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Gardeners' World Season 59 Episode 1
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00:10ÂĄGracias!
00:37ÂĄGracias!
00:38Come on.
00:51Hello, and welcome back to a new season of Gardener's World,
00:55and welcome back to Longmeadow.
00:57After a very long, wet and grey winter here,
01:02suddenly the garden is positively bursting out into spring.
01:07The daffodils here in the orchard have all started flowering just in the last few days.
01:11These are the wild narcissi that I first planted a quarter of a century ago,
01:16and they're still bringing me joy every single year.
01:20I've made other more recent changes.
01:22This winter I added some big hornbeam balls in amongst the apple trees,
01:26and I'll talk more about those another day.
01:28But there are lots of changes and lots of things to be getting on with.
01:31Why don't they tease you like them, okay?
02:00Let's harvest up the found aéŸ day,
02:00And you need to hear many a lot of extra trees and a lot of vÀper banana
02:01Los primeros que uno de los trabajadores de la segunda es verde,
02:03especialmente cuando el aire es brillante y lo siento que se mueve de la mañana,
02:08es la punciĂłn de alimento correcta de las grazas en la cifra.
02:12La grazas se encargó muy bien desde cuando ya hubieras hasta el año nuevo.
02:18Es el majeito de ellos porque cuando residencia de la jardinera estĂĄ por septiembre de la cifra,
02:24la cara de las bordas son brillantes,
02:26y al mismo tiempo,
02:28que estĂĄn dando brillante cover
02:29para un gran rango de animales.
02:32Hay hodos hibernados en el bosque
02:34y hay mice de todo tipo,
02:37solo solo los invertebrates,
02:39las leyes de las leyes de las leyes de las montañana.
02:40Muy bien para la vida,
02:42se veĂa bien en la jardĂn
02:43y muy fĂĄcil en la jardina.
02:46Muy, muy bajo mantenimiento.
02:48Pero es importante
02:50que este año de año
02:51que se quede una cosa importante,
02:53que es que se quede todo de ellos,
02:55excepto por los ĂĄrboles de los ĂĄrboles.
02:57Ahora, si hay evergreen grasses,
02:59como este, este, este, este,
03:01este, este, este,
03:02just run your hand through
03:03y tease out
03:05ni dead material,
03:07pero ponen unos gloves
03:08porque el verde puede ser muy sharp.
03:10ÂĄOy! Se, yo cut myself, entonces.
03:12Tengo que ser un poco cuidado.
03:13Ponen un par de stout gloves,
03:16staunch el flow de blood
03:17y ofĂĄ you go.
03:18Pero, muchas de estas grases
03:20son deciduos,
03:22pueden ser cortado
03:23hacia el suelo,
03:24y ya se puede hacer con un par de sheas
03:26o lo que ha hecho antes
03:27con un hedge cutter
03:28que funciona perfectamente.
03:29Y el tiempo de hacer
03:30es cuando se ve el nuevo crecimiento,
03:33que puede ser early febrero.
03:35No hay que hacer
03:35cuando el nuevo crecimiento
03:36es demasiado largo
03:37porque no hay que hacer
03:38que eso.
03:52no hay que hacer
04:08Como asĂ.
04:11Yo corto de la tierra,
04:13le voy a ir a la composta.
04:16Otra forma de hacerlo es que se llama chop-and-drop.
04:18AsĂ que puedes hacerlo con las plantas,
04:19o con cualquier planta que tiene estensas
04:23que estĂĄn en fin de la planta,
04:24como esta rubecchia.
04:25Y lo que te hace es que,
04:26en vez de cortar a la base
04:27y luego cerrarla,
04:28te corta la parte de la parte de la parte
04:31y dejando las piezas donde se puede.
04:35Y ellos se quedan en la tierra
04:37como la mulch.
04:39Pero voy a terminar esto
04:41y cerrarla todo,
04:42porque hay otra fase que voy a ir.
04:44Quiero que voy a ir,
04:46porque es una gran oportunidad para hacer eso.
04:48Y luego, cuando estoy contento con weeding,
04:50voy a la mulch.
04:51Pero, primero,
04:53voy a ir de un jardĂn que ha estado aquĂ
04:55por mås de 30 años
04:58a un nuevo jardĂn,
05:00o al menos un nuevo plot
05:02y un muy emocionado.
05:12ÂĄVamos!
05:17ÂĄVamos!
05:19como un niño en un jardĂn
05:20en un jardĂn
05:52para trabajar con.
05:53Lo que he hecho es dividido
05:56en bĂĄsicamente cuatro espacios.
06:00El primer lugar,
06:01creo que,
06:01es la familia,
06:03lo que se llama la casa.
06:04Lo que se conecta con la casa.
06:05Lo voy a ir de un jardĂn
06:07y luego hay un rato
06:08un rato
06:09rato
06:09con un pozo
06:11y luego un nĂĄster
06:13y un gran pĂșl
06:14y luego un gran pĂșl
06:14y luego un gran pĂșl
06:17y luego un gran pĂșl
06:18y luego un gran pĂșl
06:18y un gran pĂșl
06:20y en un gran pĂșl
06:21que se encuentra
06:21en ese ĂĄrea
06:23para el hogar
06:24y el familia.
06:27Ahora,
06:28vamos a ir a la pĂșlgada
06:30y hay un gran pĂșl
06:32con un gran pĂșl
06:32y un gran pĂșl
06:39y lo que esto va a beneficiar de es el sol, que estĂĄ ahĂ.
06:45AsĂ que va a ser increĂble de mirar sobre el plantĂłn y luego en el distanciamiento.
