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00:00Hello,
00:29It's lovely to be back at Damsin 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 jobs.
00:41And one of those is division.
00:44So this patch here is in dappled shade and it's growing this lovely plant called tilima.
00:51Now it's a close relative of heuchera and tiarella and the leaves look very similar.
00:57Another word for it is fringe cut.
00:58So in the spring, this shoots up a spike of flowers with little white cups with lovely fringed petals.
01:05So a really pretty plant.
01:07And now is 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.
01:19But with a bit of extra, you could, if you wanted to, get even more.
01:24I'm going to get my dog absolutely covered in soil here.
01:29Go on, find somewhere else to play.
01:34Spring 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 chance 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 year they should get stronger and stronger and be really healthy plants.
01:54And with getting them from the garden, all of the mycorrhizae, all of the bacteria that are already in the soil and interacting with this plant to keep it healthy will go into its new home and keep these little new plants healthy as well.
02:09Now this is just one of the things I'm planning on adding to a container, but here are some of 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.
02:35The wraparound of glass obviously lets lots of light come into this part of the home, but also what it does is put the garden on view 24-7.
02:49We meet a teacher in Bristol who shares his appreciation for apples at a city centre allotment.
02:55Over 40 kinds of tree fruit probably are in one half of an allotment plot, and we get lots and lots of fruits off here, and it's just wonderful.
03:05Nick shines a spotlight on the plant science behind the importance of light.
03:11Gosh, the difference really is astonishing, isn't it? I mean, this is nuts.
03:16And we join Sue at home as she propagates and plans for next year.
03:21For now, I'm going to pop them into water.
03:24Later 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.
04:13And 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.
04:39But 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, a 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.
05:13Eventually, when I actually plant them, I'm going to dig them down, because they are quite large bulbs.
05:17And generally, as a rule of thumb, a bulb needs to be planted about three times its own depth.
05:22So that will eventually be a good trowel's depth below the top of this container.
05:26So I will dig these in.
05:28That is not a dog bed.
05:44There we go.
05:48When you're planting a bulb, there is always an up and a down.
05:51So look for the root plate, the basal plate.
05:53That's this bit at the bottom. That's got the roots coming out of it.
05:56And then the tip is the growing tip where the leaves will come.
06:00And always make sure you're putting healthy bulbs in.
06:02Sometimes they can go a little bit soft, but a nice, firm bulb should make a healthy plant.
06:15Now I'm going to add this compost to the top.
06:20So just a thick mulch to stop the weeds from coming up.
06:24There we go.
06:26In terms of the actual planting that's going into here, some of it comes from the garden.
06:35So there's the Tenema that I divided just now.
06:39And also some Melica, which has come from the garden.
06:42That is a beautiful ornamental grass, really, really underrated.
06:46There are also some plants that have been brought in like this.
06:50This is a Cerex, Apalachica.
06:56And I'll put three of them in with a fern.
07:01This 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, sets of three or five do create balance in a container.
07:15And a slightly symmetrical layout will make this look good from every angle.
07:20Obviously, if you were putting it against a wall, you'd want more interesting things at the front and taller things at the back.
07:25So if I get them actually planted in, we 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, which can be tricky to fill with interest.
07:51So I think one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that is to use evergreens.
07:55Use the colour green.
07:57Best colour there is anyway.
08:00There's a window here and a room behind.
08:04I think wherever you have a window and a view out onto the garden, if you're lucky enough to have that, you should fill it with beauty.
08:10So little containers like this draw your eye out and create something beautiful to look at,
08:16even in the depths of winter when you may not actually want to go outside into the garden.
08:21So the next thing to go in will be the talima I divided earlier on.
08:27And because that has quite a tall flower spike, that will look best in the middle.
08:32We'll just snip off the dead leaves and stems just to make it look really neat.
08:38Because I think when you have something in a container display, you really are displaying it.
08:44If I was just plonking this back in the border, it probably wouldn't go to that much effort.
08:49But there we go, nice and neat.
08:58Now the last plant I'm going to add is this Melica.
09:01But just again, I'm going to tidy them up a little.
09:03So I'm going to go throughout and then sprout up through the whole display and 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.
09:37And the way that our gardens interact with our homes is a really interesting element of garden design.
09:43Now Arit went to Oxfordshire to discover more.
09:49We gardeners get so attached to our outdoor spaces.
09:53And why wouldn't we?
09:54We spend precious hours nurturing and loving the space that is our unique garden, our piece of land.
10:01So 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.
10:24I'm delighted with how mature looking the garden is.
10:31And I'll get up and I'll walk around this garden at six in the morning.
10:36And it's beautiful with the sunrise.
