Gardeners World 2024 Episode 26
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello. Welcome to Gardener's World. I'm pruning my roses and yet I realise that for many people
00:21hacking away with a pair of shears in September is not really the standard way to prune roses
00:27but it works really well for the old shrub roses. These are the multi-stemmed roses which
00:33flower in June and go on into July but it's once only and that's it. But they go on growing
00:40after that and some of them really quite vigorously, particularly in a year like this year when
00:44it's been rather wet. So if you leave them, those vigorous growths can act as a sail in
00:49the wind and you get wind rock and that can disturb the roots and of course you don't
00:52see that but it will affect the way that it grows and flowers next year. The second
00:57thing is it tidies it up. So you just clip them back by about a quarter. Treat it like
01:04clipping a hedge. These are tough shrubs and they'll take it and this is the perfect time
01:10of year to do this particular job. I in fact go over them in February with a pair of secateurs
01:15and just remove any very old growth or crossing branches or anything that's obviously damaged
01:21and that's not a bad idea. Now this applies to the old classic roses. The modern shrub
01:27roses are still flowering and I've got lots here at Longmeadow and I wouldn't dream of
01:31cutting those back until the last flower has finished. So leave those alone. Just cut the
01:37old ones and if you're not sure which is which, well it won't hurt if you don't prune them
01:40at all. Now, coming up on today's programme, Rachel celebrates the colours of that late
01:49summer favourite, the aster. No matter the size of your garden, I mean we can all grow
01:54asters. Filling the space with colour, attracting pollinators and other beneficial insects right
02:01the way through the season. We explore a garden in Gloucestershire whose owner has created
02:07a haven reflecting his Tibetan heritage. I love cosmos because it reminds me of a Tibetan
02:16meadow. In Tibetan it's called kelpa sangu which is also a good kind of life, a flower
02:23of happiness. I feel like I'm kind of home. Adam discovers how the garden of Pekova House
02:30in Cambridgeshire has been restored to its former Victorian glory. What's the thinking
02:35behind it because you've got no pictures or any plans for this? No, it was pretty much
02:39a blank canvas here so we're using inspiration from paintings to design this Victorian inspired
02:46mingled border. And I shall be doing an experiment with garlic.
03:14I'm adding grit to what is already quite a gritty compost mix because we're at that
03:19time of year when planting spring bulbs is the biggest and central job. Really for the
03:26rest of this month and throughout October I try and get in all my spring bulbs both
03:31into the ground, into grass, into pots, except for tulips. So daffodils, irises, scillers,
03:39muscari and what I'm going to do today is some hyacinths. And for all these bulbs, drainage
03:46is key otherwise they can rot. Now we tend to think of hyacinths either as bedding or
03:53as indoor Christmas plants but to grow hyacinths for forcing for Christmas they need to be
04:00heat treated. So if you're buying them for that just make sure they're clearly stated
04:05that they're heat treated. Or they'll be like this and this is a variety called City
04:11of Harlem and it's a lovely soft yellow. It should match exactly the colour theme that
04:18I've got for the mound. And the way I'm going to use it is to put it in pots flanking the
04:23steps as they go up. Now I've got the pots here with good drainage and you can see that
04:31as well as these side drainage holes there's a big drainage hole at the bottom. And I'm
04:35going to put a crock in over that. So I'll do one in each pot and then put compost in.
04:47Half fill them like that and the bulbs should always be planted whether it's in a container
04:53or in the ground at least with the bulb's height of soil above it. So with this hyacinth
05:00bulb that means that much soil. If you can get it twice as high so much the better. And I'm going
05:07to put six in each pot. Hyacinths have quite a large flower head and as they come up you need
05:15room for them to grow. Otherwise what tends to happen is they splay out and they flop and then
05:21you need to put sticks in and support them. I will cover these over. A bit more in that one.
