Gardeners World S51e25 21-09-18
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:19Now I have to confess that the dahlias here at Longmeadow this year have not been good.
00:24In fact, I'd go so far as to say they have flowered less than I have ever known them
00:29before.
00:30And that confused me for a bit because I had done everything I've always done.
00:34For 25 years I've grown dahlias in the same way and I'm talking particularly about the
00:38ones in pots.
00:39Pot them up in the good rich compost and then every Friday morning they get a soak and a
00:45feed, a Friday feed.
00:47But this was an exceptional year and they should have been watered at least twice as
00:51much.
00:52And next year I will use the evidence of my eyes rather than just draw upon experience.
00:59But having said that, I've learned something and also the dahlias may not be at their best
01:04but the rest of the garden is still looking really good.
01:14Coming up on today's programme, Carol celebrates the extraordinary variety and rich colours
01:21of that late season star, the salvia.
01:24It's as though they wait till this very moment to make an exhibition of themselves.
01:32Arit Anderson investigates the extent of the use of plastic in our gardens and what steps
01:39are being taken to make it more recyclable.
01:43This is fresh off the production line this morning.
01:46Effectively it's 98% recycled material.
01:50And I will be planting bulbs into meadow grass that are suitable for damp, shady conditions.
02:08Almost everything that we're doing in the garden at the moment is about planning for
02:12next year.
02:14What you do now is going to dramatically alter how your garden looks and one of my favourite
02:19jobs at this time of year is planting bulbs in pots.
02:23And this means that you can have colour as early as late January, early February.
02:28However, they need good drainage.
02:32So just take your normal compost mix and this could be just a standard bark-based potting
02:37compost and then mix the same volume of grit with it.
02:41So, pour that in like that.
02:48In winter, cold, wet compost is what bulbs absolutely hate.
02:54And horticultural grit is ideal to open it out.
02:58Now when it comes to containers, you can grow bulbs in absolutely anything, but I absolutely
03:07recommend using terracotta pots.
03:10When you have a terracotta pot, it's porous, which means that it will lose moisture through
03:16the sides.
03:18You don't want bulbs to sit in water.
03:20That is the very worst thing that can happen.
03:23I'm going to start with one of my favourites and a real cast iron doer.
03:30This is Iris histroides george.
03:32It has a deep purple flower with a yellow filament in the middle and will start to flower
03:38somewhere between the beginning and the end of February.
03:42You can plant this in quite a small container.
03:44In fact, I'm going to use for this, this tiny little container.
03:50We'll put a little bit of a crock in the bottom there, add some compost.
03:59When you're planting in the ground, the basic rule is always twice the bulb's depth.
04:04Forget that.
04:05In a pot, particularly a little pot like this, as long as the tip is just below the
04:10surface, that's all you need to worry about.
04:13If I put these in like this, I can cram them in too.
04:19So we've got seven bulbs in a tiny little pot, and then I just cover them up, and a
04:34good tip is to put a layer of grit over the top of that, because when it rains or you
04:40water them, there's a real risk that these delicate satiny petals, which are only going
04:47to be about that high, get splashed and get muddy.
04:52And if we just put the grit on there, that keeps it clean.
05:05I'm now going to plant one of my favourite daffodils.
05:08It's as common as muck, you see it everywhere, and for very good reason, because it's just
05:12lovely.
05:13It's tete-a-tete.
05:15These little daffodils have the freeness of spirit that you get in wild daffodils, and
05:21the intensity of colour that you get in those that have been highly bred.
05:25They're just a joy.
05:28And I've got a deeper bowl here, because it's a slightly bigger plant, and a much bigger
05:32bowl.
05:34And again, cram them in.
05:36These can stay in here for a few years.
05:40It's quite a good idea not to do all the bulb potting in one go.
05:44If you stagger it a little bit, you will stretch out the flowering season.
05:50Cover that over.
05:54You can easily plant any bulb right up to the end of October, and put them somewhere
05:59cool, but not too wet.
06:02And if you can, use a really nice terracotta pot.
06:07But I'm fully aware, for most of us, the reality is we buy our plants and grow them in plastic.
06:15But this is becoming a major environmental problem, and this year at Longmeadow, I've
06:19tried to use as little plastic as possible, and it's been tricky.
06:23But the truth is that we, us gardeners, have to be part of the solution.
06:29Now that is easier said than done, and it's not going to happen overnight, but the first
06:32thing we need to do is find out more about it.
06:35And Arit has been behind the scenes, throughout the horticultural industry, to find out as
06:40much as she can about this problem of plastic.
06:50Back in the 1950s, plastic was the wonder product that transformed the way we live and
06:55shop.
06:57We live in a world surrounded by plastic.
07:00In the bathroom, in the kitchen, we can't seem to escape it.
07:04And it doesn't stop at the back door.
07:07As gardeners, one of the most exciting things is buying a new plant.
07:12We find the perfect flower for that gap in the border, buy it, plant it, ending up with
07:18a plastic pot, to add to that pile of pots hiding in our gardens.
07:24And here's a fact that's going to make you sit up.
07:28US gardeners are getting through half a billion plastic pots and bedding trays across the
07:34UK every year.
07:37I can't quite believe that figure.
07:39I've done a quick calculation, and I think that means, laid out, these plastic pots would
07:44cover the Chelsea Flower Show ground roughly 149 times, and that's just one year.
