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00:00Hello. Welcome to Gardener's World.
00:10I know I've often said how important it is just to stop and take in the garden,
00:17but that's never been more true than now because the blossom,
00:20which is better than I've ever known it in my life,
00:24is beginning to stream off the trees
00:26and the petals are covering the ground like confetti.
00:29I know that in a day or two, it'll all be gone.
00:33But just for this moment, with the sun shining,
00:36the trees still billowing with flower
00:39and all this new green energy coming through,
00:43this is the moment to stop and give thanks
00:48and also to be aware of the fact that all this blossom
00:52is going to have a bumper crop of apples later in the year.
01:00On tonight's programme, Adam returns to Leicestershire
01:03to help Amit and Vibhuti move on to the next stage
01:07of designing their garden from scratch.
01:09Boys and their toys, eh? I do love a digger.
01:12Here we go.
01:14Carol is celebrating the delicate seasonal beauty
01:17of Erythroniums, the dog's-tooth violet.
01:20It's always an elegance.
01:22Puts them head and shoulders over so many other flowers.
01:26And I've got work to do in the vegetable garden,
01:29but first I'm going to be adding height and colour
01:32to the cottage garden.
01:35CLANGING
01:47I love the way that the forget-me-nots create this froth of glue
01:53running round the whole of the cottage garden.
01:56But they are very low,
01:58and what is always good to get in any border of any kind
02:03And if you can get it with colour, so much the better.
02:06Now, here I've deliberately tried to cultivate
02:09a jumble of soft colours,
02:11and I'm adding to that with three separate plants,
02:15each of which is a spike or a spire of colour.
02:19The first is a verbascum.
02:22This is verbascum jackii,
02:24and you can see it's got this pinky colour.
02:27Just touch with lilac and peach.
02:30Verbascums tend to do best in quite poor soil.
02:34They like free-draining, stony, chalky or sandy conditions,
02:39but they don't last very long.
02:41Some of them are biannual, some are short-lived perennials.
02:44They don't last more than two or three years,
02:46but then they will seed themselves,
02:48and they find the places where they want to grow.
02:50Whatever happens, you do not need to beef up the planting hole
02:53with compost of any kind.
02:55So I'll just make a hole and pop it in.
03:01There's quite a lot of moisture in the soil,
03:03so I'm not worried about watering it in,
03:05but any doubt at all you'll do no harm
03:07by giving it a really good soak.
03:11Now, that will grow about three, four feet tall,
03:14so about that sort of height,
03:16but I think in this space here I could get in a hollyhock.
03:23Now, I love hollyhocks.
03:25This one is called haloapricot,
03:28and hollyhocks are biannuals,
03:30and what that means is that it sets its seed in the first season,
03:35the end of summer, germinates,
03:38and then the plant grows, establishes some body,
03:41so it looks something like this in spring,
03:43and then will do its flowering that summer,
03:46which means either you sow fresh seed every year
03:49for flowering the following summer,
03:51or they seed themselves around if they like it.
03:54Now, the problem I get here with hollyhocks is rust,
03:58and they are rather prone to it.
04:02Rust will manifest itself on hollyhocks
04:05as these orange pustules you see on the foliage,
04:08and the plant will begin to defoliate and fade.
04:11The best defence is good drainage,
04:14good airflow, and plenty of sunshine.
04:17I've got one more plant which I want to put in.
04:19It's not going to fit in this space.
04:21It's a bit hard there.
04:31I've got delphinium to plant in here.
04:34You think of delphinium as being one of the archetypal blue plants,
04:39but actually they come in a range of colours,
04:42and this one is Magic Fountains Lavender.
04:45This slightly mauve-y lavender colour to it.
04:49I've got three plants, and if I dot them through the border,
04:53I think that could be very effective.
04:55Now, these are true herbaceous perennials,
04:58so they will last quite a long time
05:00and therefore get bigger as they grow.
05:05The thing about a delphinium is it is one of those plants
05:09that defines a tower of flower.
05:13And they are very easy to grow except for one little problem,
05:19which is that early on in spring, sort of early March,
05:23when you get the new shoots, slugs love them.
05:26But if you can get past that stage and see them through till April,
05:31there's not a lot you need to do.
05:35I quite like putting tall plants near the front of a border.
05:39You don't want them all at the back.
05:41You want to be able to look through flowers as well as up to them.
05:51Unlike the verbascum, this is a plant that will thank you
05:55for having good organically fortified soil
06:00with good drainage but also plenty of feed.
06:05So this can go in here.
06:08Now, what you will have to do if you plant delphiniums is support them.
06:13These are a tall plant and they need a stake or maybe some hoops,
06:19something that will stop them toppling over before they finish flowering.
06:23And then when they finish flowering,
06:25you can cut that flowering stem right back to the ground.
06:28That gives it a break and then it will regrow
06:30and flower again in August and September.
06:33Now, that's three classic cottage garden plants added to the borders.
06:37They'll give height and colour and they'll join all the others I've got here.
06:42And one of my favourites is polymonium, Jacob's Ladder.
06:45It's just beginning to produce flowers now.
06:48And last summer, we went to County Durham
06:51to visit a national collection of polymonium.
06:55I got my first polymonium over 25 years ago.
06:59And when I bought it, it was supposed to be a blue flower plant.
07:02When I got it home, it was white.
07:04So this was kind of, oh, right, OK.
07:07So I'll try and get a blue one then.
07:09And it took me another few goes before I actually managed to get a blue one.
07:12And then I found out there were 70 others of them.
07:15So I thought, OK, so I'll just get a few more then, shall I? Yeah.
07:20I was a member of Plant Heritage, and I'd been a member for quite a few years.
07:24And I found there was no national collection of polymoniums.
07:27And at that point, I seemed to have quite a few.
