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Gardeners' World - Season 1 Episode 7
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00:00.
00:00.
00:00.
00:13Come on.
00:14.
00:17Come on.
00:18.
00:22.
00:24.
00:38Hello.
00:39Welcome to Gardener's World.
00:42This is a
00:43white climbing
00:45rose, which is
00:48suitable here for the writing garden because everything
00:50in here is either white or green.
00:52I'm pretty sure
00:54it's climbing iceberg.
00:55I'm not certain because I've lost the label
00:56and it was a few years ago I planted it, but for the
00:59moment, whatever its name is,
01:01it needs tying up.
01:03Now, of course, climbing iceberg
01:05is a banker.
01:07It's guaranteed to flower
01:09for months on end.
01:10This can be flowering at Christmas sometimes
01:12and it's worth pointing out that when you're
01:15tying any vegetative growth up
01:17at this time of year, particularly this time of year,
01:18use soft twine.
01:21Never use anything with wire in it
01:23or even a hard-edged plastic because
01:24the new growth is soft,
01:26it will move slightly, and if you
01:28have anything other than very soft twine
01:30it can cut into it and damage it.
01:33Right, I'm going to try and gather all that
01:34in there and pull it back
01:37because otherwise it can
01:38flop a lot.
01:40And whilst a bit of floppage is good,
01:43too much is not.
01:45I'm not.
01:46I'm not.
01:47I'm not.
01:49I'm not.
01:53I'm not.
01:54I'm not.
02:17I'm not.
02:20I'm not.
02:21I'm going to stay here because I've got to plant stuff.
02:23All right.
02:24Unless you want to lie down here.
02:25Go on, get up.
02:27Good boy.
02:28Okay.
02:29We're not planting nets.
02:31We're planting summer bulbs.
02:33We do tend to think of bulbs belonging to spring,
02:38and of course they do, in huge variety and glory,
02:41from the first snowdrop to the last carmacea,
02:44which here at Longmeather can take us into June.
02:47But there are another group of bulbs, or bulb-related plants,
02:52that perform beautifully from mid to late summer into autumn.
02:56And of course they're familiar, there are gladioli, dahlias,
02:59crocosmia, lilies, and now is the time to plant them,
03:04if you haven't done so already.
03:07Some do really well in pots, and none better than lilies,
03:10so I want to plant some lilies today in pots.
03:12And the compost is really important,
03:15because lilies need good drainage,
03:17but they also need another element,
03:19because they are essentially woodland plants,
03:22and what they like is a sort of loose soil.
03:25It's not just sharp drainage like tulips,
03:27but a loose, almost fluffy soil,
03:29and the best way to create that is by using leaf mould if you've got it.
03:33This is a very gritty potting mix,
03:37and that's part peat-free, bought-in potting compost,
03:42partly sieve garden compost,
03:44and you can see the grit in it.
03:46There's quite a lot of it.
03:47Now that would do, that would be fine,
03:49but if you've got leaf mould, then add that.
03:52And I'm going to add all that to it,
03:55like that.
03:56Mix it up.
04:01Like that.
04:02In the bottom of the pot, you will need crocs.
04:05So we just block that up.
04:12And a half fillet.
04:17Okay, that's good.
04:20Now, the bowls themselves.
04:22This is a variety called Claude Fried,
04:25which I've got in the Paradise Garden.
04:27And it's tall, it's sort of turks cap variety,
04:31with wonderful sort of raspberry, burgundy colours.
04:34You know, these are different from most bulbs
04:39because the scales have no outer layer.
04:43So that they're scaly like an armadillo.
04:47So I'll pop that in.
04:49I'm going to put four in this pot, which is plenty.
04:52Three would be fine, but I think I can get away with four.
04:57There 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.
05:17There we go.
05:20There is room to water,
05:22and this will settle a little bit.
05:23Now, I will put this out of the way somewhere outside.
05:26It doesn't need to be protected at all.
05:28And then put it in position in June,
05:30and we can really enjoy it once we hit mid and late summer.
05:36Now, 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 Chatter's garden near Colchester.
05:51If you haven't been, I recommend anyone to go.
05:53It's one of our great gardens.
05:55But actually, he went for a very specific purpose,
05:58which is to celebrate a plant
06:00which, by and large, he feels is underappreciated.
06:12What else gives you colour like this?
06:16That incredible acid green.
06:20It simply glows.
06:23There are over 1,500 species of Euphorpium,
06:37making them one of the largest
06:38and most varied flowering plants in the world,
06:41ranging from small ground-covering perennials
06:44to large drought-tolerant shrubs
06:47and even succulents
06:49that could easily be mistaken for cacti.
06:55This is Euphorbia wolfenniae.
