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Gardeners' World Season 59 Episode 10
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00:18I'm going to go to the next episode of the video.
00:39Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:42Now, here in the Jewel Garden, at this time of year, when everything is growing very fast,
00:47actually it's standing upright.
00:49It doesn't need supporting, and that's part of the beauty.
00:52Everything just seems to be full of enough energy and vigor to support itself,
00:57and that looks as though it will go on being the case.
01:00But, of course, experience shows that's not true.
01:02It would only take a really vigorous storm or even another few weeks of growth
01:07for things to start to flop and then break and fall.
01:11So a really good thing to do at this time of year is to stake plants that might need staking
01:17before they actually do, and that way you're never recovering from disaster.
01:22So this delphinium, for example, very often they're staked with canes.
01:26You can use string, you can use brushwood.
01:28And I like to use these metal supports that we make.
01:32We buy the wire, bend them around a log, and they last for years.
01:36Some of these I've had for about 30 years.
01:38And if I just go around it, just gently creating a support that isn't pushing the plant together,
01:48it's not forcing it to do anything that it doesn't want to do,
01:51but providing a support if it needs it.
01:55And if you do it now, very, very quickly, it all disappears under new growth.
02:00No-one can see it, but the plant can use it if needed.
02:05SHITZANA Simple
02:19SHITZANA
02:20SHITZANA
02:34SHITZANA
02:35Come on, Ib.
02:45Here on the mound we made changes over winter
02:47because we used to have two beds where the paving slabs are.
02:53But it was all a bit tight and constrained
02:55and you couldn't really see them, you couldn't get at them.
02:57And although I liked the contents of the beds,
03:00it wasn't working in terms of the space.
03:02So we've lifted all the plants, paved the area,
03:05so this is now a terrace.
03:07I've got two empty pots,
03:09so I'm going to plant them up just for this summer
03:11and make a summer display
03:13and then I can rethink the whole thing in the autumn.
03:16The colour theme here on the mound is pale blue and soft yellow.
03:22Now, a big pot like this has a big hole
03:24and this is where crocs come in.
03:26And this is perfect because if you're using any type of croc,
03:30it must be curved.
03:32It's no good having a flat croc because that will just block the hole.
03:36Something that will keep the compost from falling through,
03:39but the water can get under and make its way out.
03:41So we'll put that over there.
03:43OK.
03:45Now, I've made a special mix because the plants I've chosen
03:49are ones that thrive in relatively poor soil.
03:52So, this is a mixture of peep-free compost,
03:59plenty of grit,
04:02a bit of recycled compost from last year's tulips,
04:06and leaf mould and sieve garden compost.
04:14Now, obviously you can do a pot anywhere you want,
04:17but it's not a bad idea to remember the three words,
04:22a pillar, a filler and a spiller.
04:25And obviously the pillar is the central tallest element of the pot.
04:29The filler takes that middle ground and the spiller you put on the edge
04:33and, as the name suggests, can spill out over the rim of the pot itself.
04:39Now, for my pillar, I've got this.
04:42This is a Flomis russelliana.
04:44Soft yellow flowers, leaves coming from either side of the stem,
04:48and then the flowers are layered.
04:50Really dramatic plant.
04:52They can grow four or five foot tall,
04:53and I had them here in the borders,
04:56so I'm recycling plants that I know like it in this spot
05:00and I know look really good, mixed in with all the other plants.
05:04Now, for my filler, I've chosen a grass.
05:07This is Festuca glauca, intense blue.
05:10Obviously, you can see we've got the yellow of the Flomis
05:12and the blue of the Festuca glauca.
05:15And, obviously, a grass is the perfect filler, if you like,
05:19because it will keep going.
05:21Now, as long as this has sunlight and really good drainage,
05:25it'll be happy.
05:27That one there.
05:30And that can go there like that.
05:34Now, my spiller... Well, I have two, actually.
05:37This is a Petunia called Yellow Dream,
05:39and I've also got a Lobelia, a blue.
05:44Now, I always cram these.
05:49You're going for maximum effect
05:51for what is essentially a maximum of six months,
05:53and probably more like about four or five.
05:56So don't worry about over-planting.
06:05Now, Adam moved to a new garden in the winter.
06:09We visited him back in March,
06:10and now it's time to see how he's getting on.
06:20I'm full of excitement.
06:23It may not be obvious to the eye yet,
06:25but I really can feel the character of my new garden
06:30starting to reveal itself.
06:33Welcome back to my new garden,
06:36which, in all honesty, is still very brown,
06:39but I've been a busy boy since you were last here.
06:43If you remember, I inherited a blank canvas,
06:46just a sloping plot of land
06:48running down from the house to the river.
06:52Once I'd worked out what I wanted,
06:54it hasn't taken long to make some pretty big changes.
07:00The fence down the side is complete.
07:03Hardcore has been laid for what will be the terrace,
07:06and different garden spaces have been levelled.
