Gardeners World S51e07 27-04-18

  • 2 months ago
Transcript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:08And to a long meadow that at last is bathed in sunshine.
00:13It's coming and going, but while it's here, it's fabulous.
00:17And it does mean that the flowers are beginning to open.
00:21And when there is sun in spring, the Copse is my favourite place
00:26because the flowers that are suited to this kind of managed woodland
00:31are that wonderful combination of vibrancy and delicacy.
00:35So you have the anemones creating this sea of spangled white flowers
00:40and then the dog's tooth violets.
00:42Much more dramatic with their back-turned turban-like petals
00:46which then close at night.
00:48And both these flowers are set in this growing intensity of green
00:53and it's just lovely.
00:58On tonight's programme,
00:59Arit Anderson explores an incredible vertical forest in Milan.
01:03Welcome to our Gardening Future, the Bosco Verticale.
01:10Nick helps an overwhelmed viewer tackle some unruly shrubs.
01:14So you're up for a radical hack?
01:16Yes, go for it. OK.
01:19And I'll be planting up an alpine trough as a thyme lawn
01:23and sowing peas.
01:26MUSIC FADES
01:46When I cleared these grasses,
01:48I said you really shouldn't plant or divide any grasses
01:53until the soil warms up and you start to see signs of growth.
01:57Well, that's happening by degrees.
01:59Not all grasses grow at the same rate,
02:01but one of the first to grow, always, is Calamagrostis.
02:04And I've got a few examples here of Calamagrostis carlforster.
02:08These are very, very upright, straight grasses with panicles of flower.
02:13Really good vertical statements in a border.
02:17But you can see on this one,
02:19you've got the classic spreading out
02:22from an empty centre there in the middle.
02:25That means it's losing its initial vigour.
02:28Time to lift it, divide it,
02:30and then the basic clump will grow better for it
02:33and we'll have a new one that I can plant elsewhere.
02:36And using those vertical stems
02:39as accents in a border is really effective.
02:43So if you're planting and planning your borders now,
02:46think of contrasting the uprightness of this grass
02:50with soft, billowy shapes of plants around it.
02:53But as for doing the job,
02:55you'll just cut in, dig a good clump out.
02:58Calamagrostis is pretty adaptable.
03:01It grows best in full sun,
03:04but it will grow in most soils
03:07and is pretty trouble-free.
03:10Plant that now and that will get established and grow strongly.
03:15That's really heavy.
03:17I'm pretending that it's not heavy, but believe you me, it is.
03:21If I chop down in there and here,
03:26I've got four plants there that I can spread around the borders.
03:30And this will stay and grow strongly
03:35and give me the effect I wanted in the original position.
03:39Now, if I take a couple...
03:42So I'm thinking something like that
03:46and maybe another one near the front there.
03:52Let's just get this chap in the ground.
03:56Planting them is very straightforward.
03:58Just make a hole and plant them as near as possible to the same depth.
04:06So we're at the right level.
04:08Pull the soil back round it.
04:12And the whole point about moving plants at this time of year
04:15is they hardly know it's happened.
04:17Those roots will be down and growing within days.
04:20And this now will grow up tall.
04:22We've got the peony behind it. This is a tree peony.
04:25And so you've got a little composition in the front of the border
04:28where the grass is dominating,
04:30but allowing room for other things to work around it.
04:33OK, let's get the rest in.
04:42Last summer, I divided up a couple of big clumps of Iris sibirica.
04:48And these have got these grass-like leaves
04:51topped with beautiful, intense blue small flowers in June.
04:56The problem is the flowers last about two weeks,
04:59and then it's just foliage, which I think would look really good,
05:02weaving in amongst the grasses.
05:05Now, that's a bit of a problem.
05:07You've got flowers weaving in amongst the grasses.
05:11Now, the great virtue of grasses
05:13is that they are adaptable for almost any space.
05:15You can have towering Miscanthus, you can have little steepers,
05:19you can have very upright Calamagrostis,
05:21you can have sprawling pheasant grass.
05:24You can find a grass for any garden.
05:26And we've been celebrating small gardens this year
05:29by running a competition called Every Space Counts
05:32and asked you to send in pictures of your gardens
05:35that were taller than six metres by six.
05:37Now, we had hundreds of responses,
05:39from which our judges have whittled down a short list of just five.
05:44Last week, we showed the first of those five,
05:47and now here is the second.
05:53We're Chris and Rachel. We live in the middle of Bristol.
05:56And we've lived in this house for about four years.
06:01This garden is less than a year old.
06:03We bought it last February,
06:05and we pretty much finished planting in May.
06:08So this is the garden's first spring.
06:12When we moved in, all we had was a really narrow, skinny
06:15and pretty much sunless area at the back.
06:18So we knew in remodelling the house
06:20that we wanted to create a better aspect and orientation for the garden.
06:25Our biggest challenge really has been we don't have any rear access,
06:28so everything has to come in through the front door.
06:31We had four tonnes of topsoil delivered.
06:33We also had about three tonnes of hardcore for underneath the bricks.
06:37It's been a logistical challenge, that's for sure.
06:42Our starting point really was the fact that we had all of these bricks
06:45from the house that we wanted to use in an interesting way,
06:48so taking inspiration from things like Italian courtyard gardens
06:51where they have really beautiful paving and then lots of planting.
06:54One of the key things about the design
06:56was to get different series of levels within the garden
06:59and in this case I think that really works well.
07:01There are two very distinct areas within the garden.
07:04There's the area nearest to the back of the house
07:06which hardly sees any direct sunlight,
07:08where we've got ferns and hostas and shade-loving plants,
07:11and then moving towards the back of the garden
07:13it becomes a real kind of hotbed during the summer months
07:16and we've gone for something a bit more tropical.
07:19So dealing with those two areas has been quite a challenge.
07:23At the moment in the garden the ferns are really amazing
07:26because they've just begun to unfurl a couple of weeks ago
07:29so they're still fresh and lovely.
