding bed for the winter and then next spring they can be moved.

45:45There, that should be very happy in here until the spring when it can go outside.

45:50Now this year we have been following Sue's garden as it changes and today we're catching up with her as she takes stock of this glorious season.

45:58We're well into autumn now and there's still lots of things to do.

46:11And one of the things that I'm doing here is I'm removing some Japanese anemones.

46:16So we've got really windy weather and wet weather here in Wales and these can really stand up to that.

46:24They hold their flower.

46:25There we go.

46:26They hold their flower in all that weather so they're a stalwart of my garden.

46:30The reason I'm moving them out is because I planted this apricot rose which I grew myself from a cutting.

46:37And they're crowding it out so I want to give that rose space to develop.

46:41So one more dig I think and it'll come.

46:49These plants aren't going to go to waste.

46:51They've got a job to do.

46:52Last year my daughter decided to move house and she asked me to help her with the garden because it needs quite a lot of work.

47:06So what I've been doing is I've gone around my garden with her and she showed me all the plants that she likes.

47:13And I've dug some up.

47:15I've taken cuttings.

47:16I've taken, you know, seeds and grown them on.

47:19And these are my final plants that I want to add to the list but they need a bit of prep work.

47:24I'm cutting the tops off so the plant will send all its energies into growing new roots.

47:30For now I'm going to pop them into water.

47:34Later on I'm going to put them into a peat free compost and they should romp away.

47:46I'm a bit of a romantic and gardening for me is all about creating connections and special memories.

47:51And one of the memories I have is my grandfather's walnut tree.

47:54And he gave a seed to my father and a seed from my father's tree has come to me.

47:59And I want to do the same for my son.

48:01But the squirrels also like my walnuts and despite me caging them and trying to fend them off I've only managed to get three.

48:08And there are a couple of different ways I'm going to do this to try and get success.

48:12Now when they fall from the tree they can look like this green one.

48:16It's not quite ripe yet so it's not quite ready to try and plant.

48:20So this one the husk has gone black and it's cracking so it means it's ready to release the shell.

48:29And I'm going to try and do this but if you do it the colour of it will stain the fingers.

48:35So I'm going to use a bit of paper to protect me and my clothes and hopefully it'll open up.

48:42Oh it's coming away really easily, that's a relief.

48:47And look, here's the shell and inside is the nut, marvellous.

48:52I'm going to put this shell with the nuts inside into damp soil in a plastic bag.

48:59And I'm going to bury it in.

49:01Watch it up.

49:02In you go.

49:03I'm going to put it in the fridge for a process of something called stratification.

49:07Which is to mimic winter conditions so it's nice and cold.

49:11And that will encourage it to germinate.

49:13And I think that's going to take about a month.

49:16So I'll check then and all I'm looking for is a little white root.

49:19And once I see that I'll bring it out and pot it on and keep it in a frost free place.

49:24Probably in my cold frame over winter.

49:26Now this one I've had soaking in water overnight to sort of soften the shell.

49:32And I'm just going to pop it in to a pot of soil.

49:39I'm going to cover it nicely with a good covering of soil to keep it warm.

49:46Firm it down a little bit.

49:48But the thing I'm really worried about is Mr. Squirrel.

49:52So I'm going to try and deter him.

49:55These are bits of bamboo for my bamboo plant.

49:58So I'm going to push them into angles all around my walnut.

50:01I haven't a clue if this is going to work.

50:04He may think, I don't like that.

50:06Or it may be like red rag to a bull and he wants the challenge.

50:10I need to water it in.

50:13I've got two different options to get my walnut tree going.

50:19And I'll have to wait for this green one to blacken up a bit.

50:23And I may have success with that as well.

50:25Let's see what happens next year.

50:27I do enjoy eating garlic.

50:43But I find the cloves and the bulbs a bit small and fiddly.

50:47And the way round this, I've discovered, is elephant garlic.

50:50It's mild tasting, but the cloves are huge and really easy to manage.

50:56And when I dig them up, I sometimes find a lot of these little corms attached like this one.

51:02So I've decided to have a go at planting these corms.

51:05I've got quite a few here.

51:07I'm going to plant them in this bed.

51:11And they're going to take a year to even get to an individual garlic clove stage.

51:18And then they're going to take another year before they come to anything remotely like this.

51:23Possibly three.

51:28And around me, I've got these beautiful cosmos and echium.

51:32And you may remember that I planted this with all the seeds, old seeds that I didn't want.

51:37And these have been phenomenal.

51:45Being a long term project, I know I'm going to forget what I put in there.

51:49I'm going to label it.

51:52Then there'll be no confusion in the middle of winter.

51:55I'm assessing my wild white border at the end of the season because I don't feel it's been quite as good as it was the year before.

52:17I need something for the spring to lift the border.