05:32Now I always dress them with grit. So I will just sprinkle a bit of grit over the top. It
05:41doesn't have to be too thick a layer. Like that. And that does a number of things. For a start it
05:48looks good. Secondly it stops the compost capping and capping is when it gets wet and then it dries
05:56out and you get a crust on the top and that can make it hard for the bulbs to push through. And
06:00finally as it rains the compost can splash up and muddy the petals and you have grit on top that
06:07keeps them clean. When I finish potting all these up I'll give them a good soak and then they won't
06:13need watering again until I start to see shoots appear probably next February or March. So I tend
06:20to put them underneath a bench let them get cold but don't let them get drenched. I would stress
06:31that there is going to be nothing to see here till next February at the earliest and probably
06:36as late as March. Now last September Rachel went to a garden near Worcester which has one of the
06:44stars of any autumnal border. The end of summer as it begins to slip into autumn is for me one
06:57of the most magical times of the year. You've got that lovely warmth of the low sunlight. The air's
07:04just beginning to cool but there are still so many beautiful plants to see and top of the list
07:10for me are Aster's Michelmus daisies which I absolutely adore. This garden in Worcestershire
07:20is home to a national collection of Aster's and Dr. Margaret Stone has curated very carefully the
07:27selection of plants in wonderful pastel colours and it's very much a living museum. I think Margaret
07:37for me the magic about Aster's is the way that they bridge these seasons and have such a long
07:43flowering period. What is it for you that really draws you to them? Colour. The density of colour
07:51you get at this time of year. Late September, October, I don't think there's anything to beat
07:57Michelmus daisies. A real bank of colour. I think you're right, the scene is just extraordinary.
08:03When we first moved to the garden I was recommended a nursery. Old Court Nurseries at the Picton
08:12Garden have a collection that is roughly called Autumn Aster's because they collect all of the
08:19different types of Aster's. I bought a collection of ten each year because I have an October
08:25birthday I treated myself to a few more and the collection gradually built up. Well you know I've
08:32got an October birthday too so maybe that is the sort of the appeal you know something to do with
08:37the excitement of this time of year. I know there are so many Aster's but the Novae Angliae and the
08:43Novae Belgiae. Tell me a bit about the difference between those two very popular groups of plants.
08:49Novae Angliae are easier for gardeners because they can be left in the ground for a long time
08:56and they still flourish whereas Novae Belgiae do need to be propagated more frequently by division.
09:03The Novae Angliae tend to be tall, they're mainly about five feet tall in good conditions.
09:10In my collection I've got one species and 92 cultivars.
09:15There are one or two that I don't have that are on my wants list.
09:27This one Margaret, this is really striking isn't it? This is one of my favourites.
09:33This is an old variety called Lion Beauty. I like the crimson circle that goes around the centre.
09:41Yeah it's really beautiful and again absolutely smothered in flower and a good compact size and shape.
09:49I think people do worry about mildew with Aster's, sort of that reputation. Do you find it to be a
09:56problem? Novae Angliae don't get mildew. Novae Belgiae can get mildew but it tends to come
10:05because they're not sufficiently well cultivated. If they are given sufficient moisture,
10:12divided sufficiently often, then they don't get mildew. So in other words if they looked after well.
10:19I started planting the collection in order of colours. Along here I have all the purples.
10:26Here is Bar's Purple which is a very old variety. I think it's a really good garden plant.
10:33It's shorter than many of the newer ones. It's lovely isn't it? It's really got a good compact shape.
10:39Yes. And very floriferous. I mean there's masses of flower on there. These are quite different.
10:46These are quite different. Quite different, very different. Well the one in the centre is Mandy's
10:52Choice which I don't always stay out late at night to watch my flowers but it's supposed not to
10:58close up at night. Whereas most Novae Angliae shut the flowers in late afternoon. So for flower
11:05arrangers. Yes that's got staying power. Yes that's good for flowering doors. That's very good to know.
11:12I think there's something about the softness of that pink as it sort of drifts off in the sun.
11:16It's just catching them. It's really enchanting actually.
11:24I must say when you see them like this, just the range of sizes, colours, form.
11:32Just wondering with the colours how pollinators react to those colours. Whether they're sort of
11:38more drawn to some than others. Honeybees I know you can see in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum
11:43so they see the plants quite differently from the way we see them. Certainly have a way of
11:48communicating with pollinating insects because obviously the centres are this lovely orangey
11:55goldy yellow and then once they're pollinated they turn brown don't they? So it's almost a message
12:00saying don't come here. I've been pollinated. Go somewhere else. I have to say just seeing this
12:08fills me with joy. Thank you.
