- 2 days ago
Gardeners' World - Season 59 Episode 8
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:11Come on, Ned.
00:57Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:59I'm just loosening this area up because this bank on the side of the mound originally was grass and we
01:07had lots of bulbs in and you had a display and then when they died back we cut it back
01:12and we kept it as cut grass.
01:14Over the years, all kinds of things have seeded themselves in here.
01:18Some of them are lovely, like the cow parsley coming through, but I want to start putting in spent bulbs
01:25from this year.
01:26That's bulbs that are flowered and finished, these are in pots, but actually there's no reason why I can't put
01:32them straight in the garden.
01:32And you can do this in a border and that's what I'm going to do here.
01:36And the colour theme here on the mound is yellow and blue, so I've got some yellow and blue hyacinths.
01:43Well, some hyacinths of the yellow and some hyacinths of the blue, not both at once.
01:54These are delft blue, so I'll take them out.
02:00Being slightly careful.
02:02There we go.
02:07So you've got, you can see, there are the bulbs.
02:11And so I will carefully separate these out.
02:15Okay.
02:17Let's just take each one.
02:19Let's take a few like that.
02:22There we go.
02:29See, that can go in there like that.
02:37Now you notice I'm not cutting back or trying to tidy up the leaves.
02:42It's really important, that, because these must be allowed to die back naturally.
02:47That will feed into the bulb and form next year's flower.
02:51If I cut those off now, there's a real chance that there'll be no flowering next year.
02:55And if you have blind bulbs, it's very often because either they've been too dry or there hasn't been enough
03:03light on the foliage after they've finished flowering.
03:18Long Meadow is pancake flat.
03:22I think we've got a fall of no more than a foot from one end to the other.
03:27So this is our only slope in the whole of the garden.
03:30And slopes are brilliant for most bulbs, because most bulbs like good drainage.
03:36It's only fritillaries, camassias, leucogeum that really can cope with damp soil and thrive in it.
03:44So a slope like this lends itself to be covered in bulbs.
03:56I quite like the way that they'll intermingle with what has naturally sewn itself here.
04:03And it really goes back to this combination of working with nature to use all the lovely natural things that
04:13are occurring and popping up and seeding themselves, but also plant in amongst them.
04:18So it becomes a creative act of which you are a partner rather than the controller.
04:23And I think that's really inspiring.
04:38Right.
04:47Now, we're going to join Carol in her garden, who shows us that you don't need a big space to
04:52grow really good food, and as well as being delicious, it can look beautiful too.
05:09I absolutely love my garden.
05:12We've been here for 47 years.
05:15And ever since we came, I've grown all kinds of ornamentals.
05:20Trees, shrubs, flowers, bulbs.
05:23But at the same time, I've also been growing vegetables, because it's just wonderful to grow your own produce.
05:30But what happens if you've only got a limited area?
05:33I want to show you during the course of this year just how you can turn even a small area
05:39into both a productive space for vegetables and a thing of beauty with all sorts of beautiful flowers.
06:09This is the plot.
06:11It's about eight feet by five feet, give or take.
06:14So it's pretty small, but I'm going to be growing so intensively in here that the whole thing eventually is
06:21going to be full of beautiful flowers and wonderful, wonderful vegetables.
06:26I'm not going to be planting everything today, but I'm going to be adding to it right the way through.
06:32All manner of stuff, but absolutely everything in here is going to be an annual.
06:37Most of it is going to be grown from seed, as were these sweet peas, which are the very first
06:43thing I'm planting in here.
06:46I'm growing several different sweet peas, but these are cupani, which is this glorious purple and maroon one with wonderful,
06:57wonderful scent.
06:58Of course, sweet peas are climbers.
07:00So my husband, Neil, has made me this wonderful structure.
07:05It's a cylinder because it means that I can grow sweet peas and climbing beans.
07:12So I'm going to intersperse them with different climbing beans.
07:28Beetroot are indispensable.
07:31Roasted or cooked, sliced and pickled, they're delicious.
07:35They can be sown direct into the soil or into modules, then potted on and planted out.
07:42The variety I'm using is boltardy.
07:45It's not just the roots we eat.
07:48Those leaves are a lovely salad vegetable in their own right.
07:58In between them, I'm planting lettuce.
08:00This is a lettuce called Little Gem, and I'm putting them in two at a time, one behind the other.
08:08And the whole object of doing that is that I can harvest one first, and then the next one can
08:14grow on and get bigger.
08:16It's really my absolute all-time favourite lettuce because not only is it delicious in salads when it's young, you
08:25can cook with it as well.
08:26Just stick it in the pan for less than a minute with a bit of butter and salt and pepper.
08:33It's delicious.
08:41So, that's the first veg planted.
08:46And it might seem a bit random, a bit willy-nilly, but it's not.
