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00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:16I'm cutting back this lavender, which I really should have done about a month ago.
00:20And the reason why I'm cutting it back is not so much to tidy it up, because I quite
00:24like the spent flower heads, but to improve ventilation.
00:28Lavender doesn't like hanging around in wet conditions, so by taking them off, the wind
00:33can get in and it can dry out a lot quicker.
00:37And when you cut lavender back, don't cut right back into old wood, because very often
00:42it doesn't regenerate.
00:44Now this is the last Gardener's World of this year, but don't worry, we've got a packed
00:5060 minutes ahead of us.
00:56On today's programme, Carol is celebrating the perfect planting partners to extend the
01:02flowering season deep into autumn.
01:05Completing the border are the relics of plants past, and when they're woven together with
01:12cobwebs, they create magical pictures.
01:16Frances looks back on her exciting first year on her own allotment.
01:21I've waited a long time for my allotment, and having my own really has been as fulfilling
01:26and exciting as I'd hoped.
01:28And I shall be taking stock of the garden and working out what I need to do to prepare
01:32it for the coming winter months.
01:36At this time of year, there are some quite tricky decisions to be made about how to treat
01:53tender plants.
01:54And I'm talking about plants like dahlias or salvias, cannas, because a lot of them,
02:00if not all of them, are still flowering really well.
02:04But when frost does come, it hits them hard.
02:12Now I've got a couple of plants here that react rather differently to inclement weather.
02:18You can see here we have the flowers of salvia curviflora, a lovely deep magenta pink.
02:24I put it next to this dahlia, which is down and royal, and the two colours play off each
02:31other.
02:32But the salvia doesn't like it much below about minus two, whereas the dahlia will show
02:38the effects of frost, but it won't be killed by it.
02:42So the first thing I'm going to do is dig up the salvia, pot it up, and then put it
02:47in the greenhouse so it will carry on flowering, hopefully for weeks to come, but without any
02:52risk of frost killing it.
03:02Right, this is where I have to try and do as little damage to the plant and around me.
03:12There we are, perfect.
03:17When it comes to the dahlias, I have a different course of action.
03:21The top growth will be blackened completely by the first proper frost.
03:25Unless you have very free-draining soil, that is the time to dig them up.
03:32Salvias tend to do better in poorish soil.
03:44Feed them too much and you just get lots of foliage and not so many flowers.
03:49So I'm going to use a gritty mix, which I actually have mixed up for planting tulips
03:54in pots.
03:55Lift this out carefully.
03:58Perfect.
03:59And then pack around it.
04:04As long as it wants to continue flowering, I will water it and feed it once a week with
04:09dilute liquid seaweed.
04:12But when the flowering stops, I'll stop the feeding and this will live in the greenhouse
04:16and be watered maybe once a month.
04:18Now all year long, Carol has been travelling around the country looking at plant combinations
04:23and for her final visit, she's gone down to Wales to visit the garden at the Bishop's Palace.
04:44The glory of summer is just a distant memory, but autumn is starting to weave its own special
04:51magic, creating the most glorious pictures.
04:58There are plants which are just coming into their own now, things like the big yellow
05:04daisies of Rubecca, or Salvia euloginosa in bright turquoisey blue, quite unexpected.
05:12But then there are other groups of plants which have been going strong since the summer
05:17and are still providing a huge contribution to the autumn scene.
05:21Things like this dahlia, Bishop of Landaff, with its brilliant red flowers and loads of
05:27buds to come.
05:29And completing the magical picture are the relics of plants past.
05:35The seed heads of this fennel and chooser now with these lovely fine stems backlit by
05:41the low autumn sun.
05:44And when they're woven together with cobwebs, they create magical pictures of texture, colour
05:51and form.
06:04What I love about the planting in this small bed is that it doesn't rely on brilliant colours,
06:10instead it's an amalgamation of all these beautiful textures and lovely movement.
06:16In the foreground there's this lovely Stipa tenuisima, a favourite grass for anybody who
06:22wants to create this soft waftiness.
06:25It reminds me of cirrus clouds, those mare's tail.
06:30And then in the background of these clouds, this cumulus of this lovely little aster.
06:36It's a white form of Aster ericoides.
06:40It's naturalised almost here, great big clumps of it creating this real billowing movement
06:46right the way through.
06:47But the plant that really completes the picture is this Artemisia ludoviciana valerifinis.
06:54This low growing plateau of silvery leaves, the perfect foil to the grass and the aster.
07:10Many plants have several guises, changing their costumes with each season.
07:23Sometimes they fade into the background, at other times they come to centre stage.
07:30Cortidaria, Pamphus grass, has fallen out of fashion, but at this moment it's in the
07:37full spotlight, its great golden heads glistening in the soft autumn light.
07:52In the summer, Parovskia blue spire is a class act, a vision in blue, but now it plays a
08:00supporting role as a framework for the bold stars of Aster fricatii monk.
08:09The dark leaves of Cotinus royal purple form a fitting backdrop to the blue and silver
08:15scene.
08:22Here instead of those brilliant hues you associate with autumn reds, oranges and yellows, you've
08:29got a medley of pinks.
08:32Running through the middle is this lovely Aster, this is one of the novae belgiae, the
08:37true Michelmus daisies.
08:39There are also these big splashes of colour, Salvia armistad in the background with big
08:45purple flowers, and a splash of deep brilliant pink from this Dahlia.