12:15It's fascinating to see a collection of a single type of plant but I also really love looking at
12:22how Margaret uses those asters in more of a garden setting and here they're combined with
12:28all sorts of other perennials. There's the Vibinibonariensis just sort of bobbing around
12:33in the breeze and this wonderful dark gold Rudbeckia and that gold is then picked up in
12:39the centre of the aster flowers. So the whole thing just ties together and none of it's sort
12:45of overly staked and propped up and standing to attention. It's all a bit lax and flopping over
12:51and it has that softness and movement which is wonderful.
12:55Now here's something that certainly made me rethink where you can grow asters because
13:00conventionally they're supposed to want full sun and yet here we are. This is Aster Asran
13:07underneath a conifer with a few ferns and things dotted around. Absolutely happy as Larry. This
13:13lovely pale soft mauve really just illuminates the whole thing and it's just a wonderful
13:20This lovely pale soft mauve really just illuminates and brightens what could be a very
13:26dark corner. So dry shade is suddenly an asset.
13:39Margaret has filled her garden not only with an extraordinary national collection of Michelmas
13:45but asters of all kinds. Here they're self-seeded, they create this sea of colour.
13:51But no matter the size of your garden I mean we can all grow asters just choosing one or two that
13:57we really love and filling the space with colour, attracting pollinators and other beneficial
14:03insects right the way through the season.
14:26You can visit Dr Stone's garden and enjoy her asters for yourself because this Sunday afternoon
14:33it will be open as part of the National Garden Scheme and if you go to our website
14:37you can get the details of the hours when it's actually open and also the address and
14:41directions of how to get there. Now here in the Jewell Garden there's been quite a dramatic shift
14:47from summer to autumn and a lot of the colour has gone but there is still quite a lot of orange
14:53remaining, thank goodness. So you've got the orange from the David Howard dahlias, the tithonias which
14:59always are marvellous and at last the gingers are flowering. This is called Assam orange and
15:05normally it starts flowering well certainly by early August, sometimes late July, but this year
15:11the flowers didn't develop until the beginning of this month and they with a few other bursts of
15:16orange are just keeping the colour flowing for a few weeks longer.
15:37Good boy, sit. There's a good boy. This is the lawn that I sowed in May and you can see it's got
15:46established quite well and we've got a lawn which my grandchildren can now run up and down on which
15:52is one of the main reasons I've made it. The other reason which is equally important is that it is a
15:58green calm interlude between the busyness of the cottage garden and the exuberance of the Jewell
16:06Garden. But if you have a lawn of any kind, whether it's new like this one or a long established one,
16:13some work now will really improve it for next spring.
16:17The first thing to do is very simple. If you've got a wire rake just give it a good scratch.
16:28Give it a good rake to gather up any loose material and even on this young grass you can see
16:36what's happening. You can see that dead and loose grass, maybe little bits of moss, are all coming
16:43out. This is called thatch and by removing this you're removing really a mulch that's going over
16:49the grass and what you're going to be left with is some bare soil. Don't worry, you need that and you
16:55want it. This is not to make the lawn look better now, it's to make it look better next spring.
17:00Having done that you then need to aerate it.
17:06Now the simplest way to aerate a lawn is simply with a fork. Just put it in the ground and wiggle
17:11it about. Lawns get compacted, even the rain will compact them and certainly little feet running
17:20around or bicycles or footballs or wellington boots pushing a wheelbarrow and grass really
17:27doesn't like compaction. If you've got a big area of lawn you can hire aerators and the last thing
17:38to do is to seed over any bare patches. So simply just sprinkle the seed like that. It's good isn't
17:47it Ned? Look at that. It will germinate in days if the weather is at all mild and then it will stop
17:56growing round about the end of October. Don't mow it, try not to tread on it, leave it till next
18:03spring and then it's got to establish or grow away quickly and you can start to mow it next
18:08March or April and you won't even know that it's freshly sown. We're now going to a garden in
18:16Gloucestershire. It belongs to Tashi Donda and for him it is extra special because it includes many
18:23memories and associations of his Tibetan heritage.