06:50Y luego vamos a seguir en esa jornada, y en el momento tengo que saltar.
06:55ÂĄVoom!
06:56Asà que ahora, ¿qué?
06:59Mi heighten, asĂ que estĂĄs hablando de dos pies abajo, asĂ que alrededor de 600.
07:04Pero este es un buen lugar para explicar cĂłmo el ĂĄrbol fue cuando lleguĂ© aquĂ.
07:08Si imagina, es un slope que desapareciĂł de la agua.
07:13La agua es desplazada del rĂo, el rĂo runs en el fondo, y luego cuando se desplazĂł sus bancos,
07:20se vuelve a entrar en el espacio.
07:21Lo que he hecho es crear esta serie de terraces,
07:25asĂ que si el agua se desplazĂł en,
07:27se vuelve a ir todo ese camino y no se vuelve a entrar en el ĂĄrbol.
07:31Ahora, tĂș estĂĄs en el ĂĄrbol de ĂĄrbol,
07:34asĂ que estamos hablando de herbes, frutas,
07:37tal vez una pequeña pequeña pequeña pequeña pequeña,
07:38pero también estoy en mi, lo que va a ser eventualmente, mi nueva greenhouse.
07:43Es un espacio muy simple, pero muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy,
07:48muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy, muy.
08:04So obviously either side of the garden, but then also to divide the garden, a hornbeam.
08:08So conditions-wise, where I live, you know, east side of the country,
08:13so actually summers can be very, very dry.
08:15But then at winter, down at that river, and you can see where that water's holding,
08:19that could well be wet down the end of the garden.
08:22And hornbeam are a good tree because they'll deal with so many conditions.
08:28So when it comes to actually looking after these as they grow and mature,
08:31I'll choose the height that I want, first of all,
08:34but then I'm going to keep them quite crisp and clean.
08:38And not only will that then work either side of the garden,
08:42but also as I divide the spaces and break the areas up,
08:46it becomes the backdrop, you know, for the soft, bellowy planting.
08:51They say the best time to plant a tree was yesterday, and I've already made a start.
08:58Trees will be integral to the garden,
09:00and getting them in the ground in the right place early on is vital.
09:06So that line is 90 degrees to the house.
09:09But what this allows me to do is start to set out the final few trees for this place.
09:30I talk about soil being the most important thing in the garden.
09:38This was an old farmyard.
09:40So in places, literally, old stones and bricks.
09:51Hey, get the jacket off.
09:55I'm digging a hole.
09:56It's probably twice the size of the root ball.
09:58And I'm not talking about depth, just talking about width.
10:01The fact, actually, that it's a square hole is important as well.
10:06If you imagine clay soil, you dig a hole that's just slightly bigger than your root ball, your container.
10:15You slot it in, your roots start to go, and they go round and round in a circle.
10:21By doing this, as the roots get out, they'll get to the corner,
10:25and then ultimately, they'll take themselves out, and they will cement the tree into the ground.
10:30Interestingly, in the tree world now, there's lots of conversation about whether you should put any compost,
10:38well-rotted manure in the bottom of the hole.
10:41Partly because what you want to do is you want that tree to work hard.
10:47You know, you want that tree to put on good, young, fibrous root.
10:51And if I make that area too much of a happy place, what you'll find is the roots won't go
10:59searching.
11:00And that's what we want.
11:02It's interesting, when you're sort of choosing trees, I think a lot of the time we're sucked into the tree
11:07that we really want.
11:08You know, whether it's a silver birch, whether it's a ginkgo, and then we work out where to put it.
11:13Whereas this itself is a nut, it's a hazelnut.
11:17And this will be beautiful, because it will sit at the end of the border, I can control that growth,
11:21but also there's going to be a path that comes across the bottom of the garden,
11:25and this will sit at the end of that path.
11:27Why I've gone for multi-stem, actually, because it will be slightly smaller,
11:31so it's going to sit in the border, so I can leave it four or five years,
11:35and then I could coppice it back to the ground.
11:38So let's get it in.
11:39It's covered and wrapped in hessie, and you don't have to take that off.
11:42It's biodegradable, so that will just break down.
11:45What I am going to do, before I start planting, I'm just going to free this tree.
11:51So I've got the face where I want it.
11:55We can start filling in.
11:58I just heal that in.
12:01I'll water it in, but I won't give it too much at the moment.
12:05What you'll remember is any new tree, you know, you're planting over the winter, going into March.
12:10The further you get into the season, the more water that plant is going to need.
12:17So I will make sure right through the year I'm out here, and I'm checking these trees every day.
12:25I think there's something magical about planting trees.
12:30So I've put an awful lot of thought into exactly where they're going.
12:35And when I plant and plan, it tends to be one tree gets placed, and the other trees are driven
12:42from that tree.
12:43And that was a ginkgo.
12:45The ginkgo, which is a beautiful tree, but it needs space, that will sit as a stand-alone focal point.
12:51But all the time I'm building, I'm thinking about shapes and forms.
12:56And also, the beautiful thing about it, in reality as well, is you're not just planting for you and the
13:01family.
13:02You could well be planting for another generation.
13:14Look at that.
13:16Can you imagine the first time I saw this at the end of the garden?
13:22I mean, I've created gardens for lots of people, literally all over the world, and also at home for my
13:29family.
13:30But this has got to be the most exciting garden I've ever created.
13:37And it's just lovely that I'm going to be able to take you with me.
14:05I can remember that excitement when I first came here, that sense of creating something.
14:13And look at me here, 36 years later, I'm still doing it.
14:17So, can't wait to see how that develops.
14:20What I'm doing here is much more prosaic.
