Gardeners' World - Season 59 Episode 7 - video Dailymotion

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Gardeners' World - Season 59 Episode 7 tele: https://t.me/TopFilmUSA1 #film#shows#usa#usashows#hot#filmhot

Transcript

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00:54I'm not certain because I've lost the label, and it was a few years ago I planted it,

00:59but for the moment, whatever its name is, it needs tying up.

01:03Now, of course, climbing iceberg is a banker.

01:07It's guaranteed to flower for months on end.

01:10This can be flowering at Christmas sometimes.

01:13And it's worth pointing out that when you're tying any vegetative growth up at this time of year,

01:18particularly this time of year, use soft twine.

01:20Never use anything with wire in it or even a hard-edged plastic because the new growth is soft,

01:26it will move slightly, and if you have anything other than very soft twine,

01:31it can cut into it and damage it.

01:33Right, I'm going to try and gather all that in there and pull it back,

01:37because otherwise it can flop a lot.

01:41And whilst a bit of floppage is good, too much is not.

01:50...

01:57...

02:05...

02:06...

02:19now you 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 neds we're planting summer bulbs we do tend to think

02:35of bulbs belonging to spring and of course they do in huge variety and glory from the first snow drop

02:42to the last carmacea which here at long meadow can take us into june but there are another group of

02:49bulbs or bulb related plants that perform beautifully from mid to late summer into autumn

02:56and of course they're familiar there are gladioli dahlias crocosmia lilies and now is the time to

03:04plant them if you haven't done so already some do really well in pots and none better than lilies so

03:10I want to plant some lilies today in pots and the compost is really important because lilies need

03:16good drainage but they also need another element because they are essentially woodland plants and

03:22what they like is a loose soil it's not just sharp drainage like tulips but a loose almost fluffy soil

03:29and the best way to create that is by using leaf mold if you've got it this is a very

03:35gritty potting

03:36mix and that's part peat free bought in potting compost partly sieve garden compost and you can see

03:45the grit in it there's quite a lot of it now that would do that would be fine but if

03:49you've got leaf

03:50mold then add that and i'm going to add 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 sort of turks cap variety with wonderful sort of raspberry burgundy colors

04:34you know these are different from most bulbs

04:38because the scales have no outer layer so that they're they're scaly like an armadillo

04:47so i'll pop that in i'm going to put four in this pot which is plenty three would be

04:53fine but i think i can get 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

05:46now jamie has been to visit beth chatto's garden near colchester if you haven't been i recommend

05:52anyone to go it's one of our great gardens but actually he went for a very specific purpose which

05:58is to celebrate a plant which by and large he feels is underappreciated

06:13what else gives you color like this that incredible acid green it simply glows and yet the funny thing is

06:25this 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

07:11it needs next to no watering even in the driest of summers so it adores this gravel garden setting

07:18and a little bit of plant geekery what looks like these columns and towers of architectural flowers

07:25are actually bracts they're not flowers at all the flowers are hidden inside the bracts and they're teeny tiny

07:33but the plant itself is phenomenal and one of my absolute favorites a must-have for any drought tolerant garden

08:02this is a beast for euphorbia this is euphorbia cross pasteurii

08:10that means it's taking the very best bits of two 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

08:23at but quite unusually for euphorbia they have an additional quality they smell incredible they smell of

08:31honey which also gives it its common name of honey spudge i love to use this one to create drama

08:38especially towards 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

09:47from full sun to shade dry soil to damp they're far more adaptable than you might think

09:54and they're surprisingly easy to propagate which means you can multiply their impact

09:59across your garden emily ellad is the resident propagation expert here

10:05so one of the plants i'm obsessed with in the gardens today especially is the euphorbia

10:12it's just glowing when's the best time to collect the seeds so it's probably going to be about may june

10:19time because at the moment you've got the lush mop heads and soon they will start to

10:24curate the seed um and then just before it's starting to dry out a bit we collect those mop heads

10:29hang them upside down no put them in a in a box a little bit newspaper on top because they

10:34will pig

10:34everywhere like popcorn and then all your seed will be at the bottom of the box you can collect that

10:38all

10:39up and you can store some or you can sow some fresh

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 i'm just going to sprinkle

10:57that on top this is like the big duvet that sits on top of the seed so it's like going