18:44Sunflowers for me symbolise the sun and I'm a very symbolic person also. It symbolises
18:51the energy of sun and moon is male and female energy for me. You need both moon and sun to grow.
19:02When I was young and I don't know the word garden. If I knew the word garden or seen garden then
19:12I think I would love to have one even when I was young. I grew up in orphanage school in India
19:22for Tibetans who doesn't have parents. As a kid growing in the nature was kind of for me
19:31kind of relief because I feel very sort of discomfort in classroom and teachers and I was
19:39never good in studying and never got interest to it so the nature really comfort me.
19:49When we arrived in this garden 11 years ago in Stroud it was just full of concrete
19:55so there was nothing in this garden so much. It's only that crab apple
19:59that's the only thing in this garden which is a nature the rest was just yeah concrete.
20:10I don't go on holiday so much so I'm trying to bring places which I love to go in our family
20:21garden. So this is a tropical bed when I sit there on the chair have a cup of tea or coffee I felt
20:27like oh I'm in different space with seeing bananas and tree fern. We've got canna's here. The canna's
20:35are very easy to grow from seed. Growing from seed makes you cheaper and more plants.
20:41So most of these plants really need sun basically to flower to change color and that one albizia
20:48common name is Persian silk tree that is the plant which I say it goes to sleep in the evening
20:55because when the sun comes it opens the leaf when the sun goes down it close the leaves
21:01and it goes to bed like I will go to bed.
21:10I love my children to grow stuff so the younger one liked
21:14her to sow all my sunflowers every year. The sunflower she saw just grew and grew and grew
21:22and it was so tall so she jumped on my shoulder she raised her hands up she couldn't touch it
21:28and that's what she was amazed about what the seed can do.
21:33It's a it's a miracle it's a magnificent it's just yeah it just makes me happy.
21:41Yeah and then I'll take the Chinese money plant in and give it to the teacher.
21:46Oh that's nice that's beautiful yeah I'm sure she will like it.
21:51Yeah everything in this garden all the flowers are all sown by seed.
22:00I love seeing plants grow which teach me lots of things about patience and resilience or yeah.
22:07This is called Macronopsis lincum but the common name is called Himalayan poppy or blue poppy or
22:20Tibetan poppy. This plant is quite tricky to grow but you need lots of patience if you have yes you
22:26will manage to grow them. I failed three times I realized my mistake because in England we have
22:35lots of rain. Cold doesn't kill it but too much water can can kill this plant. I put some perlite
22:43underneath for well drained you put the soil you put the gravel on the top and then you sprinkle
22:50the seed on the top like you you're trying to mimic in the nature what how it does naturally.
22:56But they shouldn't be grown in the hot place like greenhouse or something so it needs shaded place
23:02cool if it's going to be heavy pouring weather I will cover the lid so it don't drench from the
23:10rain. This plant species is quite endangered now in the native habitat and I must give a hand to save it.
23:22So this is the Macronopsis bat I just created it's quite new and this is the second year grown
23:31from a seed. I feel very happy and to be proud and I feel it like it's it's touched my heart because
23:40it's from my hometown.
23:42So this is a chili plant three years old and I love growing chilies. This is called
24:05boot jolokia and the common name is called ghost pepper. If you like spicy chili then this is a
24:13plant you can go for it but I warn you it's very very spicy. I love it I love it I store it in
24:21I store it in oil so it keeps fresh and longer. Most people like to grow chili as an annual
24:29but if you look where they are from most of the northern Himalayan region chilies they are
24:35perennial so you can you can keep them alive if you have space and it will get more bushy and
24:42bushy and it will grow as a small bushy tree. To care for winter I cut all the leaves only the leaf
24:52not any branches because they will die naturally. Take it somewhere just above five degrees you
24:59store it in a light place not dark don't water too much and then that's it.
25:11I love cosmos because it reminds me of a Tibetan meadow. In Tibetan it's called kelpa sangu which
25:18is also good time good kind of life flower of happiness. I feel like I'm kind of home.