14:22Having cut back the grasses, cleared everything away, that's gone to the compost heap.
14:28I've used the opportunity just to have a bit of a weed through.
14:31Now, this is couch grass.
14:33It's a really successful plant.
14:36And once it gets established, it takes over.
14:39And couch grass is something that will work its way into the roots of other plants.
14:44That's its real problem in the border.
14:45If it works its way into perennials or shrubs, let alone into hedges, it's almost impossible to get out.
14:51And it's quite brittle.
14:53So, if you leave any little bit of it in the ground, it will reproduce.
14:57So, we try and take out as much of that and burn it.
15:00Don't put it on the compost heap.
15:03And I've got a nettle in here.
15:05Now, I'm avoiding getting stung because nettles in spring sting like nothing else.
15:15But what you can see are these very characteristic yellow roots.
15:19And it's the yellow that gives them away.
15:21Now, with nettles, if you cut the top off, that can go into the compost heap.
15:25But the roots of nettles, of couch grass and bindweed, burn them and then put the ash on the compost
15:32heap.
15:32And if you can't have a fire, then put them into green waste.
15:36But there you are, a glorious nettle, not wanted in this part of the garden.
15:40And it's worth pointing out that we do keep nettles on the fringe of the garden because they're brilliant for
15:45caterpillars.
15:46So, don't regard them as always being a weed.
15:49It's just the wrong plant in the wrong place.
15:52Then it becomes a weed.
15:54Now, here on the grass borders, I'm going to mulch with pine bark.
15:58And I use it especially here on the grass borders for two reasons.
16:04Because it is slightly acidic and low fertility.
16:08Because grasses don't like too much fertility.
16:13And our soil here is very fertile.
16:17So, if I mulch this with farmyard manure, we get too much lush growth.
16:23And that's not good for grasses.
16:24So, I'm just using this.
16:27We're keeping the moisture in.
16:28We're keeping the weeds down.
16:30But not enriching the soil too much.
16:33So, it lasts a long time.
16:35So, I only do this every other year.
16:37And also, when it breaks down, it really lightens the heavy soil.
16:42It's a big mistake to mulch half-heartedly.
16:46If you're going to mulch at all, you really want to aim at two inches.
16:51Sort of four centimetres minimum.
16:52Because that is what you need to block the light and stop evaporation.
16:59Do it now.
17:01Do it in spring.
17:02That's partly because you can see where you're going.
17:04Don't mulch over the top of existing growth.
17:07And then, the beauty of this stuff is you just use your hand.
17:11And that just goes round like that.
17:18Now, we're going to Carmarthenshire.
17:20To visit a garden owned by Bob and Ranvig Wallace, who are amateurs, but have a huge amount of knowledge
17:27and passion for a distinct group of plants.
17:37It's hard to believe that this all started when, as a four-year-old, I went into the local churchyard
17:42and picked all the tulips.
17:44I'll bet your grandma was upset.
17:46Then I joined the Alpine Garden Society, went to a couple of talks, and I think you came along and
17:52you were hooked as well.
17:53By that time, we had a pretty small garden.
17:56Ranvig got interested in these small plants, alpines.
18:00So we thought, well, what better, small plants for a small garden?
18:03The collection has grown and grown over the last 50 years until it is what it is today.
18:16Since, what, the 1980s?
18:19Yes.
18:19We've been travelling widely all over the world, looking at bulbs in the wild.
18:23And it is absolutely phenomenal to see huge numbers of what are reckoned to be pretty rare species in cultivation
18:31growing in vast numbers on mountain hillsides in Iran or in Uzbekistan or in Morocco or wherever.
18:39And also it gives you a lot of hints as to how to grow them, what conditions they need in
18:44cultivation when you see what they're coping with in the wild.
18:47Yeah.
18:55All the greenhouses are absolutely full of plants in pots now because we like to exhibit what we've got as
19:01well.
19:02Six greenhouses, two polytunnels.
19:06We've got the show on Saturday.
19:07Yes.
19:08I thought we might start thinking about some of the specials that we might have to take.
19:11How about that?
19:12Yeah, that's not bad, is it?
19:13Cyclamen pseudibirical.
19:15You remember going up into the wild in the Amarnas Mountains where Turkey and Syria join?
19:20Yeah.
19:20Warm, quite humid woodland.
19:22This is a particularly good form, isn't it, with these dark pink flowers?
19:25Although I do like the pale pink ones as well, I have to say.
19:28I like them all.
19:29This is the more common one in the wild, isn't it?
19:32Yes.
19:32The botanists had a real field day with that, didn't they?
19:35Because they used to be Chionodoxa and now they're Scyllas.
19:37And like all the bulbs, it responds well to a nice free-draining compost and a bit of care and
19:43attention when it's coming into growth.
19:45Easy, but spectacular.
19:47Yeah.
19:47Lovely.
19:48I mean, now we need something a bit taller and a different colour.
19:50Maybe a yellow Narcissus would make the three look nice.
19:53Oh, I think I've got just the thing.
19:55I'll have to go to the other greenhouse to get it.
19:56OK.
19:57Hurry up, then.
20:06How about that?
20:08That's looking good.
20:09That's a really nice hybrid, that.
20:10So this is a form of Narcissus triandrus, the angel's tears, because of the shape of the flower with the
20:17corona hanging down and these petals swept back like that.
20:22And it's a really elegant plant.
20:24So do you reckon that would go nicely with those two?
20:27I do, yes.
20:28Yeah.
20:29And I think it needs lifting up a little bit so the flowers show above the two other ones in
20:34front.
20:39This is Irish Sindhpurs, which is actually a hybrid between two Turkish species.