08:49It's all part of a cunning plan.
08:51So I'm going to grow a squash at the front there, and then here I'm growing a tomato.
08:57But tomato with basil is the perfect combination.
09:00So I'm going to actually sow some basil seeds right round here, and then finally plant the tomato in.
09:08I'm not doing it today because they're not ready.
09:10But what I am going to do is plant a few flowers.
09:20Alongside the beetroot and lettuce, I'm planting some pink cosmos, informally.
09:26As they grow, they'll give the lettuce a bit of dappled shade.
09:32Cosmos have to be one of the most rewarding annual flowers.
09:35And with constant deadheading, or cutting for the house, they'll keep going until late October.
09:51I'm going to sow quite a lot of vegetable seeds, and flower seeds, straight into the ground.
09:57But there are some things which are much better off grown on in pots or modules, first of all.
10:02So this is a method I use for all beans, but the beans in question are these beautiful broad beans,
10:11the crimson flowered broad bean.
10:14So not only do you get the most delicious beans, but in addition, you get the advantage of these utterly
10:22glorious flowers.
10:23So I'm just pushing them in, you want them about half an inch or so, and then cover them with
10:30grit, which will retain the moisture once I've watered them.
10:34Keep the weeds down, and make sure that they don't rot when they come up.
10:40But they're very, very unlikely to do that.
10:42I mean, they're tough things, these broad beans.
10:45Here's what I did earlier.
10:47There's the top of the bean.
10:48And look already, that little root just starting to go down there into the compost.
10:54And then we'll get a shoot, and then we'll get some utterly glorious flowers.
11:00These broad beans I'll water well, and then I'll wait until they're a few inches high before I put them
11:05out.
11:15You can use exactly the same idea of combining edibles and ornamentals in a pot, and that's just what I'm
11:23doing here.
11:24This is orac.
11:26It's a relative of spinach.
11:28You can eat it, but it also looks gorgeous.
11:31And they will go really big and flower when it's way up high, but I don't want it to flower.
11:39So all you do, just take those two little shoots off the top like that, and that will encourage all
11:46those side shoots to spread out and give us a really nice bushy plant.
11:51And I'm going to do exactly the same thing, nip the top with all the cosmos too.
11:57Now already this plant is trying to branch, but if I nip out this bit here, that's all you need.
12:09So the cosmos I'm using in here is one called Purity, and you've guessed it, it's pure white.
12:17And it takes it a while before it starts to flower, but when it goes for it, especially if you
12:24pinch the top and you've got loads of flowering side shoots, it's absolutely lovely.
12:37Now, the great thing about doing this is that I'll put these things in now.
12:43They'll be joined by some of our crimson flowered broad beans, but I can add all sorts of things.
12:50Whenever I see something that I find inspiring, I'll squeeze it in here.
12:55And as for the main patch, we've only just begun.
12:59I'll be adding more veg, loads of beautiful flowers, and the whole thing's going to come together and just look
13:06absolutely wonderful and taste good too.
13:32I do think that actually most vegetables that are well grown, vegetables, herbs and fruit, have a beauty.
13:39And of course you want it to be beautiful too.
13:42Anyway, it'll be fascinating to follow this through for the rest of the series.
13:47What I'm doing here is planting out parsley.
13:50And to do that, we start off sowing it in a seed tray, and then prick it out into individual
13:55plants as a plug.
13:56And you can see that here you have a plug.
13:59It's absolutely ready to go out.
14:01Got a good root system.
14:02And give it space.
14:04Now, this is the key thing.
14:06I am placing this actually not in squares but in a kind of grid.
14:12So each plant has plenty of space around it.
14:18And then as a result, you get a big, strong plant.
14:21Partially, remember the carrot family.
14:23They have a deep root, and they want to grow to a plant about that tall with a thick stem,
14:29and then they flower.
14:30So if you let it become well established with strong roots, you can then go on picking the leaves over
14:37a period of about three or four months.
15:07Those who now had a good start.
15:08Soak, and I will leave them, but make sure they don't dry out for another two, three weeks before they're
15:15ready to harvest.
15:16We will harvest these, oh, well into summer, by which time the next crop will be ready to plant it
15:22out.
15:23And actually the secret of all vegetable growing, it doesn't matter how much space you've got, whether it's very limited
15:28or huge, is planning ahead.
15:31Succession.
15:31So you maximise the harvest from whatever ground that you have.
15:37And also not just maximise it in quantity, but also quality.
15:41Grow what you like to eat.
15:42That is the secret.
15:44Come on in.
16:07The potting shed and the greenhouse are my happy place.
16:11Taking plants on this journey from seed to full high performance out in the garden.
16:18So you have seeds that sown and you get a seed tray full of seedlings like that.
