- 3 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:21Right now, come on. Good boy.
00:41Hello. Welcome to an Easter gardener's world. And it's that first moment in the year for
00:53many people when you can get outside and really appreciate the garden as something to offer
00:58you delight, rather than a series of jobs that need to be done. And the cottage garden
01:04here at Longmeadow is beginning to be delightful. It's just starting to show its colours, but
01:10those colours are very much geared towards pastels, obviously pinks, and then lilacs and
01:17mauves. And, when I can get it, my favourite colour of all in the garden, which is apricot.
01:26Now, there are very, very few flowers that are naturally apricot. They tend to be bred
01:32from a combination of pink and orange. Sometimes you have too much pink, sometimes too much orange,
01:38and occasionally they just hit the sweet spot, but then another one of the same variety doesn't.
01:44It's my obsession. But it is good fun working on a colour theme. And what I have here is a
01:51geom. This is geom Mai Tai. It's from the cocktail series. It's not true apricot, but it's touched
01:58with it. It's got a base of a soft yellow and then flushed with a very orangey pink. The cocktail
02:06series
02:06are particularly low, so great for the front of a border or in a pot, but they flower from, depending
02:12where you are, mid-April right the way through till June. And if you keep deadheading, they will keep
02:17on flowering.
02:20That one has got flowers on it. When you're buying a plant from a garden centre, tend to
02:25those that don't have flowers on it, because it's used up the energy of the plant to produce
02:30flowers, and you want that energy going into your garden. So check out the flowers, make
02:34sure it's the colour you want, and then choose plants that are not yet flowering.
02:41OK, we can get one in here, and I think another over here. Right, that will do for this bit.
02:47Now the foxgloves, I want to plant those now because they're bare root. And if you're moving
02:51plants in the garden, move them quickly. The quicker you move them, the less they'll mind
02:55being moved.
03:01I've got here some foxgloves called Apricot Delight. Never grown it before. I've grown from
03:06seed. They look as though they could be wonderful. And foxgloves are either a biannual or a short
03:12lived perennial. And what that means is they will not flower in their first year. They
03:17flower in their second year. And some won't flower again. They'll set seed and die back.
03:22Quite a few will reappear the next year, maybe even as many as four years. But by and large,
03:28their best performance is in the year after sowing.
03:34Right, I'm going to get this in the ground. And these are in the ground.
03:52It's brilliant planting weather. Over Easter is a really good time. Perfect for herbaceous
03:59perennials, or biannuals, or even annuals for that matter. Get them in the ground because
04:04the sooner the roots can get in, the better they're going to cope with summer heat. And
04:08this relates to geoms in particular, because geoms are a plant that really don't like to
04:13be dry. They do their best in moisture-retentive ground. So that's not a bog. They're not a
04:18water plant, but they're not good in very light sand or pure chalk or anything like that.
04:23But they really like soil that can retain moisture. And of course, you can always improve the
04:30water retention of your soil by adding organic matter.
04:40Now, Ashley went down to Leonard's Lee Garden in West Sussex to celebrate spring by looking
04:47at it in detail.
04:54For me, early spring carries a quiet magic. The natural world is awakening, and there's
05:00a thrilling sense of possibility in the air. Color is returning, buds are swelling, and plant
05:08life unfolds a little more each day. The garden may seem calm, but that stillness can be deceptive.
05:16There's a world of excitement waiting if you just slow down and look closely.
05:29Magnolias are the real stars of early spring. While most trees wait for their leaves to appear
05:36before flowering, with magnolias, the flowers come first.
05:41I've just noticed this. This is Magnolia Leonard Messel, and it's a really delicate form of
05:48magnolia. There's so many different varieties. What I love about this one is it's got this
05:52two-tone color to the petals. The outside a lot more of a pastel pink, and the inside this
05:58lovely pale pink. So when you're looking at it from different angles, you get those different
06:02colors. When you look really closely at the buds, you can see they're really fuzzy. They're, they're almost
06:07like little rabbit feet. And this fur actually protects them from cold weather, meaning that
06:12they can flower earlier in the year. Magnolia flowers are monoecious, and this means that both
06:18male and female reproductive organs are on the same plant. Magnolias evolved nearly 100 million
06:25years ago when bees didn't exist and dinosaurs still roamed the earth. So they relied on beetles to
06:31pollinate them. So lots of magnolias have robust anthers and stigmas to support these large insects.
06:37And you can see this in some of these flowers here. They're almost like plastic. They're so tough.
06:43Once you start to notice the little details like these buds, you realize that the garden is full
06:48of the promise of spring.
07:01Wow. This is Katsura tree, or Circe de Filma japonicum. Also sometimes called the toffee apple tree
07:09because it has this really sugary scent when the leaves drop in autumn. But I've never noticed the flowers
07:14before, and they're like little flames or tentacles. These are the male flowers of this tree.