08:51It's named after one of the bishops of Wales, it's Bishop Peter Price.
08:56It's just what you need in between these pale soft colours.
09:04This is the most spectacular border, and it's made all the more magnificent by the way it's
09:11been planted.
09:13You've got this rhythm established with these clumps of plants repeated all the way down
09:19the border, and that's achieved at this time of the year mainly by using two plants.
09:25First of all, the Sedum spectabile, it's the essence of autumn.
09:30I've just noticed too that these lovely pink flowers have got the most glorious scent,
09:37and it's interspersed with Astrantia.
09:40This is just straightforward Astrantia major in its species form.
09:46You expect it to be flowering in May, June, July, but here it's been dead-headed and it's
09:54rewarded them by putting up this whole new show of these bright and brilliant flowers.
10:00I love the way it's been used, side by side with the Sedum right the way through, and
10:05then little touches like this pale pink Salvia, and then to add a real element of drama to
10:13the whole affair, you've got this enormous Cardoon, great big heads now of this Sinara.
10:20Absolute brilliant piece of planting.
10:28Well, this border too relies on repetition, but here almost everything within the border
10:50is evergreen, with an odd exceptional herbaceous perennial thrown in, and yet it's so natural
10:57and so dramatic, it's got such interest.
11:01You've got the bluey grey of this Euphorbia, the much brighter green of the Rosemary, this
11:06lovely bronze in the background of the Pitisporum, and you might think, yeah, well it's evergreen,
11:13it's going to stay the same right the way through the year, but not a bit of it.
11:19Just imagine, back in the spring, this Euphorbia was a great mound of brilliant sulphur yellow
11:26brats, and the Pitisporum would have had lots of fresh bright green shoots earlier in the
11:33year.
11:34I think if you've got a small garden and you're really interested in structure and form, architecture
11:42above all else, then this is the kind of thing that you could emulate on a smaller scale.
11:49I think everything we've seen, those brilliant herbaceous perennials, this lovely evergreen
12:01border with these marvellous structures, positively lush, I think it proves that autumn has just
12:07as much to offer as any other season, and it has its own special magic.
12:19Something that I've certainly noticed, and I'm sure Carol has, is that autumn is getting
12:40later, and the autumn flowering season, which used to end round about mid-October, is pushing
12:47well into November. That's climate change, and that has happened in my lifetime. And
12:52what that means is you can plan your planting and your borders for a really quite lengthy
12:59display.
13:00Now, I've taken off the netting from these Brussels sprouts. I netted them against cabbage
13:09white. We've got quite a lot of whitefly, but don't worry about that. They're not doing
13:14much harm, and they wash off very easily. And I need to stake these, because they are
13:20becoming big old plants, and they'll get heavier, and I want them to stay in the ground until
13:25at least February time. And all you have to do is put a cane in by the side of each plant
13:34like that, put it in good and firm, and then just tie them to it.
13:44It's worth, if you're growing purple sprouting broccoli, to support those too. If you haven't
13:52got them staked, get stakes in now. And with vegetables, as with flowers, the rule is stake
14:00everything before it needs staking.
14:06You can see that the sprouts are forming quite nicely along the stem. And just take leaves
14:11off if they're turning yellow, or if they're drooping. And this sort of size will be ready
14:18for eating in just a few weeks' time.
14:23Right, it's time to harvest my squashes. These squashes are an onion squash, uchiki kuri.
14:33They're Japanese, and I like them for two reasons. One, they're a good size, they're
14:39not too big. And also, the flesh is delicious. And if you're growing them flat on the ground,
14:47you really do need to think about lifting them up before it gets too wet, because slugs
14:51can get at them. And you know they're right because this junction is drying out, and all
14:58I have to do is cut that off. Now, handle them carefully. Don't just chuck them into
15:04a barrow or a container, because they can bruise.
15:13I am very aware that having your own vegetable plot in your own garden is one of life's great
15:19treats. But, just as good is having an allotment. And Frances got her first allotment this year,
15:27and that's where she is today. Looking back on her first year on her first allotment.
15:47I'm just harvesting my cut flowers, and I got a lot of tips from Helena when I visited
15:53her cut flower allotment in London. So, following her advice, I'm cutting these first thing
15:58in the morning to give them maximum chance of surviving a long time in their vase.
16:03I've also taken inspiration from her plot and added loads of extra plants to mine. So,
16:09I've got some Heleniums, Liatris, some Crocosmia, in the hope that I have loads of different
16:14things to choose from for the end of this year, but also more importantly, for next
16:18year too.
16:30When I started out in the depths of winter, I have to admit I was feeling a little nervous
16:35and overwhelmed by the brown weediness of it all. But, with a bit of hard graft, some
16:42help from family and friends, and a lot of weeding, my allotment started to take shape.
16:53This is the part of the allotment I'm probably the most pleased with because it's been my
16:58main vegetable growing area. These are my gherkins. Just one plant germinated, but I've
17:05had so many gherkins from it, which is very exciting.
17:13Like many allotmenteers, I've had my fair share of gluts this summer, so I've got so
17:18much spinach. But that's good, because the more you cut, the more it comes, and I love
17:23spinach, so that's really, really good. I have some celeriacs here, and some leeks,
17:28which won't be ready for a while, probably into the winter.
17:31So, I'm going to go ahead and plant them.
17:34So, I'm going to go ahead and plant them.