16:24And then you prick them out and they look something along these lines into individual plugs.
16:29They then are grown on and moved over onto this side.
16:33And you can see these are all plants that have been pricked out and getting bigger.
16:36And at some stage, a lot of them are potted on.
16:39But before they can go outside, even if they're not tender plants, they need hardening off.
16:44And hardening off is something I really want to make clear because it's actually terribly important.
16:49You need to acclimatise the plant to life outside in the big bad world.
16:54So from the greenhouse, they go to a cold frame.
16:58And this is round here.
17:01Now at the moment, the cold frame is filled mainly with plants that have been pricked out.
17:08They're hardy plants, but they're protected from heavy rain.
17:11They get a little bit more heat from the glass through the sun and it means they're not too cold.
17:15And then they go to the next stage and you can see here we've got some wild carrot, sweet peas.
17:24I've got some salvias sitting here where they will remain for at least a week before going into the garden.
17:32They're protected from the cold east wind.
17:34They've got a hedge there, meaning that it's not too blurry.
17:37The sun is not too hot in the middle of the day and it's not too cold at night.
17:42They will gradually acclimatise to life outside.
17:47And if you sow your seeds on a windowsill, that's fine.
17:50The next stage could be just sort of outside the back door or around the corner by a shed where
17:55it's out of the worst of the weather.
17:57That also applies when you buy a plant from a garden centre, particularly a young plant.
18:02So harden it off for at least a week in a slightly protected place outside.
18:07But there's another form of hardening off which is also really relevant, particularly at this time of year.
18:16Come on, Deb.
18:22The other kind of hardening off is of plants that are perennial and can live for years as long as
18:32they are protected from the cold.
18:34So, for example, here we've got some agapanthus, some pelargoniums, lemon verbena, salvias.
18:40And this was, until last week, full of citrus plants.
18:44It's just enough to get them through the winter.
18:46But again, if you take them, if you haven't spent all winter in a greenhouse, and then put them outside
18:52just because it's safe to go,
18:55they're going to sort of blink in the sunlight and they literally just stop growing.
18:59They hunker down.
19:00And it can take them two or three weeks to get going again.
19:03Far better to gently introduce them and acclimatise them.
19:06And if I take a plant like the lemon verbena, so if I take this, you can see new growth,
19:11which means it's coming into life.
19:13And it's the new growth that you've got to harden off.
19:16The woody growth is fine.
19:17That doesn't need any protection.
19:19It's these new shoes.
19:21Before I take it outside, though, it needs a really hard prune as they tend to get very woody and
19:28leggy.
19:28Cut back to the lowest growth you can see, and this will result in a fresh flush of new leaves.
19:44What I normally do with lemon verbena is do a first pass like that, taking off any obvious pieces that
19:53are too long and straggly.
19:55And then when new shoots develop to another prune, the tighter you can prune it, the better the end result.
20:06Oh, a savvy one.
20:16As the new growth emerges, it will do so into a slightly harsher environment than it was in the greenhouse,
20:21but it will adapt.
20:23And that's the key to all hardening off.
20:25All the trouble you go to, or whether you buy plants from a garden centre, give them a chance to
20:30adapt to your environment.
20:32It will acclimatise, and they'll be a lot healthier and happier as a result.
20:37Now, we have all kinds of different growing environments here at Longmeadow, but the one thing we don't do is
20:41have a floating garden.
20:43But Amy Chapman does.
20:48Hi, gardeners' world.
20:49I'm Amy.
20:50This is my narrowboat.
20:51I moved on to it in the autumn, and I'm turning it into a little floating garden.
20:55Let me show you around.
21:04This is my little rooftop garden.
21:06I am trying to grow as many edible plants and useful plants and also plants for pollinators too.
21:14I have always loved growing my own food, and I didn't want to compromise on that when I bought the
21:19boats.
21:19I've got these planters, which are quite shallow.
21:22So I'm trying to choose plants that will suit a shallow depth of soil, and also plants that don't grow
21:29too tall, because I don't want them to obstruct my view when I'm cruising the boat.
21:34There's a lot of interesting things that you have to consider when you're growing on the roof.
21:39You don't want to put too much weight on one side of the boat.
21:44I am filling up this container with perennial vegetables, which are some of the easiest, lowest maintenance edibles that you
21:52can grow.
21:53These are Welsh onions, and you plant them once and they will live for years and years, and they'll just
21:59keep dividing and producing more and more onions.
22:02With watering, I'm worried about the sort of shallow depth of soil in the summer and keeping everything watered, so
22:08I think I'm going to have to cover everything with a thick mulch and try and keep as much moisture
22:14locked in as possible.
22:18I've got a couple of these babington leeks left, leeks that will basically grow out into like clumps of little
22:25baby leeks.
22:27You plant them once and they'll give you multiple harvests.