07:29And I'd done a bit of research and found they were all wrongly named in garden centres.
07:33So I felt it was my duty to try and get them all correctly named
07:37because there were some really good plants out there.
07:40So I went to the National Collection of Polymoniums.
07:43And I found that there was no national collection of polymoniums.
07:46And I thought, OK, I'll just get one.
07:48Because there were some really good plants out there.
07:51And a lot of people went, oh, polymoniums, yes, I've got that.
07:54It's a bit of a weed.
07:56And then you sort of tell everybody that, actually, no, there are some really nice plants.
08:01So it's really nice to be able to tell people about those.
08:11The flowers on polymoniums are really quite pretty and have a lovely scent as well.
08:15They come mostly in blues and whites, but there's also pink forms, yellow forms,
08:20and in lots of different sizes and shapes as well.
08:23Some of them are quite trumpet form, and they can be in flower right throughout the summer.
08:30Polymoniums are really easy to grow.
08:32They don't require any particularly special conditions.
08:35They'll grow in most soils apart from really, really dry soils.
08:38And although they'll grow in part shade,
08:40some of the taller species will certainly do quite well in full sun
08:43as long as they have a moist soil, which if you've got a dry soil,
08:46you just need to put a bit of organic matter in to improve it.
08:57This is my favourite polymonium, Polymonium foliosissum.
09:00Foliosissum means very leafy.
09:02So it has a lot more leaflets right the way up the stem, so it makes a much bushier plant.
09:07And it has the same sort of purple flowers, but with a nice central purple ring.
09:13And it's producing flowers which it's produced for a couple of weeks,
09:16and it'll go on producing flowers for a lot longer right through the summer.
09:24Although there are 70 polymoniums in the whole collection,
09:27only three of them actually set seed prolifically,
09:30which is the Polymonium ceruleum, the native British wildflower
09:33that grows from Northumberland down to Derbyshire.
09:36The other one is Portiflorum, which is a yellow tubular flowered one
09:39which will seed around everywhere.
09:41And Polymonium boreal, which you see in garden centres still to this day
09:45under 20 different names.
09:53On a wet afternoon like this, I often come over to the potting shed
09:57and do some propagating of the plants, especially now when the seed heads are forming.
10:01So I've got some seed heads here of Polymonium ceruleum dissectum,
10:05which is a nice cut leaf form of ceruleum.
10:08You can either leave these in a plastic bag and they'll just drop into it,
10:11or if you're impatient like me, you can just give them a bit of a squeeze
10:15and then they'll drop into a tray and you can get them ready to sow.
10:18So the coir block, I mix that up by just dropping that into about 6 litres of water
10:24and that expands up to make a full bit.
10:26And here's some I've done earlier.
10:28So this is a mixture of organic peat-free bark compost with the coir.
10:34And then what I'll be doing is putting that into the seed tray
10:38and then once I've filled the seed tray,
10:41just press it down with a presser board, give it a bit of a tap to settle it
10:45and then you've got a nice surface to work to.
10:49I can then just get the seeds that I've got from the seed heads here
10:54and just scatter them over the surface so that they'll germinate evenly
10:59and just sieve a bit of compost over the top of them just to cover them lightly.
11:05If you haven't got professional equipment to germinate them in,
11:09you can just put them with a piece of glass or a cover over them
11:12and then they'll come up in about 14 days and you can prick them out
11:16and they'll end up being like that.
11:24I think polymoniums are great.
11:26I love the fact that they're actually an edible flower as well
11:29because I love to grow edible flowers and I love things you can eat.
11:32So it's really nice that you can have something
11:34where you can actually take them off and put them in salads.
11:37The other good thing is that we grow all the plants organically
11:40and they're really good at attracting insects.
11:42You get all the hoverflies and bees.
11:45So you can watch the insects on them all the time.
11:47So it's really good that they're great for encouraging wildlife into the garden.
11:57Polymoniums are one of those plants that are unlikely to be a star.
12:02They're a supporting actor,
12:04but they're so important with this blend and mixture of lovely plants like that
12:09that makes a garden sing.
12:15Now, I've been constantly tinkering with this area,
12:19and unashamedly so because I think these things take time to find their shape.
12:25There are box balls here and we've got herbs on one side,
12:28and I've planted these yews, which I love.
12:30These are Irish vestigiate yews.
12:32They give height and that's really good.
12:35Now, underneath, I've planted box and yew,
12:39and all these plants have been taken from cuttings.
12:43However, these yew cuttings, and you can see there are four,
12:46which I've planted together and the idea is they grow in,
12:49and as they grow up, I clip them to form a solid ball.
12:53We'll take about ten years
12:56before they reach the kind of proportions that I'm looking for.
13:01Now, the truth is I'm not quite as young as I used to be
13:04and I'm in a little bit more of a hurry and aware of the passing of time.
13:08So I've made a decision.
13:10I'm going to lift the yew in this area
13:13and transplant it to the grass borders
13:15and I'm going to go shopping and buy myself some topiary yew balls,
13:21which I'll put in there and that will work with a box.
13:26Now, this is a good time to be moving or planting evergreens,
13:30whereas if you're doing it with deciduous plants,
13:33better to wait till the dormant season.
13:44That will go in there.
13:46Right, let's go and transplant them.
13:52WHOOSH
14:06The plan is to have yew balls
14:10either side of each of the entrances into the grass border.
14:15Now, I've cleared some of the plants there.
14:17The first thing I need to do is to dig it over.
14:21Always before any planting like this,
14:23double-check there are no weeds in there
14:26that are going to cause a problem.
14:29And I'm thinking particularly of things like nettles, coochgrass,
14:33bindweed, ground elder.
14:36Anything that could get in amongst the roots of the yew
14:41needs to be really carefully taken out.
