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00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:09Well, yesterday was the summer solstice.
00:11And although, technically, the days are getting shorter,
00:14in fact, we're now at this point, this plateau in the year,
00:19when summer just sits easy.
00:22And nowhere here at Longmeadow is more at ease with itself
00:26than the Cottage Garden, because what you have
00:28is this lovely jumble of flowers, roses and lupins
00:32and clematis and foxgloves and delphiniums,
00:36all just gently jostling for space.
00:40And that's the key to this time of year.
00:43Don't hurry.
00:44Stretch out.
00:46Enjoy the garden at its finest.
00:52On tonight's programme, Arit Anderson
00:55explores a rain garden in Derbyshire
00:57that is helping us to protect against flooding.
01:01There are things you can do to absorb that water
01:03and slow it down.
01:04And that's what we're trying to promote to people
01:06as something that we can all do to help that situation.
01:10We find out how Adam's garden in Lincolnshire is getting on
01:14and see the inspiration for his planned meadow.
01:18It's not just the individual species
01:20that I come up here to have a look at.
01:22It's the way the plants grow in the wild.
01:25And I shall be assessing the damage to my vegetable garden
01:29caused by rabbits.
01:31And also, I will be planting out tender annuals
01:34into the jaw garden.
01:46Good girl.
01:56I've made a decision with these big pots here on the mound.
02:00I'm going to plant a small tree into them.
02:02And if you're going to invest in big pots like this,
02:06then it's worth investing in a really good plant to go in them.
02:11And I've got Cornus Kusa China Girl.
02:14It has these lovely white flowers,
02:17which come in May, June.
02:20And then in autumn, it has magnificent colour
02:23and also little strawberry-like fruits.
02:26They will grow six to eight foot tall with a spread,
02:29but be light and airy.
02:32And of course, if you've got a very small garden
02:34and just a yard, you can still grow a tree in a pot.
02:37Now, Cornus Kusa likes good drainage,
02:40neutral to acid soil, but with plenty of nutrients.
02:47Don't skimp on the compost.
02:49I want this plant to look great in 10 and even 20 years' time.
02:54So I've mixed up a special compost.
02:58The ingredients are garden compost, leaf mould, grit,
03:02and then a basic shop-bought, ericaceous, wool-based compost.
03:14Right, let's try that fight.
03:18That is pretty good.
03:20I don't want to plant it right to the brim
03:24because I want to leave room both to water and also to mulch it
03:28and maybe even under-plant it around it.
03:31Now, ease that out of the pot.
03:33And you can just tickle the roots a little bit
03:36to stimulate fresh growth that will grow laterally out.
03:43I'm going to add some mycorrhizae powder.
03:46In any woody plant, it just helps them get established.
03:50The secret is to get direct contact.
03:53So as well as spreading it on the surface like that,
03:57I'm also going to spread it on the roots themselves.
04:06Now, let's fill in around it.
04:09Now, let's just make sure that's firmly in.
04:14It's tempting, when you plant a tree or a large shrub like this,
04:19to start pruning, because, after all,
04:21the shape is absolutely critical in this situation,
04:25as well as the flowers and the colour.
04:27But wait for the first growing season.
04:31Next, I'm going to add a little bit of mycorrhizae powder.
04:35Wait for the first growing season.
04:39Next thing to do is water it really well and then mulch it.
04:46This is bracken.
04:50Pine bark would do just as well,
04:52and the reason I'm using this is because it's ericaceous.
04:55This will do two things.
04:57One, it will keep the moisture in.
05:01And two, as it breaks down,
05:04it is very high in potash, so it will add a level of feed.
05:08Whatever you do, don't mulch it with mushroom compost,
05:11because that's too alkaline.
05:14Just keeping the mulch clear of the stem.
05:19And then water it once a week,
05:21and add in dilute seaweed between May and September,
05:25and that should be very happy.
05:28And, by the way, a very good way to know when to pot on a tree or a shrub
05:33is when it's healthy but has stopped growing.
05:36If, by May or June, there is no sign of new growth,
05:39that means it's run out of nutrients in the pot
05:42and needs to have a new one.
05:44Now, Carol has been to Spetchley Park in Worcestershire
05:49to celebrate one of summer's most glorious flowers,
05:54the peony.
06:04Summer's finally arrived.
06:06There are leaves on the trees.
06:08Everything's growing.
06:10And then, suddenly, out of the blue,
06:13the peony bursts on the scene
06:16with these great voluptuous flowers in crimsons, pinks, yellows.
06:21She's the true glamour girl of the early summer garden.
06:26In the wild, peonies come from a variety of different locations
06:31all across the Northern Hemisphere.
06:34In China, they were particularly revered,
06:37and it was there that 4,000 years ago
06:40the cultivation of the peony truly began.
06:43The peonies are the most beautiful flowers in the world,
06:46and the peonies are the most beautiful flowers in the world,
06:49and the peonies are the most beautiful flowers in the world,
06:52the cultivation of the peony truly began.
06:58Later, the Japanese took the peony to their hearts,
07:02finessing its cultivation and using it as a motif
07:06in a variety of art forms.
07:09In both cultures, it was regarded as the king of flowers,
07:13representing good fortune and prosperity.
07:23Peonies belong to the family Ranunculaceae,
07:26that's the buttercup family.
07:28There are two main types of flower.
07:31On the one hand, there are the doubles,
07:34with row upon row of petals.
07:37On the other, there's the single ones,
07:39with just one layer of petals around the edge.
07:42In the case of the double flowers,
07:44as far as a bee is concerned, they're absolutely useless.
07:48Even if there is nectar in there, a bee can't possibly penetrate.
