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00:14Hello and welcome to Beechgrove Garden. Here on a plot just outside Aberdeen we are planting for
00:19borders and cut flowers. Coming up I'm planting perennials for height in a border. Lizzie is
00:29setting out in the Satoutere and an alpine trip to Edinburgh.
00:37To start with we're going to take our first look of the season to the 8x6 greenhouse. Now having a
00:43greenhouse can sometimes be seen as a bit of a luxury but I can tell you it's well worth the
00:47investment. You can extend the growing season at the beginning at the end of the years by growing
00:51your veg or you can even grow some tender plants that you cannae grow outside in your garden
00:57normally so they're well worth having a go. If you are looking to install one this year or if you're
01:02getting a chance to work with one you want to maximise the sunlight. So you see up in Beechgrove
01:06here we've got no buildings, no trees casting shade on the glasshouse here. We do have a wee hedge at
01:13the back but that's doing an important job that's helping to filter the east wind and that's good at
01:18maybe giving the glasshouse a wee bit of protection and a handy wee hint if you're growing on a more
01:23exposed location. Now it's grey, it's cool here in Aberdeen today so I cannae wait to get inside
01:30where it's going to be a wee bit more cosier but as soon as that sun comes up the heat
01:34is just going
01:34to rise. So your sliding door is one way of regulating the temperature, letting in some cool air but you'll
01:42also see your glasshouse has a roof vent as well and as the heat rises you want to have this
01:46open to
01:47let that heat out and that's quite tricky when you're at your work for the day. How are you going
01:51to get back and do that job?
01:52This one's quite a wee handy thing, this is an automated one so it's doing all the work for
01:57you. The plants in the greenhouse they're going to dry out a wee bit quicker than what your plants
02:02outside will if they're in containers so you want to have more access to to water. We've got our own
02:08wee water bucket attached here so we're harvesting the rainwater we can water all our plants with that
02:14and we've also got electricity in here so that means we can fit a wee heated propagator. We don't want
02:18to grow orchids in here when you're needing high temperatures but actually some of the plants in
02:23here if the temperature gets too low we can stick in a wee heater and it helps it keep it
02:27frost free.
02:28We've got some benches in here, helps to stage our plants. I like this wee bench that goes on top
02:33cos we can get some trays and smaller plants in here. In the flooring we've got a slab in the
02:39middle
02:39and a bit of gravel. We've left this one side bare cos that means we can grow as you can
02:43see our tomato
02:44plant this is the first one of the year that's in the ground but actually we could have left this
02:48as soil
02:48so you could be grown direct into the soil in the greenhouse as well so there's so much you can
02:53do
02:53so much fun you can have with a greenhouse and over the summer I'm going to show you just all
02:58the
02:58different things to create a touch of the exotic here in Aberdeen that what you can do with your greenhouse.
03:04But first of all we got these plants in a few weeks ago this is a new petunia that's on
03:09the market
03:10as part of the Allegra collection and normally when I think of petunias they go in our containers
03:14or hanging baskets and they maybe hang down giving a wee bit of colour this one actually grows up the
03:20way it can go to about one and a half meters so really looking forward to seeing this one and
03:24you
03:25can also get a wee cut flower off it as well so hopefully Lizzie will be pleased too. But these
03:29things
03:29that were growing on if I have a close look now you can see that the roots are now starting
03:34to come out
03:35the drainage holes at the bottom so that's a good indication that they're ready to be potted on.
03:39Now if I tug at the plant it's not coming out if I pull at it I'm actually going to
03:44damage the plant
03:45bruise it maybe even kill it so get a couple of your fingers you put them either side of the
03:50neck
03:51and then just on the edge of your veg give it a couple of taps and there you go off
03:57the pot comes
03:58and you can see by this just how many roots are in that pot that this is now ready to
04:02be potted on.
04:03Now a few weeks ago Carol showed you a recipe for creating your own compost that we do here at
04:10Beechgrove Garden and I love the idea of that the fact that you can be sustainable you don't need to
04:14buy things in to be a gardener but I'm keen to see how well our compost actually does compared against
04:21a branded one so that's what we're going to have a bit of fun in the glass house here this
04:25year with
04:26but for now this is our own Beechgrove mix we're going to start with here so when you're looking to
04:32pot on you just put a wee bit of compost at the bottom for choosing the size of pot to
04:37pot onto
04:39I've got it in the middle and what you want is be able to just get a finger down the
04:44side of the
04:44plant you don't want too big a pot because it's just going to sit in the compost it's not going
04:48to do anything it's not going to grow and then just gently hold the foliage putting your compost
04:56down the side you don't have to jam it in with your fingers
05:02just gently firm it in and then a wee bit of compost at the top and there we go and
05:08these will stay in
05:09the glass house maybe for another couple of weeks it's still a wee bit of chilly outside so I want
05:13to give these the best chance that they possibly can. So while I pot up Beechgrove's own compost I'm
05:20now going to continue and do this plant into the branded compost and we'll just come back over the
05:25season and just see how the two plants fare in their compost mixes. Now regular viewers to Beechgrove
05:31garden will know I'm a massive fan of alpines and that all came from getting to work amongst
05:36one of the best collections we'll have in the country at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.