14:50The one thing about yew is it just hates sitting in heavy, wet soil,
14:56so if you've got clay, you will have to add grit.
15:10If I put one there...
15:16..and then another one there...
15:21..another one there like that...
15:24..and another one there like that...
15:27..immediately I start to get a bit of volume.
15:30And because they're all going in at an angle,
15:33the new growth wants to grow vertically,
15:36and that will give a much denser, more solid ball,
15:40which then will clip better.
15:45I'm taking care not to plant them too deeply,
15:47but at the same level they were in before.
15:51OK.
15:57Although yew casts a heavy shade and will grow in shade,
16:02for topiary it's best to give it as much sunlight as possible
16:06because it will grow much more densely.
16:17OK, that's planted.
16:18Just because a plant needs good drainage,
16:20it doesn't mean to say it doesn't like water.
16:22Yews need watering,
16:25and if your soil is a bit thin,
16:27a feed of nettles or comfrey will help it out.
16:31By and large, they'll be fine, but don't let them dry out too much.
16:37Now, Adam Frost has returned to Leicester
16:40to help out a couple who are making a brand-new garden
16:45in a brand-new build.
16:47But the weather wasn't that kind to them.
16:49Nevertheless, they got stuck in.
16:53I'm back at Amit and Vibhuti's house,
16:55and I can't wait to see how they're getting on constructing the garden.
17:00When I first got here, the garden aspect was long
17:03across the back of the house,
17:05but with an imposing wall at the end of the garden
17:08that they really didn't like.
17:11My design tries to refocus the garden,
17:14using trees and climbers to hide the back wall
17:17and two terraces to create a new focal pole for the space.
17:22I left them digging out those terraces,
17:24not exactly an easy task,
17:26so how have they done?
17:29Well, been busy.
17:31Yeah.
17:32You've done well, mate, you've done well.
17:33Thank you very much.
17:34Do you know what?
17:35I already feel that this feels quite cold here,
17:37and I bet if we move over...
17:41It's warmer.
17:42That feels warmer, doesn't it?
17:43Yeah.
17:44Need my shades.
17:45You do need your shades.
17:46You do.
17:47We're stood exactly on that terrace.
17:49Straight away, that angle gives you that sense of movement.
17:52You know, there's a bigger sky,
17:54and you don't feel quite so imposed.
17:56No.
17:57It feels a lot more private.
17:58Yeah?
17:59Yeah.
18:00Exactly.
18:01There was one point where we thought we could just level that off
18:03and possibly integrate a sleeper against there,
18:06so we can have our...
18:07So, in a sense, what you're saying is where the garage is there...
18:10Yes.
18:11..is just to put a little wall in there.
18:13Yeah, and put a little water butt in that corner.
18:16Brilliant. Come on, let's get on.
18:20Now it's time to tackle the first of the two terraces,
18:22and lucky for us, Amit's friend Manu has come to help us with the heavy lifting.
18:27So I think first thing we need to do, get the rest of this paving up.
18:30I think if we clean it up, we can reuse it.
18:32It'll save us a few quid.
18:33Definitely.
18:34Let's crack on. We've got a lot to do today.
18:38Keep brushing. There you go.
18:42They need a wash.
18:43They need a wash? Yeah.
18:45You've just given yourself another job.
18:49So it might seem a little bit strange to people, actually,
18:52why we're lifting the paving.
18:54I want to change that angle,
18:55and I think by changing the direction of the paving
18:58will really draw you out into this space.
19:01Having taken up the paving,
19:03it's time to have a look at the lay of the land.
19:07The guys have pulled everything out,
19:09but I just need to understand the levels of the site.
19:12So what I'm going to do is put a level peg through the site,
19:15then we know if we've got to scrape out any more
19:17or we've got to adjust our hard core ready for our paving.
19:22If you can, lay your paving about 150mm,
19:25that's six inches, below your damp proof course.
19:29Hammer in a series of pegs at the same depth,
19:32using a spirit level to check your levels.
19:35As you can see, the pegs have gone in.
19:37That peg will be the finished level of the paving,
19:40which straightaway says to us
19:41we've got to pull some more of this out
19:43because we're going to need at least 50mm for our paving
19:45and we're going to need 50mm for our bed,
19:47which is our sand and cement mix
19:49that's going to go under our paving.
19:52So remember the top of your pegs
19:54indicate the finished paving level,
19:56but beneath this you'll be adding hard core
19:58and a mortar bed to lay your paving on.
20:01So you need to dig out enough to allow for both.
20:06We need to take out a bit more soil
20:07and luckily Amit's got just the thing.
20:11Boys and their toys, eh?
20:12I do love a digger.
20:14Here we go, we're off.
20:18Alright, mate.
20:22Just run off the top of that peg
20:23and just see roughly what we are down to the hard core.
20:27About 100mm.
20:28Yeah, brilliant.
20:29All we've got to do now is drag that out.
20:31That's fantastic.
20:32Okay.
20:33Brilliant.
20:36So what we're doing is really using the machine
20:38to just take the work out of this really.
20:40If you haven't got a machine,
20:41it's a fair amount of digging.
20:43But we're just dragging that level all the way back
20:46and then we're going to compact this surface
20:48and that will give us something really firm
20:50to lay our paving ultimately
20:51and then it won't move.
20:54As you can see, it's turned out lovely.
20:58So I'm now soaking wet.
21:00But we need to get the levels in here
21:02so at the moment I've got my leveled peg
21:04that runs all the way across.
21:07To make sure the rainwater runs away from the house,
21:10the paving needs to be laid on a slight slope.
21:14I'm using pegs and a line to mark out that gradient.
21:18Once I've done that,
21:19I now know that I have to dig up
21:21a little bit more at the lower end of the terrace
21:23to allow for the base.