07:19There's such a small window of opportunity to see this, so I feel really lucky to be here
07:24just at the right time.
07:33This area of the garden is famous for its rhododendrons, many of which are hybrids that were bred here
07:39more than a century ago.
07:41And this one is just starting to show its full color.
07:44But if you look closely, you can see the different stages we're at now.
07:48So you've got the closed bud here,
07:50and you can tell it's a flower bud because it's really fat and juicy.
07:53And it also has these really beautiful scales.
07:56Some rhododendron buds have a sticky resin,
07:59and this helps to protect it from insect attack and also from any wet weather.
08:04On this one, you can see the flower petals just emerging,
08:07and this is beautiful in its own right. They look like little tongues to me.
08:10And then these ones are in full color now,
08:12and that just shows how you've got these stages,
08:15this progression of flowering on this plant.
08:30This is a great example of layering in the garden.
08:34You've got your large shrubs and trees like this pieris above me,
08:37and it's been crown lifted,
08:39so it opens up opportunity for planting underneath.
08:42So you have your second layer of smaller shrubs and herbaceous plants
08:46like these beautiful hellebores, which are in full flower now.
08:49So it provides that early season color and interest.
08:52And then you've got ground cover like this pakisandra here,
08:55which provides a lovely foliage for the forest floor.
08:58And this is something you can apply to any garden.
09:01It doesn't matter what size you've got.
09:02You could even do it in a container.
09:04So you could have a large shrub with smaller filler plants like hellebores,
09:08and then something that trails like vinca.
09:11It's a great way to make the most of your space.
09:14And it also means that when these early flowering plants are finished,
09:18you still have all that texture to see throughout the year.
09:30Some shrubs really come into their own in early spring,
09:34when color and fragrance can still be a little thin on the ground.
09:39One of my favorites is this.
09:41It's Edgeworthia chrysantha grandiflora,
09:44and it has these amazing ball-shaped flowers.
09:47The flowers also appear before the leaves,
09:49so it means that they really stand out, and it packs such a powerful scent.
09:53And this acts as a signal.
09:55Insects are waking up from hibernation this time of year,
09:57so by putting this scent out there,
09:59it says, I'm open for business.
10:00Come and get some nectar.
10:04Planting nectar-rich plants
10:06doesn't just give you a beautiful garden,
10:08but it also gives wildlife a head start.
10:12Over here, we have Coriolopsis porciflora,
10:14and it has these delicate pendant-like yellow flowers,
10:17which look like little lanterns.
10:19The great thing about this is you could have it in a small garden.
10:22It stays compact,
10:23and it has this really nice arching habit to it.
10:26If you want to prune your spring flowering shrubs,
10:29the best time to do it is straight after they finish flowering
10:31because they soon start to produce the growth
10:34that will have next year's flowers on.
10:42Once you tune into the season,
10:44the signs of spring are everywhere.
10:47I've just spotted this,
10:48and it's a emerging leaf bud.
10:51And I can tell this because they are very narrow,
10:53and you can just make out the little fingers
10:55of the emerging leaves.
10:57And this one has emerged a bit more,
10:59and you can see this beautiful pink hue that it has.
11:02It's a type of chestnut,
11:05and it will also flower later in the year.
11:07But now, we can appreciate the foliage.
11:10Spotting signs like these is a great way to read your garden,
11:13and it gives you an idea of things to come.
11:28These lakes are stunningly beautiful,
11:31and in these cooler temperatures,
11:32the surface of the water is calmer,
11:34and it creates this mirrored effect.
11:37I can see the trees reflected in the surface
11:39and also the golden hues of the daffodils in the distance.
11:45It's something you could even try at home.
11:47You don't need a massive lake.
11:48You could have your own container with water in it
11:50to reflect angles from your garden.
11:54It's a great way to add a sense of serene calm into your space.
12:11The soundscape is a huge part of spring for me,
12:14and if you listen closely,
12:16it tells a story.
12:17The garden is waking up again,
12:19and we too are part of that quiet renewal.
12:27Simply spending time outdoors
12:29and noticing those small changes
12:31can be surprisingly restorative.
12:33Spring is such a short season,
12:35but that's what makes it so special.
12:37It's a reminder to slow down,
12:39notice the changes,
12:40and really savour the season,
12:42because before you know it, it's past.
13:06The thing that I love about spring
13:08more than any other season
13:10is that it has shifts and changes
13:12over at least two if not three months.
13:15There's an awful lot going on.
13:16And one of the things at the moment on the mound
13:18that really appeals to me is this.
13:20It's a Forsythia.
13:22Now, Forsythia is as common as muck.
13:24I mean, there must be hundreds of thousands
13:26if not millions of them around the country.
13:28But this particular one is a bit more unusual.
13:32It's Forsythia suspensa nimens.
13:35And I've chosen it because it's got this pale yellow
13:38and this quite loose structure and form
13:40and works perfectly with the daffodils
13:43that we have here on the mound.