07:31And then in the summer the kind of real primary things
07:34are the bananas and the cannas and the dahlias
07:37and they give a good deal of height and jungliness and colour,
07:41which is quite exciting.
07:43And this euphorbia has been amazing as well.
07:45It's sort of at least doubled in size over the last year.
07:53One of the crucial things for us is the connection
07:55between the house and the garden.
07:57It's really important that we bring the garden in
07:59so we've got lots of glass and when we're sitting at our dining table
08:02it really feels as though the garden's just there.
08:04One of the nice things we've found about having a small garden,
08:07particularly with lots of containers,
08:09is that we can give some plants very specific conditions
08:12so we can have the prettier and the banksier
08:15or with their very particular soil conditions
08:18that we can supply them in that container.
08:21In this garden we've just made a little shed
08:23which has at the top of it a nice glass roof
08:26and some shelves in for Rachel to grow her seedlings in.
08:29I think it was supposed to free up the windowsills
08:31but it hasn't worked, it's just meant I can grow more.
08:36The garden's really special to us because it's our first garden,
08:39it's something we've created together.
08:41It does feel amazing.
08:42Yeah, and I think we feel really lucky,
08:44even though it's a small space,
08:45to have a little patch of our own in the city.
08:52We'll be showing the other three gardens
08:55over the course of the next three weeks
08:58and then you'll get a chance to vote
09:00which one you think should take the prize
09:04and we'll announce that result at Gardeners' World Live in June.
09:08Now, rhubarb has had quite a tricky winter, like all of us.
09:12It started to grow and then it got cold and it hunkered down
09:15and then it did another growth spurt
09:17and then got hit by snow and beasts from the east
09:19and all sorts of things, but it's a tough plant.
09:22It'll take any amount of cold weather
09:25and it does like rich soil, plenty of moisture
09:29and the important thing is to harvest it now
09:32but stop harvesting round about the beginning to middle of July
09:36to give it a chance to recover for next year's harvest.
09:40The key thing is to pull, not cut.
09:43If you cut, you leave an open wound
09:45and you can get infection and disease in that.
09:49Stewed rhubarb and yoghurt for breakfast
09:53is one of the joys of spring
09:55and rhubarb is the best of the season at the moment.
10:00That will be delicious.
10:02Come on, Nigel. Probably not for you.
10:13Come on, Nigel.
10:19Come on.
10:26This trough had crocus in it and they were great
10:30but of course they'll do nothing else the rest of the year
10:32so it's a complete waste to leave them in.
10:34I've taken them out.
10:35I've actually put them in a plastic pot
10:37to let them slowly die down
10:39and then when they've died down they can just be put to one side
10:41and replanted probably out in the cricket pitch in September.
10:45A trough like this limits what you can grow.
10:49We've got a very shallow root run
10:51and it calls out for alpine plants of some kind.
10:54Now, you have to create the conditions
10:57that alpines will thrive in
10:59and basically that means, above all else, good drainage.
11:02If you've got a deeper trough,
11:04you need to put a drainage layer in the bottom,
11:07old crocks, stones or even a layer of grit,
11:10and then cover it with either a sack or an old tea towel will do
11:14and that means the soil won't get washed down into the drainage layer
11:17and clog it up.
11:19I don't need to do that in this because it's too shallow
11:21but there is a hole here and I'm going to cover that with a crock.
11:32This compost mix is half peat-free compost and half grit.
11:39It will seem potentially poor in nourishment
11:41but that's what you want.
11:43Now, I've decided to make a little thyme lawn in here
11:48using different types of creeping thyme.
11:51I've got four different types of thyme.
11:53This is a thyme called Highland Cream,
11:55little pinky white flowers,
11:57absolutely perfect for growing in a little pan or a trough.
12:02I'm going to plant this quite close to the edge
12:05and that has got room to grow out over the edge like that if need be
12:09so I'll plant another one of the same variety about here.
12:19And the spacing is about six inches apart
12:22and these will grow and form a continuous mat.
12:26I think I have another white flower in there.
12:32This is called Snowdrift, very fine, delicate flowers.
12:39This is Creeping Red, little pinky red flowers,
12:44which again will grow horizontally and down over the edge.
12:48I'll plant another one of those.
12:51Thyme does need full sun
12:54and the fact it's quite windy today that it's slightly exposed doesn't matter.
12:58These are alpine plants, they're used to cold, they're used to exposure
13:02but they are absolutely not used to shade.
13:07Now all this is perfectly edible.
13:09You can use it like normal Mediterranean thyme
13:11but essentially it's decorative
13:13and this, you can see the stems have got a touch of pink in them
13:17and this is called Caborn Wine and Roses.
13:19But essentially what we want is a carpet of these aromatic leaves,
13:25never growing very tall,
13:27slightly creeping and hanging over the edge of the stone trough
13:30so I can brush my hands over it and you get that fragrance
13:34and of course with their different flowers coming at slightly different times
13:37the bees will absolutely love them.
13:46Although alpines look so delicate,
13:49in fact they're amongst the toughest of all plants
13:53but what I do need to do is to dress this with clean grit
13:57and the reason for that is that when it rains
14:00the compost in here will splash up and get mud and dirt
14:04on these delicate leaves and flowers
14:06and everything about this is about detail,
14:09about looking in so it's worth paying attention to that detail
14:13and making sure it isn't spoiled.
14:16Now that looks fairly sparse at the moment,
14:19just these little cushions of thyme leaves
14:22but very quickly these will start to grow
14:25and they will completely cover that trough by midsummer.
14:30Now if you don't have a trough,
14:33there are alpine pans which are shallow
14:38because they don't need a big root run
14:40but with a big surface area so these small plants can spread
14:44and you can enjoy them.
14:46And if you can't find an alpine pan,
14:49we often grow them in just simple little terracotta pots,
14:52nothing special in itself but can look lovely with an individual plant.
14:57And I came across these the other day,
14:59this is a little alpine primrose called Snow Cushion.