20:45A big, tall, blue one and a little, tiny one about the sizes of these here.
20:52I think it might go to the show.
20:54It's a matter of what we think on Friday.
20:57We may even take it on Saturday and decide not to.
21:00Depends on the condition of the flowers.
21:02We've grown it for years, so we have to be very, very careful about watering and to water just in
21:08the pot and not in the plant.
21:10And that's probably true of a lot of things, actually, that watering is the crucial thing.
21:15For example, this one.
21:16You see the leaves are forming a sort of a cup.
21:18And if you get water down into that cup, which in the world probably happens naturally, but the plant dries
21:25up very quickly.
21:26Here, with the humidity that we have here in West Wales, it doesn't dry up.
21:30You get rots that go down into the bulb and all of a sudden the bulb's dead.
21:39All but my particular favourite is this one here, which is Corridalis maracandica.
21:46It occurs in two colour forms, one yellow and one purple.
21:49And as you can see, this one seems to be a mixture of the two, which makes it really appealing.
21:56The alpine house has got very good ventilation.
21:59You can see running down each side of the greenhouse, there are these louvre windows, which are open all the
22:04time.
22:05The air still flows over the plants and keeps them healthy.
22:07These plants are definitely for greenhouse growth.
22:11They would be temperature-hardy outside, but they certainly wouldn't be rain-hardy.
22:15So there's no point to trying these out in the open garden.
22:18They just wouldn't survive.
22:21We're here in the middle of February.
22:23It's freezing cold outside, it's in low single figures, it's snowed overnight.
22:29Yet I can come into the greenhouse and see all sorts of things growing, flowering.
22:34There's loads and loads of colour in here.
22:37And of course, once you've got this big collection of plants, you want other people to see them.
22:41So what better way of exhibiting your plants than going to various Alpine Garden Society shows
22:47and putting them on the showbench?
22:49You mean you like to show off?
22:50Well, a little bit of that.
22:51And there's actually quite a bit of competition as well, so it's a lot of fun.
23:03It's been a very long day because we had to get up early to get here on time.
23:06We then had to unload the car with all the heavy boxes that we had to carry in.
23:10And then they all have to be placed on the benches.
23:14They have to be labelled, arranged in their classes.
23:17Picked over to make sure there's no dead flowers or dead foliage.
23:22I just want to soak up the kind of excellence of horticulture, really, all these gorgeous plants,
23:27the sort of things that you never get to see anywhere else.
23:30There are some amazing plants here and just amazing examples and an opportunity to find new gems that we want
23:36to grow.
23:37You're into plants, and even if you're not, you might get into plants if you come to a place like
23:42this,
23:42because you'll see something and think, right, what is that? I want to grow it. How do you do it?
23:51It's such a fun day out.
23:53I mean, not only do you have all of these lovely people,
23:56you've got all of the nurseries, and then you can come and see old friends, new friends.
24:03I'm very proud that I've managed to get thirds.
24:05This particular one is a Hepatica Nobilis, and, yeah, it's just...
24:10It opened out last night, so I was very, very chuffed that it was actually making it for the show.
24:16Basically, it's just tiny plants. I love them.
24:19I've received a first on one of my plants.
24:22It's a Ginospermum, which is in the Berberadesi family.
24:27Exciting. They bring intense colours through what can be quite a boring time of year.
24:32I think that's what I love about the shows.
24:34It brings the best of what's looking good at this time of year.
24:38Well, we got first with all of our Corridalis.
24:41These are all Corridalis with a big tuber under the ground,
24:44radiate out the stem,
24:46and if you don't try and block the growth of the stems horizontally,
24:51they all come up around the edge of the pot.
24:53So when we're potting them,
24:54we put in barriers to make them come up in the middle of the pot as well as around the
24:59edge,
24:59and that gives you a nice flat-topped...
25:02Otherwise, I mean, in the wild,
25:04you can often find a plant will be this much across,
25:08but there's a little tuber under the ground somewhere under a stone.
25:11Can I have an ice pack for my black-eyed kids?
25:15Our first show, I think, must have been 1972,
25:20when we were both students,
25:21and that's 54 years ago.
25:24Between us, we've been growing for more than a century, if you like.
25:28And we're still going strong.
25:50What do you think?
25:51What do you think?
25:52Up.
25:53Now, don't go on the border.
25:54Good boy.
25:55You'll stay there.
25:56One of the things that I increasingly respect
25:59is the way that there's this deep reservoir of knowledge
26:03amongst people who have devoted their lives to plants,
26:07and I think that's something that we should treasure.
26:09Now, I know that none of those experts would think
26:12that the spring garden here is particularly special,
26:15because none of the plants are particularly special.
26:17But at this time of year,
26:19as we come into spring,
26:20it holds centre stage here at Longmeadow.
26:23And now coming through are the hellebores
26:25and the snowflakes, the leucosium.
26:28You have the tete-a-tete daffodils,
26:30and I can see that the imperial fritillaries
26:32are starting to grow.
26:34So this slither of Longmeadow
26:37is certainly the best thing in the garden.
26:39And then, by about mid-May,
26:41it's done its stuff.
26:42It's over until next year.
27:04Come on up.
27:24Right, what I'm setting up
27:26is a new framework
27:27to support a new batch of raspberries that I'm growing.
27:31This is a new plot near the greenhouse, near water.
27:34This is going to be our new soft fruit bed.
27:36We've got strawberries at that end.
27:37I've planted autumn-fruiting raspberries,
27:40but what I'm planting today are summer-fruiting raspberries.
27:44And these fruit on canes
27:46that are grown the previous year.