25:30So but power of growing for me it's healing it's calming in your nature and third thing very
25:37important it makes you grounded. Once you're grounded nothing can nothing can shift you.
25:45I do garden to give back to the mother nature which I'm grateful to be alive
25:51on this beautiful green planet that's why I love growing anything which gives you joy.
26:15I really like the way that Tashi expressed something which I suspect an awful lot of us feel
26:22which is that gardening grounds you and when you're grounded nothing can shift you
26:30and gardening doesn't solve many if any of life's problems but it does help you cope with them.
26:44My grapes this year have been better than they ever have been before and there are two reasons
26:52for that. The first is that I thinned much more radically than I've ever done before. I would say
27:00we put on the compost heap two-thirds of the bunches of grapes when they were green and that
27:07has meant that the ones remaining have had more chance to take in nutrients more light and more
27:14air. Now we've got plenty of grapes to eat far more than we can eat actually even though I've
27:19reduced them down. It's worth pointing out now look at that I mean it's just cornucopia fantastic.
27:28This by the way is a variety called black hamburg and it's a dessert grape so no good for making
27:33wine. The only slight issue with dessert grapes of any type is they tend to all ripen at the same
27:39time and they're difficult to store so you tend to pick them by degrees which means that sometimes
27:45they're not fully ripe but even when there's a touch of sharpness they're still really good
27:50and the luxury of growing your own grapes is really something. Now still to come on today's program.
28:00We visit a garden in Essex where water and wildlife are the main attractions. For me a
28:06garden's not really a garden unless it's got water in it. Water just brings so much life and so much
28:11interest. Adam explores the garden of a Georgian townhouse in Cambridgeshire that has been given
28:18a new lease of life by its dedicated team. So when was this put in? This was put in two years ago.
28:25Oh wow. The thinking behind this was to have a more resilient planting with pollinator-friendly
28:31plants using the same colour palette of blues and whites.
28:41But first we're going to visit one of your gardens
28:45and this comes from one of our viewers across the channel.
28:51Hello I'm Eric. Welcome to my garden here in Normandy, France. I've always liked to be in gardens
29:00even though when I was a child I didn't have much opportunity. So today I'm there as much as possible.
29:1012 years ago I decided to move to the countryside in order to create my own garden.
29:20Today I'd like to show you how I establish my perennial meadow using a no-dig approach.
29:28First I mowed the existing lawn. Next I laid down cardboard in two layers for better coverage
29:36ensuring all tapes and adhesives were removed. Then I covered it with a mix of
29:45mowed grass, hay and any other organic materials available from the garden following permaculture
29:54principles. Ideally I allow this setup to rest for several months before planting.
30:02So when it's time to plant I simply dig a small hole for each plant
30:08which minimizes labour and soil disturbance preserving local wildlife.
30:24To promote soil health during winter I chop the cuttings from grasses and hardy plants
30:32into small pieces and scatter them on the ground. This not only nourishes the soil but also helps
30:41retain moisture. It may be a little bit messy initially but after a month it blends seamlessly
30:50it blends seamlessly into the garden.
30:56Thanks for watching, à bientôt!
30:58So
31:18well thanks for sending us that Eric and that technique of no-dig growing through a layer of
31:24cardboard covered with hay or straw is one that I have used and I know that it works well but not
31:31as well as yours that looks really good. Now I'm going to try and experiment with growing garlic
31:38this year because I know a lot of people grow garlic from supermarket cloves. These are some
31:45cloves from my own garlic this year very small but perfectly tasty and here we have supermarket
31:53garlic and I have to say that only costs 55p so let's give it a go. I'm going to plant it into
32:00this window box and if you're planting anything in a container but certainly garlic
32:06it does need drainage holes. Okay so I've got drainage holes on the bottom and then I'm going
32:12to fill it full of a free draining compost. Garlic likes good rich soil but good drainage.
32:24Right spread that out.
32:33Whatever kind of garlic you use you need to buy it as a bulb and then break it up.
