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00:45rose which is suitable here for the writing garden because everything in here is either white or green
00:52i'm pretty sure it's climbing iceberg i'm not certain because i've lost the label
00:56and it was a few years ago i planted it but for the moment whatever its name is
01:01it needs tying up now of course climbing iceberg is a banker it's guaranteed to flower for months
01:10on end this can be flowering at christmas sometimes and it's worth pointing out that
01:14when you're tying any vegetative growth up at this time of year particularly this time of year
01:19use soft time never use anything with wire in it or even a hard-edged plastic because the new growth
01:25is soft it will move slightly and if you have anything other than very soft twine it can cut
01:31into it and damage it right and i'll try and gather all that in there and pull it back because
01:38otherwise
01:38it can flop a lot and whilst a bit of floppage is good too much is not
02:20you can't stay here because i've got to plant stuff all right unless you want to lie down here
02:25go on okay we're not planting nets we're planting summer bulbs we do tend to think of bulbs belonging
02:37to spring and of course they do in huge variety and glory from the first snow drop to the last
02:43carmacia which here at long meadow can take us into june uh but there are another group of bulbs or
02:50bulb related plants that perform beautifully from mid to late summer into autumn and of course they're
02:57familiar they're gladioli dahlias crocosmia lilies and now is the time to plant them if you haven't
03:05done so already some do really well in pots and none better than lilies so i want to plant some
03:11lilies
03:11today in pots and the compost is really important because lilies need good drainage but they also need
03:18another element because they are essentially woodland plants and what they like is a loose
03:24soil it's not just sharp drainage like tulips but a loose almost fluffy soil and the best way to create
03:30that is by using leaf mold if you've got it this is a very gritty potting mix and that's part
03:39peat free
03:40bought in potting compost partly sieve garden compost and you can see the grit in it there's quite a lot
03:47of
03:47it now that would do that would be fine but if you've got leaf mold then add that and i'm
03:52going to
03:52add all that to it like that mix it up
04:01like that in the bottom of the pot you will need crocs so we just block that up
04:11okay and a half fillet
04:17okay that's good
04:20now the bowls themselves this is a variety called clawed fried which i've got in the paradise garden
04:27and it's tall it's for turt's cap variety with wonderful sort of raspberry burgundy colors
04:34you know these are different from most bulbs because the scales have no outer layer
04:43so that they're they're scaly like an armadillo
04:47so i pop that in i'm going to put four in this pot which is plenty three would be fine
04:54but i think i can
04:54get away with four there we go
05:01and then use my mix to go over the top of that
05:14might as well just put the last little bit in there we go
05:19there is room to water and this will settle a little bit now i will put this out of the
05:25way
05:25somewhere outside doesn't need to be protected at all and then put in position in june and we can
05:31really enjoy it once we hit mid and late summer now of course it's important to label it
05:41that is destined for the paradise garden but not for a bit now jamie has been to visit beth chatos
05:49garden near colchester if you haven't been i'd recommend anyone to go it's one of our great gardens
05:55but actually he went for a very specific purpose which is to celebrate a plant which by and large he
06:02feels is under appreciate what else gives you color like this that incredible acid green it simply
06:22glows and yet the funny thing is this plant is so often completely overlooked
06:32there are over 1500 species of euphorbia making them one of the largest and most varied flowering
06:40plants in the world ranging from small ground covering perennials to large drought tolerant shrubs
06:47and even succulents that could easily be mistaken for cacti
06:55this is euphorbia wolfenniae it's one of the most architectural euphorbias and on a day like today
07:03where it's backlit it is literally a beacon it is glowing it's a really drought tolerant plant it needs
07:12next to no watering even in the driest of summers so it adores this gravel garden setting and a little
07:19bit
07:19of the plant geekery what looks like these columns and towers of architectural flowers are actually
07:26bracts they're not flowers at all the flowers are hidden inside the bracts and they're teeny tiny
07:34but the plant itself is phenomenal and one of my absolute favorites a must have for any drought tolerant garden
08:03this is a beast for euphorbia this is euphorbia cross pasteurii that means it's taking the very best bits of
08:13two different euphorbias euphorbia mellifera and euphorbia stygiana
08:17and in the next few weeks these flowers will start to emerge on mass now they're beautiful to look at
08:23but
08:23quite unusually for euphorbia they have an additional quality they smell incredible they smell of honey
08:31which also gives it its common name of honey spurge i love to use this one to create drama especially
08:39towards the back of a border and it'll hold the rest of the planting in place
08:54just spotted in this shady little nook something that's not quite out yet it's euphorbia
09:02griffii fire glow and it will do exactly what you think it will do with a nail like fire glow
09:09it's
09:09going to illuminate this dark corner with the most vibrant orangey red flowers it thrives in moist
09:18well-drained soil where fertile conditions bring out those rich tones i think even just the new foliage
09:26of the epimediums against the stems of the euphorbia is a beautiful thing and i so wish i could come
09:35back