07:10I've planted loads of trees
07:12and even started work on the borders
07:14to get them ready for planting.
07:19Before we crack on with the borders,
07:21you might remember I planted a hornbeam hedge
07:24all the way down both sides of the garden.
07:26But I bought them as bare root plants,
07:29and I'm chuffed to pieces with them.
07:31So really, this year,
07:32it's about keeping them well-watered,
07:35and then just keep this whole area clean of weed.
07:39But apart from that,
07:41they'll just be left alone
07:42just to let their roots into the ground.
07:45Right.
07:45Come on.
07:47We're going to crack on.
07:49Come on.
08:00There's a lot of conversation, isn't there,
08:02about no dig.
08:04But if you move into a new build,
08:07or like me,
08:09a site where you really have not got an idea
08:12what is going on,
08:14then to dig it just makes perfect sense.
08:18So, I use an old-fashioned method called single digging.
08:23I dig a trench that suspends depth,
08:26and then I put that soil in a wheelbarrow,
08:28move it to the end of the border.
08:30And then what I do is I use well-rotted manure.
08:33I put in probably about 50mm.
08:36But you can use your own compost, composted bark,
08:40and you create your next trench by turning and filling the one you've just created.
08:46And then you work your way back.
08:48So, I've done that, and then I've just left it for the winter.
08:52And a lot of people will say to me,
08:53well, Frosty, why don't you just run a rotavator up and down?
08:56It'll be easier.
08:57The reason being, you see that, that is spine weed.
09:01So, if I cut that into 30, 40 odd pieces with a rotavator,
09:05and it gets buried in there, it becomes 30 or 40 plants, you know.
09:10So, it might feel as if, you know, it's hard work,
09:15but I know that by the time I, you know, I actually plant,
09:22I'm hopefully going to be near on weed and stone free.
09:30While the borders are going to provide me with colour and interest across the year,
09:35I've really been thinking about the gardening layers,
09:38starting with the tree canopy.
09:42I've actually planted nearly 30 trees in the garden.
09:46I keep them well watered.
09:48Not just this year, but next year as well.
09:51And there's no sense just coming out every day,
09:55giving everything a bit of a sprinkle.
09:57You better half an hour when you come home from work,
10:00fill the watering can up and do four trees really well.
10:04And then the next day, do another four trees, you know.
10:07And it doesn't matter if I don't come back to the first tree for probably four or five days,
10:13because I've really soaked that soil.
10:16When it comes to designing, what I tend to do is choose the main tree.
10:23And here, it was the ginkgo.
10:25And then once that's in, I start to build the other trees around it.
10:30And I'm looking for different shapes and forms.
10:32And I think that's not just in isolation in this garden.
10:37That's then starting to look at what's in the distance,
10:40so I can connect the garden to what's going on outside.
10:56When it comes to planting design, I always think about a garden as a woodland.
11:01It's got that upper storey. That's the bigger trees.
11:03Round here, you've got brambles. That's representation of the shrubs.
11:07And then you've got the ferns, the brackens. That is your herbaceous perennials.
11:11And then at the moment, round here, you've got the bluebells, dasher bulbs.
11:15The easiest way for me to do it normally is, yes, I do it on a plan,
11:20but also in my own garden, you know, once my trees are in place,
11:24and I'll imagine them at full height, full shape and form,
11:29and then I just sort of react.
11:31So I work out where I might put shrubs.
11:37And I'm thinking, well, I've got the height of the tree, shrub in there.
11:40That'll help bring that canopy down.
11:43And then you come out and you have a look and think,
11:47well, if I went further down the border, in there,
11:53and then I'm sort of drawn into sort of here.
11:56And all right, it wouldn't be anything high.
12:00So if I now just take that off, you start to get a feel.
12:09Let's just have one last look.
12:13And, yeah, I think there'll be an opportunity for something maybe rounded about that height.
12:22It doesn't necessarily mean it's going to stay like that.
12:25But it's the starting point.
12:28Around the front of the house, there will eventually be a small courtyard garden.
12:32But for now, I'm planting up some pots with Osmanthus berkwoodyi.
12:37An evergreen shrub that has beautiful white-scented flowers in spring.
12:43And they don't mind being clipped.
12:47So the mix I'm using is peat-free, multi-purpose compost.
12:53But what I've done is I've worked in a bag of topsoil.
12:58Anything I think that's more long-term that's going to go in a container,
13:03I like to add some soil.
13:06Let's see how...
13:08Hey, look at that.
13:10So now you can see this root system.
13:12What I'm going to do is just slightly stir with a white fibrous root.
13:17That will encourage the plant to put on more root,
13:20which means it will stabilise quicker.
13:22We lower in.
13:24That's all I want to do.
13:25Make sure there's no real air pockets,
13:28so you can work that in with your hand.
13:38Lovely jubbly.
13:43That's that.
13:45And now the fun bit.