13:45Now, this combination will only last a week at the most
13:47and then it'll move on
13:49and other things will take their place.
13:51And I think that's the joy of spring.
14:05OK?
14:07Good boy.
14:08Good boy.
14:08Come on.
14:29I've added a bit of compost to this raised bed because I'm about to plant up a bed for cut
14:36flowers and I'm adding in some ranunculus, ranunculus asiaticus or sometimes called the
14:42Persian buttercup but unlike the buttercups you see in fields with open simple petals
14:47these have a mass of petals that form a kind of globe. These will flower hopefully from about
14:56the end of May into June, planted in December and then kept in the greenhouse and gradually
15:03hardened off. Or you could plant the tubers now and they would flower later in summer.
15:14I'm going to space these out about six inches apart and the thing about cut flowers is that
15:20you can plant them closer together than you otherwise would in a border. There are two
15:24reasons for that. One, they're not going to be there for as long and two, you want the
15:29stems to grow tall you almost want to force them up so you get decent stumbling. Choose a spot that's
15:38relatively shady and soil that is well drained but enriched.
15:54The thing to remember when you're growing ranunculus is that they're half hardy. So if you live in a very
16:00sheltered area that hardly ever gets frost and if it does it's just a touch of it, they may well
16:05overwinter
16:06and they're a perennial and they will come back. But anywhere that reliably gets two or three degrees
16:14of frost or more, they're very unlikely to survive that. So treat them as annuals.
16:34I will need to water these in. It's really important that this time of year water everything you plant thoroughly.
16:40I will also have to have a bit of fleece handy for the next month just in case we get
16:46some late frost which we can do here.
16:48And a bit of fleece covering them overnight should be enough.
16:52So that bed is sorted. The two back beds have got tulips in them and these are tulips that I'm
16:58trialing.
16:59And the ones I like, and maybe only one or two, I will then order more next year and they
17:04can graduate for the garden proper.
17:06Now this bed, last autumn I sowed with hardy annuals, particularly Ami, Ami Magus and Ami Visnaga and a bit
17:16of wild carrot.
17:17However, we had a really cold snap for a few days in November, followed by one of the wettest winters
17:25ever.
17:25And I'm afraid that did for them, because if that wasn't enough, we've had a mass of rabbits this winter.
17:31And rabbits love Ami more than anything else.
17:35So we lost a lot. Doesn't matter. I've now got a free bed and I want to use it for
17:38cut flowers again.
17:40And I'm going to sow scabious. I love scabious.
17:42It makes a brilliant cut flower, makes a brilliant border flower, and I love the dark colours.
17:47Now I've got a variety here called Black Knight, which is really deep, rich, burgundy speckled with white.
17:57Put them into your hand. Probably best not to do this on a windy day.
18:01And just sprinkle thinly.
18:09I'll show you a tip for sowing any kind of seed outside in the garden that I was shown when
18:14I was a boy.
18:16And it works.
18:17Draw a drill with your hand.
18:21And sow your seeds.
18:23And then just simply put your thumb and your fingers either side of the drill and run down either side
18:29of it like that.
18:30And it pushes the soil up over the seeds, works a treat.
18:35Now, I grow cut flowers in these few special beds and they're brilliant for the house.
18:41However, you don't need special beds.
18:43Just to pick a small bunch of flowers from your garden is an utter joy.
18:47But for some people it's more than a joy.
18:49It becomes transformative.
18:51It changes their lives.
18:53And I think that's absolutely the case for Hattie Colvin.
18:56And we went to visit her at her home in Carmarthenshire.
19:03The flowers are a passion of mine.
19:06And I think the more I grow, the more obsessed I become.
19:10I don't think I'll ever have enough.
19:15Just seeing something go from nothing through to a huge display of wondrous colour, I think, is just something really
19:24special.
19:31My name's Hattie and this is my flower farm in Clondilo, Wales.
19:40I'm unapologetically in love with flowers.
19:43I could not be without dahlias.
19:46So this flower is one of my favourites.
19:50I can never pick an actual favourite.
19:52It's called Dunaj or Dunay, depending on how you pronounce it.
19:56It's a pom-pom variety.
19:57I love the kind of intensity of the pink colour on the very small sort of ball-shaped form and
20:04the incredible formation of petals.
20:07The pom-pom shape is better for cutting because they tend to have a bit of a longer vase life
20:12cut at the right stage.
20:14You cut before the centre opens and then it'll last a lot longer.
20:24This one is preference.
20:27Preference is incredibly prolific.
20:30It does need quite a lot of food and nutrition, mostly because it produces so many flowers.
20:35It just gets a bit tired by the end of the season if you don't keep it topped up.
20:41So our soil here is very clay.
20:44So I spend a lot of time making sure that the soil is looked after.
20:48I use lots of different types of farmyard manure to mulch the beds.
20:54Every time I plant, I make sure that I replenish some of the goodness back into the soil.