10:38It's really lovely.
10:39Takes on a different look.
10:40What was your sort of ideas and vision that you had for it?
10:43We decided the most important thing was to have a practical garden that I could always enjoy.
10:50The main thing was low maintenance.
10:52You 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.
11:03No steps.
11:04One level.
11:04One level.
11:05And that involved quite a lot of earth moving.
11:08It was a mud bath.
11:10Yeah, very, very wet.
11:11And then when I stood here and I thought, this is the weirdest shaped plot.
11:16What are we going to do with it?
11:17I really love that Jan and Ken were very specific in the fact that they did not want lawn in this garden.
11:32They'd had enough of it.
11:33But that means they get lots of plants.
11:36And I really love this planting palette, actually.
11:38I think there's some nice touches.
11:40Using the grasses, this panicum here and the hakenocloa, continual movement that will be within this space, which is important.
11:48There's a lot of open paving here.
11:50But then to have the static, more solid plants, things like the halotelefoam here, the yew balls, that also holds the structure of the planting together.
12:01And that's really important.
12:02And having height within the space, things like the persicaria, as well as that actaea, gives you a sense of being immersed within the garden space.
12:12Not everything's down at a low level.
12:14But at the low level, important ground cover.
12:17So things like the aduga here, that helps to keep the suppression of weeds.
12:22So this palette of plants is not only looking good, but there's functionality to it as well.
12:32Boundaries should always be considered in the garden.
12:37Either lose them and make sure that they just become secondary within the design, or here, celebrate them and bring them forward.
12:47So this is large fencing panels.
12:51I have to say, I think it really does work.
12:55It was really important to Jan and Ken to have the garden on one level.
13:06And it's a good consideration when you're thinking ahead.
13:09Now, this non-slip of this porcelain is very practical.
13:14But also, as well, it runs seamlessly into the rest of the house.
13:18But the designers also use this lovely brick paver.
13:21And I like how it's creating this meandered pathway around this border, framing it.
13:28But it's also adding colour into the garden.
13:31And it picks up the accents of the stem on the actaea, even the little flowers on the hack and the clover there.
13:37So this subtlety of colour is an actual, very clever design punch in this garden.
13:51The house and garden are only two years old, and the borders are maturing so well.
14:01But a house, when it's new, can feel quite stark and quite out of place.
14:06By cloaking it with climbers like this evergreen Traculus burman, it starts to give it a sense of place already, a sense of age.
14:13So, I've got an empty wall, put a climber on it.
14:17Having a water feature was a non-negotiable because 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, I think it's wonderful.
14:47I love the copper reel here.
14:50It's going to patina so nicely, give it a lovely verdigris colour.
14:54But this old trough, this stone trough, it's got such a sense of place.
14:59It really grounds the design.
15:00The wraparound of glass in this lower portion of the house obviously lets lots of light come into this part of the home.
15:16But also what it does is put the garden on view 24-7.
15:21What that means is that the planting and the design within it, therefore, has to be looking on point all times of the year.
15:29And that's been achieved through evergreen planting, gorgeous trees that have got structural interest even when they defoliate.
15:36And it's even making sure that the perennials can work into the winter months.
15:42So, things like the hack and the clower go a gorgeous golden colour and don't need to be cut down until February or March.
15:48So, when you've got a garden like this that is actually surrounding the house, celebrate it, bring it right up inside and enjoy it.
15:57It's definitely true that as well as all the design challenges that come with a new garden,
16:21there's that emotional wrench of saying goodbye to something you've put so many years and so much love into.
16:27It's always tough.
16:29Now, this is, or was, the meadow and it's now been cut back and turned into hay.
16:36And grass clippings in themselves can build up over the summer.
16:39And 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 cutback plants.
16:45Hi, Alison.
16:57Hiya.
16:58Aren't we lucky with the sunshine?
17:00Oh, no.
17:00Isn't it gorgeous?
17:01It's beautiful.
17:02Now, tell me what you're going to do with this hay, because 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 and I adapted it from a method I learnt that was taught really as an approach to,
17:20it's a way you can make compost without having a compost bin.
17:23You can do a freestanding cake.
17:25But as I was learning it, I was thinking, oh, I've got loads of hay from my meadow,
17:31but 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 to use them as a place to grow squash because they're big and sprawly and they can just spread.
17:45And we've all seen pumpkins that have germinated in the compost heap being really happy.
17:51So what are these twigs doing at the centre there?
17:53Yeah. So that's really made me to give some aeration in the bottom and then layering different materials.
18:00So obviously I've got quite a lot of hay and then whatever else we have to hand.
