- 4 weeks ago
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00:10Come on, Ned.
00:57Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:59I'm just loosening this area up because this bank on the side of the mound originally was grass and we
01:07had lots of bulbs in and you had a display and then when they died back we cut it back
01:11and we kept it as cut grass.
01:13Over the years, all kinds of things have seeded themselves in here.
01:18Some of them are lovely, like the cow parsley coming through, but I want to start putting in spent bulbs
01:25from this year.
01:25That's bulbs that are flowered and finished. These are in pots, but actually there's no reason why I can't put
01:32them straight in the garden.
01:32And you can do this in a border. And that's what I'm going to do here.
01:36And the colour theme here on the mound is yellow and blue, so I've got some yellow and blue hyacinths.
01:43Well, some hyacinths of the yellow and some hyacinths of the blue. Not both at once.
01:54These are delft blue, so take them out.
02:00Being slightly careful. There we go.
02:07So you've got, you can see, there are the bulbs.
02:10And so I will carefully separate these out.
02:16Okay, let's just take each one. Let's take a few like that.
02:22There we go.
02:29See, that can go in there like that.
02:37Now you notice I'm not cutting back or trying to tidy up the leaves. It's really important, that, because these
02:44must be allowed to die back naturally.
02:47That will feed into the bulb and form next year's flower.
02:51If I cut those off now, there's a real chance that there'll be no flowering next year.
02:55And if you have blind bulbs, it's very often, because either they've been too dry, or there hasn't been enough
03:03light on the foliage after they've finished flowering.
03:10Okay.
03:18Long Meadow is pancake flat.
03:22I think we've got a fall of no more than a foot from one end to the other.
03:26So this is our only slope in the whole of the garden.
03:30And slopes are brilliant for most bulbs, because most bulbs like good drainage.
03:36It's only fritillaries, camassias, leucogeum, that really can cope with damp soil and thrive in it.
03:45So a slope like this lends itself to be covered in bulbs.
03:56I quite like the way that they'll intermingle with what has naturally sewn itself here.
04:03And it really goes back to this combination of working with nature.
04:09So use all the lovely natural things that are occurring and popping up and seeding themselves, but also plant in
04:17amongst them.
04:17So it becomes a creative act of which you are a partner rather than the controller.
04:23And I think that's really inspiring.
04:51And I think that's really inspiring.
04:55It's really delicious.
04:55It can look beautiful too.
05:09I absolutely love my garden.
05:12We've been here for 47 years.
05:15And ever since we came, I've grown all kinds of ornamentals, trees, shrubs, flowers, bulbs.
05:23But at the same time, I've also been growing vegetables, because it's just wonderful to grow your own produce.
05:30But what happens if you've only got a limited area?
05:33I want to show you during the course of this year, just how you can turn even a small area
05:39into both a productive space for vegetables and a thing of beauty with all sorts of beautiful flowers.
06:10I want to show you during the course of this year.
06:17be growing so intensively in here that the whole thing eventually is going to be full
06:21with beautiful flowers and wonderful wonderful vegetables. I'm not going to be planting everything
06:28today but I'm going to be adding to it right the way through. All manner of stuff but absolutely
06:34everything in here is going to be an annual. Most of it is going to be grown from seed
06:40as were these sweet peas which are the very first thing I'm planting in here.
06:46I'm growing several different sweet peas but these are cupani which is this glorious purple
06:54and maroon one with wonderful wonderful scent. Of course sweet peas are climbers so my husband
07:02Neil has made me this wonderful structure. It's a cylinder because it means that I can grow sweet
07:10peas and climbing beans so I'm going to intersperse them with different climbing beans.
07:28Beetroot are indispensable. Roasted or cooked sliced and pickled they're delicious.
07:36They can be sown direct into the soil or into modules then potted on and planted out.
07:42The variety I'm using is boltardy. It's not just the roots we eat. Those leaves are a lovely salad
07:50vegetable in their own right. In between them I'm planting lettuce. This is a lettuce called
08:02Little Gem and I'm putting them in two at a time one behind the other and the whole object of
08:09doing
08:09that is that I can harvest one first and then the next one can grow on and get bigger. It's
08:17really my
08:18absolute all-time favourite lettuce because not only is it delicious in salads when it's young,
08:25you can cook with it as well. Just stick it in the pan for less than a minute with a
08:31bit of butter
08:32and salt and pepper. It's delicious.
08:41So that's the first veg planted and it might seem a bit random, a bit willy-nilly but it's not.
09:02It's all
09:02some basil seeds right round here and then finally plant the tomato in. I'm not doing it today because
09:09they're not ready but what I am going to do is plant a few flowers.
09:20Alongside the beetroot and lettuce I'm planting some pink cosmos informally. As they grow they'll
09:27give the lettuce a bit of dappled shade. Cosmos have to be one of the most rewarding annual flowers
09:36and with constant deadheading or cutting for the house they'll keep going until late October.