07:53So, in terms of beauty in the garden,
07:56lots of us might go for the showier doubles,
07:59but when it comes to insects,
08:01they'll go for the single one every time.
08:12Although there are numerous different species of peonies,
08:16the ones we cultivate in our garden fall into three main types.
08:20First of all, there are herbaceous peonies.
08:23Secondly, intersectional.
08:25And thirdly, tree peonies.
08:28And this is a beautiful example of a tree peony.
08:31She's called Marchioness, and she's typical.
08:34She has really woody growth down here.
08:37Tree peonies are shrubs,
08:40so all that growth stays above ground,
08:43and the new growth in the spring will emanate from that woody structure.
08:47All of them have this slightly sort of flaucus touch to the leaves,
08:51very often pink-tinged,
08:54and they have these huge, voluptuous flowers,
08:58sometimes single, sometimes double,
09:01sometimes somewhere in between.
09:04They'll grow in sunny places or in slight shade,
09:08and all tree peony cultivars are grafted onto a rootstock,
09:12and it's vital when you're planting them that that join is under the surface of the soil.
09:17Otherwise, the rootstock takes over.
09:23If you prepare your soil well and you plant your tree peony with care,
09:28it can last for decades, maybe even centuries.
09:43The most commonly grown of all these groups of peonies are the herbaceous peonies,
09:48which simply means during the winter they will die away to nothing.
09:52They'll disappear completely.
09:54Now, tree peonies have fibrous roots that spread out,
09:58but in the case of these, there are these big tubers.
10:01In the spring, up will come new shoots,
10:04and each one of them will make a big, tall stem with a spectacular flower at the top.
10:11But the whole deportment of the plant is beautiful.
10:15They're evenly spaced throughout,
10:17and even though they'll show last just a short while,
10:20they're spectacular when they're in bloom.
10:23They're very easy and straightforward to grow.
10:26But one of the complaints that people often have about these herbaceous peonies
10:31is that they refuse to flower.
10:33It's often when people have moved them,
10:36and the problem is that they get planted too deep.
10:39What herbaceous peonies need is to have their tubers planted
10:43so there's just a tiny depth of soil above them.
10:46An inch or two inches is ample.
10:49Any more than that, and they feel buried.
10:52They'll produce leaves, but very, very few flowers.
10:55And it really is worth treating them properly to get this spectacular display.
11:10This exquisite beauty is Paeonia laura desert.
11:16She's a form of Paeonia lactiflora,
11:19the main herbaceous peonies that we grow in our gardens.
11:25In recent times, peonies like this have become incredibly popular florist flowers,
11:31and especially in bridal bouquets.
11:34No wonder, they're absolutely scrumptious.
11:40This is the third type of peonies that we grow in our beds and borders.
11:45It's an intersectional hybrid.
11:48It's called Bartsella.
11:52These peonies were introduced in the 1940s by Mr Ito,
11:57a Japanese botanist,
11:59who wanted to marry the benefits of botanical flowers
12:03by Mr Ito, a Japanese botanist,
12:06who wanted to marry the benefits of both tree and herbaceous peonies.
12:14He succeeded wonderfully, but he never knew about it
12:18because he died before the first ones flowered.
12:21Since then, they've become extremely popular
12:24because they don't need staking.
12:26They produce masses of glorious flowers,
12:28and often that flowering is prolonged because they make extra buds too.
12:32What more could you want?
12:46The dramatic display that peonies provide may only be there for a short time,
12:52but whilst it's fleeting, there's nothing else like it.
12:56They're the true shooting stars of early summer.
13:07Come on.
13:10The peonies that I planted in these orchard beds three years ago
13:14are now hitting their mature stride.
13:16They're absolutely lovely.
13:17There are a pair of pink ones I particularly like.
13:19One is very simple, great for the bees, called Nymph,
13:22and behind it, Sarah Bernhardt.
13:24Convoluted mass of petals, not so good for insects, but lovely for humans.
13:29Now, when the petals fall of any variety of peony,
13:33don't deadhead them or tidy them up,
13:35because the seed heads look like jester's hats,
13:37and they're really decorative in their own right.
13:40And very, very undemanding plants.
13:42You don't need to do anything to them.
13:53Now, if anybody thinks that Longmeadow is a paragon of the ideal garden,
13:59where nothing goes wrong, everything grows as magnificently as it can,
14:04not a weed in sight, the soil is fertile, well, forget it.
14:07Because we have the same problems as everyone else.
14:10These are peas sown a month or so ago,
14:14which by now should be up here, we should be ready to start harvesting them.
14:18Look carefully, because you need to
14:20if you want to see anything at all.
14:22These have been devastated by rabbits.
14:25Practically nothing left at all.
14:27If you look here, you've got the edamame,
14:30which I sowed for the first time, were growing really well,
14:34eaten off by rabbits.
14:36And this all happened just in one weekend.
14:39Now, I like peas, I want them, so I am going to sow some more.
14:42It's very late to be sowing peas,
14:44normally it's something you try and do in March and April,
14:47and maybe May for a late crop.
14:49So if you haven't done any yet, give it a go.
14:52We'll see between us if we get a decent crop before the end of summer,
14:56and I will use this ground for something else.
15:02I'm going to put my peas in this bed here.
15:05It's up off the ground,
15:07so that if I put a protective layer around the outside,
15:10it will be difficult for rabbits to get at,
15:13and much more easy to protect.
15:15Now, I've got a variety here that I've not grown before.
15:18It's called eddy.
15:20I'm going to try it because it is specifically for late sowing.
15:24An inch or so apart is fine, but don't obsess over that.
15:29There we go.
15:32There we go.
15:45Cover up the peas just by raking over.
15:51Now let's deal with the rabbits.
15:54This is chicken wire.