18:05So we usually have a lot of nettles, grass clippings, so just kind of layers of different materials and then wetting it in between.
18:13Right. Shall we start the first layer?
18:16Yes.
18:16So what are these uprights for?
18:26The idea is to create a defined shape, not just a big pile of stuff.
18:32You need a relatively decent size, I'd say minimum two metres really, just so that you've got enough material for it to break down.
18:40So basically anybody could do this with whatever materials they're cutting back.
18:48So long as you've got that good balance between your browns and your greens, your carbon and nitrogen.
18:52Some woody material and leafy material basically.
18:55Yeah.
18:56Should I do this side?
19:11Yeah.
19:12Thanks.
19:14I 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.
19:22It just helps everything break down so the microorganisms need a moist environment to be active.
19:30There you go.
19:32So what is the next layer going to be now?
19:35Well 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, it'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 and other herbaceous material.
20:01Amazing.
20:01I'm going to try this on my allotment.
20:02I'm going to do it.
20:03It's inspired me, Alison.
20:05Good.
20:09I'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.
20:50Now isn't this orchard just beautiful and idyllic?
20:54But you do not need acres and acres to be able to grow a lovely, beautiful and very productive collection of apples.
21:06At the moment, this country imports probably about 85% of the fruit.
21:12And 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.
21:24My 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.
21:48So 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.
22:06But here we have a little apple tree and this particular variety is one called Darcy's 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.
22:18What determines the size of a tree is the rootstock and 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.
22:36That'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.
22:48Something people say is, why are you growing so many apples?
22:55Well, each individual tree doesn't necessarily produce a huge amount.
23:00So it's the range which is quite important.
23:03The total quantity of apples, yes, we've got quite a lot.
23:06But they're all used and they are spread out over the months.
23:10And so, yeah, we need them all.
23:12So 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.
23:29That means I've got seven varieties of apple.
23:31And when one doesn't produce in one year, it 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.
23:42And that means it's ready when the blackberries are ready.
23:47And 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.
23:59And it's just a delightful little fruit, which genuinely do have a hint of pineapple about them.
24:05It's magic.
24:14You won't get anything like that in a supermarket.
24:17You've got to grow it yourself.
24:26Cordons are grown in their particular way for a reason.
24:29And 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.
24:40We can do a very similar thing with a freestanding tree where the branches are upright and none are not fruiting terribly well.
24:47So we can bring the branches down from the vertical towards the horizontal by tying a weight on it.
24:52It's called festooning.
24:54Lovely name.
24:55All it is is simply stressing those branches and getting them to fruit a little bit more easily.
25:00After time, if this works, the weight of the apples themselves will keep the branch down and we won't need these, which is quite handy because when you're moving around you quite often get a face full of log.
25:12So another great way of getting fruit into a small space, having that variety, is to have something slightly strange and that's to have to have one tree with more than one variety on it.
25:30It's called multigrafting and this particular tree has got four different varieties on it and starting with discovery, which 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, really a unique apple.
25:56The third one on here is called Winston and that's terrific for storage.
26:03So we'll be eating those well into the new year, a 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.
26:19Some places call it Pig's Snout because of the shape of it.
26:22And 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.
26:42I'd find it really difficult to pick out a particular variety, which I'd say is the best, but if I was really pushed, it might be this one here.
26:51And this is a variety called Ashmead's Kernel.
26:54It's a really lovely, crisp, creamy white flesh, and the flavour is so complex and rich, it blows everything else out of the water.
27:05And this will store really well as well.
27:12I'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.
27:23And as a teacher, I quite like the idea that people could learn from how to grow trees,
27:29and particularly how we can all fit fruit trees into a small area and make sure that we all have homegrown fruit.
27:37I love that project.
27:50Tim seems such a lovely man, and the generosity of growing, learning yourself,
27:55so that you can pass on not only the plants and the fruits to other people, but all that knowledge as well.
28:01It's such a lovely way of approaching gardening.
28:04Come on, Brie.
28:04Come on.
28:07Now, this may not be an edible fruit like an apple, but just look at the berries on this tree.
28:15They're like a metallic blue with this pink calyx behind.
28:19Really, really gorgeous.
28:20This is a Clorodendron trichotomum.
28:22It's a lovely tree, and when it's in flower, they're also heavily scented,
28:26so they fill the whole air with a beautiful smell.
28:29And 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.
28:44This 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.
28:54It's non-fruiting, non-flowering, so it's really going to be great.
28:57Look, one snip of a branch, and that is going to get me loads of potential new trees.
29:13I'm just going to go and check with Alison where she wants me to put them.
29:17Look at that!
29:18It's really coming on.