05:46One of the team who currently look after that collection made up of rare rock and alpine
05:51plants gathered from mountain ranges across the world is Sarah Powell who also trained at the
05:56Botanic Garden.
06:02We're here today in our modern alpine house here in Edinburgh. We are looking at our tufa wall.
06:09Tufa is a really porous type of limestone. We have a particularly exceptional example. Our tufa is the
06:17largest in the UK and potentially in Europe. It's actually protected in the UK so we've managed to
06:23source this from a waste source which was a motorway being built in Austria. The reason we have such an
06:29unusual structure is so we can grow this exceptional range of plants which will only grow on vertical rock
06:35faces. They require extremely porous substrate to grow in and extremely dry conditions.
06:43You don't have to use tufa. You can use any form of rock to create a similar structure in your
06:48garden
06:49or in a trough. You can use slate, sandstone or even granite as long as you create the cracks and
06:55crevices that the plants require to protect themselves from the elements.
07:07The joy of alpines is that you can create these really great little miniature worlds using any container.
07:19As long as the container you're using has really great drainage and without drainage your plants will
07:24just get waterlogged and die for sure. So today I'm using this trough and we use this horticultural
07:32material which I think is a windbreak but we use it to protect the drainage hole from getting clogged over
07:38time with just weather and watering. You can use anything broken pots, bigger rocks just to make sure
07:45that the hole is protected. Next I'm going to add in our horticultural mix. So this is a really
07:52really loose, really gritty, well draining mix. We use this for most of our alpines and I'm going to use
07:59it
07:59today. You want roughly 70% drainage so grit and sand and then 30% of the sort of more
08:06loamy aspect of the mix.
08:11So I'm going to put a few scoops to make sure that doesn't move.
08:22And then I'm going to check where my rocks are going to go.
08:38So the idea is you're trying to create little crevices and little micro habitats so you can have
08:48a range of plants in this one little trough. So because this is sort of south facing this is all
08:54going to be quite hot. So I'm going to try and plant some sort of sun loving plants on this
08:59side
08:59and then in around the back here there's a little bit more shade and that's enough shade
09:04for the plants that require a little bit more protection.
09:13So you want to put in a little bit more potting mix than you think you'd need because everything,
09:21once it's watered down it will sink. So you want to try and make sure it stays quite full.
09:26I've done this quite quickly. We would spend a lot longer positioning rocks and matching up striations.
09:33And next I'm going to look at positioning of the plants. So this is a little Campanula. It does a
09:39little kind of trailing, mat forming growth style. So I'm going to pop this in the corner. It likes sunlight.
09:45It's a pink, pinky purpley flowering plant. Next I've got a sax, which I'm going to position here.
09:54They don't mind sunlight so I'm going to have it fill in and around against this rock face at the
09:59back
10:00here. This is a little Fisoplexus camosa, one of my favourite flowering plants. It's big kind of unusual
10:06structure, purple kind of alien flowers. I'm going to pop it at the back here. I've got some
10:15little Genshin Clusii. These are bright blue. I don't know if everyone knows a Genshin. They're
10:20really vibrant. I'm going to pop these in here. They need a little bit more shade. I've got a little
10:26Daphne, which is actually in flower. I'm going to try that in the corner there. I've got Edrianthus.
10:32This is a really cool plant. I might try and see if I can get it in under this overhang.
10:39I've got a few more sacks. So the sacks look quite good in these cracks. I'm going to pop this
10:46yellow
10:46on there. I've got this little white sacks. It's a little Oringii. Great, so I'm happy with that. Now that
10:59I've got my plants in position, I'm going to just start planting things up.
11:23We're going to use horticultural grit to give them some support once they're all planted up anyway,
11:29and to prevent any stem rot. So I don't need it super tight right now.