09:35in about a week's time and see this just erupt into this fiery glow because you just know it's going
09:43to be really special from full sun to shade dry soil to damp they're far more adaptable than you might
09:53think and they're surprisingly easy to propagate which means you can multiply their impact across
10:00your garden emily ellad is the resident propagation expert here so one of the plants i'm obsessed with
10:08in the gardens today especially is the euphorbia wolf venia it's just glowing when's the best time
10:16to collect the seeds so it's probably going to be about may june time because at the moment you've got
10:20the lush mop heads and soon they will start to curate the seed and then just before it's starting
10:27to dry out a bit we collect those mop heads hang them upside down no put them in a in
10:31a box a little
10:32bit newspaper on top because they will pig everywhere like popcorn and then all your seed will be at the
10:37bottom of the box you can collect that all up and you can store some or you can sow some
10:41fresh
10:43it always amazes me that in each one of these seeds is the genetic information to grow
10:49that plant everyone it's real life magic so we've got the six mil gravel and then we're just going
10:56to sprinkle that on top this is like the big duvet that sits on top of the seed so it's
11:01like going in
11:01a cold frame basically yeah how long would you normally expect them to take to start to germinate
11:07yeah so i actually got some that were so in january time i hope it's okay i'm just going to
11:12grab one
11:13because i think these are amazing from that those teeny tiny little seeds we're going to get one of
11:18those beautiful euphorbia wolf anyway whether they're lighting up gravel gardens or thriving in dappled
11:35woodland these are plants which are great for wildlife rob byford is responsible for the biological
11:43control in the gardens working closely with nature to keep things in balance it's such a broad genus
11:52there's so many species to it they allow us to extend this flowering period from february almost to
11:58the first frost so the chance for the insects to get food and we need that now more than ever
12:04how a
12:05house of of the garden really they really are a lot of it comes down to this here which is
12:11their flower
12:11structure so it's a special inflorescence ceafeum and we can see in here the nectar glands now they
12:20secrete the nectar and we've got the anthers here the pollen so for nectar feeders and for pollen feeders
12:26the euphorbia has it all some of us we do get aphids in our garden but these will attract lace
12:33wings
12:33and parasitic wasps which are great defenders almost like our own little air force against those less
12:39beneficial insects it's self-regulating and just by adding it to your garden you're adding in defense
12:45to your garden as well against these less favorable critters it's such a beautiful plant so uplifting and
12:53smile inducing but if it's also giving benefit to our insects it is they are like little beacons
12:58really flashing amongst it all to humans and insects to humans and insects alike absolutely
13:14the more you look the more you realize what a truly special plant euphorbias are
13:20they're tough they're resilient they're beautiful and they're full of life so i think it's about time
13:28we stop treating them as background plants and hiding them in amongst our borders and instead celebrate them
13:35and put them center stage
13:56this is the euphorbia caracchias wolfenniae it loves the dry garden it loves the poor soil and the good
14:05drainage and will seed itself in cracks in paving and up against the corner of a wall and paving
14:12but it really won't do anything else in the rest of the garden which is not suitable for it at
14:17all
14:17i've tried growing from the jewel garden and it just flops and is very sad and doesn't last however
14:22here in the dry garden not only does it look good in itself but it's a really good foil for
14:27the tulips and
14:28sweet rocket and also you know as a plant it's one of the most statuesque architectural plants you could have
14:47but i've got here some euphorbias live in shade
15:03this is the woodland garden which is the latest change and it's it's work in progress
15:10for the moment this year i'm concentrating on the area that we cleared last autumn and have started
15:16to plant this spring and it's coming through things are coming along and the euphorbias i've got here
15:23which goes by the tongue twisting name of euphorbia amygdaloides verrobii is perfectly suited to this
15:33kind of woodland environment because it thrives it positively thrives in dry shade and there are very
15:39few plants that do that now the shade comes particularly from these cherries this is a wild cherry a
15:45gin lovely blossom at the moment but the roots suck up all the moisture and the leaves cut out most
15:53of
15:53the light so this whole area here is going to be dry shade you can see that it has these
16:04wonderful
16:05bracts which are like a collar like almost like a satellite dish reflecting light with tiny flowers inside
16:12and in shade deep shade they'll grow taller so they're more visible they'll rise up above the foliage
16:19and give a really good display for weeks on end and then even when they die back the foliage will
16:25spread
16:25it spreads quite easily makes a really good ground cover plant as well as having this glorious display
16:32in spring and early summer now i'm going to start placing these and putting them in groups they're
16:39not plants to play singly like here go down there and then over here i put these in a group
16:48of three
16:48because i want them actually to grow together and spread and form ground cover
17:03that should do
17:07now it's worth saying at this point when you're handling euphorbias
17:11of any kind do be careful because if they break or crush in any way they exude a very milky
17:18thick sap
