Gardeners World S52e25 30-08-19

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Transcript
00:00Hello. Welcome to Gardener's World.
00:14These are the squashes that I'm growing up a framework made out of bean sticks.
00:20And a month or two ago, they were a little bit slow to get going,
00:23but now they have really gotten their stride.
00:26And you can see the fruits are forming down the bottom.
00:29They're getting larger and orange, and up here, these are all getting to a good size.
00:34This is uchiki kuri.
00:37So one of the jobs now is to take young fruits like this one and start pinching them off,
00:42because they're taking energy from the plant.
00:45I'm also going to cut some of the leaves back,
00:48because you need full sunlight on the growing fruits so they ripen,
00:52and also some ventilation, because if you have masses of foliage,
00:56and if you're growing them vertically, and they don't get any sun, they don't get any air,
00:59there is a slight risk of mould.
01:01So just take off any of the bigger outward-facing leaves.
01:05Basically, if you can see the fruit, then the sunlight will get to them.
01:12Coming up on today's programme,
01:14Adam visits Boulton House Garden in the Cotswolds
01:18and is stunned by the late summer colour in its borders.
01:23Frances goes to Northland to an allotment which has no fruit or veg in sight.
01:31And I will be doing some fresh planting around the young hornbeam
01:35that I put in the ground last spring.
01:49The grass borders have a selection of grasses,
01:54ranging from steepers to dyscamsias, millennias,
01:59and they're all growing, but with different results.
02:02It's been here for about five or six years, and I've learned they have a wet summer.
02:06They flop like mad and need supporting.
02:09The one grass that reliably holds its form and can take any amount of heat
02:15and reliably holds its form and can take any amount of weather is miscanthus.
02:21And it is magnificent.
02:23For example, this giant here is Miscanthus sacchariflorus.
02:28This one here is Miscanthus strictus,
02:31and you can see it's got these horizontal markings.
02:35So in the middle of a big bed like this,
02:38you can have a dramatic grass with really good flowers,
02:42in some cases, or fabulous foliage in others,
02:45that will hold its own and doesn't matter what the soil is like,
02:49whether it's full glaring sun or it's in a bit of shade,
02:52or whether it is a hot baking summer or rather a wet one.
02:56And I have got a gap in the middle,
02:58so I'm going to plant some more Miscanthus that I know will look stunning.
03:06I've got two types of Miscanthus here,
03:09one which is an old friend and one which I've never grown before.
03:12The old friend is Miscanthus malpatus.
03:16And I think if you're only ever going to grow one,
03:19this is the one you should grow and certainly the first one you should try
03:23because it's an absolutely stunning plant.
03:28I'm planting a group of three of them
03:31because I want an impressive stand.
03:34And the reason why malpatus is so good
03:38is that it has silver-veined leaves
03:41topped with fabulous plum-coloured flowers
03:46that fade to a glorious silver.
03:49And not all grasses are like this.
03:52A lot of them need more heat than our average summer can supply,
03:56but Miscanthus, malpatus or flower,
03:58as long as it gets a little bit of sunshine.
04:03When planting grasses, bear in mind
04:06they are not plants that grow at all in cold months.
04:11It is now getting late in the season.
04:14If you want to plant grasses, get them in over the next couple of weeks.
04:19Just firm that in.
04:34This is a Miscanthus called Cosmopolitan.
04:38It's a beautiful plant.
04:40It's got a very, very beautiful flower.
04:44This is a Miscanthus called Cosmopolitan.
04:48And I haven't grown it before.
04:50I've chosen it because it has this longitudinal stripe down each leaf.
04:57And the whole point about grasses is to do with texture and form
05:02and even sound as they move in the wind.
05:05So to have a dramatic foliage like this
05:08sets up a contrast with some of the viner grasses,
05:11and you need that variety.
05:13Now, although they are bigger than malpatus at the moment,
05:17malpatus will grow to 2 metres,
05:20and this will be more like 1.5 metres.
05:33Based upon the pleasure of the subtlety
05:37of interplaying greens, lines and textures,
05:41but when Adam went to Moreton-in-Marsh,
05:44he found colour, and not just any old colour,
05:48dramatic, even exotic colour, and lots of it.
06:01We gardeners do like a yap, don't we?
06:04Especially if we find something that we think is a little bit different.
06:08I had a mate say,
06:09Frosty, you have got to go and visit this garden.