21:00When I start seedlings, I use a seaweed feed as well when they're in their trays.
21:08Again, just to make sure that they have a really great start to life.
21:12And I find that keeping the plants as healthy as they can possibly be means that they're more resistant to
21:18pests.
21:26I used to live and work in London as an accountant.
21:29I did get a lot of joy out of what I did, but it wasn't for me.
21:33My partner was in Wales and I felt very much the pull towards being here in somewhere that was back
21:40to nature and slower paced.
21:43I was commuting back and forwards to London, so had a lot of thinking time in the car.
21:51I had a few dahlias.
21:53I found them just so exciting and loved all the different shapes and the colours and the kind of flounciness.
22:01And I decided that I wanted more dahlias.
22:04So that kind of formed the idea for, ooh, what if I could grow cut flowers?
22:12In three years, I've ended up with 27 20-metre beds and polytunnels as well.
22:21So, yeah, it escalated fairly quickly.
22:29You don't need a huge amount of space to get started with a cutting garden.
22:34And actually, if you choose carefully what you grow, you could have quite a few vases of flowers throughout the
22:41summer to enjoy.
22:45So I very quickly learned in my journey of growing that some flowers are much easier to grow than others.
22:52One that is generally pretty steadfast is Cosmos.
22:57It comes in some really beautiful shades.
22:59It's easy to germinate.
23:01And then they're fairly indestructible, I find.
23:06This is a really good example of a Cosmos that's actually been pollinated already by the bees.
23:12So you see it's gone quite fuzzy on the inside.
23:16And that sadly means that I can't use it as a cut flower because it won't really last and it'll
23:21drop its petals.
23:22But it does mean that the bees have had a lovely time.
23:33Scabias are really lovely at cut flower.
23:37They're very generous with how many stems you get.
23:40This is called Black Knight.
23:41And I did once have somebody ask me if I could give them the flower with the hundreds and thousands
23:46on it,
23:47because it's got the white little sprinkles on the top.
23:50You also get these lovely seed heads, which you can either dry or actually use in an arrangement as well.
24:04For anybody that's thinking about starting up their own cutting garden, I'd probably recommend snapdragons.
24:10I think they're really majestic looking and always have a really amazing scent.
24:15A perennial option, I would definitely go for a geum, something like Totally Tangerine,
24:20which is lovely, beautiful colour, and it actually keeps flowering from May,
24:25slows down as it gets to later in the summer, but you do still keep getting flowers.
24:30And I think, obviously, you'd have to have some dahlias.
24:38As a flower grower, you're very much hailed as living the dream
24:42and wafting about in the field with a trug and a floaty dress, gathering flowers.
24:48One thing that I have definitely learnt is doing this is a tough, tough job.
24:54All of the critters want to get to your flowers before you do.
24:58The weather wants to destroy things. It is not all glamour.
25:09When I'm arranging with flowers, I would tend to find something in the field
25:14that does really inspire me to want to show that off.
25:18And then everything else kind of gets built around that.
25:24I just slowly keep building the bouquet.
25:27I want different heights.
25:29I've already got some scented pelargonium.
25:32This is a lemon basil and some pennycrest thlaspie to add some green,
25:37some different textures with different foliages.
25:40And also, that is a delightful smell.
25:45There is definitely a huge sense of pride when you're working with flowers
25:50that you've grown yourself and seeing them all kind of come together,
25:54like little friends and having a little flower party.
25:59I'm going to try and add this one in.
26:01It's quite nice and upward facing, which this variety isn't normally.
26:08This feels like a really, really lovely representation
26:11of what's flowering right now in the field.
26:14It's all of my favourite colour palettes.
26:25It feels like a huge privilege to get to do what I do for a living.
26:30I often find it really hard to believe that my slightly random dream
26:35that came to me on the motorway is actually now a very beautiful reality.
26:41.
26:48.
