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00:21Right Nick, come on.
00:22Good boy.
00:44Hello. 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 here
01:04at 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 from
01:32a combination of pink and orange. Sometimes you have too much pink, sometimes too much
01:38orange, and occasionally they just hit the sweet spot, but then another one of the same
01:43variety doesn't. It's my obsession. But it is good fun working on a colour theme. And
01:49what I have here is a GM. This is GM Mai Tai. It's from the cocktail series. It's not true
01:57apricot, but it's touched with it. It's got a base of a soft yellow and then flushed with
02:03a very orangey pink. The cocktail series are particularly low, so great for the front
02:08of a border or in a pot, but they flower from, depending where you are, mid-April
02:14right the way through till June. And if you keep deadheading, they will keep on 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 foxclubs, 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 being moved.
03:01I've got here some foxclubs called Apricot Delight. Never grown it before. I've grown from seed.
03:06They look as though they could be wonderful. And foxclubs are either a biennial or a short-lived
03:12perennial. And what that means is they will not flower in their first year. They flower in their
03:17second year. And some won't flower again. They'll set seed and die back. Quite a few will reappear
03:24the next year, maybe even as many as four years. But by and large, their best performance is in
03:30the year after sowing. Right, 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 biennials, or even annual for that matter. Get them in the ground because the
04:04sooner the roots can get in, the better they're going to cope with summer heat. And this relates
04:08to geoms in particular, because geoms are a plant that really don't like to be dry. They do their
04:15best in moisture-retentive ground. So that's not a bog. They're not a water plant, but they're not good in
04:20very light sand or pure chalk or anything like that. They really like a soil that can retain moisture.
04:27And, of course, you can always improve the water 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 at it in detail.
04:54For me, early spring carries a quiet magic. The natural world is awakening, and there's a thrilling sense
05:01of possibility in the air. Colour is returning, buds are swelling, and plant life unfolds a little more each day.
05:12The garden may seem calm, but that stillness can be deceptive. There's a world of excitement waiting
05:18if 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 before flowering,
05:37with magnolias, the flowers come first.
05:41I've just noticed this. This is Magnolia Leonard Messel, and it's a really delicate form of magnolia.
05:49There's so many different varieties. What I love about this one is it's got this two-tone colour to the
05:54petals.
05:54The outside a lot more of a pastel pink, and the inside this lovely pale pink.
05:59So when you're looking at it from different angles, you get those different colours.
06:03When you look really closely at the buds, you can see they're really fuzzy.
06:06They're almost like little rabbit feet, and this fur actually protects them from cold weather,
06:12meaning that they can flower earlier in the year.
06:15Magnolia flowers are monoecious, and this means that both male and female reproductive organs are on the same plant.
06:22Magnolias evolved nearly 100 million years ago, when bees didn't exist and dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
06:29So they relied on beetles to pollinate them.
06:31So lots of magnolias have robust answers and stigmas to support these large insects.
06:37And you can see this in some of these flowers here.
06:40They're almost like plastic. They're so tough.
06:43Once you start to notice the little details like these buds, you realise that the garden is full of the
06:48promise of spring.
07:01Wow. This is Katsura tree, or Circedophyllum japonicum.
07:07Also sometimes called the toffee apple tree, because it has this really sugary scent when the leaves drop in autumn.
07:12But I've never noticed the flowers before, and they're like little flames or tentacles. These are the male flowers of
07:17this tree.
07:19There's such a small window of opportunity to see this, so I feel really lucky to be here just at
07:24the right time.
07:32This area of the garden is famous for its rhododendrons, many of which are hybrids that were bred here more
07:40than a century ago.
07:41And this one is just starting to show its full colour.
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, and you can tell it's a flower bud because it's really fat and
07:53juicy.
07:53And it also has these really beautiful scales.
07:56Some rhododendron buds have a sticky resin, and this helps to protect it from insect attack and also from any
08:03wet weather.
08:04On this one you can see the flower petals just emerging, and this is beautiful in its own right.
08:08They look like little tongues to me, and then these ones are in full colour now, and that just shows
08:13how 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 pyrus above me, and it's been crown lifted, so it opens
08:40up opportunity for planting underneath.
08:42So you have your second layer of smaller shrubs and herbaceous plants like these beautiful hellebores, which are in full
08:48flower now.
08:49So it provides that early season colour and interest.
