- 14 hours ago
Gardeners' World 1968 Season 59 Episode 11
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00:31Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:34And after the glory and the glamour and the hurly-burly of Chelsea, I have to say it's very nice
00:40to be back in the garden.
00:41And there are jobs to do.
00:42A really good thing to consider doing at this time of year is the Chelsea chop.
00:47Now, the Chelsea chop is really pruning of herbaceous perennials round about the time of Chelsea flower show, so the
00:54middle to the end of May.
00:56Now, this is a geranium, a hardy geranium.
01:00It's called blue cloud.
01:01It's glorious.
01:03But it is huge, and it does tend to spill and flop.
01:08But the main reason for the Chelsea chop is to delay flowering and to stagger it.
01:13So if you've got plants like rubecchia, if you've got heleniums, helianthus, if you cut them back now, you delay
01:19it by a week or two.
01:20And also, the ones that you cut will develop more side shoots, and it's the side shoots that bear the
01:25flowers.
01:25So, simply get a pair of shears, and cut back by about a third.
01:34Don't worry about cutting at any particular point in the plant, just chop it back.
01:54That's enough.
01:55There we go.
02:00There we go.
02:31Here in the Jewel Garden,
02:32the Alliums are probably at their best.
02:35This is Allium Purple Sensation,
02:36which we planted in all innocence about 30 years ago.
02:41I've been planting 100 bulbs,
02:43and since then it's become an ineradicable weed,
02:47but a beautiful one.
02:49However, other things have moved on.
02:51So the tulip display has been and gone,
02:53which means that the big pots,
02:55both at the sides and the centre of the garden,
02:57need replanting, rethinking,
03:00so that they give a display from now right through
03:03till we empty them in October,
03:05ready for planting tulips.
03:07And so the cycle continues.
03:08Now, at the bottom of this pot,
03:10I've left about a third of the compost,
03:14and it's very gritty and dry,
03:16which, of course, tulips love.
03:17They need that good drainage.
03:19And it forms a good base
03:21for whatever I want to plant in here.
03:22I've made a mix of sieved garden compost,
03:26grit, leaf mould,
03:29and a little bit of my normal potting mix,
03:32but it's mainly sieved garden compost,
03:35leaf mould and grit.
03:37So there's plenty of nutrition,
03:38but also lots of drainage.
03:40I'll tell you what, it's hot.
03:49OK.
03:55Now, my centrepiece of this pot
03:58is going to be something
03:59I've never grown in a pot before.
04:01It's acanthus.
04:03And this is acanthus spinosus.
04:06I've taken a section from a much bigger piece,
04:09which I dug up from the garden.
04:10Now, acanthus is a bit like the purple sensation alliums.
04:14Very difficult to get rid of out of a border
04:16once you've got it,
04:17but good for growing in a pot for that reason.
04:20Now, that's very floppy at the moment
04:21because I've dug it up
04:24and separated it from the rest of its plant.
04:26But if I put a bit of a support in,
04:31which I can remove later,
04:33just for the moment,
04:35that will keep it in place.
04:40While I plant the rest of it up.
04:42I'm going to add three of these plants.
04:45These are salvia amistad,
04:47cuttings that are taken,
04:49that are kept over winter and are growing.
04:51And amistad has two great virtues.
04:54The first is it has wonderful rich purple flowers.
04:58And the second is that of all the salvias you can grow,
05:02it's the most adaptable and the easiest to grow
05:05in the most varied conditions.
05:08So that will go in there like that.
05:15So we put this here.
05:17It's competing with the stick,
05:19but we can make that work.
05:26And of course, the acanthus has these very, very zigzaggy leaves
05:31and then throws up flower spikes
05:32with white and bruised purple flowers.
05:37And it should be about this tall.
05:39And the salvia also is quite tall,
05:41with tall flowers.
05:42So this is going to be up here.
05:44It's going to be a big, strong display,
05:46but I do need something lower down.
05:49And I've got these scabious.
05:51This is a tray of scabious black knight
05:54that I've grown from seed.
05:57What I'm going for is drama.
06:01Drama in every respect.
06:24Now these scabious are obviously very small now,
06:26but they will grow bigger
06:27and they have wonderful rich burgundy flowers,
06:31slightly domed pom-poms.
06:33And these will flower at their best in July and August.
06:36So the whole thing looks a bit scruffy,
06:39a bit floppy and certainly got no colour in it,
06:42but it will have.
06:43Now the amistad I took from cuttings.
06:46This is a root division.
06:47And the scabious I grew from seed.
06:50And Carol, who goodness knows,
06:53has grown more seed than most of us have had hot dinners,
06:56has been discovering just how complex and fascinating
07:03the whole process of a seed coming into life can be.
07:17Science is now revealing that plants can compute.
07:21They can see, they can hear, and they can communicate
07:26in ways that I'd never, ever have dreamt of.
07:30And using advanced technology,
07:33we can now step into their world.
07:35We can find out how they perceive the world
07:38and just what they need.
07:47Seeds are splendid.
07:50They're just the most miraculous, the most magical,
07:54the most marvellous things there are.
07:58Just about every plant on the planet
08:01starts its life as a seed.
08:06Different forms, different sizes, different shapes,
08:09different textures.
08:10But within each and every seed
08:12is the potential to make a brand new plant.
08:16If I take this broad bean, this is one I've soaked.
08:20So I'm just going to chop this in half.
08:23And within it is all the food it requires, everything.