27:19I think it's really encouraging that there are more and more people like Hattie that are local
27:24that have got a wide variety of really interesting plants something I would suggest we all support
27:29now it's Easter and traditionally the main Easter job in the garden was planting potatoes
27:36you get your potatoes in the ground now first early should be ready to harvest round about June
27:41second early is July a main crop in the early autumn this is a variety called Charlotte it's a second
27:50early
27:51and these have chitted and you can see look that's a really good example of a chitted potato you get
27:58this knobbly growth and it speeds up the growth and therefore the harvest now how you grow them
28:04depends on how much space you've got if you've got plenty of space you've got an allotment it's a
28:09brilliant idea to dig a furrow or a trench put them in the bottom and then heat the soil back
28:14up to
28:14make a ridge over them if you're shorter space or you're growing in raised beds like I am it couldn't
28:20be easier all you do is simply make a hole stick them in with the chitted chute at the top
28:28you want
28:29to bury it ideally its own depth below the ground I get three across here give it at least a
28:43foot or so
28:44if you're growing them in a raised bed you can grow them much closer together than you would in rows
28:51potatoes really respond to feeding so if you've got any compost or any manure anything any soil
28:59improver it's really worth adding to the soil and that will definitely increase the harvest
29:11here here here no Ned come here come here look put it good boy
29:22break over to cover them
29:28hopefully when I come to harvest them we shall have a whole mass of new potatoes and for Ned
29:36a whole mass of new balls to harvest come July at least that's what he thinks
29:45right I'm going to use this ground because nothing will appear for a few weeks time but I'm going to
29:53catch crop and the fastest growing crop to grow at this time of year is radish and radish will germinate
30:01within a week and be ready to harvest within six weeks before they get crowded out by the foliage of
30:07potatoes broadcast over the surface it just means sprinkle them widely try and do it reasonably evenly
30:19put the rake over them again to slightly lightly cover them
30:30I've got these extra sea potatoes but I'm not going to waste them because I want to grow some in
30:33pots
30:41this is a recycled container you can see I've drawn holes in the bottom you need peat-free compost
30:49put it in the bottom not right full up
30:55that will do to start with what you need is
30:59at most three and to be honest two will be plenty in there but the truth is three wouldn't give
31:06me any
31:07bigger harvest the more you put in the smaller potatoes you'll get and that should produce you
31:15between about 10 and 20 potatoes enough for a couple of meals a treat just cover them up put a
31:24little bit over the top of them don't fill it to the top as the new growth comes fill on
31:30top of it
31:31that means roots will grow from the stems and you'll get more potatoes keep it well watered make sure it's
31:37not sitting in a puddle so maybe lift it a little bit off the ground and if you can give
31:41it a little bit
31:42a shelter they'll grow even better and this is a perfect way to grow potatoes if you're very short
31:48of space the beauty of this of course is that you can grow potatoes whether you want them as a
31:57treat
31:57or just because you like spuds even if you've got very limited space now we went to see tom stimpson
32:04i don't know if he grows potatoes but i do know that everything else he grows is in pots
32:15when you get home from work it's quite nice to unwind out of the garden surrounded by nature
32:20and beautiful flowers just perfect
32:28hi i'm tom and this is my small town garden in ely in cambridgeshire and it's all about pots
32:44i think very often there's a misconception that if you have a small space you should have just small
32:49pots and that's not true it's amazing how many pots you can fit into a relatively tiny tiny space
32:58one of my favorite things to do is build up displays of pots on tabletops and i've got four or
33:05five
33:05tabletops that i sort of rotate and use in different areas of the garden at different times of the year
33:13so i do that by looking at the size of the pots the shapes of them so some taller terracotta
33:19some squat
33:20ones and then some little tiny ones as well to slot in amongst the bigger ones
33:26because that means you can create great floral displays and a little bit of structure and drama
33:39this is muscari armeniacum which is a muscari i grow every single year it's super reliable easy to
33:50grow and i love the intensity of the blue color they require minimal water bulbs on the whole tend to
33:57prefer it to be on the dry side so planted it in the autumn into really free draining compost once
34:03we
34:03get into february green shoots start to appear and then with a little bit of sunshine once we get into
34:08march an eruption of blue one of the ways to keep your pots of muscari flowering longer is to dead
34:14head
34:15and it's really important not just to pinch here but to pinch right down at the base remove the stem
34:21just discard it and you'll find that will encourage all the flower buds to keep coming and for it to
34:27flower for a longer period of time
34:38so growing in pots is really straightforward so it all starts with what's at the bottom of the pot first
34:45so to make sure you've got some crocs and i then put a small layer of grit just over that
34:51then it's
34:52about the potting medium so i use a peat free general purpose potting compost nothing too fancy
34:58but i'll always add a little bit of grit so if i'm using it for pots of bulbs like this
35:03one here i will
35:04probably add around 60 compost to 40 grit and i think that's absolutely key because the importance of
35:14drainage for the bulbs is so important and you'll have much better results if the compost can remain
35:19just moist rather than sodden for other varieties of plants violas primulas i won't add so much grit
35:26probably about just 10 percent just to aid that drainage a little bit but they're much more tolerant
35:31to to wet conditions and then as we get into them growing in the spring is when you tend to
35:37look at