22:32I started gardening about five or six years ago, so when I bought the boat, I knew that I had
22:39to find a way to make gardening work and turn the roof into my own little garden.
22:48So this is the front of the boat, also known as the bow, and this is where I like to
22:56have a lot of colour and cheerfulness,
22:58because a lot of people that walk past the boat say how happy it makes them to see flowers.
23:02So I've got some honesty here, which is great for pollinators.
23:10It's just a lovely way to live, and you always feel like you're really connected to nature and the seasons.
23:16This is only my first spring on the boat, but I'm hoping that by the summer it's going to be
23:20absolutely overflowing with plants.
23:23I'm hoping it can be a wild, abundant, magical garden.
23:28Thank you so much for joining me.
23:29I hope you enjoyed having a little look around my floating garden.
23:32I hope you enjoyed having a little bit of time.
23:41Thank you very much.
23:44Thank you very much.
23:46I love you.
23:51Thank you very much.
23:52Thank you very much.
23:55Thank you very much.
24:05you know when i moved to london at the very beginning of 1980s we very nearly bought a
24:11houseboat and wanted to live on it but i turned it down because i thought i must have a garden
24:16and i couldn't have a garden on a houseboat well amy has proved me wrong not only can you have
24:20a
24:20garden you can have a beautiful garden so that's fantastic now the grass borders here if you're
24:26remember i cut back at the very beginning of march and it's brutal you take everything out clear it
24:34back to the ground and it stays pretty empty for a month or so depending on the weather however
24:39it's beginning to grow some are already up to knee height and within a few months time things like
24:46the big miscanthus will be as tall as i am and grow taller yet but the key thing about all
24:51these grasses
24:52and this spot here is that they are open to full sun but i've got some grasses in my barrow
24:58which are perfect for shade
25:12this is the woodland garden at the end of summer we started to replant it as not just a woodland
25:17border but incorporating the trees incorporating the shade and making the most of it this barrow
25:23is full of grasses that not only will cope with dry shade but actually thrive in it and if you
25:29get
25:29the right one i think they look great uh in in shade and in woodland settings so that's what i'm
25:35doing
25:35the first is one called hackononcloa it's become very trendy it creates these these low mounds
25:44like sort of a low bubbling fountain that spills out and the the the leaves bend up and then fall
25:49over to the ground and if i plant it near the edge of a path it won't grow too big
25:55but it will just
25:56soften that edge and it means i can plant it around the roots of trees so this is going to
26:00do a job for
26:01me for that that will spill out nicely let's have another spiller there
26:11tucked in behind the ewe here there we go this can go here like that
26:22i wonder if we could get that in there the key thing at this stage is not to to try
26:29and be too
26:29controlling try it out move them about and then when you've decided where you want them it's very
26:35easy you just make a hole in the ground take it out the pot pop it in job done now
26:40the other grass
26:42that will serve me very well in here is called cecilaria autumnalis and the name is a clue because
26:49it actually thrives best in spring and autumn semi-evergreen so i thought that here i put three
26:58now you notice i'm putting this in the clump i'm actually going to get a third because
27:04this is a grass that looks best in clumps or groups or if you've got a lot drifts so i'm
27:12thinking
27:12something like that not too close to the hellebore so maybe more like that
27:18sort ofoh as we are going to drain that
27:18that is a true forest like that
27:19quantified
27:24it doesn't bother bies
27:25you
27:25it doesn't bother bies
27:29it matters
27:31it
27:33it
27:33it
27:45it
27:51I'll get the rest of these in the ground now, but just a reminder that whatever you're
27:56planting at this time of year, even if it's something that thrives in dry shade, give
28:02it a soak when you plant it. Water it in well, and that sets it off to cope with whatever
28:07summer may bring. We're going to join Adverley now, who has gone up to Scotland, to Fife,
28:14to the Backhouse Rossi Estate, where she revels in some extremely unusual and rare daffodils.
28:26As a huge fan of daffodils, there's nothing to rival a daffodil festival in full bloom.
28:34And when those flowers carry history in their petals, it's even better.
28:41And this array includes the national collection of Backhouse daffodils, blooms created by one
28:50family over several generations since the 1800s. To me, the oldest blooms often carry the best secrets
29:02and stories. But one particular daffodil is here thanks to the brilliance and passion of several
29:10determined women.
29:13The Backhouse family were originally bankers and Quakers. But alongside their work life,
29:21several of the Backhouse men started breeding daffodils, very successfully.
29:30Initially, the only daffodils in Britain were the wild ones, which were seen as rather common.
29:37But as new varieties were produced in different colours and different shapes, they became very fashionable.
29:47Then in 1884, Robert Ormston Backhouse, a banker and daffodil enthusiast, married Sarah Elizabeth
29:56Dodgson, having been introduced to her at a Quaker meeting house.