15:56Look, that will go round the outside like that.
16:03And my cunning plan is to use canes...
16:11and to thread it through.
16:20So, that goes in there like that.
16:25Rabbits can't chew through it,
16:27and because it's a raised bed with paving right up to the edge,
16:31they can't burrow under it.
16:33And if I put it along the top, they won't be able to jump over it.
16:36So, we'll just pull this round here.
16:43This is not completely rabbit-proof.
16:45The main problem of rabbits in the garden
16:47is they take what's easy and nice for them.
16:50So, the idea is to deter them.
16:53They'll find it difficult,
16:55and instead will go and eat my lettuce or something else.
17:01Now, this is a temporary set-up to let the peas get established,
17:06and I think once they are about two foot high,
17:09the rabbits won't bother them.
17:11Let's just hope we manage to get a crop,
17:13despite being late in the season,
17:15and also the one thing that peas hate more than anything else
17:18is very hot, dry weather.
17:24I don't very often water in seeds I sow directly into the soil
17:28because this is a wet place.
17:30However, I have noticed, as everybody else has done,
17:33that climate change means that we have longer periods of drought
17:38followed by really fierce, intense rainfall.
17:42And this pattern of rainfall has led to much more frequent flooding.
17:49And Ari Anderson has been to Derbyshire
17:51to find out how gardeners can help alleviate this situation.
18:02It's lovely seeing the river calm like this,
18:05but we all know that flooding is becoming more and more frequent,
18:09so the challenge is how do we lessen the flooding after heavy downpours?
18:14We need to use that rainwater,
18:16and where better than in our own gardens?
18:19I've come to the Strutt Community Centre in Derbyshire,
18:22where the Environment Agency has been working in partnership
18:26with the Trent Rivers Trust to create a garden that captures and uses rain.
18:31Not surprisingly, it's called a rain garden.
18:36Julie Wozniczka from the Trust has been part of the project
18:40to see how effective rain gardens can be.
18:43Julie, just what is the impact of these really heavy downpours that we're seeing?
18:48We've covered a lot of our land, especially in the towns,
18:52with tarmac and concrete, so the water goes really quickly to the rivers
18:56and then the river levels rise.
18:58Also, that water floods the sewage works,
19:00and all the sewage comes out and it goes into the rivers
19:03and ends up in people's houses.
19:05In our gardens, capturing water is usually done in a water bath is one thing.
19:10Is there anything else that we can do?
19:12There are things you can do to make that garden absorb that water
19:15and slow it down, and that's what we're trying to promote to people
19:18as something that we can all do to help that situation.
19:24The average rainfall on a house is enough to fill just over one bathtub.
19:29If you think of a row of houses, that's a lot of water we can be saving
19:33and using in our gardens.
19:35Oh, this looks gorgeous.
19:37Yeah, it looks great, doesn't it?
19:39So what's happening is, we've set this up really with a hose pipe to show you,
19:43but imagine that it's just tipping it down with rain everywhere.
19:45So all the water from that roof will be coming down this pipe
19:49and then it's going into this channel,
19:52which is there to really soak up as much water as it can.
19:56The water from the roofs here doesn't end up in the sewers.
19:59Instead, it's channelled into a shallow trench.
20:02This runs into a gently sloping bowl at the bottom of the garden,
20:06which is particularly effective at taking up water if there's a heavy downpour.
20:10This whole area makes a perfect spot for the right plants.
20:14And then you can plant all the plants that you want.
20:17So you can plant a lot of plants,
20:19and then you can plant a lot of plants that you don't want.
20:22This is a perfect spot for the right plants.
20:25And then you can plant plants that like those wet conditions, like irises.
20:29They're quite happy to have their feet in the water.
20:32Astrantia over there.
20:34Alchemilla mollis as well really just likes those damp conditions.
20:37They're not plants that want to be damp all the time.
20:40They're just plants that can tolerate being wet some of the time and dry some of the time,
20:43and they're just happy like that.
20:45I can sort of already see how the plants are absorbing as it goes along.
20:49There's a little pool there, but I can see it's already trickling through.
20:53So, you know, simple principle, but it really works.
20:56It does, doesn't it? An hour or so of rain and you'd really see it.
20:59Yeah.
21:02Julie and the team have created a great space here for the public
21:06that demonstrates the principles of a rain garden.
21:11Hiya. Hi, Tanya.
21:13Yeah, pleased to meet you.
21:15I've been invited by enthusiastic gardener Tanya
21:18to see how she's creating a rain garden with a few ideas of her own.
21:22Here we have the garden in progress.
21:24Still a lot of work to do,
21:26but basically we wanted to use the principle of harnessing all the rain
21:31that falls on our garden footprint,
21:33even the hard surfaces like the rooftops.
21:35We've actually put in a guttering system,
21:38and that takes the rainwater from the roof
21:40and ends up in our lovely oak barrel there.
21:43So once the water comes out of that barrel, where is it going?
21:47It will carry on through the little stream that we're going to create
21:52that will flow around the planting scheme,
21:55around the edges of the garden,
21:57and then into the drop-off at the pool.
22:01There are a few things to consider if you are creating a rain garden.
22:06To ensure that all the water that's going to come off of your house
22:09can now get absorbed into the garden,
22:11you do need to make sure that there's going to be adequate drainage.
22:14One way to do that, dig a sizeable hole,
22:17fill it full of water, know how much water you've put into it,
22:20and then time basically how long it takes to drain away.
22:23Overnight, did it take a day?
22:25That way you can be sure that your garden can now absorb all of that extra water.
22:32To increase drainage, you can dig in some organic matter or grit
22:37to improve the soil structure.