32:47A lot of people do grow garlic from supermarket cloves but if you want garlic that you
32:53know is virus free and is well suited to your growing conditions then probably
32:59it's a good idea to look for it from a reputable UK supplier.
33:06Select out the biggest cloves and then smaller ones do not plant.
33:10In an ideal world just use the biggest that you've got.
33:16The thing to note with any clove of garlic
33:19is that whatever size it is the flat bottom end is where the roots will come from the pointy end
33:25is where the shoot will come from and the pointy end is up and the flat bottom end is down and
33:30that's the way they should be planted. I'm putting these in a grid about four inches apart. Don't be
33:36tempted to plant them any closer than that. What we're trying to get is really nice big bulbs with
33:42lots of big cloves and the closer together they are the more they're going to compete for available
33:47nutrients and water. The reason why you plant garlic in autumn is because they need a period
33:59of cold to develop properly. At least a month and ideally two months between 0 and 10 degrees
34:06because if you don't get that you get this. This is one of my garlic from this year that hasn't
34:12broken into cloves. It's just one quite small bulb. Now cover these over.
34:31I will water these, put them outside. It is important not to put this down on a hard surface
34:37but to raise it up on anything so any excess moisture can run away rather than sitting in
34:43a puddle. I will plant the next batch of garlic into a raised bed and that will be a UK garlic
34:50which I know has adapted well to my garden and when they're both ready which will be around about
34:55the end of June early July I can harvest them and we can do a comparison. Now we're going to
35:03Essex to visit the garden of Jilly McNaughton.
35:18I'm Jilly and this is my wildlife garden which really is all about attracting as
35:22much biodiversity as possible. Oh I haven't seen this one before.
35:29Look that up.
35:33I've created lots of habitats for wildlife in my garden but there's one I love above all others.
35:40This is my wildlife pond. I really wanted it to blend with the garden and sort of merge with the
35:45grass so that it appears as a kind of pasture pond that you might find in a meadow. Like for me a
35:51garden's not really a garden unless it's got water in it. Water just brings so much life and so much
35:56interest. So my pond it's about 60 square meters, very shallow sloping margins, about a meter depth
36:02which means that amphibians can overwinter in the bottom of the pond.
36:08There's a lot of blanket weed but that's because it's quite a newly establishing pond it's only a
36:12year old and it is natural in the first stages. As the pond establishes and there's more competition
36:19from aquatic plants for the light and the nutrients you'll find that the blanket weed
36:24subsides. But I've already seen smooth newts laying their eggs into it so it's a really valuable and
36:29important stage in this pond's life cycle. In a smaller or more formal garden pond you might be
36:36tempted to remove the blanket weed. It's best to do it sort of October-November time when the
36:41fewest species are going to be affected and I would always not just leave it on the side but
36:46actually pick through it because the creatures can't really escape. Things like the grass and
36:51snails or dragonfly larvae and just pop them back in the pond.
37:04I've got ponds in my garden but I've also got a whole garden in my pond.
37:09I love seeing all of the different aquatic plants through the seasons, the different leaf forms
37:15and recognising the seedlings as they germinate. I've planted the pond to create a kind of diversity
37:23of structure in the marginal plants so these upright stems are perfect for
37:29emerging dragonflies and damselflies.
37:36I find the aquatic plants really beautiful.
37:38This is water plantain. It has a beautiful spikelet of white flowers. I've also planted flowering rush
37:46which has sort of pinky white flowers. This is brook lime which has beautiful little blue flowers
37:52and there's a lot of leaves at the water level which is really good for newt egg laying.
37:57Fringed lily just romps across the pond. It's established really well and it's got little tiny
38:02lily pads and it has a beautiful yellow flower with tasseled petals.
38:08I've also planted marsh sankfoil which is in flower now which has a lovely pink flower.
38:15So there's a real multitude of different plants that just add a whole new layer of interest to gardening.
38:26You can achieve a fairly natural looking pond even in a smaller garden.
38:30In a small nature pond I think things like watermill foil or hornwort are valuable.
38:36They're oxygenating plants and they provide a lot of cover for all kinds of insects.
38:48We get a lot of deer and rabbits and they nibble anything I plant
38:53but they can't nibble things in the pond.