27:49So the ones I plant today
27:50won't give me any fruit until next summer.
27:54Now, if you're planting raspberries,
27:57and now is a good time to do it,
27:58and they're summer-fruiting,
28:00they need support.
28:01It can be a trellis, it can be a fence,
28:03but I like this wire system.
28:05So, what I've got
28:07are wires attached to tensioners
28:11at either end.
28:13And this is quite important
28:14because if you just loop the wire around,
28:16inevitably, it gets slacker,
28:18and then you can't tighten it.
28:20And you want the wires to be reasonably tight.
28:22So you just hook them onto there
28:23and then tighten it up.
28:28And by the way,
28:29these are eight-foot posts
28:30driven two foot into the ground,
28:32so I've got six foot of height.
28:34These could easily stay in position
28:37for 10, 15 years
28:38and absolutely necessary
28:40to have into place
28:42before you start planting.
28:52Having walked all over the soil
28:53putting up the wires,
28:55I'm just loosening it.
29:03Now, these brown sticks
29:05will bear fruit,
29:07but they're two quite different varieties.
29:09There's Glen Ample,
29:11which is a trusted variety.
29:14I've grown it many times before.
29:15It's very disease-resistant.
29:17It copes very well with wet conditions
29:19compared to other raspberries
29:20and is delicious.
29:22And that will crop
29:23from sort of the end of June
29:26to early August.
29:29And this is bare root,
29:30so that needs to go in the ground first.
29:32In a pot,
29:33looking very undistinguished,
29:35I've got Malling Admiral.
29:37And I've chosen this,
29:38although I've not grown it before,
29:40because it's disease-resistant,
29:42coping with all kinds of soil
29:43and a delicious fruit.
29:45Now, you can see
29:46there are five stems in the pot.
29:48Those are five separate plants,
29:51and you need to space them out
29:53at least round about 18 inches apart.
29:56I'm not actually going to plant these now.
29:57I'm going to plant the bare root ones,
29:58because bare root plants,
30:00they're not in the pot,
30:01they're not in any compost,
30:02so you need to get them in the ground
30:04as quickly as you can,
30:05ideally the same day.
30:10Here are a bundle of bare root plants,
30:13and you can see there are the roots.
30:14Now, if it's going to be a slow process,
30:17have a bucket of water nearby
30:19and stick them in,
30:20don't let the roots dry out,
30:22and that is really, really important.
30:24I'm not going to plant them in the ground,
30:27I'm going to plant them on the ground.
30:29So if I put that like that,
30:30I'm just going to bring the soil up around them.
30:40Raspberries have very shallow roots
30:42that grow sideways,
30:43not very deep,
30:44and they really hate sitting in very wet soil.
30:49However, if you've got free-draining soil,
30:51that's fine, that's OK,
30:52you can plant them normally.
30:58I will water them in,
31:00and I will tie them,
31:01because by tying them,
31:03it gives them stability
31:04while the roots get established.
31:06Once the roots are established,
31:07these can then be cut back.
31:09Right, one more row of Glen Ample,
31:11and a couple of rows there,
31:12and I'll have four rows
31:14of summer fruiting raspberries,
31:16which will be ready to harvest
31:18in July 2027.
31:22There's forward planning for you.
31:27Now, Arit has been to Kew.
31:31Most of us go there
31:32and walk around
31:33and visit the glass houses
31:34and see the planting,
31:35and it's very much a sort of a public park
31:38as well as one of the world's
31:39greatest botanic gardens.
31:41But she has been allowed behind doors
31:44that very few of us ever go through.
31:48Hidden deep within the
31:49Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
31:50lies a world almost no one ever sees.
31:55Closed to visitors,
31:56this secret tropical nursery
31:57is a plant emergency room
31:59for some of the planet's rarest plants
32:01and has become one of the most
32:03biodiverse corners on Earth.
32:05The work carried out here
32:07is a battle for survival,
32:09and every second counts.
32:11Behind these doors
32:13are over 10,000 plant species.
32:15Many of them are rare, threatened
32:18or a vital conservation concern.
32:21But today, I've been given exclusive access
32:23to learn more about these
32:25critically endangered plants
32:27and to meet the specialists
32:28that are working around the clock
32:30to save them.
32:35Within the nursery
32:37are an incredible 21 separate climatic zones
32:40split into four groups.
32:42Orchids
32:44temperate
32:45moist tropics
32:46and arid.
32:49Carlos Magdalena
32:50is a senior botanical horticulturalist.
32:53He is known for his remarkable success
32:55in bringing the world's
32:57most threatened plants
32:58back from the brink of extinction.
33:01Hi.
33:02Hey, Carlos.
33:04This is proper laboratory.
33:06I feel like I'm somewhere really sci-fi.
33:08What work are you doing here?
33:10Well, in this tank alone
33:13there is about 50 different types
33:15of water lilies.
33:16We have also the smallest water lily
33:18in the world
33:19which almost went extinct
33:20about a decade ago.
33:22So this is the smallest water lily
33:24in the world?
33:25Yeah.
33:25Why is it not in the world?
33:28What happened to it
33:28going nearly extinct?
33:30The habitat where it grows
33:31is probably smaller than this tank.
33:34So it was a matter of time
33:36before something happened, you know.
33:38There was only four plants left
33:39when they were here in Cuba
33:40which was quite scary.
33:43Trying to grow the seedlings
33:44to maturity
33:45was almost impossible.
33:47Right.
33:48So I managed to come up
33:50with a way
33:50of cultivating these ones
33:52from seed.
33:52All you have to do
33:53is grow them
33:54very, very shallow
33:55so that when the seedling germinates
33:58it touches the air.