07:53And it seems that we're collectively piling up an unthinkable amount of plastic.
07:59I find it worrying, because with only a few exceptions, we have little choice but to buy
08:04the plastic pot with the plant.
08:08So I'm going on a journey of a plastic pot to find out why.
08:12To see if there are any changes happening, and to find out what we can do about the mountains
08:17of plastic waste we're all creating.
08:22My first stop is where the pots are first used, a commercial nursery, to find out why
08:28they use plastic.
08:31And this is a big nursery.
08:33This is where lots of the plants you find in supermarkets and garden centres are grown.
08:39Last year, we produced approximately 12 million pots and 2.5 million bedding packs.
08:46Why are the pots plastic?
08:49They're plastic because that's the industry standard.
08:51We've known those for over 50 years.
08:54It's a durable product, and it forms the pots, the trays, with consistency, which is important
09:01for us.
09:02As you've seen, we're highly mechanised, so they've got to go through the machines.
09:06Black plastic's been used in particular because the black keeps the light away from the roots.
09:12Roots are photosensitive, so they want to grow away from light.
09:16If we just produce a better plant in black plastic, it's proven.
09:25It seems that plastic, and especially black plastic, is the way we most effectively mass
09:30produce plants healthily.
09:33It's worth mentioning that some retailers have asked this nursery for alternatives to
09:37plastic pots, and they are doing some trials, so far with mixed results.
09:44And they do recycle when plastic comes to its end of life on site.
09:49We also spoke to a range of other commercial nurseries who told us they use black plastic
09:54for similar reasons.
09:55They're economical, and they can also last for the long time plants often need to grow
10:00before being sold to garden centres.
10:07And that's my next stop, a garden centre.
10:09It's a small family-run business near Preston.
10:12They sell over 40,000 plants a year, mainly in plastic pots.
10:17I'm having a chat with Diane Harrison, who spends every day with customers.
10:23She sees the issue of plastics on the front line.
10:27So why are you using plastic, do you think?
10:29Well, we've only been offered plants in plastic, and I think it's for reasons of transport
10:34and growing.
10:35It's got to stand up on the tables, it's got to stand up in a production system.
10:39Do you find that you have customers that are asking you about recycling at all with
10:45the pots?
10:46No, I don't think so, and I think because the customers are only buying one or two or
10:50three plants here and there, aren't they, they don't see that as a big issue, maybe.
10:54Do you have a recycle scheme where the customers can bring them back?
10:58We don't, no.
10:59We'll take them back as a goodwill gesture, and some we might be able to use, but on the
11:04whole we don't have a recycling scheme for them at all, no.
11:08And likewise, we don't have a recycling scheme for the trays, so they're difficult to deal with.
11:12Yeah, that is really hard, because as a garden centre, you're not growing on here, are you?
11:17No, it's purely buying stock in from nurseries and then selling it through.
11:23So yes, we have no use for old pots or old trays.
11:28Are you able to send them back to the suppliers?
11:30Generally not, no.
11:31And I suppose for plant health and disease and pest and disease, the suppliers don't
11:35want them back.
11:39We spoke to a wide range of garden centres, DIY chains and supermarkets.
11:44They all told us a similar story.
11:51The garden centres sell in plastic because the nurseries supply the plants that way and
11:56there's no apparent customer demand for alternatives or recycling.
12:02And maybe that's because unlike food packaging, which stacks up in our bins, most of us only
12:07buy a few plants at a time, so we're in a bit of a bubble about the scale of the issue.
12:16So far, it seems that there's not much choice but to keep piling up our pots.
12:21How about kerbside recycling them at home with all the other plastic we use?
12:27Well it can be pretty confusing to know what can and can't be recycled and in which box
12:33or bin.
12:35And frankly the news isn't great.
12:37Only a handful of local councils will take plastic plant pots for recycling, often for
12:42the same reason that these plastic food trays won't be allowed.
12:50This refuse facility is one of the most advanced primary sorting plants in the UK.
12:55It processes 132,500 tonnes of recycling per year.
13:01When you put something in your kerbside recycling, it's delivered to this facility by truck,
13:05it all gets put onto a conveyor belt and the bottles and the tubs and the pots run along
13:10that conveyor and we shine light onto the conveyor and depending on the light that's
13:14reflected back, we can detect what the different materials are.
13:18So if we detect a pot, it will puff that pot with a jet of air into a different bay so
13:24we can get all the same type of material into one place.
13:28Because we use light to detect plastics and what type of plastic they are, because black
13:33plastic doesn't reflect any light, it's very difficult to sort.
13:40And that's why most councils won't accept plastic pots in kerbside recycling.
13:46Many just can't sort them yet.
13:50This facility will recycle them if they catch them, but more likely it will end up incinerated
13:56and used to create electricity and heat, which is known as energy recovery.
14:02Here's Simon Ellen from the Recycling Association.
14:06Recycling, it's all about circularity.
14:08You're using it again and again and again.
14:10We call it circular economy.
14:12The problem is with incineration, with energy recovery, is that you break that circle.
14:16Plastic is petroleum based and it's not replaceable.
14:21So you burn it, then that is the end.
14:25Okay, you're generating the energy, but you lose your non-renewable fossil fuel.
14:31And that seems to be the crux of the problem.
14:35This can go in the household recycling bin and will go on to become something else.
14:40But on the whole, this can't.