11:01in a coal

11:01frame basically yeah how long would you normally expect them to take to start to germinate yeah so i

11:08actually got some that were so in january time i hope it's okay i'm just going to grab one because

11:13i think these are amazing from that those teeny tiny little seeds we're going to get one of those

11:18beautiful euphorbia wolf anyway whether they're lighting up gravel gardens or thriving in dappled woodland

11:36these are plants which are great for wildlife rob byford is responsible for the biological control

11:44in the gardens working closely with nature to keep things in balance it's such a broad genus there's

11:52so many species to it they allow us to extend this flowering period from february almost to the first frost

11:59so the chance for the chance for the insects to get food and we need that now more than ever

12:04a powerhouse of of the garden really they really are and a lot of it comes down to this here

12:10which

12:11is their flower structure so it's a special inflorescence ceafeum and we can see in here

12:18the nectar glands now they secrete the nectar and we've got the anthers here the pollen so for nectar

12:25feeders and for pollen feeders euphorbia has it all some of us we do get aphids in our garden

12:31but these will attract lace wings and parasitic wasps which are great defenders almost like our own

12:36little air force against those less beneficial insects it's self-regulating and just by adding

12:42it to your garden you're adding in defense to your garden as well against these less favorable critters

12:50it's such a beautiful plant so uplifting and smile inducing but it's also a given benefit

12:56to our insects it is they are like little beacons really flashing amongst it all to humans and insects

13:01alike to humans and insects alike absolutely

13:14the more you look the more you realize what the 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

13:35them and put them center stage

13:56this is the euphorbia caracchias wolfhenii 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

14:22however here in the dry garden not only does it look good in itself but it's a really good foil

14:27for

14:27the tulips and the sweet rocket and also you know as a plant it's one of the most statuesque

14:33architectural plants you could have

14:47but i've got here some euphorbias that thrive in shade

15:03this is the woodland garden which is the latest change

15:08and it's it's work in progress for the moment this year i'm concentrating

15:13on the area that we cleared last autumn and have started to plant this spring

15:18and it's coming through things are coming along

15:20and the euphorbias i've got here which goes by the tongue-twisting name of euphorbia amygdaloides

15:30verrobii is perfectly suited to this kind of woodland environment because it thrives it positively

15:37thrives in dry shade and there are very few plants that do that now the shade comes particularly from these

15:43cherries this is a wild cherry a gin lovely blossom at the moment uh but the roots suck up all

15:51the

15:51moisture and the leaves cut out most of the light so this whole area here is going to be dry

15:57shade

16:00you can see that it has these wonderful bracts which are like a collar like almost like a satellite dish

16:08reflecting light with tiny flowers inside and in shade deep shade they'll grow taller

16:16so they're more visible they'll rise up above the foliage and give a really good display for weeks on end

16:22and then even when they die back the foliage will spread it spreads quite easily makes a really good

16:28ground cover plant as well as having this glorious display in spring and early summer now i'll start

16:35placing these and putting them in groups they're not plants to play singly like here go down there

16:45and then over here i put these in a group of three because i want them actually to grow together

16:51and 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 and that can easily cause burns i hate gardening in gloves and never do it unless it's

17:26very thorny but 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

17:55now rosemary alexander started the english garden school and the whole generation of garden designers

18:03learned their craft there and we had the opportunity to visit rosemary's private garden 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 for

18:31you whether it's a large or small garden and when i came to this garden i wanted somewhere where i

18:36could

18:37grow all the plants i loved this is my garden at sandhill farmhouse in west sussex where i've been for

18:45the last 20 years or more the whole garden is about half an acre on on the front and half

18:55an 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 queue you couldn't really learn about plants

20:03so i thought i would set up my own school and teach people about plants

20:08i set up the school in 1983. i just wanted to teach how to redesign a space

20:18we're now in the woodland garden my overall aim was to have several different areas which would have

20:23different types of plants the contrast between dark green leaves and light green leaves and shiny

20:30leaves and matte leaves and also the stems of the plants because if you look here there's quite a

20:35a lot of stem and then big groupings of things to make it look more natural i try to use

20:43plants to

20:44separate the the gravel from the soil because i don't like using timber or metal edges and so i use

20:51this

20:51ophiopogen here and then in other areas i use london pride saxifragia ombrosa when people walk into

