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00:00Come on.
00:11Hello and welcome to Gardener's World.
00:14Now the writing garden, as we come into June, is at its frothiest best.
00:20I wanted, when I started to make this, to capture the spirit of cow parsley.
00:26I love the way that for a few weeks, the end of May, beginning of June,
00:30it flows and rolls along hedgerows and country lanes,
00:34and floats and shimmies with these lovely, delicate white flowers.
00:39So that's what I've tried to achieve.
00:41And plants like olea do this beautifully.
00:45And this particular allium, it's Mount Everest,
00:49has a slightly silvery, ghostly touch to it.
00:52I've used sileni, which can be a thug, but it is lovely while it lasts.
00:57This is always work in progress.
01:00But just for the moment, it's doing exactly what I want.
01:08Coming up on today's show, Carol and the team
01:11share the very best of the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.
01:16Adam visits a street of exquisite, but truly tiny front gardens
01:21in Peckham, South London.
01:23And I'll be planting out some tender veg.
01:26And tonight is the night when voting begins
01:29on our Every Space Counts competition,
01:31and I'll be telling you exactly how you can do that later on.
01:44Come on. Now.
01:47Come on. This way. Nelly.
01:52Come on.
01:57Good dogs.
02:03Just before Christmas, we had a really heavy snowfall.
02:06And then it froze.
02:08And the upshot was the weight of the frozen snow split
02:12a weeping pear that we had here.
02:15And when we cleared it up, what was left didn't look very good.
02:18So that was it. We cut it down.
02:20But now we've got more room.
02:22I can put in a really substantial plant in its place
02:25and have other plants around it.
02:27Now, if you want a substantial plant,
02:29few are bigger or more dramatic than the Abyssinian banana,
02:35Enseti morellii ventricosum,
02:39one of the grandest plants that any garden could ever grow.
02:45I'm going to prepare the ground before I try moving it.
02:49It means a little bit of collateral damage.
02:57That, I think, should do.
03:07There we are.
03:12I haven't added any goodness underneath it
03:15because there's so much goodness in the soil.
03:16But if your soil is sandy or chalky or in any way light,
03:21add plenty of garden compost or manure, if you've got it,
03:25both in the hole, which will act as a sponge
03:28as much as anything else to hold moisture
03:30and to mulch all around it.
03:32These plants will eat and drink
03:35anything and everything you give them.
03:37They are voracious.
03:40I need to just make sure it's completely upright.
03:44It will very quickly grow its roots out into the soil
03:47and as much as anything else, that will anchor it.
03:50My main worry for the next few weeks
03:52is if we get a storm, the whole thing can blow over.
03:55So I need to firm it in really well.
03:59And I'll know that it's happy
04:02when I start to see new leaves develop.
04:05And I would expect this to grow at least twice as big as this.
04:09It's a monster.
04:10And here in the jewel garden,
04:11with its amazing burgundy-coloured stems
04:15that get burnished as they grow,
04:18it is an absolute star
04:20as well as being a really good foil
04:23and backdrop for the plants around it.
04:26The one thing I have to do,
04:28and keep doing if it's at all dry,
04:31is give it a good drink.
04:33Unless it rains fairly heavily,
04:35this will need a couple of cans of water at least weekly.
04:40And now that this is in the ground,
04:43it means that the door is open for all tender plants
04:47to come outside.
04:49So that's just the beginning.
05:02Whilst a huge banana plant is good fun and dramatic,
05:08there are lots of tender plants that are modest and cheap,
05:13especially if you grow them from seed.
05:14Well, it's a bit late now to sow from seed,
05:17but garden centres are full of them
05:19and you can buy them by the tray.
05:21Now, these are essentially tender bedding plants.
05:25So, if you're going to grow them from seed,
05:27you've got to make sure that you've got enough space
05:30for these tender bedding plants.
05:32So you have a plant like this.
05:34This is Cosmos. Cosmos by Pinatus Purity.
05:38This can flower well into autumn.
05:40And if I just dot these in,
05:42what you end up with is a sort of flow and jumble of plants.
05:47Some hardy, some tender,
05:50but all perfectly happy with our summer climate.
05:54So that can go in there and that will grow up that tall.
05:57Probably fit another one in front of here.
06:03If they're looking unnaturally tall without enough bushiness,
06:07the thing to do is to pinch out the top
06:09and that will encourage the side shoots.
06:12And the side shoots will have more flowers.
06:16And as well as Cosmos,
06:18every year I always sow Sunflowers, Zinnias, Leonotus.
06:23These are all flowers that won't start to perform
06:26until summer really kicks in,
06:28but they will go on till the first frost and then that's it.
06:31The key thing is that you create your garden as you want it.
06:36It must reflect your own idiosyncrasies and personal choices.
06:40Don't worry about what other people think.
06:42However, of course, there are gardens that are very public.
06:46And we went down to Faversham in Kent
06:48to visit a garden by the side of a busy road,
06:52looked after by a dedicated group of individuals
06:55with its own very special story.
07:04The rockery is called Abel's Acre.
07:06It's in Forbes Road,
07:08which is one of the main entrances into Faversham.
07:12Where the rockery is situated,
07:15it's pretty busy at times, this road.
07:19You're not expecting this amount of colour when you walk past.
07:24It just blows you over.
07:27It's just, wow!
07:35I'm Sandra Todd.
07:36I'm 67 and I'm from Faversham in Kent.
07:42We have seven volunteers and we do, well, all types of gardening jobs.
07:50There's pruning, weeding, planting.
07:53We do a bit of everything, I think.
07:56No, they're orange flowers.
07:58You've got to deadhead them ones.