06:58It's one of the most architectural euphorbias
07:01and on a day like today, where it's backlit,
07:04it is literally a beacon.
07:06It is glowing.
07:08It's a really drought-tolerant plant.
07:11It needs next to no watering,
07:13even in the driest of summers.
07:15So it adores this gravel garden setting
07:18and a little bit of plant geekery.
07:21What looks like these columns and towers
07:24of architectural flowers
07:25are actually bracts.
07:27They're not flowers at all.
07:28The flowers are hidden inside the bracts
07:32and they're teeny tiny.
07:34But the plant itself is phenomenal
07:37and one of my absolute favourites.
07:39A must-have for any drought-tolerant garden.
08:03This is a beast for Euphorbia.
08:06This is Euphorbia cross-pasteurii.
08:10That means it's taking the very best bits
08:13of two different euphorbias.
08:14Euphorbia mellifera and Euphorbia stygiana.
08:17And in the next few weeks,
08:19these flowers will start to emerge en masse.
08:21Now, they're beautiful to look at,
08:23but quite unusually for a euphorbia,
08:25they have an additional quality.
08:27They smell incredible.
08:29They smell of honey,
08:31which also gives it its common name
08:33of honey spudge.
08:35I love to use this one to create drama,
08:38especially towards the back of a border
08:41and it'll hold the rest of the planting in place.
08:54Just spotted in this shady little nook
08:59something that's not quite out yet.
09:01It's Euphorbia griffii fire glow
09:04and it will do exactly what you think it will do
09:07with a name like fire glow.
09:09It's going to illuminate this dark corner
09:12with the most vibrant, orangey-red flowers.
09:17It thrives in moist, well-drained soil
09:19where fertile conditions bring out those rich tones.
09:23I think even just the new foliage of the epimediums
09:27against the stems of the euphorbia
09:30is a beautiful thing.
09:32And I so wish I could come back
09:35in about a week's time
09:37and see this just erupt into this fiery glow
09:41because you just know it's going to be really special.
09:47From full sun to shade, dry soil to damp,
09:50they're far more adaptable than you might think.
09:54And they're surprisingly easy to propagate,
09:57which means you can multiply their impact
09:59across your garden.
10:01Emily Ellard is the resident propagation expert here.
10:05So one of the plants I'm obsessed with
10:08in the gardens today,
10:10especially is the Euphorbia wolfenniae.
10:12It's just glowing.
10:14When's the best time to collect the seeds?
10:17So it's probably going to be about May, June time
10:19because at the moment you've got the lush mop heads
10:21and soon they will start to create the seed.
10:25And then just before it's starting to dry out a bit,
10:27we collect those mop heads.
10:29Can you hang them upside down or anything else?
10:30No, put them in a box,
10:32a little bit of newspaper on top
10:33because they will pig everywhere like popcorn.
10:35Oh my goodness.
10:36And then all your seed will be at the bottom of the box.
10:38You can collect that all up
10:39and you can store some or you can sow some fresh.
10:43It always amazes me that in each one of these seeds
10:46is the genetic information to grow that plant.
10:50It's magic.
10:51It's real life magic.
10:53So we've got the six mil gravel
10:55and then we're just going to sprinkle that on top.
10:57This is like the big duvet that sits on top of the seed.
11:00So it's like going in a coal frame basically.
11:03How long would you normally expect them to take to start to germinate?
11:07Yeah, so I actually got some that were sowing January time.
11:11I hope it's okay.
11:12I'm just going to grab one
11:13because I think these are amazing.
11:15From those teeny tiny little seeds,
11:17we're going to get one of those beautiful euphorbia wolfennia.
11:31Whether they're lighting up gravel gardens
11:34or thriving in dappled woodland,
11:36these are plants which are great for wildlife.
11:40Rob Byford is responsible
11:42for the biological control in the gardens,
11:45working closely with nature to keep things in balance.
11:50It's such a broad genus.
11:52There's so many species to it.
11:54They allow us to extend this flowering period
11:57from February almost to the first frost.
11:59So the chance for the insects to get food
12:02and we need that now more than ever.
12:05A powerhouse of the garden really.
12:07They really are.
12:08A lot of it comes down to this here,
12:11which is their flower structure.
12:12So it's a special inflorescence,
12:15a ceapheum.
12:16And we can see in here the nectar glands.
12:20Now they secrete the nectar
12:21and we've got the anthers here, the pollen.
12:24So for nectar feeders and for pollen feeders,
12:27euphorbia has it all.
12:29For some of us, we do get aphids in our garden.
12:31But these will attract lacewings and parasitic wasps,
12:35which are great defenders,
12:36almost like our own little air force,
12:37against those less beneficial insects.
12:40It's self-regulating and just by adding it to your garden,
12:44you're adding in defence to your garden as well
12:46against these less favourable critters.