20:58the garden i want them to feel oh my goodness this is going to be a wonderful 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

21:23so first of all it looked straight out at the critagus laciniata at the very far end there which

21:30is a lovely deciduous tree and then four of the box balls were already here so i decided i would

21:36continue them leading down to look at the view i like focal points in the garden because it gives

21:43you a reason for sitting in a particular place and so all gardens should have focal points

21:48often i look at the background color you know for instance in the garden here you've got a brick wall

21:55so i'm looking at the brick wall and thinking what colors would go well in front of that

22:00the new hedge was here so we clipped it and it seemed a perfect backdrop for the blue chair because

22:05blue is actually a very good color of paint because there's quite a lot of green um in in blue

22:15you know my granddaughter's been coming here for years and she spends a lot of time down here with

22:20me we loved what she did and we knew that she was so talented and so amazing at what she'd

22:25created

22:26with the school i always thought oh that would be an amazing industry to be in granny invited me to

22:34come

22:34and study on the course and that's when i just fell in love with designing gardens and it was kind

22:42of

22:42opening up of a whole new world i'm definitely still always learning from granny she's always pointing

22:49things out in the garden but also i'm a point now in my career where i can start to show

22:54her the work

22:55that i've created and we can discuss it together and that's a really nice thing to be able to do

23:01it's amazing having somebody in my own family that we've got a lot in common with and we spend quite

23:06a lot of time discussing 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 alcatine or neutral so that will depend on what

23:29you grow and then another thing is not to be over ambitious not to worry about having one of this

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 i 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

23:57what i like is building up their confidence and seeing them you know develop in their own right

24:03what i like is building up their own right it still is exciting

24:51it's always good to see a new generation coming in and learning from us oldies i have to say my

24:57grandchildren are beginning to get interested in the garden so whether they go on and become gardeners

25:03or garden designers we'll see but it'd be nice um this is very practical i'm sowing peas what i do

25:11is i make a very shallow sort of trenches you can barely call it a trench it's more a groove

25:16in the ground

25:19these are purple potted peas so the peas themselves are green but the pods are purple really decorative

25:26and when you cook them if you cook them in the pod the pod then turns green

25:35and when you cook them in the pod now i'm placing these about two or three inches apart

25:39they don't need to be any wider than that

25:46personally i think a double row works best okay

25:52and just break over them very simple and just go along like this and then

26:01gently gently gently gently like that without disturbing the peas underneath

26:08when those peas germinate little green shoots should appear marking the spot of each pea

26:13depending on the weather in about two or three weeks time

26:17but they will need support peas are scramblers so the support needs to be able to take the tendrils

26:25whatever way they go it does have to be something that is twiggy so keep prunings dogwood will do it

26:33anything 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

26:48quite close together so they overlap like that

26:56there we go

27:09what you're looking to achieve is a tangle and this is a perfect tangle and

27:16somehow doing this just like putting up bean sticks

27:20feels to me like part of the development of a vegetable plot that is really part of summer

27:26if i see the p6 going in then we've moved on we've moved out of winter forever

27:33and we're on into the middle of spring and very quickly that will be followed by summer

27:50the rhubarb season is in full flow it's it's a fairly long season it starts in february particularly

27:56if you couldn't force it this is simply early and that's a variety called victoria which is later

28:02that's main season if you like early is february and then that will run through till june late

28:08doesn't really kick in until beginning of may but may and june is fantastic and all rhubarb

28:16should be left unpicked after the end of june leave it alone because otherwise you'll weaken

28:21the roots and you won't get nearly such a good harvest next year and gradually it will diminish

28:27the reason why you force it is because the stems are sweeter now if i take the lid off

28:33you can see that there's a lot less foliage and if i pull it up like that you can see

28:39that

28:40it looks rather anemic but of course if you do this in february or early march it's a treat

28:47now whenever you're harvesting rhubarb there is one really important thing to remember never cut it

28:53you pull rhubarb and if you cut it you can get infection and rot in the stem if you pull

29:01it

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 start

29:42the day and of course the leaves are brilliant on the compost heap once they're composted then they'll

29:46do no harm whatsoever now earlier this month we went down to south wales to join sue kent in her

29:55garden

30:01after a very wet winter here in swansea springtime in my garden is the time of year that brings me