15:02Everything that we love about primroses
15:05reduced down to a doll's house size.
15:16If we take this primrose, that can go in the middle.
15:20Now there's a tiny little pincushion, Raulia,
15:23I never quite know how to pronounce that, Australis,
15:25but that has got the same silvery white colours
15:30and we can cram these in.
15:36This, which looks like a tiny little fern,
15:39this is Leptonella platzblack,
15:41and we can pop that in
15:46and then with some grit around them...
15:50That's just one colour tone.
15:53It's very simple and obviously you will decide what you like,
15:56whether you want bright colours, whether you want single tones,
15:59whether you want to mix and match.
16:01And if you've got a tiny space, they are perfect plants.
16:05It's interesting that instinctively, if you've got a very small space,
16:08be it the whole of your garden or part of the garden,
16:11you look inwards and you scale everything down.
16:13But it doesn't actually have to be like that.
16:16In Milan, they've taken a very different,
16:19a much more dramatic approach
16:21to introducing vegetation into this very busy city.
16:25And Arit went along to have a look.
16:32Milan, one of the great design capitals of Europe.
16:35Like all cities across the world, it's exciting, busy and vibrant.
16:42But it comes at a cost.
16:44Ten years ago, Milan was listed as the most polluted city in Europe.
16:51We all know that green spaces are part of the solution for cleaner air.
16:55But with a lack of precious space here on the ground,
16:58trees are often having to make way for businesses and homes.
17:04One forward-thinking architect and a landscape designer
17:07have come up with a radical solution
17:10and are spearheading a worldwide movement.
17:17It all started up there in the Italian sky.
17:21Welcome to our garden in future, the Bosco Verticale.
17:30These two extraordinary towers opened in 2014.
17:34Bosco Verticale means vertical forest.
17:39Up there are 700 trees, 5,000 shrubs
17:43and 15,000 climbers and perennials
17:46all growing and thriving up to 27 storeys high.
17:50That's 110 metres.
17:55These towers are phenomenal.
17:58The scale of these towers is incredible.
18:02I've come to meet internationally acclaimed architect Stefano Boeri
18:07to find out why he created this mini-ecosystem in the sky.
18:13Honestly, I've always been obsessed by trees.
18:17My dream was to imagine a building on architecture
18:21where trees were present, not simply as a decoration.
18:25I wanted to create a space where trees could grow
18:30but like living subjects.
18:33How do the buildings cope with the weight of those trees
18:37up at a height like that?
18:39It's not so complicated.
18:41You are, in a certain way, preparing the structure
18:44to have these heavy perimeters.
18:47Then we work to define the best composition of the soil
18:52because the soil should not be too heavy, for sure,
18:57but at the same time not too light
19:00otherwise the roots of the trees could move too much.
19:04Now we have something like 18 different species of birds
19:08that are living and nesting in the vertical forest.
19:12That's an amazing proof of how biodiversity could be implemented
19:17also in a very polluted and dense urban environment.
19:27Laura Gatti is a landscape consultant.
19:31She worked closely with Stefano to create this incredible sky forest.
19:38Oh, wow!
19:40Every single tree has been carefully selected.
19:45We've chosen 20 species of different trees
19:49also from the native around here or across Italy.
19:55For instance, we have a kind of ash, Fraxinus hornus,
19:59that is extremely adapted to the heat in the city.
20:04We have crabapples of different varieties, yes,
20:09and Lagestroemia for the flowering summer also.
20:15What we are trying to do, not only with the trees
20:19but with the underlayer, is found flowers and plants
20:24that you are used to see when you go outside for a walk in the country.
20:33That's why I feel so grounded being so high up
20:37because it's that sense of being in a woodland, I think, yeah.
20:43Trees and shrubs grow in planters that have been integrated
20:47into the walls of the balconies to ensure stability.
20:51So how did Laura develop her high-altitude horticulture?
20:57What we did basically is just to think like a tree,
21:01to be like a tree
21:04and try to do what the tree needs in this situation,
21:11choosing the right one adapted to be grown in container.
21:18What soil has to be in these containers for the majority of the trees?
21:23Since we have one metre of soil,
21:26we have to take into account also that roots need oxygen, basically,
21:31so we have to design a substrate
21:35in which the air and the oxygen could alter.
21:40We put into the planter a small stone, pumice, actually.
21:45But it's very, very light
21:47because to be happy also the engineers,
21:51we have to ensure that this system is not so heavy.
21:58They chose trees which have a deep root system
22:01so they could cope with wind.
22:04For irrigation, groundwater from Milan is pumped into containers
22:09so they don't have to use drinking water.
22:12Three membranes protect the building from water damage
22:16and stop roots getting through.
22:20We have mainly deciduous here because of the risk of snow also.
22:27You've got to think of everything, snow, heat, wind.
22:30Sure.
22:32So even 27 floors up, it's a case of right plant, right place.
22:40This is a parotia.
22:41A parotia is one of the most interesting trees here at the Bosco Verticale
22:47because it's extremely efficient in capture pollution
22:51because of the leaves, there are raffia and there are hair on the lower side
22:58and it's also interesting because there's a huge amount of leaves, a high canopy.
23:06That tree canopy also offers shade and reduces the temperature of the building
23:11which can only be a positive factor in the fight against climate change.
23:18I would love to live in a vertical forest like this.
23:21These living towers have to be the way forward for future city living.
23:28I thought that was completely fascinating.
23:31And I've seen living walls ten years ago in Paris
23:35and now to see trees, forests rising up these blocks really is awe-inspiring.
23:42And later in the programme, Arati is going to go back
23:44and see what it's like to live in one of those flats.
23:48Now, my imperial fratilleries,
23:51are not quite so dramatic and are very modest in comparison
23:54but they're still extraordinary plants.
23:58And we have this variety called rubra here in the jewel garden
24:02and then the yellow ones in the spring garden.
24:04And both of them share this dark, almost black, chocolatey stem
24:09and then the pineapple top.