14:44So what's happening is most of us are stockpiling plastic plant pots with nowhere to go.
14:50And the industry is creating even more pots to satisfy our desire for more plants.
14:57And this can't go on forever.
14:59Surely this isn't sustainable and has to change.
15:14I don't know about you, but I'm still reeling at that figure.
15:18We buy over half a billion pots and trays every year.
15:21And although most of us just buy a few pots and it's not really very significant in every individual garden,
15:28put it all together and you can see the scale of the problem.
15:33Anyway, later on in the programme, Arit is going to go back to the industry
15:37and see what practical steps are being taken to combat this.
15:48Well, I'm going to plant these into a little gap.
15:52And these are Primra Capitata.
15:55But Primras in the damp garden always look good.
16:03Someone was asking me why certain bits of the hostas have got eaten and not others.
16:09And almost certainly, that is where they got frosted in spring.
16:13And you won't have seen the damage.
16:15But there was just enough damage to the structure of the plant to make it weak.
16:18And that's what slugs and snails like.
16:26That's a little cameo added in the garden.
16:29And of course, I will keep these pots, wash them, look after them,
16:34and reuse them for as long as possible.
16:38This is the Viburnum, Viburnum Placartum Maresii,
16:41This is the Viburnum, Viburnum Placartum Maresii,
16:44which in spring has these wonderful horizontal tiers of flower.
16:49And in autumn, it has one of the most dramatic and intense colours in the whole garden.
16:56Although I always feel very sad that summer is slipping away
17:00and the swallows have gone home, there is no doubt about it,
17:04autumn brings a lot of splendour.
17:12BIRDS CHIRP
17:18Right.
17:21Come on, then.
17:23Next job.
17:25Come along.
17:28FOOTSTEPS
17:39This piece of ground, which was Mona's lawn for about 20 years,
17:44has one huge disadvantage, and that is it floods badly in winter.
17:50So the ground can be really wet for six to eight months of the year.
17:56It's got quite shady because the hedges have grown.
17:59However, I do want to convert it into what is essentially a wildflower meadow.
18:04Now, I've scattered some wildflower seed in here,
18:07I've added a few perennials,
18:09and now I want to add just three bulbs that will thrive
18:13in this slightly shady, rather damp soil.
18:17Now, the first is a small bulb, but it's a really dramatic flower.
18:23This is Fritillary miliagris, the snake's head fritillary.
18:28It's one of our native fritillaries,
18:30and it naturalises in damp water meadows.
18:34And if you want things to look natural, don't place them.
18:38The best way to do this, and it's a tried and tested method,
18:42is just take a handful and throw them on the ground
18:46and plant them exactly where they land.
18:49Don't worry if there's a group of three or one is out on its own,
18:52that's how they grow in nature.
18:54What you can do to make life easy is to use one of these.
18:58This is a bulb planter, and it is so useful when you're planting into grass
19:03because it works like this.
19:05You push it down,
19:09you lift it out,
19:11pop the bulb in,
19:13and ideally plant at a depth of four inches.
19:17If they're too shallow, they can dry out,
19:19they're more likely to be dug up by squirrels or badgers,
19:23and much better to get them down deep.
19:26So that's the first one.
19:27And then what you do with the second,
19:31the plug is pushed out, and there you are,
19:34and you just pop that back in the hole on top, like that.
19:40If you're planting into grass,
19:42make sure the grass is cut really short before you start,
19:46and that will make it much easier to make the holes,
19:49to see where the bulbs fall,
19:51and actually will do no harm at all.
20:02Now, if the ground is too hard,
20:05which it certainly often is in September,
20:07that's one of the real problems of planting into grass in September,
20:10a tip that you can do, and I've done very successfully before,
20:13is get a three- or four-inch pot like this,
20:16and put three bulbs into this,
20:22and then just cover it over.
20:25And if you do, say, a dozen pots like that,
20:28you can plant them out in March,
20:30when the foliage will be about that tall,
20:32and that works quite well too.
20:34So that's a fritillary.
20:36But I'm also going to plant two others.
20:38The first is a camassia.
20:40Now, this is a camassia quamash,
20:43and typically with camassias, it has dramatic foliage
20:46and then this spike of flower.
20:48And this has a very small bulb.
20:50You can see that it's not much bigger than the fritillary,
20:53but the flower is bigger.
20:55Now, I don't want these to dominate.
20:57I've only got 50 for this whole area.
21:00This I don't need to throw, so I'm going to place,
21:02so I'll just pop one in here, and I'll space these out,
21:05again, trying not to make it too regular.
21:08This wants to look as natural as I possibly can.
21:12And then I'm going to add to that the summer snowflake,
21:15the leucogym, with flower stems growing about a foot or so high
21:20and these drooping white flowers, like giant snowdrops.
21:24But you can see the bulbs are dramatically bigger.
21:29And if I have these in clumps all the way down,
21:32that will pick up on the snowdrops
21:34that we've got running down the edge.
21:39This is a woodland bulb.
21:41Light shade and some damp, and this will be happy.
21:45And you can plant these bulbs any time over the next month.
21:49But the sooner you get them in the ground,
21:51the sooner their roots will get into the soil,
21:54because they are growing actively from now onwards.
21:57Now, everything I'm doing here is geared towards
22:00making next spring look as good as possible.
22:03It's an investment in the future of the garden.