30:03Sarah was the daughter of a pharmacist who grew up seeing her father using plants to prepare
30:11and dispense medicine. And on the back of this knowledge, a whole new era of Backhouse daffodils began.
30:24Sarah had the perfect springboard. Her father-in-law had already cultivated a breathtaking collection,
30:31which she inherited. She developed it into something entirely her own, creating a new range
30:39of daffodils in all shapes and sizes.
30:47This is Lord Kitchener, with its ruffled trumpets and contrasting white petals with a twist.
30:56Sarah named her daffodils with retail in mind. At the time, Lord Kitchener was a well-known military
31:04man, so by naming it after him, it immediately gave the flower selling power.
31:12Her tactics worked, and as she created more incredible daffodils, she caught the eye of other growers.
31:24This is sunrise, with these gorgeous gold rays spreading from the centre.
31:31It was really popular, and in her papers there's an order for a thousand bulbs at two shillings each.
31:40Some of her later daffodils sold for much more.
31:45Sarah set her heart on creating daffodils with different coloured trumpets or cups.
31:52Mohican was an early success, sporting a red edge, but a full red trumpet soon followed.
32:02This here is a classic Sarah Backhouse red cup daffodil, set off by these beautiful ivory petals.
32:12She named it after another daffodil grower called Dick Wellband, and it's truly striking.
32:24Obviously, none of this happened overnight.
32:28Daffodils can take five years from seedling to flower,
32:33and some of her varieties needed three crosses or more, but Sarah had the patience and passion.
32:47This is a list of just some of the daffodils that Sarah created.
32:52There are pages and pages of them, and these are just the A's, the B's and C's.
32:59So you've got Abundance, you've got Alba, you've got Albion Star, because all in all she created over 500 varieties.
33:10She won countless RHS awards of merit, and was the first woman to receive the coveted Peter Barr cup.
33:21But one of her biggest achievements was the first ever pink cupped daffodil.
33:29Pink cups don't occur naturally in nature, and it's likely it took Sarah over 20 years to create one.
33:39But when Sarah's descendant, Caroline Thompson, started tracking down the backhouse varieties,
33:45she couldn't find the pink cups growing anywhere.
33:49However, she did have inside knowledge.
33:54How did you find it Caroline?
33:57Well, it was my mother. She remembered as a small child Robert Backhouse, her older cousin,
34:04coming to her grandparents' house with a gift of the pink daffodils.
34:13When we heard the story,
34:16we decided to go down to Herefordshire,
34:19and have a look at what is now a nursing homes, grounds, and see if they were still there.
34:27Amazingly, they were in the exact spot her mother remembered them being planted.
34:35These are so beautiful.
34:38They're not like a barbie pink, are they?
34:42They're more like a salmon.
34:43These I find beautiful because during the longest part of their flowering,
34:52they are this salmon-y coral pink,
34:56from the tip of the rim right down to the base.
35:01To begin with, they come out a sort of yellowy colour,
35:04and when they're older, they fade to a whitey colour.
35:07But for that longest full flowering period, they are pink,
35:12and they are the first true pink daffodil.
35:16The public loved them,
35:18and they were the most widely grown and most popular daffodil for about 90 years.
35:24Are they later flowering?
35:25Yes.
35:26Absolutely, they are.
35:28Sarah Backhouse created narcissists that would flower early,
35:34through to ones which would flower right the way through to mid-May,
35:37these will be flowering in our garden,
35:39and they are fabulous at that time of year.
35:43They come up and look like glorious fireworks.
35:50These days, there is some irritation
35:53that Sarah's most famous flower is called Mrs R. O. Backhouse,
35:59which is mostly Robert's name.
36:02But that was normal for the time,
36:04and her husband fully acknowledged his wife's prowess.
36:12In a letter after her death, Robert made it clear exactly where the genius lay.
36:22He wrote,
36:23I hope to continue to care for her beautiful flowers,
36:27but I fear the supply of new varieties will cease.
36:31I just know that she would be delighted to know that several generations later,
36:38a female relation would be keeping her legacy alive.
37:02I love the fact that Mrs R. O. Backhouse was discovered just down the road from here,
37:09in Herefordshire. And I'm sure there's probably more lurking around the country somewhere,
37:14and the RHS would love to know if you have her in your garden.
37:18So there's Mrs R. O. Backhouse, and a couple of others.
37:21There's Mrs William Copeland, and also one called Sussex Bonfire.
37:25Those three are very rare, but they probably are out there, and could be in your back garden.
37:32So if you think you've got them, or one of them, go to our website,
37:36and it will tell you how you can let the RHS know, and then what to do about it.
37:42Come on, Ned.
37:48Now, should I throw the ball?