22:40Today, I'm helping Tanya put some of the plants
22:43that will thrive in these varied conditions into the trench.
22:48So what have we got down here now?
22:50Okay, so we've got some marginal plants.
22:53I wanted to put those in there because obviously they like to keep the feet wet
22:57and they're very good for water absorption as well.
23:00We've got a Botomus Umbrelatus there.
23:03It's lovely.
23:04And it's going to love being wet, so that's going to be one of the main features for that.
23:08Is there an Astilbe that I can see over there as well?
23:10Yeah, I've got an Astilbe just behind me here.
23:13It does like its feet wet,
23:15but it's quite happy just to have a moist, well-drained soil as well,
23:18so that's why I've just got it a little bit further out of the edge on here.
23:22Then we've got the Caliper Lustrous here.
23:26Again, that I'm going to bring into the marginal side of the stream
23:30just because, again, it loves to have its feet wet
23:33and it's just going to be the best plant to keep in a moist area.
23:37So it is just thinking about getting those plants that can tolerate wet
23:41but not necessarily be wet all the time.
23:43That's right.
23:44It's awesome as well.
23:45Where we've got this mound, it's getting drier, the plants at the back.
23:48Yes, exactly.
23:49I've got a Hebe here, a variegated Hebe,
23:53so we'll get some nice colour off of there
23:55and it's great to have a different kind of foliage in there as well.
23:58Obviously, these planting areas and capturing the rain is great,
24:02but you've also even made your paths permeable, haven't you?
24:05Yes, definitely.
24:06We just felt that it was very important,
24:08not just to consider what we were planting into the garden
24:11to make it look beautiful,
24:13but also that any hard surfaces that we had are totally permeable
24:16so that any rainfall that we do have is totally absorbed
24:20and there's no run-off at all.
24:22There's no way it can go anywhere else.
24:24No, absolutely not. I'm not letting it.
24:26This is where it's really important, everybody doing it in their own garden.
24:30Yes, and it is so simple.
24:32It's so simple and if everybody did a little bit,
24:35it would make such a difference.
24:37Make a start. I like that.
24:39That's what we shall definitely be getting started in my garden.
24:46What I love about both of these gardens
24:48is it's shown me how simple it is to capture and channel free rainwater,
24:53add a bit of creative thinking and clearly some fun
24:57and you can have a fabulous rain garden.
25:03BIRDS CHIRP
25:10There's no question that the pattern of rainfall is affecting us all.
25:14And even in a very wet place like Longmeadow,
25:17we do try and conserve as much as we can.
25:20It's a good idea because when there are periods
25:23of two or three weeks without rain, then it becomes extra valuable.
25:27So if between us all we can do something,
25:30then maybe that genuinely will help.
25:33Now, I've planted these limes for bleaching
25:37as all part of the new herb garden.
25:39Now, the new herb garden, I think, is coming along really well.
25:42It looks good. We use it all the time.
25:45And these are part of it. These are the boundary.
25:48And what I'm doing to the limes is training them
25:51so that we just have a very rigid, two-dimensional framework
25:55of three tiers of branches.
25:58And at this stage of the year, the important thing to do
26:01is just tie in the new growth whilst it's nice and soft and pliable,
26:05and then you won't break it.
26:07But wherever possible, if you're training branches horizontally,
26:10whether it's for espaliers or bleach plants,
26:13it's best to have it going slightly up rather than down.
26:16So this branch here, for example, I could tie in,
26:19but then it would be growing down.
26:21And there is another bud just below, so I'm going to let that develop.
26:25Now, what you do at this stage,
26:27don't tie in the very tips of the growth.
26:30So, for example, this, I've left the last six to nine inches loose,
26:35and that will naturally curve upwards.
26:37It wants to grow vertically.
26:39And that means it will have much more vigour.
26:41And when it's fully established, then you can tie it all in.
26:44And that applies to any horizontal training that you do.
26:48Now, all this process is part of a garden
26:51that has been evolving for the last quarter of a century
26:54and hopefully for the next quarter of a century too.
26:57But Adam Frost only began his garden a couple of years ago.
27:01There's a lot to do, but he has done a lot already.
27:04And we join him as he looks back over the changes he's made
27:08and also at his plans for creating a wildflower meadow.
27:16I don't know about you, but I absolutely love this time of year.
27:19The garden's really coming alive.
27:22You might remember this area
27:24was one of the first areas I did in the garden,
27:26and it works really well.
27:28The planting's getting up, the wildlife's coming in,
27:31and I can sit and have a cup of tea in the morning.
27:34We've been busy over the winter.
27:36Also, I've got loads planned for this year,
27:38so I'll best show you around.
27:45Back in October, I was in there, in the mud, it was pouring with rain,
27:48and I was planting those wildflower plugs.
27:51I'll be honest with you, I haven't done anything else to it since,
27:54and don't it just amaze you sometimes what nature does
27:57and you just sort of let it go?
27:59Those foxgloves look fantastic.
28:01But there is another area in the garden
28:03that I have been putting a lot of work in,
28:05and I just want to add a few more bits in there today.
28:12Back end of the year, I was getting really frustrated with herbaceous boarding.
28:16It just wasn't giving me what I wanted,
28:18so I ended up digging half of it up and moving it into places.
28:21It didn't have the sort of movement I was trying to create.
28:24But now, I think I'm actually getting somewhere.
28:27And as the garden's sort of matured, as the season's gone on,
28:30it's starting to tell me what to do next.
28:33I'll do bang!
28:35But in behind there, I'm lacking some height,
28:38so straightaway I know that something needs to sit in the back of there.
28:42If you look here, I've got the grasses, one shape,
28:46and the cerseum, really sort of thistle-like leaf.
28:49Achillea, quite soft and textured.