13:47I'm just going to go in.
13:49The idea is it will look like these little series of clouds
13:53that give you sort of a real architectural backdrop, really.
14:05There's something wonderful about the idea of creating something,
14:10you know, for your family.
14:12And, yeah, I think it's going to be a special garden.
14:16I really do.
14:18I really do.
14:35I really do.
14:52really good advice about working off trees and their final height.
14:57But what struck me was all credit to Adam for single digging.
15:01And I single dug this garden and it took me years.
15:04And I know how much hard work it is.
15:06And it's not very fashionable at the moment.
15:08But sometimes you have to do it.
15:10And investing in the soil is investing in the future.
15:14we don't look back in the future.
15:18Okay.
15:42So...
15:43parsley. Now, cow parsley is, I think, the most beautiful flower in the world, partly
15:51because it's lovely in its own right, but also because of the way that it grows. It
15:56forms this wonderful dancing froth, and we're blessed to have it here in the garden, but
16:01only because this floods and it brings the seed in. It does spread around the garden
16:07a little, but not really as much as this. So what I've done in the writing garden is
16:12inspired by cow parsley.
16:28Now, obviously, to follow that inspiration on, starting in February and carrying on
16:35into October or even November, you can't just use umbellifers like cow parsley. So
16:41we start off with bulbs, daffodils and tulips in here, and then we follow that up with
16:48leucodium summer snowflakes. And they are beautiful, but they are thugs. The snowflake
16:56is really happy in heavy clay, in damp, shady conditions. So putting it in here was probably
17:04a mistake, because despite its beauty, what you get is a very, very long, slow dying back.
17:11These are the leaves of the snowflake. And you can see there are the seed heads of the flower. And
17:19these
17:19will stay looking green and strong for another four, five, six weeks, which means they're filling
17:25the space. So that's my fault. What I'm going to do is take out half of the leucodium and I'll
17:32plant the bulbs into the orchard. And that will create space that I can plant the amy and the wild
17:37carrot and also the lovage.
18:04So what I can do is just bundle these together like this, stick them in a upcycled plastic pot,
18:11a little bit of compost. And when the leaves are completely dyed back, you can then either dig them
18:16up and store them in somewhere dry and just have the bulbs or just label it. And then come October,
18:23November, then you can plant them out as bulbs when it's a lot easier. And the really important part
18:29for any bulb is dying back. The biggest mistake, if you want bulbs to flower next year, is to cut
18:36back the foliage after flowering, because that is going to feed into next year's bulb.
18:49This is a slow job, because I want to make sure I'm not doing any damage. But having started it,
18:55I'll work through it over the next day or two, and that will transform the garden. Now, not very far
19:01from here, down the south of the county, is somebody who not only wants her garden to look good, but
19:09she
19:09wants it to taste good, too.
19:16Wild food knocks cultivated food out the park for the nutrition. It's delicious. Foraging just
19:24utterly connects you to nature and to plants in a way that nothing else does. It's made me wonder,
19:33once you get that, once you get that spark of wondering about stuff,
19:37then there's no better place to be.
19:43I'm Liz Knight, and this is my garden in South Howard, Fiddler.
19:58This beautiful array of flowers is ground elder. Most people, if they had it in their garden,
20:05would rip it out before it went to flower, which is a real shame. You can either kind of curse
20:11it and
20:11kind of spend your life trying to get rid of it, or you can embrace it. Not only does it
20:17create beautiful
20:18flowers in the garden, it's also a really good cut flower plant. It's also incredibly important for
20:23pollinators and delicious as a food. Ground elder has got a flavour that crosses between parsley and
20:33carrot. It's got a tiny hint of kind of like lemony citrusy-ness to it. So it works amazingly in
20:39any recipe that calls for parsley.
20:42And one of the easiest ways to use it is to chop them up really finely and put them with
20:46lemon and
20:47garlic and pistachio nuts. And then they make just a really lovely loose pesto dressing that you could put
20:54on things like roast carrots. But you've got to get your head around the fact that it's not a
20:59sluggish weed, that it's a beautiful thing. And that will make it taste even more delicious.
21:10It's really important that you take your time and you take vorising and baby steps and you only pick
21:16plants you really, really know. So I always say to people, you only ever pick really easy to identify
21:22plants. Don't ever take any risks with eating anything that you're not 100% sure about.
21:29There are so many things that you can use to make delicious dressings for sort of salads. So
21:34things like potato salads go really well with mustard family plants. The kind of plants which
21:40grow kind of as wild plants in my garden are jack by the hedge. It's otherwise known as garlic mustard.
21:47It's got lots of different names all related to onion and garlic and mustard because it's got the flavour
21:52of all three of those in it. And then on the other side of me are two other different
21:59types of mustard plants. So here is, you might recognise as honesty, which has got lovely mauve
22:06kind of flowers. And the whole thing again is edible. So honesty has got quite mild tasting leaves and
22:12quite sweet, mild flowers. And then when the seeds suddenly emerge, these seeds taste really, really quite
22:21hot. And then you can use those like the most powerful kind of wild equivalent of a wasabi.