09:50I'm going to sow quite a lot of vegetable seeds and flower seeds straight into the ground but
09:57there are some things which are much better off grown on in pots or modules first of all.
10:02So this is a method I use for all beans but the beans in question are these beautiful broad beans,
10:11the crimson flowered broad beans so not only do you get the most delicious beans but in addition you get
10:20the advantage of these utterly glorious flowers. So I'm just pushing them in, you want them about half an inch
10:27or so
10:28and then cover them with grit which will retain the moisture once I've watered them, keep the weeds down
10:36and make sure that they don't rot when they come up but they're very very unlikely to do that. I
10:43mean
10:43they're tough things these broad beans. Here's what I did earlier, there's the top of the bean and look already
10:49that little root just starting to go down there into the compost and then we'll get a shoot and then
10:56we'll get some utterly glorious flowers. These broad beans I'll water well and then I'll wait until
11:03they're a few inches high before I put them out. You can use exactly the same idea of combining edibles
11:19and ornamentals in a pot and that's just what I'm doing here. This is orac. It's a relative of spinach,
11:28she can eat it but it also looks gorgeous and they will go really big and flower when it's way
11:36up high
11:37but I don't want it to flower so all you do just take those two little shoots off the top
11:43like that
11:44and that will encourage all those side shoots to spread out and give us a really nice bushy plant
11:51and I'm going to do exactly the same thing, nip the top with all the cosmos too. Now already this
11:59plant
11:59is trying to branch but if I nip out this bit here that's all you need.
12:09So the cosmos I'm using in here is one called Purity and you've guessed it, it's pure white
12:17and it takes it a while before it starts to flower but when it goes for it, especially if you
12:24pinch the
12:25top and you've got loads of flowering side shoots, it's absolutely lovely.
12:37Now the great thing about doing this is that I'll put these things in now, they'll be joined by some
12:44of
12:45our crimson flowered broad beans but I can add all sorts of things. Whenever I see something that
12:52I find inspiring I'll squeeze it in here and as for the main patch, we've only just begun.
12:59I'll be adding more veg, loads of beautiful flowers and the whole thing's going to come together
13:05and just look absolutely wonderful and taste good too.
13:32I do think that actually most vegetables that are well grown, vegetables, herbs and fruit,
13:38have a beauty of their own and of course you want it to be beautiful too. Anyway,
13:42it'd be fascinating to follow this through for the rest of the series.
13:46What I'm doing here is planting out parsley and to do that we start off sowing it in a seed
13:52tray
13:53and then prick it out into individual plants as a plug and you can see that here you have a
13:58plug.
13:58It's absolutely ready to go out, got a good root system and give it space. Now this is the key
14:05thing.
14:06I am placing this actually not in squares but in a kind of grid so each plant has
14:16plenty of space around it and then as a result you get a big strong plant. Partially remember the carrot
14:23family. They have a deep root and they want to grow to a plant about that tall with a thick
14:28stem and then
14:29they flower. So if you let it become well established with strong roots you can then go on picking the
14:35leaves over a period of about three or four months.
15:07Those have now had a good soak and I will leave them but make sure they don't dry out
15:12for another two three weeks before they're ready to harvest. We will harvest these oh well into summer
15:19by which time the next crop we're ready to plant it out and actually the secret of all vegetable
15:25growing it doesn't matter how much space you've got whether it's very limited or huge is planning ahead,
15:30succession. So you maximize the harvest from whatever ground that you have and also not just maximize
15:38it in quantity but also quality. Grow what you like to eat. That is the secret. Come on in.
16:07The potting shed and the greenhouse are my happy place taking plants on this journey
16:14from seed to full high performance out in the garden. So you have seeds that sown and you get a
16:21seed
16:21tray full of seedlings like that and then you prick them out and they look something along these lines
16:27into individual plugs. They then are grown on and moved over onto this side and you can see these
16:33are all plants that have been pricked out and getting bigger and at some stage a lot of them
16:37are potted on but before they can go outside even if they're not tender plants they need hardening off
16:44and hardening off is something I really want to make clear because it's actually terribly important.
16:49You need to acclimatize the plant to life outside in the big bad world. So from the greenhouse
16:56they go to a cold frame and this is around here. Now at the moment the cold frame is filled
17:04mainly
17:05with plants that have been pricked out. They're hardy plants but they're protected from heavy rain.
17:11They get a little bit more heat from the glass through the sun and it means they're not too cold.
17:15And then they go to the next stage and you can see here we've got some wild carrot, sweet peas,
17:24I've got some salvias sitting here where they will remain for at least a week before going into the garden.
17:32They're protected from the cold east wind, they've got a hedge there meaning that it's not too blu-ey,
17:36the sun is not too hot in the middle of the day and it's not too cold at night. They
17:43will gradually
17:44acclimatize to life outside. And if you sow your seeds on a windowsill that's fine, the next stage
17:50could be just sort of outside the back door or around the corner by a shed where it's out of
17:56the
17:56worst of the weather. That also applies when you buy a plant from a garden centre, particularly a young
18:01plant. So harden it off for at least a week in a slightly protected place outside. But there's
18:08another form of hardening off which is also really relevant, particularly at this time of year.