28:52So the best thing I can do is look for a completely different foliage,
28:56so something like this insomnia,
28:58which has got that lovely sort of willow-type leaf.
29:05So you see the contrast straightaway in the foliage,
29:08and that'll fill that space really nicely.
29:11And this phalarum as well, it will seed a bit,
29:14so, you know, I do want this, I suppose,
29:17this space to take on a little bit of a life of its own as it matures.
29:22I think with this border, I'm more or less trying to create,
29:25I suppose, like a tapestry feel.
29:27I want to sort of look along the border
29:29and not only have sort of movement going up and down,
29:32but have this constant change of texture and interest.
29:35Do you know, I promise that I'll only be out for half an hour,
29:38and three hours later, I'm still out here,
29:40so I'm not sure it'll ever be finished.
29:45This woodland was planted exactly 12 months ago,
29:48and some of it's gone bonkers.
29:50But the other thing that stood out for me in here
29:53is the lack of height in places.
29:55But instead of just planting something straightaway,
29:58what I do is introduce canes at different punch points
30:01and move them around until I feel like they're in exactly the right place.
30:05Then I'll add a tree or even a large shrub.
30:08And, you know, this silly little path idea
30:11has ended up being a really strong sort of design feature
30:15that's linking this whole garden together.
30:17I've got my bark path into this space, which is the brick,
30:21and then it'll take me all the way through,
30:23which will be my new meadow.
30:30And then what's going to happen is the mown pathways
30:32are going to work their way through
30:34and head to that beehive down there,
30:36which becomes the main focal point.
30:38I want this to have a sense of place.
30:40I want it to sort of pull in real regional wildlife.
30:44And to do that, I've got to get out in the countryside
30:46and see what's growing around me.
30:48And lucky enough for me, just a couple of hundred yards up the road,
30:51I've got someone that is stacked out with inspiration.
30:59I often come for a walk to this spot, Hills and Hole.
31:02It's a special area of conservation managed by Natural England
31:06with the support of volunteers.
31:11I think this place is absolutely wonderful.
31:17And it's not just the array of wildflower.
31:20It's the sense of history.
31:22This was an old Roman quarry.
31:24And then after that, John Clare, the Romantic poet,
31:26used to walk through here.
31:28And I want to take, I suppose, a little bit of that sense of history
31:31and romance and put it back in my orchard.
31:34So what I've been doing over the last 12 months
31:36is coming up here and just taking photographs
31:38of small groups of plants.
31:40So today, I'm up here to see if anything's changed.
31:46Back in spring, this place was covered in pulsatilla and primlers.
31:50Today, I've been given special permission to get up close to the plants,
31:54including one of the rarer ones.
31:58You look here, look. It's a little man-orchid.
32:00Maybe the orchids at the moment are a bridge too far.
32:02A couple of years down the road when I've established everything else.
32:05But look, there's the pulsatilla that I was telling you about.
32:08There's one still in flower.
32:10But the seedhead looks absolutely fantastic.
32:12Loves really sort of hot conditions.
32:15So for me, it might, it might not work in the meadow.
32:18And then we look a little bit closer.
32:20Salaburnet. That'll work well in the orchard, definitely.
32:24But then you look, brisa, which is the quaking grass.
32:28I think that'll work really well in my garden
32:30because this is all on a limestone bed
32:32and I've got those conditions back at home.
32:36MUSIC
32:43It's not just the individual species that I come up here to have a look at.
32:46It's the way the plants grow in the wild, you know.
32:49So you look at something like this philopendula.
32:51I've got a big group there and then you've got these little seedlings
32:54that work their way off into the meadow
32:56and it's very much those ideas that will drive the way
32:59that I lay the orchard out back at home.
33:02But we have got to remember, I can't just come up here and dig this stuff up.
33:05You know, I've got to propagate it myself.
33:07But what I am hoping is that there is a fantastic mix of wildlife
33:11that uses these hills and holes.
33:13I'm hoping some of that just goes a few hundred yards down the road to my place.
33:18MUSIC
33:22MUSIC
33:29Today the first thing I want to do is field scape this.
33:32There's some of it up there and it grows really well on basically a lime-based soil.
33:37Probably an alkaline as well.
33:43So I'm just going to soak those and let that compost really suck up
33:47and then that will go into a greenhouse or a cold frame.
33:50It will probably take two to four weeks to germinate and then I'll prick them out.
33:54And I've got a load more of that to do between now and the end of the year.
33:58In October time I'll plant the whole thing out.
34:01But that's not the only thing I've got planned this year.
34:03I want to put a gravel garden in at the front of the house, plant it up.
34:07But give us somewhere to sit.
34:09Not that I'll probably have five minutes to sit down.
34:11Anyway, I'll best get these in a greenhouse.
34:20MUSIC
34:23We'll be returning to Adam's garden to see how that meadow progresses.
34:27The meadow can be very simple.
34:30This path has been mown for over 20 years.
34:34And yet this year I decided why don't we just mow the centre and let the rest grow.
34:39And that's all that's happened.
34:41I think it looks great.
34:43Insects will love it and then all you have to do is cut it at the end of summer,
34:47rake the grass up and then it will all start all over again next spring.
34:52Now, still to come, we visit a gardener in Gloucestershire
34:56who is attempting to recreate the collection of irises
35:00put together and bred by a member of her family over 100 years ago.
35:05But first Flo Hedlum goes to London
35:08where she helps out with a group whose speciality
35:11is in creating gardens in a single day.
35:15Our towns and cities are ever-changing and growing
35:18with new buildings springing up all the time.
35:21Yet there are thousands of unused and underused spaces
35:25full of potential just waiting for nature to get back in.