08:01I'm Hazel Burford and I'm 69.
08:05And Abel's Acre was created by my dad, who's Mr Walter Abel.
08:11And he worked for Faversham Council.
08:13My dad started working on Abel's Acre in the early 60s.
08:17It was my dad's idea and he designed it all from scratch.
08:24He was very proud of the rockery.
08:27He used to tell mum all the plants he's planted that day
08:30and all the plants they're growing.
08:33Yeah, he did enjoy it.
08:36I remember as a teenager, I was on the bus.
08:40I remember the days being dull and damp and horrible
08:45and then you just saw this beautiful colour.
08:49It was outstanding.
08:51My dad left when he was 66, so he retired.
08:56And that's when the rockery went to rack and ruin.
09:03I used to walk past and I kept thinking, oh, it looks horrible.
09:10I met Sandra and I spoke to Sandra about it
09:13and said how horrible it looks.
09:15She put this little idea in my head about bringing
09:19the rockery back.
09:21So I started writing letters to the council who own it
09:26and they were quite enthusiastic, I think, for us to do it.
09:37It took us three years altogether to clear it all from start to finish.
09:42There was needles up there, car engine, old clothes,
09:48it was a mess.
09:53When we started, there was mainly four of us.
09:57It was very hard work but very enjoyable, very enjoyable.
10:02We did have a laugh, yes.
10:07People stop us all the time and thank us, which is very, very nice.
10:13It's just amazing how people just appreciate it and love it.
10:26My dad did love his garden.
10:29He's been gone since 94, but he would love it now.
10:34We've got acrididia, and if you look closely at one,
10:37they look like granny's bonnet.
10:41The California poppies I love, they're so bright,
10:45they're so in your face.
10:50They just keep coming back and it's like old friend coming back,
10:54so I just love them.
10:56We've gone in for perennial plants,
10:57so it's a bit different colour to what it was when my dad did it.
11:03My dad would be proud.
11:09Although we work on it, it's not our rockery, it's Favisham's rockery.
11:15It's a surprising number of years old.
11:18It's a very, very old plant.
11:20It's not our rockery, it's Favisham's rockery.
11:24It's surprising when you get together with people how you can change things.
11:33Comparing to where it was over 15 years ago now,
11:38to what it looks today, it looks absolutely brilliant.
11:42You can't describe it any other way.
11:43You've got to see it yourself.
11:51To my mind, there is absolutely no question that the secret of any garden,
11:55it doesn't matter how public it is,
11:57is personal love and dedication,
12:00and that certainly is a good example of that.
12:03Well, something I am loving in the garden at the moment
12:06are our bearded irises.
12:07There are three varieties.
12:09We've got deep black with its inky petals,
12:12the Sultan's Palace, which has got a reddish blush
12:15on the top of its head,
12:17the Sultan's Palace, which has got a reddish blush,
12:20and then finally, we've got Carnival Thyme,
12:22which is almost brown, flush with orange.
12:26And for the moment, they're adding that richness of colour
12:29that I absolutely love.
12:38At the beginning of April, I did as I always do,
12:40which is to take some dahlia cuttings,
12:43and it's a really effective way of getting new plants for nothing.
12:48This won't be planted until the end of summer,
12:52so I'll put them on just to grow them bigger.
12:55Now, that one there, I'm going to hold that up.
12:57It's got little roots coming from it,
12:59no tuber as yet, but that will quite quickly develop.
13:03Dahlias respond to feed well,
13:06so this is quite a rich potting mix
13:08with extra garden compost added.
13:14So that goes in there like that,
13:17and we'll do the others too.
13:21Firm it lightly.
13:22There's always a temptation to push too hard,
13:25just enough to stop it falling over.
13:32Right, these will go back in the greenhouse for a week or so
13:35because they've spent their entire lives there,
13:37and then when I see new growth,
13:40they will go outside into a cold frame
13:42where they will remain until September.
13:45So I'll plant them out in the garden
13:46and lift them with all the other dahlias in November.
13:50But don't worry about this year's flowers.
13:53They're a bonus.
13:54What we're looking for is a nice big plant
13:57that will grow on next year and give us a good display.
14:00Now, that's just one of the many jobs
14:03I've got to get on with here at Longweddow,
14:05but we're off to Chatsworth now
14:07because this year is the second RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.
14:12Carol and Joe and the team are there,
14:14ready to explore it and show us around.
14:29It really is a breathtaking spot.
14:32You can't fail to be wowed by the sheer scale of it
14:35and impressive features like the famous rockery
14:38and the way the house feels as if it's floating on the canal pond.
14:47Chatsworth has been influencing garden designers for centuries,
14:50but equally as important are the plants here,
14:53the trees, the flowers and the shrubs,
14:56which are just as inspiring.
14:59And that's what we'll be focusing on,
15:01practical planting ideas for your garden.
15:04Joe and I will be in the thick of the show gardens
15:07looking at plants for architecture,
15:09for shade, for sunny patios or to soften the edges.
15:13In fact, there are loads of ideas you can steal and try at home.
15:19And I'll be in my happy place.
15:21There are blossoms for your borders,
15:23climbers for your trellis and bedding for your baskets.
15:28And the planting inspiration here in the flowers
15:31and the planting inspiration here in the floral marquee
15:34is almost as intoxicating as the scent from these lilies.
15:51First up, I'm looking for plants that add height to your borders.
15:55This garden's been inspired by farming and the British countryside,
16:00and it draws you into the central area.
16:02And the calamagrostis grasses, they represent the wheat in a field,
16:07so they're laid out geometrically,
16:09but actually, in a gardening context, they create a hedge.
16:12And they're a really lovely idea for a hedge.
