A Year at Kew_03of12_Summer Planting
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00:00It's June, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew are looking their best.
00:07This is the time of year when Kew's team of over 150 gardeners see their hard work pay off,
00:14but for them, there's little time to enjoy it.
00:17There's work to be done on the Palm House border,
00:20the most famous, most photographed, and right now, most bedraggled display in Kew.
00:27Twice a year, it's all hands to the pumps when people are pulled from all corners of the gardens
00:33to lend a hand in this massive and highly coordinated floral assault on the Palm House.
00:39Sarah Smith and her conscripts are responsible for putting in more plants in a week
00:44than most gardeners get through in a lifetime.
00:49You're talking thousands, tens of thousands,
00:52and that's not counting the bulbs which are being kept and processed.
00:56When you want to lose weight in a hurry, come and do the bedding.
01:02That's a big sign. Fat people need it.
01:06New flower power workout.
01:09And a sense of humour is also going to prove important for Helen Long on the annual plant auction.
01:14It's ten to three. We have under three hours, and there's lots and lots to do, and I can't stop to talk.
01:21This is when the aggression comes out.
01:27I love my life at Kew.
01:45The nurseries behind the scenes have been preparing throughout the winter for this day.
01:49Now, every one of the 12,000 plants has to be in its exact place in just four days.
01:55But first, the borders must be cleared. It's back-breaking work.
02:04This has been the worst bit. The polyanthus are coming out with huge clumps of soil on the bottom,
02:08which they don't normally do. The rootstock's really fab.
02:11You know, they've been doing really well.
02:13And we're having to bash that off, so it's quite slow, and it's quite heavy work.
02:17I suffer from a bad back anyway. I think most gardeners do suffer from a bad back.
02:22I have physio, but my physio tells me what exercises to alleviate the pain,
02:26so basically, if I'm feeling it, I just sort of do a few limber-ups.
02:30Sort of just get your body in a different position it's been in all day, really.
02:34But we're not far off the easy-peasy bit, which is going to come out like a dream.
02:38It's just six months since Sarah and her team spent another exhausting week putting these plants in.
02:44The alliums will be saved and replanted elsewhere,
02:47but over a thousand forget-me-nots and polyanthus plants are destined for the compost heap.
02:52Doesn't it break your heart?
02:55Over at the Princess of Wales Conservatory, one of Sarah's former planting buddies has made a bid for freedom.
03:01After years on the highly formal Palm House border, this year, John Bloomfield has been given his own project.
03:08He's got big ideas, and he's planning to give his old colleagues a run for their money.
03:13I used to do what was, you know, like little roundabout beds and stuff like that.
03:17I used to do all those on my own, and it would just take me just over a week to get it all done on my own.
03:23John's saying he's going to have the best border this year.
03:28I know, but have you seen his fancy, he's got his trickle hose that's, he's a perfectionist.
03:33He used to work on the bedding with Steve, and he's moved to another department now,
03:37and he's got a bit of freedom, and he's just, yeah, he does this taunting bit now and again.
03:42Because he's been here, done it, and he's moved on.
03:45He knows what agonies we're going through, so it's like, I don't have to do it no more.
03:49His display's tiny, puny.
03:52Well, at the end of the day, whose is more beautiful?
03:56More tarty. I win the tarty contest, hands down.
04:05It's morning in Kew, and flaming June brings flowers bursting from every corner of the gardens.
04:11It also brings people, putting Kew on course for record attendances across the summer.
04:17But not everyone can stay to enjoy it.
04:19Do you want to do the copperswing, and the dead hedge, or do you want to plant?
04:22Right, you do the planting.
04:24John Hammerton and his boss, Roger Howard of Kew's tree gang,
04:28are more used to spending their time in the tops of Kew's mighty trees,
04:32but today, they have a much more terrifying job.
04:35They're going back to school.
04:37Kew for a number of years have worked with local schools,
04:40and one of the things that we have started to get involved in is helping individual schools,
04:45mostly junior schools, to establish a wild garden.
04:49And the first one we got involved in is Meadland School in Hamm.
04:53Once, this was a school like any other.
04:55Now, thanks to Roger and the tree gang, things are very different.