17:37I have some celeriacs here, and some leeks, which won't be ready for a while, probably
17:42into the winter. And the other thing I've had an awful lot of, which everyone warned
17:47me about, is courgettes. I've had so many that I don't even know what to do with them.
17:52I've given quite a lot of them away, to be honest.
17:54And this one has been absolutely amazing. It's called floridor, and it must really like
18:01it here, because it's just produced so many courgettes. There's even more coming now.
18:05I don't know if they'll have time to ripen, but I'm going to let them be and see if they do.
18:09It's a lovely yellow round one. It tastes amazing, and now that it's a bit later in
18:13the year, it's not ripening fully. It's a little bit green at the tops, but there's
18:16just been so many compared to the normal green courgettes. So, I'll definitely grow this
18:21one again next year.
18:22And I've got some beetroots now coming as well, which, as I thin them, I can eat them.
18:29The smaller, the better with beetroots, really. But I planted these ones quite late, so they
18:33don't get massive. And the beans, I've had loads of beans. My barlottis, not so many
18:38as the purple beans, but I'm now leaving them to dry so I can harvest the seeds and re-sow
18:43them all next year.
18:48Looking back to when I started on the plot, it still amazes me how this little bit of
18:52earth has transformed into a natural pantry within just five or six months.
18:58But it's not all been plain sailing. The horsetail has been the bane of my life here, and my
19:03potatoes got blight, which means I don't have a harvest right now. But this is the solution
19:08I found for that gap.
19:11My micro-veg seeds got a good soaking in some of the delightful summer rain.
19:17A lot of this has germinated really well, actually. My peas, my radishes, coriander
19:22and some rocket have. And some of these radishes have actually formed into quite big ones.
19:28Not this one, this is just a little radish. But there's research that says that the smaller
19:32vegetables are actually more nutritious for you. Whether or not it's true, I don't know.
19:40With so much lovely produce all ripening at the same time, I'm having to get creative
19:44to put them all to good use.
19:47I'm going to pickle a lot of my vegetables, and that will take a while.
19:50I'm going to pickle a lot of my vegetables, and that way I can keep eating them on into
19:53the winter months. And I'm just going to add to those pickle mixes in the vinegar some
19:58different herbs that will give things different flavours. I've got lots of herbs here to choose
20:02from, I'm growing loads on the allotment. I think I'll do some fennel, maybe some myrtle,
20:07some tarragon, maybe even some rosemary, and just try out the different flavours and see
20:11how they work.
20:13I'm using my gherkins and a fennel bulb. They have to be salted for 24 hours before you
20:18make your pickle. This draws out excess moisture, which makes your pickles extra crunchy.
20:25Then you rinse off the salt thoroughly, and you're ready to get pickling.
20:32So what I have here is some white wine vinegar, a little bit of water, and sugar, just to
20:40taste and take the edge off that vinegar. And that's just going to boil away here on
20:44the pan. It's quite a strong smelling, so doing it outside is quite a good idea it turns
20:48out. And then to that I'm just going to add some spices. All of these are optional, and
20:52you can play with different combinations. I've been trying some different things. The
20:56last batch I made had a few too many cloves in, so I'm going to go easy with those ones
21:00this time. But it does help just to add a little bit of flavour. So I've just got some
21:05black pepper, cloves, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, and then I'm adding a little bit of
21:11nigella and some fennel seeds that I've got here from the allotment.
21:18In terms of quantities, I'm just going with gut instinct. And as you add all the spices,
21:23the air will fill with delicious aromas. And then the whole lot just simmers away while
21:29I fill my jars with my vegetables.
21:32And when you're doing anything like this, like making jam or fermenting things, you
21:35have to remember to sterilise the containers that you're putting things into, so that no
21:38fungus and bacteria can be inside it. Just a bit of water in it, put it in the oven for
21:4315 minutes or so, and that should do the job. Otherwise, a dishwasher cycle should do everything
21:48that you need. There.
21:55Then I pop in my fresh herbs, and after 10 minutes or so, my pickle mixture is ready
22:00to pour in.
22:04OK, I'm just going to stir up all of those seeds so they don't sink to the bottom, and
22:07I get an even distribution of them across the jars. There we go. And here.
22:16And then put the lid straight on. Don't take them off again for two weeks. That's sealed
22:31now, so it's pressurised in there, the heat will do that. Let it stew for two weeks, keep
22:36it out of the light, a nice cool place, and then they'll be ready to eat, and I'll know
22:40whether they were successful or not. It's exciting, isn't it?
22:46Of course, the work on the allotment doesn't stop over the autumn and winter, and as this
22:51is only my first year, there is still so much potential.
22:57I've waited a long time for my allotment, and having my own really has been as fulfilling
23:02and exciting as I'd hoped, with some blood, sweat and some tears thrown in for good measure.
23:07But this doesn't feel like the end, this really feels like the beginning of my allotment adventure.
23:12Interesting to see that Frances was pickling her glut of vegetables. Of course she was.
23:37It is the trendiest thing to do. Now, the next stage of looking after these squashes
23:44is to give them some sunshine. I'm actually going to put them on the lid of this cold
23:48frame, this is reinforced glass, and sunshine will do two things. On the one hand, it will
23:55improve the ripeness of the flesh, and therefore the taste, and on the other, it will make
24:02the skins harder, and the harder the skins are, the better they will keep.
24:10Still to come on today's show, Adam is in the Cotswolds, discovering dramatic planting
24:17schemes designed to complement some surprising wildlife.