17:20and that can easily cause burns i hate gardening in gloves and never do it unless it's very thorny
17:27but if you are happy to wear gloves then i definitely would wear them for euphorbias
17:31and if like me you don't wear gloves and you get a little bit on your hands stop and go
17:37and wash it off
17:40and you get a little bit on your hands stop and wash it off and wash it off and wash
17:42it off
17:55now rosemary alexander started the english garden school and the whole generation of garden designers
18:03learnt their craft there and we had the opportunity to visit rosemary's private
18:10garden at home
18:18one of the first things i do when i'm redesigning a garden i try to make a garden that the
18:24owners
18:24will actually enjoy and you know you can actually maintain it it's got to be something that works
18:31for you whether it's a large or small garden and when i came to this garden i wanted somewhere where
18:36i could grow all the plants i loved this is my garden at sandhill farmhouse in west sussex where
18:44i've been for the last 20 years or more
18:51the whole garden is about half an acre on on the front and half an acre at the back
19:00so this is the main path in the whole garden and it leads from the entrance right down to the
19:05far end
19:06and from here you can see the house to the left and the terrace and then the woodland garden down
19:13to
19:13the right i put the box balls to give this path structure and form so the repetition works well
19:20the box balls pull you through and you can walk past those until you get to the blue seat at
19:25the end
19:29instead of having the seat facing directly down to the entrance gate i decided to put it at an angle
19:36so that i can sit and enjoy all the woodland plants in the lower level woodland garden
19:46i trained as a landscape architect and then i began to notice all sorts of things i decided i
19:51really wanted to become a garden designer i started changing gardens and changed my own garden quite a
19:58bit i realized that unless you went to wisley or q you couldn't really learn about plants so i thought
20:05i would set up my own school and teach people about plants i set up the school in 1983. i
20:11just wanted
20:12to teach how to redesign a space we're now in the woodland garden my overall aim was to have several
20:22different areas which would have different types of plants the contrast between dark green leaves and
20:28light green leaves and shiny leaves and matte leaves and also the stems of the plants because
20:33if you look here there's quite a a lot of stem and then big groupings of things to make it
20:40look more
20:40natural i try to use plants to separate the the gravel from the soil because i don't like using timber
20:48or metal edges and so i use this ophiopogen here and then in other areas i use london pride saxifrauga
20:56ombrosa when people walk into the garden i want them to feel oh my goodness this is going to be
21:02a
21:10wonderful garden
21:11i think focal points and vistas are very important always thinking about the long-term view
21:19after i built the summer house i thought i wanted it to look out at something so first of all
21:25it looked
21:25straight out at the critagus laciniata at the very far end there which is a lovely deciduous tree
21:32and then four of the box balls were already here so i decided i would continue them leading down to
21:39look at the view i like focal points in the garden because it gives you a reason for sitting in
21:44a
21:44particular place and so all gardens should have focal points often i look at the background color you know
21:51for instance in the garden here you've got a brick wall so i'm looking at the brick wall and thinking
21:57what colors would go well in front of that the new hedge was here so we clipped it and it
22:03seemed a
22:03perfect backdrop for the blue chair because blue is actually a very good color of paint because there's
22:08quite a lot of green um in in blue you know my granddaughter's been coming here for years and
22:18she spends a lot of time down here with me we loved what she did and we knew that she
22:23was so talented
22:24and so amazing at what she'd created with the school i always thought oh that would be an amazing
22:30industry to be in granny invited me to come and study on the course and that's when i just fell
22:38in
22:38love with designing gardens and it was kind of opening up of a whole new world
22:46i'm definitely still always learning from granny she's always pointing things out in the garden but
22:51also i'm at a point now in my career where i can start to show her the work that i've
22:55created
22:56and we can discuss it together and that's a really nice thing to be able to do it's amazing having
23:02somebody in my own family that we've got a lot in common with and we spend quite a lot of
23:07time
23:07discussing things and what plants to use and so on no i'm very lucky with her
23:18if you're going to design a garden for the first time you first of all need to decide what soil
23:23type
23:23you've got that's really necessary whether it's acid or alkaline or neutral so that will depend on
23:28what you grow and then another thing is not to be over ambitious not to worry about having one of
23:35this
23:35and one of that and one of the next thing but to keep repeating certain plants that will do well
23:41in the
23:41garden
23:44i am immensely proud of granny i think that she's informed a generation of gardeners horticulturalists
23:53often people come to me and they have no idea where to begin what i like is building up their
23:58confidence and seeing them you know develop in their own right it still is exciting
24:49when the gardeners horticulturalists can be found in their own right it's always good to see a new
24:53generation coming in and learning from us oldies, I have to say my grandchildren
24:57are beginning to get interested in the garden, so whether they go on and become
25:02gardeners or garden designers, we'll see. But it'd be nice. This is very practical.