08:52And then you've got ground cover like this pachisandra here, which provides a lovely foliage for the forest floor.
08:58And this is something you can apply to any garden, 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, and then something that trails like vinca.
09:11It's a great way to make the most of your space, and it also means that when these early flowering
09:16plants are finished,
09:17you still have all that texture to see throughout the year.
09:30Some shrubs really come into their own in early spring, when colour and fragrance can still be a little thin
09:37on the ground.
09:39One of my favourites is this. It's Edgeworthia chrysantha grandiflora, and it has these amazing ball-shaped flowers.
09:47The flowers also appear before the leaves, so it means that they really stand out, and it packs such a
09:52powerful scent.
09:53And this acts as a signal. Insects are waking up from hibernation this time of year, so by putting this
09:58scent out there,
09:59it says, I'm open for business, come and get some nectar.
10:04Planting nectar-rich plants doesn't just give you a beautiful garden, but it also gives wildlife a head start.
10:12Over here we have Coriolopsis porsiflora, and it has these delicate pendant-like yellow flowers, which look like little lanterns.
10:19The great thing about this is you could have it in a small garden.
10:22It stays compact, and it has this really nice arching habit to it.
10:26If you want to prune your spring flower and shrubs,
10:29the best time to do it is straight after they finish flowering,
10:31because they soon start to produce the growth that will have next year's flowers on.
10:42Once you tune into the season, the signs of spring are everywhere.
10:47I've just spotted this, and it's an emerging leaf bud.
10:51And I can tell this because they are very narrow,
10:53and you can just make out the little fingers of the emerging leaves.
10:57And this one has emerged a bit more, and you can see this beautiful pink hue that it has.
11:03It's a type of chestnut, and 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, the surface of the water is calmer,
11:34and it creates this mirrored effect.
11:37I can see the trees reflected in the surface,
11:40and 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 to 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, it tells a story.
12:17The garden is waking up again, and we too are part of that quiet renewal.
12:27Simply spending time outdoors and noticing those small changes can be surprisingly restorative.
12:33Spring is such a short season, but that's what makes it so special.
12:37It's a reminder to slow down, notice the changes, and really savour the season.
12:42Because before you know it, it's passed.
13:06The thing that I love about spring more than any other season,
13:10is that it has shifts and changes over 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 that really appeals to me is this.
13:19It's a Forsythia.
13:22Now Forsythia is as common as muck.
13:24I mean, there must be hundreds of thousands if not millions of them around the country.
13:29But this particular one is a bit more unusual.
13:32It's Forsythia Suspensa Nymans.
13:35And I've chosen it because it's got this pale yellow and this quite loose structure and form.
13:41And works perfectly with the daffodils that 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 and other things will take their place.
13:51And I think that's the joy of spring.
14:04Well...
14:05Okay?
14:07Good boy.
14:08Come on.
14:08Good boy.
14:10Good boy.
14:13Go on.
14:14Good boy.
14:18Come on.
14:20Good boy.
14:21Go on.
14:29I've added a bit of compost to this raised bed
14:33because I'm about to plant up a bed for cut flowers
14:37and I'm adding in some ranunculus, ranunculus asiaticus
14:41or sometimes called the Persian buttercup
14:42but unlike the buttercups you see in fields
14:46with open, simple petals
14:47these have a mass of petals that form a kind of globe
14:53these will flower hopefully from about the end of May into June
14:59planted in December and then kept in the greenhouse
15:02and gradually hardened off
15:03or you could plant the tubers now
15:07and they would flower later in summer
15:14I'm going to space these out about six inches apart
15:17and the thing about cut flowers
15:19is that you can plant them closer together
15:22than you otherwise would in a border
15:24there are two reasons for that
15:25one, they're not going to be there for as long
15:27and two, you want the stems to grow tall
15:30you almost want to force them up
15:32so you get decent stumbling
15:36choose a spot that's relatively shady
15:39and soil that is well drained but enriched
15:54the thing to remember when you're growing ranunculus
15:56is that they're half hardy
15:59so if you live in a very sheltered area
16:01that hardly ever gets frost
16:02and if it does it's just a touch of it
16:04they may well overwinter
16:06and they're perennial
16:08and they will come back
16:09but anywhere that reliably gets
16:13two or three degrees of frost or more