12:50It's such a beautiful plant,
12:52so uplifting and smile-inducing,
12:55but it's also giving benefit to our insects.
12:56It is.
12:57They are like little beacons really flashing amongst it all.
13:00To humans and insects alike.
13:01To humans and insects alike, absolutely.
13:14The more you look, the more you realise
13:16what the truly special plant euphorbias are.
13:20They're tough, they're resilient,
13:22they're beautiful,
13:24and they're full of life.
13:26So I think it's about time we stop treating them
13:29as background plants
13:31and hiding them in amongst our borders
13:33and instead celebrate them
13:35and put them centre stage.
13:56This is the Euphorbia caracchia swulfenii.
14:00It loves the dry garden.
14:03It loves the poor soil and the good drainage
14:05and will seed itself in cracks in paving
14:08and up against the corner of a wall and paving.
14:12But it really won't do anything else
14:14in the rest of the garden,
14:15which is not suitable for it at all.
14:17I've tried growing it in a dual garden
14:18and it just flops and is very sad and doesn't last.
14:22However, here in the dry garden,
14:24not only does it look good in itself,
14:25but it's a really good foil for the tulips
14:28and the sweet rocket.
14:29And also, you know, as a plant,
14:31it's one of the most statuesque architectural plants
14:34you could have.
14:47But I've got here some Euphorbia's little five-inch shade.
15:03This is the woodland garden,
15:05which is the latest change.
15:08And it's a work in progress.
15:10For the moment, this year,
15:12I'm concentrating on the area
15:14that we cleared last autumn
15:15and have started to plant this spring.
15:17And it's coming through.
15:19Things are coming along.
15:20And the Euphorbias I've got here,
15:23which goes by the tongue-twisting name
15:27of Euphorbia amygdaloides verrobii,
15:31is perfectly suited to this kind of woodland environment
15:34because it thrives,
15:36it positively thrives in dry shade.
15:39And there are very few plants that do that.
15:40Now, the shade comes particularly from these cherries.
15:44This is a wild cherry, a gin.
15:46Lovely blossom at the moment.
15:48But the roots suck up all the moisture
15:51and the leaves cut out most of the light.
15:54So this whole area here is going to be dry shade.
16:00You can see that it has these wonderful bracts,
16:06which are like a collar,
16:07almost like a satellite dish,
16:09reflecting light with tiny flowers inside.
16:13And in shade, deep shade, they'll grow taller
16:16so that they're more visible.
16:18They'll rise up above the foliage
16:19and give a really good display for weeks on end.
16:22And then even when they die back,
16:24the foliage will spread.
16:25It spreads quite easily,
16:27makes a really good ground cover plant,
16:29as well as having this glorious display
16:32in spring and early summer.
16:34Now, I'm going to start placing these
16:38and putting them in groups.
16:39They're not plants to place singly.
16:42Like here, go down there,
16:45and then over here.
16:46I put these in a group of three
16:48because I want them actually to grow together
16:50and spread and form ground cover.
17:04That should do.
17:07Now, it's worth saying at this point,
17:09when you're handling euphorbias of any kind,
17:12do be careful,
17:13because if they break or crush in any way,
17:16they exude a very milky, thick sap,
17:20and that can easily cause burns.
17:23I hate gardening in gloves
17:25and never do it unless it's very thorny.
17:27But if you are happy to wear gloves,
17:29then I definitely would wear them for euphorbias.
17:32And if, like me, you don't wear gloves
17:33and you get a little bit on your hands,
17:36stop and go and wash it off.
17:54Now, Rosemary Alexander started the English Garden School,
18:01and a whole generation of garden designers
18:03learnt their craft there.
18:06And we had the opportunity
18:07to visit Rosemary's private garden at home.
18:18One of the first things I do
18:20when I'm redesigning a garden,
18:22I try to make a garden
18:23that the owners will actually enjoy
18:25and, you know, you can naturally maintain it.
18:29It's got to be something that works for you,
18:31whether it's a large or small garden.
18:34And when I came to this garden,
18:35I wanted somewhere where I could
18:37grow all the plants I loved.
18:40This is my garden at Sand Hill Farmhouse
18:42in West Sussex,
18:44where I've been for the last 20 years or more.
18:51The whole garden is about half an acre
18:53on the front and half an acre at the back.
19:00So this is the main path in the whole garden,
19:03and it leads from the entrance
19:04right down to the far end.
19:06And from here, you can see the house to the left
19:09and the terrace,
19:11and then the woodland garden down to the right.
19:13I put the box balls
19:15to give this path structure and form
19:17so the repetition works well.
19:20The box balls pull you through
19:22and you can walk past those
19:23until you get to the blue seat at the end.