52:20So I've chosen a tulip and it's Purissima, also known as White Emperor.

52:26And it's a perennial one, so it should come back next year.

52:29And the reason I've chosen it is that I've grown it before, so I know it.

52:33And it has nice sturdy stems for this windy Welsh weather.

52:36And it has a lovely flower, which holds on its stem for quite some time.

52:41This is not an ideal place for tulips because it doesn't get too much sun.

52:48So I'm going to have to treat them quite carefully.

52:51First, I've got a new tool.

52:54Pop it in and twist it around.

52:57And if it meets a stone, it rotates itself past it.

53:00Bit of a wiggle to get it out.

53:02Although it's stony, it is quite damp.

53:05And tulips don't like to have their roots damp.

53:07So I'm going to put in some gravel at the bottom.

53:10Now I've mixed the gravel with a bit of blood, fish and bone.

53:13Because I want the tulip to have the best start.

53:16And it needs a bit of something to keep it going through the winter.

53:19Well, we all do, don't we really?

53:21And pop it into the hole.

53:23Pointy side up.

53:25Down it goes, all snugly in the soil.

53:28Tamp it down a little bit.

53:31Top it up with some peat-free compost.

53:34Nestle it in for the winter.

53:38I'm only going to plant ten tulips because I'm not sure it's going to work.

53:42And if it does, I can then buy some more.

53:44And that's the thing about gardening.

53:46You need patience.

53:47These will be ready in the spring.

53:49The garlic will take probably two years.

53:51And I may not see a walnut from the walnut tree for ten years.

53:55Sometimes the longer the wait, the sweeter the reward.

54:00And with all these projects,

54:02I hope they're going to give me pleasure in the garden for many years to come.

54:17Of course, to be a gardener requires so much patience.

54:20But looking forward to stuff is the best part.

54:22The anticipation of what's to come.

54:25And one of the best things for that anticipation is planting bulbs.

54:37When I first came here, this gravel garden was full of beautiful orange digitalis.

54:44The parva flora.

54:45They were beautifully flowering.

54:47And now they've got these seed heads that give stature and grace to the autumn garden here.

54:52But what I'm going to do now is look ahead to not next season, not winter, but the spring after.

54:59And the bulb I'm going to plant in here is a pretty special tulip.

55:03It's a species tulip called Orphanidia.

55:06Now often when you buy tulip bulbs at this time of the year and plant them,

55:10they're very highly bred and they will flower beautifully for a year.

55:13They might come back a second or even a third.

55:15But this will reliably come back every year.

55:18And they naturalise and they'll form little clumps here.

55:21Now these ones have a kind of flame coloured flower that ranges from yellow through to red.

55:26And they almost turn back like little jester petals, but much smaller than your normal tulip flower.

55:33These tulips can cope with rain, but they really don't like to sit in the water.

55:38So they'll be very happy here in the gravel garden.

55:41Or if you had a very sunny, baked, free draining area in your garden or even a pot that you mix lots of gravel in with,

55:48they should do just as well there as long as it's bright and sunny.

55:52Now this is one of my favourite autumn jobs.

55:56But there are many other things that you can be getting on with this weekend if you fancy it.

56:01This is the perfect time of year for dividing herbaceous perennials that have lost their vigor and stopped flowering so much.

56:21Start by cutting back the stems of the clump that you want to remove and then either chop it or fork it out of the ground,

56:28making sure you have plenty of roots and shoots on all the parts you're replanting.

56:32Then simply put them wherever else you want them in the garden.

56:35Over the course of summer a huge amount of dust and maybe even some algae can build up on the glass of your greenhouse.

56:49This reduces the light levels over the winter, an all-important time for plants to continue photosynthesizing.

56:55So cleaning it off is really helpful.

56:58Use some water and a splash of vinegar.

57:01Wash it off with a cloth and then dry it down for the best results.

57:14If you want to use any plant material you chop back now but don't necessarily have space for a compost heap,

57:20then you can use the chop and drop method.

57:22Simply cut back any old stems or plants, save any seed heads for the birds to be fed over the winter

57:29and then chop up into small pieces all of the plant material and let it fall onto the ground.

57:35This will act as a mulch that will hold in moisture and feed the soil

57:38and also as excellent habitat for any insects over the winter.

57:42Well it's been a very lovely gift of a day here at Damsin Farm and actually beautiful seeing this really special garden at its best.

57:54It's a place where there's so much going on, aspirations for me personally to one day achieve this level of beauty and productivity and that really lovely ethical, biodiverse approach to gardening.

58:07It's been so lovely to spend.

58:21Today here, getting our hands dirty.

58:24But that's it for today.

58:26And Monty's back next week at Longmeadow.

58:28So until next time, goodbye.

58:30Corrie is out.

58:45해�éral.

58:49You

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