08:28The embryonic root, the radical.
08:32This one's actually started to germinate.
08:35Can you see with this tiny little root here?
08:38And the cotyledon leaves,
08:40the first two seed leaves which come out,
08:42and then the true leaves,
08:44which gradually, gradually,
08:45will turn this seed into a plant.
08:49But that's not all that's happening within a seed.
08:52As science advances,
08:54we're finding out more and more
08:56about the kind of processes which take place inside the seed.
09:01All seeds have these sensors which inform that seed
09:05when the conditions are perfectly right
09:08for it to get up and go and germinate.
09:13To delve deeper into the science behind seeds,
09:17I've arranged to speak to Professor Malcolm Bennett
09:20of the Houndsfield facility at Nottingham University.
09:24He's a world-renowned expert in the hidden life of plants.
09:29Malcolm, I must have been sowing literally thousands and thousands,
09:35possibly millions of seed.
09:37I've been doing it all my life and loving it,
09:39but I don't actually understand too much
09:43about what happens inside that seed.
09:46Could you tell us in layman's terms or laywoman's terms
09:49just what happens in there?
09:51Well, just like you and I, plants have hormones,
09:55and there are two really important hormones
09:58that are fighting it out.
09:59They're the yin and yang of hormones,
10:02and one is saying stay dormant,
10:04and that's called abscisic acid.
10:06We could call it the sleeping beauty hormone,
10:09and you've got another one which actually says wake up,
10:13and it's called gibberellic acid.
10:15And it's like the Prince Charming of hormones,
10:17and they fight it out.
10:19Yeah.
10:19And if conditions are right, the gibberellic acid,
10:23it dominates and it starts growth.
10:26And you see that because the seed starts to swell,
10:29it takes up water, and then the embryonic root starts to push out.
10:33The radical.
10:34You see it appearing.
10:35It's so exciting, isn't it?
10:37But what can I find out which is going to enable me
10:41to get better germination and, you know, become a better gardener?
10:45So one of the tricks is to have variation in the temperature.
10:50Yeah.
10:50So once it's been sown, keeping it at a constant temperature doesn't really help.
10:55You want to fluctuate the temperature, and this will really help.
10:59Right.
10:59So obviously in the spring you have a lot of fluctuation.
11:03Yeah.
11:03Yeah.
11:03And that's biological noise.
11:06And this is information saying it's springtime.
11:10I suppose rather than having to keep putting things in the fridge and pull them out,
11:14just, you know, on a normal window ledge or in the greenhouse, anywhere at all,
11:19it's going to experience that fluctuation in temperatures.
11:24Absolutely.
11:24So don't keep the temperatures constant.
11:27Right.
11:27Actually make sure they fluctuate.
11:30As well as this fluctuating temperature,
11:32what are the other conditions that the seed senses?
11:35Well, it needs water.
11:37A seed is remarkable because it's so dehydrated,
11:41it's actually about 15% water content when it's in your seed packet.
11:47Yeah.
11:47And before it germinates, it takes up water.
11:51Water's essential to be taken up and it swells and the cells expand
11:57and then it's ready to actually germinate
12:00and you can see the radical expanding and growing out from the seed coat.
12:04But when that radical comes out, how does it know to go downwards?
12:09Well, this is the key.
12:12At the very tip of the root are special gravity-sensing cells
12:17and they know to go down because essentially that's where the water is
12:22and the nutrients.
12:23So as soon as it emerges from your seed, it knows to dive down
12:28and it even has root hairs to help it enter the soil
12:31and start to explore for water and nutrients
12:35and everything it needs to establish itself.
12:38Wow.
12:40Whichever seed you want to sow, it's vital to give it the best start in life.
12:45For big round seed like sweet peas, I station sow each one individually.
12:51A module tray or a fruit punnet divided into sections makes a perfect home.
12:58For finer seed like nigella or nicotiana, I sow on the surface of the compost,
13:05then sprinkle lightly with grit, which helps retain moisture and keeps weeds at bay.
13:11I've always watered my seed from underneath.
13:14To me it seems to work better to actually stand your seed tray in water.
13:19What you want is a strong root system that will grow deep,
13:23so by washing from the bottom you're doing exactly the right thing
13:26because essentially you're allowing the plant to sense a water gradient.
13:32Yeah.
13:32It's less water at the top and there's more water at the bottom.
13:35Would you believe that was discovered by Charles Darwin?
13:38Him and his son did some really cool experiments
13:41where he had demonstrated the roots could sense water, gradients of water in the soil.
13:47And what you're doing is repeating an experiment of Charles Darwin.
13:51Oh right, well, hats off to Charles Darwin.
13:56Carol, I've been admiring the pink blossom above your head throughout this interview.
14:02Yeah, well, it's funny you should say that because this came from a seed.
14:07My mum grew it, it's a circus.
14:10And when she gave it to me it was about this big.
14:13Well, that's a wonderful coming together of our discussion, huh?
14:18Seeds rule, don't they? Aren't they marvellous?
14:28I just found that so exhilarating, so interesting.
14:33I'll never think about my seeds in exactly the same way again
14:37because now I know so much more about why they grow, why they germinate, what happens.
14:47I've had quite a lot of success with my seed, but not in every case.
14:52Look at these. This is a calendula. It's called Indian Prince.
14:56It's one of my favourite pot marigolds.
14:59That's it growing right outside there.
15:01So when they started to germinate I got really excited.