16:14You can use them in straight lines, in circles,
16:17not just dotted through the borders to add plenty of height
16:20and a sense of seclusion in here, which exactly is what we're looking for.
16:24Another plant that adds height are the fabulous foxgloves here,
16:27those spires of flowers.
16:29This one's called sugarplum,
16:31and it's got soft pink flowers with a deep maroon centre.
16:35They're absolutely beautiful.
16:36If you want foxgloves next year, you can sow the seed now
16:40because they're biennials and they'll flower at this time next year.
16:43Absolutely perfect.
16:44And the thalictrum towards the back looks fantastic against that dark fence.
16:49It's got a purple stem and a nice strong stem, too,
16:52so it doesn't need staking.
16:54And it's beautiful in bud as it is now,
16:57and it's just about to open and get even frothier.
17:00So there's some plants that can add plenty of height to your borders.
17:04I love this planting, and it's got three fantastic plants
17:08which you could try at home.
17:09In the back here is Nautia macedonica,
17:12and it's part of the scabious family.
17:14About a metre high, and it will flower for about six months.
17:18Now, it needs to be grown on a moist soil.
17:20It's got a lot of moisture in it,
17:22and it's got a lot of air in it,
17:23so it needs to be grown on a moist soil.
17:25It's got a lot of moisture in it,
17:27and it's got a lot of air in it,
17:29so it needs to be grown on a moist soil.
17:31It needs to be grown on a moist soil,
17:33or it can wind up getting poundry mildew,
17:35that sort of white coating you see on the leaf surface.
17:38So nice moist soil.
17:39If you haven't got space for a plant of this height,
17:42then there's a more dwarfing cultivar called Mars midget.
17:45About this tall. Brilliant little plant.
17:47Just in front of it here is Valeriana officialis.
17:50Lovely see-through plant,
17:51and it's working brilliantly here at the front of the border.
17:54You can see through behind it,
17:56and we'll get about another month or so of flower from it.
17:59flower from it, it can then be cropped down to the ground, makes a nice tussock and everything
18:03can be viewed behind it.
18:05And then finally over here is Persicaria red dragon, now it's quite short at this time
18:11of year but it will make these really scandant stems and one way I love to use it is to plant
18:16it under evergreen shrubs that don't tend to have much interest later on in the season,
18:20things like camellias.
18:21And what it will do, it will make its way up through the shrub and give you these little
18:25sparks of colour in its foliage and then ultimately in its flowers, so a really useful
18:29garden plant.
18:52I've got something to tell you, I'm in the floral marquee but I've got the blues.
18:58Not that there's anything melancholy or unhappy about it, far from it, I'm enchanted by the
19:05beautiful blue hues of so many flowers in here.
19:10Most gardeners absolutely love it and yet it's an incredibly rare colour in nature,
19:15less than 10% of all our flowers are blue.
19:19It's got this quality that no other colour has.
19:23This is a brand new delphinium, as yet unnamed, but even within these flowers there are several
19:30different kinds of blue and I suppose delphiniums of all flowers are renowned for giving us
19:36this colour in our gardens.
19:39You've only to look at this stand with this multitude of different shades to know just
19:44what a valuable colour it is.
19:51This breathtaking display on Kevat Garden Plants is just surmounted by a wave of blue.
19:59It's the blue of blue mechanopsis from the Himalayas.
20:03There are all manner of different varieties here.
20:06This particular one is mechanopsis lingon, you can start it from seed and once your plants
20:13are established they should come up year after year after year, giving you these gorgeous
20:18big blue tissue paper poppies.
20:21This plant on the other hand is from a completely different place.
20:25It's a little Corydalis, it's called Mucronipotala and it's from the woodland flora in central
20:32China, in West Sichuan, but this is the very first time I've seen this one and I think
20:39With these brilliant turquoise flowers, a colour that's hardly ever seen in nature or
20:45in gardening, I think this is going to become a real winner.
20:56On Hopley's beautiful stand, this salvia really caught my eye.
21:01It's salvia grigii blue note and it's sort of sprinkled with these vivid deep rich blue
21:08flowers.
21:09There's a lot of debate about whether or not it's hardy, half hardy I think is probably
21:15it, but it's a perfect plant for a pot.
21:18You can move it around just where you want and protect it during the winter, but just
21:23to be on the safe side, why not take a few cuttings.
21:26It's always a good insurance policy with salvias.
21:30All you need to do is detach little side shoots, preferably unflowered, pull them down gently
21:37from the stem, neaten the heel up, take off the bottom leaves and put them around the
21:42edge of a pot of gritty compost.
21:45By the next spring you'll have well rooted plants and they'll grow on to become something
21:49of this size.
21:51There's something about blue that's celestial, divine.
21:55Everybody's got room for blue in their gardens.
22:07Every year the Floral Marquis has a master grower and it's to celebrate a specialist
22:12nursery and this year it's an alpine business with over 25 years of experience, a long history
22:18of the shows and they also won a gold medal at Chelsea this year.
22:22Now if you thought that alpines were for troughs and rockeries, they want to prove you wrong.
22:36I love alpines, it's like candy.
22:41You just look in and it's a pick and mix of colour, foliage, textures.
22:47A lot of people ask what an alpine actually is.
22:50It's original heritage is when you look at a mountain scape and you can see the tree
22:55line just finishing above that tree line, that's your classic alpine.
23:02When you're growing these plants it's finding the key of their growing habitat and that
23:09is generally what we say is free draining.
23:13If you imagine yourself up in the mountain it's absolutely scorching, you could fry an
23:17egg on the surface.
23:18If you take your finger, push it through the scree a couple of centimetres down, it's moist
23:23and it's cool and that's what you're aiming for.