11:50So I'm reasonably happy with the positioning and the sort of spread of colour. There's like
11:56white, purple, yellow, through to a different slightly darker purple, pink, more pink, purple,
12:02yellow, orange, yellow, blue, pink. So it's quite a good spread. So find any container with some
12:09really great drainage. Make sure you've got some really well draining potting mix. Choose any rocks
12:16or stones and things that you can get your hands on that are sourced responsibly. And there's a really
12:21good range of plants, choosing slightly easier ones to begin with. But the loss of plants is inevitable
12:27in alpines. It happens to the best of us. So just go and give it a go.
12:37Well, Lizzie, we're up at the new cut flower garden here at Beach Grove. And I must admit,
12:41I like cut flowers. I'm glad we're doing this. It's quite exciting for me. Yeah.
12:44We were here a few weeks ago, and we moved a couple of peonies.
12:47Well, you moved the peony. You did all the hard work. I'm glad you noticed that. Thanks for saying
12:52that. But it was good. We wanted to dispel the myth that you can't move peonies. You can move them,
12:58as long as you put them back in the ground at the same level. Now, we did a wee experiment,
13:02a wee test here. We did actually plant this one a wee bit deeper, and you can see it's a
13:07wee bit
13:07further behind than this one, which I would say is bang on, true to form. That's the stage it should
13:12be at.
13:12But of course, the proof's in the peon. Will it flower or not? Well, I'm really excited to see.
13:17Look at that. Look at that, Brian. A lovely little bud. So we've maybe got it right after all.
13:22Well, I would say I'd maybe put a wee hooped support around that, just to support the foliage,
13:26the heavy flowers that we get. Oh, definitely. But you've got big ambitions for this place. I like it.
13:30Yeah, I'm really excited about this. So we've got different sections and beds for different cut flowers.
13:37So we've got bulbs and tubers over there. We've got annuals.
13:42We've got a bed for foliage. And over here, we're going to be looking at dried flowers
13:48and also seed heads, because seed heads can be absolutely beautiful.
13:52Yeah, but putting dead flowers in amongst a wedding bouquet, you can't do that, surely?
13:57Definitely, definitely. I mean, poppy seed heads, nigella seed heads can be so beautiful
14:02and add something extra to bouquets. Looking forward to it.
14:07Right, so these are annuals, aren't they? So we're going to be doing some direct
14:10sown to the ground, so we've prepared the ground, or I should say the gardens team have prepared the ground.
14:15They've dug it over, removed any stones, give it a wee furum and a rake level.
14:21But I notice you've got your string lines out, which is good. We've got nice straight lines,
14:25but you've gone east to west. Now, normally we would go north to south, so when the sun's going over,
14:29the whole plant gets the full exposure to the sun.
14:32Yeah, but I've done it because I'm a bit greedy. I want as many as I can squeeze in the
14:40bed as possible.
14:41But it does take a little bit of extra planning, because you do need to think about the flower height,
14:46because you don't want things to be casting shadows onto smaller plants. You want them to all get the
14:52same amount of sunlight. So we've got the poppies and the zinnias right up at the end of the bed,
14:59so it's not going to cast any shadow onto the smaller annuals going further down. And then you just
15:05do it, just look at the seed packet for the final heights and arrange it accordingly.
15:11Not every garden's the same, you know, not everything's black and white. You've got to make
15:15these little tweaks, but you can make it work, can't you? But I see you've got some young plants
15:18to go in the ground as well. Yeah, we do. Now, if you are going to direct sow or put
15:23out any little
15:24seedlings, then do make sure and check your last frost state, because you don't want any of your
15:30seedlings to die off. Or what you can do if there is a frost forecast, you can just put a
15:35bit of fleece
15:36over just to give them a bit of protection. But yeah, we've got two types of limonium. Really love
15:41limonium because you'd be hard pressed to tell a fresh limonium from a dried one. They keep their form
15:47and their colour beautifully. But what I thought we might do is we might plant halfway along the
15:53string and then get some extra seeds on at the other side to get a little bit of succession.
15:58Like that idea. Keeps it flowering for longer, eh? Definitely.
16:16So I'm back here in the competition, Paulotz. And this year, some of the presenters have been tasked
16:22with growing things that appeal to a certain sense, whether it be touch, smell, taste, or sound. And I'm
16:30really lucky I have got to touch. Now, when I was planning out my border, it's quite a really narrow
16:38space. So again, I like to draw things out to see how all the heights are going to work and
16:45all the
16:45different colours are going to meld together. I wove these beautiful willow structures that add, I think,
16:52another dimension. They were the willow that Brian cut down a couple of weeks ago. And I think that
16:59they just are a beautiful colour and really add something extra to this touch garden. We've got
17:07this beautiful bronze fennel here that has really lovely feathery foliage and another feather grass,
17:14which has a completely different texture that you just want to run your hands through it as well.