15:05And up they came one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and then they stopped.
15:10Now why?
15:12I think what I'm going to do is try and heed Malcolm's advice
15:17and try and replicate that sort of process in, out, creating chaos.
15:22But I think I might do it from this plant out here.
15:32Well, look at my magnificent marigold.
15:36As well as making all these flowers, it has already set seed.
15:41And I'm going to do a bit of an experiment.
15:43I'm going to actually take one of these seed pods off.
15:49But this time, instead of just sowing them and leaving them in the greenhouse,
15:53I'm going to subject them to the kind of fluctuation,
15:57the sort of chaos that Malcolm was telling us about.
16:01And I'm sure that that's bound to mean I get much better success.
16:05And that's the whole thing.
16:07What Malcolm says is not a contradiction of the sort of practice
16:12that I and lots of other gardeners have been engaged in.
16:16It just deepens it.
16:18It just lets us understand much, much better
16:21what happens with our seeds when they germinate.
16:24And therefore, it means we're going to be more successful
16:27at growing stuff from seed, of having more plants
16:31and becoming better gardeners.
16:42I'm for sure.
16:49But it doesn't matter.
16:50Even if you have to end up in the low gardeners,
16:51It's a great place.
16:53It's a great place.
16:57We're going to be so passionate and true.
16:57No.
16:57Let's go to the edge there.
16:59Anything else?
17:00It's a great place.
17:00But nothing else?
17:01You're going to be so passionate for that.
17:03There's going to be so passionate and funny you can
17:17obviously that is completely fascinating and I love it when you learn something new that opens
17:24up doors you didn't even know existed to a whole world to explore and discover and particularly as
17:29a gardener as you get older you do realize that you're just scratching the surface of knowledge
17:34it is worth pointing out that that temperature variation for seeds applies to plants grown in
17:41the northern hemisphere but those that come from the equator what they respond to is light and heat
17:46so anything that you sow whether there be some flowers or zinnias or things like that will just
17:53need constant heat now these are wallflowers and I sowed these because they're biennials a year ago
18:00and they're still flowering and I've had trouble growing wallflowers in the past I think because
18:05I gave them too much heat and last year I sowed them outside directly into the soil and left them
18:11growing from the end of May right through till October pretty much unattended planted them out
18:17and these have been flowering since February and they're really happy and healthy so I'm going
18:23to do the same this year and sow my wallflowers outside for next year's display
18:35come on this way I'm going to go into this bed here this one here good boy now what I've
18:43done here
18:44is chosen a number of varieties that for me are tried and tested and also very much relating to
18:50where I want to grow them so for example I've got fire king wonderful mixture of oranges and reds
18:59and really velvety and strong I've got some from the better series the better series were raised in
19:06Victorian times and they're very reliable they're very disease-free and they're good I've got orange
19:13better scarlet better and primrose better so fire king here we go so I'm using the board as a spacer
19:24just draw a line like that just draw a line like that and like that
19:37here
19:43this is not something to do on a windy day the seeds will blow away obviously I'm trying to sow
19:50them as
19:50as thinly as possible and this should give them the variation in temperature that they need to germinate
20:08and grow successfully there's a weed there so let's take that out
20:38I will of course water these in so just with a with a
20:40the hosepipe to spray them. But they are tough. They will grow with almost any
20:46conditions to be thrown at them. The only thing they don't like is being
20:50waterlogged. So as long as the drainage is good they'll be very happy. Now I
20:56always like going to see one of your gardens and this time we're going south
21:02across the channel down into the south of France.
21:11Hello my name's Joey Daniels and welcome to my garden here in the Lotte region of
21:18southwest France. I live here with my wife Emily, my four-year-old son Sid and our
21:27spaniel Flo. So we've lived here now for about eight years and when we first
21:34arrived there wasn't really much in the garden at all other than scrappy grass, a
21:39lot of thistles and some old grapevines. And we actually got married in the garden
21:45and held the reception here. For that we grew a few cut flowers and from there I
21:52really got a taste for growing and there was never really a grand plan but it
21:57just developed organically as my passion grew for it.
22:02So this area of the garden it's planted up in a more of a naturalistic style.
22:10Currently one of the key plants that's flowering is the Nautia arvensis and that
22:16kind of floats through perennial grasses. That's later joined by the fennels so
22:23there's always some good colour, good form and some good forage for the insects and
22:30invertebrates here.
22:33One of the highlights of the garden at this time of year is the bearded irises. These
22:39are called Iris pallida. They've got this beautiful colour which catches the evening
22:44light absolutely beautifully. Now they do prefer more drained soils. Here we're on clay so I've
22:53had to dig in some sand and some grit but if you can give them the drainage and put
22:58them in a full sun position they'll do really well for you.
23:07In between the house and the vegetable garden we have a meadow area. We're really lucky that
23:15the wild orchids have started to proliferate through here. You might be able to hear behind
23:22me there's a nightingale singing. We're really fortunate they'll sing all night long and sometimes
23:30they'll sing throughout the day as well making it a really special place to be at this time
23:38of year.
23:41Another thing that I love about the garden is how much it's teaching my son about the plants
23:48and the insects and the animals that live here.
23:52That's the new.
23:54Since moving here the garden has become a huge part of our lives. We're never happier
24:01than just spending time just being here in the garden all together.
24:10So that's it from me. I hope you've enjoyed looking around our garden.
24:15Kim.
24:32I hope I bring in the garden as well.