30:08such joy

30:09and hope

30:19look at this this is the first fruit tree blossom of the year in its 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

31:10for this one with its lovely little shoot is going to go in a pot and grow

31:21i'm going to use a petri compost it likes a nice light soil and the way i do this is

31:28use a local

31:29product which is crushed cockle shells so i'm going to sprinkle them in and they will be very slow release

31:37calcium as well as a sort of soil eraser it'll slightly alkaline the soil and walnuts prefer that

31:45anyway i'm going to mix it in

31:49so i've got my croc in then put a base layer in the bottom of the pot

31:56i'm going to very gently take my baby out

32:01so exciting look at that little shoot that's cracked open

32:06and 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

32:15so this walnut is from a tree that my father gave to me from a tree that his father gave

32:21to him

32:22and i am giving it to my son to grow in his garden so it really is a family tree

32:29and it's rather lovely

32:31to think it'll carry on through the generations i'm going to top it off with some pistachio shells

32:38so i use a lot of pistachio nuts and i love the smell oh gosh they will slowly break down

32:44and add

32:45nutrients and deter slugs and it makes a little mini mulch for a smaller pot to keep in the moisture

32:53and stop the weeds coming needs a bit of a water

33:13i'm so pleased with this it's absolutely stunning and it's lighting up the garden when not much else

33:21is here it's spirea bridal wreath and you can see here some beautiful small white flowers already open

33:29but lots lots more to come and it's almost got red branches on it it looks good in summer

33:36and although it's deciduous the branches look great in winter

33:40i am a bit of a fan of spirea and here i've got them free flowing but around the garden

33:46i've used

33:46them more structurally and have clipped them quite tightly but this one is the star of the show at the

33:51moment it's a great time for me to plant anything tender being coastal the sea air is warmer keeping

33:59the frosts away the key is to know your own climate and use protection like fleece if needed this is

34:06going

34:06to be a case of third time lucky i've tried three times to grow this and twice the plant's been

34:14got by

34:14frost and this year i've kept in the greenhouse and it's survived it's echium piñana and it derives

34:21from the canary islands and i think it's going to be absolutely extraordinary

34:40this is going to grow huge up to four meters 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 hopefully

34:55they're going to populate all the way along here i might have to dig some up and shelter them into

35:00the greenhouse for winter to ensure their survival but i will leave some it's supposed to be a biennial

35:06that means you plant the seed one year you get the flower the next year but in this case this

35:10is three

35:11years old so for me it's a triennial and the reason i put it here is because it likes a

35:17very sunny spot

35:18and this is the sunniest spot in my garden it likes free draining soil and also it hides the ugly

35:24fence

35:24and i can see it when i'm lying in my bath from my bathroom and now all i've got to

35:31do 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

36:00lengthen and warm

36:06i like to pick a salad every night and i've already started here i've got parsley mint

36:11lamb's lettuce a bit of normal lettuce and beetroot leaves

36:16and i want some more and it's amazing this looks a bit of a mess but it's full of food

36:21and here i've

36:22got landcress which is a bit like watercress but it roots itself in soil you can see and i'll cut

36:28a

36:29bit and it's got a quite a peppery flavour 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

36:51and that goes for sorrel too this is a stalwart of the salad this is french sorrel and it just

36:58keeps

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 can

37:36eat the flowers but not the leaves and of course if you've got any health conditions it's best to check

37:41so i've got vibrant green zesty flavours i've got lemon flavours i've got peppery flavours and

37:49nothing gives 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 that

38:24intergenerational handing on is something that taps into a longevity that we don't normally think of

38:30in our gardens we want everything now right these as you can see are lemons i'm just taking the fruit

38:38off

38:38for two reasons one because if you leave mature fruit on the tree that will inhibit the development of

38:47flowers and other fruits even though they look lovely and two because these are particularly heavy

38:53and are weighing down so for example this is fine it looks nice and it's not weighing the branch down

38:58but where they are like there i'm just going to take that off and that will spring back up

39:06this is not pruning pruning citrus is something you do when the worst of the weather is over so i

39:13would leave that till may but it's good to get them outside as soon as you can because citrus don't

39:18like being indoors particularly not in the centrally heated house so that's fine there i've got a

39:24lovely basket of fruit i mean you have to say look at that you know there is something magical about