29:18Oh, Alison, that is so satisfying, isn't it?
29:28They're quite satisfying to build.
29:29Is it finished now?
29:31Yeah, 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,
29:42you know, when we're ready to plant the squash out.
29:44I have snipped off a piece of your Clorodendron.
29:47I was going to take some hardwood cuttings from it, but do you have an outside bed I could stick them in?
29:52Yeah, there's a little bit of a nursery bed just down by the compost bins.
29:56Okay, yeah, perfect. I'll do that then.
29:58See you soon.
30:02Who wouldn't want more of these beautiful, shimmering berries of Clorodendron?
30:08It 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.
30:17Taking 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.
30:38Let things stay out in the bed for a good while.
30:41It might even be a year before they're going to have good roots on them.
30:45And 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.
30:57The 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 a theory for that is that it means here, water will slide off the cutting and not sit on the top and rot it.
31:16You can do this with things like hazel, willow, alder, elder.
31:23Loads of woody plants will take well from hardwood cuttings.
31:26From one branch that's been pruned off, that needed pruning off anyway, I've got 13 cuttings.
31:35They probably won't all take, but even if half of them do, and hopefully even more than that will,
31:41that's loads and loads of trees, a whole forest of chlorodendron.
31:47Now, 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.
32:03It's really important to remember that you label any hardwood cuttings,
32:07because they will just look like twigs in the ground.
32:11They should start putting on shoots next summer,
32:14and then in the autumn, when 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
32:22is that they should get rained on fairly regularly.
32:25Isn't that incredible?
32:26Magical, almost, to be able to create so many plants from just one branch.
32:31Now, speaking of magical plants, Nick has been looking at plant science,
32:35and today he is taking a deep dive into light and how plants use it.
32:40As gardeners, we know light is essential for our plants to grow and flourish.
32:55You'll remember from school days that plants photosynthesise.
32:59They 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.
33:10It seems a remarkable feat for leaves,
33:12but these days scientists are discovering even cleverer skills.
33:19It turns out that plant cells can differentiate between different types of light
33:24and have evolved astonishing ways to get just the right amount that they need,
33:29depending 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.
33:44Associate 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,
34:01just layers and layers of canopy, creating masses of shade down on the ground, right?
34:05Absolutely. It can get really dark under here,
34:08but 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.
34:18Begonias are classic tropical shade plants,
34:21and they've evolved ingenious ways to thrive.
34:26So you can see that some begonias have this metallic coloration,
34:30and there's a range of ways they can produce these metallic colors,
34:33one 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
34:45so they can squeeze every bit of energy out of the light.
34:51In such deep shade, though, their growth is slow,
34:54and it's thought patterned and shiny leaves
34:57may also help deter hungry predators.
34:59We've got some evidence for the fact that these metallic colorations
35:04might then protect that harvested light
35:06by really confusing the herbivores,
35:09because most leaves aren't metallic and aren't strange colors.
35:12Yeah, I mean, I guess a sparkly leaf
35:14isn't an obvious choice in your salad, right?
35:16Exactly.
35:17I don't think I've ever had an iridescent sweet.
35:22Evolving ways to cope with deep shade is clever,
35:26but it's a fraction of plant's abilities.
35:28As humans, we see sunlight as one color,
35:33but shade-tolerant and sun-loving plants
35:35can recognize the rainbow of wavelengths and colors within it.
35:41So there are the usual red, yellow, blue and green
35:45that we all learn about at school.
35:48But sunlight is also made up of several other light wavelengths,
35:52such as ultraviolet or this even one called far red.
35:56And plants are not just able to distinguish between these different types of light,
36:01but they employ them in different ways and for different tactics.
36:10Professor Kerry Franklin is a plant scientist specializing in how sun-loving plants
36:15actively avoid being in shade.
36:19And it's all about those different light waves.
36:23So two of the most important wavelengths for plants are red and blue light
36:27because they absorb these wavelengths
36:29and use them for photosynthesis as a source of energy.
36:33And so something like this, this aster,
36:35is going to be absolutely delighted.
36:36It's in full kind of open sunlight there and it can fully function.
36:40Absolutely, because if a plant grows over the top of your plant,
36:44it's going to block out all its light and stop it from photosynthesizing.
36:50And amazingly, plants can recognize if they're being shaded by a life-threatening neighbor
36:55rather than a passing cloud
36:58by measuring red and far red light.
37:03Kerry has a handy brolly for illustration.
37:07When a plant grows over the top of another plant,
37:10the red light will be absorbed by the canopy,
37:13the leaves above and used for photosynthesis.
37:16However, the far red light, which isn't used for photosynthesis,
37:19will pass through the canopy.