24:38I hope she Kriegles to bloom and I could see the garden here.
24:38Now, I have all the hadiens here sit and see the garden too!
24:38I hopeồi it's coming.
24:39Joe, will meet my children.
24:39Well, keep going soon.
24:39Maybe she's in the garden?
24:40I hope she'll work for you tomorrow.
24:49well thank you for sharing that with us Joe it's a lovely garden and if like Joe you think you've
24:55got a lovely garden that you're very proud of we'd love to see it too go to our website and
25:00get all
25:00the details of how you can share it with us all now one of the symbols of late spring early
25:07summer
25:08that unfailingly gives me pleasure in this garden is this rose behind me it's a species rose Rosa
25:14Cantabridiensis and like all species roses what it means is it hasn't been crossed with anything it
25:20is exactly as found growing in the wild just small simple single flowers this lovely pale primrose
25:28color dappled and speckled across the shrub and species roses are a really good plant to grow in
25:36woodland or if the soil isn't very good because they're really tough I mean the truth is there
25:41are glorified bramble but as brambles go they are magnificent
26:13so
26:18so
26:19so
26:43Now, a barrow full of plants is a luxury to be relished, and it's a joy.
26:49But it's appropriate, because I'm slowly building up this woodland garden.
26:55And the key thing for any woodland planting is characterised by trees.
27:01Trees dominate it to a greater or lesser extent.
27:04So these trees up here, the leaves are opening out, and that's providing shade.
27:09Sometimes it's heavy shade, sometimes it's dappled light shade, but it's always shady to some extent.
27:15Then the other factor that trees do, particularly as we get into summer, is they suck up moisture out the
27:21ground.
27:23So even if the ground is quite heavy or there's quite a lot of rain, it will be drying.
27:28Now, a lot of plants go dormant, and that obviously applies to things like hellebores and snowdrops and the early
27:33spring flowers.
27:34But there are plants that not only will survive it, but actually thrive it and look good.
27:39And if you're making a garden, you want it to look good for as long as possible, and that's why
27:43I've got this tray of plants.
27:44Now, I'm going to start with Aronchus doicus, and it's got wonderful feathery plumes of flower in late summer.
27:52And they grow quite big.
27:54The foliage will grow about a metre high, and then the flowers rise above it.
27:57And they will flower from late summer into autumn, and they look fantastic.
28:02Look at that there.
28:05And that there.
28:11I've got two types of geranium.
28:14This is a hardy geranium, and it's called geranium nodosum.
28:22And absolutely is the best one for dark, dry places.
28:27And it flowers for a long time and starts flowering relatively late.
28:32As you can see, this is in flower now.
28:33And will go on flowering all summer long.
28:35And makes pretty good ground cover.
28:39This will be good.
28:40There we go.
28:41One in there, and another there.
28:46All right.
28:49I've got another geranium, which is geranium silvaticum mayflower.
28:55And this flowers from mid-spring to mid-summer.
28:59And you can see it's got a richer colour.
29:01It's a bit bigger.
29:02It's richer.
29:04Dappled shade is really what it likes best, rather than heavy shade.
29:08I think we can put this in here like that.
29:11And maybe like that.
29:18Yeah, I think so.
29:20I'm very happy to change my mind about planting.
29:23And I also often move plants after I've planted them.
29:27I try not to do that, because obviously plants don't like it.
29:29But if you do it soon after planting, they barely notice.
29:33And especially if you water them really well when you've moved them.
29:37And finally, I've got foxgloves.
29:39I love foxgloves.
29:41Absolutely love them.
29:42And they are the perfect plant for light shade.
29:46They're woodland plants, but not heavy shade.
29:49And of course, they'll grow to about three foot tall.
29:51So they will rise up.
29:53And brilliant flowers from the end of May to the end of June.
30:10Aruncus has very deep roots.
30:12I mean, these roots will go right down.
30:14So as long as this gets a good soak in winter,
30:16and of course, in summer,
30:18the rain is kept off by the canopy of the leaf.
30:21But in winter, it can get really wet,
30:23and those roots will find it.
30:26OK.
30:36OK, that's the beginning.
30:38A lot more to plant.
30:39But it's so exciting when you're making a garden.
30:42There's this sense of something coming into creation,
30:46something bigger than you.
30:48And I find that so exciting.
30:52However, not everybody has space.
30:54But RECO shows that almost everybody can grow not just food for the table,
31:03but an incredible range of delicious food, too.
31:14I love a challenge, and I love to grow anything edible,
31:18especially if the opportunity is right outside my front door.
31:27This is my third year here in Derbyshire.
31:31The temperature and the climate can be quite challenging.
31:34I've got a north-facing, cool garden.
31:38This side of the garden, this is south-facing.
31:42There's barely any soil here.
31:44But that's not going to stop me from growing more produce.
31:50Growing your own is one of the biggest joys of my life.
31:54I know where my food comes from.
31:56I know what's in it.
31:57It tastes incredible.
31:59And with the cost of living soaring, it makes total sense.
32:04This year, my plan is to fill my front patio with edible plants
32:08that are grown entirely in pots and containers.
32:11I'm going to prove you don't need a lot of space to have a go yourself.
32:17And even this small tabletop is enough space to grow your fruit, vegetables and herbs.
32:25The best thing I think I've added this year is this mini greenhouse.
32:30It is four foot by two foot.
32:33This just goes to show you don't need big, ample spaces.
32:37Small spaces, lots of containers does work.