16:15they're very unlikely to survive that
16:18so treat them as annuals
16:34I will need to water these in
16:35it's really important that this time of year
16:37water everything you plant thoroughly
16:40I will also have to have a bit of fleece handy
16:43for the next month
16:45just in case we get some late frost
16:46which we can do here
16:47and a bit of fleece covering them overnight
16:50should be enough
16:52so that bed is sorted
16:54the two back beds have got tulips in them
16:57and these are tulips that I'm trialing
16:58and the ones I like
17:00and maybe only one or two
17:01I will then order more next year
17:03and they can graduate to the garden proper
17:06now this bed
17:08last autumn
17:09I sowed with hardy annuals
17:12particularly amy
17:13amy magus and amy visnaga
17:15and a bit of wild carrot
17:17however
17:18we had a really cold snap
17:20for a few days in November
17:23followed by one of the wettest winters ever
17:25and I'm afraid that did for them
17:26because if that wasn't enough
17:28we've had a mass of rabbits
17:30this winter
17:31and rabbits love amy
17:33more than anything else
17:34so we lost a lot
17:36doesn't matter
17:36I've now got a free bed
17:37and I want to use it for cut flowers again
17:39and I'm going to sow scabious
17:41I love scabious
17:42it makes a brilliant cut flower
17:44it makes a brilliant border flower
17:45and I love the dark colours
17:47now I've got a variety here
17:48called Black Night
17:49which is really deep
17:51rich burgundy
17:53speckled with white
17:57put them into your hand
17:58probably best not to do this
17:59on a windy day
18:01and just sprinkle thinly
18:09I'll show you a tip
18:10for sowing any kind of seed
18:11outside in the garden
18:13that I was shown
18:14when I was a boy
18:15and it works
18:17draw a drill
18:18with your hand
18:21and sow your seeds
18:23and then
18:24just simply
18:25put your thumb
18:26and your fingers
18:26either side of the drill
18:27and run down
18:29either side of it
18:29like that
18:30and it pushes the soil up
18:32over the seeds
18:33works a treat
18:36now I grow cut flowers
18:37in these few special beds
18:39and they're brilliant
18:40for the house
18:41however
18:41you don't need special beds
18:43just to pick
18:44a small bunch of flowers
18:45from your garden
18:46is an utter joy
18:47but for some people
18:48it's more than a joy
18:49it becomes transformative
18:51it changes their lives
18:52and I think that's
18:53absolutely the case
18:55for Hattie Colvin
18:55and we went to visit her
18:57at her home
18:58in Carmarthenshire
19:03flowers are a passion
19:05of mine
19:06and I think
19:07the more I grow
19:08the more obsessed
19:09I become
19:10I don't think
19:11I'll ever have enough
19:15just seeing something
19:17go from nothing
19:18through
19:18to a huge display
19:21of wondrous colour
19:22I think
19:23is just something
19:24really special
19:31my name's Hattie
19:32and this is my flower
19:33farm
19:33in Clondilo, Wales
19:39I'm unapologetically
19:41in love
19:41with flowers
19:43I could not be
19:45without dahlias
19:46so this flower
19:48is one of my favourites
19:50I can never pick
19:50an actual favourite
19:52it's called
19:53Dunaj
19:53or Dunay
19:54depending on how
19:55you pronounce it
19:56it's a pom-pom variety
19:57I love the kind of
19:59intensity
19:59of the pink colour
20:01on the very small
20:03sort of ball-shaped form
20:04and the incredible
20:05formation of petals
20:06the pom-pom shape
20:08is better for cutting
20:09because they tend to have
20:11a bit of a longer
20:12vase life
20:12cut at the right stage
20:14you cut before
20:15the centre opens
20:16and then it'll last
20:17a lot longer
20:24this one is preference
20:27preference
20:27preference is incredibly
20:29prolific
20:29it does need
20:31quite a lot of
20:32food and nutrition
20:33mostly because
20:34it produces
20:34so many flowers
20:35it just gets a bit
20:36tired by the end
20:38of the season
20:38if you don't keep
20:39it topped up
20:41so our soil here
20:42is very clay
20:43so I spend a lot
20:45of time making sure
20:46that the soil
20:47is looked after
20:48I use lots of
20:50different types
20:51of farmyard manure
20:52to mulch the beds
20:53every time I plant
20:55I make sure
20:56that I replenish
20:57some of the goodness
20:58back into the soil
21:00when I start
21:02seedlings
21:03I use a seaweed feed
21:05as well
21:06when they're in
21:07their trays
21:08again just to make
21:09sure that they have
21:10a really great
21:10start to life
21:11and I find that
21:12keeping the plants
21:13as healthy as they
21:14can possibly be
21:15means that
21:17they're more
21:17resistant to pests
21:26I used to live
21:27and work in London
21:28as an accountant
21:29I did get a lot
21:30of joy out of
21:31what I did
21:32but it wasn't
21:32for me
21:33my partner
21:34was in Wales
21:34and I felt
21:35very much
21:36the pull
21:37towards being here
21:38in somewhere
21:39that was
21:40back to nature
21:41and slower paced
21:43I was commuting
21:44back and forwards
21:45to London
21:46so had a lot
21:48of thinking time