24:11And one of the many things I love about these amazing plants
24:14is that they're so easy to grow.
24:16And then the pineapple top.
24:18And one of the many things I love about these amazing plants
24:21is that they are pollinated by birds.
24:23If you see little blue tits up in amongst the flowers,
24:26they're really important because they are pollinating them.
24:29And these will last for two weeks if we're lucky and then that's it.
24:33I suspect this spring everything will pass over rather quicker than normal.
24:37So this is a plant to relish for the moment while it lasts.
24:47BIRDS CHIRP
24:57A small job that it's worthwhile doing at this time of year
25:00is just to make sure that any climbing plants,
25:03like this climbing rose, are properly tied in.
25:06As things are starting to grow,
25:08they will start to develop their flower buds
25:10and if you have a storm or a wind and they break,
25:13that is infuriating.
25:15Just fix them either to wires or trellis if you've got it.
25:21Use soft twine.
25:23And it's not too late to put up support.
25:26But if you do so, a really good tip
25:30is to make sure that it's well away from the wall or the fence
25:34so you can easily get your hand in behind it.
25:36And that does two things.
25:38One, it lets a bit of ventilation up behind it and stops fungal problems
25:42and also makes it much easier when you're tying them in like that.
25:48There we go. It's a small job.
25:50But it's good to get these things done before the garden really takes off.
25:57Now, we asked you to contact us
25:59to see if we could help you with any particular problems
26:03that you had in the garden.
26:05And we've had a letter from Lynn Smith
26:07saying that she had a border that was overgrown with shrubs
26:11and she didn't know how to tackle it.
26:13So Nick went to her home on the Welsh borders in Shropshire
26:18to lend her a hand.
26:31It's a common problem.
26:33Trees and shrubs which were once clipped and well-maintained in our borders
26:37can easily run out of control.
26:39But with the right know-how and a confident approach to pruning
26:43it's possible to tackle these problem plants
26:46and bring your borders back under control.
26:51Lynn moved here in 2015 with her husband.
26:54They spent two years renovating the house
26:56which meant the garden grew unchecked.
27:00This is one of my major problems.
27:04It's a rose that's got out of control.
27:06OK.
27:07The previous owner told me that it was an American Pillar.
27:11American Pillar is a rambling rose.
27:13A rambling rose always flowers on the wood that it's produced
27:16in the previous year.
27:18So that really determines how you prune it
27:20because you don't want to take away those fresh green stems
27:23that appeared last year that will produce this year's flower.
27:27This is completely out of control.
27:29So rather than a standard annual prune
27:32we need to do a big rejuvenative prune.
27:34So we're going to be taking a lot of material away from it.
27:37We've got this brilliant plant support up here
27:39in the name of this birch. OK.
27:41If we can get rid of this bulky growth
27:43and then try and steer the new growth up into the tree
27:47in a year or so's time you will have a lovely display
27:51of those sort of bright pink, about 50p size flowers
27:55and just add another layer of interest.
27:57So it's really worth doing.
28:00There's nothing worth keeping on that so I can get rid of that.
28:04Any pruning job that you're doing
28:06always take out the dead, diseased and damaged wood.
28:11An easy tip, Lyn, if you're ever unsure
28:13if a piece of timber you're cutting is dead or alive
28:16is just to use your secateurs to scrape away
28:18a little bit of the bark on the surface.
28:20OK.
28:21Now, if it's pale or dark like that underneath
28:24then it's likely dead.
28:26If it's green and wet then it's likely to be alive.
28:28That's definitely gone. Lovely.
28:30That can come out and you can set to
28:32on these other darker stems now as well.
28:34OK, thanks.
28:40When you're doing this sort of bulk pruning
28:43the material itself can take up a huge volume
28:45so if you chop it down as you go
28:47it will make it smaller for the compost heap
28:50but it will also rot it down more quickly
28:53being in smaller pieces.
28:56Good.
29:00Goodness.
29:01Wow.
29:03Now having gotten rid of all that old bulky wood
29:06we've now got these decent stems.
29:08You can then tuck behind the viburnum
29:10and it will be ready to head up the birch tree for you
29:12and you'll have a lovely display of pink flowers
29:14all the way through summer.
29:15What more could you want?
29:16No, that's great.
29:19Well, then that's the rows all sorted.
29:21Lovely, thank you.
29:22But I understand you've got a few concerns
29:24about this Eliagnus.
29:25The major problem that I've got
29:27is that it's gone green on the edges
29:30and I wasn't quite sure what I should do about that.
29:33OK, I mean this is something that fairly regularly
29:36happens with variegated plants.
29:38Variegation in plants happens
29:40for a number of different reasons.
29:42Sometimes it can be a virus
29:44which is most likely the reason for the streaking in here.
29:47I know that sounds a bit scary
29:49but actually it's something
29:51that's been intentionally introduced.
29:53It's been selected because people like this particular look
29:56so it's not a bad thing.
29:58What's happening here is that the plant
30:00is basically fighting back against the virus.
30:03The plant's going back to its original green mode
30:06and that's what's known as reversion.
30:08It's really simple to address.
30:10All you really need to do
30:12is to identify the piece of green leaf
30:17and then just trace it back
30:19until you start to see variegated leaves
30:22and make a cut just above the good variegated bit.
30:26So I've got rid of the straight green.
30:28There's the variegation.
30:30That should grow away nicely.
30:32Now I can see there's a few more bits and pieces
30:34that need taking up here.
30:36So it must be your go.
30:38OK.
30:41Thing to check with your secateurs,
30:43there's two ways of cutting.
30:45What you ideally want to do
30:47is cut with the blade against the stem
30:49and that will give you the smartest,
30:51sharpest finished cut.
30:53And it just leaves a little bit of material around there
30:56so it can callous over and the plant can heal itself.
31:01OK.
31:03Brilliant.
31:05Well, I reckon that is...
31:07That's the worst of it.
31:09Thank you.
31:11That's your reversion sorted.