33:59It's things like this
34:00that make a whole difference, right?
34:02From those four plants
34:03we produce lots.
34:04We have here more than 100 now.
34:05But also we have sent them
34:06to many different places.
34:08There is growers in America,
34:10Asia, Africa, Europe,
34:11you name it.
34:12So it's very well secure
34:13out of the habitat.
34:15Saved by the bell, really.
34:18One of Carlos' biggest successes
34:20was the integral role
34:21he played
34:22in saving the plant
34:23known as Café Moron.
34:25Café Moron
34:26was thought to be extinct
34:27until a single surviving tree
34:30was spotted
34:30by a schoolboy
34:31in 1979
34:33in its native island
34:35of Rodriguez
34:35in Mauritius.
34:37So this
34:38has had
34:39a real challenge,
34:41hasn't it?
34:41There's been a real story
34:42behind it then.
34:43Yeah.
34:44It has taken us
34:44almost a whole century
34:46to work out
34:47how to save this.
34:49Wow.
34:49It was not seen
34:50in a while
34:50for more than 40 years.
34:52So then
34:52a class specimen
34:53was found
34:54and then
34:56a cutting
34:56was flown to queue.
34:58Right.
34:59From that plant
34:59we managed
35:00to root a plant.
35:02For more than
35:0325 years
35:04not a single seed
35:05was produced.
35:05And then
35:06even though
35:06we had many plants
35:07they were all cloned
35:08because they were all
35:09from the same cutting.
35:10Yes.
35:10If you take a cutting
35:11it's cloning the plant.
35:13And then
35:13it will carry
35:14the same problem
35:15that it flowers
35:15but it doesn't produce
35:16seeds.
35:17And if you want
35:18to reintroduce
35:19the plant in the wild
35:20you will need
35:20to have a plant
35:21which is able
35:22to reproduce
35:23by itself.
35:24There was plenty
35:25of chances
35:26for us to try
35:27new things.
35:28And then
35:28one day
35:29bingo
35:30I got a fruit
35:31with nice seeds.
35:33Which is incredible.
35:34Yeah.
35:34So you're the plant whisperer.
35:36Oh.
35:37You brought it back
35:38from extinction
35:39near enough.
35:40That's amazing.
35:41Why is it
35:42so important
35:43to keep
35:44these plants
35:45on our planet?
35:46What would happen
35:47if we were
35:47to lose plants
35:49like this?
35:50Well
35:51first of all
35:52every species
35:52has kind of
35:54like a link
35:54with other species
35:55so they're all
35:56part of our
35:57ecosystem
35:57but
35:58more importantly
35:59for us humans
36:00they are the main
36:02reason
36:02we can get
36:03medicines
36:04everything you eat
36:05comes from a plant
36:06or something
36:07that eats plants
36:08and therefore
36:09protecting plants
36:10is really
36:11essential
36:12and important
36:12to humankind.
36:13I think it's
36:14amazing work
36:15that's been done
36:16over a long time
36:17so long may
36:18you continue
36:19to be
36:19keeping plants
36:21alive Carlos.
36:22Thank you.
36:22Yeah.
36:26Globally
36:26one of the world's
36:28most threatened
36:28plant groups
36:29are arid plants.
36:30Tough enough
36:31to survive
36:32deserts
36:32they are now
36:33facing unprecedented
36:35danger
36:35and need
36:36urgent help.
36:38Tropical nursery
36:39manager Paul Rees
36:40is on a mission
36:41to save them.
36:42Paul it's like
36:43being in a
36:45different world
36:45all of these plants
36:46what sort of
36:47challenges are they
36:49facing out in their
36:50own environment?
36:52The plants in this
36:52zone are species
36:53that come from
36:54very dry conditions.
36:56Often when we
36:56think of climate
36:57change we think
36:58of a warming
36:58climate and
37:00we immediately
37:01think that
37:01arid plants
37:02are going to be
37:03able to cope
37:03with that
37:04but often
37:04they're sort of
37:05living sort of
37:06at the extremes
37:06already and if
37:07the conditions
37:08get hotter and
37:08drier there's
37:09lots of pressures
37:09that cause
37:10problems.
37:11Some of them
37:11are very rare
37:12as well so
37:13they'll only
37:13exist on one
37:14slope or one
37:15or two slopes
37:16within a region
37:16and that has
37:17lots of
37:18implications
37:18where if
37:19they're over
37:19exploited or
37:20there's change
37:21in land use
37:21species can go
37:22to endangered
37:23quite quickly.
37:24Is there
37:24anything particular
37:25that you've
37:25been working on
37:26recently?
37:27The plants
37:27we've got here
37:27in front of us
37:28these are
37:29conophytums
37:29succulent plants
37:30they are endemic
37:32to the northwest
37:33of South Africa
37:34into Namibia
37:35and they sort of
37:36exist nowhere else
37:37naturally.
37:38When the conditions
37:39become hotter and
37:40drier in the spring
37:41they start drying
37:42out and form
37:43these papery sheaths
37:44so by midsummer
37:45the plants all look
37:47like they're
37:47completely dead
37:48and that's sort of
37:49extremely beneficial
37:51for the plants.
37:51In the deserts
37:52there's a very high
37:53diversity of tortoise
37:54and the tortoise
37:56will get all of
37:56their moisture
37:57during the dry
37:57season by eating
37:59plants so if you
38:00as a conophytum
38:01look like you're
38:02dead the tortoise
38:03ignores you
38:04and eats something
38:04else.
38:05So they're very
38:07interesting
38:08well at least
38:08to me.