23:25You're not aiming to bake the roots, there's always moisture there but the free draining
23:30means that that moisture is always moving away so gravity is pulling that away.
23:35If you're growing in pots it's a very good idea to have a glazed ceramic pot.
23:39You need to add the drainage because it's non-porous but the glazed ceramic reflects
23:44the heat and it keeps it nice and cool in the root system and mimics its natural condition.
23:56So here we have a Lunaria Neon Lights, it's perfect for growing in and around pathways
24:02so that gravel area, around your patio, it'll actually grow anywhere in the garden, even
24:08in dappled shades and the good thing with this is it flowers throughout the summer so
24:12it'll even go through the dry spell through July and August and continue into Autumn.
24:17You have this nice silver foliage and the vibrant flowers.
24:21Now here you've got the shades of purple and they all come in almost every colour of the
24:26rainbow and with that it just self-seeds through, takes light footfall and even if
24:32you do manage to kill this plant somehow it'll then self-seed and the following year you'll
24:37just have a swathe.
24:39Looks delicate but very tough plant.
24:48So this is Saxofraga family, so in my hand is Saxofraga paniculata baldensis, it's really
24:55tight foliage, as you can see the crowns are very small, there's absolutely thousands of
24:59crowns in here.
25:00It works really well in very tight crevices where nothing else is growing, you may be
25:05sort of a dark courtyard and so just in your wall you can take a piece of this off and
25:10establish it in there and because it's such a small crown it'll slowly bulk out and it
25:15doesn't need that much nutrients.
25:16With something like White Hills here with its larger crowns, it's actually going to
25:20take a bit more substrate so you can see it's actually growing directly in the container
25:24rather than up here in the crevice and they thrive in all sorts of conditions.
25:31So this is Pulsatilla vulgaris that I've got in my hand here.
25:37The key thing for me is the longevity of the seed heads.
25:41Now from these, just the pendular flowers here, going straight up into the seed head
25:48and the good thing about this plant, it grows in so many areas.
25:52Now here we're growing underneath the eucalyptus tree in dry shade and these plants thrive
25:59in this condition and you can see these seed heads are just so dainty but they come up
26:06on these erect stems and they're just magnificent, staying like this and then feathering later
26:12on in the year and they'll be still here in July, looking really structurally attractive.
26:22The two days before we turn up at a show, we have to then pick out all the planting
26:27for that show.
26:28It's no preparation involved that I can pre-pack anything, it is literally just chaos.
26:35So we just have to get there and work with what we have.
26:41This year the RHS has invited us to Chatsworth as their master grower.
26:45We're actually putting a mini nursery into Chatsworth so we can educate as many people
26:52as possible because that's the thing for us, it's the passion of sharing the knowledge
26:57and that's not all.
26:58We'll put on a full display.
27:01This is our most ambitious display that we've ever done in size and in just the variety
27:06of what we're going to be displaying and what you're hoping for is that when you turn up
27:11there, everything works.
27:16Hello!
27:27Your exhibit is absolutely beautiful, it tells a story of your nursery, doesn't it, and how
27:31to grow these plants.
27:32Yes, so here we have everything from the pollen shed and seed cuttings and divisions and then
27:38into the crop house here where everything grows on into the stock beds and then behind
27:43me here we have the full display just showcasing what the finished product looks like.
27:49It's beautifully laid out, it's absolutely stunning I have to say and your eyes drawn
27:53into details and how you put combinations together.
27:56I love that terracotta bowl over there, run us through what you've got in there.
28:00So over here you have this classic Saxofargo Whitehill with its pure innocence in the flower
28:07and then you've just got a wash of colour because of the greenhouses creating a little
28:11bit of shade in the corner, you've got the Counsellor Arachnoidea Darcy's Velvet there
28:15with its richness in foliage and flower colour.
28:18People think alpines are just spring flowering but there's a longer season of interest, isn't
28:22there?
28:23People are realising alpines are a necessity in the garden because you can get that early
28:27February flowering all the way through to November now.
28:30Do you think alpines are the next big thing?
28:32Yes, for sure, because you can grow them in so many areas of the garden so people realise
28:37now they've got rid of that archaic look at alpines that needs sort of that classic
28:41rock garden.
28:42Now they're just working in herbaceous borders, in containers on people's balconies, there's
28:46a plant for every situation.
28:48Luke, it's lovely to meet you, enjoy the weekend, teach everybody all you know.
28:53Excellent, thank you.
28:54Most of us enjoy the journey a plant takes from seed onto leaves and then finally flowering
29:08but sometimes, just sometimes, it's worth having a plant that's going to look amazing
29:13straight away and the show is absolutely full of ideas that you can try at home.
29:23Talk about instant impact, this is Prunus serrula, it's a fantastic small garden tree.
29:29This is a multi-stemmed version and you can see this incredibly beautiful bark.
29:34Now there's all sorts of ways you could use it in the garden, it could be great at the
29:38end of a vista, sitting alone in a lawn as a specimen or at the back of a mixed border
29:42with shrubs and herbaceous plants in front of it.
29:45Now this comes in at about £500 but there's a much more economic version.
29:50All you need to do is to buy three whips, three single stemmed plants and they'll cost
29:54you about £70 in total, put them all into the same planting pit and you'll end up with
29:59a near instant impact multi-stemmed Prunus serrula.
30:10Topiary is a great way of getting wow right now into your garden and Buxus is a brilliant
30:16example of that, it's the absolute classic.
30:19People get a little bit nervous about pruning topiary but I want to show you a technique
30:22that I've developed over the years which makes it really simple and dare I say nearly foolproof.