31:13Wow, brilliant.
31:15Nick, would you have a look at this lovely tree for me?
31:18I really love it.
31:20And I just want to look after it in the best way I can.
31:23What you've got is a Sambucus,
31:26so an elder,
31:28but it's one of the ornamental forms.
31:30OK.
31:32There's different ways that you can manage it
31:34to get different effects.
31:36This year it's already producing flower buds on the tips here,
31:40so it would flower quite prolifically
31:42and have a relatively small leaf.
31:44However, we can do a really severe hack,
31:47take it down to about a foot off the ground
31:50and you'll find it will come up,
31:52it will regenerate beautifully this year
31:54and you'll have much larger, more exotic-looking leaves.
31:57So it depends on the kind of look you're looking to achieve.
32:00Well, I like the sound of the latter,
32:02the big leaf and the exotic look.
32:05OK, so you're up for a radical hack?
32:07Yes, go for it.
32:09I'm just looking at the base of this stem
32:11and you can see there's almost a swollen ring around here
32:15and this is where there are absolute guarantee of buds.
32:18But also, tucked away under the bark here
32:21are loads and loads of extra little buds.
32:23So doing a cut now will trigger those into growth.
32:26By the end of this year, you'll have two-metre stems coming back up.
32:29OK.
32:30All right?
32:31Yeah, go for it. I believe you.
32:33So just going in from the back here.
32:35It's a nice, soft wood, so it's easy to go through.
32:38And there we go.
32:40OK.
32:41Nice, neat cut.
32:42Yes.
32:49So, Lynn, I think it's your turn.
32:51Down to the same level, so it's just above a node.
32:55And I reckon, Lynn, we're going to need secateurs now
32:58for the last few cuts.
33:00OK.
33:04Lovely.
33:05Just a couple more to do.
33:07Oh, my goodness.
33:08There we go.
33:09You're going to put me out of a job, Lynn.
33:11Oh, yeah.
33:12Lovely job.
33:13So that's the Sambucus sorted.
33:15Now, there's a few other things in this area.
33:18We've got this ivy, which is Hedra cultica,
33:20which is running absolutely everywhere.
33:22It's just a case of pulling it by hand
33:24where it's rooted into the ground, work your way back,
33:27and then it will reveal and give more of a chance
33:30to this thing to grow.
33:31Right.
33:32It's called Silberia.
33:33White flowers in spring, it's great.
33:35And I've just noticed down here, actually,
33:37this vinca is looking a bit sad.
33:39Now, you could leave it for a few weeks to finish flowering,
33:42or you could shear it off completely now.
33:44OK.
33:45Chop it back down to the ground
33:46and you get a nice, fresh spurt of growth.
33:49This year?
33:50Yes, indeed.
33:51Oh, wow.
33:52So, more gardening?
33:53Yes, absolutely.
33:54Guess what I'm doing this weekend.
33:56Right.
34:03The great thing, if you've got overgrown shrubs
34:06and you don't really know what to do,
34:08is don't be frightened of them.
34:10Far better to cut too hard than not cut at all.
34:13The worst thing that can happen, in almost all cases,
34:16is that you'll miss out on a flowering season.
34:18But plants are much tougher than you think,
34:21so don't be timid.
34:22They're tougher and they can be more rampant than you think, too.
34:26I've got a confession to make.
34:28Last year, I planted mint out into my herb garden.
34:32Now, I say a confession.
34:33It was a kind of experiment,
34:35because I planted them into pockets surrounded by cobbles and stone,
34:38and immediately I did it.
34:40People on the internet and people were writing me letters
34:42saying, you'll regret it.
34:43They will spread, and they did spread.
34:45The runners went sideways through the cobbles,
34:48under the stone, popped up in the path.
34:50So, this winter, I dug up all the mint,
34:53put it into pockets,
34:55I dug up all the mint, put it into pots,
34:58and now I'm going to pot it into containers.
35:00And I would say that if you're growing mint,
35:02and you should, it's a fabulous herb to grow,
35:04do so in a container,
35:06unless you are completely prepared for it to take over an entire area.
35:10Now, I've got an old basin here.
35:13You can see it's got holes in the bottom that I've drilled,
35:16and that will serve really well for growing mint.
35:20Now, I've got some crocks here,
35:22and pebbles would do, or small stones,
35:24just to make sure those holes don't get clogged.
35:32I've also mixed up a potting mix with plenty of grit in it.
35:40They don't like poor soil so much as decent drainage.
35:45Right, this is peppermint.
35:48Peppermint is ideal for mint tea.
35:52So I'm going to plant this in here.
35:54Now, this is a plastic pot.
35:56I'm going to keep using this, keep recycling it.
35:58The best thing you can do to reduce plastic
36:01is to use the plastic you've got.
36:04Recycle it at home.
36:07Now, here we go.
36:10The smell of that as I do it is fantastic.
36:13That rich minty aroma.
36:16Mint needs to be grown in semi-shade,
36:19and keep it well-watered.
36:21Now, obviously, when you grow it in a container,
36:24you'll find that the mint will get less productive.
36:28So what I do in a container is take all the plants out,
36:33divide them, and then put fresh compost in
36:36about every three years.
36:38Peppermint, spearmint and applemint are really useful,
36:42but don't grow them in the same container,
36:45because the tastes cross over and blur each other.
36:52That will very quickly grow to fill up the entire pot,
36:56but it won't escape.
36:59Still to come, Arit meets the people who live and work
37:03at the Bosco Verticale.
37:05Can't imagine what it must be like to prune at height,
37:09looking over Milan.
37:11But first, Frances gets to work on her allotment.
37:21Springtime. It's a busy time for allotments far and wide,
37:25and with the cold snap hopefully over,
37:28here in Bristol there are little hints of spring
37:31around every corner.
37:33Luke Murray is an allotment newbie like me,
37:36and this year he's kindly agreed to share his plot with me.
37:40In return, I'm helping him get to grips with his extreme sight.