35:29All it takes is a bit of creative thinking
35:32and some good old-fashioned elbow grease.
35:35In London 2013, a crack team of gardeners and designers came together
35:40to help communities transform forgotten back gardens
35:43into vibrant green spaces in just a day.
35:50They're known as the permablitzers.
35:52With 64 spaces already blitzed in London, there's no stopping them.
36:00Today, I'm going to be helping the volunteers
36:03transform the much-neglected garden of the Nubian Life Centre.
36:07A valuable resource that provides care
36:10for elderly African and Caribbean residents.
36:13As work gets underway, I catch up with head designer
36:16Kayode Olafimihan, who is the founder.
36:19So there's a lot going on.
36:21It's so busy here today, isn't it?
36:23Yes.
36:24What's the concept behind it?
36:26Permablitz London is a community network
36:28of gardeners and permaculture designers.
36:30We organise free days where people meet up like today
36:34to install edible, wildlife-friendly permaculture designs.
36:39And we do that at private spaces,
36:43community gardens and public spaces.
36:46We do the design and we supply all the people.
36:50And the recipient, they feed us all.
36:53Yes.
36:54So we're getting lunch today.
36:56We're getting lunch today.
36:58And they cover the cost of the plants and the materials.
37:01But the big twist is that once you've helped at three of these days,
37:05you can then have a permablitz at your place.
37:07And if you haven't got a garden, then you can nominate one.
37:10So what's the plan for the Nubian Life Centre?
37:13A lot of the people who use this centre have dementia.
37:16So there needs to be a strong sensory aspect
37:19of colour, bold, shapes, but also scent.
37:24Because somehow the sense of smell takes you back to a place.
37:28It does.
37:29It takes you back to a place.
37:30It does.
37:31It triggers memories.
37:32Yes.
37:33We've got to finish at 5.30 today.
37:34We've got this mad schedule.
37:35So what are the jobs that we need to do today?
37:37Right.
37:38So there's painting of the raised beds, constructing the raised beds.
37:41We've got a miniature forest garden area to plant up.
37:45There's a greenhouse that's being constructed.
37:48So I can slot into one of the teams?
37:50Yeah.
37:51Ah, OK.
37:53Perfect.
37:55Yes.
37:56OK.
37:57Beautiful.
37:58So are you a regular permablitzer?
38:00Very regular.
38:01How many of the 64 have you done?
38:04I don't remember.
38:06I've been doing it for about two years.
38:08OK.
38:13I started painting these with a paintbrush.
38:16And a friend said, why aren't you using a sprayer?
38:19So I rushed out and bought a sprayer.
38:21OK.
38:22And what took me 55 minutes was done in five.
38:27I love it.
38:28Five minutes.
38:29Can I finish this one?
38:30Absolutely.
38:31Go for it.
38:40Yes.
38:41OK, everyone.
38:42Lunch is ready.
38:43Woo!
38:44Woo!
38:46This is the perfect opportunity to speak
38:48with the manager of the Nubian Life Centre, Jaz Brown.
38:52What is the final garden going to mean to the residents here?
38:57It's going to mean so much in terms
38:59of being able to go outside, sit in the garden in the summer.
39:03And it's just been really amazing for us
39:05to be able to work with Permablitz,
39:07to be able to create this community asset,
39:09to create this space.
39:11And where people can learn about gardening,
39:13where people can just come and be quiet and just be still.
39:16So it's really hard to kind of say
39:19what the end meaning is going to be,
39:22because I think it's going to mean so many different things.
39:32So we've got one, two, three, four tons, four tons of soil.
39:39Four tons of soil to put into those beds.
39:47Go, go, go, go, go.
39:49Go, power.
39:50Go on.
39:59Oh, my God, the plants.
40:01The plants have arrived.
40:03Wow.
40:04Beautiful.
40:05They're lovely, aren't they?
40:06Yeah.
40:07That's going to make such an impact.
40:14With so many plants going in fast,
40:16this garden is really starting to come alive.
40:20The patio area is now crammed full of bold colours and scent.
40:24It's simple, but it's genius.
40:27Whilst on the other side of the garden,
40:29designer and project manager Susanna Hall
40:32is leading a team creating a miniature forest.
40:35I noticed that some of the plants in this area are edible.
40:38Was that deliberate?
40:40Yes, so the columbine, for example,
40:42has both edible flowers and leaves.
40:44The bugle or aguga here, this has edible shoots.
40:48Will they be using them in the centre?
40:50This whole garden is going to be a community garden,
40:53not just for the users in the centre,
40:55but for people broadly in the community as well,
40:57both from an educational point of view and also to eat.
41:01What we find now as well is that we have plants
41:04that we know were planted in people's gardens,
41:07at community gardens, and we then can ask them
41:11whether or not we can have seedlings,
41:13whether or not they could propagate some cuttings for us,
41:16and it's a way that people who've had a palm of this can then give back.
41:21It's truly amazing what this inspiring group of people
41:25have achieved here today.
41:28And smile, and wave!
41:31And now I'm going for another angle!
41:33Everyone has pulled out all the stops to help transform this garden
41:37and make a real difference to the lives of the people who use it.
41:41Yeah?
41:42Yeah.
41:43I think it's great.
41:45I think it's great.
41:47It's more than what we thought.
41:49Thank you is too small a word,
41:52but I just hope that you can hear our hearts and thank you.
41:56It's absolutely beautiful.
41:58CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
42:01Thank you!
42:03CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
42:06Thank you.
42:08Thank you.
42:10Thank you.
42:12Thank you.
42:14CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
42:35I'm giving the olives that I planted the other day
42:38a very weak liquid seaweed feed.