06:12Not only is the design special,
06:14but the planting and the work that's gone into it
06:17will blow your mind.
06:25This is Broughton House,
06:27a 2.5-acre garden near Moreton-in-Marsh.
06:30At first glance, it looks good,
06:33but get a bit closer to those borders
06:36and there is something really special going on.
06:41The amount of tender perennials
06:43that just work through and bring it alive.
06:46Amazing.
06:54Three gardeners create and maintain this amazing food for the soul.
06:58It's incredible.
07:00It's great fun, we enjoy it.
07:02But you've been here 18 years?
07:04Yes, this is my 18th year, so 17 and a half.
07:06Head gardener for 16 months? Yes.
07:09Using tender shrubs and half-hardy perennials
07:12has been the tradition throughout Jackie's time here,
07:15bringing an extra blast of colour and form.
07:19Because they become your jewels, don't they?
07:22They more or less guarantee you colour this time of year.
07:25Yes, it keeps on going and getting better and better,
07:28and the end of September, beginning of October, it's fantastic,
07:31until the frost, really. Wow.
07:36In all, the team uses around 160 different types of tender plants here,
07:42like this lantana...
07:46..and lots of aeoniums on site.
07:50Well, I did do 2,000 cuttings.
07:522,000 cuttings? Yes.
07:54And presumably that's just the smaller stuff,
07:56whereas some of the bigger stuff gets lifted?
07:58Yes, we always do cuttings of the butylons and the cestrum,
08:01so we've got young stock coming on,
08:03because we don't keep the really big plants.
08:08They lift and overwinter whatever they can carry,
08:11in up to 40-litre pots,
08:13and then in spring, spend a month replanting everything out,
08:17including the new plants they've created from cuttings.
08:20When you get to the end of May, it must be manic here, isn't it?
08:24Yes, it is quite busy, because that's when we start planting out.
08:27Last year, when I was head gone, we'd get a trailer of plants out
08:30and then I'd run around placing them,
08:32and Tom and Gareth would plant them,
08:34and then I'd be on to the next lot,
08:36so I just spent the months running around.
08:38It's not a bad way to get in your steps, is it?
08:40But I love the way that you've detailed this back border
08:46and the way that the movement picks up with trees in the landscape.
08:51Yes, the landscape is fantastic out there, isn't it?
08:54It just makes the garden look like it goes on and on.
08:57No, I'm going to planting.
08:59Oh, sorry!
09:00No, not sorry, you're just being modest.
09:03That just doesn't happen, does it?
09:05I think that's luck.
09:06It's not luck. It's not luck.
09:16Those tender perennials don't just stop in that warm border.
09:20They're here in the white garden.
09:22You look at the shrubs and the herbaceous set,
09:25the rhythm and the structure,
09:27but then the tender perennials more or less guarantee you
09:30that colour through a long part of the season.
09:32We've got things like the butylons.
09:37We've got argyranthemums.
09:40And then the Nicotiana.
09:43And they just bounce their way through.
09:49I think it's really clever what they've done with the hedges
09:52because they've not just used one block.
09:54They've left little windows, so you get a link into the next space.
09:59And I think you can do that even in the smallest of gardens,
10:02maybe with an argyranthemum.
10:04A couple of pieces of trellis.
10:05You might just want to hide a seat or frame a pot at the end of the garden,
10:09but it just helps create a little bit of mystery.
10:21You might think I'm a little sad, but I've got to show you this.
10:25I learned about these at college
10:27and I haven't seen one for years.
10:29It's a shade house.
10:30So way back when, our big houses built them
10:33to store their collections of more unusual shade-loving plants.
10:37But I just love it.
10:40If you're half-decent with a hammer and a saw, you can knock one up.
10:44In fact, I think I'm going to.
10:52And just when you think you've got it,
10:55and just when you think that there's no more space
10:58for tender perennials in this garden,
11:00Jackie and her team managed to squeeze a few more in.
11:08Look at this pot. Absolutely incredible, isn't it?
11:11They pop up all around the garden,
11:13and for me, they encapsulate what this garden is all about.
11:17Yes, there is a lot of work in those boards,
11:20but think about that on your terrace
11:22right the way through the summer months.
11:24Wouldn't that put a smile on your face?
11:29My mate was right about this garden.
11:31It is special.