37:44Despite the weather conditions, his enthusiasm is unstoppable.
37:48Luke!
37:49Hey, how you doing?
37:50Well, thanks.
37:51Every time we turn around there's more stuff built.
37:53You've been so busy.
37:55Yeah, thanks.
37:56I've been trying to make the most of the nice days of sunshine
37:59when we've had them.
38:00Yeah, a few.
38:01And when we've not.
38:02But yeah, you can see we've got a bit of a raised beds in,
38:05we've got a few of the compost bays.
38:07Everything here is made out of just pallet wood,
38:10things I've been able to recycle, repurpose, reuse.
38:13Is that horse manure?
38:14Yeah, it is.
38:15I'm really fortunate.
38:16A really good friend of mine, Nick, she's got horses
38:18and she's given me free rein on her huge mound of horse poo,
38:22which is great.
38:23Great, that's a nice job.
38:25Yeah.
38:26So yeah, I'm starting to fill these up
38:28and bring a bit of nutrients to the soil.
38:31But these will be my beds, that right?
38:33Yep, so hopefully we're going to build another three the other side
38:36to have like a nice mirror view of it.
38:38And yeah, four out of the six of those,
38:41I'm more than happy for you to kind of go mad on.
38:44Plant whatever you like.
38:45That sounds good to me.
38:46Well, look, I will get on and do this one
38:48because I can see you've steamed right ahead.
38:50I need to catch up.
38:51No worries, we've got plenty of shovels to go around.
38:53We'll sort you out.
38:54Cool.
38:55All right, let's do it.
38:58This is the most intense clay I've ever had to work with.
39:02To improve the heavy soil,
39:04in these raised beds we're adding cardboard,
39:06which will act as a natural weed suppressant.
39:09This will also add carbon
39:11and encourage bacteria to rejuvenate the soil.
39:15When you're doing an allotment,
39:17sometimes it's a really huge amount of work.
39:20But if you want to save yourself that work,
39:22you can use a no-dig policy,
39:24which is basically a way of letting nature
39:27do all the hard work for you.
39:29This is manure, but it's really, really good
39:32and well-rotted manure.
39:33It's already full of worms, which is lovely to see.
39:37This doesn't smell at all.
39:38It's essentially really high nutrient,
39:41really good for the soil.
39:43The first layer I'm putting down is a layer of manure.
39:47And then I'll put a layer of soil,
39:49a layer of compost.
39:50And the idea is that over time,
39:52the microbes and the roots within the soil
39:55will mix that up for you.
39:57That way you keep the integrity of your soil structure.
40:06I've got a little notebook for my allotment,
40:08and it's something I always like to do
40:10if I'm doing a new project,
40:11is to kind of keep a record of what I've done.
40:14So if I'm writing down the varieties of crops I've grown,
40:17I can see later on in the year where they are, what they are.
40:20And then next year, I'll know which ones were good
40:22and which ones weren't so good.
40:24Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been so good this spring,
40:27so everything's quite behind.
40:28But what I can still plant is some broad beans.
40:31And when you're planting broad beans,
40:33make sure you have them upright rather than laying flat.
40:36If they're flat, then the water sits on them and they can rot off.
40:39And I'm going to put them about 5cm down to the soil
40:42and about 20cm apart.
40:43They're quite bushy.
40:44They're not like a traditional kind of climbing bean.
40:47So they'll support each other if they're at that width.
40:49You don't want them too close together,
40:51but you also don't want them too far apart
40:52so they'll flop over in the wind.
40:56Here on the allotment,
40:57there are so many people I'm really keen to meet.
41:00And hopefully, I can learn a thing or two along the way.
41:05Hi, Gilbert.
41:06Hi, dear.
41:07How are you doing?
41:08Not too bad, dear.
41:09Gilbert Winter is from a long line of Caribbean plot holders.
41:13From a young age, he's learnt everything about growing your own
41:17and is at his happiest when he's on his allotment.
41:21So what does it mean to you to have this space to come to?
41:24There's a little bit of nature around here.
41:26Away from the cars and all them things,
41:28you can just dream away when you sit down.
41:31Yeah, yeah.
41:32I'm telling you, the food that you buy
41:34and the green groceries in them place,
41:36you know, it's different.
41:37Yeah.
41:38That even makes me want to grow more.
41:39Yes.
41:40It's love you're putting in it.
41:42And when people are eating your food and it's that love from you,
41:46you know, the whole combination will come into one.
41:50What things do you grow here every year?
41:52Do you have sort of staple crops?
41:54Yeah, my greens, which is callaloo.
41:57OK.
41:58You managed to grow that here?
42:00Yes.
42:01It's a Caribbean thing, but it works.
42:03Really?
42:04And what does it taste like?
42:05I've never tried it.
42:06Well, it's kind of like spinach, but with a unique flavour.
42:12Callaloo originated in West Africa
42:14but is very popular in Caribbean communities.
42:17You don't see it growing here in the UK very often, that's for sure.
42:22These seeds are for you to try and see what result you can get.
42:28That's amazing, thank you so much.
42:30It's my gift to you, right?
42:32But you've kind of got to wait until the weather warms.
42:35So how do you know when it's warm enough to do?
42:37When you're weeding, you've got your hands in the ground
42:42and you can feel that warmth, then you know, yes.
42:45And if I get stuck, you'll be here, I can come and ask for advice?
42:48Yes.
42:49Well, I hope you do come and check me so I can see the progress.
42:53Absolutely.
42:55It's lovely meeting people like Gilbert
42:57and becoming a part of this allotment community.
43:00And when you get some seeds out of it, that's an added bonus.
43:03It'd be fun to experiment, but I really hope they grow.
43:07But I know the tomatoes, chard and kale sprout I sowed last month
43:11should be coming along nicely.
43:13I'm just going to check how they're doing.
43:21My seeds are not doing quite as well as I would have hoped.
43:25We have some chard successes,
43:27a couple of the kale sprouts have germinated, but no tomatoes at all.