21:26So now we know from the house to the end of the terrace
21:28we're going to have a fall of 50mm.
21:30So the water won't sit anywhere near the house.
21:33It'll all run away.
21:36This area will become one of two terraces
21:38where Vibhuti and Amit can entertain friends and family.
21:42And later on, they could look at building in some seating
21:45to really make it cosy.
21:47But that is somewhat of a challenge.
21:50But that is some way off.
21:52To date, the rain has stopped play,
21:54well, at least for the paving anyway.
21:56And while Vibhuti has sensibly gone back indoors,
21:59Muppet here is going to get on with another job.
22:03As you can see, the weather has not improved.
22:06But in the meantime, what I can get on with
22:08is wiring these fences.
22:10What we're going to do all the way along here
22:12is wire them to grow climbers up.
22:14First ones we'll set about 18 inches
22:17and then we're just going to work up.
22:19I put the next one, about every metre is what I do,
22:22put an eye on it.
22:23And the reason for it is if I strain all the way along here
22:26and then start growing quite heavy climbers up,
22:28they're just going to pull the wires out.
22:31Using galvanised wire, thread it through the eyes,
22:34twisting tightly at one end,
22:36then pull it really taut
22:38and tight at the other end.
22:40And then a final little bit,
22:42you can just tighten that up
22:44and that, nice and tight.
22:47It's time to prepare for the retaining wall,
22:49which will be made from the sleepers that Amit has reclaimed.
22:54So what these will be, ultimately,
22:56they'll be the supports for your sleepers, right?
22:58So that's 570, holstered,
23:00and then just move that over.
23:03It's a good idea to set posts into the ground.
23:06Your sleepers will be attached to these for support.
23:10Then concrete the posts into the ground.
23:12Today we're using a dry mix
23:14as this rain will add any water we need
23:16to help set this concrete.
23:18But ideally, this is a job for a much drier day.
23:22Do you know, if we can at least get this in for you today,
23:25then next time we can come,
23:27we can lay the paving, can't we?
23:29We can get a bit of paving down.
23:31And also we can maybe start to put
23:33that little bit of brick detail through.
23:35And I'm sure between now and next time we come,
23:37it'll stop raining.
23:39Fingers crossed.
23:41Cheers. Thank you very much.
23:45BIRDS CHIRP
23:56Well, I have to say, that did work.
23:58So everybody got very wet indeed,
24:00and we've all had days like that.
24:02But it will be worth it, and with Adam's advice,
24:04you know it is going to look fantastic when it's done.
24:09What I'm doing here is transplanting tetetet daffodils
24:13that I've been growing in these very handsome pots
24:15into the ground,
24:17because I want them to die right back.
24:19And that will take another four to eight weeks,
24:23depending where I put them,
24:25which means I can't use the pot in that time.
24:27So if I put them in the ground and leave them to die back there,
24:30I've immediately freed up some nice pots that I can use,
24:33and I can either dig the bulbs up
24:35and replant them in pots in autumn,
24:37or I can leave them in the ground as a row of cut flowers.
24:40Either way, I win.
24:42What really matters
24:44is that whether you put them in the ground or leave them in the pot,
24:47do not trim back the foliage at all.
24:50Just let them die back naturally,
24:52because as they do so, the goodness goes down into the bulb,
24:56and that will improve the quality of next year's flower.
25:01Now, these tetetet daffodils really do best in full sun,
25:05but Carol celebrates a plant
25:10that is elegant and delicate,
25:13and one of the glories of spring,
25:15but is happiest in the shade of woodland.
25:29The lilting flowers of erythroniums
25:32are one of the true delights of spring,
25:36because they are elegant, reflexed flowers,
25:39above foliage which is often marbled with bronze and pale green.
25:45Their poise and elegance
25:47puts them head and shoulders over so many other flowers.
25:52They're what I call a true Cinderella plant.
25:55They have to do everything before the clock strikes 12,
25:59push up through the ground, flower, set seed,
26:02and then go to sleep again
26:04until the canopy overhead fills in,
26:07and they rest until the next spring.
26:24Erythroniums come from all sorts of different locations
26:28in the Northern Hemisphere.
26:30A few are from Japan.
26:32Others from Eurasia,
26:34but the great majority come from North America,
26:37both the western and the eastern seaboards.
26:40But wherever they're from,
26:42they all love the same sort of conditions.
26:45Forest glades, the edge of woodland,
26:48that's where they've evolved,
26:50and that's where they thrive.
27:02This is a little dell.
27:04It's quite magical, actually.
27:06There are several different hybrids,
27:09but the one that's most outstanding is this one,
27:13Erythronium Hidcote Pink.
27:15It's a true delight.
27:17It's robust, it's strong,
27:19and yet at the same time it retains this glorious deportment.
27:23It's one of the last to flower,
27:26and in addition to all its other qualities,
27:29including its marbled leaves,
27:31it's also incredibly scented.
27:45This delightful Erythronium Oregonum.
27:49As you'd expect, it's from Oregon,
27:51on the western seaboard of the United States.
27:55And when you look at it, these marvellous leaves,
27:59these marvellous stems,
28:01give you a clue to why it's called trout lily or fawn lily,
28:05as in a baby deer.
28:07And then up these flower stems,
28:10first of all, buds tightly held together,
28:13and as they extend and open, they reflex.
28:17So the inner workings of the flower are protected by them.
28:21At the same time,
28:23these bright yellow splodges in the centre of the flower are exposed.
28:28They're pollen guides.
28:30They bring in those insects and say,
28:32this way, lots of pollen and nectar in here.
28:36And as the insect enters the flower,
28:39searching for that nectar,
28:41the stigma protrudes,
28:43so any pollen it happens to be carrying
28:46is dusted onto that stigma.