39:31having your own lemons or your own oranges from your garden but now is a really good time

39:39to repot any citrus that you have to give it a fresh start to grow and this one for example

39:46has been

39:46in this pot for quite a long time i haven't got a new pot for it so what i'm going

39:51to do is take it

39:52out of this pot clean up the roots get rid of the old compost refresh the compost and put it

39:58back

39:58into the same pot so the first thing i'm going to do is just take it out the pot there

40:03we go

40:04i'm going to put that onto there you need plenty of crocs the same crocs can go in the bottom

40:15i'm just going to clean off some of the spent compost on here now this has been in this pot

40:21for

40:22probably a couple of years if you're keeping it in the same pot you need to do this at least

40:26every

40:27other year if you're potting onto a bigger pot then you probably need to do that about every three years

40:32but 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

40:47i'm getting my thumb in there and i'm just working free

40:53the excess compost now the compost mix that is a bucket of sieved garden compost

41:01a horticultural grip

41:06and actually i've got here a mix of potting compost with a lot of grit leaf mold and sieved garden

41:17compost in it but i'm going to add a bit more garden compost not a lot just a little bit

41:21in there

41:24and quite a lot of grit in fact i'm going to add all this grit 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

42:19roots and once they come outside and start to show signs of growth citrus should be watered

42:25and fed once a week i feed them on a quite dilute seaweed mix and so that we combine the

42:31watering

42:31and the feed at the same time now it seems amazing to me but rhs chelsea flower show is just

42:39a few weeks away it's racing up on us and we went down to cornwall to visit andrew mills as

42:46he

42:46prepared his exhibition for chelsea which incidentally is based upon a long and well-founded

42:54cornish 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

43:25superior in 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 and the farmer's

43:41wife would pick them during the day and they would bunch them up in the evenings and then there would

43:46be a regular deposit to train stations where the boxes of these anemones would be taken to covent

43:52garden so that was very important industry for cornwall many many years ago but that all petered out

43:57probably 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

44:14because 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 misral varieties of the italian ranunculus these are my favorites

44:45and they will give you a constant supply of anemones over a long period of time so what you won't

44:51have

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 would be

45:24perfect to grow in your garden the other variety i have is the levante double slightly shorter stem

45:30which is common but also a very very delicate 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

45:58when other flowers come onto the market and the anemones have had their day

46:03they will come back in next year in a bigger corn but they won't be as good as the first

46:08year

46:08because the best anemone flower will come from the smallest size corn

46:16i usually pick two or three times a week i get to about 50 or 60 bunches any more and

46:20i just

46:20won't be able to cope with it to pick an anemone you need to pick them when the flower is

46:26still tight

46:27and not open so you could pick this bunch it up and in two or three days that will be

46:31open and it

46:32will stay open for another two or three days maybe four or five in a cool kitchen window when picking

46:38anemones it's very important to get the stem length as long as possible and try to cut it off as

46:43close

46:43as you can to the corm to stop any rot being left on the remaining stem that you've picked from

46:49and

46:50like every cut flower cut it off diagonally so that you have a bigger surface area of the stem bottom

46:55to

46:56take up as much water as possible

47:01so 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

47:12basic 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

47:29you'll see just a riot of color and as long as i'm pleased with how it looks the medal is

47:34a bonus

47:35nervous at all or not no i don't do nerves apart from the day

47:44they're grown locally they don't come locally they're distributed locally they're bought locally

47:49in a two mile radius 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

48:01that anybody can do it it's a garden plant as well as a cut flower

48:25i thought it was absolutely fascinating

48:29that andrew said the smallest corn produce the biggest flower now that is

48:34really counterintuitive and also i'm only just beginning to really learn about the ranunculus

48:39family and with anemones of all kinds we're very used to japanese anemones and and maybe sort of

48:45woodland anemones but of course you realize there are so many more and i'm very much looking forward

48:50to seeing how he fares at chelsea see them at their very best talking about their very best i do

48:56think 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

49:24well 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

50:03get the timing right uh here at long meadow it's really not feasible to plant tomatoes out much

50:09before june and sometimes not to the middle of june so i've got at least six weeks and maybe a

50:16couple

50:16of months to go and the pots that they're in are not going to be big enough to provide the

50:22nourishment

50:22or the moisture they need because before they plant out the plants could be three times as big