17:19Over here, though, we're adding a splash of colour with the Echinacea. We've got two different types.
17:24We've got Magnus and also Fatal Attraction. Now, they create those beautiful pink blooms, but also
17:32create lovely seed heads that are going to look good into September and right the way through autumn.
17:39Now, over here, another completely different texture is this Hylotelephium. We've got this rubbery,
17:48almost, oh, you can hear it squeak as you run your thumb along it. This one's called Autumn Joy,
17:55creates these lovely domed-shaped flowers that are bright pink and, again, create lovely seed heads. Now,
18:03I want to create a pathway right the way through this border with some stepping stones. Now,
18:10wasn't quite sure how many that I was going to need and money is quite tight. We're on a budget.
18:16So what I've done is I've made some templates out of carpet. Now, you could use cardboard or anything
18:23that you've got lying around the house, but it does give you a really clear indication of how many
18:30you'd actually need and the spacing in between, which will probably save you some money because
18:36you won't overspend on materials that you don't need. Now, one of the last ones that we've got is
18:43this Achillea. It's called Cloth of Gold. It gets up to about 1.2 meters tall and, again, has beautiful,
18:53lovely yellow flowers that are going to offset with the willow spheres. Now, I really hope Carol is going
19:00to be impressed with all my efforts so far. There's a few more bits and pieces to add to it
19:07just yet,
19:08but, you know, Callum just can't win again this year. Otherwise,
19:12his head's probably going to swell to the size of that sphere.
19:24Now, time for some handy hints. Yesterday, it was so nice. I was down to my t-shirt. Today,
19:29I've got the thermal top back on. Could you imagine how these delicate plants are feeling after being in
19:33that cosy glass house for a few weeks if it were just to shove them straight outside? So we want
19:38to
19:39acclimatise them to the weather. We're going to do this for about a week. I'm going to bring them
19:43outside during the day, pop them back inside at night. This is a process called hardening off.
19:48Fingers crossed. Week's time. Good to go. We can get them in the ground.
19:54This year, I'm experimenting with a different way of watering the tomatoes, and I'm going to be using an
20:00Oya. Now, Oya's come in lots of different shapes and sizes, and in true beech grove style,
20:05I've made my own. Now, what I've got is a porous terracotta pot that I have plugged the gap in
20:13with
20:14a cork to make sure that no water leaks out. And how an Oya works is that you bury it
20:21in with the crop
20:23that you want to water, and when the soil around the pot is really dry, water will seep out of
20:32the pot.
20:32But if the soil is saturated, then all the water will stay in the pot. So that means that you
20:39don't
20:40need to be surface watering any of your plants. All you need to do is come top up the pot
20:47and place the lid back on. And that's it.
20:57Well, it is a wonderful sunny afternoon here in the Beech Grove Garden, and this is one of the reasons
21:02why we designed a satutery just in this spot is because it is perfect for sitting out here
21:09and enjoying lovely sunny afternoons. Last time I was here, I was planting a rambling rose,
21:17which is called the Albrighton Rambler. Now, looking over there and I'm starting to see new shoots,
21:24which is really exciting. So soon it will hopefully climb up that fence. Another thing that I wanted to
21:31create in this area was a really strong scent that is just really beautiful to smell. And I've added
21:39two different types of roses to achieve this. We've got Desdemona over here, which is a really
21:44old rose scent, which is going to be beautiful. And we've got Tranquility over there, which is a light
21:50and fruity scent. So hopefully when they are in bloom, they'll create a wonderful scented area for
21:56us to relax in. Now, there are a few things though, that I am going to do this afternoon. And
22:03that is
22:04going to be planting some perennials in and around the roses. Now I'm doing that for three different
22:11reasons. So first of all, the roses that are going to grow up, they're going to flower in flushes.
22:19So we want to create interest while the roses aren't in flower. And a great way of doing that is
22:26to be
22:26adding things like Salvia. This one's called Schneugel. And it is a really white, compact variety,
22:34which is completely hardy. It will grow to about 40, 45 centimetres, really nice height. It's going
22:42to cover the bare stems of the roses and the roses will be able to flower on top, creating a
22:48really,
22:49nice effect. The second reason is to create a weed suppression. You don't want to spend all your
22:56time in the garden weeding. So you can plant some Nepeta, things that are going to spread. This one's
23:03called Snowflake. It will spread out to about 40, 50 centimetres wide, which is going to be really
23:11handy because you're not going to have to do all the hard work. It's going to do the hard work
23:15for you.