22:06But Carol has been to Newby Hall, near Ripon, in Yorkshire,
22:11to celebrate a plant which is flourishing right now.
22:17Of course, I'm talking about salvias.
22:21MUSIC PLAYS
22:32A summer begins to ebb away
22:35and the birds take up their autumnal song.
22:38We all get used to the idea
22:40that our gardens are quietly going to sleep.
22:44Colours begin to mellow, everything softens.
22:48But there is one exception, and that is the salvias.
22:57It's as though they wait till this very moment
23:00to make an exhibition of themselves
23:03with gorgeous colour that fills the garden with joy and gaiety.
23:13The name salvia comes from the Latin word salvare,
23:17which means to feel well and healthy.
23:20Historically, salvia was used to treat numerous ailments
23:25and it has strong antiseptic properties.
23:32Salvias belong to the family Lamiaceae.
23:35There are more than 900 different species
23:39and, of course, there are many more cultivars.
23:42But probably the salvia that most of us are most familiar with
23:46is Salvia officinalis, the common sage.
23:53Salvias have a very clever way of getting pollinated.
23:57A bee comes in here.
23:59As it does, it pushes a lever at the back of a flower
24:04in its search for nectar.
24:06That lever brings down these anthers.
24:10And they're full of pollen,
24:12so the insect is dusted with that pollen.
24:15That way, eventually, it will come to a flower
24:18where the anthers no longer have pollen on them.
24:21But at that stage, the stigma of that flower,
24:24the female part, will have become receptive.
24:27So the pollen is deposited onto that stigma
24:30and pollination takes place.
24:33It's really, really important
24:35that these flowers don't pollinate themselves
24:38because that way they'll become inbred.
24:41The more diverse it is,
24:43the better for the evolution and strength of the plant.
24:51There are salvias from almost all over the world,
24:55but at this time of year,
24:57the majority of plants in full flower hail from the Americas.
25:06This is Salvia discolor.
25:09I love it!
25:11You see it from a distance
25:13and you're aware of every leaf being outlined in white.
25:17And then you get the real surprise.
25:20Inside is this beautiful, dark flower, almost black.
25:25It comes from Peru.
25:27But it looks such a picture on these other salvias.
25:31It's just perfect for this corner spot.
25:35Outside a small Mexican town,
25:38botanists discovered naturally-occurring hybrid salvias,
25:42spontaneous crosses between Salvia greggii and Salvia microphylla.
25:48The town was called Jame.
25:50Thus, the hybrids were named Salvia cross-Hermensis.
25:55This is Salvia hermensis Sierra San Antonio.
25:59It makes a short, bushy plant.
26:02It makes a short, bushy plant,
26:04smothered in flowers of the most delectable peaches and cream colour.
26:15This is possibly the most popular salvia in the whole of salvia history.
26:21It's Salvia amistad, and no wonder people love it.
26:26It's got these dark, dark brats,
26:29and within them these rich, purple flowers.
26:32It'll flower over a long, long period too,
26:35right the way through from midsummer until the frosts.
26:39And it's tall.
26:41Now, these plants were all produced this year from cuttings,
26:45and they're already nearly as tall as me.
26:49Salvias have to be amongst the easiest plants there are
26:53from which to take cuttings.
26:55You can do it at almost any time of year,
26:58providing you've got good green growth,
27:01and just cut under a leaf node.
27:03Or, side shoots, which you can actually detach with a heel,
27:09and just cut under a leaf node.
27:11Or, side shoots, which you can actually detach with a heel,
27:17and then straight to the potting bench, and we'll pot them up.
27:23So, I've already got some lovely gritty mixture in here,
27:27because you want decent drainage.
27:29And then, first of all, I'm going to just neaten that heel.
27:34Because if you leave it too long, it can cause your cutting to rot.
27:39Take off the bottom leaves, and then in here,
27:43just nip out that growing shoot.
27:46You can use anything to dibble them into this pot.
27:50So, down to a decent depth.
27:54And then push them in, so they're down to the base of those leaves.
28:05Usual thing with grit, it stops your cuttings rotting,
28:10it retains the moisture, once these have been watered,
28:13and it'll help suppress any weeds.
28:16Water well once, which will settle the compost around the cuttings,
28:21put it into a place out of direct sun, but with plenty of light,
28:25and keep it warm if you can.
28:28And eventually, after a few weeks, you'll see roots emerging there.
28:32At that stage, you can knock the whole thing out,
28:35you can pot them up individually,
28:38or you could take the four of those, with their root ball,
28:42and put it into a bigger pot.
28:44It couldn't be easier.
28:51Salvias are incredibly easy to cultivate.
28:54Their major requirement is sunshine.
28:57Water them really well, and then let them go.
29:02Not only do Salvias bring vivid colour to the late days of autumn,
29:08but they also bring such an extensive range of colour.
29:12It's positively kaleidoscopic,
29:15and what's more, in the low light of autumn,
29:19that colour really zings.
29:22You could almost say it dazzles.
29:32Well, I do agree with Carol that Salvias are a joy,
29:37but they've been even worse for me than my dahlias this year.
29:42Amistad, which normally is a sure-fire winner,
29:47is a shadow of itself.
29:50If any of you have had a similar experience with Salvias,
29:54please let me know.
29:57I'm harvesting these potatoes.
30:00This is a variety I've not grown before.