38:09This is one of the
38:10group that sort
38:10of captured the
38:11attention of people
38:12which has led to
38:14over exploitation
38:15in habitat
38:15mainly through
38:16poaching
38:17and species
38:18through these
38:19mass poaching
38:20events have gone
38:20to critically
38:21endangered if not
38:22extinct overnight.
38:24And the estimate
38:25currently from that
38:26region is sort of
38:27about 1.9 million
38:28plants stolen from
38:30habitat since 2020.
38:31Our goal is to
38:34ensure we've got
38:35backup collections
38:36conserving a species
38:37where it's supposed
38:38to be is priority
38:39one and then we're
38:40also looking to
38:40ensure that there's
38:41decent seed collections
38:42of very vulnerable
38:43species in our seed
38:44bank to try and
38:45reduce if not stop
38:47species from going
38:48extinct.
38:49What advice can you
38:50give to people in
38:51terms of when they're
38:52buying their house
38:53plants?
38:54It's fantastic in
38:54many ways to see
38:55people growing plants
38:56is amazing and more
38:59people interested in
39:00the natural world and
39:01more people growing
39:02plants is important.
39:04But I think understanding
39:06that when we are
39:07buying plants we need
39:08to just make sure that
39:09we're buying them from
39:10places that are
39:11reputable.
39:14You can really feel the
39:16power of plants here.
39:18Their beauty, their
39:20resilience and their
39:21importance to all living
39:23things.
39:24The work going on behind
39:25the scenes here is all
39:26about passion meeting
39:27purpose, saving plants
39:29and safeguarding the
39:31diversity of these plants
39:32for future generations to
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44:30Es so wonderful to just have that illusion of maybe you could be anywhere in the world
44:35and that's all done by plants.
44:37They're really tactile, you can touch them, you can hug the trachycarpus
44:43which is a little bit weird I know but you know sometimes I'll just give them a bit of a
44:47squeeze
44:48and you don't tend to do that with cottage garden plants so much.
44:52We've never been to the tropical islands of anywhere
44:55so it's nice to kind of drag it to rural England.
45:05In 2017 we applied to adopt a setter and that's how Bowie came into our lives.
45:11He's a calm, beautiful, peaceful, joyful boy.
45:16After Bowie came along we realised that we weren't going to stop there.
45:20Dottor is our ball of energy, she's just a delight.
45:25Then Melly and then our baby Mojo.
45:28So now our little rescue family is complete.
45:32We wanted to give them a space that was just beautiful considering they'd had troubled backgrounds.
45:39We didn't want to restrict them in any way.
45:41Before we knew it, we'd thrown ten tonnes of sand down and we were calling it the Small Deeds.
45:52It's been a great space for the dogs to rehabilitate and they've got their own little routines,
45:57places they love to go in the garden.
45:59Some of them feel comfortable going up higher or they could bury down low or they could just sniff around
46:06and really enjoy themselves.
46:08It fills your heart to see just how content and happy they are.
46:18This is where it all began in the Small Deeds with one raised bed with a formium that was a
46:25gift from a friend who had moved and didn't want it anymore.
46:27So thank you Dawn, we call this formium wavy davey, very, very resilient plant, very robust, it can take a
46:36bashing from the dogs, fantastic, love it.
46:40We also had our cordialine, which is up here, and this is a Torbay Dazzler that we call Miss Tina
46:46Turner for obvious reasons and the spiky groovy hair.
46:50She came home in the footwell of our car, but over the years has just shot up and yeah, this
46:57is where it all began.
47:00A lot of the planting is quite sturdy because the first thing we say is, can it take a bashing
47:06from the dogs?
47:07You don't normally assume that you can have four quite exuberant dogs and a wonderful space for yourself as well,
47:15and I think that we've actually proved that you can here.
47:23Cathy's excellent at remembering the plants' names, I'm absolutely terrible.
47:27It's easier to remember the names of things when you genuinely have an interest and Gary is the...
47:33Plantus potus is what I can remember.
47:40I absolutely adore this palm, look at it, it's like it's having a really bad hair day.
47:47This is a Washingtonia, so it's a cross between a Robusta and a Philephora, and they call it a filibuster.
47:55So what you'd normally see these, maybe out in Beverly Hills, they're called Skyduster palms, right up into the air.
48:01But unfortunately, they're not hardy for a severe winter, so as it is one of my ultimate favourites, if we
48:09do have a brutal winter, we'll build a cage for it and we'll protect it so it can just grow
48:14up to the sky.
48:17As the garden's evolved over the years, we've added more plants and they develop, you kind of grow fond of
48:24them in a weird way, so the plants become part of the family too.
48:34Look at this beautiful, hairy, fibrous trunk.
48:37I love it, I can't stop touching it.
48:39It's from the Trachycarpus family, it's a Fortunii, I like to make little pitter pockets out of the fibre here,
48:46and then wedge a Bromeliad in, an air plant or some succulents, just to make it a little bit blingy,
48:54which is lovely.
48:55Then we have, same again, Trachycarpus family, but this is our Wagnerianus.
49:02Easy to tell the difference because these palms are really quite stiff and they are more suited for windy areas.
49:10These are boys and this one's a girl, and I know this one's a girl because you can see the
49:15seeds here.
49:16So once the seeds have matured, they'll fall, and then over the years, you'll find yourself with seedlings like we
49:23have here, which are potentially lots of little palm trees, which are actually crosses between a Fortunii and a Wagnerianus.
49:34Look how resilient these plants are because you think they're being stamped by the dogs day in, day out, they
49:42take all the frosts, they take any snow, super hardy.
49:51Because the garden was originally a carpark with loads of hardcore, we have to get a groundbreaker in for any
49:57small plant.