04:59They put in trees, outdoor classrooms, and secret paths.
05:03A ten-year transformation.
05:06John knows how big the change has been.
05:08He was a pupil here himself.
05:11This was flat grass.
05:13It was all flat. The field was flat. We had a football pitch.
05:16And we had about four triangle climbing frames.
05:19Just where the back of the nursery is, there was nothing else.
05:22Just these rusty climbing frames.
05:24That's all what was at Meadland's then.
05:27But this isn't just a place to play.
05:30The garden feeds through to all aspects of school life.
05:33Here, children can learn to plant, dig, share, and take a pride in their work.
05:39Not just gardening, but valuable lessons for life.
05:44Back at the palm house border, Sarah and Emma are also hopeful their work will prove valuable.
05:49I haven't found treasure yet.
05:52Treasure? No, no treasure.
05:55The beds have been forked.
05:57They've been edged up, so we've got a bit of a gully around the edge.
06:01And then what we need to do is compact the soil back down.
06:04Because we've basically loosened it by forking it.
06:06But you end up with air pockets now.
06:09Where there's like lumps and lumps and you get air pockets in between.
06:12And you want to eliminate the air pockets.
06:14So by treading it, you're creating finer crumbs instead of lumps.
06:18And the reason being, if you were to put a plant into a bed that hasn't been trod,
06:23the roots end up in like no man's land.
06:25With just air around them.
06:28And they can't actually take water from the soil.
06:31So those roots on that side will probably die or fail.
06:34So you need to have the plants touching soil all the way around the root balls.
06:38And that's the whole process of why you tread.
06:401, 2, 3, and...
06:571, 2, 3, and...
07:07It's all done now isn't it?
07:09Yep.
07:10And then you get half a mile of soil off the bottom of your boat.
07:14I've been grinding platforms for a week.
07:21And while the palm house crews stick rigidly to their elaborate plan,
07:25over at the Princess of Wales Conservatory,
07:27John just does what comes naturally.
07:30Annuals aren't for him.
07:32He's plumped for tree ferns, brought to queue in Victorian times.
07:36You do the heavy bit, I'll do the easy bit.
07:38That'll show him.
07:39If you've got a group of plants in, try and have an uneven number.
07:44If you possibly can.
07:46It's easier to get a group looking right.
07:48Because if they're even numbers, they often look too regimented.
07:52And certainly with a display like this, you don't want that to happen.
07:56You don't want straight lines everywhere.
07:58Try and get a group of plants in.
08:00And if you can't get a group of plants in,
08:02try and have a group of plants in.
08:04And if you can't get a group of plants in,
08:06you don't want that to happen.
08:08You don't want straight lines everywhere.
08:10Try and keep it uneven and looking a bit unusual.
08:13It's always quite funny, me talking all arty-farty,
08:16but I do have my moments.
08:18I just hope this is going to be one of them.
08:20Does it keep you awake at night, this border?
08:23No. If it got to that degree, I wouldn't be in the job.
08:26I'd go back to car mechanics if things got that bad.
08:28Is that what you were? Yeah.
08:30So how does a car mechanic come to be a gardener?
08:33I don't know.
08:35When these last get watered, John?
08:37That's why they're quite dry, a lot of these.
08:43I'm just cheating with a bit of water in here,
08:45cos they're a little bit dry.
08:47Real cowboy landscaping, aren't they?
08:49So I just give them a little dunking.
08:52Oh, look.
08:54All right, kids? Come on in, keep up!
08:58At Meadland School, John's planting a crabapple tree
09:01in his former playing field.
09:03See you.
09:10Roger's taken to the woods for a bit of copy-sing.
09:13When you get too tall, everything underneath gets very dark.
09:17Now, what we want to do is to make some light come through.
09:20Roger started this project when his own children were here,
09:23and though many generations of children have played here
09:26since they moved on,
09:28Roger never abandoned his own minicube gardens.
09:31Yeah, I think it's great.
09:33It's such an important part of our job at Kew
09:37to educate kids, teach them about their environments,
09:39get them to respect their environments.
09:41There's nothing better than actually working with plants.
09:43I wish I could have that sword and cut the tree down. It's fun.