37:51Go on, off you go.
37:54Let's go.
37:54At this time of year, of course, we all want colour, whether it be rare, exotic, unusual colour,
37:59or even just the brightness, the freshness of green on a lovely sunny spring day.
38:06But actually, if you've got a shady garden, or a shady corner,
38:10you can still make something that is really beautiful, and use colour to do it.
38:30I've got here the ingredients for what I think will be a really good display.
38:36Nice big pot, crop to put in the bottom, and then your compost mix is worth taking trouble over.
38:44You can just use peat-free compost you buy, and that will work sort of 80-85% as well
38:51as a mix.
38:52But the plants I've chosen, which are ferns and fuchsias, like an open, loose mix.
38:57So I've added leaf mould. If you haven't got leaf mould, you know, just think of something maybe a bit
39:03of coir.
39:04I've added a little bit of sieve compost, and that has made a mix that is nice and loose,
39:09and the roots will get down in there and be cool.
39:11So, half fill the pot.
39:20Now we'll start with the firm. It's Arthurium nipponicum rebbeauti.
39:25And this Arthurium is special because the leaves have colour.
39:31They are suffused with a sort of grey, silvery stain, and this beautiful burgundy,
39:37sort of central stem going down the frond and going out into the side fronds.
39:43It does not like being dry, so wherever you put this pot, you've got to have access to water
39:48and remember to water it at least weekly. I'm going to plant my centrepiece towards the back.
39:54If you're going to go see round the pot, obviously it needs to go in the middle.
39:58And the old saying that you have a pillar, a filler, and a spiller works pretty well,
40:03but this has to class as the pillar. And so we'll take it out the pot and position it like
40:10that.
40:12Now a little bit more around it.
40:18But that leaves plenty of space for the next addition.
40:22Now my filler is a fuchsia called Annabelle. Annabelle, very well-known fuchsia, got lovely,
40:28very pale flowers. It's a bushy plant and fairly upright. In fact, you quite often see Annabelle
40:34grown as a standard, so it's got one central stem and then a circular top. The one thing to remember
40:40about fuchsias is they do need good drainage. They don't like to be too wet, so if I'm watering the
40:45fern a lot, I must make sure there's drainage so they're not sitting in soggy compost. So that goes
40:51in the middle ground, like that, and like this. I've got three.
41:03And then a little bit more compost in the front. And now I've got my foreground for the spiller.
41:11And this is another fuchsia called Harry Grey. This is the palest of pinks that will spill in profusion
41:19over the edge of the pot. These plants are very dry, so I'm going to have to give them a
41:24good soak.
41:26Okay, I'm just filling around them. The final thing to do is put it in position and water it.
41:43And that can go down in front of this pot, which of course is also geared for shade. And actually,
41:50even in midsummer, this only gets about four hours of sun, but this will survive and thrive. I'm
41:55confident about that. Now the next thing to do is to water, and that really is important.
42:08It will take a month or so before the fuchsias start to flower. The great thing is that these
42:15will look at their best when other things are failing. So they should look good in the summer,
42:20and really at their best in September and October.
42:26Come on, Ed. Come on.
42:30Good boy.
42:44Well, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is getting closer, and I know that everybody involved,
42:50whatever they're doing, they will be working around the clock to make sure that on the big day,
42:56things are as perfect as they possibly can be. And we went to visit a nursery,
43:02growing enormous trees that look as though they're completely natural in the show garden.
43:07And Elliot Barden of Majestic Trees showed us around.
43:13I've always been into horticulture. It's been my dream job from day one, but I really refined my
43:19interest for trees while I was studying at Kew. And linking that with my love of production of plants
43:25meant that I could only really work out of a tree nursery.
43:28The trees are important for the landscape because of all the ecosystem services that they provide.
43:33Things like wind dissipation, flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, habitat creation,
43:38all of those sorts of things. But at the same time, they're important for the human element as well,
43:44because of things like social health and mental wellbeing. A lot of studies have been brought in
43:49that horticulture can be healing and it can be good for the mind.
43:56Tree selection is really important. My three guidelines would be select the right species
44:01in the right place and for the right reason. There's many aspects that you need to consider,
44:07such as ultimate size and space, but more importantly, how the tree is going to adapt to climate
44:13shifts. So there's a lot of research been done and there's some studies that are suggesting London's
44:19going to have the climate of Barcelona by 2050, possibly Azerbaijan by 2100. And a lot of our
44:25British native trees are simply not going to be resilient to those climates in that era. So that's
44:31when we need to start looking at perhaps some exotics that are going to fill the space where
44:36the natives are leaving, but also provide the same ecosystem and biodiversity benefits.
44:42Non-natives are referred to as exotics and there's somewhere between 3,600 and 4,000 varieties in
44:49cultivation compared to our native tree species range, which is somewhere between 30 and 35 species.
