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00:13Hello and welcome to Beechgrove Garden. Coming up this year's tomatoes get started
00:19and we're going back to basics on growing veg. We'll be sowing seeds for this season's veg crop,
00:28whether you've got a windowsill or greenhouse, grow along with us if you want tomatoes this summer.
00:35It's down to double face to move a magnolia and we're lifting and splitting in the picket fence
00:41garden. It's gonna be a big one isn't it? Almost. But before all that there's lots of good reasons
00:49for making your garden productive. You can cut down on food miles, you can save yourself a lot
00:53of money but most of all you have the simple satisfaction of eating something that you've
00:58grown yourself. So today I'm going to be starting with the fundamentals of making your garden productive
01:03in Back to Basics.
01:08So it's cracking weather outside today but there's lots of time for more frosts,
01:13cold weather, heavy rain, even a touch of snow. So it's a wee bit of cold for planting your tender
01:19vegetables just outside yet. But we can take advantage of these solid structures like glass
01:24houses, polytunnels, your porch, even your windowsill to start your veg crops off indoors
01:30and extend the growing season. And I must admit I start off virtually everything indoors, rocket,
01:37spinach, beetroots, lettuces. The only things I don't do are the likes of my carrots and my parsnips.
01:43So they're root crops and as you can see from the pictures here of the seed packets,
01:47they've got these long tap roots. So if I was to start them off in a module and then try
01:52and plant
01:52them outside, there's every chance I would damage that tap root. I'm not going to get a long slender
01:58root crop like you see in the pictures, every chance it'll do that forking thing where you get lots of
02:02those odd little funny shaped vegetables. Don't quite work well on your Christmas dinner table.
02:08But as I say, the best thing to do is to start off now if you can.
02:12So I've got my seed module here, I'm going to start off with some lettuce.
02:18Now there's lots of ways you can do this. I like these little modules because in effect,
02:23they're creating little plants.
02:26So I'm not filling too high, I'm going to try and make each module as level as possible.
02:34If you notice, I'm not going in with my fingers and I'm jam packing in,
02:37I want that compost to be light and fluffy and airy. So there's a few different types of
02:42lettuces we can be sown. You have your butter heads and I like your icebergs
02:46that you would harvest as a whole plant when you're outside. But I must admit, I do like the
02:52cut and come again types. You could just pick the outer leaves and then you could let the next ones
02:56go
02:56on. And you could basically get about two or three harvests off of that. So this is what I'm going
03:01to
03:01sow here. This variety here is the red salad bowl. Now, the seed sowing that I'm doing today,
03:09for anything and everything, the principles are exactly the same. The information, the key information
03:14that you need is on the back of the packet here. So when I sow this seed, I need it
03:18to be 13 millimetres
03:20deep. Now that's quite accurate, I'm not going to get a measuring tape out, but I roughly know what a
03:24centimetre or so is. So that'll do me. Now, this is just the red salad bowl. You can sometimes get
03:32a
03:32nice mixture so you get different kinds of cut and come again. And basically, you're just looking to
03:38pop about three or so seeds in each hole. And when it comes to planting out, I would just plant
03:44these.
03:44You've got a nice little mixture there. So I'm going to gently backfill. And this is where, you know,
03:50things have changed when I started. So back in the day, we would have got a sieve, a riddle as
03:55we call it.
03:56And we would have put some compost over the surface of the seed to cover them. Nowadays, I don't look
04:03past
04:03this. This is vermiculite. Basically, it's a lightweight mineral. It absorbs water. As I say,
04:10it's nice and light. It's not as heavy as the compost when the compost gets wet. So I'm going to
04:14put a
04:14layer over the surface of the seeds here. And the fact that this will hold on to the water, it
04:20means
04:20the compost isn't going to dry out. And the seedlings can also suffer from a fungal disease called
04:26damping off and it would kill off your seedlings. And this helps to ward off that. Now, I know we
04:31don't
04:31all have the luxury of big veg plots. And if you have a wee patio or a small garden, you
04:37can still be
04:37growing lettuce in this way. So we've just got a lovely little container here. And all I'm going to do
04:44is just broadcast so the seedlings over the surface of this compost. So the last step in the process
04:54is to give our trees a drink. So all I'm going to do is pop it in this big dish
05:00of water. Here,
05:01the compost will just soak up all that moisture but without disturbing the seeds. The other thing we
05:07can do with the watering can, you can still do exactly the same thing, but a wee tip is to
05:11start
05:11at the side so you don't get any of those big drips. And then you just gently go over your
05:18seed tree.