18:15Come on then.
18:21The other kind of hardening off is of plants that are perennial and can live for years
18:31as long as they are protected from the cold. So for example here we've got some agapanthus,
18:36some pelargoniums, lemon verbena, salvias, and this was until last week full of citrus plants.
18:44It's just enough to get them through the winter. But again, if you take them a family spent all winter
18:49in a greenhouse and then put them outside just because it's safe to go, they're going to sort of blink
18:56in the sunlight and they literally just stop growing. They hunker down and it can take them two or three
19:01weeks to get going again. Far better to gently introduce them and acclimatise them. And if I take
19:08a plant like the lemon verbena, so if I take this, it starts, you can see new growth which means
19:12it's
19:12coming into life. And it's the new growth that you've got to harden off. The woody growth is fine,
19:17that doesn't need any protection. It's these new shoots. Before I take it outside though,
19:23it needs a really hard prune as they tend to get very woody and leggy. Cut back to the lowest
19:31growth
19:31you can see and this will result in a fresh flush of new leaves.
19:43Okay. What I normally do with lemon verbena is do a first pass like that, taking off any obvious
19:52pieces that are too long and straggly. And then when new shoots develop, do another prune. The tighter you
20:00can prune it, the better the end result. Oh, a savvy one.
20:15As the new growth emerges, it will do so into a slightly harsher environment than it was in the
20:21greenhouse, but it will adapt. And that's the key to all hardening off. All the trouble you go to,
20:26or whether you buy plants from a garden centre, give them a chance to adapt to your environment,
20:33acclimatise, and they'll be a lot healthier and happier as a result. Now we have all kinds of
20:38different growing environments here at Longmeadow, but the one thing we don't do is have a floating
20:42garden. But Amy Chapman does. Hi gardeners world, I'm Amy. This is my narrowboat. I moved on to it in
20:52the
20:52autumn and I'm turning it into a little floating garden. Let me show you around.
21:03This is my little rooftop garden. I am trying to grow as many edible plants and useful plants and also
21:11plants for pollinators too. I have always loved growing my own food and I didn't want to compromise
21:18on that when I bought the boat. I've got these planters which are quite shallow, so I'm trying
21:23to choose plants that will suit a shallow depth of soil and also plants that don't grow too tall
21:30because I don't want them to obstruct my view when I'm cruising the boat.
21:34There's a lot of interesting things that you have to consider when you're growing on the roof.
21:39You don't want to put too much weight on one side of the boat.
21:44I am filling up this container with perennial vegetables which are some of the easiest,
21:49lowest maintenance edibles that you can grow. These are Welsh onions and you plant them once
21:56and they will live for years and years and they'll just keep dividing and producing more and more
22:01onions. With watering I'm worried about the sort of shallow depth of soil in the summer and keeping
22:07everything watered so I think I'm going to have to cover everything with a thick mulch and try and
22:13keep as much moisture locked in as possible. I've got a couple of these babington leeks left,
22:21leeks that will basically grow out into like clumps of little baby leeks. You plant them once and
22:28they'll give you multiple harvests. I started gardening about five or six years ago,
22:36so when I bought the boat I knew that I had to find a way to make gardening work and
22:41turn the roof
22:42into my own little garden.
22:48So this is the front of the boat also known as the bow and this is where I like to
22:55have a lot of colour
22:56and cheerfulness because a lot of people that walk past the boat say how happy it makes them to see
23:01flowers so I've got some honesty here which is great for pollinators.
23:10It's just a lovely way to live and you always feel like you're really connected to nature and
23:15the seasons. This is only my first spring on the boat but I'm hoping that by the summer it's going
23:20to be absolutely overflowing with plants. I'm hoping it can be a wild abundant magical garden.
23:27Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you enjoyed having a little look around my floating garden.
23:32There we go.
23:59You can find something there.
24:05You know, when I moved to London at the very beginning of the 1980s, we very nearly bought
24:11a houseboat and wanted to live on it. But I turned it down because I thought, I must
24:15have a garden, and I couldn't have a garden on a houseboat. Well, Amy has proved me wrong.
24:19Not only can you have a garden, you can have a beautiful garden. So that's fantastic.
24:23Now, the grass borders here, if you remember, I cut back at the very beginning of March,
24:29and it's brutal. You take everything out, clear it back to the ground, and it stays pretty empty
24:36for a month or so, depending on the weather. However, it's beginning to grow. Some are already
24:42up to knee height, and within a few months' time, things like the big miscanthus will be as tall as
24:47I am and grow taller yet. But the key thing about all these grasses and this spot here is that
24:54they
24:54are open to full sun. But I've got some grasses in my barrow, which are perfect for shade.