11:33Probably one of the best summer gardens I've ever seen,
11:36the design and the planting.
11:51I think that's a garden I have to go and see.
11:54Mind you, we do use a lot of the same plants and techniques
11:58here in the jaw garden.
12:00We're using lots of tender annuals,
12:02and also tender perennials,
12:04like the cannas and the encete bananas.
12:08As long as you keep them protected from frost,
12:11they're really easy to grow.
12:14Put them in rich soil,
12:17put them in rich soil,
12:19you can mix them in the border
12:21and they're completely happy and trouble-free.
12:35This is the hornbeam that I planted in March last year,
12:40and it's done very well.
12:42Nellie, have you got a stick?
12:44I'm very, very pleased with that.
12:46Good girl. Off you go.
12:49And there's a couple of things you can notice about it.
12:51The first is it's growing almost upwards.
12:54It's fastidious, which means that's the way it naturally wants to grow.
12:58And I've also cleared the grass around the base.
13:02If you plant any tree for at least the first three years,
13:06you must have a generous area around the base
13:09that doesn't have grass or weeds in it
13:11because they take up moisture
13:13and that will really affect the way the tree grows.
13:16However, there are some things you can plant around them,
13:20and that's what I'm going to add now.
13:24This is cyclamen heterifolium.
13:28And it's an autumn-flowering cyclamen,
13:30but they will start flowering from the end of August
13:33and go on flowering right through till October.
13:36And the leaves, dry conditions, they will grow in poor soil,
13:40and they're perfect for planting underneath tree or hedge.
13:46Cyclamen heterifolium grow from a tuber
13:50that looks a little bit like a squash-fried fig,
13:54and you should plant them with the tuber about...
14:00..because they rise to the surface,
14:03these large, flat tubers on the surface,
14:07then you should lift them and replant them an inch or so deeper.
14:14The next stage is to mulch that because I don't want anything else.
14:18The last thing I want are weeds and grass growing in here.
14:21And I'm going to mulch it with leaf mould.
14:26Now, it doesn't matter too much if I go over the cyclamen a little
14:30because they will grow through it.
14:38Now, cyclamen are not a flower that lend themselves to picking,
14:43to bringing doors into a vase.
14:45By and large, they look best in the ground,
14:48underneath a tree or a shrub or even a hedge.
14:51But Frances, as part of her tour
14:54of as many different kinds of allotment as possible,
14:57has gone to North London to visit an allotment
15:00with a distinctly floral theme.
15:08Allotments are usually thought of as places to grow produce
15:12and a cultivation of delicious fruit and veg.
15:15But what if you could dedicate your whole allotment to things
15:19that look beautiful and can be used in different ways?
15:25I've come to meet Helena Wilcox on her allotment in North London.
15:29But this is no ordinary plot,
15:31as she's devoted all of the space to growing cut flowers.
15:35Hi, Helena. Flowers?
15:37Yep, all cut flowers. That's incredible.
15:39And what made you want to do that on an allotment?
15:41Well, I had an allotment originally where I grew all veg,
15:44and then when I started my floristry business,
15:47it just seemed to make sense to grow flowers instead.
15:50And why is it so important to grow your own rather than buying them in?
15:53I just saw the huge amount of flowers that are being flown in from abroad,
15:57so I just thought it was an obvious thing to do.
15:59At least I can have some grown flowers that are grown here
16:02and then I get the others locally.
16:04Well, can you show me some of the things you're growing?
16:06Yeah, sure. This is the dahlia bed.
16:08And then we've got poppies, which I've obviously let go to seed
16:11because the seed heads are so nice.
16:13So you're using the seed heads rather than the flowers for your displays?
16:16Yes, because the flowers, even though they're beautiful,
16:18they're a bit temperamental, they don't last very long.
16:20We've got cornflowers, some lovely ammy.
16:22It just flowers all summer.
16:24You can sow it direct and it just is so beautiful
16:26and makes all arrangements look really feathery and summery.
16:29And then this is the cosmos bed,
16:31which again is just a really easy flower to grow.
16:34Flowers all summer and it gives you loads of joy
16:37and it adds loads of texture to arrangements, which I really like.
16:40It sort of dances above everything, which is nice.
16:43It's just pretty.
16:44Beautiful.
16:48Helena started on this plot back in January
16:51and since then it's bloomed into a world of colour.
16:55So what are your absolute favourite must-have cut flower species?