22:26If you like wasabi heat, then you might really love this plant. This is detanda. And you'll often
22:34find it growing wild in coastal areas. And if you try it, after a few chews,
22:47it'll make your mouth cut in a really delicious way.
22:58It's not just wild plants or weeds that you can forage. Huge amounts of the plants that we
23:03have in our gardens as ornamentals are actually edible, and they've got a long history of being
23:09used as food. One of the most delicious and kind of oldest of plants that we've got in our gardens
23:15is
23:16roses. And we have been eating roses for thousands and thousands of years. Every different type of
23:23rose has a different scent and a different flavour. And they are all edible. One thing I love to do
23:28with
23:29kind of especially large blousy ornamental roses is if you pick them whole, you can put them in the
23:34freezer whole and they freeze perfectly. And then when you want to use them, you literally can just take
23:39them out the freezer and crush them up and they'll break into the tiniest flecks of pink, but with
23:45beautiful flavour. And you can stir those through fruit, strawberries or cream. And it adds a delicious,
23:51really vibrant, fresh flavour to things.
24:07I often get asked by people when I'm teaching foraging courses, I used to get asked,
24:10do you ever get ill? And then last year, I found a lump, and it turned out to be the
24:15lump you don't
24:16want to have. So I had an early stage cancer. Foraging and just being in the garden, even through the
24:23depths of
24:24winter, I know helped me so much through this sort of ultimate kind of winter that I've had, where I
24:31lost all my hair,
24:32you lose your identity. So I'd come out with my bald head in the winter and sit with the plants
24:38and like
24:38all the plants were tight in buds. So my blackcurrant bushes all had these little buds on them.
24:43And I'd come up and find myself talking to the buds going, in the spring, we're going to be back.
24:51Fortunately, my cancer is treatable. But you still have to face, in a way, your mortality.
24:58And I'm convinced that I was able to do it because I was able to get out into nature.
25:10So these, in my kind of veg plot, are hostages that most people will have in their ornamental
25:17gardens rather than their veg beds. But I grow them here because I eat them. And amazingly,
25:24I think that the slugs don't like to go for them so much because there's so many other plants around
25:29that they kind of get at. So I tend to kind of do quite well with them here. And hostas
25:35might not
25:36seem like a vegetable to most people in Britain, but actually they are really delicious. And they're
25:42a really commonly used vegetable, especially in Japan. It's the same family of plant as asparagus.
25:48And when you cut into it, you can kind of see the tenderness that you'd get when you snap open
25:53asparagus. And it's got a very, very similar flavour. And you can use it in an identical way.
25:59So it's delicious steamed, you know, with a bit of butter. It's also just lovely kind of chopped into
26:06things like quiches. And the lovely thing about a hostas variegation and leaves, they will keep
26:11that variegation and they'll keep that pattern. So you have the most beautiful food made from hostas.
26:17But obviously you want to go for ones that the snail hasn't eaten already. But there's not a lot
26:22better than getting your own back on the snails that eat all of your hostas by then eating the hostas
26:27first.
26:35I think foraging has made me realise how incredibly beautiful the world is.
26:42And how lucky we are to be here. And it's made me feel incredibly lucky.
26:48Eating the plants which kind of want to grow around us and which are there voluntarily,
26:52there's something that just really roots you to your landscape, to your history.
26:58Wild food completely changes the flavours that you've got on your table. And it makes
27:03how we eat hyper-seasonal, you know, kind of full of vibrant flavours and colour and beauty and,
27:09you know, kind of paired with a little bit of butter, makes everything taste delicious.
27:14Wild food by Marti
27:15Wild food by Marti
27:16Wild food by Marti
27:37There is a moment here, it probably lasts a few days, when this is one of the things I love
27:42most in the garden.
27:42at this time of year. Two very ordinary plants. You have two viburnums side by side. This
27:49is Viburnum opulis and this is Viburnum placatum meresii. And the Viburnum opulis starts out
27:57with slightly green, just touched with green flowers, which then become brilliant white
28:03sort of pom-poms, almost looking like a hydrangea pom-pom. And the Viburnum placatum meresii
28:11famously is in layers and also looking like hydrangea plants, but this time very open,
28:17with white bracts and then little yellow flowers in the middle. And they're just perfect. They're
28:24very simple, but absolutely at their best.
28:45This particular corner of the garden is the first to flood. And so in a winter like the
28:49one we just had, this can be under water for weeks on end. And all the plants in here, from
28:54the biggest tree to the smallest plant, have to be able not just to cope with that degree
29:02of winter wet, but also to thrive. And as long as you bear that in mind, you can use it
29:07to your advantage.