25:09I'm sowing peas. What I do is I make a very shallow sort of trench, you can
25:14barely call it a trench, it's more a groove in the ground. These are purple
25:20potted peas. So the peas themselves are green but the pods are purple, really
25:26decorative and when you cook them, if you cook them in the pod, the pod then turns
25:29green. Now I'm placing these about two or three inches apart. They don't need to be
25:40any wider than that. Personally I think a double row works best.
25:48Okay. And just rake over them. Very simple. And just go along like this. And then, gently,
26:01gently, gently, gently. Like that, without disturbing the peas underneath. When those peas germinate,
26:10little green shoots should appear marking the spot of each pea, depending on the weather,
26:14in about two or three weeks' time. But they will need support. Peas are scramblers. So
26:21the support needs to be able to take the tendrils whatever way they go. It does have to be something
26:29that is twiggy. So keep prunings. Dogwood will do it. Anything really. Anything that's twiggy and woody.
26:39And just stick them in at a slight angle. But you want them to be branching right from ground level.
26:47Quite close together so they overlap. Like that. There we go.
27:09What you're looking to achieve is a tangle. And this is a perfect tangle. And somehow doing this,
27:18just like putting up bean sticks, feels to me like part of the development of a vegetable plot that is
27:25really part of summer. If I see the pea sticks going in, then we've moved on. We've moved out of
27:31winter forever.
27:32And we're on into the middle of spring. And very quickly, that will be followed by summer.
27:48Come on, Ned.
27:50The rhubarb season is in full flow. It's a fairly long season. It starts in February, particularly if you couldn't
27:57force it.
27:57This is simply early. And that's a variety called Victoria, which is later. That's main season, if you like.
28:03Early is February. And then that will run through till June. Late doesn't really kick in until beginning of May.
28:12But May and June is fantastic. And all rhubarb should be left unpicked after the end of June.
28:18Leave it alone because otherwise you'll weaken the roots and you won't get nearly such a good harvest next year.
28:25And gradually it will diminish. The reason why you force it is because the stems are sweeter.
28:30Now, if I take the lid off, you can see that there's a lot less foliage. And if I pull
28:36it up like that,
28:38you can see that it looks rather anaemic. But of course, if you do this in February or early March,
28:45it's a treat.
28:46Now, whenever you're harvesting rhubarb, there is one really important thing to remember.
28:52Never cut it. You pull rhubarb. And if you cut it, you can get infection and rot in the stem.
29:01If you pull it,
29:01it comes away with a little piece of the base where it's attached to the root and that heals very
29:07quickly.
29:08You need a little bit of this heel on the bottom of the stem. But you can see that's got
29:13a bit twisted.
29:13But it's paler than most rhubarb and that will be sweeter. So I'll pop that in there.
29:24Now, obviously, these stems are unforced. So you can see they've got very green leaves.
29:28And the leaves are poisonous. You don't eat them. But it is absolutely delicious. And I love
29:35a rhubarb crumble, rhubarb pie. Just stewed rhubarb with yogurt for breakfast is a really good way to
29:42start the day. And of course, the leaves are brilliant on the compost heap. Once they're composted,
29:46then they'll do no harm whatsoever. Now, earlier this month, we went down to South Wales
29:51to join Sue Kent in her garden.
30:01After a very wet winter here in Swansea, springtime in my garden is the time of year
30:07that brings me such joy and hope.
30:19Look at this. This is the first fruit tree blossom of the year and it's dams and plum.
30:24It hasn't got much of a scent, but it really lifts the spirits.
30:32Over here, I planted walnuts. Nothing seems to be happening yet, but come with me.
30:47This was a walnut that I put in a bag in the fridge to try and get it to germinate.