30:28Now I call it the hot cross bun technique and it can work for Buxus or anything else
30:32you're topirising.
30:33So to start with the idea is to cut a strip with your shears across the top, keep looking
30:38from overhead so you can see that you're getting perfect symmetry and then you cut a strip
30:43the other way, so that's the hot cross bun.
30:45And then the idea is once those strips are cut out you simply join them together and
30:49crop between the two.
30:51You know shows like this are full of inspiration with fantastic high impact plants that you
30:56can try at home.
30:57So be bold, be brave, go out there and experiment.
31:04If you're looking for an abundance of colour, few plants can compete with the humble Fuchsia.
31:12Buying these plants in full bloom does give you that splash of colour straight away.
31:17Let's look after them, there's not too much you need to do, feed every four weeks or so
31:22to keep them producing those blooms, keep deadheading, taking out the old flowers as
31:27they finish off and then when it comes to late autumn and into winter, before the frosts
31:32then move them into a cool glass house or a conservatory and they'll do really well.
31:36And then next summer you can bring them back outside and they'll give you another six months
31:40of fabulous colour.
31:43No matter what colour scheme you've got going on, there's bound to be a Fuchsia that will
31:47suit your garden.
31:59Designer Chris Myers has created a garden here that represents a slice of life and the
32:03beautiful rural Yorkshire Dales and it's a scene that he fears is rapidly disappearing.
32:10We caught up with Chris in his remote home on the Yorkshire moors.
32:19I'm a Yorkshireman born and bred and I just love living in the Yorkshire Dales.
32:27Living here is like living in heaven on earth, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
32:35Life here is great, we live in the middle of nowhere without any power or running water
32:40but that doesn't bother us, we survive by using the elements.
32:44What I love is that we've got a real diverse range of landscapes all within one place.
32:49So you might find yourself climbing up a rugged hillside out onto an open moorland and then
32:54next thing you're going down into a rolling dale with lush wildflower meadows in the bottom.
33:00But the thing is over the last 50 years the Dales have changed, 97% of the wildflower
33:05meadows in the UK have gone.
33:09My garden at Chatsworth showcases the beauty of a Yorkshire Dales wildflower meadow and
33:14I just hope that people will see that and go home with the message that they need to
33:18be protected and cherished in the future.
33:23Now when you look at these meadows all you're seeing is grass, there are no wildflowers
33:27in there.
33:28By lacking wildflowers the meadows are also lacking bees, bugs, butterflies and birds.
33:35Now the most important thing there is that the bees, bugs and butterflies are pollinators
33:39and pollinators are what make other things grow, without trees and other plants the planet
33:45will die.
33:49But it's not all doom and gloom, farmers and landowners in the Dales have been working
33:53to see a return of wildflower meadows.
33:56By harvesting donor crops from existing hay meadows and spreading them on fields without
34:01any wildflowers, the farmers are actually encouraging the wildflowers to spread throughout
34:06the Dales.
34:16The three top plants that I'm using in my wildflower meadow at Chatsworth are really
34:20the accent colours of a Yorkshire Dales wildflower meadow.
34:24You've got the purple, soft yet it stands out, of wood cranesbill.
34:30The lovely sunny buttercup, shining back at us, we can all remember as a child sticking
34:35that under our chin.
34:37And then we've got the red clover which starts out life as quite a small, compact, vibrant
34:43red pink ball that matures into a lovely soft pink globe.
34:48Another great species of wildflower and a really important one is the yellow rattle
34:52and what's special about yellow rattle is it's a parasitic plant, it's parasitic to
34:57grass, so it actually digs into the grass roots and feeds off the grass plant which
35:02weakens the grass and it allows all the other wildflowers to thrive.
35:06And there's actually some yellow rattle growing naturally in my meadow and I'm well chuffed
35:10about that because I've spent so much time and money trying to get the stuff to grow
35:15so it could be in here and I've failed, nature's done it for me.
35:21You might wonder how on earth I'm going to get this gorgeous lump of wildflower meadow
35:26to Chatsworth in one piece, you see when we built it, we built it on individual strips
35:30of capillary matting, a little bit of meadow, some plug plants and what's happened is whilst
35:35it looks like it's all fused together, it's still in its individual strips.
35:39So when we set off to the show, we just simply lift a strip and there we have it, our own
35:46wildflower jigsaw to build at Chatsworth.
35:52So whilst the meadow around me is really quite pretty, the plants that I'm growing down there
35:57certainly are not.
35:58These plants here are going in the cottage garden in front of my little cottage at Chatsworth.
36:03The cottage in my garden is very much inspired by the shape and form of the stables at home
36:08and the idea is that whilst it's going to be a cottage garden, it's going to look like
36:12a very real cottage garden.
36:14In fact I'm actually growing those plants in shallow trays of soil and I'm doing that
36:19just to stress them out a little bit so they're not going to look like big, beautiful, blousy,
36:24typical show garden plants.
36:27I just hope the people look at them and see that the garden looks quite real and I'm kind
36:31of hoping the judges get that too.
36:37I really hope that visitors come and see my garden and forget they're at a flower show
36:41and think that they've walked into a quiet little corner of the Yorkshire Dales.
36:46The only hope is that when the garden is finished I can stand back and look at it and
36:51think, yes, I've done the Dales proud.
37:10Chris, you've done the Yorkshire Dales proud, your garden is beautiful, it's so nicely put
37:15together.
37:16You've got a silver, so do you think the judges got it?
37:19No, I don't think the judges got it but that is my fault.
37:22There is so much going on in the Yorkshire Dales and I've tried to cram so much into
37:26this garden that I've written a brief about the garden and I've not put all those details
37:30in the brief.