28:48And when it's had its fill and leaves the flower,
28:52it picks up further pollen.
28:55And then it passes to another plant and cross-pollination happens.
29:00And that's how come you see these colonies of little seedlings
29:04clustered around the parent plants.
29:17So here's a lovely example of a big colony.
29:20This is Erythronium revolutum.
29:23And you can see that as these taples start to fade,
29:27seed heads are formed here.
29:29Eventually, these green fleshy seed pods will become brown and desiccated.
29:34On a windy day, they'll be blown around all over the place,
29:38creating this lovely effect.
29:40If you look here, you can see this tapestry
29:43of seedling leaves right the way over.
29:46And eventually, those will make bulbs,
29:49and the bulbs will swell and swell and push themselves down.
29:53If we have a look at this one, and this is Californicum.
29:58And on the end of each of these is a brand-new bulb
30:02with these roots at the side and also at the base.
30:06And these are contractile roots,
30:08so they will pull the bulb down gradually
30:11to the correct sort of depth
30:13so it can gather the most nutrients from the soil.
30:17The generic name for Erythroniums is dog's-tooth violets.
30:21Nothing to do with violets at all,
30:23but you can see there's a vague resemblance
30:26between this bulb and a canine tooth.
30:29Hence the name.
30:31These can be potted up singly now,
30:33and next year, they can be planted out.
30:37Erythronium californicum is a widespread species,
30:42and it's given rise to all sorts of beautiful cultivars.
30:46But this is probably the most famous of a lot of them.
30:50It's called White Beauty.
30:52It has very distinctive red markings on its petals.
30:56Pollen guides, again, to bring in some of the flowers.
31:00And it's very easy to identify.
31:02Sadly, it's sterile, so it doesn't set any seed.
31:06But you can easily increase it by digging down in the winter
31:10after it's formed a nice big clump,
31:12dividing up the bulbs and replanting them.
31:15You might not have a great oak wood to plant them under,
31:19but providing you've got a shrub or two or a small tree,
31:23they'll love that kind of dapply shade.
31:26When you're planting Erythronium californicum,
31:30When you're planting them, search down amongst the roots
31:34until you find nice deep pockets of soil.
31:37But don't feed them.
31:39Just add lots of leaf mould or good compost,
31:42and you should end up with a wonderful carpet
31:46of these glorious spring flowers.
32:00Erythroniums bring a simple elegance to the springtime scene.
32:06Despite their understated demeanour, they draw you in.
32:11They're very, very special plants,
32:15and personally, I find them irresistible.
32:30BIRDS CHIRP
32:41There's no doubt about it that Erythroniums have a particular charm,
32:45and they have been very late this year, as so many plants have,
32:49which means that they've lasted much longer than they normally do.
32:53It's lovely to see them still.
32:55But a plant that hasn't suffered from our cold winter or spring
32:58is this vine.
33:00Of course, the protection of the greenhouse has ensured that,
33:02and the roots are outside in rich soil,
33:04the result being that it is romped away.
33:07I pruned it really hard in February, so all this is new growth,
33:11and the one thing I have learnt from growing dessert grapes indoors
33:15is that quality and quantity are incompatible.
33:19And the secret is, it's just prune and prune hard
33:22and keep on top of them.
33:24You can see some of it escaping out through the roof and through the glass,
33:28and if I didn't prune them, they'd completely take over.
33:32So I can ruthlessly cut back above this bar.
33:36And then what I want to make sure is that for each of these canes coming up
33:41from the main stem going across,
33:44that I only have three side shoots that are bearing fruit,
33:49and each side shoot has a maximum of two bunches.
33:53So we've got a bunch there and a bunch there, so that's two.
33:57So we can take this off.
34:00We've got a bunch there, we can leave that.
34:02So I'm going to take that off.
34:04So we work our way up here, and it's just a question of being systematic.
34:16Don't worry too much about taking off too little
34:20or even too much at this stage.
34:22What you do want to do is start to identify the bunches you want to keep
34:26and harvest come September, October time.
34:30And if you get it right, if you put the energy into just a few bunches,
34:33a variety like this, this black Hamburg, can be absolutely delicious.
34:39Now, still to come, we've got the penultimate finalist
34:43in our Every Space Counts competition,
34:45but first, Joe goes down to Cornwall
34:48to meet a truly inspirational young gardener.
34:53Welcome to Trelissic.
34:56At the heart of this vast 375-acre estate
35:00is a beautiful woodland garden
35:03featuring all-year-round interest and colour.
35:06The grounds also offer breathtaking panoramic views
35:10which reach far and wide over the stunning River Fowl.
35:17I've come to meet one of Trelissic's volunteers.
35:21One of volunteers whose perspective on life
35:24has been changed by the power of gardening.
35:30Oliver Goulding is no ordinary volunteer.
35:33Despite having cerebral palsy, limited mobility and hearing,
35:37he's been a volunteer here at Trelissic for over six years
35:41and he's never let his condition hold him back.
35:45So, Oliver, why did you first get involved as being a volunteer here?
35:50I love it here.
35:52You know, I've talked of lovely plants and surrounded by lovely scenery
35:56and that really made me realise
35:59that gardening could be something I could get involved with.
36:03So what are your roles and responsibilities here?
36:06What do you do on a day-to-day basis here?
36:09I do a bit of raking, a bit of pruning.
36:14Yeah, I do pretty much everything, really.
36:17I feel that the ability doesn't really hold you back
36:21and you can do pretty much anything, really, if you want.
36:25Am I right in thinking that the garden spurred you on
36:28to get involved in other creative activities?
36:31I do pork grate, music icon pork grate,
36:34Dr Jimmy Hendrick, David Bowie.
36:37Because you also play music, you play the guitar and sing.