35:38the moisture levels a little bit more closely and then as things start to grow and start to bud up
35:43i'll then start a twice fortnightly feed with some liquid seaweed just to give a little bit of goodness
35:48back into the compost and support the the flowers
36:04so this is ifian and a variety called alberto castile i have to say they're one of my new faves
36:11i just love
36:12them they have this wonderful sort of grass-like foliage and i love the chaos of the stems really how
36:19they
36:19grow in whichever way they choose really and i love the fact that they move and sway in the breeze
36:26and one of my absolute favorite things about it is the reverse of the petals have a gorgeous stripe
36:31down the reverse of each flower petal
36:43it's important to raise the pod off the table as otherwise when it rains the compost just remains
36:49wet it never drains away totally it just there's always a little puddle of water underneath the bottom
36:55of the pot i found over the years one of the best things to use is just tile spaces so
37:02when you place
37:03your pot on them you can't see them but it just allows a few millimeters of air between the surface
37:09of the table in the bottom of the pot and it just means the water can drain away and that's
37:13the one way
37:14i get them through the winter
37:24this is a variety of narcissi called polar hunter a relatively new variety but rapidly becoming one of my
37:32my favorite ones to grow it has the wonderful fruity fragrance quite unlike any other scented variety of
37:39narcissi and it's a beautiful color it starts off a limey cream color as it opens and then gradually fades
37:47to a creamy white i very often cut a few stems and just have by the side of my bed
37:53because i love waking
37:54up to the the gorgeous scent in the morning it's a brilliant one for pots but to give it a
37:59little bit of
38:00extra support i just add a few hazel twigs in i love doing that because it looks natural it's
38:06absolutely gorgeous what do you say to people who don't like to have a deals they should go and get
38:10a
38:11life so as we come into mid-spring i start to think about what's going in the pots for the
38:21summer and a key
38:23variety for me are dahlias i absolutely love them they're brilliant for providing color from mid-summer
38:29through to the first frost so great value the tubers are nice and big so i'm planting into quite
38:36a big pot if your tubers are a little bit smaller so they're fresh stock then i'd probably say plant
38:41them in a three litre size pot and get them to grow and shoot in there before planting out into
38:46a bigger
38:47pot or into the border peat-free compost i've added a bit of grit for extra drainage and it's important
38:54with dahlias that the crown sits just above the soil surface pots for me are a key element to to
39:03my
39:03gardening life when you have a small space and if you love plants pots are essential to add interest
39:10drama impact color abundance
39:38Like Tom, I grow masses of spring bulbs in pots.
39:43This time of year, mainly full of Narcissae and tulips, and the great thing about them is you have these
39:49splashes of colour that you can move around and assemble.
39:52And by the way, if you've not seen this daffodil before, it's called Rip Van Winkle, with this great sort
39:58of splay of flower, which is a little bit heavy for the stem.
40:02So it's not so much drooping as sprawling in an elegant way, and certainly looks fantastic when grown in a
40:10pot like this.
40:11And it's not just spring bulbs that look good.
40:15We've got bay here with rosemary.
40:17I've got pots in shady areas with ivy and ferns.
40:21Right across the year and right across the garden, there's always a place for pot.
40:35Go on.
40:43You've got it.
40:45You've got it.
40:56Now, this was where we had soft root until this winter, because I've brought into here most of the yew
41:05cuttings that I took about ten years ago.
41:07The reason I took the yew cuttings were partly to replace the box that got box blight, and I wanted
41:14an evergreen, dense hedge, and partly because yew makes wonderful topiary, and I love topiary.
41:21So this gives me the raw material for hedges and topiary, and even clipped shrubs, which I've got in the
41:27woodland border.
41:28And if you had to buy them, they're really expensive.
41:31So to grow your own is saving you a lot of money.
41:34It's really interesting, and I think good fun.
41:37This is a yew cutting I took certainly no more than ten years ago, but you can see it's got
41:42a lovely straight stem, and this lends itself to a standard.
41:45A standard is anything that is grown on a bare, clean, straight trunk.
41:50It could be a ball.
41:51It could be a box.
41:53It could be a dancing bear or a kangaroo.
41:59To create a standard, the first thing I'm going to do is clean off that trunk.
42:08I want it to be a ball on an upright, and I want that to be the bottom of the
42:12ball, and that's the top.
42:15So the first thing I'm going to do is take this top off.
42:22Obviously that doesn't look anything like a globe.
42:27But these shoots here, these little ones, as they grow out, then we get the outside, and the harder we
42:34clip the funnel shape, the denser it will be.
42:36And it doesn't matter if it's empty on the inside, which it will be, because the light will be stopped.
42:41Actually, that's not bad to begin with.
42:43So the next stage for that is to put into a pot or into the ground, give it light, feed
42:48it, and encourage it to grow.
42:54Yew, along with box and holly, regenerates from old wood.
43:00So you can cut it back as hard as you like, and it will regrow successfully.
43:05Now, I've chosen this because it wouldn't be hard to make this into a ball.
43:09And you can see, because other plants have been around it, it's even started to grow inwards a bit.
43:13So rather than cut it back very hard, I'm going to use shears and clip it.
43:26And in this case, I don't need to go right back to the old wood, because the basic shape is
43:31there.
43:38Right.
43:39You can see that I've put all these into bags.
43:42Plants in a bag will keep perfectly well, but for growing things on, they either have to be in the
43:46ground or in a pot.
43:49You want a pot that's big enough for it to grow into.
43:52So something like that, really good drainage holes.
43:56Yew is tough.
43:58Yew will take light.