30:02It's called emmerlead,
30:04and this is a main crop, blight-resistant,
30:08and a lovely red colour.
30:10If you remember, I'm growing some purple potatoes
30:13at the other end of the row,
30:15so I may not be able to grow a colourful one.
30:18I'm going to try and find a colourful one.
30:21I'm growing some purple potatoes at the other end of the row,
30:24so I may not be able to grow a colourful Salvia,
30:28but I can produce brightly coloured spuds.
30:36Now, still to come,
30:38we visit a tiny but exotic garden in North London.
30:42You create the illusion that the garden keeps on going,
30:46but in reality it just ends six metres away.
30:51But first, Mark Lane reveals the design secrets of prairie planting.
31:07With autumn just round the corner,
31:09you might think that your garden has passed its peak,
31:12but there is one garden style
31:14that offers masses of late-summer colour, texture and character,
31:19and that is the prairie garden.
31:26Prairies are synonymous with the great plains and grasslands of North America,
31:31and the key to this type of garden
31:33is to embrace the wild spirit of that natural environment.
31:40Today, I've come to Aston Pottery Gardens in Oxfordshire,
31:44where their prairie-inspired borders are in full flourish.
31:49Stephen Bourne is the owner and head gardener,
31:52and his family has farmed here for ten generations.
31:56So, Stephen, how did all of this begin?
31:59It started about 35 years ago with my wife Jane and myself,
32:03and we decided that we would set up a pottery,
32:05and it's just grown and grown and grown,
32:07and then the gardens have grown around the pottery.
32:10There's all these wonderful ornamental grasses throughout the garden,
32:14and a real prairie theme going on.
32:16Why is it that you like that style?
32:18Well, I think probably the informality of it all, really.
32:21We've sort of taken the prairie-style planting another step further,
32:25whereas people generally plant in swathes of colour, in waves of colour,
32:30and we've actually started to develop it here
32:32so that when you actually look at it,
32:34it's a whole series of individual plants,
32:37as much as you'd get on a North American prairie.
32:39You look back, they're all dotted around,
32:41almost uniformly distributed amongst the whole thing.
32:44Well, it is absolutely stunning.
32:46I just want to go and see more of it.
32:51For me, the prairie style is one of my absolute favourites.
32:56In fact, my whole garden at home is based on prairie planting.
33:01But here, they've expanded on that style
33:04and taken it to a whole new level,
33:06mixing grasses and flowers for a truly unique look.
33:12So how do you transform your own outdoor space
33:15into a slice of the North American wilderness?
33:22You don't need masses of space,
33:24but most prairie plants do need plenty of sunshine.
33:28A few do well in shade,
33:30but ideally you need a sunny location for optimum flowers.
33:36With plants at the heart of this style,
33:38you won't need to think too much about hard landscaping,
33:41but a feature pathway can add a striking and practical element,
33:46allowing you to enjoy your borders from every angle.
33:51Ornamental grasses are the bedrock of this style.
33:54Go bold, go tall and go big.
33:57By applying to them en masse,
33:59you create impact and wonderful movement.
34:05Lower down, you're looking for drifts of colour,
34:07evoking the naturalistic planting of meadows.
34:14Not every plant is a candidate for the prairie garden.
34:17Some are too aggressive,
34:19while others just aren't showy enough to make the cut.
34:23So here's my guide to the VIPs,
34:26the very important plants you'll need to get going.
34:31MUSIC PLAYS
34:36Take this wonderful Miscanthus sinensis
34:39with its firework-like plumes.
34:42It's just beautiful when the sun catches it
34:45and the wind just gently moves it.
34:48Also for height, we've got the wonderful solidago.
34:51It's not an ornamental grass, it's a herbaceous perennial,
34:55but it gives you that same feeling.
34:57Bright yellow and zesty, perfect for the back of the border.
35:07Dahlias are brilliant for late-summer colour
35:10and they'll go on for weeks from now.
35:12And just look at how they contrast
35:15against the willowy stems of these grasses.
35:23For a modern twist on the prairie style,
35:26why not plant a tapestry of annuals?
35:29Here, there are thousands to choose from,
35:32but amaranthus, with its fiery spikes,
35:35amidst this colourful border, the effect is kaleidoscopic.
35:41The prairie style isn't for the faint-hearted.
35:44It's big, bold and may require a few gardening hours.
35:49But if you're willing to channel your inner pioneer spirit,
35:54this can be a garden of pure escapism,
35:57a place to transport you
35:59to the flowering grasslands of the Wild West.
36:03I've been to the prairies and they are amazing.
36:06And some of the American gardens based upon them
36:10or even European gardens with these great sways of grasses
36:14and ancestral trees,
36:29are dramatic and beautiful.
36:31But you can use grasses, as I've done here,
36:34in a very different way.
36:35These are grasses really going for as much vertical accent
36:39as possible and using plants like teasels to complement that,
36:43which does mean a little bit of staking
36:45and a little bit of tweaking and propping all the time.
36:48But the result means that in a relatively small space
36:51you can get the drama of grasses.
36:54Now, earlier on, Arit had a look at the problems
36:58associated with the use of plastic in horticulture
37:01and, not to put too fine a point on it,
37:03our over-dependence upon black plastic in particular.
37:08But now she sets out to see what solutions are on offer.