25:12This is the woodland garden. At the end of summer, we started to replant it as not just a woodland
25:17border, but incorporating the trees, incorporating the shade and making the most of it. This barrow
25:23is full of grasses that not only will cope with dry shade, but actually thrive in it. And if you
25:29get
25:29the right one, I think they look great in shade and in woodland settings. So that's what I'm doing.
25:35The first is one called Hakononkloa. It's become very trendy. It creates these low mounds,
25:44like sort of a low bubbling fountain that spills out, and the leaves bend up and then fall over
25:50to the ground. And if I plant it near the edge of a path, it won't grow too big, but
25:55it will just soften
25:56that edge, and it means I can plant it around the roots of trees. So this is going to do
26:00a job for me
26:01for that. That will spill out nicely. Let's have another spiller there.
26:11Tucked in behind the yew here. There we go. This can go here, like that.
26:22I wonder if we could get that in there.
26:25The key thing at this stage is not to try and be too controlling. Try it out. Move them about.
26:32And then when you've decided where you want them, it's very easy. You just make a hole in the ground,
26:37take it out of the pot, pop it in, job done.
26:40Now, the other grass that will serve me very well in here is called Cicillaria autumnalis.
26:47And the name is a clue, because it actually thrives best in spring and autumn, semi-evergreen.
26:54So I thought that here I'd put three. Now you notice I'm putting this in a clump. I'm actually going
27:00to get a third.
27:00Because this is a grass that looks best in clumps or groups, or if you've got a lot, drifts.
27:11So I'm thinking something like that. Not too close to the hellebore, so maybe more like that.
27:46So I'm thinking something like that.
27:51I'll get the rest of these in the ground now. But just a reminder that whatever you're planting at this
27:57time of year,
27:57even if it's something that thrives in dry shade, give it a soak when you plant it.
28:03Water it in well, and that sets it off to cope with whatever summer may bring.
28:09We're going to join Adverley now, who has gone up to Scotland, to Fife, to the Backhouse Rossi Estate,
28:17where she revels in some extremely unusual and rare daffodils.
28:26As a huge fan of daffodils, there's nothing to rival a daffodil festival in full bloom.
28:33And when those flowers carry history in their petals, it's even better.
28:41And this array includes the national collection of Backhouse daffodils,
28:48blooms created by one family over several generations since the 1800s.
28:57To me, the oldest blooms often carry the best secrets and stories.
29:03But one particular daffodil is here thanks to the brilliance and passion of several determined women.
29:13The Backhouse family were originally bankers and Quakers.
29:18But alongside their work life, several of the Backhouse men started breeding daffodils.
29:26Very successfully.
29:30Initially, the only daffodils in Britain were the wild ones, which were seen as rather common.
29:37But as new varieties were produced in different colours and different shapes, they became very fashionable.
29:47Then in 1884, Robert Ormston Backhouse, a banker and daffodil enthusiast,
29:54married Sarah Elizabeth Dodgson, having been introduced to her at a Quaker meeting house.
30:03Sarah was the daughter of a pharmacist who grew up seeing her father using plants to prepare and dispense medicine.
30:13And on the back of this knowledge, a whole new era of Backhouse daffodils began.
30:23Sarah had the perfect springboard.
30:26Her father-in-law had already cultivated a breathtaking collection, which she inherited.
30:33She developed it into something entirely her own, creating a new range of daffodils in all shapes and sizes.
30:47This is Lord Kitchener, with its ruffled trumpets and contrasting white petals with a twist.
30:56Sarah named her daffodils with retail in mind.
31:01At the time, Lord Kitchener was a well-known military man,
31:04so by naming it after him, it immediately gave the flower selling power.
31:12Her tactics worked, and as she created more incredible daffodils, she caught the eye of other growers.
31:24This is sunrise, with these gorgeous gold rays spreading from the centre.
31:30It was really popular, and in her papers, there's an order for a thousand bulbs at two shillings each.
31:40Some of her later daffodils sold for much more.
31:45Sarah set her heart on creating daffodils with different coloured trumpets or cups.
31:52Mohican was an early success, sporting a red edge, but a full red trumpet soon followed.
32:01This here is a classic Sarah Backhouse red cup daffodil, set off by these beautiful ivory petals.
32:12She named it after another daffodils grower called Dick Wellband, and it's truly striking.
32:24Obviously, none of this happened overnight.
32:28Daffodils can take five years from seedling to flower,
32:33and some of her varieties needed three crosses or more.
32:37But Sarah had the patience and passion.
32:47This is a list of just some of the daffodils that Sarah created.
32:52There are pages and pages of them, and these are just the A's, the B's and C's.
32:58So you've got Abundance, you've got Alba, you've got Albion Star,
33:04because all in all, she created over 500 varieties.
33:10She won countless RHS awards of merit,
33:14and was the first woman to receive the coveted Peter Barr Cup.
33:20But one of her biggest achievements was the first ever pink cupped daffodil.
33:29Pink cups don't occur naturally in nature,
33:33and it's likely it took Sarah over 20 years to create one.