43:59Yew will take shade.
44:00It will grow in almost any soil, although it's happiest in lime.
44:04So if you've got chalk or limestone, that's great.
44:08But it will not take sitting in damp.
44:11It must drain.
44:13So this is a very, very gritty mix.
44:16So if we'll put this in here like that.
44:24Take this out.
44:28Okay, that's good.
44:30There.
44:40Now, those roots aren't anchored in the pot, and all those tiny little new roots will break if it moves.
44:47So we need to put a cane in there like that, and throughout the rest of this year, this will
44:54need watering and feeding weekly, but in order to get really good topiary shape, it does need light.
45:04This should create the shape I want in about three to five years, and it will get better and better.
45:12Now, we're going to one of your gardens.
45:14It belongs to the Driscoll family, and they live in Cheshire.
45:25It's a relatively small space, maybe ten by five metres, and enclosed by tall fences and rows of terrace housing.
45:34With young kids, it was a place to play and have fun.
45:38As the kids got older, and I got the bug for gardening, it increasingly became a place for flowers and
45:44colour, though it was still a little untidy.
45:47We paid attention to making space for wildlife, creating lots of interest for Emily and Leo.
45:53We have a little wildlife pond.
45:55It has shallow edges to allow any animals that might fall in to climb out.
46:00We have been impressed by the variety of different visitors to our garden.
46:11But there was one visitor that we never thought we'd see in our garden, with it being all fenced up
46:16and barricaded by rows of houses.
46:21Then, one night, we spotted this on our security camera at the front of our house.
46:28A hedgehog! Could he get round the back to the garden?
46:34Dad made a couple of openings in the fence.
46:38One day, this summer, in the middle of the day, we saw this.
46:43We didn't know what it was doing.
46:47Turns out it was building a nest.
46:53There was more than one hedgehog in the nest, which meant hoglets.
46:58We started putting out hedgehog food in a feeding station to keep the cats from eating it.
47:11We think they appreciate it.
47:18We hope you enjoyed your visit to our garden, too.
47:21We'll see you.
47:31BIRDS CHIRP
47:48However exciting it is to have hedgehogs in the garden, and it is, it's fantastic.
47:53Hedgehogs are very much nocturnal animals,
47:55so if you see them during the day, and if they're feeding and drinking during the day,
48:00it normally is an indication that they are in distress.
48:03And last summer we saw a lot of that because it was so hot and dry.
48:07So ideally put out food and water at dusk, and it should be gone by the morning.
48:13Okay, at this time of year we sow a lot of seeds, they germinate,
48:18and then the next stage of the process is pricking out.
48:21And what I thought I'd do is make it really clear what pricking out is,
48:26why you do it and when you do it.
48:29First thing is what it is, is you take a seedling and you move it on to the next stage.
48:35Because if you have a mass of seedlings in a seed tray like this, these are Tithonias,
48:39they're all competing for space and nutrition, and they would never develop into good plants.
48:45Now pricking out shouldn't take place until you can see the true leaves.
48:50So, when a seed germinates, it produces what's called a seed leaf.
48:57And you can see here, this is a tray of cosmos.
49:00These very strappy leaves look absolutely nothing like cosmos.
49:05They are just to give the plant enough energy for the roots to develop.
49:10Once the roots have got established, you then get the next stage, which is a true leaf.
49:15And if you look very closely, you can see the true leaves are just beginning to appear.
49:21And even when they're tiny, absolutely minute, they look like the parent leaves.
49:27You can see it actually better here on this parsley.
49:30The difference between the seed leaves, which are here, which basically are strappy and simple,
49:36and the true leaf, which looks like a flat leaf parsley, is there.
49:41Finally, Tithonia, you've got these spatulate seed leaves and then the pointed parent leaf.
49:48And again, it means it's got roots.
49:50So, these two trays are ready for pricking out, and that one is not.
49:54So, you need something to put them in, and you need something to carefully tease them out with.
50:00In the past, I've used a pen knife, I've used pencil, whatever works.
50:05Take hold of the seedling by a leaf.
50:10Never hold it by the stem.
50:12It's very easy to crush it or break it.
50:14Whereas if you damage the leaf, it can grow another one.
50:18There you go.
50:20It's got quite a good root system.
50:22It's always quite a surprise that they have so many roots.
50:26Now, I've prepared individual plugs for this.
50:29And I'm just going to pop that in there like that.
50:32I'm not going to brutally press it down.
50:34And it means that each individual seedling gets a real chance to grow.
50:40Now, what I'm pricking them out into is a compost mix that has a little bit more goodness in it
50:45than the seed mix.
50:46You could just use a peat-free compost on its own.
50:49I tend to add some sieved garden compost, a little bit of leaf mold, and some sieved garden soil.
50:57Not a lot. No more than about 5% of the mix.
51:00But the bacteria and the fungi in that will start interacting with the roots.
51:04So when I plant it out into my garden, already there is that symbiosis between the two.