36:40I do. And you busk, is that right?
36:42I do, and I love inspiring other people with disabilities, I think that's great.
36:46What would you say to other people with disabilities
36:49who are thinking of gardening or becoming a volunteer?
36:53It has changed my life.
36:55I feel happier when I'm outside, I feel a lot more happier.
36:58I think it makes me feel good about myself.
37:01Whatever your disability, go for it.
37:04There's always a gardening job out there for them.
37:13MUSIC PLAYS
37:22The gale eggs are looking lovely.
37:25They're picking the white colours.
37:28Yeah, and the scent is really good, it's been fabulous.
37:31Yeah, the scent is lovely.
37:35Some lovely maples here, aren't they?
37:37They are. They rain from different colours.
37:41There's a lovely contrast, colourful contrast as well.
37:47OK, I think if Ellie Agnew can be a bit of a trim.
37:50Yeah, they are pushing quite out into the path along here, aren't they?
37:53And I think that caused many problems for the visitors here, I think.
37:58Yeah. Shall we give it a bit of a trim then?
38:00It's a tough old plant, it can definitely take you, can't it?
38:03It can, yeah, definitely.
38:05You get in down the bottom and I'll get in up the top.
38:12We have to prune before the bud and not after.
38:17Because if you prune after the bud, the growth won't come through.
38:22Absolutely, yeah.
38:24I always look for an outward-facing bud as well,
38:26because anything that's growing in, if you prune back to that,
38:29it just gets more and more dense in the middle.
38:33As well as the physical aspect of gardening,
38:36you like the therapeutic side of it?
38:38I do.
38:39Do you find it relaxing?
38:41I find it very relaxing.
38:43I think if you've got something on your mind that's bothering you
38:47or you're going through a lot of problems, I think it helps a lot.
38:52Yeah. Connecting with nature and...
38:54Yeah, nature as well. Nature's very calm and peaceful.
38:58And healing. It has healing qualities, just gardening.
39:01It does, yeah.
39:03Oh, I think you can make one behind you go.
39:05Yeah? Oh, that one?
39:07Yeah.
39:10I think that's it, Oliver.
39:12Looking good, job done.
39:14Yeah.
39:15Bit of teamwork, you see, makes all the difference.
39:17It does, absolutely.
39:29Wow, what a beautiful spot.
39:31This is absolutely gorgeous, isn't it?
39:33It is.
39:34The view over the River Fowl.
39:36The light is just wonderful.
39:39So is this one of your favourite spots?
39:41It is.
39:42And at the end of the day, I like to sit here and just enjoy it.
39:47I have to say, you're an inspiration, everything that you do.
39:50Your gardening, your painting, your music.
39:53And just keep it up.
39:55Lovely to meet you.
39:56Thank you.
39:57Thanks, Oliver.
40:11It's good to see how gardening is not just therapy,
40:14which most of us know, but it's also empowering and enabling
40:17and opens doors that perhaps you didn't even know were there.
40:20I'm hoeing my garlic, which I planted last September.
40:26And it's grown really well.
40:28We've had a pretty tricky winter and spring,
40:30but the garlic hasn't minded at all.
40:32Elephant garlic down one end
40:34and two different types of garlic, hardneck and softneck, here.
40:38And the key to garlic at this time of year is to keep them weeded,
40:42and the hoe is by far the best way to do that,
40:45being careful not to cut yourself.
40:47It's an easy mistake to make,
40:49to think that because we associate garlic with the Mediterranean
40:53and the hot summer days, that it doesn't need water.
40:57It likes heat, but it also likes rich soil and moisture.
41:01So if it gets very dry, give it a really good soak
41:05at least once a fortnight, if there's been no rain.
41:07And that's why you weed it,
41:09because you don't want them to compete for moisture.
41:12And then when it starts to die back,
41:14which will be sometime round about June, early July,
41:17then you cut the water out,
41:19all the goodness goes into the bulb,
41:21and then they're ready for harvesting.
41:23Come on in. Come on.
41:25Come on.
41:28It can seem at this time of the year
41:30as though the vegetable garden is lagging behind the flower garden.
41:34There's an awful lot of bare soil and things are happening slowly,
41:37but don't be fooled.
41:39It's not just the soil.
41:41It's the plants.
41:43It's the soil.
41:45It's the plants.
41:47It's the soil.
41:49It's the plants.
41:51It's the soil.
41:53It's the soil.
41:55And things are happening slowly, but don't be fooled,
41:58because it is all going to grow really quickly
42:02as the soil warms up.
42:04So it's important at this stage to keep on top of things,
42:07keep weeding and also making sure your supports are in.
42:10And my peas have germinated.
42:13I've got a lovely bundle of fresh pea sticks,
42:17which are part of the coppice process.
42:19This is the side shoots and all the twiggy stuff
42:22that isn't used for bean sticks,
42:24and they make perfect support for peas.
42:27Peas twine rather than climb, and they've got tendrils.
42:32So netting will do the job.
42:35Any kind of twiggy prunings are perfect.
42:38And always wait until the seeds germinate
42:40and you get the shoots appearing,
42:42so you don't stick on top of them,
42:44and then just go along the edge so that the twigs overlap.
42:49And you do this on both sides.
42:52And what you end up with is the ideal support
42:57that you don't have to worry about.
42:59They will find that and climb up,
43:01and then the peas hang off and they're easy to pick.
43:10Different pea varieties
43:13have quite radically different height and vigour,
43:19so it is worth checking to see how high the ultimate growth will be
43:24and then monitoring your support accordingly.
43:34I confess that I have definitely sewn these rows too close together,
43:39because now the pea sticks are in, it's a real squidge to get to them.
43:42It doesn't matter too much because they're very short
43:44and you can get most of the peas from the end.