33:39But when Sarah's descendant, Caroline Thompson,
33:42started tracking down the backhouse varieties,
33:45she couldn't find the pink cups growing anywhere.
33:49However, she did have inside knowledge.
33:54How did you find it, Caroline?
33:56Well, it was my mother.
33:58She remembered as a small child Robert Backhouse,
34:03her older cousin,
34:05coming to her grandparents' house
34:09with a gift of the pink daffodils.
34:12When we heard the story,
34:15decided to go down to Herefordshire
34:19and have a look at what is now a nursing home's grounds
34:23and see if they were still there.
34:26Amazingly, they were in the exact spot
34:30her mother remembered them being planted.
34:35These are so beautiful.
34:38They're not like a Barbie pink, are they?
34:42They're more like a salmon.
34:44These I find beautiful
34:47because during the longest part of their flowering
34:52they are this salmon-y coral pink
34:56from the tip of the rim right down to the base.
35:01To begin with, they come out a sort of yellowy colour
35:04and when they're older they fade to a whitey colour.
35:07But for that longest full flowering period
35:10they are pink
35:11and they are the first true pink daffodil.
35:15The public loved them
35:17and they were the most widely grown
35:21and most popular daffodil for about 90 years.
35:23Are they later flowering?
35:25Yes.
35:26Absolutely, they are.
35:28Sarah Backhouse created Narcissus
35:31that would flower early
35:33through to ones which would flower
35:35right the way through to mid-May
35:37these will be flowering in our garden
35:39and they are fabulous at that time of year.
35:42they come up and look like glorious fireworks.
35:50These days there is some irritation
35:53that Sarah's most famous flower
35:56is called Mrs R. O. Backhouse
35:59which is mostly Robert's name
36:01but that was normal for the time
36:04and her husband fully acknowledged
36:07his wife's prowess.
36:12In a letter after her death
36:16Robert made it clear
36:17exactly where the genius lay.
36:22He wrote,
36:23I hope to continue to care for her beautiful flowers
36:27but I fear the supply of new varieties will cease.
36:31I just know that she would be delighted
36:35to know that several generations later
36:38a female relation would be keeping her legacy alive.
37:02I love the fact
37:03that Mrs R. O. Backhouse
37:07was discovered just down the road from here
37:09in Herefordshire
37:10and I'm sure there's probably more
37:12lurking around the country somewhere
37:14and the RHS would love to know
37:16if you have her in your garden
37:18so there's Mrs R. O. Backhouse
37:20and a couple of others
37:21there's Mrs William Copeland
37:23and also one called Sussex Bonfire
37:25those three are very rare
37:28but they probably are out there
37:29and could be in your back garden
37:32so if you think you've got them
37:33or one of them
37:34go to our website
37:36and it will tell you
37:36how you can let the RHS know
37:39and then what to do about it.
37:42Come on, Ned.
37:48Now, should I throw the ball?
37:50Go on, off you go.
37:54At this time of year, of course
37:55we all want colour
37:56whether it be rare, exotic, unusual colour
37:59or even just the brightness
38:01the freshness of green
38:03on a lovely sunny spring day
38:05but actually
38:06if you've got a shady garden
38:08or a shady corner
38:09you can still make something
38:12that is really beautiful
38:14and use colour to do it.
38:30I've got here the ingredients
38:32for what I think
38:33will be a really good display
38:36nice big pot
38:38crock to put in the bottom
38:40and then your compost mix
38:42is worth taking trouble over
38:44you can just use
38:46peat-free compost you buy
38:47and that will work
38:48sort of 80-85%
38:50as well as a mix
38:51but the plants I've chosen
38:53which are ferns and fuchsias
38:54like an open loose mix
38:57so I've added leaf mould
38:59if you haven't got leaf mould
39:01you know, just think of
39:02something maybe a bit of coir
39:04I've added a little bit of sieve compost
39:06and that has made
39:07a mix that is nice and loose
39:09and the roots will get down in there
39:11and be cool
39:11so, half fill the pot
39:19now we'll start with the firm
39:21it's Arthurium Nipponicum
39:24Red Beauty
39:24and this Arthurium
39:28is special because
39:29the leaves have colour
39:30they are suffused
39:32with a sort of grey
39:33silvery stain
39:35and this beautiful
39:36burgundy
39:37sort of central stem
39:39going down the frond
39:40and going out
39:42into the side fronds
39:43it does not like being dry
39:44so wherever you put this pot
39:46you've got to have access to water
39:48and remember to water it
39:49at least weekly
39:50I'm going to plant my centrepiece
39:52towards the back
39:54if you're going to go see round the pot
39:56obviously it needs to go in the middle
39:57and the old saying
39:59that you have a pillar
40:00a filler