44:57So to have that diversity in the treescape will enable them to be resilient.
45:06I joined the Royal Botanic Gardens Cue in 2013 fresh out of school and it was a steep learning curve.
45:12Cue is somewhere that you always have some connection and today we're working together
45:17looking at scientific research and how that can be put to best use in the commercial trade.
45:24It traps that moisture on the fine hair which cools the leaf down. My name's Kevin Martin,
45:29I'm head of the tree collections at Royal Botanic Gardens Cue, so I'm really trying to understand
45:35what the landscape's going to look like in 100 years time. So with the research that I do specialising
45:40in urban trees, it's critically important that we get the commercial nurseries on board because I can
45:45do research and I can find some of the most fantastic trees that are going to be more resilient to
45:50our future climate.
45:53When we think about selecting trees, we have to really stop and think deeply now. We can't just
46:00select trees on horticultural merit, what the tree looks like, so its bark, the colour of its leaves.
46:05What we need to start thinking deeply about is the function. We're looking at cooling, we're looking
46:10at shade, we're looking at rain interception. They're the questions we need to ask ourselves now,
46:15not just what that tree looks like. Chelsea's going to be so important because when we think about
46:22trees and when we think about selecting trees, we need a cultural change and that's the biggest thing.
46:28And where else are you going to be able to start that conversation about cultural change than at Chelsea?
46:35So Kevin, these are the possible selected trees for our Chelsea stand here.
46:40We'll start with this Circus canadensis forest pansy with a beautiful purple leaf, it's got some flowers on.
46:47Great, they're a really standout tree. Very well suited, especially for those urban dry environments.
46:53And that's what we need to try to explain. Just because they're resilient trees doesn't necessarily mean they're boring.
47:03So next we have Taxodium distichum which is famous for thriving in swampy, wet conditions.
47:09If we're having an area that's prone to flooding, for instance, these are the trees we need to start
47:15looking at. And they're just really good ornamental trees, but they have a purpose now.
47:23One of the last trees to talk about is Sorbus olympensis olympic flame, which has lots of benefits
47:30in terms of climate resilience and benefits towards other species. It's got that spring flower,
47:35it's really important for our pollinators. And then we've got that food source for the birds when the
47:39berries come out. And again, look at that for a stunning architectural tree, but yet it's still
47:44providing other services. And that's what makes trees like this so stunning to have in our gardens.
47:51The trees we plant today, they're going to see a different world in a hundred years time.
47:58The climate is going to be very different. The growing conditions are going to be very different.
48:01So that's really the scale that we're working in. And it's critically important we get that message
48:05out there now, because by planting trees, we can then help with climate mitigation.
48:12And trees are going to be one of the main backbones of this mitigation as we go forward for the
48:17next
48:17few decades.
48:19So Kevin, it's been really hard overall selecting trees for Chelsea, which not only look
48:24special and, you know, pleasing for people to see, but also have some of these traits we've been
48:29talking about. So overall, I hope we've done a good job, but the proof will be in the pudding when
48:36it comes to judging, won't it? It will do. Yeah, it'll be all down to the judges.
49:05I think this
49:08idea of having to choose trees in response to climate change is something we're all having
49:14to wrap our heads around. And it's actually quite a big ask, because we've grown up with trees as
49:19such a significant part of our culture in literature, in art, in poetry. The shapes and outlines and
49:27features of our native trees are such an important part of our lives that to change that, well, it may
49:35be
49:35interesting, but it's going to be quite demanding. But at the same time, we don't have to abandon
49:40a lot of the trees that we love. And this year has been a brilliant year for blossom. And the
49:46crab
49:47apples, this is a crab apple called Everest. And it's such a joy to have that blossomy week with these
49:54white flowers floating above the paradise garden. And then they fall like confetti,
49:59and the year moves on. But for that one week, it is paradise indeed.
50:06TEAM
50:21OK, come on then.
50:25TEAM
50:26Now, you're going to help me cut the time. Are you? Are you? I think it's probably not a good
50:31idea, OK?