19:29Instead of having the seat facing
19:31directly down to the entrance gate,
19:34I decided to put it at an angle
19:36so that I can sit and enjoy
19:37all the woodland plants
19:38in the lower level woodland garden.
19:46I trained as a landscape architect
19:48and then I began to notice all sorts of things.
19:50I decided I really wanted to become a garden designer.
19:54I started changing gardens
19:56and changed my own garden quite a bit.
19:59I realised that unless you went to Wisley or Kew,
20:02you couldn't really learn about plants.
20:03So I thought I would set up my own school
20:06and teach people about plants.
20:08I set up the school in 1983.
20:11I just wanted to teach how to redesign a space.
20:18We're now in the woodland garden.
20:20My overall aim was to have several different areas
20:23which would have different types of plants.
20:25The contrast between dark green leaves
20:28and light green leaves
20:29and shiny leaves and matte leaves
20:31and also the stems of the plants
20:33because if you look here,
20:35there's quite a lot of stem
20:36and then big groupings of things
20:39to make it look more natural.
20:42I try to use plants to separate the gravel from the soil
20:46because I don't like using timber or metal edges.
20:49And so I use this Ophiopogen here
20:52and then in other areas I use London Pride,
20:55Saxifragia ombrosa.
20:57When people walk into the garden,
20:59I want them to feel,
21:00oh my goodness,
21:01this is going to be a wonderful garden.
21:11I think focal points and vistas are very important.
21:14Always thinking about the long-term view.
21:19After I built the summer house,
21:21I thought I wanted it to look out at something.
21:23So first of all,
21:25it looked straight out at the Crotagus laciniata
21:28at the very far end there,
21:30which is a lovely deciduous tree.
21:32And then four of the box balls were already here,
21:35so I decided I would continue them
21:38leading down to look at the view.
21:40I like focal points in the garden
21:42because it gives you a reason for sitting in a particular place
21:45and so all gardens should have focal points.
21:48Often I look at the background colour.
21:51You know, for instance,
21:52in the garden here you've got a brick wall,
21:55so I'm looking at the brick wall
21:56and thinking what colours would go well in front of that.
21:59The yew hedge was here, so we clipped it,
22:02and it seemed a perfect backdrop for the blue chair
22:05because blue is actually a very good colour of paint
22:08because there's quite a lot of green in blue.
22:15You know, my granddaughter's been coming here for years
22:18and she spends a lot of time down here with me.
22:21We loved what she did
22:22and we knew that she was so talented
22:24and so amazing at what she'd created with the school.
22:27I always thought,
22:28oh, that would be an amazing industry to be in.
22:33Granny invited me to come and study on the course
22:36and that's when I just fell in love with designing gardens
22:40and it was kind of opening up of a whole new world.
22:46I'm definitely still always learning from Granny.
22:48She's always pointing things out in the garden,
22:50but also I'm at a point now in my career
22:53where I can start to show her the work that I've created
22:56and we can discuss it together
22:57and that's a really nice thing to be able to do.
23:01It's amazing having somebody in my own family
23:04that we've got a lot in common with
23:05and we spend quite a lot of time discussing things
23:08and what plants to use and so on.
23:11No, I'm very lucky with her.
23:18If you're going to design a garden for the first time,
23:21you first of all need to decide what soil type you've got.
23:24That's really necessary,
23:25whether it's acid or alkaline or neutral.
23:27So that will depend on what you grow.
23:30And then another thing is not to be over-ambitious,
23:32not to worry about having one of this and one of that
23:36and one of the next thing,
23:37but to keep repeating certain plants
23:40that will do well in the garden.
23:44I am immensely proud of Granny.
23:47I think that she's informed a generation
23:49of gardeners, horticulturalists.
23:53Often people come to me
23:55and they have no idea where to begin.
23:57What I like is building up their confidence
23:59and seeing them, you know, develop in their own right.
24:02It still is exciting.
24:04What I like is building up their own right.
24:07What I like is building up their own right.
24:10What I like is building up their own right.
24:10What I like is building up their own right.
24:14What I like is building up their own right.
24:20What I like is building up their own right.
24:23What I like is building up their own right.
24:24What I like is building up their own right.
24:24What I like is building up their own right.
24:24What I like is building up their own right.
24:25What I like is building up their own right.
24:26What I like is building up their own right.
24:27What I like is building up their own right.
24:27What I like is building up their own right.
24:28What I like is building up their own right.
24:33What I like is building up their own right.
24:51It's always good to see a new generation coming in and learning from us oldies.
24:56I have to say my grandchildren are beginning to get interested in the garden.
25:00So whether they go on and become gardeners or garden designers, we'll see.
25:05But it'd be nice.
25:07This is very practical. I'm sowing peas.
25:10What I do is I make a very shallow sort of trench.