16:59So this is actually my favourite.
17:01It's chocolate cosmos and it smells like chocolate,
17:04which is always great.
17:06It also has this incredible, really deep colour when it first comes out
17:09and then it goes more into this sort of paler red,
17:12which is obviously incredibly beautiful.
17:15But how do you care for these?
17:16Because I've always found them a little bit overwhelming.
17:18They're not hardy, are they?
17:19No.
17:20So you can only grow them for one year.
17:21And do you grow them from seed?
17:23So I buy them as the bare root
17:26and they often sell them in supermarkets
17:28and they're really cheap,
17:29so you don't have to spend a fortune on them.
17:31There's only four plants in here and they really get big in one season
17:35and you get so much harvest out of them, so it is worth it.
17:37And then in terms of, I've had them quite a lot,
17:39like all the cosmos family,
17:41and it's just about the soil really
17:43and that's why I did raised beds,
17:44so it was topsoil and compost and lots of manure
17:47and they seem to be really happy.
17:59Helena grows her flowers in blocks and rows,
18:01which makes weeding a whole lot easier.
18:03But it also helps when it comes to harvesting.
18:07So roses is something that I always try and get ones
18:10that have an amazing scent,
18:12because so many flowers don't smell anymore.
18:14Yeah, because a rose without scent is always a little bit of a shame,
18:17isn't it really?
18:18Yeah, definitely.
18:19So what's this one?
18:20So this is Jude the Obscure.
18:22Oh, that smells amazing.
18:24Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
18:25And does it keep its smell in a bouquet as well?
18:27Yeah, it would keep it all the way through until it died, yeah.
18:29And I thought because you're here today we could do some arranging.
18:32You'll have a lot of work to do teaching me.
18:35So you want the stem to be quite long.
18:39And then you want to put it straight into the water.
18:41People think it's nice to harvest them into a basket or something,
18:44but it's completely impractical.
18:45You want to get them into water immediately,
18:47because as soon as you cut a stem,
18:49just like if you cut your arm, it starts to close up,
18:51so you want to get it straight into water so it has a proper drink.
18:54Is that the reason why you cut off the stems?
18:56When you buy cut flowers from a shop?
18:58Yeah, and sometimes when I give flowers to friends
19:00and they might not be in water or something,
19:02and they take them home and they just put them on the side,
19:04I'm like, ooh, it's so hard not to just be like, cut this and put it into water,
19:07because it really does keep the life of the flowers going for much longer.
19:20So now we're going to...
19:22Pressure.
19:23Usually with these arrangements, I suggest doing the foliage first,
19:27because it's much easier to get a shape and a structure with your foliage
19:31before you start going with huge flowers and stuff, and then it's hard.
19:43So how tall would you make this?
19:45Don't be scared to cut things quite short and put them in quite low.
19:50In quite far.
19:51Yeah.
19:53Okay.
19:54And then you can start going in with some bolder flowers,
19:58like your dailies or something you'd like.
20:00Let's go for an echinacea.
20:02Yeah, it's so pretty.
20:08There, your favourite chocolate cosmos, I think.
20:11Going to come into play.
20:17Done too.
20:18Although I could fiddle and fiddle.
20:20Yeah.
20:21It looks so lovely, honestly.
20:23So does yours, look at that.
20:25But actually the thing that I'm really interested in
20:27is how much it informs your gardening.
20:29If you ever have a bed or something that you want to do
20:31and you're not sure of the colour schemes,
20:33playing with floral arrangements would give you everything that you needed
20:36to inform your kind of plant choices.
20:38And very handily, it's my sister's birthday,
20:40so she is going to get this, and hopefully thank me.
20:43Aw, lucky her.
20:44Thank you very much, it's been amazing.
20:46Thank you, it's my pleasure.
20:52BIRDS CHIRP
21:05The idea of working a bunch of flowers is a good one,
21:08and it works the other way.
21:10If you have a border where everything is looking good together
21:13and interacting well with colour and shape and texture,
21:17almost certainly, if you pick flowers from it,
21:20they will look equally good in a vase.
21:23Now, I'm going to sow some seeds now for next year
21:27that look great in a border and as cut flowers,
21:32and that is ammy.
21:34Ammy magus, and we also grow ammy visnaga.
21:37Now, ammy magus is like the most wonderful cow parsley
21:41that goes on flowering into August.