30:53Nothing happened for months and I was about to put it in the compost bin yesterday and I noticed
30:59a shoot and I'm so pleased and so excited. But I should know better. I've been gardening for many
31:06years and I shouldn't give up on plants until June to give them a chance to see if they'll shoot.
31:11So this one, with its lovely little shoot, is going to go in a pot and grow.
31:21I'm going to use a peat-free compost. It likes a nice light soil and the way I do this
31:28is use a local
31:29product which is crushed cockle shells. So I'm going to sprinkle them in and they will be very
31:36slow release calcium as well as a soil aerator. It'll slightly alkaline the soil and walnuts prefer
31:44that anyway. I'm going to mix it in. I've got my croc in, then put a base layer in the
31:53bottom of the pot.
31:56I'm going to very gently take my baby out. So exciting. Look at that little shoot that's cracked open.
32:05And I'm going to pop that with the shoot going downwards because that's the root.
32:10And then I'm going to cover it with a two inch layer of compost. So this walnut is from a
32:17tree that
32:18my father gave to me from a tree that his father gave to him and I am giving it to
32:25my son to grow in
32:26his garden. So it really is a family tree and it's rather lovely to think it'll carry on through the
32:33generations. I'm going to top it off with some pistachio shells. So I eat a lot of pistachio nuts.
32:40I love the smell. Oh gosh. They will slowly break down and add nutrients and deter slugs.
32:47And it makes a little mini mulch for a smaller pot to keep in the moisture and stop the weeds
32:54coming.
32:55Needs a bit of a water.
33:03And there we go.
33:13I'm so pleased with this. It's absolutely stunning and it's lighting up the garden when not much
33:21else is here. It's Spiraea bridal wreath. And you can see here some beautiful small white flowers
33:29already open but lots, lots more to come. And it's almost got red branches on it. It looks good in
33:35summer and although it's deciduous the branches look great in winter. I am a bit of a fan of Spiraea
33:42and
33:43here I've got them free flowing. But around the garden I've used them more structurally and have
33:47clipped them quite tightly. But this one is the star of the show at the moment. It's a great time
33:53for me to
33:54plant anything tender. Being coastal the sea air is warmer keeping the frosts away. The key is to
34:01know your own climate and use protection like fleece if needed. This is going to be a case of
34:07third time lucky. I've tried three times to grow this and twice the plant's been got by frost. And this
34:15year I've kept it in the greenhouse and it's survived. It's Echium piñana and it derives from the Canary
34:22Islands. And I think it's going to be absolutely extraordinary.
34:40This is going to grow huge up to four metres and it's going to be covered in blue flowers which
34:48are
34:48really attractive to bees. And the flowers are going to produce lots of little seedlings and
34:55hopefully they're going to populate all the way along here. I might have to dig some up and shelter
34:59them into the greenhouse for winter to ensure their survival but I will leave some. It's supposed to be a
35:05biennial. That means you plant the seed one year you get the flower the next year but in this case
35:10this is three years old so for me it's a triennial. And the reason I put it here is because
35:16it likes a
35:17very sunny spot and this is the sunniest spot in my garden. It likes free draining soil and also it
35:23hides
35:24the ugly fence and I can see it when I'm lying in my bath from my bathroom. And now all
35:31I've got to do is water.
35:53A lot of my edible crops are winter hardy. They cope with low light and start to regrow as the
36:00days lengthen and warm.
36:06I like to pick a salad every night and I've already started here. I've got parsley, mint,
36:12lamb's lettuce, a bit of normal lettuce and beetroot leaves and I want some more. And it's amazing,
36:18this looks a bit of a mess but it's full of food and here I've got landcress which is a
36:24bit like
36:24watercress but it roots itself in soil you can see. And I'll cut a bit and it's got a quite
36:30a peppery
36:30flavour but it'll regrow before you know it.
36:37This is twisted leaf garlic and the leaves have a very subtle not overpowering flavour of garlic so
36:44nice to add. Twisted garlic is a perennial that means it will keep coming back year after year and
36:51that goes for sorrel too. This is a stalwart of the salad, this is French sorrel and it just keeps
36:59giving. When they're smaller they're great for salads, when they're bigger they're great for adding to
37:03curries and when you see this appearing you want to get rid of it because you don't want the plant
37:08to
37:09get to seed so you remove that. They're also great in green smoothies. The nasturtias don't usually grow
37:18over winter, it's classed as an annual so the fact that it has survived in the greenhouse is a stroke
37:24of luck.
37:28I'm going to finish the bowl with primrose flowers which are rather beautiful and delicate and you
37:35can eat the flowers but not the leaves and of course if you've got any health conditions it's best to
37:40check.