25:14You can barely call it a trench. It's more a groove in the ground.
25:19These are purple podded peas.
25:21So 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.
25:35Now, 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.
25:52And just rake over them.
25:54Very simple.
25:55And just go along like this.
25:58And then...
26:01Gently, gently, gently, gently.
26:03Like 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.
26:16But they will need support.
26:19Peas are scramblers.
26:21So the support needs to be able to take the tendrils whatever way they go.
26:26It does have to be something that is twiggy.
26:30So keep prunings.
26:32Dogwood will do it.
26:33Anything, really.
26:34Anything that's twiggy and woody.
26:39And just stick them in at a slight angle.
26:43But you want them to be branching right from ground level.
26:48Quite close together, so they overlap.
26:51Like that.
26:56There we go.
27:09What you're looking to achieve is a tangle.
27:12And this is a perfect tangle.
27:16And somehow doing this, just like putting up bean sticks, feels to me like part of the development of a
27:23vegetable plot that is really part of summer.
27:26If I see the pea sticks going in, then we've moved on.
27:30We've moved out of winter forever.
27:32And 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.
27:53It's a fairly long season.
27:55It starts in February, particularly if you couldn't force it.
27:58This is simply early.
27:59And that's a variety called Victoria, which is later.
28:02That's main season, if you like.
28:03Early is February, and then that will run through till June.
28:08Late doesn't really kick in until the beginning of May.
28:11But May and June is fantastic.
28:14And 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.
28:27The 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.
28:35And if I pull it up, like that, you can see that it looks rather anaemic.
28:42But 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.
28:52Never cut it.
28:54You pull rhubarb.
28:56And if you cut it, you can get infection and rot in the stem.
29:01If you pull it, it comes away with a little piece of the base where it's attached to the root,
29:06and that heals very quickly.
29:08You need a little bit of this heal on the bottom of the stem.
29:12But you can see that's got a bit twisted, but it's paler than most rhubarb, and that will be sweeter.
29:16So 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.
29:31You don't eat them.
29:32But it is absolutely delicious.
29:34And I love rhubarb crumble, rhubarb pie.
29:38Just stewed rhubarb with yoghurt for breakfast is a really good way to start the day.
29:42And of course the leaves are brilliant on the compost heap.
29:44Once they're composted, then they'll do no harm whatsoever.
29:48Now, earlier this month we went down to South Wales to join Sue Kent in her garden.
30:01After a very wet winter here in Swansea, springtime in my garden is the time of year that brings me
30:08such joy and hope.
30:19Look at this.
30:20This 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.
30:36Nothing 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 a
30:59shoot.
30:59And I'm so pleased and so excited.
31:03But I should know better.
31:05I've been gardening for many years and I shouldn't give up on plants until June to give them a chance
31:09to see if they'll shoot.
31:10For this one, its lovely little shoot is going to go in a pot and grow.
31:21I'm going to use a peat free compost.
31:25It likes a nice light soil and the way I do this is use a local product which is crushed
31:31cockle shells.
31:33So I'm going to sprinkle them in and they will be very slow release calcium as well as a sort
31:39of soil aerator.
31:41It'll slightly alkaline the soil and walnuts prefer that anyway.
31:45I'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.
32:00So exciting.
32:02Look 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.
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.
32:27So it really is a family tree.
32:29And it's rather lovely to think it'll carry on through the generations.
32:35I'm going to top it off with some pistachio shells.
32:38So I eat a lot of pistachio nuts.
32:40I love the smell.
32:42Oh, God.
32:43They 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.
32:56Needs a bit of a water.
33:03And there we go.
33:13I'm so pleased with this.
33:16It's absolutely stunning.
33:18And it's lighting up the garden when not much else is here.
33:23It's Spiraea bridal wreath.
33:26And you can see here some beautiful small white flowers already open, but lots, lots more to come.
33:32And it's almost got red branches on it.
33:34It looks good in summer and although it's deciduous, the branches look great in winter.
33:40I am a bit of a fan of Spiraea and here I've got them free flowing, but around the garden
33:46I've used them more structurally and have clipped them quite tightly.
33:48But this one is the star of the show at the moment.
33:53It's a great time for me to plant anything tender.
33:56Being coastal, the sea air is warmer, keeping the frosts away.
34:00The key is to know your own climate and use protection like fleece if needed.
34:05This is going to be a case of third time lucky.
34:09I've tried three times to grow this and twice the plant's been got by frost.
34:14And this year I've kept it in the greenhouse and it's survived.
34:18It's Echium piniana and it derives from the Canary Islands.
34:23And 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 really attractive to bees.
34:50And the flowers are going to produce lots of little seedlings and hopefully they're going to populate all the way
34:57along here.