21:44Ammy visnaga, which is slightly shorter, has a domed head.
21:49It tends to be a little bit more durable and last longer.
21:52Now is the time to sow them, and it's easy enough.
21:55Just get some peat-free compost.
21:57This is our homemade compost
21:59with a little bit of leaf mould and vermiculite.
22:05Seed compost doesn't need to have a lot of goodness in it.
22:08What it does need is a nice open structure
22:10so the roots can form well,
22:12and then you prick them out or pot them on
22:14into something with a little bit more oomph.
22:17Now, to sow the seed,
22:20what you need to do is sprinkle it thinly.
22:24I want each one to germinate
22:27and each one to be pricked out and to grow on into the garden.
22:35Now, the next thing to do is just press them down,
22:38not heavily, but just so there's good contact
22:41between the seed and the compost,
22:44and then just lightly, with another layer of compost,
22:47with a layer of vermiculite.
22:50And that does two things.
22:52One is to exclude light,
22:55and two is to hold them in place,
22:58because otherwise, with very small seeds like these,
23:00when you water them, you can displace them.
23:03You can literally just wash them to one side,
23:05and you find that all the seedlings
23:07will appear around the edge of the seed tray or down one end.
23:11Now, this is Ami Magus.
23:14It's one of those plants that has become dead trendy.
23:17Ten years ago, most people hadn't heard of Ami Magus,
23:21and it was not a common plant.
23:23I certainly didn't grow it here at Longmeadow.
23:26Now you can barely move without Ami Magus
23:29leaping out at you throughout the month of June and July,
23:33and that is a good thing, because it is an absolute cracker.
23:37Now, I will water that and keep them moist
23:40and then put them in the greenhouse.
23:42They will germinate in about two to three weeks.
23:44Let them grow on, and then they can be pricked out,
23:47and they will need storing from the worst of the frost over winter.
23:51Now, it's also a good time
23:54to sow some hardy annuals direct into the soil.
23:57Things like poppies,
23:59that you can't really sow into seed trays
24:01because they hate being transplanted,
24:03or poached eggplants, limanthes.
24:05And then sow the seed on those lines and cover them over.
24:09This is a very recognisable shape.
24:11It's so that when the seedlings germinate,
24:14you can see where they are in amongst any weeds
24:17or other seedlings that have got in there.
24:19Thin them lightly, let them grow on through winter,
24:22and then next year they will have a head start and flower.
24:26And here are some other good jobs to do this weekend.
24:32Pretty good year for blueberries,
24:34but now the fruiting is coming to an end,
24:36it's time to give them a trim.
24:38Give them a trim to shape.
24:41Remove any damaged or crossing growth,
24:44and remember that what is left behind
24:46will produce next year's crop
24:48because they don't produce fruit on fresh growth.
24:56As soon as agapanthus have finished flowering,
24:59cut back the seed heads
25:01and remove the stems right down to the base.
25:05And then when you've done that,
25:07add a seed of seaweed or tomato feed
25:10and repeat this weekly until the beginning of October.
25:20At this time of year,
25:21it's more important to concentrate
25:23on ripening existing fruits than growing new ones.
25:27And to that end, remove any leaves
25:30that are obscuring fruit from the sun.
25:33And as well as helping them to ripen,
25:35this will improve ventilation,
25:37and that's the best defense against tomato blight.
25:49I am very, very pleased with this year's chicory,
25:54which we call radicchio,
25:55but radicchio actually covers all kinds of red chicory.
25:59This is paloroso,
26:00and the end of August is really quite early
26:03to have radicchio ready.
26:04Normally it's more like October.
26:07And although it looks green on the outside,
26:09if I take the outer leaves off,
26:11you can see that in there
26:14is a beautiful red and white radicchio.
26:20I love the colour, I love the taste,
26:22that bitterness that adds depth and complexity
26:26to so many things.
26:27I'm happy these are growing well.
26:29I don't mind the fact that it's raining,
26:31but I'm afraid it is the end of today's programme.
26:35I'm taking a week off next week,
26:37but I will leave you in the capable hands of Adam,
26:40who will be returning at the same time next Friday.
26:44And I'll be back in a couple of weeks' time
26:46when we return to the full hour-long programmes.
26:50So I'll see you in a fortnight's time here at Longmeadow.
26:53Till then, bye-bye.
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