40:00and a spiller
40:02works pretty well
40:03but this has to class as the pillar
40:05and so we'll take it out the pot
40:08and position it like that
40:12now a little bit more around it
40:17but that leaves plenty of space
40:19for the next addition
40:22now my filler
40:23is a fuchsia called Annabelle
40:25Annabelle, very well known fuchsia
40:28they've got lovely very pale flowers
40:31it's a bushy plant
40:32and fairly upright
40:33in fact you quite often see Annabelle
40:34grown as a standard
40:35so it's got one central stem
40:37and then a circular top
40:38the one thing to remember about fuchsias
40:41is they do need good drainage
40:42they don't like to be too wet
40:44so if I'm watering the fern a lot
40:46I must make sure there's drainage
40:47so they're not sitting in soggy compost
40:50so that goes in the middle ground
40:55like that
40:58and like this
41:00I've got three
41:03and then a little bit more compost in the front
41:08and now I've got my foreground for the spiller
41:11and this is another fuchsia called Harry Grey
41:14this is the palest of pinks
41:17that will spill in profusion
41:19over the edge of the pot
41:22these plants are very dry
41:24so I'm going to have to give them a good soak
41:26okay
41:26I'm just filling around them
41:30the final thing to do
41:31is put it in position
41:31and water it
41:43now that can go down
41:45in front of this pot
41:46which of course
41:47is also geared for shade
41:48and actually even in midsummer
41:51this only gets about four hours of sun
41:53but this will survive
41:54and thrive
41:55I'm confident about that
41:56now the next thing to do
41:58is to water
41:59and that really is important
42:08it will take a month or so
42:11before the fuchsias start to flower
42:13the great thing is
42:14that these will look at their best
42:17when other things are failing
42:18so they should look good in the summer
42:20and really at their best
42:22in September and October
42:26Colin
42:27come on
42:30good boy
42:44well the rhs chelsea flower show
42:46is getting closer
42:47and I know
42:48that everybody involved
42:50whatever they're doing
42:51they will be working around the clock
42:53to make sure
42:54that on the big day
42:56things are as perfect
42:57as they possibly can be
42:59and we went to visit
43:00a nursery
43:01growing enormous trees
43:04that look as though
43:05they're completely natural
43:06in the show garden
43:07and Elliot Barden
43:08the majestic trees
43:09showed us around
43:13I've always been into horticulture
43:14it's been my dream job
43:16from day one
43:17but I really refined
43:18my interest for trees
43:20while I was studying at Kew
43:21and linking that
43:23with my love of production
43:24of plants
43:25meant that I could only really
43:26work at a tree nursery
43:28the trees are important
43:29for the landscape
43:30because of all
43:31the ecosystem services
43:32that they provide
43:33things like wind dissipation
43:35flood mitigation
43:36carbon sequestration
43:37habitat creation
43:38all of those sorts of things
43:40but at the same time
43:41they're important
43:42for the human element as well
43:44because of things like
43:45social health
43:46and mental well-being
43:47a lot of studies
43:48have been brought in
43:49that horticulture
43:50can be healing
43:51and it can be good
43:52for the mind
43:56tree selection
43:57is really important
43:58my three guidelines
43:59would be
44:00select the right species
44:01in the right place
44:02and for the right reason
44:04there's many aspects
44:05that you need to consider
44:06such as ultimate size
44:08and space
44:09but more importantly
44:10how the tree
44:11is going to adapt
44:12to climate shifts
44:14so there's a lot of research
44:15been done
44:16and there's some studies
44:17that are suggesting
44:18London's going to have
44:19the climate of Barcelona
44:20by 2050
44:21possibly Azerbaijan
44:23by 2100
44:24and a lot of our
44:25British native trees
44:26are simply not going
44:28to be resilient
44:29to those climates
44:30in that era
44:31so that's when we need
44:32to start looking at
44:33perhaps some exotics
44:34that are going to fill
44:35the space
44:36where the natives are leaving
44:37but also provide
44:38the same ecosystem
44:39and biodiversity benefits
44:42non-natives are referred
44:44to as exotics
44:44and there's somewhere
44:45between 3600
44:47and 4000
44:48varieties in cultivation
44:50compared to our
44:51native tree species range
44:54which is somewhere
44:54between 30 and 35 species
44:56so to have that diversity
44:58in the treescape
45:00will enable them
45:01to be resilient
45:06I joined the Royal Botanic Gardens
45:07Q in 2013
45:08fresh out of school
45:09and it was a steep learning curve
45:12Q is somewhere
45:13that you always have
45:14some connection
45:15and today
45:16we're working together
45:17looking at scientific research
45:19and how that can be put