37:31So I left the judges asking questions about the garden and if they're asking questions
37:34they might need help.
37:35Normally in a show garden you're looking for perfect plants that will be fed, beautifully
37:39pruned.
37:40This is a very different style, different look.
37:42So how easy is it to achieve that and how have you done it?
37:46I didn't want it to look like the Yorkshire Dales on steroids by using the finest plants,
37:50the luscious plants.
37:51I've used plants that are a bit scraggy, I've used plants that are maybe a little bit under
37:55stress but by doing that it's created a garden that looks real.
37:59A lot of people see your wildflower meadow and think, I'd love to turn my lawn into that.
38:04But there's a certain process you have to go through isn't there really?
38:07There is.
38:08The first thing you need to do is ensure you've got low fertility or you need to reduce your
38:12fertility.
38:13To reduce your fertility, maybe for a whole growing season, cut your grass, take the clippings
38:17out of the way, compost them, never let them break down into the ground where the meadow
38:21is going because that just feeds the ground.
38:23The other thing to do is sow your seeds at the right time.
38:26I find if you cut your grass nice and low in October time, chuck your seeds on and just
38:30leave them over winter.
38:31Come spring they germinate, they start to grow and things start to happen and then you
38:35can always pep it up with some plug plants in the spring.
38:37But over a period of time, the longer you go at it, the better it will get.
38:41Well Chris, it's lovely to meet you.
38:42It's a great message, it's a great garden.
38:45Thank you very much.
38:46Thank you.
38:47Ostrantius are a lovely group of plants.
39:00They've got this old fashioned air, so it's a cottagey garden.
39:04In recent years they've become extremely popular and they've been developed in all sorts of
39:10colour ranges.
39:12This is the original, the Ostrantium major and if you look at the flower closely, they've
39:18got this lovely ring of bracts and in the centre, these quivering little flowers, each
39:26one a topper, a sort of filigree stem.
39:29So the whole thing quivers and shakes.
39:32Now they belong to a family called Apiaceae, used to be called umbels and this is the sort
39:38of thing we usually associate with that family.
39:43Same tiny flowers, but this time in a big plateau.
39:46You can see the similarity and at the same time you can see the difference, but it's
39:51these big bracts, these bold flowers, which make Ostrantius such a useful plant.
39:59There are lots of different hybrids that have been developed during the past few years.
40:05One of them, Ostrantia roma, has rich pink flowers and unlike most Ostrantias, it's sterile.
40:12It doesn't set any seed, which means it continues to flower for ages and ages.
40:21One of the Ostrantias that's become extremely fashionable recently are the dark red forms.
40:27They have crimson bracts, often quite dark stems and the flowers are dark crimson too.
40:34Most of them have specific names, but if you get one plant, you put it in your garden
40:40and you collect the seed in about September or so, it's really worth sowing them.
40:45They may germinate almost straight away.
40:47If they don't, shove them outside for the winter and that fernalisation, that cold will
40:53get them to germinate.
40:55By April or May you'll have little seedlings and then you can prick them out, grow them
41:00on and many of them will be even better than the parents they came from.
41:05Whichever Ostrantia you decide to grow, make sure that you cultivate it well.
41:11They love rich organic matter in the soil.
41:15Never let them dry out and they're great plants for clay soil.
41:19Remember, never grow them in splendid isolation.
41:23They're very sociable creatures.
41:25They love to be growing alongside other plants.
41:27Foxgloves and ferns, hostas, grasses, they really are brilliant plants.
41:51There are lots of fabulous things here at Chatsworth and of course plenty of plants
41:54that you can buy.
41:55But if money was no object, the one thing I would take with me, my favourite thing would
42:01be this bonsai.
42:02It's a maple forest in a pot and I've only got a small garden in London but I've always
42:07wanted a little bit of woodland.
42:09So this is the solution.
42:11Imagine that.
42:14I'm really enjoying the Living Laboratory here at the show.
42:20Instead of focusing on the aesthetics of plants, it's all about sustainability and the future.
42:25And behind me here is a brilliant example.
42:27This is known as aquaponics and it's this fantastic closed system.
42:32So fish poo into the water just here, neutrify the water which is then pumped all the way
42:37through these plants and back.
42:39So it's a completely closed system.
42:41What a fantastic, sustainable way of producing food for the future.
42:51If it was up to me, I'd choose this whole stand from Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery
42:56but I can't.
42:57And of all the beautiful shrubs and trees here, I've got to go for this one.
43:02It's Cornus kousa.
43:05I've got to go for this one.
43:07It's Cornus kousa mistotomy.
43:10She's a confection in pink.
43:12She should be deep pink but she's faded a little bit.
43:15She's bone hardy as are all named cultivars of Cornus kousa.
43:20And these brats rather than flowers will keep going for ages and ages.
43:26She's utterly breathtaking.
43:32We've had a fabulous couple of days here.
43:34Everyone's enjoying themselves and even the dogs are having a good time because at Chatsworth
43:39they're very welcome.
43:41But I've got a lot more to see.
43:43MUSIC
44:02The show is still open till Sunday, so if you can get along to Chatsworth, do,
44:07and all the details can be found on our website.
44:10And the great thing about shows is that however many you go to,
44:14you always see something that inspires and inspires you.
44:18I remember going to Malvern some years ago and buying my first mechanopsis.
44:24In fact, these are grown from seed from those original ones.
44:28They do need cool, damp summers.
44:31They do need fairly cool, damp winters.
44:34They prefer acidic soil.
44:36And yet here they are, flowering with this astonishing blue.
44:50It's time to plant out courgettes.