51:11And they tend to grow away better.
51:13Sometimes, say for example with tomatoes, I prick out into a small pot straight away.
51:19Because they're going to be quite big plants and they grow fast.
51:21But there is no perfect way, as long as each individual seedling has room to develop into a nice strong
51:28plant.
51:30Don't try and rush it.
51:32Regard it as something that is part of the process of the life of the plant.
51:36And you are almost privileged to be part of that too.
51:41And to me, that's the essence of gardening.
51:43That's really what gardening is all about.
52:09I know a lot of people get confused about pruning hydrangeas.
52:16The most common type of hydrangea that you see is hydrangea macrophylla.
52:21With mop heads, great big round heads.
52:24Or lace caps, which are more open, with masses of petals, but with always a touch of elegance.
52:32Now this is a lace cap variety called Lanarth white.
52:35And we'll give you a display from late summer into autumn.
52:39Now the first thing is, do not prune off the spent flowers in autumn.
52:43Because they trap warmer air inside and they just slightly protect the plant, particularly in very early spring from frost.
52:53But now we are coming to April. As soon as you get vigorous new growth, you can prune them back.
52:57So at very least, take off the spent flowers from last year.
53:04However, it's not a bad idea while you are doing this to take a look and say, okay, am I
53:09happy with it?
53:09Am I happy with the shape? The size?
53:12For example, this here is growing out over the border and I don't really want that, so I'm going to
53:17cut it back.
53:19Now when you're pruning this type of hydrangea, go right back in and prune at the base.
53:25And that will encourage new shoots to grow.
53:27So to remove this, I'm going to go in here.
53:37Young wood will be vigorous, healthy and produce more flowers.
53:43But remove no more than a third of the plant, taking the oldest growth when you do.
53:51And if you do that every year, it will renew itself over three years.
53:55So none of them will be more than four years old.
54:00So that's the first type of hydrangea.
54:04But to make life complicated, there's another kind.
54:07And we're going to prune those now.
54:19Now, having pruned a lace cap, this is a very different type of hydrangea.
54:27The first thing you'll notice, there are no flowers on it.
54:29The second thing is the growth is very different.
54:31It's vigorous, it's upright, you've got different coloured stems.
54:34And this is a hydrangea paniculata.
54:37Now one of the features of hydrangea paniculata, and there are a number of different varieties,
54:43is that all the flowers are produced on growth that has happened this growing year.
54:51So for example, these seemingly new shoots, the sort of burgundy coloured red ones,
54:56are last year's growth.
54:58And the woody growth is previous years.
55:01I planted this about ten years ago.
55:02Some of this could be ten years old.
55:05So nothing that you see will carry any flowers at all this year.
55:10So I'm going to prune this back to a framework, which is pretty much the old growth.
55:21Unlike the lace caps and the mop heads, which are fundamentally rounded or flattened,
55:27these are conical.
55:28They look like a squirty ice cream put into a cone.
55:31And also, unlike the lace caps and the mop heads,
55:35which are very particular about the pH of the soil,
55:38the paniculatas will stay white, whatever the soil.
55:42And they're very forgiving.
55:43So they're great.
55:51The new growth will come from these points.
55:55They'll grow out here, and we'll have these wonderful ice cream cones of flower from August onwards.
56:03Well, that was very simple.
56:05Didn't take long.
56:06But it's a good job.
56:07And here are some good jobs for you this weekend.
56:21Everybody loves sunflowers, and they're a great plant to grow with children.
56:27Now's a good time to start them.
56:29They're big seeds, so can go into a pot rather than a seed tray.
56:33I use two seeds per pot, simply pressing them into the compost,
56:38and then remove the weaker of the two, which guarantees I have one really healthy plant.
56:45They need to be watered and then go somewhere warm to germinate.
56:58Easter is a really good time to get out any garden furniture made out of wood and give it a
57:03once-over.
57:04If it's not painted, consider giving it a coat of linseed oil to protect it.
57:09And if it is painted, rub it down, remove any loose or flaking paint,
57:14and then give it a fresh coat, and it'll be ready for those long summer evenings.
57:24Now is a very good moment to divide herbaceous perennials,
57:29because they've started to grow and will recover quickly from any movement.
57:34I'm going to split this hosta into two, lift it out the ground,
57:39simply chop it with a spade, replant half,
57:42and that gives me another fresh plant to add elsewhere.
57:58Good boy. No, come on.
58:00Well, I'm afraid that's it for today, but it's Easter.
58:05Easter, when we can all get out into the garden,
58:07maybe go and visit a lovely garden, see friends,
58:10and just this sense of the garden and spring to come
58:15and summer to follow opening out in front of us.
58:19But for the moment, that's all from Longweather,
58:21and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
58:28Bye-bye.
58:42Bye-bye.
58:45Bye-bye.
58:48Bye-bye.
58:49Bye-bye.
Comments