21:49in the car
21:50I had a few dahlias
21:52I found them
21:54just so exciting
21:56and loved
21:57all the different
21:59shapes and the colours
22:00and the kind of
22:00flounciness
22:01and I decided
22:02decided that I wanted
22:03more dahlias
22:04so that
22:05kind of formed
22:07the idea
22:08for ooh
22:09what if I could grow
22:10cut flowers
22:11in three years
22:13I've ended up
22:14with 27
22:1620 metre beds
22:18and polytunnels
22:19as well
22:20so yeah
22:22it escalated fairly quickly
22:29you don't need a huge
22:31amount of space
22:32to get started
22:33with a cutting garden
22:34and actually
22:35if you choose
22:35carefully
22:36what you grow
22:37you could have
22:38quite a few
22:39vases of flowers
22:40throughout the summer
22:41to enjoy
22:45so I very quickly
22:46learn in my journey
22:48of growing
22:48that some flowers
22:49are much easier
22:51to grow
22:51than others
22:52one that is
22:53generally
22:54pretty steadfast
22:55is cosmos
22:56it comes in
22:57some really
22:58beautiful shades
22:59it's easy
23:00to germinate
23:01and then
23:02they're fairly
23:03indestructible
23:04I find
23:06this is a really
23:07good example
23:07of a cosmos
23:08that's actually
23:09been pollinated
23:10already by the bees
23:12so you see
23:12it's gone
23:13quite fuzzy
23:14on the inside
23:15and that
23:16sadly means
23:17that I can't
23:18use it as a cut flower
23:19because it won't
23:20really last
23:20and it'll drop
23:21its petals
23:22but it does mean
23:23that the bees
23:23have had a lovely time
23:33Scabias
23:34are
23:34a really lovely
23:36cut flower
23:37they're very generous
23:38with how many stems
23:39you get
23:39this is called
23:41black knight
23:41and I did once
23:43have somebody
23:43ask me
23:44if I could give them
23:45the flower
23:45with the hundreds
23:46and thousands
23:46on it
23:47because it's got
23:48the white little
23:48sprinkles on the top
23:49you also get
23:51these lovely seed heads
23:53which you can either
23:54dry
23:54or actually use
23:56in an arrangement
23:57as well
24:04for anybody
24:05that's thinking
24:05about starting up
24:06their own cutting garden
24:07I'd probably recommend
24:09snapdragons
24:10I think they're
24:11really majestic looking
24:12and always have
24:13a really amazing scent
24:15a perennial option
24:17I would definitely
24:18go for a geum
24:19something like
24:19totally tangerine
24:20which is lovely
24:21beautiful colour
24:22and it actually
24:23keeps flowering
24:24from May
24:25slows down
24:27as it gets to
24:27later in the summer
24:28but you do still
24:29keep getting flowers
24:30and I think
24:31obviously
24:31you'd have to
24:32have some dahlias
24:37as a flower grower
24:39you're very much
24:40hailed as
24:41living the dream
24:42and wafting about
24:43in the field
24:44with a truck
24:45and a floaty dress
24:46gathering flowers
24:48one thing that I have
24:50definitely learnt is
24:51doing this
24:52is a tough
24:53tough job
24:54all of the critters
24:55want to get to
24:56your flowers
24:57before you do
24:58the weather
24:58wants to destroy
24:59things
25:00it is not all glamour
25:09when I'm arranging
25:10with flowers
25:11I would tend to find
25:12something in the field
25:14that does really
25:15inspire me to want
25:16to show that off
25:19and then everything
25:20else kind of gets
25:20built around that
25:24I just slowly keep
25:26building the bouquet
25:27I want different
25:28heights
25:29I've already got
25:30some scented
25:31pelargonium
25:32this is a lemon
25:33basil
25:33and some pennycrest
25:35thlaspie
25:36to add some green
25:37some different textures
25:38with different
25:39foliages
25:40and also
25:41that is a delightful
25:42smell
25:45there is definitely
25:47there is definitely a huge
25:47sense of pride
25:48when you're working
25:50with flowers
25:50that you've grown
25:51yourself
25:52and seeing them all
25:53kind of come together
25:54like little friends
25:55and having a little
25:56flower party
25:59I'm going to try
26:00and add this one in
26:00it's quite nice
26:01and upward facing
26:02which this variety
26:03isn't normally
26:08this feels like a really
26:10really lovely representation
26:11of what's flowering
26:13right now
26:13in the field
26:14it's all of my favourite
26:16colour palettes
26:25it feels like a huge
26:27privilege
26:27to get to do
26:29what I do
26:29for a living
26:30I often find it
26:31really hard to believe
26:32that my slightly
26:33random dream
26:35that came to me
26:36on the motorway
26:37is actually now
26:38a very beautiful reality
26:40a very beautiful
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 and these have chitted and you can see look that's a really good example of a chitted potato
27:57you get this knobbly growth and it speeds up the growth and therefore the harvest now how you grow
28:04them depends 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 make
28:14a ridge over them if you're shorter space or you're growing in raised beds like I am it couldn't be
28:20easier all you do is simply make a hole stick them in with the chitted shoot at the top you