44:53Courgettes are the hardiest member of the cucurbit family,
44:57so get these in the ground and they should start producing in a few weeks' time.
45:02They're all the same variety, goldrush,
45:05and like all members of the cucurbit family,
45:09they love rich soil and plenty of water.
45:12So I'm putting them in a little bit of a depression
45:15so that that will hold more water.
45:18So one here, and this is the sort of spacing you want to be looking at.
45:26I would normally give these a good soak, and I will do later,
45:29but it's just starting to spot with rain.
45:31And I've got a job that needs doing in the greenhouse,
45:34so I think I'll get on with that and then come back and water these when it's over.
45:45It's time to plant tomatoes.
45:48Now, I don't grow tomatoes outside any more because blight is pretty endemic,
45:53but they do really well for me in the greenhouse.
45:56I've prepared this bed, and you can see that it's got plenty of compost added in.
46:03Now, I'm going to start with these, and this is Mare de Marche,
46:07which is a good all-rounder, medium-sized,
46:10and just a really good, tasty tomato.
46:14So I will plant these in a grid about eight inches apart,
46:19and I'm going to support them with string.
46:22Tie right at the base of the plant, loosely, because that's all we need to do,
46:27and then a string comes up like this, and then a tie up to here.
46:38It doesn't have to be too taut, just enough to support the plant.
46:43And the beauty of this system is, as it grows, you simply twist it round the string.
46:47There's no tying in at all.
46:53When you plant tomatoes, always bury them at least to the first pair of leaves,
46:59and that does two things.
47:01One, it anchors them and secures them, and two, they will grow roots from the stem,
47:06and therefore they'll have better chance to feed and take up moisture
47:09and to anchor themselves firmly, because this will grow into a large plant,
47:13hopefully with big, heavy fruits on it.
47:16However, you may not have a bed in a greenhouse.
47:20You may not have a greenhouse, but you can still grow tomatoes.
47:23You can grow them in any kind of container, and of course millions are grown in bags.
47:29However, I like to grow them in pots, particularly terracotta pots.
47:32They drain quicker. I find that tomatoes prefer that.
47:35I'm going to put a crock in the bottom, and then I've mixed up some compost.
47:41This is homemade. It's got a lot of garden compost in it.
47:47It's got some soil that's been sieved. It's got coir and sharp sand.
47:53So let's put this in.
47:57OK.
48:00This is costoluto ferentina, which is a lovely ribbed tomato,
48:06really good cooked or eaten raw, one of my favourites.
48:11I'm not going to string these,
48:14because one of the virtues of growing anything in a pot is you can move it around,
48:19but it will need support.
48:21So I'm going to have a row of pots there, plants on this side,
48:25and what I'm looking for is not quantity but quality.
48:29Which way of growing tomatoes produces the most delicious fruit?
48:35Now, with a small pot like that, you can grow tomatoes practically on a windowsill,
48:40certainly in a tiny, tiny garden,
48:42and this year we are trying to look at as many different small gardens as we can,
48:47but I don't suppose many will come any smaller
48:50than ones that Adam went to visit in Peckham in South London.
49:01Do you know, as a gardener, I love having a nose around other people's gardens.
49:05Away from the hustle and bustle of the inner city,
49:07beyond these gates are 46 terrace cottages,
49:10each with their own tiny little garden.
49:12Let's have a look, shall we?
49:23Welcome to a hidden horticultural gem in the heart of Peckham.
49:29As you walk down the path, you are flanked by these gorgeous miniature gardens
49:33that are full of character and variety.
49:36Looking round here, it's clear to see that there's a real community spirit
49:40in this secluded neighbourhood, bonded by the power of gardening.
49:47Sally Cowling is one of the residents here.
49:50This is an incredible stream.
49:53Give me an idea when it first started.
49:55Well, I gather it was before my time, but I gather it was about 1984,
49:58and one of the residents was a civil engineer,
50:01and his wife was a really keen gardener,
50:03and he laid the pathway along here,
50:05and she started the real push to beautify the little plots.
50:10I mean, I know the gardens are small,
50:12but tell me what the biggest one is against the smallest one.
50:16Well, there is an enormous garden, clearly, which you will have noticed,
50:19which I think maybe is, like, three metres by two,
50:21which we think of as landed gentry, in this neck of the woods.
50:24And then the smallest, I think, are probably the ones for the middle houses, like mine.
50:28But you've done well, though, haven't you?
50:30You've got, what, a metre by three?
50:32Something along those lines, yeah.
50:34I mean, even in your little space,
50:36you've got clematis hidden behind the plum tree up there.
50:39It sort of gives me the sense of, like, a scene from Romeo and Juliet.
50:42Clematis montana, you wouldn't think of putting that in a small space.
50:45No, no, but actually it is beautiful
50:47because it's gone all over the top of the plum tree.
50:51As you work along, each space has got this individual feeling to it.
50:55I've walked past spaces that feel architectural.
50:58You've got gardens that feel woodland in their setting.
51:01People don't stop at their boundaries, either.
51:03They're out onto the path.
51:05Well, look in here.
51:07You know, I go into this garden, and I think it feels a little bit
51:10as if the coast has met a cottage garden.
51:13There's a sense of, like, a sense of community.
51:15It's like, you know, you've got a garden,
51:17but it feels a little bit as if the coast has met a cottage garden.
51:20The sleepers out the front there give it that coastal feel.
51:23And the moment I sit down,
51:25my eyes engage with the plants in a completely different way.
51:29Above my head, I've got this rose, and it smells fantastic,
51:32which makes you feel quite romantic.
51:35You start to look at the planting, we've got the herbs,
51:38we've got wallflowers, and they're good, hard-working plants.