43:30Which is a bit of a shame, but actually they were quite dry.
43:33So what I've done is I've put them in this tray of water,
43:36which will keep them really, really moist
43:38and give the tomatoes a chance to germinate.
43:40But today I'm going to sow some more seeds,
43:42which are a little bit later in the season.
43:44We're a bit warmer now, hopefully there won't be any more frost.
43:47I'm going to use plastic pots just to see if that makes a difference.
43:50What I've done is I've bought some really nice quality ones
43:53so that when they're done with for this year, I can reuse them year after year.
43:56And into that I am growing some sweet corn.
43:59This is Swift, which is a really common and reliable variety.
44:02It grows well and has a good flavour, which is what you want from your edibles.
44:06And I'm just going to put two in each pot.
44:11And generally you're only going to want one,
44:14so whichever comes up weaker will be given to someone else on the allotment
44:18if they haven't got sweet corn and would like some.
44:20And because they're a tender crop, they can't go outside yet,
44:23so I'm going to put them out in May time,
44:25when hopefully we'll have a bit of sunshine.
44:33It's been a really productive day.
44:37I feel like finally there are seeds in the ground, there are seeds in the pots,
44:41it's all beginning to come together.
44:43So once the season really changes, which you can feel,
44:46this will really kick off and it will look so transformed,
44:49as if it's not transformed enough already.
44:51I'm really looking forward to seeing it all next time.
44:55Come on.
44:58That clay is spectacularly heavy.
45:01It'll be very interesting to see how those raised beds work out.
45:04And I hadn't come across callaloo, like Francis,
45:07until about 10, 12 years ago,
45:09when I saw it growing on an allotment in Nottingham.
45:12And since then I can vouch that it is delicious and definitely worth growing.
45:16Come on, Dixie, come on.
45:19I came in here to get my special rake,
45:22which has got a double row of tines.
45:25But there's a blackbird, who's built her nest on it
45:28and is sitting on the eggs now.
45:31So I'll use my old one.
45:34I'm going to use my old one.
45:37I'm going to use my old one.
45:40I'm going to use my old one.
45:43I'm going to use my old one.
45:46So I'll use my old one.
45:55Francis was saying how that getting broad beans in the ground
45:58is much later than normal.
46:00But the ground is warming up.
46:02The sun is coming out.
46:04In fact, it's come out dramatically in the last half hour or so here at Longmeadow.
46:07And that means the soil will very quickly warm up
46:10and be good for doing all kinds of things.
46:12I'm going to put some peas in.
46:15You want to put them on ground that is freshly manured.
46:21They're nitrogen-fixing,
46:23but they like plenty of nitrogen and goodness in the soil.
46:27They're the first part of the crop rotation.
46:29You get legumes, followed by brassica, followed by roots,
46:32and then you fit other things around them.
46:34But you rake a reasonably fine tilth,
46:38and then...
46:40I got this over the winter.
46:42It's a hoe perfect for drawing a wide, flat drill,
46:47which is the way that I like to sow peas.
46:50So just pull the hoe gently through like that.
46:56And what you're left with is a very shallow trench.
47:04Now, I've got two varieties,
47:06but I'm going to start with Hurst Greenshaft.
47:09This is a good doer.
47:11It's a standard pea. It's quite old-fashioned.
47:14It's tall and gives a good crop.
47:18Now, what I like to do
47:22is to place them in a double row along the drill.
47:28So...
47:30one...
47:32two...
47:34There's been hot debate on the matter of spacing peas,
47:38but as you can imagine,
47:40should you sow them in single rows, double rows, triple rows even?
47:45I think the consensus is double rows works best.
47:48And then each pea about three to six inches apart.
47:54I've got another variety,
47:56and these are peas that I gathered from last year
48:01called Calobie de Mouzane,
48:03and they have purple flowers.
48:05You can eat them pod and all, and they're very tasty.
48:08I try and grow these every year.
48:10And I'm just growing a couple of short rows of each variety now,
48:14and I'll do another sowing in about three weeks' time
48:17to stagger the season.
48:19Last week I said,
48:21don't stand on a raised bed wherever you do.
48:23Well, this is not a raised bed.
48:25I've deliberately got these two beds
48:27so that you can walk over them,
48:29which makes harvesting of things like peas and beans and squashes
48:33a lot easier.
48:39Now, there's plenty of moisture in the ground.
48:41We've had enough rain after all.
48:43If it's very dry, they'll need watering,
48:46but the critical time to water peas is when they flower.
48:50When they come into flower, give them a really good soak.
48:53Peas are twiners,
48:55and they need something for their tendrils to cling to.
48:58So pea sticks are what you traditionally use,
49:00which are the bushy parts from hazel coppicing.
49:03But you could use netting if you want.
49:05Now, you can put that in now before they grow.
49:07I tend to wait until I see the shoots just appear from the ground,
49:11and then I stake them.
49:12So I'll be doing that in a few weeks' time.
49:14Now, it's time to go back to Milan and rejoin Arit.
49:18We saw the amazing work that's being done there
49:21with the Bosco Verticale,
49:23and now she's looking at actually how they're maintained.
49:31The Bosco Verticale is the vertical forest that towers over Milan.
49:36It's home to 117 species of plants and trees,
49:40which are woven into the building
49:42to provide benefits for humans and wildlife.
49:48I'm on the 14th floor of one of the towers,
49:50which is an incredible experience
49:53because I'm surrounded by all of these trees and plants
49:58and almost in a forest,
50:00yet at the same time I can hear all the sounds of the city.
50:03It's quite an unusual experience, I have to say.
50:06But what does really fascinate me is how is this all maintained?
50:12Who keeps this looking fantastic?
50:15And also, what must it be like to live here?
50:21One answer is waiting for me outside.
50:25I don't know if you can make out,
50:27but up there is one of the flying gardeners
50:30who look after the towers.
50:33I can't imagine what it must be like to prune at height,
50:38looking over Milan.
50:40What an amazing job.