09:46They do get a lot of fun out of it.
09:48Difficult to control at times, but they get a lot of fun out of it,
09:51and hopefully they'll learn from this.
09:53Obviously, Tim, the ground is solid here.
09:57That I didn't expect.
10:00Gardening lesson number one, John.
10:02Work out which is the hardest job and bag the other.
10:05I think we've had the hardest job to date.
10:07And it makes you more stronger.
10:09Makes you more stronger.
10:12Kew's majestic orangery, built in 1756,
10:16is the scene of the 13th annual charity auction of coveted plants.
10:20The great and the good pay high prices for prized specimens.
10:24The commander of Operation Auction is Helen Long,
10:27and as D-Day approaches, nothing must go wrong.
10:30But there's a fly in the ointment.
10:32This is Alnus serralata, which is one of our plants for the auction.
10:36And as you can see here, we have a whole host of sawfly larvae
10:40which have descended upon the alnus.
10:42So I'm going to have to go through with a bucket
10:45and pick off all of these sawfly larvae,
10:47because if we leave them on here, this bush is just going to be decimated.
10:51So they've all got to be picked off by hand and destroyed.
10:54Which is not the nicest of jobs, but it's got to be done
10:57to make sure that we're not selling sawfly larvae with our auction lots.
11:01It's not really the sort of thing you want to take back to your garden.
11:04I think one of the most unusual lots we've got this year
11:07is a lorry load of Kew mulch.
11:09We're actually offering 30 cubic yards of mulch to the successful bidder.
11:13It'll be delivered to their door.
11:15So let's hope it's not bid for by some small old lady with a flat in Fulham
11:18and she wants it delivered to her door.
11:20I think she's going to get a bit of a shock if that happens.
11:23It's not a suitable home for somebody with a private arboretum or an estate.
11:27But the real star this year has got to be this tree here.
11:30This is Liriodendron chinense.
11:33This has come from seed that Tony Kirkham collected in Sichuan back in 2001.
11:37You can see how it's grown since 2001.
11:40This is going to be a fantastic specimen for somebody's garden.
11:43But because it's now rare in the wild,
11:45that's why I think people are going to be very excited about it,
11:48because you just will not be able to get a tree of this size
11:51anywhere else in the country.
11:53These are very special plants.
11:55They've come from seed that's been collected in the wild on Kew expeditions
11:58all the way from China, Taiwan, Japan, America.
12:01They've been grown on at Kew, in the Kew site.
12:04In the case of the Liriodendron, it's actually been growing in the arboretum.
12:08Now we've done some thinning of arboretum plantings.
12:10We've root balled a plant and potted it.
12:12It's literally come out of Kew soil and it's going to be going into somebody's garden.
12:16That all adds to the kudos of actually attending the auction and participating in it.
12:20And that is then reflected in the bid prices, hopefully.
12:25At Meadlands, the coppicing is done. No sweat.
12:28Oh, it's great to have a big labour force.
12:31If only the same could be said for the tree planting.
12:36Pull it, pull it, pull it.
12:38That's it, well done.
12:40Well done.
12:41Right, who wants to get their hands dirty?
12:44Right, hands in here and just prise it open.
12:47Come on then, put the tree down.
12:48Right, get your hands in and pull the soil out.
12:50Go on, Jimmy, go on.
12:52That's it now, pull it out, that's it, a little bit.
12:55Shake them about a bit.
12:57Yeah.
12:58And then we're just relieving all the roots out a bit.
13:01So what you do carefully, together, is to drag these over one at a time.
13:05Just one each, yeah.
13:07Abi, if you like, take a small one.
13:11Bring it through.
13:13Right through here.
13:18That's it.
13:24No wonder Roger didn't want to do this.
13:29I know Roger.
13:31Huh?
13:32I know Roger.
13:33You know him, do you?
13:34Yeah.
13:35I know him as well.
13:36These dead hedges are good because they do give a place for a lot of small mammals and insects and small birds to hide.
13:42Look at this enormous one.
13:45That's it, wonderful.
13:46That's it, my nettles there.
13:49This is even more higher.
13:54It's nice out here for the kids, although it's growing up a little bit, we need to cut it.