05:20Fingers crossed. Some beautiful lettuce in a couple of weeks.
05:30Well, as Brian is looking forward to a productive summer, I am here in my satutery taking a more
05:37relaxed approach. And I am really happy with how things are looking. Last year, we put in the
05:45hydrangea paniculata and we've got the mophead hydrangeas back here. But the biggest change
05:52has been the fence that has been put in. And although it looks fabulous, what I'm going to do
05:58is I'm going to make it look even better by planting in some rambling and climbing roses.
06:05Now, the first thing that you want to do before you plant any rose of any kind is to assess
06:12where it's going to be. Now, you don't want a climbing or rambling rose that is going to be a
06:18huge monster and take over the space completely. Now, I've got an Albrighton rambler and I've done
06:25some research. It only reaches a maximum height of about three and a half meters. So it's going to be
06:32perfect for filling this area here. Now, although the rose is a repeat flowering one and it is going to
06:40look fabulous once it all grows and fills in, what I want to do is I want to bend those
06:46stems and create
06:47a living structure, which is going to look good all year round as well. Now, to plant your rose, what
06:55you
06:55need to do is you need to make sure that you've got a really nice deep hole, at least 50
07:05centimeters
07:06by about 40 centimeters wide. I have also put a whole heap of farm yard manure in here to give
07:15the
07:16rose the best chance at growing through the summer. Now, we bought bare root roses. Now, it is coming to
07:24the end of the bare root season, but a bare root basically means it's been grown in the ground.
07:30It's been dug up, packaged so that the roots don't dry out. And one of the main reasons for growing
07:37bare root roses is that they are much cheaper than a rose that has been grown in a container.
07:44They have a bigger root system. So hopefully that will make for a really nice, healthy rose.
07:52We're going to use some mycorrhizal fungi over the roots. Now, what the mycorrhizal fungi does is that it
08:01helps the rose take up those all important nutrients and water as it grows. Now, it's a bit of a
08:11tricky spot
08:12here. Normally you would be planting a rose on a nice flat piece of ground, but here we've got a
08:19slight slope.
08:19So you want to make sure that this graft is about two or three inches below soil level. That is
08:28the
08:28main thing that you want to be doing. You also want to make sure that your rose is facing in
08:33the
08:33direction where you want it to grow. So filling that all in nicely,
08:43giving it a really firm in. And then what I'm going to do
08:49is I'm going to give it a really good drink of water. And that just means that it will move
08:54all the soil in round the roses' roots.
09:06But now it's time to catch up with one of Beechgrove's regulars.
09:16Colin Crosby worked as head gardener to the Queen Mother at Royal Lodge Windsor,
09:20and went on to be curator at RHS Garden Wisley. Today we are visiting his own plot just outside
09:27Dumfries. Sometimes in the garden there are jobs which are unplanned, and this is one of them. Sadly,
09:34above my head I've got some ash trees, and they're dying with ash dieback. They're starting to shed
09:41branches and they're unsafe. So they're going to be dismantled. But as they're dismantling it,
09:47all the trees and shrubs that you see around here are going to get damaged. And I want to move
09:52as many
09:53plants as I can and replant them elsewhere in the garden, so I stand a chance of saving them. So
10:02I'm
10:02not the best time of year for doing it, but it's the only chance I've got to save it. So
10:07here goes, fingers crossed.
10:14It's a good workout actually digging up trees like this. Who needs to go to the gym when you can
10:20do
10:20some gardening? And that's coming out really well. This has come out of the ground much easier than
10:28anticipated. I've got a good root system, and I've got lots of fibrous root as well.
10:36So here we are, almost at the new home for the magnolia. But first of all, a little secret.
10:44I always put the stake in first. The reason being, I've seen so many people plant trees,
10:51and then they come and they hammer in the stake and they damage the branches. So I'm going to put
10:57the stake in first. The prevailing wind comes from southwesterly, so I want the tree support to be
11:04actually going into the wind. I'm going to hammer it in at 45 degrees. You don't want to put the
11:10stake
11:10down through the roots of the tree. I've damaged them enough as I've dug it up. I don't want to
11:15damage the roots anymore. So here goes, I'll get the stake in first, and then we'll start getting ready.
11:24I'm trying not to hit my hand as I'm doing this. I think that's firm enough now. There we go.
11:32Let's
11:32start digging. So shallow, saucer shaped holes are the best holes for the tree. And so if you look at
11:42it,
11:43there's my spade in the hole. There's my shoe beside it. You can see the depth of the hole. It's
11:51only about
11:51half a spade's depth, not deep at all. The biggest killer of all trees and shrubs is planting too deep.