29:24Now this corner is north facing. So it only gets dappled light at the best of times, working its way
29:33through the hind hornbeam hedge behind it. I call it hosta corner because hostas love it. And I've got
29:39on my hand Ligularias. And wherever hostas are happy, the chances are Ligularias are going to be happy too.
29:45This is Ligularia the rocket. And this is blessed with the name of Ligularia przwulskii.
29:54And this of course has much more cut leaves. And you can grow it for the foliage alone. The foliage
29:59is great. But the flowers are good too. And these are ones with tall yellow flowers. And they're
30:06wonderful for insects, butterflies, bees. So yeah, there's lots to be gained from growing them,
30:13as long as you don't expect them to perform in full sun.
30:39With a plant like Ligularia, and any damp loving plant, when you buy it, take it home and give it
30:45a really good soak. Either put in a bucket of water or a dish of water and leave it for
30:50at least half an
30:51hour. And then drain off the excess before you plant it. There we go.
31:07Okay.
31:12Just like that. That's beautiful.
31:16The foliage will rise up above the line of the hostas. And then in July and August, it will throw
31:23up these tall spires of yellow flower that will be four or five foot high, looking really good,
31:31and completely happy in this shady, damp corner.
31:48Now we're going to Cumbria to join a couple who are preparing plants very different to Ligularias
31:56as they get ready for showing them at RHS Chelsea.
32:06The wreck is drying out very quickly. We've got strong winds coming through. Last night we had a really
32:11bad north-easterly wind blowing like a tumble dryer.
32:16We find the wind quite a challenge. The wind?
32:25I find Dave is grumbling about the wind an even greater challenge.
32:34I'm David. And I'm Gail. And we've been gardening here at Summerdale House for the
32:41last 30 years. It's in the Southlake District.
32:49When we came here, the garden was overgrown with brambles.
32:53And hadn't been gardened for about 40 years.
32:56No, that's right. We think.
32:57So that's when Gail started propagating plants in earnest so we could fill the garden with plants.
33:03And then we kept getting more and more plants that were too many to sell at garden open days.
33:09So that's when Gail took the decision to open a small nursery.
33:14And then David decided he'd take early retirement and join me.
33:23My daughter gave me a couple of named auriculars and the obsession just grew and grew and grew.
33:31Until we've ended up with over 500 varieties of auriculars.
33:42Oh dear.
33:47The auriculars are divided into different categories.
33:51Best known category is probably the Alpine auriculars and that's subdivided into light-centered and gold-centered auriculars.
33:59And then border auriculars, which are ones that have been grown for a long time in cottage gardens.
34:07Then double auriculars.
34:10And then there are the show auriculars.
34:13And they're divided into ones called selfs,
34:17flowers, which have solid petal colours, stripes and edges.
34:29Well there are so many beautiful flowers and what's my favourite today won't be my favourite tomorrow.
34:35That one's called strawberry fields and that's quite a nice one.
34:42That's one of my all-time favourites, it's called twiggy.
34:46It's a pale yellow self.
34:52These are all the plants, 1,600, that we have collected as potentials for showing at Chelsea.
35:03It's a misconception that auriculars are tricky to grow.
35:07There are two things they really hate.
35:11One is the midday sun in summer and the other is to get very wet in winter.
35:18So they can be grown in the garden.
35:20Although in Cumbria it's a bit trickier because we have a very high rainfall.
35:25We grow all ours in tunnels.
35:28We put shading over the tunnels in summer, but we take it all off in winter.
35:32And at the end of the day, an auricula, it's an alpine plant,
35:36so we just don't like to be too wet in the winter.
35:38It's a bit of a winter.
35:46Like all primulas, auriculas are susceptible to vine weevil,
35:52root aphid and various other diseases.
35:55So potting them into fresh compost every year helps to reduce the number of diseases.
36:00And also you get more plants.
36:07I think the challenge with showing auriculas at Chelsea is generally they would have finished
36:13by the time of the Chelsea Flower Show.
36:15So we're doing everything we can to try and keep back as many we can that are still in bud
36:21and hopefully show a wide range of all the different varieties
36:24so people can see what's available.
36:26And we're using every trick in the book, tried or untested, to see if we can achieve that.
36:43These have been sat in the fridge all for a good couple of months now.
36:48No light or anything, just four degrees constantly.
36:52And they sort of are just sitting there.
36:55Once we get them out into the light and a bit of sun, hopefully they'll open normally.
37:01But the key thing is deciding when to take them out, which is a bit unfathomable.
37:13People are used to seeing the very grand displays at Chelsea,
37:17and I think we wanted to try and do something a little different.
37:20Whether the public and the judges will like that, we don't know.
37:23But we wanted to make it more approachable and on a scale that people could see for themselves,
37:30how they might display auriculars in their own garden rather than in a very formal setting.
37:36However small it is.
37:39I've been nervous for about the last two months.
37:45Anxiety dreams.
37:46It'll only get better.