28:29want to
28:29bury it ideally its own depth below the ground I get three across here give it at least a foot
28:43or 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 right I'm going to
29:47use
29:47this ground because nothing will appear for a few weeks time but I'm going to grow a catch crop and
29:55the fastest growing crop to grow at this time of year is radish and radish will germinate within a
30:02week and be ready to harvest within six weeks before they get crowded out by the foliage of potatoes
30:09broadcast over the surface it just means sprinkle them widely try and do it reasonably evenly put the
30:19rake 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 put
30:50it in
30:50the bottom not right full up that will do to start with what you need is at most three and
31:02to be honest
31:02two would be plenty in there but the truth is three wouldn't give me any bigger harvest
31:08the more you put in the smaller potatoes you'll get and that should produce you between about 10 and 20
31:17potatoes enough for a couple of meals a treat just cover them up put a little bit over the top
31:25of them
31:26don't fill it to the top as the new growth comes fill on top of it that means roots will
31:33grow from
31:33the stems and you'll get more potatoes keep it well watered make sure it's not sitting in a puddle so
31:38maybe lift it a little bit off the ground and if you can give it a little bit of shelter
31:42they'll grow
31:43even better and this is a perfect way to grow potatoes if you're very short of space
31:51the beauty of this of course is that you can grow potatoes whether you want them as a treat or
31:57just
31:57because you like spuds even if you've got very limited space now we went to see tom stimpson i don't
32:05know 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
32:29it's quite nice to have a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit
32:29of a little bit
32:29hi 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
33:05or five tabletops that i sort of rotate and use in different areas of the garden at different times of
33:11the year so i do that by looking at the size of the pots the shapes of them so some
33:18taller terracotta
33:19some squat ones and then some little tiny ones as well to slot in amongst the bigger ones because
33:26that 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
35:48goodness back into the compost and support the the flowers
36:04so this is ifian and a variety called alberto castillo i have to say they're one of my new faves
36:11i just love them they have this wonderful sort of grass-like foliage and i love the chaos of the
36:17stems
36:18really how they grow in whichever way they choose really and i love the fact that they move and sway
36:25in the breeze and one of my absolute favorite things about it is the reverse of the petals have
36:30a gorgeous stripe down 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 of the
36:55pot
36:56i found over the years one of the best things to use is just tile spaces so when you place
37:03your pot
37:03on them you can't see them but it just allows a few millimeters of air between the surface of the
37:10table in the bottom of the pot and it just means the water can drain away and that's the one
37:14way i get
37:22through the winter this is a variety of narcissi called polar hunter relatively new variety but rapidly
37:31becoming one of my my favorite ones to grow it has the wonderful fruity fragrance quite unlike any other
37:37scented variety of narcissi and it's a beautiful color it starts off a limey cream color as it opens
37:46and then gradually fades to a creamy white i very often cut a few stems and just have by the
37:52side of
37:53my bed because i love waking up to the the gorgeous scent in the morning it's a brilliant one for
37:58pots but
37:59to give it a little bit of extra support i just add a few hazel twigs in i love doing
38:03that because it
38:04looks natural it's absolutely gorgeous what do you say to people who don't like to have a deals
38:10they should go and get a life
38:16so as we come into mid-spring i start to think about what's going in the pots
38:20for the summer and a key variety for me are dahlias i absolutely love them they're brilliant for
38:27providing color from mid-summer through to the first frost so great value
38:33the tubers are nice and big so i'm planting into quite a big pot if your tubers are a little
38:38bit
38:38smaller so they're fresh stock then i'd probably say plant them in a three litre size pot and get
38:43them to grow and shoot in there before planting out into a bigger pot or into the border peat-free
38:50compost i've added a bit of grit for extra drainage and it's important with dahlias that the crown sits
38:56just above the soil surface pots for me are a key element to to my gardening life
39:05when you have a small space and if you love plants pots are essential to add interest drama
39:10to add interest drama impact color abundance
39:38Like Tom, I grow masses of spring bulbs in pots.