50:45Five tree surgeons, aptly named Flying Gardeners,
50:49saw high above the city of Milan
50:51to maintain the trees on these towers.
50:55One thing's for sure, they definitely have a head for heights.
51:00I'm meeting Giovanni and René
51:02to find out what it's like to carry out extreme gardening
51:05suspended from ropes 110 metres up in the sky.
51:11Honestly, the first feeling I had
51:13when they asked me to think about working on this building
51:17was perplexity.
51:19Yes, and after all,
51:21this feeling has been substituted by fascination.
51:25We love working here.
51:28How do these trees get secured?
51:30Yeah, the trees have to face a strong wind,
51:34so just in case that there is a broken branch
51:38or part of the trunk, it's secured.
51:41In the case of this Corallis Coluna, how would you prune it?
51:45We have to thin a bit the crown
51:49without altering the shape and its natural beauty.
51:55Giovanni, you must see so much different wildlife.
51:59During the work, we take a rest
52:01and we sit down here in the balcony or also on the trees,
52:06and we can hear the sound of the birds
52:10and the sound of the wind going through the canopy.
52:14And it's very particular things
52:16because we are in the centre of Milan, in the centre of the town.
52:21Yeah, to have nature so close to the building.
52:24It's a perfect place to nest.
52:26I mean, if I would be a bird, I would choose this tree.
52:30Yeah.
52:31But the condition for trees here are, we could say, perfect.
52:36It sounds like the trees have got the perfect conditions
52:39and it sounds like you've got the perfect job.
52:42You've got the perfect job.
52:50The average tenant has two trees, eight shrubs and over 40 plants.
52:55So what's it actually like to live in this forest?
52:58Oh, wow!
53:00Simona Pizzi is one of the residents here.
53:05I was one of the first people, or maybe even the first one,
53:09who came to live here at Bosco Verticale.
53:13When it's really hot, for instance, last summer was boiling,
53:17the plants give you a sense of protection and shade from the sun.
53:22Do you have a favourite season, Simona?
53:27From mid-May to mid-June is the most beautiful time,
53:30but also in autumn because you can see the colours changing.
53:34Plants start showing different colours.
53:38It's beautiful because they change from red to yellow to orange.
53:44It's definitely a wonderful feeling
53:49because looking out the window in the morning
53:51and seeing first thing from your bed all these plants and flowers,
53:56it almost makes you feel like you are not living in a big city like Milan.
54:01The Bosco Verticale started as an experiment,
54:04but it seems to have worked with new towers planned worldwide.
54:09So does architect Stefano Beweri think this is the way forward?
54:15Urban forestry is not simply vertical forest.
54:18It's roof gardens, it's the idea of orbital forest around our cities,
54:24so it's all this together.
54:26The issue of urban forestry will be crucial in the next years
54:30if you really want to reverse climate change.
54:41It goes to show that this is going to be something
54:43that can be created for our futures
54:45and that we can use our spaces in such a way
54:48that is the perfect combination for both people,
54:52plants and places.
55:04That is not just inspiring.
55:06I think it's really important because it's been reckoned
55:09that there will be a billion and a half more people on this planet by 2030.
55:14They will all need somewhere to live
55:16and to make cities a place for them.
55:19They will all need somewhere to live
55:21and to make cities viable, good to live in and environmentally sound,
55:25you need that kind of project.
55:27Now, just a little tip.
55:29If you've got daffodils that are starting to go over
55:32and you want them to go on flowering in the same place next year,
55:36take the seed heads off.
55:37Just pinch them off with your fingers
55:39and that means the energy that would otherwise have gone into producing seed
55:43will go back into the bulb
55:45and next year's flowers will be bigger and healthier as a result.
55:48This is something to do for daffodils growing in borders or in containers,
55:53but not if they're growing in long grass.
55:56In that case, leave the seed heads on
55:58and then they will seed themselves and gradually spread far and wide.
56:03That's just a little tip, but here are some jobs you can do this weekend.
56:08Parsnips
56:17It's been a late spring generally, but it's not too late to sow parsnips,
56:21but this is something to get on with as they are slow to germinate.
56:25Draw a drill in well-prepared soil
56:28and spread the flat seeds evenly along it, about an inch or so apart.
56:33Because they're slow to develop, you can sow radish in the same drill.
56:37These will grow very quickly and will be harvested and eaten
56:41before they're competing with the parsnips for space and nutrients.
56:50It's time to start supporting herbaceous perennials.
56:54The secret is to do this before they need it.
56:57It doesn't matter what you use, whether it's cane and string,
57:00brushwood or, as I am, homemade metal supports,
57:04try and do it so that it looks as natural as possible,
57:07providing support but not constraint.
57:14The primrose season is coming to an end,
57:17but now is the best time to divide them to make new plants.
57:21It doesn't matter if you're growing them in a container or the ground,
57:23the technique is the same.
57:25Lift them, tease them apart with your hands
57:28and replant the different sections, water them in well
57:32and they will grow into healthy plants next spring.
57:42Last week, when we were here in the writing garden,
57:45only about a third of the Thalia daffodils were open, which was disappointing.
57:49But with a little bit of sunshine, they have all opened out.
57:54They're at their very best and not only are they looking good,
57:57they're smelling fabulous too.
57:59And amongst them, the little tulip, Lady Jane, has just started to flower.
58:03This is a tulip that is flush pink on the outside
58:06and then opens out pure white and closes up at night
58:10and will keep flowering for a couple of weeks.
58:13Now, that's it for this week.
58:16Don't forget, next week is the RHS's National Gardening Week.
58:20There are lots of events, there are gardens you can go and see
58:23and you can get all the details of those on our website.
58:26But the whole point is to inspire you to get out into your garden.
58:30I'm afraid we won't be back in this garden next week, we're off air.
58:33But back here in a fortnight's time,
58:35when we shall also be visiting the Spring Show at Malvern.
58:38So I'll see you then. Bye-bye.
58:56© transcript Emily Beynon