42:41This is just to give them a boost,
42:44to get the roots nice and strong and also to encourage flowering.
42:48Now, if you are thinking of buying some olives
42:52and planting them in your garden,
42:54it is really important to make sure they come from a reputable source.
42:59And this is because there is a disease called xylella,
43:03which has wreaked havoc in the olive groves of southern Europe,
43:08and we do not want to introduce it into this country
43:11and under no circumstances ever bring back plants from overseas
43:16because biosecurity is becoming an increasing problem.
43:20And we will be looking at xylella itself later on in the series
43:24when Adam Frost talks to His Royal Highness Prince Charles about it.
43:29If you want more information about this disease
43:32and advice on biosecurity, then go to our website.
43:38Now, these plants here are fine,
43:40but I'm just going to give them a little bit more of a feed,
43:43and you only need to feed them once a week.
43:45As I say, it doesn't need to be strong.
43:48It's just a gentle top-up.
44:01Come on.
44:09Come on.
44:15When you're planting tender annuals,
44:18the idea is to add instant colour.
44:22This is late-season stuff
44:24that is going to make the most of the heat of summer
44:27and only last until the frost in early autumn.
44:31I've got a space here that was filled with alliums.
44:34They look great. I've cleared those away.
44:36I've got an anna and dahlia and an aeonium,
44:39which, by the way, will be perfectly hardy until the frosts come,
44:43and now I want to start adding some sunflowers and some colour around them.
44:48So, at the back here, we have the angelica,
44:53and it just adds volume to the border.
44:57But as soon as they flower, we will cut them down,
45:00and that will create space,
45:02and I'm just planting in amongst them to replace that volume.
45:06Now, I have a tray of sunflowers.
45:08This is a sunflower called claret.
45:11This is by no means the biggest sunflower you can grow,
45:14but it will grow a good six foot.
45:18That goes in there like that,
45:21and they will need staking,
45:24but not quite at this stage.
45:32OK, now the next layer.
45:36This is a tray of typhonia, the Mexican sunflower.
45:40They have an intense orange flower from July right through into October.
45:45It's one of the key plants here in the jewel garden.
45:48Now, you can see this is looking slightly bedraggled.
45:52They can get mildewy when you're raising them, but don't worry,
45:57because once these go out into the garden and start to grow,
46:00they will be healthy and will romp away.
46:02Now, in a good year, and a good year for typhonia is a hot year,
46:06these can grow a good five foot tall.
46:08In a bad year, about three to four foot.
46:10So they're what I call mid-story plants.
46:12So if we can plant these nearer the back.
46:22OK, that's the mid-layer.
46:25Now the front.
46:27And here, some centuria.
46:30This is Cerenus burgundy, and you can see the colour of the flower.
46:34It's a lovely, rich purple colour.
46:38It's not going to grow very much bigger.
46:40I've sown these in paper pots.
46:44I will plant them in the pot,
46:46so I'll be interested to see how they develop.
46:48So we'll put a little group of these in here.
46:51I'll put one more in there.
47:00So we're starting to build up a pattern.
47:02Sunflowers to give us height at the back,
47:06typhonias in the middle ground,
47:08and then the foreground, the centuria.
47:11And as they grow up, they will fill this space,
47:13backed and working with the David Howard dahlia,
47:16the Wyoming canna, and the purple hazel.
47:21I've got one more tender annual I've grown from seed here,
47:24which I've got the perfect place for, and this is a zinnia.
47:36This particular zinnia is called giant scarlet.
47:40It's a very, very beautiful plant.
47:43This particular zinnia is called giant scarlet.
47:46And, as the name suggests, it's taller than many
47:49and is a bright red.
47:52Now, zinnias, rather like typhonias,
47:54can be a little bit tricky to raise from seed
47:57because they don't like being too wet,
47:59they certainly don't like being cold,
48:01and they need mollycoddling,
48:03but not overfeeding or overwatering.
48:06Once they're in the garden, they're absolutely fine.
48:14It is too late to sow any of these from seed now,
48:18but the garden centres will be full of tender perennials.
48:22Now, in theory, zinnias should have as much sunshine as you can give them.
48:27Certainly don't grow them in shade.
48:35Now, what I'm doing here is using a very restricted palette,
48:40but as wide a range of plants as possible.
48:43But for some gardeners, who are much more focused,
48:46it's the fascination with one species,
48:49or a section of one species, that really inspires them.
48:53And we went to the Cotswolds to meet one such gardener
48:57who was also motivated by a family connection.
49:02My name is Anne Milner.
49:04I live in Gloucestershire, near Sarancester,
49:07and I hold the national collection of irises
49:10bred by a chap called Arthur Bliss.
49:16The flowers hold a special significance
49:19because Arthur Bliss was a very distant uncle of mine,
49:23and I came across him when I was doing some family history research
49:27with a cousin, who offered me a couple of his irises
49:30for my then quite large garden.
49:32We started finding out about them,
49:34we started looking for a few more,
49:36and eventually they became a national collection.
49:43Arthur Bliss was an engineer.
49:45He retired early because he was deaf.
49:48I think because he was deaf, he kept himself busy.
49:52But looking at the photographs of his face,
49:54I would think that he was a very gentle, peaceful man
49:58who was prepared to put himself out for other people.
50:02Arthur was somebody who really didn't care
50:05about what he looked like or anything else.
50:07He didn't bother to buy new clothes.
50:09I think he was the worst-dressed gardener, I think, ever.
50:12But on the other hand, his irises he kept in meticulous fashion,
50:16and I think that's why he was so popular.
50:19On the other hand, his irises he kept in meticulous fashion
50:23and kept very precise records.
50:29In 1912, he moved from Kent to Morwellham Quay
50:34on the Devon-Cornwall border near Tavistock,
50:38and he became obsessed with breeding irises.