37:50I worry about whether sheep are going to break into the nursery, which they do from time to time,
37:55and eat all the auriculars.
37:57I'm not kidding.
38:00And let's find the wind picks up just before a show to stress things.
38:05And the sun comes out, so everything gets dry, and you don't.
38:17Let's have piglet.
38:18Let's have piglet.
38:19Put piglet in there.
38:38Then there's the worry, provided we get enough plants that are in perfect flower for Chelsea,
38:44just getting them down from here to Chelsea.
38:47People will use things like refrigerated transport, but because they're a fairly small display,
38:53it's not really practical for us to do that.
38:55So we're going to cram them all into the back of the car, turn the air conditioning on full.
39:01Charged down there.
39:02And get it as cold as possible.
39:04And then hopefully they'll make it to the show.
39:08I don't know where my toe jacket.
39:29I'm not sure I envy David and Gail's journey down from the Lake District with the car as cold
39:34as possible to keep the auriculars looking really good, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.
39:38And I will go and see them at Chelsea next week.
39:56Now, here is a comparison for you.
39:58In this bed are planted charlotte potatoes.
40:02I chitted them, planted them out at Easter.
40:04I also planted radish in there, which is why it's covered with radishes,
40:08which I have to say are ready to eat.
40:11But the potatoes in there are, you'll see about that much growth.
40:16But it's good and sturdy and completely healthy.
40:20Within minutes of planting these, I had a couple of sea potatoes left over,
40:25which I put into a pot, this pot.
40:27And look at the difference in growth.
40:30Now, this has been in the wooden greenhouse.
40:34Not heated, but just in the greenhouse.
40:36And that much protection makes a huge difference.
40:40It's just dramatically ahead of the others.
40:43These now are rather floppy and showing lots of leaf.
40:46Those are good and solid and just beginning.
40:49But this needs earthing up.
40:50Earthing up is something you do for two reasons.
40:53One, because if potatoes are exposed to light, they turn green, and that's poisonous.
40:58So you earth them up to make sure that they're all covered.
41:02And that certainly would be the case in this pot.
41:04The other reason is, particularly for early potatoes, is if there's a risk of frost,
41:08that will kill any top growth.
41:10So if you protect it with soil, that protects the growth that's there,
41:14and that very quickly grows through the soil.
41:16At this time of year, not much risk of frost.
41:19But there is a slight risk, certainly in the pot, of tubers being exposed.
41:23So I'm going to earth it up.
41:24And earthing up is dead easy.
41:27I've got a bucket of normal potting compost.
41:30I'm just going to pour it in to bury the stems that are there.
41:37Now, just lift that up a bit.
41:41They actually need quite a lot of space.
41:44So in a pot that size, two is plenty.
41:48Now, let's pull up some radish.
41:53See, these radish, I sowed exactly six weeks ago.
41:57So it's really the quickest harvest you can get in the vegetable garden.
42:00I will wash these, and then eat them.
42:03And actually, the French way of eating them, with a dab of butter.
42:06Absolutely delicious.
42:15I've got some leeks here, which I sowed actually last year, in December.
42:21Leeks do very well from seed, and there are two ways of planting them.
42:24You can either plant them individually, which is the conventional way and the way I was brought up to do
42:29it.
42:29However, I have, over the last sort of five or six years, been growing my leeks in pots, in blocks.
42:38And I scatter the seed, and in some cases, you know, there are three or four in a pot.
42:43Other cases, just one or two.
42:45But the idea is you plant each pot and bury it a little bit deeper than it is in the
42:50pot,
42:51and you dig up a clump of leeks.
42:53And you still get decent-sized leeks, but it's easier to harvest them.
42:58So, if I just space these out, like that.
43:06Let's make sure that they're equal.
43:09Either side of the board, which is really useful.
43:14So a nice deep hole.
43:18Pop that in there, bury it well, and then cover it up.
43:22Everything above ground will remain green.
43:25Everything below ground will be white.
43:28This is a variety called Lancia.
43:31You can harvest these, well, as early as late July, whereas most varieties are for autumn and winter.
43:39But it's not too late to sow leeks.
43:41And if you want to sow leeks now, do so.
43:44You can sow them outside in a drill.
43:46You can sow them inside, but don't sow them into a seed tray.
43:49If you're going to sow them inside, sow them straight into pots or modules,
43:54because they do need depth to their roots.
43:57And then you lift them and plant them out in a wider spacing.
44:00Now, I'm spacing these out about six inches apart.
44:13OK, I will get the next tray in, and while I'm doing this, we're going to join Francis,
44:17who's visiting a garden with a very particular approach to horticulture.
44:28I've always been drawn to gardeners who see the world a little differently.
44:32That curiosity has brought me to Waltham Place in Berkshire, 220 acres where every decision
44:39is guided by the quiet, unseen rhythms of biodynamics.
44:45Andre Tranquilini leads his team in a way that defies many of horticulture's familiar rules.