32:40But if you don't have space for a mini greenhouse,
32:44a windowsill is still good enough,
32:45and that will still hold lots of pots to grow lots of plants.
32:53This is a dwarf apple tree.
32:56And I started this two years ago in this very pot,
33:00and it's doing very well.
33:02It has come into flower, and soon fruit will set.
33:06And it's very important, because this tree is in a pot,
33:10that we look after it and feed it once a year at the least.
33:14Earlier on in spring, I did give it a feed of fish blood and bone.
33:18It's a slow-release fertilizer and topped it up with compost.
33:22Trees generally are hungry, thirsty plants.
33:26Now, for my apple tree, I've added an olive pot.
33:29It's a very old system of a terracotta pot, which is porous.
33:35I sunk it into this pot when I planted the tree.
33:38And this way, it'll always be well-watered.
33:43I want to grow all kinds of fruit, herbs, and vegetables.
33:47And just like my apple tree,
33:48the best varieties to grow in containers are dwarf.
33:52Now, these are my dwarf varieties of tomatoes.
33:57Dwarf varieties simply mean compact plants,
34:00but produce high yield.
34:02And the whole benefit of that in a small space
34:05is the root system can cope
34:07with the restricted pot that it's growing in.
34:10This one is my Mongolian dwarf tomato.
34:14I'm taking it out now,
34:15because they're tender plants,
34:17and the frost in my area has now gone.
34:20So, perfect timing to get them outside.
34:27I've also got chilli plants.
34:30This one is basket of fire,
34:33and it's already started producing fruit.
34:36Again, small plants, but very high yield.
34:42Another chilli, because I do like my chillies,
34:44is one called firefly.
34:46I've never grown this one.
34:48This is the one I'm going to watch
34:50with some great anticipation,
34:52because it's supposed to be a very hot chilli.
34:58Growing any plants all summer long
35:00in a container or pot
35:02is going to demand extra feed and water.
35:04I like to soak my terracotta pots in water
35:07an hour before planting up.
35:10This just stops the pot sucking the moisture
35:12out of the new compost.
35:14But that's not my only secret weapon.
35:18Beans are hungry crops,
35:19and they need a lot of help growing.
35:23And for that,
35:24I have got a good peat-free compost,
35:27and in there,
35:28I am going to add wool.
35:32Not my socks,
35:33but wool from the sheep.
35:35Wool has moisture-retaining properties,
35:38but it also provides nitrogen,
35:40which is very beneficial
35:42to the bean plants.
35:45Now, I have picked this up
35:46from a local farmer,
35:48and I know it has not been treated
35:50with any synthetic chemicals,
35:53so I would never pick this up
35:55from a fence or a field,
35:57because I don't know
35:58if the sheep have been treated or not.
36:01Now, I'm only going to add in
36:03a handful,
36:03a very small amount of wool
36:06to my compost mix.
36:07I don't want a lot of water retained,
36:09and it's mixed in
36:11and not at the bottom.
36:13This year,
36:14I'm trying two varieties of beans.
36:17One is a belotti bean,
36:18a stewing bean,
36:19and the other is a French bean,
36:22which is called mystique.
36:23Both are dwarf varieties.
36:27I'm putting three belottis
36:29and three mystique in here.
36:37Now, it may look like
36:38I'm cramming a lot of plants in here,
36:42but they're dwarf variety,
36:44but it also means
36:45I don't need to stake it up
36:46like a climbing bean.
36:50Next to my beans,
36:51I'm also adding in some nasturtiums.
36:56These make great companion plants,
36:59as they will act
37:01as a sacrificial crop,
37:02luring away green and blackfly
37:04away from my bean plants.
37:12Another companion plant I'm doing
37:15is carrots and spring onions.
37:18They work together beautifully
37:20because they deter each other's pests.
37:23The carrot variety I've chosen
37:25is carrot little fingers.
37:28They don't grow too big,
37:29so they're perfect for small pots.
37:33And then my spring onion,
37:36it's a purple variety called lilia.
37:39Beautiful purple stem.
37:41It's one of my favourite spring onions.
37:44Now, I like using terracotta pots,
37:47but I also like using
37:49my broken terracotta pots.
37:50I tend to sow a few seeds,
37:52like cut-and-come-again kind of lettuce.
37:55But the one thing with lettuce
37:56is you need to keep it in the shade,
37:58otherwise it will bolt.
38:07This chard has started to bolt,
38:10which means it's started
38:11to put on a flower stalk.
38:13But all is not lost.
38:15I can already see new shoots
38:17coming through in with the leaves.
38:20Unlike lettuce,
38:21which will taste bitter when it bolts,
38:24chard is quite forgiving,
38:25and it will keep on giving,
38:27even once I've taken the top off.
38:37This strawberry planter
38:39epitomises everything
38:40I'm trying to achieve
38:41here in my container garden.
38:43Just like my tabletop,
38:45it's cramped full of delicious edibles
38:47that not only look good,
38:49but will taste great too.
39:14It is amazing
39:15the range and variety of foods
39:18that you can grow
39:18in a relatively small space.
39:20The one thing I would say,
39:21certainly here,
39:22is we get big fluctuations
39:24of temperature between day and night,
39:26even though it's not frosty.
39:27And if you're growing tomatoes outside,
39:30make sure that they get
39:31as constant of temperature as possible,
39:34so not exposed to bright,
39:35bright sunshine in the day,
39:37and obviously protect it above all
39:38from cold winds
39:40if you're putting them outside.