37:20So what the plant detects is less red light,
37:24but not less far red light.
37:27And that's the signal that it's being shaded by another plant and not a cloud.
37:31Wow.
37:31So the fact that the shading plant ahead is absorbing certain wavelengths
37:36is what tells the little plant below that it's a plant that's shading it out.
37:40That's right.
37:40And that's a desperate situation for the plant,
37:43so it rapidly elongates its stems
37:45to try and either overtop its neighbors
37:47or to find a gap in the canopy above.
37:50Wow.
37:51So it's going to send up those shoots
37:52and elongate cells as quickly as it can.
37:54That's right.
37:59Back at the university,
38:01Kerry can show us exactly how that shade avoidance plays out.
38:05She has growing chambers
38:06which can shine different types of light on plants.
38:12So within these chambers,
38:13we can actually change the lighting on different shelves
38:16to actually mimic canopy shade.
38:18Wow.
38:19So in one cabinet,
38:21you could effectively have a top section that's full blazing sunlight
38:25and a lower section that's emulating natural shade.
38:28Yeah, that's right.
38:29Three weeks ago,
38:32Kerry set up an experiment for us.
38:35She sowed two identical trays of mixed seeds.
38:39And once they'd germinated,
38:41she put one in full light and one in shade conditions.
38:46She also popped some radishes in for good measure.
38:49And they've all been growing.
38:57Wow.
38:58They're so different.
39:00You can see the top batch are compact and chunky.
39:03I can see down here everything's so, so stretched and elongated
39:08and desperately seeking the light.
39:13On closer inspection,
39:15the results are even clearer
39:17between the plants in full sun
39:19and those in shade conditions.
39:25Gosh, the difference really is astonishing, isn't it?
39:28I mean, looking at these,
39:30you can see they've grown fairly conventionally.
39:32They're quite sort of squat and compact,
39:34ordinary-looking plants.
39:36Then this is nuts.
39:37This is nearly 50 centimetres tall in contrast.
39:41Wow.
39:42I mean, all of this just because of light.
39:44Absolutely.
39:45And this is what happens if plants stay in the shade.
39:48So they'll start off by elongating their stems.
39:50But if the shade signal persists
39:52and they're really in trouble,
39:53then they flower immediately to try and set seed.
39:56And that's a kind of panic response,
39:58thinking 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
40:06or something's kind of shaded out,
40:08something we're growing,
40:09it sort of behaves in the same way, right?
40:11So that's why planting density is so important.
40:13You need to space them out enough to get enough light
40:16so that they grow healthy, like the plants over there.
40:20But looking at the radish roots,
40:22the difference is even more stark.
40:26The one in full light is healthy and tasty-looking,
40:29while the shaded plant has bolted
40:32with barely any root at all.
40:37And all of this is due to plants
40:39recognising different light wavelengths
40:41and using them for information and growth.
40:46We've all seen the plants in our garden stretch
40:49as a result of heavy shade,
40:52but to understand the science of how and why that happens
40:55gives me a whole new respect
40:57for 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
41:23and have become like that,
41:24and just seeing how directly the light impacts it
41:27unlocks maybe where I've been going wrong in the past.
41:30So learning that plant science can really inform us
41:33to be better gardeners.
41:34The other thing that all plants obviously require
41:42is the correct temperature.
41:43And at this time of year,
41:45it's starting to get chilly,
41:47and there are some plants
41:48that will prefer to be indoors for the winter.
41:50So things like salvias,
41:53this is a blackcurrant sage,
41:54might be okay with a cold winter
41:57as long as it's not too wet,
41:58but to be on the safe side,
42:00I'd bring that one in.
42:01This is salvia elegans or pineapple sage,
42:04and the leaves actually do smell
42:06really strongly of pineapple.
42:07It's a lovely thing.
42:08It's not yet flowered.
42:09It has red flowers that should come very, very soon,
42:12but by looking at these leaves,
42:14I can see they've begun to brown slightly.
42:17This is a warning for me
42:18that they need to come in now and get protected.
42:21This is another lovely, lovely, slightly tender plant.
42:25This is lemon verbena.
42:27So it can actually live outside
42:29if you're in a very mild and very dry area.
42:33But to be on the safe side,
42:34I would bring this in if it's in a pot,
42:36and I would put them all into an unheated greenhouse
42:38or an unheated conservatory.
42:40And if you don't have either of those things,
42:42against a south-facing wall,
42:44and then keep your eye on the weather forecast.
42:46If there's a frosty night forecast,
42:48cover them with some fleece or a blanket,
42:51and then they should be fine for next year.
42:57It might have got a bit chilly,
43:20but there are still some things that you can put out
43:22even at this time of the year.