44:50There's an air of mystery to biodynamics, a sense that it's as much about spirit as it is about soil.
44:59I've come to uncover what that really means in practice.
45:03So Andre, what is biodynamic gardening?
45:06We're creating a self-sustaining garden, where all the different elements are in synergy,
45:11are in balance. Instead of weeding things out, immediately we allow things to express themselves.
45:17That's so interesting. So you let the garden in many ways choose how it is.
45:21Finding how much to interfere, finding that language, that conversation with the garden,
45:29that's what we're encouraging all gardeners to do. Learn from the land, not impose too much.
45:35It sounds like it's quite complicated.
45:37It is not. It's a lot about common sense. What is complicated actually is to be able to step back
45:45and develop those intuitive skills as well to allow the garden to speak.
45:50Can we have a look around? Yeah, let's explore. Okay.
45:57It seems every ornamental garden here reflects this return to nature
46:02and a gentle step away from strict formality.
46:06But one space, more than any other, captures the spirit of this approach.
46:14So this is the Potager.
46:16This is gorgeous. There's so much happening. We love it.
46:22Look at it. There's just so many flowers.
46:27Wow, it's incredible.
46:33How much is planned?
46:35This garden is naturally evolving. Of course, it has been garden for hundreds of years.
46:40So there's some of that, you know, inheritance still living.
46:44Yes.
46:44Um, we tend to plug in a few annuals here and there, but it's mostly self-seeded.
46:49We're really allowing this garden to express itself.
46:52Yeah. And that's what it's doing.
46:53It certainly is. It's absolutely beautiful.
46:56You have what a lot of people would call weeds here.
47:00Yeah.
47:00So there's buttercups and docks particularly.
47:02And yet they sit in this landscape so beautifully, especially that dock, the colour of it.
47:07Yeah.
47:07It's beautiful, isn't it?
47:08Absolutely.
47:09You know, everything is playing a part here.
47:12Yeah.
47:12And if we're constantly intervening and cutting things back, we don't learn what is the role.
47:18So in biodynamic gardening, we allow plants to express their true nature.
47:22This is obviously a big, very full space.
47:25Yeah.
47:26That could be quite daunting, but it feels like this could be applicable on a smaller scale as well.
47:31Absolutely.
47:32And from all of our gardens, this is the one we think that, you know,
47:36people can take some of these ideas and implement at home.
47:40Yeah.
47:43Over in the kitchen garden, there are over 60 varieties of veg, from things like crystal
47:48lemon cucumbers to chard.
47:52Andre's team use a number of techniques to fine tune the way they work with their crops.
47:57One of the main things I know about biodynamics, and I don't fully understand it, is with biodynamic
48:02gardening, there's an element where you're doing your gardening tasks according to the lunar calendar.
48:06Mm-hmm.
48:07But could you explain how that works?
48:10Absolutely.
48:11With biodynamics, we're always trying to optimise the resources that are available to us.
48:15As we know, the moon has got an influence on tides, has got an influence on water.
48:21Why would not have an influence on plant sap, on plant growth?
48:24So we tend to sow our seeds just before full moon.
48:28So leading up to that, including the full moon days, one can really see increased germination,
48:34really amazing vigour.
48:35The other aspect that we're looking is when to transplant.
48:38So the calendar for two weeks of the month suggests it is an ideal transplanting time
48:44in the northern hemisphere.
48:45That is because the moon is getting closer to the earth.
48:50So the gravitational pull is different, so it's an ideal time for roots to develop.
48:56What would you say to somebody who was a little bit sceptical?
48:59So try it out, experiment with it.
49:02Start recording the results and just see how it feels and the results that you get.
49:07Can I see some of this produce?
49:09Yeah, let's see.
49:13Look at this, Frances.
49:16Oh, wow.
49:17Isn't this great?
49:18Oh, they're absolutely perfect.
49:20Can you tell the difference between a biodynamically growing vegetable and another?
49:24One of them I can hear as you take them out.
49:28What's that?
49:29The rustling.
49:30Yeah.
49:32I'm just trying desperately not to pull out other ones as I can get out.
49:35No, go for it.
49:36Yeah, but it's exactly that.
49:37The vitality on the leaves, you know, the sound.
49:40That's something I always want to hear on a leafy vegetable.
49:44We work with oak and pollinated seeds.
49:46We produce all our compost.
49:48We also make our own foliar feed.
49:50We use things like nettle tea, corn fruit tea as well.
49:54So there's a variety of methods that we use that can definitely help with quality.
49:59Yeah.
50:02Another key principle of biodynamics is community.
50:05André fosters that spirit, bringing the team together,
50:08often to nurture the land and their connection to one another.
50:12So what's happening here today, then?
50:15Well, today we've got a really favourable time for planting a whole lot of golden chamomile
50:20or dyer's chamomile, Anthemis tinctoria.