12:02Remember, when you walk through a woodland, you always trip over roots. Roots are on the surface.
12:07That's how you get good, healthy trees. So let's lift this magnolia in carefully. And fingers crossed,
12:16it will almost have the perfect hole.
12:21Let's see. Put the branches the other side. Almost about perfect. That's where I'll put the tie. You can
12:31see the roots just on the surface there. And now bringing the soil in round about it. And you can
12:40see where the roots of the old roots are somewhere. They're on the surface there.
12:47Right. That's the tree planted. Now to get the tree tie on. So it will hold it. So this is
12:57where I'm
12:57going to pull it to. So I'm going to make the first part of the figure eight, going around the
13:07magnolia stem there. So that's that. And then the next part, I'm pulling it to the stake. And I want
13:18to
13:18get it as tight as I possibly, possibly can. There we go. Look how tight that is now. That won't
13:28move. The
13:28magnolia is now actually attached to the stake. So if it's windy, it won't move and it allows the roots
13:37to settle in. A good job done.
13:50I love visiting gardens for inspiration, especially the old wall gardens. As soon as you open the gate
13:56and you see these really old apple trees that have been trained and shaped by the expert gardeners for
14:03decades. And then if you look at the walls too, they're full of espaliers, there's cordons, there's
14:08fan shapes, as the gardeners made the most of every single inch available of grown space.
14:16And that's something I'm keen to demonstrate here at Beech Grove, because today in our modern gardens,
14:21they're getting that wee bitty smaller too. So we've got the same problems. And there's a couple of
14:25methods I'd quite like to show you where you can grow fruit trees. So the first one, we're going to
14:29go for
14:29cordons. Now we're facing south, we're very, very lucky. West is brilliant too. But you know what,
14:35as George Anderson always says, you just go with what you've got to garden with.
14:39Cordons, these are grown at 45 degree angles. Ours are spaced around about 80 centimetres apart,
14:46but you can go as short as 60 and even up to a metre in length. And if you take
14:51a step back and have a
14:52look, where I'm standing between here and the wall, that's actually about the width of the side of your
14:57house or even a garage. So we've got three in this space. But if you're an apple buff,
15:03you could have four different varieties of apples. An early, a mid season, a late and a cooker. So
15:09that means you could be in your own supply of apples from September right through the winter.
15:14But we're trying a couple of different things here. We've got apples and also pears. Now when you plant
15:20these, there's not much you need to do in the first year. We're just going to let all these little
15:24buds
15:25break. And then this time next winter, that's when we'll do some individual spacing to make sure there's a nice
15:30gap between all the spurs that we're hoping to create. One thing I am going to do though,
15:37we're just over a metre here in length. Now just to ensure that I get all these buds to break,
15:43I'm just going to chop it off, just a wee bit of, at the top. And again, it's important when
15:49you have
15:49a cane to tie your tree into. If we were just relying on these wires, with the soft growth that
15:55we get at the start of the summer, you might find your lines a wee bit of wobbly. So having
16:00that cane
16:01just now, just to do as many ties as you need, is the best way to go. But what I'm
16:06really keen to show
16:07you is a horizontal espalier. Now I absolutely love these, because I want my garden to do everything.
16:13I want it to be productive and also look good. Now we've got a short wall, but remember your wall
16:19could be twice the height of that. We're going to train it from top to bottom with arms that go
16:25to
16:25the left and they also go to the right. And that'll be tiered all the way up. So in the
16:30summer it's
16:31productive, but in the wintertime it can look so good. Now, to do this kind of work, we're actually
16:39needing maiden apple trees. So one year old apple trees. Unfortunately, not the ones that you get
16:44in the garden centres just now. So this is actually a job that you're not going to be able to
16:48do this
16:48weekend, because you're not going to be able to get these trees anymore. Because they're bare rooted,
16:53and the bare rooted season actually goes from November through to March. So start thinking ahead
16:57to next year. Now I've had the roots sitting in a bucket of water for about an hour, and that's
17:02just
17:02to make sure the whole plant is fully hydrated. And when it comes to plant and bare root,
17:07you want to make sure you have a nice big hole, lots of room for the roots. Now I'm going
17:12to point
17:12out this little mark here. So this is what we call the nursery mark. You can see it's slightly lighter
17:18than the dark wood above it. Now this is the point where it was grown in the soil at the
17:23actual nursery.