43:39Biennials that have been growing this year,
43:42but will hopefully flower next year,
43:44can now be planted out
43:45if you've got them in modules like this.
43:48Some of them are not fully hardy
43:50and some of them are fully hardy,
43:52so it's always worth checking
43:53what will and what won't survive the winter.
43:57But I've got two here that should.
44:01One that definitely will.
44:03This one is Hesperus.
44:05So it looks very much like a rocket,
44:07but it's really beautifully scented,
44:09and that will flower next year.
44:11But you can see by the slightly purpling leaves
44:14that it's getting a little bit stressed now in its module.
44:17It's got a really good root system,
44:19absolutely perfect for planting out.
44:21So this should put on some roots
44:23and start getting some really healthy,
44:25vigorous green growth on the plant
44:28just in time for the winter.
44:32Hello, Roo.
44:33This next biennial is stock,
44:40and they are half hardy.
44:42So there is a chance
44:43that they'll survive the winter out here
44:44if we have a mild one.
44:46If you were in doubt,
44:47you could put some horticultural fleece
44:49over the top of them
44:50for the coldest parts of the year.
44:53But there is also a chance
44:54that the frost might kill them.
44:55So half of these I will pot
44:57into nine centimetre pots
44:59and put them in the greenhouse for the winter,
45:00and half of them I'll give a chance growing outside.
45:02But they're such lovely plants.
45:03In fact, both of these flowers
45:05are scented in the evening,
45:07so they're perfect for night-time pollinators
45:09like moths.
45:12I'm giving them plenty of space
45:13in between each one.
45:15You could plant these
45:16where you want them to actually end up,
45:18but Alison isn't yet sure
45:19exactly where she does want these to end up.
45:21So this is kind of a holding bed for the winter,
45:23and then next spring they can be moved.
45:33There, that should be very happy in here
45:47until the spring when it can go outside.
45:51Now, this year we have been following Sue's garden
45:53as it changes,
45:54and today we're catching up with her
45:56as she takes stock
45:57of this glorious season.
46:07We're well into autumn now,
46:09and there's still lots of things to do.
46:12And one of the things that I'm doing here
46:14is I'm removing some Japanese anemones.
46:17So we've got really windy weather
46:19and wet weather here in Wales,
46:22and these can really stand up to that.
46:25They hold their flower.
46:26Oh, there we go.
46:28They hold their flower in all that weather,
46:29so they're a stalwart of my garden.
46:32The reason I'm moving them out
46:33is because I planted this apricot rose,
46:36which I grew myself from a cutting,
46:38and they're crowding it out,
46:39so I want to give that rose space to develop.
46:42So one more dig, I think, and it'll come.
46:47These plants aren't going to go to waste.
46:52They've got a job to do.
47:00Last year, my daughter decided to move house,
47:03and she asked me to help her with the garden
47:05because it needs quite a lot of work.
47:08So what I've been doing is
47:09I've gone around my garden with her,
47:11and she's shown me all the plants that she likes,
47:14and I've dug some up.
47:16I've taken cuttings.
47:17I've taken, you know, seeds and grown them on,
47:21and these are my final plants
47:22that I want to add to the list,
47:23but they need a bit of prep work.
47:26I'm cutting the tops off
47:28so the plant will send all its energies
47:29into growing new roots.
47:32For now, I'm going to pop them into water.
47:35Later on, I'm going to put them into a peat-free compost,
47:38and they should romp away.
47:39I'm a bit of a romantic,
47:48and gardening for me is all about creating connections
47:50and special memories.
47:52And one of the memories I have
47:53is my grandfather's walnut tree,
47:55and he gave a seed to my father,
47:57and 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,
48:04and despite me caging them
48:05and trying to fend them off,
48:07I've only managed to get three.
48:10And there are a couple of different ways
48:11I'm going to do this to try and get success.
48:13Now, when they fall from the tree,
48:14they can look like this green one.
48:16It's not quite ripe yet,
48:18so it's not quite ready to try and plant.
48:22So this one, the husk has gone black,
48:26and it's cracking,
48:27so it means it's ready to release the shell.
48:30And I'm going to try and do this,
48:32but if you do it,
48:33the sort of colour of it will stain the fingers,
48:36so I'm going to use a bit of paper
48:38to protect me and my clothes,
48:40and hopefully it'll open up.
48:44Oh, it's coming away really easily.
48:47That's a relief.
48:48And look, here's the shell,
48:51and inside is the nut.
48:52Marvellous.
48:53I'm going to put this shell with the nut inside
48:56into damp soil in a plastic bag,
48:59and I'm going to bury it in.