13:58For the kids to actually stand up here, this is like a viewing area, to look down on the pond.
14:03Yeah, look down.
14:05It's all as natural as we can get it to be.
14:10That's better.
14:13Anyone got me stick?
14:14Yeah.
14:15Hey, well done.
14:18Right.
14:22You lot can fill it in while I hold it straight.
14:26Well done.
14:28That's it.
14:31Bit around this side.
14:33That's it.
14:35In we go, go on, in we go.
14:37That's it, keep it coming.
14:38Cool, you're like little badgers.
14:39Oh, I love it, you know, it's good to see them all getting involved, and like you saw there, they want to get their hands dirty, and that's good for me.
14:48Did you do this when you were a kid?
14:49Not at all, not at school.
14:51I didn't really do it at home, no.
14:53I liked to get out climbing trees, over the pits and stuff, but they didn't do this when I was at school.
14:58There was nothing like this.
15:00Has this been a project of passion for you?
15:03I think so, yeah.
15:04It's funny, because I did say when we first looked at this, and other people tell you, but it won't last, because you've got to have someone there who's going to look after it from start to finish, and it doesn't happen.
15:18It's very difficult to keep that momentum there.
15:21One teacher wants it initially, her or his idea, they leave, and then it falters, and then it falls into decline, then it disappears.
15:31So I said then, well, we're going to have to try and get a retired person to do this, and it looks like I'm going to be that retired person.
15:36A few more years at Kew, and I can see me being down here, so put out to pasture down here, I think.
15:42Try to keep up with the kids here.
15:46But it's good fun.
15:52It's D-Day, and in auction command, Helen has another setback.
15:57Do you know that they've just erected a white tent-like structure outside the orangery?
16:01Can you meet me down there?
16:04Because we need to find out how big this tent and where it is, and who has put it up, and why.
16:11If it is anything to do with that, it's going to have to go.
16:14Unless we can use it.
16:17All right, bye.
16:18And there are more problems.
16:19We don't necessarily want the first thing that people see to be a skipload of mulch.
16:22All right.
16:23So...
16:24I'll try and camouflage it.
16:26What, twigs and branches?
16:29Maybe it's got manure from the royal stables incorporated into it.
16:33It's posh manure.
16:34Manure is still on Helen's mind when she sees what's been erected outside the orangery.
16:40My God.
16:43That makes life interesting.
16:45The very big tent is exactly where Helen was planning to put the auction lots.
16:51They didn't tell you about the marquee outside?
16:54But looking at it, at least it's not closed.
16:56And if it's not going to be used by anybody tonight, surely we can set up and use it.
17:02And then we can have the stalls just outside here, and then the lots on the other end of the orangery, can't we?
17:07Yeah.
17:08So it would work.
17:09It would have to, but for God's sake.
17:13It's all right.
17:15It'll be all right.
17:16Did you get my message about the volunteers coming?
17:18Yes, yes.
17:19Is there going to be someone here to meet them?
17:21There should be by then, because the boys are at the moment running around collecting the stuff for fencing off the area.
17:25Did they move the piano?
17:27I don't know, I haven't had a look yet.
17:29It's going to be interesting to see this transformed in an hour and a half.
17:33Nothing like setting yourself against the clock, is it?
17:36I know, I've warned the boys already, and at this rate I will probably be chain-smoking for Britain.
17:40It's the final day of preparations for the Palm House border.
17:44This is the bit Sarah has been looking forward to.
17:47You've just done all the hard work, all the forking over.
17:49It's nice to get your hands dirty and touching plants again.
17:52You know, real live things instead of soil.
17:56People come to see the Palm House, the glasshouse itself.
18:00That's Kew's main feature, its main symbol.
18:03And to have the outside totally immaculate and perfect is what we really should be aiming for.
18:08Are you glad when it's all over?
18:10I will be.
18:11I mean, a lot of us have volunteered to come over and especially do the bedding.
18:14We've got our own little areas that we really want to go back to that may be getting weedy at the moment.
18:18So we're wanting to get this done, we're thinking of other areas and it's quite stressful actually.
18:30These have all been watered before they come out, so they're not going in the ground dry.