43:46But really you want to leave enough room
43:49so you can walk comfortably down between the rows and pick your peas,
43:52so every other row would have been better.
43:55But I'm trying to get in as many different varieties as I can
43:58into the space I've got, so I can share the results with you.
44:01But however you plant them, what I then do
44:03is just trim off all the bits that are sticking out sideways, like that,
44:08so you don't get scratched, and this big one here.
44:12And then I use these along the bottom.
44:16So just stick them in like that,
44:19and that adds a low level of support just for those early tendrils,
44:24so nothing is wasted.
44:28And finally, if in about a week's time
44:31there's clearly some peas that haven't germinated,
44:34just pop some more in, and the soil will have warmed up
44:38and they will quickly catch up with the others.
44:40And if you haven't sown any peas yet at all, don't worry, it's not too late.
44:43It is something you want to get on with and do this weekend if you can.
44:47Buy a packet of peas, stick them in a nice rich piece of ground,
44:51and you should have those delicious, fresh peas
44:55in about eight to ten weeks' time.
45:00Right, I'll finish those later,
45:03because now I want to plant another legume
45:06which I've never grown before.
45:10Just over a month ago, I sowed some edamame seeds.
45:14Now that's a fancy name for a soy, really.
45:17Now the key thing about edamame is that they are strong-growing,
45:21they're healthy, they're quite easy to grow if it's not cold.
45:25They absolutely are not hardy, so a touch of frost will kill them.
45:29So if you've grown them and you're planting them out,
45:31just be confident there's no more frost to come.
45:34And in fact, what I'm going to do is plant some out now,
45:37hold some back for another couple of weeks,
45:40and then plant those out as a kind of insurance net.
45:44Now I sowed these in loo rolls, they've grown very well,
45:47so I'm going to plant the whole roll with the plant inside it
45:50rather than trying to unwrap it.
45:53They're going in this legume bed.
45:55Tell you what, it's getting hot.
46:00OK, a little bit of room there.
46:04You grow them in rows or a grid,
46:07no closer than six inches together,
46:10and actually about nine inches is probably better.
46:13Give them room to bush out and grow.
46:16And of course the cardboard will biodegrade into the soil.
46:19Just plant that in like that.
46:23If you're thinking of growing these,
46:25it's probably a good idea to grow them undercover
46:28to get them going quickly,
46:30but you could put the seeds straight in the ground,
46:34keep them in their final placing, so six to nine inches apart,
46:37and if the soil is warm enough, they will germinate and grow.
46:42And because they're going to be eaten green,
46:46you could sow them any time up till the middle of June,
46:50the end of June, and you'll get a crop.
46:55Right, I'm going to leave these
46:57and I'll plant them out in a couple of weeks' time
46:59just in case we have a touch of frost.
47:02Although I will have some cloches on standby,
47:05so if I get a frost warning,
47:07I can fleece them or cloche them and that will help.
47:11Right, I'll water those in.
47:23Right, with a fair wind,
47:25I should be harvesting my first edamame around about mid-July.
47:30Now, we are looking for gardens that are beautiful,
47:34gardens that are innovative, creative and tiny.
47:39This is part of our Every Space Counts competition.
47:42We've had lots of applications
47:44and they've been whittled down to a short list of five.
47:48We've shown three, so this week it's time to see number four.
47:56My name's Caroline, I live in East London.
48:00I moved here 21 years ago when the house was a new-build house.
48:05The garden was just a small paved area
48:08and some sort of rubbishy builder's soil.
48:11My mum came to stay, who thankfully for me is a fantastic gardener.
48:15She took one look at it and said,
48:17don't even think about a lawn, it would never grow.
48:21The design for the garden just started with finding a circular patio
48:27and from there to sort of try and introduce some different levels
48:32with the raised beds around the edges in the four corners
48:36and gradually introducing different pots and things
48:39which help to spread the colour out around the garden
48:43and provide more interest.
48:46The inspiration for my garden comes from all the gardens that I visit really.
48:50Big flower shows such as Chelsea, Hampton Court
48:53and you can go and really be inspired, see something you like
48:56and think, oh yeah, I'll have a go at that and buy another pot.
49:03The plants I have in the garden, they're not really my favourites,
49:07they've become my favourites,
49:09but it's more a case of what I found that like the conditions that I've got.
49:13Things like the Clematis, they love the conditions, they're cool roots,
49:17they just head for the sky and I love them.
49:22I've not been that successful at growing things from seed,
49:25I really don't get enough sustained light into the garden
49:28but I have a lot more success through cultivating by division
49:32and that can be all sorts of plants.
49:34Things like London Pride, the Adjugas, the Hostas.
49:41One of the things I have, though, grown from a seed
49:44is that after going for a walk a few years ago, I picked up some conkers
49:47and I've now got two horse chestnut trees in the garden
49:50so I don't quite know what I'm going to do with those.
49:54The challenges I have with this garden, it's a plus and a minus really.
50:00It's very sheltered which means it has a lovely climate
50:04but that also means a lot of bugs and pests can survive,
50:08slugs, snails, vine weevils.
50:10In the early days things were just shredded
50:13but I've tried various things and without a doubt nematodes
50:17are the most successful and the best thing to use.
50:23A couple of special plants are things like the Red Camellia.
50:26Mum gave to me all those years ago so she couldn't get it to grow,
50:29she said, here you go, you have a go with it.
50:31And the Squiggle Hazel was one of the first ones I bought as well.
50:34They've both been with me over 20 years now
50:37and I've got a bit of a soft spot for both of those.
50:41The garden's special to me because it started literally as nothing.
50:45I've nurtured it and it's become just my little haven.
50:59We'll be showing you the final garden in our shortlist on our next programme
51:04and then you'll get a chance to vote which one of the five you think should be the winner
51:08which we will announce at Gardeners' World Live.