17:24So it's very important that we try and match that here. If it's too low, too deep down, then the
17:30roots
17:30aren't going to get that same water that they used to get. And if it's too high up, then that
17:35means the
17:35plant's going to dry out a lot quicker. And it's very important that we keep this plant fully hydrated
17:40for the first year of its life so it can put down that root system. So I've got my position
17:45in the
17:46middle. I'm just going to backfill with some of the soil, only part of the way. And then there's my
17:53nursery mark there. I'm going to use my cane to get the level. And I'm just going to gently tease
17:58it up
17:59to the root mark. And that means the compost and the soil is going to get right the way around
18:06the
18:06roots. Once I'm happy with my level, that's when I can come in and give the plant a good firm.
18:14So we're going to tie it into the wires. And as the wind comes over the summer months,
18:19it will blow it backwards and forwards. So it is a good idea that we have them tied up,
18:23not too tight. We don't want it being strangled as it grows. And then this is the crucial bit.
18:29This is the bit where you might think I'm actually going mad. At the bottom wire,
18:33we're going to count up about seven centimetres. And then I'm going to chop off all this growth.
18:41Seems a bit cruel. But what's going to happen now is all these buds are going to get stimulated into
18:48growth. This one is now going to become our new leader. So hopefully this time next year,
18:53we could do exactly the same process at the next wire. And then these two buds below it,
18:59one will be able to train to the right and the other will be able to train to the left.
19:05Simple as that, he says. Fingers crossed. And we'll keep an eye on it over the summer.
19:09But for now, I'm going to give it a good drink. Because it's up against this wall,
19:13it's going to dry out so much quicker. So for the first year of its life, we've got to make
19:17sure
19:17it's getting lots of water. Give it a good mulch as well with some manure and the plant will love
19:22it.
19:37Last week, Carol and Brian were starting off the tatties. And this week, I am getting to start
19:43off another Beech Grove classic. It's the tomatoes. Now, what I wanted to do this year was to have a
19:51little taste test to see if there's a difference between heritage tomatoes or heirloom varieties
19:56or the F1 varieties that you can get. Now, there's pros and cons about growing the two different types
20:04of tomato heritage. There's lots of good flavour, texture and a variety of colours. The F1 are really
20:14disease resistant. They produce a really good high yield crop. The heritage tomatoes, though,
20:22the one great thing about it is that you'll be able to seed save. So once you've grown your tomatoes,
20:29you have a few left over, you can then grow those seeds on next year and they will turn out
20:35just like
20:35your tomatoes this year. In the heritage variety, we've got Barry's Crazy Cherry, we've got Black Cherry,
20:42we've got Hanging Prince and in the F1 we have got Black Moon, we've got Cherry Baby and also Iridescent.
20:51Now, at this stage, you've got these lovely healthy plants and they need to be pricked out. You want to
20:59do that just now because if you leave them in there any longer, they're going to start competing for
21:04nutrients and space and you want really nice healthy plants. So let's prick them out. So they're normally ready
21:10to be pricked out when their true leaves start to form. So you've got your seedling
21:16leaves here and then you've got the true leaves that form after that. What you also need is a pot
21:22of peat-free compost. I've got some here, I've filled it up so that the seedling can go straight
21:28into that pot. I put a little hole in the middle there. You need a dibber or a pencil and
21:34what you want
21:35to do is you just gently ease around and try and get as much of the root system out as
21:43possible,
21:44making sure that you hold the little tomato plant by its leaf, never by its stem.
21:51Out there, there we go, you can see all the lovely little roots. Great thing about the tomato is if
21:57they're getting really leggy, what you can do is you can bury it right the way up to that first
22:03set of
22:03leaves and all this stalk will produce lovely strong roots and give the tomato a really good lovely
22:12strong base. So I'm going to pop some compost just in and around, firming it in and then what you
22:24want
22:25to do is to give it a really good watering, making sure that the compost is completely soaked right
22:34the way through. So I want to be able to see the drips coming out of the bottom hopefully and
22:42there we go.
22:43That means that it's gone all the way through the compost and your tomato seedling will be well watered.
23:04Well, Lizzie, we're now in one of Beechgrove's favourite plots. This is the picket fence garden.
23:08I know, but Brian, there's something missing. Where's the picket fence garden?
23:12Yeah, the key element, isn't it? Well observed, Lizzie, well observed. I know, but it was rotting,
23:17the paint was flicking off, it looked awful, it had to go and it actually looks so much better.
23:22But us gardeners, we've got this built-in optimism anytime anything goes wrong. I don't know,
23:27we see the positive and you've seen the positive here, you've got a few ideas for this spot now.
23:31Oh, I am super excited. This is going to be Beechgrove's brand new cutting patch garden.