34:58I might have to dig some up and shelter them into the greenhouse for winter to ensure their survival, but
35:03I will leave some.
35:04It's supposed to be a biennial. That means you plant the seed one year, you get the flower the next
35:09year.
35:09But in this case, this is three years old. So for me, it's a triennial.
35:14And the reason I put it here is because it likes a very sunny spot.
35:18And this is the sunniest spot in my garden. It likes free draining soil.
35:22And also it hides the ugly fence and I can see it when I'm lying in my bath from my
35:28bathroom.
35:29And now all I'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.
36:10I've got parsley, mint, lamb'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 got landcress, which is a bit like watercress, but it roots itself in soil, you can see.
36:27And I'll cut a bit and it's got 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 nice to
36:45add.
36:46Twisted garlic is a perennial. That means it will keep coming back year after year and that goes for sorrel
36:52too.
36:53This is a stalwart of the salad. This is French sorrel. And it just keeps giving.
36:59When they're smaller, they're great for salads. When they're bigger, they're great for adding to curries.
37:04And when you see this appearing, you want to get rid of it because you don't want the plant to
37:09get to seed.
37:10So you remove that.
37:13They're also great in green smoothies.
37:16The nasturtias don't usually grow over winter.
37:19It's classed as an annual, so the fact that it has survived in the greenhouse is a stroke of luck.
37:28I'm going to finish the bowl with primrose flowers, which are rather beautiful and delicate.
37:35And you can eat the flowers, but not the leaves. And of course, if you've got any health conditions, it's
37:40best to check.
37:41So I've got vibrant green zesty flavours. I've got lemon flavours. I've got peppery flavours.
37:48And nothing 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.
38:23That intergenerational handing on is something that taps into a longevity that we don't normally think of in our gardens.
38:31We want everything now.
38:32Right. These, as you can see, are lemons. I'm just taking the fruit off for two reasons.
38:39One, because if you leave mature fruit on the tree, that will inhibit the development of flowers and other fruits,
38:49even though they look lovely.
38:50And two, because these are particularly heavy and are weighing down.
38:54So, 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.
39:12So I would leave that till May.
39:14But it's good to get them outside as soon as you can, because citrus don't like being indoors.
39:20Particularly not in a centrally heated house.
39:23So that's fine there. I've got a lovely basket of fruit.
39:25I mean, you have to say, look at that.
39:28You know, there is something magical about having your own lemons or your own oranges from your garden.
39:35But now is a really good time to repot any citrus that you have to give it a fresh start
39:44to grow.
39:45And this one, for example, has been in this pot for quite a long time.
39:48I haven't got a new pot 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.
39:59So the first thing I'm going to do is just take it out of the pot.
40:02There we go.
40:04I'm going to put that onto there.
40:07You need plenty of crocks. The same crocks can go in the bottom.
40:15I'm just going to clean off some of the spent compost on here.
40:20Now this has been in this pot for probably a couple of years.
40:23If you're keeping it in the same pot, you need to do this at least every other year.
40:27If 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 excess compost.
40:55Now, the compost mix.
40:58That is a bucket of sieved garden compost, horticultural grit.
41:06And actually, I've got here a mix of potting compost with a lot of grit, leaf mould and sieved garden
41:17compost in it.
41:17But I'm going to add a bit more garden compost, not a lot, just a little bit in 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.
41:47OK, 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.
42:20And once they come outside and start to show signs of growth, citrus should be watered and fed once a
42:26week.
42:27I feed them on a quite dilute seaweed mix and so that we combine the watering and the feed at
42:32the same time.
42:34Now, it seems amazing to me, but RHS Chelsea Flower Show is just a few weeks away.
42:40It's racing up on us. And we went down to Cornwall to visit Andrew Mills as he prepared his exhibition
42:48for Chelsea,
42:49which, incidentally, is based upon a long and well-founded Cornish tradition.
43:02For the last 20 years, I've been manager of Burankoos Nurseries.
43:05And they're a big nursery with rare and unusual plants.
43:07They sell magnolias, rhododendrons, camellias predominantly.
43:10And so I've done many, many Chelsea's before.
43:11But this will be the first time that actually my plants will be on display at Chelsea for the whole
43:17world to see.
43:19When I started out in horticulture, as did many other farmers locally, grew anemone decaying in St. Piran, the local
43:26strain.
43:28Anemones originate from the Eastern Mediterranean, so they like it warm.
43:32Cornwall 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.
43:45And then there would be a regular deposit to train stations where the boxes of these anemones would be taken
43:52to Covent Garden.
43:53So that was a very important industry for Cornwall many, many years ago.
43:56But that all petered out probably late 80s, early 90s.
44:00And 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.
44:06I've got the Jerusalem type. What's common to the Jerusalem type is there'll be lots of reds.