51:12The garden is full of joys at the moment
51:14but one of the flowers that is giving me particular pleasure are the Camassias
51:18and this is Camassia cusickii which I planted last September
51:23to add colour, to just stretch out the flowering season
51:26because we have lots of crocus and fritillaries and daffodils
51:30and then it's all just grass.
51:32So I'm trying to pull colour through
51:34and what I love about this particular Camassia
51:37is the relationship between the open, delicate blue
51:40and these bright spots of yellow.
51:43It's absolutely ravishing and adds to my Camassia collection
51:47because we've got them now in the cricket pitch, we've got them in the orchard beds
51:50and also by the pond and they're all doing very well.
51:54Are you coming? Are you staying?
52:03BIRDS CHIRP
52:21These are some Clarkia seedlings.
52:25Clarkia purpurea burgundy wine for the jaw garden.
52:29These are deep, rich flowers with this slightly glaucus feathery foliage.
52:34Now they're in the plugs here and they're a little small to plant out.
52:38They will grow, they'll grow fine but they'll be lost amongst the competition.
52:42One of the problems that we have here at Longmeadow is our soil is so fertile
52:46that anything that will grow strongly grows extra strongly
52:50which means that anything else that's a little bit tentative
52:53or more temperature dependent can get swamped
52:56particularly at this time of year.
52:58When it's warm in the room and the nights are cold
53:00some things are a little bit slow to get going and they get buried
53:05and you can lose plants that way.
53:07So I'm going to pot these on
53:10and keep them in the pots for another month perhaps.
53:18And I'm putting it into a potting compost as opposed to a seed compost
53:22so there's plenty of nutrition in this.
53:24A good tip is to include into your compost mix
53:27even if you just add it to a bag of bought compost and nothing else
53:32is a little bit of the soil of your garden.
53:35Sieve in no more than say a shovel load of soil
53:39because that contains the bacteria and the fungi
53:43and all the microorganisms that the plant is going to start a relationship with.
53:48That's enough to enable it to grow away when you transplant it
53:52much better and quicker.
53:53The plants are much healthier and make that transition
53:56whereas very often if you have a plant that's just been in potting compost
54:00you put it out, particularly if it's a little bit cold, it sits there.
54:04It takes a week, sometimes two weeks
54:06before it starts to grow its roots out into the soil
54:09because it's a shock to the system.
54:11And it's that period before it starts to grow strongly
54:14that it's most vulnerable to attack from pests such as slugs and snails.
54:19But if it grows away quickly you have a much healthier plant.
54:24I've got another tray after this to do. It'll take a little while but that's fine.
54:28But maybe you're not planning to do any potting on this weekend
54:31but nevertheless here's some other jobs you can be doing.
54:45It's a good idea to cut back some of your dahlias.
54:49Take off the top growth down to the first pair of strong leaves
54:54and this will stimulate regrowth of side shoots
54:58which in turn will carry more flowers for longer.
55:02Albeit they'll start to flower a little later in the season.
55:09If you have a pond of any size give it a bit of a spring clean.
55:14Remove any dead material or old leaves
55:18but don't discard them straight away.
55:21Put them on the edge of the pond so any dragonfly larva, frogs or newts
55:27can crawl back into the water.
55:29Leave it for a couple of days and then take it to the compost heap.
55:35Lily beetles have become an increasing problem
55:38on all members of the lily and fritillary families.
55:42However they are bright red so easy to see.
55:45Approach them carefully because if they hear the vibrations of your footsteps
55:50they fall off the plant and lie on their backs on the ground
55:54and as their undersides are brown they're almost impossible to see.
55:58Take them off the plant and then dispatch them as you feel fit.
56:03I'm cutting some flowers for Nigel
56:06because yesterday was his birthday, not any old birthday either,
56:10it was his tenth birthday.
56:12Nig, here, look, I've got some flowers, would you like some tulips?
56:16Would you like a ball?
56:18Rejecting both tulips and ball because he knows in my pocket
56:23is a biscuit.
56:25I'm going to cut some flowers for Nigel
56:28because he knows in my pocket is a biscuit.
56:32Would you like that?
56:34You would.
56:36That's it, we've had quite a lot of those today really.
56:39The birthday party has rolled on for a couple of days.
56:42There you are, that's enough, enough.
56:45I'll keep the flowers for myself.
56:48This is a tulip called Dance Lion
56:51and I love the way that it's so full, it's almost like a peony.
56:55But like most tulips in the garden, it is nearly over,
56:59it's practically done its thing and normally with cut flowers
57:02you cut them just as they're about to open
57:05and that way they will last much longer.
57:08But if I want any flowers in the house, this is the last fling,
57:12I'm going to cut some, take them in
57:14and if they only last 24 hours, well, so be it.
57:17And the whole point of having special rows of cut flowers
57:22means that you can cut great big bunches
57:25and have really good displays indoors
57:27and still have your flowers in the borders looking at their best.
57:32Whereas if you go out and you cut a whole load of flowers from the border
57:36and it leaves a big hole, it means you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
57:39So it's a good idea.
57:41Now that's all we've got time for today
57:44and I will be back next week, but not here at Longmeadow
57:47because next week is the Chelsea Flower Show
57:50and it's a full week long with the rest of the team.
57:53And our first programme is on Sunday night,
57:56so I'll see you in just a few days' time.
57:59Until then, bye-bye.
58:11The great Beth Chateau died earlier this week
58:14at the ripe old age of 94.
58:17I had met Beth many times
58:19and of course Carol interviewed her just a year or so ago for this programme.
58:23She enriched the lives of so many of us gardeners
58:27with her writing, teaching and incomparable garden.
58:31So let's celebrate a life that was supremely well lived.