37:41So I've got vibrant green zesty flavours, I've got lemon flavours, I've got peppery flavours and nothing
37:49gives me more pleasure than eating from my garden.
38:12I love the fact that Sue is growing her walnut to make a tree to produce walnuts to give to
38:18her son
38:18and that the walnut came from her father's tree which came from a walnut from his father.
38:23That intergenerational handing on is something that taps into a longevity that we don't normally
38:30think of in our gardens, we want everything now. Right, these as you can see are lemons. I'm just
38:37taking the fruit off for two reasons. One because if you leave mature fruit on the tree that will inhibit
38:45the development of flowers and other fruits even though they look lovely and two because these
38:51are particularly heavy and are weighing down so for example this is fine it looks nice and it's not
38:57weighing the branch down but where they are like there I'm just going to take that off
39:04and that will spring back up. This is not pruning. Pruning citrus is something you do
39:10when the worst of the weather is over so I would leave that till May but it's good to get
39:15them
39:15outside as soon as you can because citrus don't like being indoors particularly not in a centrally
39:22heated house so that's fine there I've got a lovely basket of fruit I mean you have to say look
39:26at that
39:28you know there is something magical about having your own lemons or your own oranges from your garden but
39:35now is a really good time to repot any citrus that you have to give it a fresh start to
39:44grow
39:44and this one for example has been in this pot for quite a long time I haven't got a new
39:50pot for it
39:50so what I'm going to do is take it out of this pot clean up the roots get rid of
39:55the old compost
39:56refresh the compost and put it back into the same pot so the first thing I'm going to do is
40:00just take
40:01it out the pot there we go I'm going to put that onto there you need plenty of crocs the
40:09same crocs can
40:10go in the bottom I'm just going to clean off some of the spent compost on here now this has
40:20been in
40:21this pot for probably a couple of years if you're keeping it in the same pot you need to do
40:26this at
40:26least every other year if you're putting onto a bigger pot then you probably need to do that about
40:31every three years but either way just using your fingers take any compost off that you can
40:42don't worry if you break the roots a little bit because they will regrow
40:46so I'm getting my thumb in there and I'm just working free
40:54excess compost now the compost mix that is a bucket of sieved garden compost
41:03horticultural grit and actually I've got here a mix of potting compost with a lot of grit
41:14leaf mold and sieved garden compost in it but I'm going to add a bit more garden compost not a
41:20lot
41:20just a little bit in there and quite a lot of grit in fact I'm going to add all this
41:26grit to this mix
41:32and then mix it up
41:38right so we'll put some in the bottom of the pot like that
41:47okay that's good now holding it nice and upright fill in around
41:56and what I'm going to do is just shake it gently
42:01shake it in there and then a little bit more on top of that
42:08leaving enough space on the surface for it to take water
42:14I will then water that in and that will drive the compost into those nooks and crannies of the roots
42:19and once they come outside and start to show signs of growth
42:23citrus should be watered and fed once a week I feed them on a quite dilute seaweed mix and so
42:30that
42:30we combine the watering and the feed at the same time now it seems amazing to me but
42:36rhs chelsea flower show is just a few weeks away it's racing up on us and we went down to
42:43cornwall
42:44to visit andrew mills as he prepared his exhibition for chelsea which incidentally
42:51is based upon a long and well-founded cornish tradition
43:02for the last 20 years i've been manager of burn coos nurseries and they're a big nursery with
43:06rare unusual plants they sell magnolias rhododendrons camellias predominantly and so
43:10i've done many many chelseas before but this will be the first time that actually my plants
43:14will be on display at chelsea for the whole world to see
43:19when i started out in horticulture as did many other farmers locally grew anemone decaying and
43:25st perrin the local strain anemones originate from the eastern mediterranean so they like it warm
43:31and cornwall seldom gets a frost so that's why people grew anemones
43:37we had all these market gardeners and farmers growing small amounts of anemones
43:40and the farmer's wife would pick them during the day and they would bunch them up in the evenings and
43:45then there would be a regular deposit to train stations where the boxes of these anemones would
43:51be taken to covent garden so that was very important industry for cornwall many many years ago
43:56but that all petered out probably at late 80s early 90s and this is just a nod back to that
44:03so what i've got here is i've got five different types of anemone ground i've got the jerusalem type
44:08what's common to the jerusalem type is there'll be lots of reds well these are suited for cut flowers
44:13because the breeding of them over the years have increased the stem length they've increased the
44:18flower size they've also increased disease resistance by the thickness of the leaves hardy outside not
44:24just only grown in a glass house bred from that variety called meron and that's classified as a
44:31flower machine what we have with the meron is a very tall flower and quite a slender stem