51:41You could disappear from this garden for a couple of weeks,
51:44and then come back, and everything will be fine.
51:47But what I love about this street more than anything
51:50is collectively these gardens make an incredible wildlife corridor.
52:06You know, this is a really simple collection of plants,
52:09but it demonstrates an awful lot about a small space.
52:12That's an oak, and it's over 20 years old, grown in a pot.
52:16If you can grow an oak in a pot, surely you can grow anything.
52:19And then you look closer at the cutinas.
52:21Well, if I pick a book up, it'll tell me
52:23that this thing will get to eight, nine foot by eight, nine foot, you know.
52:27But you can grow it in a small space in two ways, you know.
52:30Container-wise, if it gets pot-bound, we just pot it on.
52:33But also, we can cut this one hard back to the ground,
52:36so we can stall it.
52:38Then moving across, we've got the texture of the fern
52:41and the tiny little leaf with the viola.
52:43So if you start putting plants together very foliage-driven,
52:47you know, and forget about the flowers a little bit,
52:49I know that's a little bit difficult,
52:51but you'll end up with a lot more interest right throughout the year.
53:05You know, for me as a designer, even in the tiniest of spaces,
53:08if I can, I will work water into the garden.
53:10I think this feature works really well.
53:12Simple, nice big deep pot, so that water will stay cool underneath.
53:17There's even fish swimming around in there.
53:20Irises popping up, plus you've got the flower,
53:22and it's a lovely level for me to look at.
53:25And I'll stop and listen, and I've got the sound of water as well.
53:30So what they've done, which is quite clever,
53:32if I move back round to the door, which would be my main focal point,
53:35there's another feature.
53:37I sit on that wall, and that sound really pulls me towards it.
53:48You know, I think this little street proves
53:50that you don't need a big space to have a lovely little garden.
53:54They've got charm, they've got personality,
53:56and for me that's what gardens should be about.
53:59But it does make you stop and wonder,
54:01with gardens getting smaller in this country
54:03and the amount of houses that we're building,
54:05this possibly could be a fantastic template going forward.
54:18I have to say that that ability and desire to make something beautiful,
54:22regardless of size or shape,
54:25is certainly something we can all learn from.
54:28And we've been looking at small gardens all year.
54:31We've run the competition Every Space Counts.
54:33We had hundreds of people enter,
54:35and we whittled those down to a short list of just five.
54:39Now, we've shown you all five over the last five weeks,
54:42but here's a chance to have a brief look at each one again.
54:47Mike Spizzano's tropical hideaway
54:50is designed as a room to be enjoyed all the year round.
54:53At just over 35 square metres,
54:55Mike has packed his space with dramatic exotics
54:58and memories of his travels abroad.
55:00At just under 25 square metres,
55:03Chris and Rachel Wilkins use reclaimed bricks
55:06to create a courtyard with plants for both sun and shade.
55:10They also manage to find room for a bespoke greenhouse.
55:15Sarah Carter created a journey through her 36 square metre space,
55:20transforming a dull area of decking
55:22into a curving path with borders packed with plants.
55:26And her garden is also a haven for her family.
55:29A circular patio is the focus of Caroline Angell's garden,
55:34where she indulges her passion for a huge variety of plants
55:38packed into borders and containers,
55:40making the very most of her 25 square metre space.
55:44Finally, Zoe D'Souza's 18 square metre basement garden
55:48started out as a dull space devoid of sunlight,
55:51but now it's an extension of her home.
55:54But now it's an extension of her home,
55:56filled with an eclectic mix of junk shop finds and even a fireplace.
56:06Now it's your chance to decide which one of those five is the winner.
56:12Voting begins immediately after the end of tonight's programme
56:16at nine o'clock and will remain open all weekend
56:20until ten o'clock on Monday morning.
56:22That's the cut-off point.
56:23To cast your vote, go to www.bbc.co.uk slash gardenersworld,
56:29where you will also find the privacy policy and terms and conditions.
56:34Now, as well as voting, here are some jobs you can do this weekend.
56:48Although you shouldn't cut hedges yet because birds are still nesting,
56:52if you lightly trim the gaps between hedges,
56:56the entrances and the exits, this sharpens up the whole garden
57:00and then you can put the hedge cuttings on the compost heap.
57:10If you're growing potatoes, it's a good idea to earth them up.
57:13Draw the soil up into ridges around the foliage
57:16and don't worry about covering it.
57:18It'll soon grow through.
57:19This provides an extra thickness of soil
57:22which will prevent light reaching the growing tubers.
57:30Comfrey makes a superb homemade feed.
57:35Cut the plant, stem and all, and chop it up
57:38and cram as much as possible into a bucket.
57:42And then when it's full, top that up with water.
57:46Leave it for three weeks.
57:48It will smell disgusting as it rots down,
57:51so put it well out of the way.
58:05The rose season is just beginning here at Longmeadow
58:09and it is important if you want to keep the roses looking good
58:12for as long as possible to deadhead regularly.
58:15And this is Madame Alfred Carrier.
58:17It's one of my favourite roses.
58:20I'm afraid that's all we've got time for tonight.
58:23But don't forget, as soon as we're finished here at nine o'clock,
58:27the voting opens in our Every Space Counts competition
58:30and your choice of winner will be announced
58:33next week at Gardner's World Live.
58:35So I'll see you then. Bye-bye.
58:43Rita Ray discovers the songs and harmonies
58:46that gave Africa a voice,
58:48a journey into music that's on BBC4 at ten.
58:51But next year on Two, things get ugly
58:54as taxi driver Dan has tracked down his ex-wife and son.
58:57It's The Bridge.