39:41However, if you've got a greenhouse,
39:43it's brilliant for growing tomatoes.
39:45I sowed some in January,
39:48and they're now coming good.
39:49I've got two varieties here.
39:50I've got Gardener's Delight
39:51and Tigerella.
39:53Gardener's Delight is a really good
39:55all-round tomato.
39:56You can grow it outside,
39:58you can grow it inside,
39:59you can eat it raw,
40:00you can make sauce with it,
40:02you can roast with it.
40:03It's very tasty,
40:05it's pretty reliable,
40:06and crops well.
40:08Tigerella, obviously,
40:10is orange and striped,
40:12very tasty to eat,
40:13or sweeter than Gardener's Delight,
40:15but both of them really good here.
40:17Now, I plant them using the string system.
40:19So, what it means
40:22is burying the string
40:25around the roots.
40:27Right.
40:28What I do is make a hole,
40:30put the string in the bottom of the hole,
40:33and you don't need to tie it round.
40:34What I do is tie a knot
40:36so it just catches
40:39on the bottom of the roots,
40:40because as the roots grow,
40:42they will anchor the string really well.
40:46So, we put that down
40:47in the bottom of the hole,
40:49put the roots on top of it,
40:50like that,
40:51make sure the string is nice and tight,
40:55and then firm it back in well.
41:03And just twist it round the string,
41:05like that.
41:07And as you go along,
41:08you just twirl it round,
41:09and you'll be amazed
41:10at how secure that is.
41:29You should plant tomatoes deeply,
41:33burying them right up
41:34to the first set of leaves,
41:35and this will help it
41:37take the weight
41:38of the mature plant,
41:40hopefully laden with fruit,
41:41as well as absorbing
41:43more water and nutrients.
41:47Only 60 more to go.
42:01If you're growing them in rows,
42:03which essentially these are,
42:05you only need a couple of feet
42:06between each tomato.
42:09So, that's plenty.
42:10And if you do put them further apart,
42:12you'll get more plant,
42:13but not necessarily more fruit.
42:24If I left this,
42:26it would become loosely
42:28and floppily bushy,
42:30because these little side shoots there,
42:33growing at 45 degrees
42:34between the leaf and the stem,
42:36are very vigorous.
42:38And if you go away on holiday
42:38and come back
42:39and you haven't done it,
42:40you'll find great long side shoots.
42:43And you want to nip them out,
42:46not daily,
42:47but certainly weekly.
43:03Now, obviously,
43:04give them a good soak like that.
43:11And that will do for a week.
43:13Far better to give them a soak once a week
43:17than to water them every other day
43:19with a spray.
43:21There are two problems about over-watering.
43:24The first is you get very lush growth,
43:27but not enough fruit.
43:28And then when you do get fruit,
43:30they split.
43:31And then you get disease in the split.
43:32And the second is blossom end rot.
43:35Now, that's when you get these
43:37chocolate brown, black,
43:39collapsed ends to the tomato.
43:42The easiest way to think about it
43:44is unless it's very hot,
43:47a good soak once a week is plenty.
43:50Better to water too little than too much.
43:53We should start harvesting
43:54the first batch in July
43:56and go on harvesting
43:58well into autumn.
44:00Now, we're off to a garden
44:03on the edge of Oxford.
44:05And this manages to be
44:07both a haven for wildlife
44:09and also a beautiful garden for people.
44:18I do think our garden
44:20and other gardens like it
44:22and connected up together
44:24are replacing
44:25some of the wildlife habitats
44:27we've lost in the open country
44:29on the other side.
44:30So it doesn't have to be planted
44:32just to copy a hedgerow
44:33or just copy a woolland area.
44:35It can be very beautiful as well
44:36in your own garden.
44:38You can create a great, diverse,
44:40colourful, vibrant place
44:42for wildlife.
44:47So my name's Steve Williams
44:49and this is my wildlife garden
44:50in Oxfordshire.
44:52The last 15 years,
44:53I've been a self-employed gardener,
44:55but then I retired last year,
44:57so I've got lots more time
44:58to spend on my own garden.
45:01I wanted to create a garden
45:03that's friendly for wildlife,
45:05but I also wanted
45:06a proper ornamental,
45:08cottage-style,
45:09naturalistic-looking borders.
45:11And I wanted to create
45:13a place to grow lots of food
45:15and vegetables and fruit
45:16so we could be near
45:18self-efficient as possible.
45:23So this is what I really like to do.
45:25So it's a nice mix of grasses,
45:28perennials,
45:29variety of flowers
45:30that are good for
45:31different types of insects.
45:32We've got some open flowers,
45:34we've got some tubular flowers,
45:35we've got the alliums,
45:37which pollinators love
45:38for nectar and pollen.
45:39I do like to
45:41densely plant the borders.
45:43One of my old lecturers said
45:44by middle of May,
45:45you don't want to see
45:46any bare soil in your borders.
45:48So that not only
45:49keeps down the weeds,
45:50but you're maximising
45:51the plant material
45:52for your wildlife.
45:55My understanding
45:56or my feeling about weed
45:58is just a plant
45:58that's in the wrong place,
46:00the plant that you don't want.
46:01And I'm very happy
46:02to have a few weeds
46:03within the ornamental borders.
46:05As you can probably see,
46:07there are some wild grasses
46:08in the borders,
46:09which I think are quite ornamental,
46:10but there are several butterflies,
46:12the brown butterflies,
46:13particularly,
46:13that lay their eggs
46:14on those grasses.