44:40now we're here and amongst the mistral varieties of the italian ranunculus these are my favorites and
44:46they will give you a constant supply of anemones over a long period of time so what you won't have
44:52is a flush and then gone and they are very consistent in their quality and they are very
44:57consistent in their stem length and the colors are quite exceptional my overall favorite would be
45:04an enemy coronaria mistral panda and this is just coming into blue so look at this you can see why
45:10it's called panda they've gone further with the mistral variety to create the mistral plus which means
45:17there's even bigger flower heads even thicker stems and the plant is a little bit more compact they
45:23would be perfect to grow in your garden the other variety i have is the levante double slightly shorter
45:30stem which is common but also a very very elegant flower when you get up close
45:37these anemones are historically planted in july in cornwall both inside and outside that will establish
45:43the plant before it flowers and the flowers will start flowering in october november and december
45:49there'll be a short pause in december and january when the light levels drop and the weather gets poor
45:53only for them to restart again towards the end of january february and go through into march when other
45:59flowers come onto the market and the anemones have had their day they will come back in next year in
46:05a
46:05bigger corn but they won't be as good as the first year because the best anemone flower will come from
46:11the
46:12smallest size corn you usually pick two or three times a week i get to about 50 or 60 bunches
46:19any more and i just won't be able to cope with it to pick an anemone you need to pick
46:25them when the
46:26flower is still tight and not open so you could pick this bunch it up and in two or three
46:31days that
46:31will be open and it will stay open for another two or three days maybe four or five in a
46:35cool kitchen
46:36window when picking anemones it's very important to get the stem length as long as possible and try
46:42to cut it off as close as you can to the corn to stop any rot being left on the
46:47remaining stem that
46:49you've picked from and like every cut flower cut it off diagonally so that you have a bigger surface
46:54area of the stem bottom to take up as much water as possible
47:02so when it comes to chelsea i'm trying to just slowly keep these going along until probably two
47:07weeks before the show where then i can sort of accelerate their blooming by just adding some
47:12to basic tomato feed so the weather's going to be dull for the next couple of weeks and that will
47:18really help me slow these down a little bit and not bring them on too fast what i intend to
47:23display
47:23at chelsea is uh anemones in this stage of opening so hopefully on the flower stand at chelsea you'll
47:29see just a riot of color and as long as i'm pleased with how it looks the medal is a
47:34bonus
47:35nervous at all or not no i don't do nerves apart from the day
47:44they're grown locally they're done come locally they're distributed locally they're bought locally
47:49in a two-mile radius and it's quite remarkable to see something which is smaller than a piece of
47:55gravel to produce something which is quite comprehensive and can produce multiple flowers
48:01anybody can do it it's a garden plant as well as a cut flower
48:25i thought it was absolutely fascinating that andrew said the smallest corn produced the biggest flower
48:33now that is really counterintuitive and also i'm only just beginning to really learn about the
48:38ranunculus family and with anemones of all kinds we're very used to japanese anemones and and maybe
48:45sort of woodland anemones but of course you realize there are so many more and i'm very much looking
48:49forward to seeing how he fares at chelsea see them at their very best talking about their very best
48:55i do think the orchard is looking really good at the moment i don't take much credit for that because
49:02what we started to do a few years ago was take all last year's tulips all grown in pots
49:08and we let them die back and they dried out and then take the bulbs and planted them in the
49:14orchard
49:14and in the cricket pitch at random and some come up some farewell some don't flower and it's pure luck
49:23well a i think it looks great and b it makes me very happy
49:51these are gardeners delight tomatoes destined to be planted outside in the vegetable garden i've got
49:58other tomatoes i'll grow in the greenhouse but these will do perfectly well outside but i need to get the
50:03timing right uh here at long meadow it's really not feasible to plant tomatoes out much before june
50:10and sometimes not to the middle of june so i've got at least six weeks and maybe a couple of
50:16months
50:16to go and the pots that they're in are not going to be big enough to provide the nourishment or
50:23the
50:23moisture they need because before they plant out the plants could be three times as big so they need
50:28potting on now if i take this out the pot i'm just going to put that in there
50:34right you will see there's more root than compost this is exactly the right moment to pot it on
50:43now having established that you do need to put it on then the question is what size pot
50:51if i was to plant this in a pot not out in the garden and there's no reason why you
50:56can't grow
50:56tomatoes in a pot that's roughly the sort of size that would do doesn't want to be much smaller than
51:01that but it doesn't need to be much bigger and you might think well the logic is is put it