24:22Is that unusual? It's even got rhinos feeding on the front paddock.
24:27But first, we go back to spring, where Nick is revelling in tulips.
24:35Tulips never fail to make an impact, and this spring, 30,000 of them created a dazzling
24:41cascade of colours in the gardens at Ford Abbey.
24:45This canary-coloured tulip is yellow purissima, it's part of the Fostriana group of tulips,
24:52and this cultivar is renowned for being particularly resilient to wind, rain, and hail in springtime,
24:59so it's got a really solid, sturdy stem, and fairly strong petals.
25:04Now, like all tulips, it will look best planted either in drifts like this, in clusters, or
25:11dotted through a bed, so you get that beautiful repetition of colour running all the way through
25:16the garden.
25:17These are grown in the gardens of this 12th century former Cistercian monastery.
25:21Once an established centre of learning, it's here that resident monks grew fruit and veg
25:26for their daily diet.
25:29Today, it's a celebration of blooms, which are managed by head gardener Joshua Sparks.
25:35These swathes of tulips are just extraordinary.
25:39How many bulbs have you actually got, bro?
25:42These swathes of tulips are just extraordinary.
25:45How many bulbs have you actually got growing in the garden?
25:48Well, we have 30,000 tulips this year, but we've actually planted about 44,000 bulbs in total.
25:55One of the things about tulips for me is the enduring quality to them,
25:59the fact that they've been grown by us gardeners since, you know, 1600s,
26:03all started in Holland with tulip mania.
26:05What do you think it is about the tulip that keeps us so hooked?
26:08It's good we've moved on from the times when people would mortgage their ships and houses and land for tulips.
26:12They're definitely more accessible to everyone now.
26:15But I do, I think it's that first real awakening in spring.
26:20It's the tulip that starts the roller coaster that is the rest of the garden year.
26:24They get people excited, so people want to have the beauty of the tulips
26:28and feel like the garden has begun.
26:39Here at Ford, what we're trying to do is we want to create
26:42really diverse and rich tapestries of tulips and different plants all mixed in together.
26:48Lovely tulips like Negrita for that really lovely raw purple.
26:53Princess Irene for that orange.
26:55Black Hero, which are these really dark double black flowers.
26:59And then we've intermingled that with Narcissus, White Foxgloves, Hesperus,
27:03which will come in that later summer months.
27:05And it's wild, it's very nature inspired.
27:07And we have things like the red Russian kale with the beautiful red stems, the yellow flowers.
27:11And the kale, to me, adds that historic relevance.
27:14Monks worked this for nearly a thousand years.
27:16They grew vegetables, they had that production.
27:18And I think the kale is a really nice nod to that historic element
27:21mixed in with the tulips of that traditional English gardening style.
27:25I inevitably grow a lot of tulips at home and I've got a lot of squirrels.
27:29So my technique is to go a bit deeper than you typically would
27:32and often put chilli on the surface, which I find works really well to get rid of the squirrels.
27:36But for people growing at home, what would you advise for tulip planting?
27:39Yeah, we have a lot of squirrels, mice, voles, badgers.
27:42Every woodland creature you can think of comes out to get our voles.
27:45I think planting deep is the best method.
27:47Planting deep in the autumn, planting deep buries it away from the animals
27:51that kind of want to dig them up and eat them, especially as they go into winter.
27:54But it also makes them more perennial in the borders.
27:57It means that your tulips will last a good two to three years
27:59and you won't have to replant every year.
28:01And it allows you to have a bit of a cushion if you're digging
28:04and you don't want to stick in a fork and pull out a load of bulbs, almost like a kebab.
28:07And that seems to work really well. But chilli flakes, maybe I'll try next year.
28:10Yeah, it's worth a shot.
28:13Having been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship,
28:16Joshua travelled across the globe to learn about new and dynamic working practices
28:21and improving sustainability in public gardens.
28:24He's brought many of those ideas back here to Ford Abbey.
28:29If your gardener can produce predominantly most of the material
28:33that you need to keep your garden healthy, then you should be doing so.
28:36So, for example, here we have fermented plant juice or FPJ.
28:40And FPJ that we make here is made of really lush spring greens
28:44such as cleavers, nettles, that really high, intense, quick-growing weed.
28:48We just chop it up. The only thing we add is brown sugar.
28:51Brown sugar helps draw all the nutrients and the benefits out of the plant.
28:54We dilute that down in water and then we spray it onto our crops
28:57pretty much every two weeks during the growing season.
28:59Fantastic. Now, I notice you've got some biochar down here
29:02and it's very much become a part of the horticultural industry in the last few years.
29:06But I think a lot of people don't know about it and what it actually does.
29:09Yeah. It really is amazing.
29:11It's a wood material that's cooked with minimum oxygen in a minimum oxygen burner
29:14such as a charcoal burner.
29:16So it's not wood ash from your stove that you have at home. It is different.
29:19You put it into your compost for a two-week period and then it's activated
29:23and then it's ready to go into the soil.
29:25It adds moisture. It helps build habitats for microbes living in the soil.
29:29It lasts for a thousand years.
29:31We simply put it into our compost, mulch our beds in the autumn
29:34and then that's how we put the biochar down.
29:36And then we don't do another biochar application again. It's that simple.
29:39So this all comes really into play with tulips.
29:42You have to plant them deep. You have to cultivate the soil.
29:46Most of the tulips that we tend to grow in our gardens are usually cultivars.