18:35Because if they do that, the roots will never get away.
18:38They just sort of sit in that dry old root ball.
18:42And the roots just go round and round and round.
19:00It's nice to have somewhere to put your feet.
19:03Instead of being tipped over through the bleeding tulips.
19:06So the average spacing for the edge is a trowel's distance from the edge and then a trowel's distance apart.
19:20And that allows for both of them to expand.
19:23All four beds again for the outer edge, for the edge.
19:27And we've got roughly six and a half.
19:29Keep shoving them on the grass.
19:32It's not just the planting, we've had all the preparation beforehand.
19:35So yeah, we're getting tired now.
19:38The old arm starts to ache and your back starts to ache.
19:42Down in the nursery, the heat is on.
19:46The weather's changed from earlier on when it was quite cloudy and overcast.
19:49And that would have been good for us because not only is it good for the plants to be a bit cooler and require less watering,
19:54but it's also good for the staff who are running around all day.
19:57The team has to transport all the plants for the auction from the nursery up to the lawn in front of the orangery.
20:03All she has to do is find them.
20:07I know everything's here, but it needs to be here.
20:10But it's sort of like a jigsaw puzzle.
20:12You know you've seen it once before, it's like trying to play snap,
20:14when you turn over one card and you're trying to find the other.
20:17So we're just going up and down the beds, pulling everything out in order according to the catalogue,
20:21on the orangery lawn.
20:23It makes it easier for us to actually locate everything and line it out in order.
20:26This Deutzia's got to go.
20:37I know I've seen it.
20:41I know I saw it here.
20:44I'm trying to remember how the jigsaw worked in my head.
20:48It's one of those days when I can't see the wood for the trees.
20:53Oh, got it.
21:03At the Princess of Wales Conservatory, there's also frenzied activity.
21:08For some.
21:09They're having a sleep at the moment.
21:12John's grand tropical-themed water garden needs more than can be grown in Kew's nurseries,
21:17so a specialist supplier's been brought in with the final arrivals.
21:21Stick them up here on the lawn?
21:23You can give us a hand now.
21:25You don't feel that you've got to enjoy the sun too much?
21:29Hello?
21:31Helen was after you about the auction.
21:35What I'm trying to do is from down the bottom, when you're looking up,
21:38any kind of gaps you can see, is to fill it.
21:40Say you've got a red plant, I want a green one.
21:42If it's light, dark, and if it's a rounded leaf,
21:45I want to put a spiky one against it, something like that.
21:47So you want a contrast?
21:49Yeah, a good contrast is what I'm trying to stick with.
21:52Try anything, see what happens.
21:54We can always move it around before we stick stuff in.
21:56Righty-o.
21:57So we just give it a go.
21:58OK.
22:00Back at the orangery, Helen's calling for reinforcements to drive more plants up from the nursery.
22:06Her team of volunteers are kicking their heels, and there's mutiny in the ranks.
22:11I know, I've been dealing with the auction lots down in the nursery, I'm afraid.
22:14But we're here, and we want to go.
22:15I know, it's only one of me to go around, that's only trouble.
22:17I'm going to be everywhere at once.
22:19Yeah, I'm on to it. I am on to it, don't worry.
22:22I spoke to you about an hour ago.
22:24What did you do?
22:26We just came back with the other lorry with the plants.
22:29Volunteers are a big part of life at Kew,
22:32sharing both the joys and the stresses of running the world's oldest botanical garden.
22:39What's all that?
22:41Not enough just to dry it.
22:43They're the people's army, giving guided tours, helping out at Kew events and raising money.
22:48Without them, there'd be no Kew.
22:54OK, I'll just tell Steve what I'm up to.
22:57Wrong day to give up smoking.
22:59I'm going to get Roselle to deal with the lady volunteer who's getting agro.
23:05All right, cool.
23:06I can't eat so much.
23:09At the Princess of Wales Conservatory, everything is starting to come together,
23:13and John's creative juices are in full flow.
23:17I'm very happy with what's arrived today, because I need some taller stuff at the back.
23:20I was generally left with a lot of small bedding plants in three-inch pots,
23:24which ain't going to do a lot.