45:20to best use
45:22in the commercial trade
45:23it traps that moisture
45:25on the fine hair
45:26which cools the leaf down
45:28my name's Kevin Martin
45:29I'm head of the tree collections
45:31at Royal Botanic Gardens Q
45:32so I'm really trying
45:34to understand
45:34what the landscape
45:35is going to look like
45:36in a hundred years time
45:37so with the research
45:38that I do specialising
45:40in urban trees
45:41it's critically important
45:42that we get the commercial
45:43nurseries on board
45:44because I can do research
45:45and I can find some
45:46of the most fantastic trees
45:48that are going to be
45:48more resilient
45:49to our future climate
45:51Q when we think about
45:54selecting trees
45:55we have to really stop
45:57and think deeply now
45:58we can't just select
46:00trees on horticultural merit
46:01what the tree looks like
46:02so its bark
46:03the colour of its leaves
46:04what we need to start
46:06thinking deeply about
46:07is the function
46:08we're looking at cooling
46:09we're looking at shade
46:11we're looking at rain
46:12interception
46:13they're the questions
46:14we need to ask ourselves
46:15now not just what
46:16that tree looks like
46:18Chelsea's going to be
46:19so important
46:20because when we think
46:22about trees
46:22and when we think
46:23about selecting trees
46:24we need a cultural change
46:26and that's the biggest thing
46:27and where else
46:28are you going to be
46:29able to start that
46:30conversation about
46:31cultural change
46:32than at Chelsea
46:35so Kevin
46:36these are the possible
46:36selected trees
46:38for our Chelsea stand here
46:40start with this
46:41Circus canadensis
46:43forest pansy
46:43with a beautiful purple leaf
46:45it's got some flowers on
46:46great
46:47they're a really standout tree
46:48very well suited
46:50especially for those
46:51urban dry environments
46:53and that's what we needed
46:54to try to explain
46:56just because they're
46:57resilient trees
46:58doesn't necessarily mean
46:59they're boring
47:03so next we have
47:04Taxodium disicum
47:06which is famous
47:06for thriving
47:08in swampy wet conditions
47:09if we're having an area
47:10that's prone to flooding
47:12for instance
47:12these are the trees
47:14we need to start looking at
47:15and they're just really good
47:17ornamental trees
47:18but they have a purpose now
47:23one of the last trees
47:24to talk about
47:25is Sorbus
47:25olympic flame
47:27which has lots of benefits
47:30in terms of climate resilience
47:31and benefits towards other species
47:33it's got that spring flower
47:35it's really important
47:36for our pollinators
47:37and then we've got that food source
47:38for the birds
47:39when the berries come out
47:40and again
47:41look at that
47:41for a stunning architectural tree
47:43but yet it's still
47:44providing other services
47:45and that's what makes trees
47:46like this so stunning
47:47to have in our gardens
47:51the trees we plant today
47:54they're going to see
47:55a different world
47:56in a hundred years time
47:57the climate's going to be
47:59very different
47:59the growing conditions
48:00are going to be very different
48:01so that's really the scale
48:02that we're working in
48:03and it's critically important
48:05we get that message out there now
48:06because by planting trees
48:08we can then help
48:09with climate mitigation
48:11and trees are going to be
48:13one of the main backbones
48:15of this mitigation
48:15as we go forward
48:16for the next few decades
48:18so Kevin
48:19it's been really hard
48:20overall selecting trees
48:21for Chelsea
48:22which not only look special
48:24and you know
48:25pleasing for people to see
48:26but also have some of these traits
48:29we've been talking about
48:30so overall
48:31I hope we've done a good job
48:33but the proof will be in the pudding
48:35when it comes to judging
48:36it will do
48:37yeah it will be all down
48:38to the judges
49:07I think this idea
49:08This idea of having to choose trees in response to climate change
49:13is something we're all having to wrap our heads around.
49:15And it's actually quite a big ask because we've grown up with trees
49:19as such a significant part of our culture in literature, in art, in poetry.
49:25The shapes and outlines and features of our native trees
49:29are such an important part of our lives.
49:32But to change that, well, it may be interesting,
49:36but it's going to be quite demanding.
49:38At the same time, we don't have to abandon a lot of the trees that we love.
49:43And this year has been a brilliant year for blossom.
49:46And the crabapples. This is a crabapple called Everest.
49:49And it's such a joy to have that blossomy week
49:53with these white flowers floating above the paradise garden.
49:57And then they fall like confetti and the year moves on.
50:01But for that one week, it is paradise indeed.
50:21Okay. Go on.