23:37And, you know, cut flowers are one of my passions. I just love them so much. You know,
23:43you save yourself so much money by collecting and growing your own cut flowers. Also sustainability
23:49aspect of it, they're going to be grown and not flown in from different countries. So you don't
23:55actually need that much space. I mean, we have loads of space here, but a small space like this in
24:00your
24:00garden, you can grow a whole heap of different types of flowers that will keep your house looking
24:06beautiful all year round. So we're going to have a perennial bed, we're going to have a bed just
24:13for foliage, a bed for annuals, for bulbs, and we're going to have an area, and this is one that
24:19I'm really excited about. It's going to be annuals, but they're going to be able to be completely dried
24:24and look great in the vase, even in December. So in effect, you're going to be demonstrating how
24:29your garden can be full of plants, but you can be bringing in a bit of scent and colour indoors.
24:34Love it. Now, this part of the garden was already looking good, so we haven't put anything to waste.
24:39The gardens team have already been busy, they've moved plants already to other parts of the garden,
24:43but what they have left us is a few herbaceous, because this is the time of year where you can
24:47get your herbaceous plants, lift and split them, transplant them, multiply them as well.
24:53Yeah, plants for free. Yeah.
24:54So what you're looking for, you're looking for plants, just as the new shoots begin to grow,
24:59we're actually going to have a go at this peony here and dispel a popular myth that you can't
25:04transplant peonies. Now I hear a sudden intake of breath from all the viewers at home, Brian.
25:10And trust me, I'm a wee bit nervous, I'm not going to deny it, but it is possible to do.
25:16I mean,
25:16they're absolutely lovely plants, aren't they? They look absolutely fantastic in a vase, and I'm just going to
25:21let you do what we have. That's fine, Lizzie. I'm happy with that. Digging it around the peony,
25:27making sure that we get a good root ball on it. Oh, it's going to be a big one, isn't
25:32it? Almost.
25:34OK. Well done. So we've got it. I'm just going to knock off some of the excess soil. Now,
25:39normally with herbaceous, you can get a couple of forks, you put them both right where you want to
25:46split them, and then you would squeeze them together and that would separate your two plants
25:51out. But then there ain't no way that's happening with this peony. So I'll give you this one.
25:57I am going to be a wee bit of brutal here, and I'm going to have to take the spade
26:02and go right through. I mean, if we have a look at that, that's a lovely round plant there.
26:10Wow. And we could probably, there you go. OK, I think these will be suitable for your perennial bed.
26:17Shall we take them over to the other side? Excellent.
26:23I'm glad we've prepared these holes already, because I wasn't expecting it to be this big.
26:28I'm not going to lie. Actually, that's not too bad. Because the thing is, with a peony,
26:34if you are moving it, you want to make sure it's the same level as what you had it before.
26:38We don't want it to be any deeper. So if I use this cane, that's not bad.
26:42Perfect. Now, if they are a wee bit deeper, they say it affects the flowering. But how about we make
26:48your plant use maybe a couple of centimetres deep and just see if there is a wee difference in the
26:51flowering? Definitely. I think that it definitely affects the flowering because, I mean, I love
26:56mulching my garden. But one year, I was a little bit overzealous with my mulching over the peonies,
27:02and it did not flower. It produced a lot of leaves, but we'll see. Interesting, interesting.
27:09So we've got a good site for the peonies here. It's nice. It's open. There's a lot of sun that
27:14we've got here. We're improving the soil. We're mixing some farmyard manure into it. So we've maybe
27:20dispelled the myth that we can transplant a peony. But let's see if we can do it successfully.
27:26That's the next trick. Let's see if it actually flowers this year or indeed next year. So after
27:32that's in, I'm going to give it a good firm in now. It's at the level that I'm wanting it.
27:36Afterwards,
27:36make sure we give it a right good drink, especially at this time of year and potentially over the whole
27:41summer. But fantastic to see what happens. Yeah, exactly.
27:54Well, that's almost all from us. Callum's going to be joining me in the garden next week,
27:58and we are going to be busy. He's going to be looking at his violas that he started off last
28:03August. And he's also going to be kicking off a project to see how much colour he can get out
28:08of
28:08the one container in one season. We visit a great allotment in Perth. And Brian, you are looking at
28:14something that almost every garden has. Yeah, what you should be doing to your lawns right now to make
28:18sure they're looking good for the whole summer. You can catch us on social media and also look out
28:25for us on the BBC iPlayer where you can watch or re-watch whenever you want. But from the pair
28:30of us,
28:30that's it. Bye for now.
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