49:02What's that?
49:02Oh, in you go.
49:04I'm going to put it in the fridge
49:05for a process of something called stratification,
49:08which is to mimic winter conditions,
49:10so it's nice and cold,
49:12and that will encourage it to germinate.
49:14And I think that's going to take about a month,
49:16so I'll check then,
49:18and all I'm looking for is a little white root.
49:20And once I see that,
49:21I'll bring it out and pot it on
49:23and keep it in a frost-free place,
49:25probably in my cold frame over winter.
49:27Now, this one,
49:28I've had soaking in water overnight
49:31to sort of soften the shell.
49:33And I'm just going to pop it in
49:36to a pot of soil.
49:40I'm going to cover it nicely
49:41with a good covering of soil
49:45to keep it warm.
49:47Firm it down a little bit.
49:48But the thing I'm really worried about
49:50is Mr. Squirrel.
49:52So I'm going to try and deter him.
49:56These are bits of bamboo for my bamboo plant.
49:59So I'm going to push them in angles
50:00all around my walnut.
50:02I haven't a clue if this is going to work.
50:05He may think,
50:05I don't like that.
50:07Or it may be like red rag to a bull
50:09and he wants the challenge.
50:11I need to water it in.
50:14I've got two different options
50:16to get my walnut tree going.
50:20And I'll have to wait for this green one
50:22to blacken up a bit
50:23and I may have success with that as well.
50:26Let's see what happens next year.
50:36I do enjoy eating garlic
50:43but I find the cloves and the bulbs
50:45a bit small and fiddly.
50:47And the way around this
50:48I've discovered is elephant garlic.
50:51It's mild tasting
50:53but the cloves are huge
50:55and really easy to manage.
50:57And when I dig them up
50:58I sometimes find a lot of these
51:00little corms attached like this one.
51:03So I've decided to have a go
51:04at planting these corms.
51:06I've got quite a few here.
51:09I'm going to plant them
51:11in this bed
51:11and they're going to take a year
51:13to even get to an individual
51:15garlic clove stage.
51:18And then they're going to take
51:19another year
51:20before they come to anything
51:22remotely like this.
51:23Possibly three.
51:28And around me
51:29I've got these beautiful cosmos
51:31and echium.
51:32And you may remember
51:33that I planted this
51:35with all the seeds
51:36old seeds
51:36that I didn't want.
51:38And these have been phenomenal.
51:46Being a long-term project
51:47I know I'm going to forget
51:48what I put in there.
51:51I'm going to label it.
51:52then there'll be no confusion
51:54in the middle of winter.
52:08I'm assessing my wild white border
52:11at the end of the season
52:13because I don't feel
52:14it's been quite as good
52:16as it was the year before.
52:18I need something for the spring
52:19to lift the border.
52:21So I've chosen a tulip
52:23and it's Purissima
52:24also known as White Emperor
52:27and it's a perennial one
52:28so it should come back next year.
52:30And the reason I've chosen it
52:31is that I've grown it before
52:33so I know it.
52:34And it has nice sturdy stems
52:36for this windy Welsh weather
52:37and it has a lovely flower
52:39which holds on its stem
52:41for quite some time.
52:43This is not an ideal place
52:46for tulips
52:47because it doesn't get
52:47too much sun.
52:49So I'm going to have to
52:50treat them quite carefully.
52:52First, I've got a new tool.
52:54Pop it in
52:55and twist it around.
52:57And if it meets a stone
52:58it rotates itself past it.
53:01Bit of a wiggle
53:01to get it out.
53:03Although it's stony
53:04it is quite damp
53:05and tulips don't like
53:06to have their roots damp.
53:08So I'm going to put
53:09in some gravel at the bottom.
53:11Now I've mixed the gravel
53:12with a bit of blood fish
53:13and bone
53:14because I want the tulip
53:16to have a best start
53:17and it needs a bit of a
53:18something to keep it going
53:19through the winter.
53:20Well we all do,
53:21don't we really?
53:22And pop it into the hole.
53:24Pointy side up.
53:26Down it goes.
53:27All snuggly in the soil.
53:30Tamp it down a little bit.
53:31Top it up with some
53:34peat-free compost.
53:35Nestle it in for the winter.
53:39I'm only going to plant
53:40ten tulips
53:41because I'm not sure
53:41it's going to work
53:42and if it does
53:43I can then buy some more.
53:45And that's the thing
53:46about gardening.
53:47You need patience.
53:48These will be ready
53:49in the spring.
53:50The garlic will take
53:51probably two years
53:52and I may not see
53:53a walnut from the walnut tree
53:55for ten years.