50:25now you're going to help me cut the thyme are you are you i think it's probably not a good
50:31idea
50:32okay what would you like to look it smells delicious stop showing off right um this is
50:40thyme common thyme and like all mediterranean herbs it doesn't really want to grow here at
50:46long meadow which is why i've got it growing in a pot but thyme and all mediterranean herbs have
50:52this tendency to become very woody and so the answer if you're growing it for the kitchen is to
50:57trim it hard now till you get a new flush of leaves so that's what i'm going to do here
51:02certainly start off by cutting off all the really old bear growth like that
51:11and go go hard
51:15when you're cutting back any plant really but certainly these mediterranean herbs
51:20as long as you cut back to something in other words there's fresh new growth below
51:25your cutting point it'll regrow whereas if you cut just into old wood and just leave a bare stem
51:32the chances are it won't really grow and that applies to lavender to rosemary to sage and thyme
51:39equally it will look a little bit sort of cropped
51:45for a week or two but it will grow back
51:57these plants probably will only serve this year
52:00and then they'll be irretrievable and we'll have to start again
52:04and i think probably with time you have to think of replacing it at least every three years if not
52:09every other year so i've trimmed this back but i'm also going to sow some seed
52:15so that i know next year and the year after i can replace these plants
52:21and lots of others beside it
52:33when you're sowing the seed just as growing the plant just remember where it comes from
52:37it needs poor soil and lots of drainage so don't add any garden compost to your seed mix there's no
52:45need to do that but do add some extra drainage if you possibly can it could be sand it could
52:50be grit
52:51vermiculite anything just to loosen it up so i've added vermiculite to a coir-based compost
53:00just level it out
53:05now thyme seed is pretty small
53:09so if you see the seed here
53:13there we go
53:14now each one of those of course is a potential plant
53:17and the fact that they're brown and the compost is brown means you can't see where you've sown but just
53:22try
53:23and sprinkle it as evenly as you can
53:28the main thing to do is to avoid grouping in any one area because
53:32the seedlings and the ultimate plant will do much better if they have a decent amount of room from the
53:39outset
53:40now i'm not compacting this all i'm doing is just making sure that the seeds have good contact
53:46with the compost
53:48with most seeds i would then cover that with either some more compost or some vermiculite
53:54but thyme seedlings need light in which to germinate so leave them leave them open like that
54:02label them
54:04this is just straightforward time
54:07now if i watered that from above
54:11however gently i did it there is a slight risk
54:13that it will move the little tiny seeds
54:16to the edge of the container
54:18so much better to water it from below
54:26so just have a shallow tray
54:28pop it in
54:30and leave it
54:31until you can see the compost staining
54:34with the water
54:35drain it
54:36put it somewhere bright
54:39okay
54:39that's a job which will bear harvest
54:42sometime in the future
54:43but here are some jobs
54:44for this weekend
54:58when your tulips have finished flowering
55:01snap off the seed heads
55:03this is a very satisfying thing to do
55:05because they come off easily
55:06don't cut back the stem
55:07and lead the leaves
55:09but this means that all the goodness
55:12instead of going into making seeds
55:13will go back into the bulb for next year's flower
55:22if you grow tree ferns
55:24and have protected them over winter
55:25now it's safe to unwrap them
55:27release the fronds
55:29if they're looking raggedy
55:30you can cut these right back
55:31because they'll soon be replaced
55:33but on the other hand if they're still looking good
55:34leave them for a while
55:36in either case
55:37it's really important to give them a good soak
55:40and tree ferns have many of their roots
55:42on the trunk
55:43and this is what you need to keep moist
55:46so soak the fronds and the trunk
55:49rather than the roots in the ground
55:58it's time to sow sweet corn
56:01either use a three inch pot
56:03sowing two seeds to a pot
56:04and then removing the weakest of the two seedlings
56:07or one to a plug
56:09but do make sure it is the deepest plug that you can find
56:13press them gently into the compost
56:15cover them over
56:16and then water them well
56:17and do so from above
56:18because with that depth of compost
56:21they don't soak up so well
56:23put them somewhere warm to germinate
56:26the heat is important
56:27but if they're warm enough
56:28the seedlings should appear in a week or so
56:58I want to finish if not on a high note
57:01a low one
57:02which I hope actually makes everybody feel a bit better
57:05because I'm going to finish with a disaster
57:08the garden's looking lovely
57:09we work really hard
57:11to make it look as good as possible
57:13but still things go wrong
57:16and it happens to all of us
57:17and here we have
57:19in the cottage garden
57:20a rose
57:21or at least it was a rose
57:23called Ypsilanti
57:25a Gallica rose
57:26beautiful flowers
57:27and like most Gallicas
57:29seemingly
57:31just able to cope with anything
57:33but this has got hit by fire blight
57:36and fire blight
57:36is a bacterial infection
57:38which looks as though it's been blowtorched
57:40hence the name
57:41fire blight
57:42all the rose family are prone to it
57:44and we've got it in the garden
57:46and it's never going to go away
57:47but because of our very wet warm winters
57:49that makes it worse
57:51there's not much you can do about it
57:53what I will do with this
57:55is cut it back
57:56burn the offending stems
57:58dig out the roots
57:59and burn those too
58:00if you can't burn them
58:01then pack them up
58:03and get them taken away
58:04to the council tip
58:05and I won't replant into it
58:07till the autumn
58:08when everything is clear
58:10I will then clean out the soil a little bit
58:12and put another rose in
58:13that is less prone to fire blight
58:15but for the moment
58:17it's just a pity
58:19nevertheless
58:21everything else in the garden
58:22is looking wonderful
58:25next week
58:26we're going to join Joe and Rachel
58:28at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival
58:32and I will see you back here at Longmeadow
58:34in a couple of weeks time
58:36so until then
58:36bye bye
58:45you
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