39:43It's this time of year mainly full of Narcissae and tulips and the great thing about them is you have
39:49these splashes 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. We'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.
40:34Go on.
40:40Aha.
40:42You got it.
40:45You 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 10 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.
41:20So this gives me the raw material for hedges and topiary, and even clip 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. It's really interesting and I think good fun.
41:37This is a yew cutting I took certainly no more than 10 years ago.
41:41But you can see it's got a 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, it could be a box, it 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, but these shoots here, these little ones, as they grow out,
42:31then we get the outside, and the harder we clip 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.
43:39Right, you 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, you 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.
44:10It must drain.
44:12It must drain.
44:13So, this is a very, very gritty mix.
44:16So, we will 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.
44:51And throughout the rest of this year, this will need watering and feeding weekly.
44:56But in order to get really good topiary shape, it does need light.
45:05This 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.
45:20Hi, I'm Owen.
45:21I'm Emily.
45:22And I'm Liam.
45:23Welcome to our Garden in Macclesfield.
45:26It'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 it 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.
46:57We 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 hope you enjoyed our garden, too.
47:48We hope you enjoyed your visit.
47:49We hope you enjoyed giving them a donation to our guests.
47:50We hope you enjoyed our guests.
47:51it's fantastic hedgehogs are very much nocturnal animals so if you see them during the day and if
47:58they're feeding and drinking during the day it normally is indication that they are in distress
48:03and last summer we saw a lot of that because it was so hot and dry so ideally put out
48:08food and
48:09water at dusk and it should be gone by the morning okay at this time of year we sow a
48:16lot of seeds
48:17they germinate and then the next stage of the process is pricking out and what I thought I'd do
48:23is make it really clear what pricking out is why you do it and when you do it first thing
48:30is what
48:30it is is you take a seedling and you move it on to the next stage because if you have
48:36a mass of
48:36seedlings in a seed tray like this these are tithonias they're all competing for space and
48:40nutrition and they would never develop into good plants now pricking out shouldn't take place until
48:48you can see the true leaves so when a seed germinates it produces what's called a seed leaf and you
48:57can
48:58see here this is a tray of cosmos these very strappy leaves look absolutely nothing like cosmos they are
49:06just to give the plant enough energy for the roots to develop once the roots have got established
49:12you then get the next stage which is a true leaf and if you look very closely you can see
49:18the true
49:18leaves are just beginning to appear and even when they're tiny absolutely minute they look like the
49:26parent leaves you can see it actually better here on this parsley the difference between the seed leaves
49:33which are here which basically are strappy and simple and the true leaf which looks like a flat
49:39leaf parsley is there finally tithonia you've got these spatulate seed leaves and then the pointed
49:47parent leaf and again it means it's got roots so these two trays are ready for pricking out and that
49:53one is not so you need something to put them in and you need something to carefully tease them out
50:00with
50:00in the past i've used a pen knife i've used pencil whatever works take hold of the seedling by a
50:08leaf
50:10never hold it by the stem it's very easy to crush it or break it whereas if you damage the
50:15leaf it can
50:16grow another one there you go it's got quite a good root system it's always quite a surprise that they
50:24have so
50:24many roots now i've prepared individual plugs for this and i'm just going to pop that in there like
50:31that i'm not going to brutally press it down and it means that each individual seedling gets a real
50:38chance to grow now what i'm pricking them out into is a compost mix that has a little bit more
50:45goodness
50:45in it than the seed mix you could just use a peat free compost on its own i tend to
50:50add some sieved garden
50:52compost a little bit of leaf mold and some sieved garden soil not a lot no more than about five
50:58percent of the mix but the bacteria and the fungi in that will start interacting with the roots so when