29:51In other words, they're selected forms that have been bred for great colour or great longevity.
29:56But of course, they all come from wild parents and this is one of them.
30:01It's Tulipa sylvestris.
30:03Sylvestris references woodland or the fact that it comes from woodland edge
30:07or, in fact, the fact that it comes from woodland.
30:10And this is where it absolutely loves to be and it will naturalise beautifully.
30:14Now, it's quite different from typical ornamental border tulips
30:18inasmuch as the heads tip over.
30:20They've almost got this inquisitive quality to them as they're looking across the landscape.
30:24And then there's this beautiful pickety tone down the back of the petal.
30:28So you've got greens and burgundies really making it quite special.
30:32So if you're looking for a tulip, this is the one.
30:35Tulipa peppermint sticks is a form of Clusiana tulip.
30:39And so it has three pale petals and three darker petals which give it this almost candy stripe.
30:45It's very elegant, slim and upright, which makes it a perfect ornamental ornament.
30:50And it's a very beautiful flower.
30:52And it's a very beautiful flower.
30:54And it's a very beautiful flower.
30:56And it's a very beautiful flower.
30:58And it's a very beautiful flower.
31:00And it's a very beautiful flower.
31:02It's elegant, slim and upright, which makes it perfect for growing in small pots.
31:11One of my absolute favourites is this.
31:14It's Tulipa ballerina.
31:16Now, it's got an award of garden merit from the RHS,
31:19which means it's strong and stable and resilient.
31:23It's a tulip that's absolutely perfect for growing through beds and borders,
31:28through existing perennial and annual plants.
31:31It looks absolutely superb.
31:33TULIPA BALLERINA
31:37TULIPA BALLERINA
32:01Now, I'm adding some tulips into here,
32:04creating these new beds on the mound.
32:07Planting tulips in borders is a job to do any time between now and Christmas.
32:12I've got two varieties that will interplay.
32:15They're both shades of soft, lemony yellow.
32:18And I'm also going to interplant them with wallflowers, primrose bedder,
32:22which is another soft yellow.
32:25I have often used this as my tulip planter.
32:29It's a lovely crowbar. It weighs a tonne.
32:32The beauty of it is you can go nice and deep,
32:35down to about eight or nine inches,
32:38and then you can just drop the bulbs into it.
32:41This is a variety called Bud Light,
32:44a lovely, creamy, soft yellow.
32:48Obviously, if you don't have a crowbar, you just need some kind of trowel.
33:02The other bulb that I'm planting in here is called Honky Tonk.
33:07It's a much smaller tulip, but it's got a lovely, yellowy, lemony touch,
33:12and I will weave them in amongst the other plants.
33:15Now, I don't need a great big arm bar for these,
33:18because these are really quite small bulbs.
33:20They're almost the size of a crocus bulb.
33:23I'm planting these right near the front,
33:26because I know that they are really quite small.
33:29But I don't know how small they'll be on this soil.
33:36If you're trying out a new cultivar of tulip,
33:39then don't buy them in any quantity.
33:42However nice they look, you don't quite know how they're going to grow
33:46and how they're going to look.
33:48So, just buy a few where you know you want to grow more,
33:51and if they're happy, then next year, you can splash out and get more.
33:56Now to put in some wallflowers.
33:59And the reason I've chosen primrose better
34:02is to work with the soft, yellow colour theme
34:06that dominates the planting here.
34:08These can be bought like this from garden centres.
34:12They're very cheap, they're just about £1.
34:15Just like they were when I was a child.
34:18If you can't plant them out straight away,
34:20do not put them in a bucket of water,
34:23because the roots will rot.
34:25Heal them in.
34:27Just undo the wrapping, make a slit trench and just line them along.
34:31They can be right cheek by jowl,
34:33and they will stay like that for a few weeks.
34:35October is the best time to plant out biannuals like wallflowers.
34:39It's the best time to do it.
34:41October is the best time to plant out biannuals like wallflowers.
34:48Now I've left the holes of the bulbs open
34:51so that I can place the wallflowers in between them.
34:54And obviously these will have to be filled back in.
35:02I always love this. It's exciting.
35:05This is primed and ready to lift you in the garden next spring.
35:13Now, all summer, Rachel gardened solely in pots,
35:17and they looked fabulous.
35:19But now we join her as she makes the transition
35:22from the summer display to a winter one.
35:27At the beginning of the summer,
35:29I planted up a collection of containers
35:32as a focal point around a doorway,
35:34and they performed beautifully throughout the summer.
35:37And towards the end of that season,
35:39I tweaked and refreshed the display
35:41to extend the show through late summer and into autumn.
35:50Now, these have really delivered for months now.
35:54Fantastic colour, and we've still got things flowering really well.
35:58The verbena's still doing its thing.
36:00Dahlia's as well.
36:01They'll flower in this garden really well into November,
36:04so I'll leave them and just keep an eye on the weather.
36:07And I think what I need to do now is just reassess again.
36:10So I'm just snipping off anything that sort of obviously needs to go,
36:14but some of these plants I think I'll dig out and put into the garden.
36:18And then I think there are going to be gaps here
36:21where I can put other things that will give me extra colour,
36:24extra interest right the way through the winter.
36:31Next, I'll move the things that will stay in their pots for next year
36:35but need protection from winter weather.
36:38So the luicea...
36:41..and the dianthus.
36:42They're OK with cold,
36:44but they dislike sitting in wet compost for long periods.