44:12Well, these are suited for cut flowers because the breeding of them over the years have increased the stem length,
44:18they've increased the flower size, they've also increased disease resistance by the thickness of the leaves.
44:23Hardy outside, not just only grown in a glass house.
44:27Bred from that, a variety called Miron, and that's classified as a flower machine.
44:32What we have with the Miron is a very tall flower and quite a slender stem.
44:40Now we're here in amongst the Mistral varieties of the Italian Ranunculus.
44:44These are my favourites and they will give you a constant supply of anemones over a long period of time.
44:50So what you won't have is a flush and then gone.
44:54And they are very consistent in their quality and they are very consistent in their stem length.
44:59And the colours are quite exceptional.
45:02My overall favourite would be Anemone coronaria Mistral Panda.
45:06And this is just coming into blue.
45:08So look at this, you can see why it's called Panda.
45:13They've gone further with the Mistral variety to create the Mistral Plus,
45:17which means there's even bigger flower heads, even thicker stems, and the plant is a little bit more compact.
45:23They would be perfect to grow in your garden.
45:26The other variety I have is the Levante double.
45:29Slightly shorter stem, 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.
45:42That will establish the plant before it flowers and the flowers will start flowering in October, November and December.
45:49There will be a short pause in December and January when the light levels drop and the weather gets poor,
45:54only 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 and I get to about 50 or 60 bunches.
46:19Any more and I just won't be able to cope with it.
46:23To pick an anemone, you need to pick them when the flower is still tight and not open.
46:28So you could pick this, bunch it up, and in two or three days that will be open
46:32and it will stay open for another two or three days, maybe four or five in a cool kitchen window.
46:37When picking anemones, it's very important to get the stem length as long as possible
46:41and try to cut it off as close as you can to the corn to stop any rot being left
46:47on the remaining stem that you've picked from.
46:49And like every cut flower, cut it off diagonally
46:52so that you have a bigger surface area of the stem bottom to take up as much water as possible.
47:01So when it comes to Chelsea, I'm trying to just slowly keep these going along
47:06until probably two weeks before the show
47:08where then I can sort of accelerate their blooming by just adding some basic tomato feed.
47:15So the weather's going to be dull for the next couple of weeks
47:17and that will really help me slow these down a little bit and not bring them on too fast.
47:22What I intend to display at Chelsea is anemones in this stage of opening.
47:27So hopefully on the flower stand at Chelsea, you'll see just a riot of colour
47:31and as long as I'm pleased with how it looks, the medal is a bonus.
47:35Nervous at all or not?
47:37No, I don't do nerves.
47:40Apart from the day.
47:44They're grown locally, they're done come locally.
47:46They're distributed locally, they're bought locally in a two-mile radius.
47:52And it's quite remarkable to see something which is smaller than a piece of gravel
47:56to produce something which is quite comprehensive and can produce multiple flowers.
48:01Anybody can do it.
48:02It's a garden plant as well as a cut flower.
48:25I thought it was absolutely fascinating that Andrew said the smallest corn produce the biggest flower.
48:33Now that is really counter-intuitive.
48:36And also I'm only just beginning to really learn about the ranunculus family with anemones of all kinds.
48:42We're very used to Japanese anemones and maybe sort of woodland anemones, but of course you realise there are so
48:47many more.
48:48And I'm very much looking forward to seeing how he fares at Chelsea.
48:52See them at their very best.
48:54Talking about their very best, I do think the orchard is looking really good at the moment.
48:59And I don't take much credit for that because what we started to do a few years ago was take
49:04all last year's tulips that were 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 and in the cricket pitch at random.
49:16And some come up, some flower well, 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 Gardener's Delight tomatoes destined to be planted outside in the vegetable garden.
49:58I've got other tomatoes I'll grow in the greenhouse, but these will do perfectly well outside.
50:02But I need to get the timing right.
50:04Here at Longmeadow, it's really not feasible to plant tomatoes out much before June and sometimes not till the middle
50:12of June.
50:12So, I've got at least six weeks and maybe a couple of months to go.
50:17And the pots that they're in are not going to be big enough to provide the nourishment or the moisture
50:23they need
50:24because before they plant out, the plants could be three times as big, so they need potting on.
50:29Now, if I take this out of the pot, and I'm just going to put that in there, you will
50:35see there's more root than compost.
50:39This is exactly the right moment to pot it on.
50:43Now, having established that you do need to pot 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 tomatoes in a pot,
50:57that's roughly the sort of size that would do.
51:00It doesn't want to be much smaller than that, but it doesn't need to be much bigger.
51:03And you might think, well, the logic is, is pot it on to that, and that's job done.
51:07The whole thing's finished.
51:09But it's not a good idea for two reasons.