37:17So far my job has been to look at the problems
37:21So far on my journey, I've found that the majority
37:25of the big commercial nurseries grow plants in plastic pots
37:29because they produce healthy plants
37:31and work effectively in the production line.
37:34And the majority of garden centres are selling the plants
37:37in plastic pots because nurseries supply them that way.
37:41And most customers aren't asking for any alternatives.
37:47I've also found that the black colour
37:50makes it harder to sort and recycle.
37:56But it's not all bad news.
37:58To find out why, I need to go back to the beginning
38:01where the plastic pots are made.
38:04And here's something that might surprise you.
38:06Most are already produced from recycled materials.
38:10I'm picking the brain of Alex Everett,
38:13who develops new products for a plastics company.
38:17We manufacture approximately 100 million plant pots per year.
38:22It's using 3,600 tonnes of material per annum.
38:26That is amazing. And exactly what is this made from?
38:30This is a polypropylene recycled material.
38:33It's coming from post-consumer, post-industrial waste streams.
38:37For example, end-of-life plastic from the car industry.
38:41So this could well come from a car dashboard, car bumper,
38:45and we get the opportunity to turn it into a plant pot.
38:48How easy is it to recycle black plastic pots?
38:51Tricky question.
38:52We can recycle all of our customers' black plastic pots
38:55very, very easily.
38:56But for the wider general public,
38:58it's very hard for these to be recycled
39:00in a kerbside collection box,
39:02purely because they contain carbon black pigment.
39:05Just to remind you, most recycling plants
39:08use an infrared light to sort the different types of plastics,
39:12but black materials don't reflect the light back,
39:15so they don't get sorted.
39:17That's often the reason black plastics
39:20don't get picked up at kerbside recycling.
39:23What can be done to improve this, to make it more recyclable?
39:27We have to change the blend of polymer used.
39:30So we have to go to a carbon pigment-free base material
39:34and we have to use a carbon pigment-free colourant.
39:37And luckily, the industry is starting to make change now
39:40to start to replace its black pots.
39:44Actually, just a few days before this interview,
39:47ten of the big horticultural growers in the UK
39:50met with five plastic manufacturers
39:52to discuss different ways to replace the current black pots.
39:56The growers chose a neutral shade of taupe,
39:59and the manufacturers have all been invited to supply this colour.
40:04This is fresh off the production line this morning.
40:07Effectively, it's a 95%, 98% recycled material.
40:12The key thing here is the fact that it's carbon pigment-free,
40:16and so is the colour.
40:18So this product is detectable on sorting machines
40:21and it will identify what polymer it is.
40:23In this case, this is polypropylene.
40:25That then will stand a chance of being recycled.
40:28One of the reasons I understand that black has also been used
40:31in the industry is so that the light doesn't go onto the plant roots.
40:35What's the success rate, do we know, of this colour?
40:37So it's early days, so a lot of this product is now starting
40:40to go out to the commercial nurseries
40:42so that they basically have peace of mind
40:44that the product is fit for purpose.
40:46We think it's as close as we can probably get to black.
40:51Well, this is exciting and maybe a step forward
40:54to making plastic pots more recyclable.
40:57We'll keep you updated on how the trials go,
40:59and this little pile is for Monty.
41:05Of course, the tote pot isn't the only option.
41:08Other producers are also finding ways of making pots
41:11more easily recycled using different colours and materials.
41:16But until then, we still have a big issue
41:19of what to do with all of the plastic pots
41:21piled up in our sheds and greenhouses.
41:24But there could be a solution from the garden centres.
41:28I'm meeting with Martin Simmons
41:30from the Horticultural Trades Association
41:33who represent lots of businesses in the industry.
41:36What are your members feeling about, you know,
41:39plastic use in horticulture?
41:41The industry is very much aware that it is quite closely connected
41:45to nature and the environment,
41:48and the industry wants to be doing right for the environment.
41:51We introduced a recycling scheme earlier this year.
41:56That really uses a system whereby plant pots can be collected
42:03from garden centres all over the country
42:05and then go off for recycling.
42:08It's not... That system isn't a curbside recycling scheme,
42:12but at least it gets rid of the problem
42:14and stops pots going into landfill.
42:17How successful has that recycling scheme been?
42:20It's been incredibly successful so far,
42:23with, I think, huge potential to grow much further
42:26as more and more people become aware of it.
42:31It launched just a few months ago,
42:33but so far only about 30 garden centres have signed up,
42:37citing a lack of storage space,
42:39some having to pay to have it taken away,
42:41or customers using the pot collection as a place to dump other waste.
42:45But they are now recycling up to 40 tonnes of plastic a month.
42:50So it's not perfect, but it definitely seems to be helping.
42:57Of course, the best situation would be
42:59for them to be recycled on your doorstep,
43:01but there seems to be a lot of barriers
43:03that currently prevent that at the moment.
43:05We asked the man in charge in government, Michael Gove,
43:08what steps he'll be taking.
43:12We do need to do more in every sector.
43:14One of the things we're looking at is the whole producer responsibility scheme
43:17and asking ourselves, is there more that we should ban
43:19and is there more that we should tax as well?
43:21So that we make sure that the environmental costs
43:23of using particular types of plastic
43:25are borne by the people who produced this material in the first place.
43:28And not only is that a way of generating more cash, actually,
43:31which we can then put into recycling,
43:33it also means it's a spur to innovation
43:35so that companies that are producing alternatives
43:37can find that they're more competitive.