23:26Whereas these things, they'll romp away.
23:28So I think I've got what I need now.
23:30So let's just hope for the best.
23:32Quiet, please. Artist at work.
23:49Because the awkward thing is, I don't know what half of these are going to do,
23:51because they haven't got flowers on them yet.
23:54See the bed down the bottom there?
23:56You having a battle there?
23:58I'm not really sure.
24:00So, yeah, if you put them back on the grass for the moment,
24:02they're a sort of an if, but and maybe.
24:04How many have we got?
24:09We'll see what we've got.
24:10I'm not sure, though, yet.
24:12They're one of those difficult ones we don't know what to do with.
24:19We've still got a lot of space in the middle.
24:23Yeah.
24:29That's a deep moment of thought.
24:30What are you thinking?
24:32What the heck am I going to do with these?
24:38There's not long now for Commander Helen and her team,
24:41and it's the last chance to find any plants absent without leave.
24:45If you think you have anything down there,
24:47like another sawbuster method,
24:49they've checked the whole nursery, but...
24:51Oh, thank you very much.
24:53Do you want help with plant labelling or not?
24:57Do you want to check with the girls?
24:59At the moment, I'm sort of trying to sort out all the auction lots.
25:03It should be on the sand bed if it's not here,
25:05because I pulled it out with the gang that loaded up the last wagon
25:08when I came up here earlier.
25:10Hello, my dear. We have plants.
25:12We would love it if you could help.
25:14We need, basically, spots putting on, you know, the coloured spots and things.
25:19Have you done before? No.
25:21All right, I'll explain it to you.
25:23So, if we get you a chair, it's ten to three.
25:26We have under three hours, and there's lots and lots to do,
25:30and I can't stop to talk.
25:32The weather's been kind to Helen, until now.
25:35A sudden wind sends the precious plants scattering like ninepins,
25:39creating a little bit more work and a little bit more stress.
25:45The problem we have now is that the wind's picked up,
25:47and because this is quite an open lawn,
25:49it's catching all the plants and sending them flying,
25:52so we're now having to stake them to the ground.
25:54So, this is like a temporary measure,
25:56just to make sure that everything stands up and stays up for the viewing,
26:00which is in...
26:04less than three hours.
26:07And as the door closes on the last customer,
26:10work begins on transforming the restaurant into an auction house.
26:17MUSIC
26:36Yeah, come on, you guys!
26:38Get those plants in!
26:40As the annual auction is about to begin,
26:42the annual bedding planting is almost over,
26:45and just in time for tea.
26:47Ow! Get off!
26:49Oh, there goes me nice biscuit.
26:51Yeah, you've done.
26:53Misses.
26:55Lovely job.
26:57How many have you put in, do you think?
26:59Well, this is 12,000.
27:01Too many.
27:03Don't know each. We should have kept count each.
27:05So, which bit hurts the worst at the moment?
27:09What, which bit of body?
27:11Yeah.
27:12Yeah, my knees.
27:14My hands, I'm getting cramp through squeezing pots.
27:19Is there a point when you can actually look back and appreciate what you've done,
27:22or is it just kind of too soon?
27:24A few months' time.
27:26Yeah, it's when we've gone back to our own bit,
27:28done a bit of that and then come back out and gone,
27:30yeah, it was all right.
27:32When it's grown a bit more.
27:34Yeah, and the canners have come out.
27:36And a few short weeks later,
27:39one traditional formal border.
27:41Canners, surrounded by perilla and gazanias,
27:45each in their place adding to the grand design.
27:49And one wild and free tropical-themed water garden.
27:53Tree ferns surrounded by a scramble of the tropics.
27:57Two very different gardens,
27:59contrasting in every way.
28:01But as for which was the most impressive,
28:03the most beautiful,
28:05well, decide for yourself.
28:09MUSIC
28:26£40, sir.
28:28Next time, hopes run high and prices run higher
28:32in horticulture's most exclusive auction.
28:35Q travels the world in a desperate search
28:38for one of the planet's most threatened trees
28:41and how to grow a giant lily.
28:44But I warn you, you're going to need a very, very big bathtub.
28:48Want to know more about Q?
28:50Then log on to the BBC website.