51:05on to
51:06that and that's job done the whole thing's finished but it's not a good idea for two reasons one it
51:12means that you've got to store much bigger pots undercover and that's going to use up a lot more
51:17space for another month at least and two it won't be good for the plant because the plant fruits grow
51:25outwards like the spokes of a wheel so that most of the compost in the pot is acting as a
51:32sponge to
51:33hold moisture so it's going to be too wet that's about right you can see the difference it's distinctly
51:39bigger but not a lot bigger and if you place it inside you know it's probably got quarter an inch
51:45all around it as a rule of thumb it definitely doesn't want more than an inch space around the edge
51:52of the
51:52old pot now here's a trick and it always works take your new pot put compost and by the way
52:00you
52:00need a really good compost so peat free add some goodness to it if you can a bit of grit
52:07and if
52:08you've got sieve garden compost the plant will do better put soil in the bottom like that
52:16place the plant in maybe take a little bit more soil out make enough room place that in its pot
52:23don't
52:24take it out the pot and then and i'm going to do this on the table to show you it'll
52:28be messy
52:29fill in around it
52:33this might seem a bit bonkers but just bear with me it works
52:41and we'll push that down there and having done that gently lift out the inner pot and what you're
52:51left with is a space that is exactly the size of the old pot now you remove it and just
53:01pop it in that's it that's all you have to do and the beauty of this system is that the
53:07plant barely
53:09knows it's been potted on there's no stress whatsoever on the roots don't try and force the
53:17soil around it just water it and then that will give it enough goodness and enough moisture to see it
53:23through at least another month by which time the plant will be that big and we can consider either
53:28planting it out or putting it on to its final home right well that's certainly one job you can do
53:37this weekend but here are some more
53:51as the spring bulbs end their flowering season
53:56they need to be left so the foliage can slowly die back but if they are in a handsome pot
54:02that
54:03means the pot can't be used for months on end so i lift them out of the good pot put
54:09them into
54:10an upcycle plastic pot where they can be set to one side and it frees up a really nice container
54:17for
54:25summer display
54:26courgettes are the hardiest of the cucurbit family and you can start to sow them now there are lots of
54:32varieties to choose from but whichever ones they are you grow them in the same way either place
54:38individual seeds in generous sized plugs or a couple of seeds to a pot cover them over and then place
54:46them
54:46in water for about 15 to 20 minutes so that they soak up moisture they must go somewhere warm in
54:53which
54:53to germinate and they should appear in between 10 and 20 days
55:04next year's daffodils will be formed in the bulbs but if you allow the seed heads to develop
55:11that will weaken the flowering next year so snap off spent flowering heads just below the seed heads
55:18leaving the stem and let the leaves die back naturally to feed into the bulb for next year
55:41i've got one more job to do here in the jewel garden the jewel gun by the way is it's
55:46the last bit of long
55:47weather to get going yes we have the tulips and the wallflowers and pots but actually in the borders
55:52there's very little happening yet because it's dominated by the foliage of an allium allium purple
55:57sensation which will flower in a couple of weeks time but there is one job i can do which means
56:01getting
56:02into the borders and if i do it now it's going to make a dramatic difference later in the year
56:13right in the middle of the border here
56:16is this tree this is a paulonia sometimes known as the fox club tree and it does have wonderful
56:24flowers sort of lavender colored mo flowers which will grow on really quite a large tree this will
56:31grow if i left it 50 foot tall a really big proper tree but i didn't plant it to become
56:39a big tree i
56:40planted it in order that i could really relish its foliage and paulonia is one of the trees that if
56:48you compass it i prune it back really hard it will sprout new growth which in turn will carry extra
56:55big foliage and they look really exotic and dramatic and they're brilliant for setting off flowers around
57:01it in a border now's a good time to do it just as it's starting to break into leaf so
57:08here we go
57:10and i chuck those out
57:27now if i left this like this it would effectively be a pollard pollards are when you leave a straight
57:35bare stem and then the new growth will grow from here and it will stand out but i think that
57:41would
57:41look a bit odd what i want to do is take it down so that new growth comes from about
57:46this height here
58:00well i don't do that very often it looks drastic it'll be fine and we'll get new shoots coming in
58:08just a few weeks time they'll start to grow by mid-summer they should be a meter long and
58:13that these huge leaves will appear they'll be at their best in august september and into october and
58:19i can either repeat that next year or just do it every few years but it's a really good way
58:24of
58:25adding drama to a border and that's the end of the drama for today i'm afraid well i'll see you
58:31back
58:32here at long better next time so until then bye
58:34bye
58:34so
58:39so
58:45so
58:48you
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