43:39We also asked how he's planning to make kerbside recycling easier.
43:44There's a wide array of different rules and regulations on recycling,
43:48depending on where you are in the country.
43:50One of the things that we hope to do with our resources and waste strategy
43:52that we're publishing this autumn
43:54is to try to bring a degree of coherence
43:56so that across the country, wherever you are,
43:59you will know how to recycle
44:01and we're going to make it, I hope, easier and clearer
44:05for everyone to do the right thing.
44:08In the meantime, there's a simple step we can all take,
44:11but it does take a bit more effort.
44:13Back to Richard Kirkman at the refuse facility.
44:17If you can't reuse your plastic plant pot,
44:20then you can bring it to one of these household waste recycling centres.
44:23You should have one locally.
44:25Some people know them as the tip or the dump,
44:27but these days we recycle everything that comes here.
44:29We'll put them in the hard plastics,
44:31they'll go off to be cleaned and washed and made back into new things.
44:36But it isn't nationwide.
44:38You'll have to check whether your local tip or dump
44:41will actually recycle plastic plant pots,
44:43not just take them to be disposed of.
44:47After talking with so many people,
44:49I'd love to offer you some advice that would apply to everyone,
44:53but I found it frustratingly hard to come up with anything concrete.
44:57So I'll tell you what I've taken away from this.
45:00The horticultural industry have acknowledged they have a responsibility
45:04and it looks like they're beginning to make changes.
45:07But as a gardener, I've acknowledged I have a responsibility too
45:11and I'm going to work harder to ensure plastics in my garden
45:15don't just have one use.
45:24It's clear that big changes are needed
45:27and this issue isn't going to go away.
45:29But rest assured we will be revisiting this story next year
45:33and talking again to DEFRA
45:35to see if the new strategies mentioned have been put in place
45:38and if they have, are they beginning to make a difference?
45:42The good news is that at least everybody is acknowledging
45:46that there is a problem and we have to do something about it.
45:50And the development of this new pot made from recycled material,
45:56which I didn't know about, and I think that is a really positive move,
46:00if it works, is going to make a difference.
46:04But the critical thing, of course, is does it work as a pot?
46:08Does it grow good plants?
46:10And that's what we need to know.
46:12So I'm going to do an informal test.
46:14This is not a proper experiment.
46:17That's happening in the industry and lots of people are doing that.
46:20But what I thought as a gardener
46:22is I would grow the same plants in both pots
46:25and I've got three different types of plants.
46:27I've got erodium, which have got fibrous roots,
46:30I've got teasels, which have got a tap root,
46:33and I've got petunia, which have a really fleshy root.
46:36Now, I'm using my standard mixed compost
46:39and there's enough here for all the pots.
46:41Take one scoop and put it in the bottom
46:45and take the pot and sit that on top and fill around it.
46:51Don't worry the fact that it's on top of the pot
46:53because I will show you what we'll do.
47:01Lift it like that, leaves a space,
47:04take it out,
47:06pop that in.
47:11There it goes, that's one.
47:14The reason why this method is so good when you're potting on
47:19is because the tiny little feeding roots
47:22that you can hardly see can remain undisturbed.
47:30Right, that's the first plant.
47:33Now, the teasel are a classic tap root plant.
47:37It's a completely different type of root.
47:40So we need to label that.
47:43That's a teasel.
47:47And finally we have a petunia.
47:49It's a good example of a plant with a nice fleshy root.
47:55You will see they are very different from the other two.
48:00Put that in there.
48:03And last...
48:13Three very different plants with very different demands
48:16of the soil and the container that they're in.
48:19And I'm going to do three of each
48:21just to make sure I've got all bases covered.
48:24And I shall store them all side by side outside the greenhouse.
48:29They will all be watered at exactly the same time.
48:32They'll be exposed to the same amount of light.
48:34And then we'll come back next March and see how they are
48:37and follow their progress right through till next summer.
48:41I have to stress this is not a scientific test.
48:45It's just a matter of interest on my behalf to see how they fare.
48:49Now, the purpose of growing any plant,
48:51no matter what you grow it in, is to make a lovely garden.
48:55And we went to North London to visit a tiny garden,
49:00which is also very beautiful.
49:07I live and work in London.
49:10After a busy day at work, I can't wait to come in the garden.
49:16It very much feels like my haven, my sanctuary.
49:21piano plays softly
49:23I moved into the flat back in 2010.
49:27When I came in, the first thing I saw was an empty space,
49:32boring space, I must say.
49:34So I built a raised bed, first in wood, now it's in steel.
49:39Then came the big architectural features.
49:42So the first thing was the tree ferns,
49:45the fascia japonica on one corner, and the Japanese maple.
49:50So that was basically the frame of the garden.
49:54And over time, it just grew organically.
49:58The garden is quite small.
50:00It's 5 1⁄2 meters by 6 in depth, barely 6.
50:05Really what I try to do is make it as big as I could
50:10with, you know, what I had to work with.
50:12So almost you create the illusion that the garden keeps on going,
50:17but in reality, it just ends 6 meters away.
50:21So what I've done here really is layer these plants in a way
50:26that actually gives the viewer the impression
50:30that there's a lot more space than there really is.
50:33There's the clematis here, and behind there's the small-leaved ivy.
50:38So when you're viewing it from inside,
50:41you think that they're much farther away than they really are.