50:45This is the iris Morwell.
50:47It is the first iris that was noticed by anybody
50:50and therefore was the start of his fame as an iris breeder.
50:56It's also the first iris that I got from my cousin.
51:00It's a very elegant iris. It's quite large for its age.
51:04It's this lovely, delicate mauvey blue,
51:08and it smells simply wonderful.
51:18The most important flower in Arthur's story is dominion.
51:22There is no doubt whatsoever about that,
51:24because that forged his reputation and went all over the world
51:28for breeders to use to create new irises.
51:33MUSIC PLAYS
51:44When dominion was first introduced, it was so special
51:48that it was decided to sell it at Five Guineas Horizon.
51:52In today's money, it would probably be about £300,
51:55and because it was so expensive, everybody then wanted it
51:58because they thought if you're charging that much for it,
52:01it must be really, really, really special.
52:04This iris is important because it helped put Arthur on the map
52:10as far as iris breeding is concerned,
52:13and you can say that in all the ones that have velvety falls,
52:17then dominion will be somewhere in its parentage.
52:20Its influence is there right to the modern day.
52:25I started collecting these irises in the mid-'80s.
52:30There are about 170 that he introduced,
52:33and I probably have found about 35, 40 of them so far,
52:37and the hunt is almost as much fun as the growing.
52:41It's very important with old irises to make sure
52:44that they don't run into each other,
52:46because it's important for me to keep each cultivar
52:51very clearly defined so that I know,
52:54when I'm digging them, which one's which.
52:57So I use scallop shells between each clump.
53:05To keep irises healthy and not overcrowded,
53:08you need to divide them.
53:10So you break the rhizomes apart.
53:13It's important to divide rhizomes
53:15so that the sun can get to the rhizome to bake them,
53:19because otherwise they'll get overcrowded
53:21and they'll stop flowering.
53:23You then need to cut the leaves back.
53:26Some people cut the leaves back after flowering,
53:30but it's not necessary,
53:32because the leaves are busy feeding the rhizome,
53:35and so the rhizome is growing bigger.
53:38You can also cut the roots back,
53:40because most of the roots will regrow.
53:43It's important to name the rhizome as you do it,
53:47because otherwise, if you're doing lots of irises,
53:50they can get in a muddle,
53:52because all irises look the same when they have no flowers.
54:00People are beginning to use old irises in breeding again,
54:04because a lot of modern irises have lost their perfume,
54:07they've lost their elegance,
54:09and they want to try and breed some of that back into them.
54:13I do feel a connection to my uncle,
54:16even though it's a very, very distant relationship.
54:20I feel that if he was able to look down and see what was going on now,
54:24he would be really pleased that people are still growing his irises
54:28100 years after he died.
54:40I do think that our national collections, all of them, are treasures,
54:45and that we should support them in any way we can,
54:47because not only are they a library of plants,
54:51but also they're accessible to all of us.
54:53I suppose most people don't realise that you can go and see them.
54:57You may have to make an appointment,
54:59but it means that you can go and see a particular plant or group of plants
55:04at a particular stage in their process,
55:06whether it be when they're flowering or just coming into bud or whatever.
55:10That means you know what they should look like.
55:14And that's very precious.
55:17Now, I know what these should look like.
55:19This is Allium christophii,
55:21and the reason why I've grown these alliums in rows in this bed
55:25is so that I can cut them for the house,
55:27because they're also growing in amongst the roses.
55:30But if you go and then pick them,
55:32it means that you're spoiling the display,
55:35whereas these exist solely to be cut.
55:38Now, these are whopping great alliums.
55:41You can see that they've got a huge head on them.
55:44But if I just take two or three...
55:50..for the house, they make a dramatic part of a display.
55:54Sorry, Bee, there are plenty more.
55:59Now...
56:02..while I'm cutting flowers,
56:04here are a few jobs you can be doing this weekend.
56:11MUSIC PLAYS
56:17Now is the ideal time to sow Florence fennel
56:20for a harvest in late summer and early autumn.
56:23Either scatter the seed thinly on a seed tray
56:26or sow a little clump into individual plugs,
56:30but this clump will have to be thinned down to one seedling per plug.
56:34Cover the seeds lightly, put them somewhere warm,
56:38water them and grow them on steadily.
56:45At this time of year,
56:47apple trees will naturally shed excess fruit,
56:50and after the blossom we had this spring,
56:52we're expecting a huge harvest.
56:55But you should aid the process
56:57by reducing every little batch of fruitlets down to just two.
57:02This way, you will get quality as well as quantity.
57:09A lot of plants like this Persicaria virginiana
57:13have seedlings growing all around its base.
57:17If you dig up these seedlings,
57:19pop them on individually and grow them on,
57:22you can spread them out across the garden
57:25and get yourself scores of your favourite plants for free.
57:31We plan the colour scheme here on the mound with great care.
57:35We've only planted plants that are white, pale yellow,
57:40absolutely no reds or pinks of any kind whatsoever.
57:45Well, we have been colour-bombed by opium poppies,
57:49and they are glorious.
57:51I don't mind the colour scheme,
57:53but I don't like the colour scheme.
57:56Well, we have been colour-bombed by opium poppies,
57:59and they are glorious.
58:01I don't mind them invading this space in this way.
58:05I think they look beautiful. The bees love them.
58:08And although they don't last very long,
58:10they leave behind these wonderful seed heads,
58:13which stay looking good right through into autumn.
58:17And so, surrounded by this chaos of colour,
58:22I'm afraid that's it for today,
58:25and I'll see you next time.
58:27So until then, bye-bye.
58:55© transcript Emily Beynon