49:58And every time I'll visit the nursery and I think, hmm, I really like that, and you can see Gary's
50:03face just dropping because he knows that he's going to have to get the groundbreaker out and that's going to
50:08be fizzy hands for the next three weeks.
50:16So here we have the staple for every tropical-style garden, I believe, which is the hardy banana, Lusabazdew.
50:25These guys add so much to a tropical garden.
50:28You look at the leaves, they're fantastic.
50:30They're like big sails waving in the wind.
50:32When the weather's bad and the winds come in and the rain hammers down, the leaves tear and shred and
50:38they look like gorgeous feathers, it's just something really magical.
50:43This one here has flowered this year.
50:45If you see up there, you can see the remnants of the flower and the tiny bananas, which aren't at
50:51all edible, but this will die.
50:53If I move this, you can kind of see it becoming a little bit fragile at the base, but the
50:58good news is that it will pop babies up, or pups as we call them, so we lose this one
51:05and then we have more replacing it.
51:14I get quite emotional when I think about the garden, really, because it's come a long way.
51:21It was designed for these guys here.
51:24They've come such a long way too, and it just gives so much joy.
51:30It's a dream come true to have these incredible animals with us in a lovely environment like this.
51:39We're so lucky.
51:40Very lucky.
52:21Come on.
52:23Come on.
52:24Come on.
52:43It's good to see another version of a dog garden, and you would like that, Ned.
52:48You would.
52:49To have that sort of exotic paradise within one garden, fabulous for people and fabulous for dogs.
52:56Now, I'm going to do a job which really needs doing fairly soon.
53:00It's cutting back late-flowering clematis.
53:03These are group three clematis, as sometimes referred to, and all of them flower on new growth.
53:08And you can see the new growth.
53:09It's appearing.
53:10And if you don't cut them back, you get a lot of bare growth at the bottom of the plant,
53:15and then a mass of new shoots at the top with the flowers on.
53:17But because they flower on new shoots, you can prune back all last year's growth, knowing there will be new
53:23growth to carry new flowers.
53:25And at the same time, it will encourage extra new growth, therefore extra flowers.
53:29So it's win-win.
53:37What I do with clematis that's growing in a border is I don't take it right to the ground.
53:41I take it about a foot or two above the ground so that the growth isn't competing with all this
53:48other growth that's going to come around them.
53:50However, if you've got this on an open fence or by a door you can cut nice and low, leave
53:56two buds.
53:57So if we take this tendril here, there's some buds there, buds there, and there, and there's some right down
54:06there.
54:06It just means if for any reason one set of buds gets damaged or frosted or whatever it might be,
54:13you've got another.
54:14And then everything above it is now redundant and can be thrown away, even though there's new growth on there.
54:27Now at this point, it's worth just inspecting your supports, and if in doubt, now is the time to change
54:34them.
54:34These have lasted about three or four years. That's all I expect from the hazel in the garden, particularly when
54:41it's been so wet.
54:42So these can come out. Oh, yeah, that's broken. So it shows they needed doing.
54:47I mean, as a rule of thumb, if they break like that, then they're good.
54:51They're not going to be strong enough to hold the weight of a clematis.
54:54A big, strong clematis full of flower in August or September needs pretty stout support.
55:01However, you can put them against a trellis, you can put them against a wall, as long as they're reasonably,
55:06strongly supported.
55:09The main thing when you're growing any clematis is they do not like to be dry.
55:14So if you're planting at this time of year, add a little bit of compost, or actually any organic matter,
55:22not so much to feed it, but to soak up moisture and hold moisture.
55:29And I'm really pushing them in as hard as I can.
55:46Right. That's a good job done.
55:49And if you've got late flowering clematis, then I do recommend that you get on with it and do it
55:54as soon as possible.
55:55But if you haven't got any late flowering clematis, here are some other jobs that you can do this weekend.
56:13It's time to begin sowing tender annuals.
56:17This is something that I like to do in stages across the coming weeks.
56:21I'm beginning by sowing typhonias, the Mexican sunflower, with their intense orange petals.
56:29Sprinkle the seed thinly on compost in a seed tray, cover them over, water them, ideally from below, by sitting
56:36them in a tray,
56:37and then put them somewhere warm to germinate.
56:40And then, in a few weeks' time, the seedlings will emerge.
56:50Now that they've finished flowering but still got lush foliage, it's the perfect time to lift and move snowdrops.
56:56You can either spread an existing group by lifting them and dividing them and then replanting them locally,
57:01or take them to a new location and plant them there.
57:05Either way, they will scarcely notice they've been moved and they'll re-flower with renewed vigor.
57:20Chitting potatoes, particularly for first earlies, is the best way to get the earliest possible harvest.
57:28In principle, it simply means taking the seed potatoes and placing them on end in some kind of container,
57:36either an egg box or I'm using a seed tray, so that one shoot is exposed to light.
57:42Put them in a frost-free but sunny place, and that shoot will become knobbly and hard,
57:48but when you plant it, it'll be primed to burst into growth.
58:07I think Ned is quite relaxed.
58:11I sat down here for a minute, and two seconds later he was on my lap, and now he's flat
58:15out.
58:16But it has been a wonderful day.
58:18I can't tell you how nice it's been to spend the whole day outside in the sunshine.
58:23And looking forward to so much more, because of course, not only is the garden looking better every day,
58:30but there is quite a lot to do.
58:31And in the end, that combination of enjoying the garden and gardening is what makes it so special.
58:39But that's it for today, and I will see you back here at Longmeadow next time.
58:43So until then, bye-bye.
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