50:23We're growing this for biodynamic certified textiles.
50:27Oh, wow.
50:28So clothes are going to be dyed with this.
50:30With these single crop, it's a little bit monotonous.
50:33Yeah.
50:33So what we try to do to shake it up a bit is plant our diversity islands
50:37on the ends of the bed.
50:38We are trying to encourage all sorts of predators and wildlife and insects to be around the plants
50:46to be able to help with things like aphids and different types of pests.
50:54Seeing how André and the team work so closely with nature to create a thriving, balanced space
50:59really makes me wonder about what this could mean for our own gardens and where we might begin.
51:07I would encourage people to start by composting, looking at that nutrient cycle
51:11and ideally addressing that from within the garden.
51:15And I am aware that for small gardens, that can also be an issue,
51:19not having enough material at the right time.
51:21So I would encourage people to join local community composting schemes and collaborate
51:25with neighbours and finding ways to compost together as well.
51:29And secondly, start increasing the biodiversity of the garden.
51:32It is our main tool to prevent issues with pests and diseases.
51:37So we tend to say at least, you know, 20% of a productive space should be set aside for
51:44biodiversity.
51:49It's been so fascinating meeting André and hearing all about his ethos and how he works
51:55within that biodynamic system. And if there's one thing I've taken away from what that means,
52:01it's working with the rhythms that nature has anyway.
52:05If we slow down and observe rather than always feeling the need to act,
52:10then that will do the same thing. And if we don't go the whole hog
52:15into biodynamics, I think those little lessons can be wonderful places to start within our own gardens.
52:50I'm not just tidying up, I'm actually harvesting a crop, well actually not a crop, harvesting a feed
52:56for plants because nettles make really good plant food because they're very high in nitrogen.
53:03Just gather them up like this,
53:09I'll pop them in there.
53:17Right, that'll do for the moment because this is not an end in itself, but stage one of a process.
53:38Right, Ned, this is how we make nettle feed, okay? Pay attention.
53:45You need to cut it up as small as you can. This is where the shears come in. The side
53:49won't do this job very well.
53:50So I just literally, you can do this in a bucket, you can do it in a barrow like this,
53:55but chop it up with a pair of steers. And the reason why you chop it up is because you're
54:03increasing
54:04the surface area and then it'll break down quicker when you put it into liquid.
54:13Okay, that'll do. Gloves on. You need a bucket or a trug.
54:34Now having filled the bucket as full as you can, what you want to do is then cover that with
54:40water.
54:49And go on until you can see the water rise up to the surface.
54:56Perfect.
54:58Put that somewhere out the way where it's not going to be disturbed and leave it for three to four
55:04weeks.
55:05At the end of that time, strain it off and what you have is the feed. You then dilute.
55:14And what it is, it's a high nitrogen feed. So the beauty of nettle feed is it encourages growth in
55:20plants,
55:20not flowers, not fruit, or even particularly root growth. It encourages green growth.
55:27Not only are you clearing nettles where you don't want them, but you're putting them to good use.
55:35If you've got some nettles, I would highly recommend that you make some nettle tea this weekend.
55:41If you haven't got nettles, you're not off the hook because here are some more jobs for the weekend.
55:59If, like me, you have dahlias temporarily growing in pots, but you can't plant them out because either
56:06you don't have enough space or where you live there's still a risk of frost, it's a good idea
56:11to pinch out the tops, cutting down to a pair of leaves. And this will encourage the plant to produce
56:17side shoots, which in turn will carry more flowers and also means that although it will delay flowering
56:24by a week or two, it will extend flowering in early autumn by up to a month.
56:37Carrots grow very well in a container as long as it's deep enough and has drainage holes.
56:44Fill it with a free draining compost and in practice that means adding some grit or sand to a peat
56:49-free compost.
56:51Sprinkle the seed lightly on the surface, cover them over using your fingers or a little rake
56:56and then water and they should germinate in a couple of weeks time.
57:09All clematis are growing very fast, but in particularly the late flowering ones, group three.
57:15They do become self-supporting once they reach a certain height, but the new shoots are very fragile
57:22and can easily break in a wind. So tie them up carefully using soft twine so as not to damage
57:29them
57:30and within a week or two, they should be entirely self-supporting.
57:33So keep going.
57:35All right.
57:52All right.
57:56Brilliant catching. You're such a good catcher. Look at that!
58:01I have to say that this goes on at breakfast.
58:03Every single day I'm trying to eat my toast and marmalade
58:07and this ball is put in my lap, usually slightly slimy.
58:13Now, I won't be here next week
58:17because it is the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
58:20and I and most of the team will be there all week,
58:24the first programme is on Sunday
58:27and it runs every day till the following Saturday.
58:31Masses to see. It's one of the great highlights of the year
58:34so do join us there.
58:36And I'll be back here in a couple of weeks' time.
58:40Until then, bye-bye.
58:54.
58:55.
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