50:44In addition, what I've tried to do is make the end of the garden
50:49a bit darker as well, and that darkness in the back
50:52actually doesn't reveal what's behind,
50:54so that's how that sense of depth is created
50:57when viewed from inside the flat.
51:02In addition to the more temperate plants,
51:05I have a few tropicals, which I really like,
51:09I guess the stars are the colocasias.
51:14They're big heart-shaped leaves
51:18and reminds me of my Colombian roots.
51:22So I think the colocasias do bring a very tropical feel to the garden
51:28because they actually thrive in very hot, sunny, damp conditions.
51:33This one is black magic, and it's quite velvety and soft.
51:38It doesn't survive an English winter,
51:41so I have to bring it inside every November.
51:44It stays there probably until May, and then I bring it outside.
51:49I have it inside a pot, which I've actually carved out the bottom,
51:55so literally what I do is I cut down the roots,
51:59just remove it from the soil, put it on a saucer full of pebbles,
52:04then I prune back all the leaves, but leave the stem itself
52:08because it's out of the stem that the new growth will come back the next spring.
52:16Obviously the garden is very much part of the flat,
52:20so I wanted to create a sense of continuity between the in and the outdoors.
52:25So in this space here, I've planted sempervivums, or house leeks.
52:32It's a space that basically was full of gravel and utilized
52:36and managed to actually make a little garden out of it.
52:40They've done really well. They've thrived.
52:43I literally cover the entire gravel space,
52:46and in the spring and early summer they all flower.
52:49It does create that sense of continuity when you're inside.
52:54You really don't know where, almost like where the limit, where the border is.
52:59What I've tried to do is obviously use every inch.
53:03I bought this pot of baby tears, or mind your own business, as it's known as well,
53:10and then I cut it in pieces, and then I plugged it into the gap between the paved area.
53:16It has literally spread from the back all the way here,
53:20and what's nice about it, it brings this wetland, watery feel, which is great.
53:25It is a great refuge for worms, so it goes quite thick in the summer.
53:32I would warn people to use it in places where it doesn't invade, so avoid it in lawns.
53:39However, in patios like this one, it's great because it holds all the different pots together,
53:47so it's a nice coverage for the plants, for the wildlife.
53:56The garden not only brings me joy and brings nature to home,
54:02but also it feels very Colombian, very tropical.
54:08And that's what I try to achieve, and I think I've done it.
54:26Funnily enough, the very first garden that Sarah and I ever made was just down the road from there.
54:32But the key thing I remember about it was that although it was small,
54:37the amount of pleasure that we got from it was every bit as big as anything that we've done since.
54:44If you remember, I planted this stone trough with miniature thyme, and we did that in May.
54:52Slowly, these little delicate thyme plants have spread out, and they're already beginning to lick over the edge.
54:59And they, of course, have loved this summer, and the heat, the fragrance is fantastic.
55:06And in this trough, the curious thing has happened.
55:09We've got all these little lavender seedlings.
55:12It shows you what lavender likes because you've got the lavender hedge, it seeds itself,
55:16and then the seeds fall into this almost pure grit, and they love it.
55:20So what I'm going to do is dig them up, pot them up, grow them on, and I can have another lavender hedge.
55:26And the idea is just to tease it out without damaging the planting that it's growing through,
55:33which might be easier said than done, but I want to get as much root as possible.
55:40There we are. Nice long root.
55:42And like all bare root plants, this is when it's at its most vulnerable because they dry out very quickly.
55:47So have a plastic bag with you and just pop it in,
55:50and then that will keep it moist for the next 20 minutes or so before I go in and pot up a good collection of them.
56:00Now, you may not have lavender seedlings to dig up, but here are some other jobs you can do this weekend.
56:18Now is the time to help tomato plants put all their energy into ripening existing fruit rather than creating new ones.
56:26Remove all the top of the cordon down to the top truss that already has green fruit.
56:34This will give them a real chance of ripening.
56:38If you have any hardy cuttings that were taken a year or so ago and have developed roots,
56:49it's a good idea to get them out of a container and into the soil.
56:54They can then spend the winter developing a better root system
56:57and also a relationship with the microorganisms in your particular garden.
57:03This will mean they develop much better when you finally plant them out.
57:13Do not be seduced by the amount of growth that your pumpkins and squashes are showing.
57:19Most of it is not helping the development of the fruits.
57:22So cut back all those tendrils that just have flowers or very small fruits,
57:28leaving the plant to put its energy into the fruits that are already half-formed.
57:42The old shrub roses that I absolutely love tend to have a single flowering,
57:49somewhere from early June to the middle of July.
57:52But the modern shrub roses, and I've got three behind me,
57:56there's Crown Princess Margarita, the Pilgrim and Charles Darwin,
58:01all will re-flower.
58:03And this is one of their great virtues.
58:05They're fantastic from the end of May into July.
58:08Then this year they just stopped dead.
58:10We didn't have a single rose throughout the whole of August.
58:13But now they are coming back and they will go on flowering into November even.
58:18So that is a real autumnal bonus that we get here in the garden.
58:25But it's all we've got time for today.
58:28We're back next week at the slightly earlier time of 7.30,
58:33so don't turn on at 8 o'clock and wonder why we're halfway through.
58:367.30 next Friday here at Longmeadow.
58:40I'll see you then. Bye-bye.
58:54www.mooji.org