36:48While the pelargoniums need to be protected from frost,
36:52so it's off to a cool greenhouse for them.
36:56So I'm just thinking now what needs a bit of refreshing.
37:01And I've bought a couple of shrubs
37:03which I think are going to look fantastic over the winter,
37:05so it's just a case of what goes where, and I keep changing my mind.
37:08But I think actually this pot here
37:12definitely needs this coreopsis to come out.
37:17There's still a bit of cosmos there,
37:19so I'm going to leave that cosmos for now.
37:22And I think this lovely hypericum, just look at that.
37:26These beautiful orange flowers on there.
37:30It's called Magical Universe.
37:32It's a good one for pots because it stays fairly compact,
37:35only gets to about half a metre.
37:37So I think those colours together with that...
37:41Now, look at that. Isn't that stunning?
37:44Absolutely beautiful.
37:46And for now, the cosmos just picks up on the berries as well,
37:49so that's a perfect combination.
37:53MUSIC
37:58Containers are great for awkward positions,
38:01so to lift the gloom in a dark corner,
38:04I'm making a pot of winter greens,
38:06starting with a beautiful evergreen shrub, Sarkococca,
38:09which tolerates deep shade.
38:11Its tiny flowers define their diminutive size
38:14by packing a punch with a heady, sweet perfume.
38:18I'm also adding some white Helleborus niger,
38:21otherwise known as the Christmas rose,
38:23and to soften the edges, a bit of dangle with a delicate little ivy.
38:38Hmm, so it seems like, while going through this process,
38:42I found some less welcome visitors.
38:44There are some vine weevil.
38:46The adults nibble leaves during spring and summer,
38:49but it's the white grubs that do the most damage in autumn and winter,
38:53when they feed on the roots of the plant.
38:57You can see them moving around.
38:59In a pot where I'd had some Heucheras and they'd strangely died,
39:02and I couldn't explain why. Well, that's the reason why.
39:05So it's not too late in the year.
39:07If I dash out and if I get some nematodes on them now
39:10and just sort of drench the whole lot,
39:12then I think that's probably the best approach,
39:15because they do work down to temperatures of plus five degrees,
39:18so at this time of year, I can just get away with it.
39:21But the answer, I think, with them is simply vigilance.
39:24You have to keep an eye on things, particularly if you've bought a plant in.
39:27Just look at the roots before they go in the pot,
39:30and maybe that's not something I did carefully enough earlier on this year.
39:40One of the very best things about gardening with containers
39:43is that you can grow things that you might not be able to grow out
39:47in the main garden because you've got the wrong sort of conditions.
39:50And I have to say, I've always loved these witch hazels.
39:54And unfortunately, here we've got really very limey soil,
39:59and this prefers acid.
40:02And it's going to get eventually to about 1.8 metres,
40:07something like that, about six foot tall,
40:10which means that it's really a short-term planting in a pot.
40:14So I've decided that I will enjoy it for a couple of years,
40:17and then I'm going to pass it on to my eldest daughter.
40:21And she is on acid soil, so she can grow it.
40:24This is an ericaceous mix, so it's perfect for acid-loving plants.
40:30And this variety is Orange Beauty,
40:34and it has the most wonderful spidery flowers through late winter.
40:41And they're this gorgeous, almost like peeled tangerine peel,
40:44something like that, and amazing fragrance as well on witch hazels.
40:48So I just think it's going to be something really quite beautiful,
40:50and for me, very exotic.
40:52And I thought for company, it'd be nice to have something with it.
40:56And I bought these on Sinjarubra.
40:59Lovely, compact, well-behaved, so what's not to like?
41:02I'm going to give it a couple of these for company.
41:05And then maybe a little bit of colour,
41:09something not too in-your-face.
41:12So I found these. These are gorgeous.
41:14Look, these lovely little violas, Tiger's Eye Red.
41:18And actually, they're extremely variable.
41:20Look at that. That one's quite dark, and then there's one here that's quite yellow.
41:24And I rather like that slightly random nature of it.
41:27I'll just sort of dot them around. Happy with that.
41:31Now it's just a case of filling up with the rest of the compost, and we're there.
41:39Right, well, I've used the last of that ericaceous compost on these two heathers.
41:52They're such romantic plants, very evocative somehow for me.
41:56Well, I think that'll do for today.
41:58I really feel so glad, actually, that I literally went to pot this year.
42:03I mean, these containers have given me such a lot of joy, really.
42:07So I hope that what I've done today is to add a little bit of interest as we go forward through the autumn.
42:14I think it's going to be a winter to look forward to.
42:29Inevitably, at this time of year, there's an overlap between the summer display
42:33and whatever you might want to do for winter or even next spring.
42:36I've got a copper pot here that I love, and it's been filled with these white cosmos since June.
42:42They've flowered all summer long, been really great.
42:45Now, I came to take these out, and they're looking rather good.
42:48But the days are numbered because I want the pot.
42:50Bulbs look really good in it.
42:52And if I plant those now, put them to one side, then they will come through from March
42:58and be flowering right through to May, and then I get rid of those,
43:01and maybe we'll go back to cosmos next year.
43:04Come on.
43:20These orchard beds need more work if they're going to look really good at this time of year,
43:25but the asters are really starting to take over.
43:29This has just happened in the last week or so,
43:31and there is no plant, to my mind, more redolent of autumn than an aster.