46:15Oh, sorry,
46:15it's just a sparrowhawk
46:16just went whizzing behind you.
46:18And actually,
46:19there's a blue tick
46:20feeding its young
46:21behind you there too.
46:22So it's a bit,
46:23it wants to feed its young
46:24in that hole.
46:26Oh, there it goes.
46:28They nest in that hole
46:29every year.
46:34These are our vegetable plots.
46:37So we really love
46:38to eat broad beans,
46:39but as many gardeners
46:40will know,
46:41one of the main problems
46:42is black fly.
46:44So here's a good example
46:45of black fly over the broad beans
46:47and black fly on the broad beans themselves.
46:49I'm quite tolerant
46:50of pests in the garden.
46:52Generally speaking,
46:52we don't get that many pests.
46:54I think we've got
46:54so many predator insects
46:55in the garden
46:56that are taking them out
46:57all the time.
46:58So all these black fly
46:59will be gone in two or three weeks
47:01and I won't need
47:01to do anything about it.
47:02There'll be ladybirds,
47:03ladybid larvae
47:04and hoverfly larvae
47:06all over the place
47:07and they'll be taking them out for us.
47:17This is our wildlife pond.
47:18It's such a great centre
47:20for wildlife.
47:21If you put a pond in
47:22in your garden,
47:23you're going to many times
47:24increase the wildlife potential
47:26of your garden
47:27and the biodiversity.
47:28Having a pond here like this,
47:29you need a wild area
47:31around it
47:32to support all the insect life
47:33that's coming
47:34and going into the pond.
47:35The frogs and newts
47:36got some cover,
47:37got a log pile there
47:38at the end of the garden
47:39for the hibernating frogs
47:40and newts.
47:42We've got an area
47:44of open water.
47:45It has to be kept open
47:46over a period of time
47:47and we've got a boggy area too.
47:50So it's trying to make
47:51the pond as diverse as possible
47:53by having dry land,
47:54a bog area
47:55then open water.
47:59I do love the weird
48:01and the wonderful,
48:01the small things
48:03that look kind of,
48:05people who may be frightened
48:06of these kind of bugs,
48:07they look quite fierce.
48:08I think the attraction
48:09of moths is,
48:11is there are so many species
48:12and there's something like
48:14two and a half thousand species
48:15in the UK.
48:22I bought this light trap
48:23so it'll catch moths
48:26that are attracted
48:27to light at night.
48:28We like to survey
48:29what we have in the garden.
48:30We've had about 250 species
48:33over the last few years
48:34so we're going to have a look now
48:36and this is quite a good catch already.
48:38You can see the three or four species
48:40in here already.
48:41A really wonderful sounding
48:42moth species here,
48:43Cetaceous Hebrew character.
48:45There's a species there
48:46that's really pretty,
48:48very easy to identify.
48:50The range of moths will reflect
48:52the diversity of plants
48:53you have in your garden basically.
48:54So having a huge range
48:55of plants,
48:56native and non-native,
48:58really benefits
48:58a wide range of moths.
49:00So that's what we aim to achieve here
49:01with some success it seems.
49:03This is the popular hawk moth.
49:06As you can see,
49:07it's a beautiful large moth.
49:09I think it's just amazing.
49:11Up against the tree,
49:12you kind of lose it
49:13in the camouflage,
49:14it's just like a frayed leaf.
49:16Why wouldn't you want this
49:17in your garden?
49:18Why wouldn't you want to grow plants
49:19that help this moth along?
49:38I love Steve's garden.
49:39And honestly,
49:40his garden is full of wildlife.
49:41And I think all of us now realise
49:43that there are certain boxes
49:44that have to be ticked.
49:45Long grass, water,
49:48you know, keep some nettles and weeds,
49:50don't be too tidy.
49:51But there is another aspect to this
49:53which I think perhaps
49:54gets a bit overlooked,
49:55which is we are part of nature
49:58and it is part of us.
50:00And as a gardener,
50:01I think the real secret
50:04is to respect
50:05and live in complete harmony
50:07with all living things
50:09in your garden.
50:10and that is what makes you happy.
50:13That's what makes you feel good.
50:24That's it.
50:26Okay, then.
50:28Come on.
50:47That'll do for a start.
50:49These are mainly scented leaf pelargonians
50:52and I bought a whole batch
50:54of Gardeners World Live last year.
50:56All of these
50:57have distinctive fragrance
51:00to their foliage.
51:01Some scented of mint,
51:04others of orange,
51:05others are slightly peppery.
51:06But all of them,
51:07when you touch their leaves,
51:10you see that incredibly rich,
51:13musty fragrance.
51:14I'm not even quite sure
51:14what it's of,
51:15but it's so distinctive.
51:17Now,
51:17they spent all last summer
51:19and last winter
51:20in the greenhouse.
51:21They do need protection in winter
51:23from frost
51:24and from too much rain.
51:26These are from the Cape.
51:27So they're Mediterranean plants,
51:28but South African Mediterranean.
51:31They are used to being
51:33dry for half the year,
51:34almost bone dry,
51:35and then having some rain
51:36and that will make them flower and grow.
51:38So they're fine outside
51:40until about
51:41the end of September,
51:43early October.
51:44Then they will go back indoors.
51:46Now, what this has done
51:47is created space
51:48in the greenhouse,
51:50and I have a use for that.