50:32what would you like to look it smells delicious stop showing off right um this is time common
50:42time and like all mediterranean herbs it doesn't really want to grow here at long meadow which is
50:47why i've got it growing in a pot but time and all mediterranean herbs have this tendency to become
50:53very woody and so the answer if you're growing it for the kitchen is to trim it hard now till
50:59you
51:00get a new flush of leaves so that's what i'm going to do here certainly start off by cutting off
51:04all
51:05the really old bear growth like that and go go hard when you're cutting back any plant really
51:18but certainly these mediterranean herbs as long as you cut back to something in other words there's
51:24fresh new growth below your cutting point it'll regrow whereas if you cut just into old wood and
51:31just leave a bare stem the chances are it won't regrow and that applies to lavender to rosemary
51:37to sage and thyme equally it will look a little bit sort of cropped for a week or two but
51:47it will grow
51:57back these plants probably will only serve this year and then they'll be irretrievable and we'll
52:03have to start again and i think probably with time you have to think of replacing it at least every
52:09three years if not every other year so i've trimmed this back but i'm also going to sow some seed
52:15so that
52:16i know next year and the year after i can replace these plants and lots of others beside it
52:33when you're sowing the seed just as growing the plant just remember where it comes from
52:37it needs poor soil and lots of drainage so don't add any garden compost to your seed mix there's no
52:45need to do that but do add some extra drainage if you possibly can it could be sand it could
52:50be grit
52:51vermiculite anything just to loosen it up so i've added vermiculite to a coir-based compost
53:01just level it out
53:05now thyme seed is pretty small so if you see the seed here
53:13there we go now each one of those of course is a potential plant and the fact that brown
53:19and the compost is brown means you can't see where you sow but just try
53:23and sprinkle it as evenly as you can the main thing to do is to avoid grouping in any one
53:31area
53:31because the seedlings and the ultimate plant will do much better if they have a decent amount of room
53:39from the outset now i'm not compacting this all i'm doing is just making sure that the seeds have good
53:45contact with the compost with most seeds i would then cover that with either some more compost or
53:53some vermiculite but thyme seedlings need light in which to germinate so leave them leave them open
54:00like that label them this is just straightforward time now if i watered that from above however gently
54:12i did it there is a slight risk that it will move the little tiny seeds to the edge of
54:18the container
54:18so much better to water it from below
54:26so just have a shallow tray
54:29pop it in
54:30and leave it
54:31until you can see the compost staining with the water
54:35drain it put it somewhere bright
54:39okay that's a job which will bear harvest sometime in the future but here are some jobs for this weekend
54:58when your tulips have finished flowering snap off the seed heads this is very satisfying thing to do
55:05because they come off easily don't cut back the stem and lead the leaves but this means that all the
55:11goodness
55:12instead of going into making seeds will go back into the bulb for next year's flower
55:22if you grow tree ferns and have protected them over winter now it's safe to unwrap them release the fronds
55:29if they're looking raggedy you can cut these right back because they'll soon be replaced but on the other hand
55:34and if they're still looking good leave them for a while
55:36in either case it's really important to give them a good soak
55:40and tree ferns have many of their roots on the trunk
55:44and this is what you need to keep moist
55:46so soak the fronds and the trunk
55:50rather than the roots in the ground
55:58it's time to sow sweet corn
56:01either use a three inch pot sowing two seeds to a pot and then removing the weakest of the two
56:06seedlings
56:07or one to a plug but do make sure it is the deepest plug that you can find
56:13press them gently into the compost cover them over and then water them well
56:17and do so from above because with that depth of compost they don't soak up so well
56:23put them somewhere warm to germinate the heat is important
56:27but if they're warm enough the seedlings should appear in a week or so
56:58I want to finish if not on a high note
57:01a low one which I hope actually makes everybody feel a bit better
57:05because I'm going to finish with a disaster
57:08the garden's looking lovely
57:09we work really hard to make it look as good as possible
57:13but still things go wrong
57:16and it happens to all of us
57:17and here we have in the cottage garden
57:20a rose or at least it was a rose
57:23called ipsilanti
57:25a Gallica rose, beautiful flowers
57:27and like most Gallicas
57:29seemingly
57:31just able to cope with anything
57:33but this has got hit by fire blight
57:36and fire blight is a bacterial infection
57:38which looks as though it's been blowtorched
57:40hence the name fire blight
57:42all the rose family are prone to it
57:44and we've got it in the garden
57:46and it's never going to go away
57:47but because of our very wet warm winters
57:49that makes it worse
57:51so there's not much you can do about it
57:53what I will do with this is cut it back
57:56burn the offending stems
57:58dig out the roots
57:59and burn those too
58:00if you can't burn them
58:02then pack them up
58:03and get them taken away to the council tip
58:05and I won't replant into it till the autumn
58:08when everything is clear
58:10I will then clean out the soil a little bit
58:12and put another rose in
58:14that is less prone to fire blight
58:16but for the moment
58:17it's just a pity
58:19nevertheless
58:21everything else in the garden
58:23is looking wonderful
58:25next week
58:26we're going to join Joe and Rachel
58:29at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival
58:32and I will see you back here at Longmeadow
58:34in a couple of weeks time
58:36so until then
58:36bye bye
58:56there you are
58:59weee
59:00let's see you
59:00about
59:02why
59:03i'll see you
59:04and that's amazing
59:04as much as we don'titly
59:04who you
59:04you
59:06do
Comments