43:46Earlier this year, we extended the pair of long borders in the orchard, and we had some extra soil.
43:52So we mounded it over here and decided that we'd make it into a bed.
43:57But actually, what I'm going to do is make a little berry border.
44:01Birds, particularly at this time of year, need berries.
44:05Now, the first is perhaps the most remarkable of the lot.
44:10This is callicarpa, and it's a variety called profusion.
44:16It has the most extraordinary purpley metallic berries carried in clusters along the stem.
44:23And as well as being a really good plant, it has the great virtue of being self-fertile.
44:30So it doesn't need another callicarpa for it to pollinate and to produce these lovely berries.
44:39Now, this likes sunshine. Good sunshine means good berries.
44:44And then, for the really big set piece, I've got a viburnum.
44:51This is a viburnum eve price. Now, I'm going to bring this back up here.
44:59It's got these almost black berries.
45:03It's evergreen with pinky white flowers, and it will grow up about twice the size and fill that space.
45:13This is lysisteria.
45:16It has extraordinary flowers and berries with these lovely burgundy bracts around them.
45:23And as the plant grows and gets more mature, this will be festooned in them.
45:27And the great thing about lysisteria, unlike the other shrubs,
45:31this can be cut right back to the ground every year if you want to,
45:35and it will regrow and flower on new wood.
45:38So that means that if you've got limited space, you can keep it smallish.
45:46When you're planting any woody plant, whether it's a small shrub or a large tree,
45:50don't be tempted to add any compost or manure into the planting hole,
45:55because all that does is encourage the roots to stay in there.
45:59But what you can add is mycorrhizae powder,
46:03but what you can add is mycorrhizae powder,
46:07and this is essentially a fungus,
46:09and it kick-starts the relationship between the roots and the fungi in the soil.
46:23Now, birds choose their berries in colour sequence.
46:28Red berries are always the most popular.
46:30That's what they go for first.
46:32Then they will move on to orangey and yellow berries,
46:36and finally they will go for the really dark ones, the black ones.
46:49Now, this time of year, for the next month or so,
46:53is the perfect time to plant any trees or shrubs.
46:57If you plant them now, the roots will get established,
47:00which means that next spring, when the leaves start to grow back,
47:04there is a better root system to support that growth.
47:16I'm planting two Eve Price, although one is much smaller than the other,
47:20because this is not self-fertile,
47:23and to reliably get berries, you do need another plant.
47:31Yes. Yeah, I like that.
47:34I will water those in, even though the soil is wet,
47:38because if nothing else, it firms the soil around the finer roots,
47:43and I think the wildlife will enjoy it.
47:45And it's not hard, in fact, to attract quite a wide range of creatures to our gardens
47:50that we can share with each other,
47:53and that's what I'm going to do.
47:55I'm going to attract quite a wide range of creatures to our gardens
47:59that we can share with them and enjoy.
48:03But I suspect there are very few of us
48:06that have the same range of wildlife as the garden that Adam has been to visit.
48:15I'm always excited to see a garden that encourages wildlife,
48:19and it's heartening to know that so many more of us
48:22are planting our green patches to make mammals, birds and insects all the more welcome.
48:28But imagine looking after a garden where the wildlife was, well,
48:33let's say a little wilder than the usual beasts found in the Cotswolds,
48:38and the planting had to work around them.
48:42But this is an unusual garden.
48:47It's that unusual it's even got rhinos feeding on the front paddock.
48:53This is Cotswold Wildlife Park,
48:56160 acres given over to animals from all corners of the world,
49:02and interwoven with more than 10 acres of equally diverse planting.
49:09Head gardener Tim Miles arrived here 21 years ago
49:13with the aim of transforming the garden to complement and work with the animals.
49:19His favourite exotic planting fills the heart of the garden.
49:24What was it like when you arrived?
49:26Well, it was reasonably well established actually as a setup, as a layout.
49:30Originally it had been a wall garden of course.
49:33Here we've got an avenue of trees, a remnants of an avenue of apple trees down the middle.
49:37And it would have been vegetables and fruit on the walls and so on.
49:41We're very much about theatre with plants.
49:43All the plants we grow have to earn their keep with us.
49:46They have to do something at some point during the year and that's important.
49:49And then putting them together in different ways theatrically
49:53can hopefully give us a bit of a wow factor and get people noticing the plants
49:58and not just looking at the animals all the time.
50:03Here that theatre is achieved with shrubs and perennials
50:07peppered throughout the exotics.
50:09But there's more than 2,000 different types of plants
50:12in this garden.
50:14In meadows, formal herbaceous beds, woodland with tree ferns
50:19and a gardener's dream, the ultimate greenhouse.
50:26We really have arrived in the tropics, haven't we?
50:29Incredible, isn't it?
50:33The tropical house is home to animals and plants
50:36designed to feel like a jungle.
50:39It's all about immersive.
50:41I love that.
50:43It's brilliant, isn't it?
50:45This is actually one of the plants we've put in since I've been here.
50:48It's a chestnut vine.
50:50There's two of them in here and they've just gone all over the place
50:53rather like a liana would in the jungle.
50:55I just think it's great to be involved with this and touch it.
50:58Exactly. No, you're right.
51:00It's great.
51:01It's funny, I'm trying to keep looking at you
51:04The birds do a great natural job on pest control, apparently.
51:08And although they wouldn't work in your average UK conservatory,
51:12some of the plants would.
51:14We've got some passionflowers in here.