53:57Sometimes the longer the wait
53:59the sweeter the reward.
54:01And with all these projects
54:02I hope they're going
54:04to give me pleasure
54:04in the garden
54:05for many years to come.
54:18Of course
54:18to be a gardener
54:19requires so much patience
54:21but looking forward to stuff
54:22is the best part.
54:23The anticipation
54:24of what's to come.
54:26And one of the best things
54:27for that anticipation
54:28is planting bulbs.
54:37When I first came here
54:39this gravel garden
54:40was full of beautiful
54:43orange digitalis
54:44the parva flora.
54:45They were beautifully flowering
54:47and now they've got
54:48these seed heads
54:49that give stature
54:50and grace
54:51to the autumn garden here.
54:52But what I'm going to do now
54:54is look ahead
54:55to not next season
54:57not winter
54:57but the spring after.
54:59And the bulb
55:00I'm going to plant in here
55:01is a pretty special tulip.
55:04It's a species tulip
55:05called Orphanidia.
55:07Now often
55:07when you buy
55:08tulip bulbs
55:09this time of the year
55:10and plant them
55:10they're very highly bred
55:12and they will flower
55:12beautifully for a year
55:13they might come back
55:14a second
55:15or even a third
55:16but this will reliably
55:17come back
55:18every year
55:19and they naturalise
55:20and they'll form
55:20little clumps here.
55:21Now these ones have
55:22a kind of flame-coloured flower
55:24that ranges from
55:25yellow through to red
55:26and they almost turn back
55:28like little
55:29jester hat petals
55:31but much smaller
55:32than your normal
55:32tunip flower.
55:35These tulips
55:36can cope with rain
55:36but they really don't like
55:38to sit in the water
55:39so they'll be very happy here
55:40in the gravel garden
55:42or if you had a very sunny
55:43baked
55:44free draining area
55:45in your garden
55:46or even a pot
55:47that you mix
55:48lots of gravel in with
55:49they should do
55:50just as well
55:50there
55:51as long as it's bright
55:52and sunny.
55:54Now this is one of my
55:55favourite autumn jobs
55:57but there are many other
55:58things that you can be
55:59getting on with this weekend
56:00if you fancy it.
56:01This is the perfect time of year
56:17for dividing herbaceous perennials
56:19that have lost their vigor
56:20and stopped flowering so much.
56:23Start by cutting back the stems
56:24of the clump
56:25that you want to remove
56:26and then either chop it
56:27or fork it out of the ground
56:29making sure you have
56:30plenty of roots
56:30and shoots
56:31on all the parts
56:32you're replanting
56:33then simply put them
56:34wherever else you want them
56:35in the garden.
56:44Over the course of summer
56:45a huge amount of dust
56:46and maybe even some algae
56:47can build up on the glass
56:48of your greenhouse.
56:49This reduces the light levels
56:51over the winter
56:52an all-important time
56:53for plants
56:54to continue photosynthesising
56:55so cleaning it off
56:57is really helpful.
56:59Use some water
57:00and a splash of vinegar
57:01wash it off
57:03with a cloth
57:03and then dry it down
57:05for the best results.
57:06If you want to use
57:16any plant material
57:17you chop back now
57:17but don't necessarily
57:18have space
57:19for a compost heap
57:20then you can use
57:21the chop and drop method.
57:23Simply cut back
57:24any old stems
57:25or plants
57:26save any seed heads
57:27for the birds
57:28to be fed over the winter
57:29and then chop up
57:30into small pieces
57:32all of the plant material
57:33and let it fall
57:34onto the ground.
57:35This will act
57:36as a mulch
57:37that will hold
57:37in moisture
57:38and feed the soil
57:39and also as excellent
57:40habitat for any insects
57:41over the winter.
57:59Well it's been
58:00a very lovely gift
58:02of a day
58:02here at Damsin Farm
58:03and actually
58:04beautiful
58:05seeing this really
58:05special garden
58:06at its best.
58:07It's a place where
58:08there's so much going on
58:09aspirations for me
58:11personally
58:11to one day
58:12achieve this level
58:14of beauty
58:14and productivity
58:15and that really
58:16lovely
58:17ethical
58:18biodiverse
58:19approach to gardening.
58:20It's been so lovely
58:21to spend.
58:22Today here
58:23getting our hands dirty
58:24but that's it
58:26for today
58:26and Monty's back
58:27next week
58:28at Longmeadow
58:28so until next time
58:29it's goodbye.
58:30so you can see
58:46the next week
58:47we'll be right back
58:48to another one
58:52or two
58:52to another one
58:53and we're all
58:54and we'll be right to the end
58:55and we'll be right back
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