51:05i plant it out into my garden already there is that symbiosis between the two and they tend to grow
51:12away
51:12better sometimes say for example with tomatoes i prick out into a small pot straight away because
51:19going to be quite big plants and they grow fast but there is no perfect way as long as each
51:24individual
51:25seedling has room to develop into a nice strong plant don't try and rush it regard it as something
51:33that it's part of the process of the life of the plant and you as almost privileged to be part
51:39of that
51:40too and to me that's the essence of gardening that'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 with mop heads great big
52:23round heads or 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 and will give you a display from late summer into
52:38autumn now the first thing is do not prune off the spent flowers in autumn because they trap
52:45warmer air inside and they just slightly protect the plant particularly in very early spring from frost
52:52but now we're coming to april as soon as you get vigorous new growth you can prune them back so
52:57at
52:57very least take off the spent flowers from last year however it's not a bad idea while you're doing
53:06this to take a look and say okay am i happy with it i'm happy with the shape the size
53:11for example
53:13this here is growing out over the border and i don't really want that so i'm going to cut it
53:18back
53:19now when you're pruning this type of hydrangea go right back in and prune at the base and that
53:25will encourage new shoots to grow so to remove this i'm going to go in here
53:37young wood will be vigorous healthy and produce more flowers but remove no more than a third of
53:45plant taking the oldest growth when you do and if you do that every year it will renew itself over
53:55three years so none of them will be more than four years old
54:00so that's the first type of hydrangea but to make life complicated there's another kind
54:07and we'll go and prune those now
54:19now having pruned a lace cap this is a very different type of hydrangea the first thing you'll
54:27notice there are no flowers on it the second thing is the growth is very different it's vigorous it's
54:32upright you've got different colored stems and this is a hydrangea paniculata now one of the features
54:39of hydrangea paniculata and there are a number of different varieties is that all the flowers are
54:46produced on growth that has happened this growing year so for example these seemingly new shoots
54:54the sort of burgundy colored red ones are last year's growth and the the woody growth is previous
55:01years i planted this about 10 years ago some of this could be 10 years old so nothing that you
55:07see
55:08will carry any flowers at all this year so i'm going to prune this back to a framework which is
55:14pretty much the old growth
55:21unlike the lace caps and the mop heads which are fundamentally rounded or flattened these are conical
55:28they look like a squirty ice cream put into a cone and also unlike the lace caps and the mop
55:35heads
55:35which are very particular about the ph of the soil paniculatas will stay white whatever the soil and
55:42they're very forgiving so they're great
55:51the new growth will come from these points
55:56they'll grow out here and we'll have these wonderful ice cream cones of flower from august onwards
56:03well that was very simple didn't take long but it's a good job and here are some good jobs for
56:09you this weekend
56:21so everybody loves sunflowers and they're a great plant to grow with children now's a good time to
56:28start them they're big seeds so can go into a pot rather than the seed tray i use two seeds
56:35per pot
56:36simply pressing them into the compost and then remove the weaker of the two which guarantees i have one
56:43really healthy plant they 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
57:02and give it a once over if it's not painted consider giving it a coat of linseed oil to protect
57:09it
57:09and if it is painted rub it down remove any loose or flaking paint and then give it a fresh
57:15coat and
57:16it'll be ready for those long summer evenings
57:24now is a very good moment to divide herbaceous perennials because they've started to grow and will
57:31recover quickly from any movement i'm going to split this hosta into two lift it out the ground
57:39simply chop it with a spade replant half and that gives me another fresh plant to add elsewhere
57:57good boy no come on well i'm afraid that's it for today but it's easter easter when we can all
58:06get out
58:06into the garden maybe go and visit a lovely garden see friends and just this sense of the garden and
58:14spring to come and summer to follow opening out in front of us but for the moment that's all from
58:21long weather and i'll see you next time buh-bye
58:25so
58:51so
58:51you
58:52you
58:53you
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