50:28so they need potting on now if i take this out the pot i'm just going to put that in

50:33there

50:34you will see there's more root than compost this is exactly the right moment to pot it on now having

50:44established that you do need to put it on then the question is what size pot

50:51uh if i was to plant this in a pot not out in the garden and there's no reason why

50:55you can't

50:56grow tomatoes in a pot that's roughly the sort of size that would do it doesn't want to be much

51:01smaller than that but it doesn't need to be much bigger and you might think well the logic is is

51:05put it onto that and that's job done the whole thing's finished but it's not a good idea for two

51:11reasons one it means that you've got to store much bigger pots undercover and that's going to use up a

51:17lot

51:17more space for another month at least and two it won't be good for the plant because the plant's

51:24roots grow outwards like the spokes of a wheel so that most of the compost in the pot is acting

51:32as a

51:32sponge to hold moisture so it's going to be too wet that's about right you can see the difference

51:37it's distinctly bigger but not a lot bigger and if you place it inside you know it's probably got

51:44a quarter an inch all around it as a rule of thumb it definitely doesn't want more than an inch

51:50space

51:51around the edge of the old pot now here's a trick and it always works take your new pot

51:59put compost and by the way you need a really good compost so peat free add some goodness to it

52:05if you

52:06can a bit of grit and if you've got sieved garden compost the plant will do better put soil in

52:12the

52:12bottom like that place the plant in maybe take a little bit more soil out make enough room place

52:22that in its pot don't take it out the pot and then and i'm going to do this on the

52:27table to show you

52:28it'll be messy fill in around it this might seem a bit bonkers but just bear with me it works

52:41and we will push that down there and having done that gently lift out the inner pot

52:50and what you're left with is a space that is exactly the size of the old pot now you remove

52:59it 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

53:08plant barely

53:09knows it's been potted on there's no stress whatsoever on the roots don't try and force

53:17the soil around it just water it and then that will give it enough goodness and enough moisture

53:22to see it through at least another month by which time the plant will be that big and we can

53:27consider

53:28either planting it out or putting it on to its final home right well that's certainly one job you

53:36can do this weekend but here are some more

53:52as the spring bulbs end their flowering season they need to be left so the foliage can slowly die back

54:00but if they are in a handsome pot that means the pot can't be used for months on end so

54:06i lift them

54:07out of the good pot put them into an upcycled plastic pot where they can be set to one side

54:14and it frees up a really nice container for summer display

54:18so i'm going to have to be a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit

54:26more of a little

54:26corgettes 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 individual

54:39seeds in generous sized plugs or a couple of seeds to a pot cover them over and then place them

54:46in water for

54:47about 15 to 20 minutes so that they soak up moisture they must go somewhere warm in which to germinate

54:54and 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

55:41and i've got one more job to do here in the jewel garden the jewel garden by the way is

55:46it's the

55:46last bit of long meadow to get going yes we have the tulips and the wallflowers and pots but actually

55:51in the borders there's very little happening yet because it's dominated by the foliage of an allium

55:56allium purple sensation which will flower in a couple of weeks time but there is one job i can do

56:01which

56:01means getting into the borders and if i do it now it's going to make a dramatic difference later in

56:07the year

56:13right in the middle of the border here is this tree this is a paulonia sometimes known as the fox

56:21club tree

56:22and it does have wonderful flowers sort of lavender colored mauve flowers which will grow on really

56:30quite a large tree this will grow if i left it 50 foot tall a really big proper tree but

56:38i didn't plant

56:38it to become a big tree i planted it in order that i could really relish its foliage and paulonia

56:46is one of the trees but if you compass it i prune it back really hard it will sprout new

56:53growth which

56:54in turn will carry extra big foliage and they look really exotic and dramatic and they're brilliant for

57:00setting off flowers around it in a border now's a good time to do it just as it's starting to

57:06break

57:06into leaf so here we go i'm going to chuck those out

57:28now 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

57:48so i think about that height is right

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 these

58:14huge leaves will appear they'll be at their best in august september and into october and i can either

58:20repeat that next year or just do it every few years but it's a really good way of adding drama

58:26to a border and that's the end of the drama for today i'm afraid well i'll see you back here

58:32at

58:32longer the next time so until then bye

58:34so

Gardeners' World - Season 59 Episode 7

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