51:58It's not an empty space for you,
52:00but your plants,
52:01how are you?
52:02I haven't seen you for five minutes.
52:03These aeoniums
52:04and the rest of the succulents
52:05have been stored in here
52:06over winter,
52:08and they've been crammed in.
52:10What I want to do this summer
52:12is move them across,
52:13give them some space.
52:15Woo-hoo!
52:17They're really heavy.
52:19Now,
52:20let's have a look at this,
52:22because this
52:24is a special case.
52:29This is a flower
52:30that you can see
52:32is now over.
52:33When aeoniums flower,
52:35they die.
52:37However,
52:38not the whole plant,
52:39just the stem.
52:41So,
52:43once you've enjoyed the flower,
52:45you need to cut it back,
52:46and it's no good just deadheading it,
52:48because nothing else will be produced,
52:50no leaves,
52:51no flowers.
52:51So you need to go right back
52:53to the base,
52:54there.
52:58And that now
52:59is spent.
53:01That's compost.
53:04However,
53:04the rest of the plant
53:06will be fine.
53:08Now,
53:08this doesn't look so healthy.
53:10You can see
53:10that's drooping a bit.
53:13And those are...
53:14Probably just need some water.
53:15Aeoniums can be bone-dry
53:17all winter,
53:18but they need a bit of water
53:19in spring.
53:20And probably watering
53:21once a week.
53:23They will grow outside.
53:25I have planted them
53:25in the jewel garden before,
53:27and I might even plant
53:28some more in there.
53:28So that needs water.
53:30But you can see
53:30that absolutely doesn't.
53:32If they're looking healthy
53:33and looking upright,
53:34you don't need to water them.
53:35Because like all succulents,
53:37they store their water.
53:38They don't drink
53:39through their roots.
53:40They take the water up
53:41into their leaves
53:42through their roots,
53:43and then draw upon it
53:45as and when they need it.
54:01The main thing
54:02is this gives me
54:03an opportunity
54:04to look at each plant,
54:07take off the flowers
54:08if need be,
54:09see if they need watering,
54:10see if they need repotting,
54:11and some of them do.
54:12Generally,
54:13just give them
54:13a little bit of attention
54:14after a long winter
54:15and then give them
54:17a little bit more space
54:18to breathe.
54:20Now, while I'm finishing
54:22my job,
54:23here are your jobs
54:25for the weekend.
54:26Here are your jobs
54:39When you take your pelargoniums
54:40out of winter storage,
54:42it's worth refreshing
54:43the compost.
54:44Now, this might just mean
54:45taking them out of the pot,
54:46scraping away some of the old
54:48dry compost
54:49and adding some new.
54:50But if you have got
54:51a bigger pot,
54:52then pot them on.
54:54Put some fresh compost
54:55underneath,
54:56make sure it's got
54:56good drainage,
54:57a little bit around
54:58the outside,
54:59top it off with grit,
55:00and it's all set
55:01for a fine summer display.
55:12raw beans are now growing fast,
55:15and they can get top-heavy
55:16and be knocked or blown over,
55:18so they need some temporary support.
55:20I do this by placing canes
55:23about a metre or a metre and a half apart,
55:26and then twist twine in layers
55:29about a foot high,
55:30and you add as many as you need,
55:31like guardrails.
55:33So if they do get knocked or blown,
55:35they're protected.
55:42It's now time to sow pumpkins and squashes.
55:46I do this in pots,
55:47and in fact a deep pot is a good thing
55:50because that allows the plant
55:51to develop without potting it on.
55:54Put two seeds to each pot,
55:56one of which you intend to remove,
55:58leaving the strongest in place.
56:00This may seem wasteful,
56:01but actually it guarantees
56:02you have good strong plants.
56:05Soak them for about ten minutes
56:07to absorb water,
56:08and then put them somewhere warm
56:10to germinate,
56:10and the warmth is essential.
56:12They will not germinate if it's cold.
56:14And they should be ready to plant out
56:16in about a month or so's time.
56:45These are the grass borders,
56:48and every year this narrow path
56:52completely disappears under the growth.
56:54I mean, at this stage,
56:54it's not too bad.
56:56But in a month or so,
56:58all these plants just move in together.
57:01So I've learnt to sort of keep the path
57:05protected and clear
57:07early as possible.
57:10And I'm using these hurdles
57:12that I make in the winter
57:14specifically for this purpose.
57:22And they don't obviously harm the plant.
57:24In fact, you hardly see them,
57:25but they keep the path clear.
57:27And I love the grass borders
57:29at this time of year
57:30because for about six to eight weeks
57:34after you clear them
57:35at the end of February,
57:35beginning of March,
57:36they don't do much.
57:37And then suddenly
57:39there is this sense of growth.
57:40It's green, it's lush,
57:42it's all verticals.
57:44And early flowers,
57:45the iris sibirica, for example,
57:47really coming in and looking good.
57:48And I know that grass borders
57:50are most celebrated
57:52in late summer and autumn
57:53with their golds and silvers and bronzes.
57:56And of course, they're really tall.
57:57But I think I love them most now
58:00because there is a real sense
58:02of energy and of life
58:04and of hope.
58:08I'm afraid, though,
58:09that's it for today.
58:10And I will see you back here
58:13at Longmeadow next time.
58:15But until then, bye-bye.
58:31longmeadow next time.
58:34Longmeadow next time.
58:37Longmeadow next time.
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