23:16The last reason is because they are great companion plants for the rose. Roses can be affected by aphids
23:24and they come and feast on all the lovely fresh new green growth. They destroy the flower buds and make
23:31the leaves look really unsightly. But planting salvia, the Nepeta and the Scabius provide a habitat for
23:39things like lacewings and hoverflies to come and feed on. And you really want to be attracting these
23:46pollinators into your garden because their larvae like to feast on aphids. And this is then going to
23:52help protect your roses. So it's good for the roses and good for your garden as well.
24:04This is the zigzag border. It was set up a few years ago to demonstrate alternatives
24:09to box as a low growing hedge. Now for years box has been used to frame plots in your garden
24:16or line
24:17hedges. But unfortunately now it's under a two-pronged attack from pests and diseases. The first one is the
24:23box blight and that can cause dieback in the stems. And the other one's a caterpillar that could pretty
24:28much defoliate all your box hedging. So we set out all these different alternatives. We've got a good
24:34variety here. I'm going to pick out Cotoneaster cymonzii. I quite like it because it seems to have that
24:40shape after you've trimmed it which kind of matches the formal look that you get from the box hedge.
24:45But I must admit there's something about the purple foliage berberus and the orangey red of the spiraea.
24:52It just adds a wee bit of more colour and maybe gives you something else to work with. Another dimension
24:56for your garden as well for the plants that you're going to plant alongside this. And then that leads me
25:01on to the next part because I've kind of noticed that some of the plants that we put alongside our
25:05low
25:05grown hedges, they can cause issues too. So with the lights here geranium which is a bit more open,
25:11a bit more scraggy in the way it grows, well sometimes the foliage flops onto the hedges
25:16and as you can see here it blocks out the sunlight onto the hedge and then creates all these little
25:21dead patches. And during the winter months when these low grown hedges they come into their own,
25:26they add a wee bit of structure to their garden, well these horrible little patches they're going to
25:31look ugly so we want to try and avoid that. So for that reason I've picked out a
25:35few plants that grow a bit more upright in their habit. At the top of the bed we've got Aster,
25:41Ice Cool Pink. Now this flower's at the end of summer, beginning of autumn, I don't think there's a
25:46better genus of plants that goes well in that autumn light. We've got a Monarda here, The Beauty
25:52of Cobham. Now the one thing I like about these plants is the funky flowers that they produce and
25:58the bees love them as well. I'm going to run down here for this one, Oopitorium baby Joe. Now one
26:05of
26:05its older relatives is called the Joe Pie Weed and it grows about two meters tall. This is a lot
26:11more
26:11compact version so I'm looking forward to seeing this one. In both of them if you can get a handle
26:16on
26:17one of these and put them in your garden, they're just a magnet for butterflies. And then the last one
26:23I want to look at here because I think it just demonstrates perfectly what we're looking for.
26:28This is Phlox paniculata, it's a white flower in one called David. But look at these stems here,
26:33look how strong and upright they are and that's just the kind of thing that we're looking out for.
26:38Now I've got a decent sized plot here that I want to work with, it's about two and a half
26:42meters by
26:43two and a half meters. I don't want to over plant this border. So when you're choosing a plant have
26:49a look at their label, see how much it's going to spread and if you've got a situation like this
26:53maybe
26:53add on another 20 or 30 centimeters just to give us a wee buffer zone. I think three is going
27:00to do,
27:00there's no need to go for too many and then just evenly space them out in the border. As I
27:06say just
27:07take into consideration how much they spread. And I know I've got them in this situation here
27:12but you can get other herbaceous perennials that maybe need some hoops to hold the foliage up or
27:18you've got to stick in a bamboo cane and you're doing a bit of tying in. They're all brilliant
27:22things but if you're just wanting something that's a bit more low maintenance then these are some of the
27:41plants for you.
27:42Well Lizzie it's just a riot of colour just now isn't it? We've got the anemones, the spring pea,
27:47the premulas but it's rhododendron season so I'm going to pick out this one. Creeping Jenny.
27:53It's beautiful, it's lovely. Well Carol is out and about next week and she is visiting one of her
27:59favourite gardens which she's visited many times before and it is Glenarn just outside
28:05Hellensboro and it's renowned for its early summer colour. George and Callum are going to be here
28:10at the garden next week. They're going to be carrying out the first of the new plantings
28:14in the grass and gravel garden and they're going to be taking fuchsia cuttings.
28:17And now remember we are on social media with handy hints and tips but if you've missed any of the
28:23shows so far it's all on BBC iPlayer. But from the two of us it's bye for now. Bye.
28:47Bye.
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