51:11One, it means that you've got to store much bigger pots under cover, and that's going to use up a
51:17lot more space for another month at least.
51:19And two, it won't be good for the plant, because the plant's roots grow outwards like the spokes of a
51:27wheel,
51:27so that most of the compost in the pot is acting as a sponge to hold moisture, so it's going
51:34to be too wet.
51:35That's about right. You can see the difference.
51:38It's distinctly bigger, but not a lot bigger.
51:41And if you place it inside, you know, it's probably got quarter of an inch all round it.
51:46As a rule of thumb, it definitely doesn't want more than an inch space around the edge of the old
51:52pot.
51:53Now, here's a trick, and it always works.
51:56Take your new pot, put compost, and by the way, you need a really good compost, so peat-free, add
52:05some goodness to it if you can.
52:06A bit of grit, and if you've got sieve garden compost, the plant will do better.
52:11Put soil in the bottom.
52:14Like that.
52:16Place the plant in, maybe take a little bit more soil out.
52:20Make enough room.
52:22Place that in its pot. Don't take it out the pot.
52:25And then, and I'm going to do this on the table to show you, it'll be messy, fill in around
52:30it.
52:33This might seem a bit bonkers, but just bear with me.
52:36It works.
52:41And we will push that down there.
52:45And having done that, gently lift out the inner pot, and what you're left with is a space that is
52:53exactly the size of the old pot.
52:58Now you remove it and just pop it in.
53:02That's it. That's all you have to do.
53:05And the beauty of this system is that the plant barely knows it's been potted on.
53:10There's no stress whatsoever on the roots.
53:15Don't try and force the soil around it.
53:18Just water it, and then that will give it enough goodness and enough moisture to see it through at least
53:24another month.
53:25By which time the plant will be that big, and we can consider either planting it out or potting it
53:30on to its final home.
53:33Right.
53:34Well, that's certainly one job you can do this weekend.
53:38But here are some more.
53:52As the spring bulbs end their flowering season, they need to be left so that the foliage can slowly die
53:59back.
54:00But if they are in a handsome pot, that means the pot can't be used for months on end.
54:06So I lift them out of the good pot, put them into an up-cycle plastic pot where they can
54:12be set to one side,
54:14and it frees up a really nice container for summer display.
54:26Courgettes are the hardiest of the cucurbit family, and you can start to sow them now.
54:31There are lots of varieties to choose from, but whichever ones they are, you grow them in the same way.
54:37Either place individual seeds in generous-sized plugs, or a couple of seeds to a pot.
54:43Cover them over, and then place them in water for about 15 to 20 minutes so that they soak up
54:49moisture.
54:50They must go somewhere warm in which to 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.
55:14So snap off spent flowering heads just below the seed heads, leaving the stem,
55:20and 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.
55:44The Jewel Garden, by the way, is the last bit of long weather to get going.
55:47Yes, we have the tulips and the wallflowers and pots, but actually in the borders, there's very little happening yet,
55:54because it's dominated by the foliage of an allium, allium purple sensation,
55:58which will flower in a couple of weeks' time.
56:00But there is one job I can do, which means getting into the borders,
56:03and 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 is this tree.
56:18This is a Paulownia, sometimes known as the fox club tree,
56:22and it does have wonderful flowers, sort of lavender-colored, mauve flowers,
56:29which will grow on really quite a large tree.
56:30This will grow, if I left it, 50 foot tall, a really big, proper tree.
56:37But I didn't plant it to become a big tree.
56:39I planted it in order that I could really relish its foliage.
56:45And Paulownia is one of the trees that if you compass it, i.e. prune it back really hard,
56:51it will sprout new growth, which in turn will carry extra big foliage,
56:56and they look really exotic and dramatic,
56:59and they're brilliant for setting off flowers around it in a border.
57:03Now's a good time to do it, just as it's starting to break into leaf.
57:08So, here we go.
57:10I'm going to chuck those out.
57:28Now, if I left this like this, it would effectively be a Pollard.
57:33Pollards are when you leave a straight bare stem, and then the new growth will grow from here,
57:39and it will stand out. But I think that would look a bit odd.
57:42What I want to do is take it down, so that new growth comes from about this height here.
57:48So, I think about that height is right.
58:00Well, I don't do that very often.
58:03It looks drastic, it'll be fine, and we'll get new shoots coming in just a few weeks' time.
58:09They'll start to grow by midsummer. They should be a metre long, and these huge leaves will appear.
58:15They'll be at their best in August, September, and into October.
58:19And I can either repeat that next year, or just do it every few years.
58:22But it's a really good way of adding drama to a border.
58:28And that's the end of the drama for today, I'm afraid.
58:31Well, I'll see you back here at Longmeadow next time, so until then, bye-bye.
58:34Bye-bye.
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