51:16They're reasonably prunable.
51:18And the other thing is the bromeliads going on to a smaller scale.
51:22A lot of the ferns really enjoy it as well.
51:24But it's the humidity and the humidity of the plants
51:27that's what makes it so special.
51:29It's the humidity and the humidity of the plants
51:32that really enjoy it as well.
51:33But it's the humidity as well in here.
51:35We need to get that balance right.
51:37We've got some sprinklers on that just give us that little bit of extra humidity.
51:40It's that constant change between the heat, moisture, heat, moisture.
51:44It's incredible, isn't it?
51:46Oh, hold on.
51:47Hello, mate.
51:48That's a potoroo, not a rat.
51:50No.
51:51No, if you've got a rat problem with that thing,
51:53then you've got a rat problem, haven't you?
51:56Growing lots of exotic plants
51:59means the animals get to eat food
52:01from nearer their natural habitats.
52:04And in turn, the animals influence the garden designs.
52:09This is the arid garden.
52:11Inspired by those meerkats.
52:13You cannot help but smile when you see one of those.
52:16I feel the same about this garden.
52:18What I'm enjoying is everywhere you go
52:20just holds a slightly different atmosphere.
52:23When I look at this garden,
52:25there is a lot of work.
52:27Things like the euphorbia, the lavenders,
52:29the santalina and the trachycarpus,
52:31they'll stay in right throughout the year.
52:33But everything else is planted in its pots.
52:36These cactus are like pieces of sculpture.
52:39But through the winter, they've got to come out
52:41and go back into a greenhouse.
52:44I've got a lot of plants here.
52:46I've got a lot of plants here.
52:48I've got a lot of plants here.
52:50And I've got a greenhouse.
52:53There is one more detail for me
52:55that really adds to the atmosphere.
52:57And it's the gravel.
52:58Here, it's just simple Cotswold buff gravel
53:01and you get a very arid feel.
53:03But I notice walking past over there,
53:05Tim's used something called clinker
53:07that apparently he got from a local sewage plant
53:09that was closing down.
53:11And ultimately they use it to filter the sewage.
53:14I think he's washed it, don't worry.
53:17But over there it's really dark in colour
53:19changes the feel and you get the sense that it's a whole sort of volcanic vibe
53:25going on. It sort of tells you that maybe it's not always about the plants that
53:29affect the final atmosphere, it could be the materials you're using around those
53:33plants.
53:37By the time I reached the huge savannah grass beds by the rhinos, the sun is
53:43getting low and it provides the best view of the day. I go on at home, my
53:52gardening's about little moments and my lot just think I'm barking, I think they
53:55really do. And this is an example, the grass, they're really coming alive as the
54:03sun goes down. You look at the back there, you've got muscanthus and then in front
54:07of it you've got that wonderful stuff, those oats are really starting to shine.
54:12Interesting, in the front here you've got a sea buckthorn which I think as
54:16matures it will give a wonderful contrast to those verticals. And the last
54:21little thing are these buttons, they are tiny, rich and ruby. This is Sanguisorba.
54:28But that definitely is one of those moments.
54:37When I arrived this morning I was a little bit hesitant as to how it was
54:41going to work overall as a design. But it does and that's because the way that
54:47these areas have been split up and how you move from space to space. But talking
54:53to Tim earlier on just left me with this feeling that this guy doesn't know what
54:58low maintenance is. This garden is a huge amount of work and it's a credit to him
55:04and his team.
55:11Now is a really good time to plant out wildflower plugs. These are cowslip plugs.
55:32Put them in the ground now, they will sit over winter and they should start to
55:37appear and flower next year. And cowslips are happiest in quite sunny open
55:44positions. Now it's time for some jobs, but not just for the weekend this time.
55:52Here's some jobs for the winter.
55:55If you pot up paperwhite daffodils now, they will be ready for flowering indoors
56:10at Christmastime. I'm choosing a variety called Zeva which is full of flower. Use
56:16a fairly deep pot, put in the bulbs and then cover them up with at least two
56:21inches more compost. Water them and put them aside so they're protected. In about
56:28six weeks time the shoots will appear and then bring them indoors to a sunny
56:32warm windowsill and they'll start flowering a few weeks after that.
56:41It's a good time of year to give your pruning tools a really good going over.
56:48First of all clean them thoroughly with wire wool and this doesn't just get rid
56:53of rust but also the accumulated grease from a summer's pruning. Then sharpen
57:00them to a really good edge and I like to use either a sharpening file or a
57:04whetstone. Finally when they're good and sharp give them a coating of oil and
57:09camellia oil is particularly good for this. Now they're ready for action.
57:19If you have tender plants that have finished flowering and are in pots,
57:23particularly if they're in a terracotta pot, then they should be bought indoors
57:27now before there is a risk of frost damage and that damage can be to the pot
57:32just as much as it can be to the plant. I'm bringing in my evergreen agapanthus
57:38and eucomus first of all because they will not take any frost at all and as
57:44well as protecting them from the cold it's just as important to make sure that
57:48they don't get too wet.
57:57Well I'm afraid that's it and not just for today but for this year. This is the
58:03last program in the series and I think it's been a really good gardening year. I
58:09know it hasn't been a scorching hot summer but the gardeners loved it from
58:14early spring right through till now. Now I hope you have a break over winter, look
58:20after your gardens, look after yourselves and I'll see you back here at Longmeadow
58:24next spring. So until then, bye bye.