38:55So this is a more formal traditional garden pond. At the moment it's a little bit sterile.
39:00It's not offering as much as it could to wildlife so I've bought some plants and I'm going to pot
39:06them up and put them in the pond. I've got this beautiful water forget-me-not.
39:10There's water avens, arrowhead which I've got here.
39:14I've got a little bit of a tree here which is a little bit of a tree.
39:17I've got a little bit of a tree here which is a little bit of a tree.
39:20There's water havens, arrowhead which has these beautiful arrow-shaped leaves
39:27and also flowers, and water mint which just smells gorgeous.
39:31I use hessian which has lots of little holes in
39:35which allows the plant to get it's roots out into the water but it retains the aquatic compost.
39:40I put a bit of gravel down so that it will help to weigh it down
39:46but eventually the sacking will biodegrade.
39:50Ready to put in the pond.
39:53I'm going to plant them on this marginal shelf,
39:56about 20 to 30 centimetres of depth.
39:59They don't want to be too deep.
40:01These will bulk up.
40:07I'll also be planting some floating aquatic plants.
40:10Really what you're aiming for is to get about 50% cover
40:15of plants over the water surface
40:17because that will help to out-compete the algae
40:22and blanket weed for nutrients and light
40:24and it just creates a bit of a better balance in the pond
40:29and hopefully will attract lots of different species
40:32as it establishes.
40:41What I'm seeking to create really is just a thriving,
40:44buzzing habitat that's just full of plants, full of interest.
40:48I'll never stop learning from the ponds.
40:51There's always going to be something new to identify,
40:54some new behaviour to observe.
40:58It's quite addictive.
41:00I'm not sure when I'll have enough ponds.
41:14The End
41:30Whilst there's no doubt that to get the most wildlife in your garden
41:34you need as many diverse habitats as possible,
41:38if you just want to make a quick fix and introduce wildlife almost overnight,
41:42certainly putting in a pond and some long grass
41:45is going to be the most effective way to do it
41:47and what Jilly's done is by making a pond surrounded by long grass,
41:50that's the gold standard.
41:52And I was also interested to see that she had blanket weed in the first year,
41:56which we don't have now in the pond, but I have had in the past
41:59and if you've never had a pond, blanket weed can be really thick.
42:03It can be like rolls of felt that you take out
42:06and of course creatures do get stuck in there.
42:12I'm skimming off a bit of duckweed here, which is much lighter
42:16and so by just leaving that on the side of the pond,
42:19water snails, any newts, beacles,
42:24can easily get out and get back into the water
42:27and then in a day or two I'll come and collect it up and put it on the compost heap.
42:32As a wildlife pond, this is fantastic,
42:35but I wanted to do more than that.
42:37I wanted it to look really good as a water feature in its own right
42:41and that means I need to cut back and thin.
42:44And the timing of the thinning is dictated
42:47as much by the needs of the wildlife as anything else.
42:50So I can't leave it till winter because that would disturb
42:52the hibernating creatures at the bottom of the pond.
42:55The best time really will be towards the middle and end of October,
42:59so I will get in and do a lot then.
43:02Things like the water lily, and you can see how it's mounted up,
43:06and that's a really good sign it needs thinning,
43:08should be left till next spring.
43:10So timing is important in these things.
43:13But actually I'm going to leave it alone now
43:15because I've got something else I need to be getting on with.
43:24Come on then.
43:26Come on.
43:40These are some cornflowers that I sowed at the beginning of August,
43:44and you can see they're now good-sized plants.
43:47They're in plugs, so they can't stay in here over winter,
43:52but I sowed them deliberately in August to plant out now
43:55here in the Paradise Garden.
43:57It's a variety called Double Blue,
43:59and as the name suggests, it's got really good blue flowers.
44:02In fact, you can just see there are a few little flower buds appearing,
44:06although you expect them to be at their best in June and July.
44:10But I wanted these to get ahead
44:12because my plan is to plant out here into the Paradise Garden,
44:17not to give me a display this autumn,
44:19but to fill a gap between the end of the tulips
44:23and the arrival of the roses.
44:26I'm hoping that these will flower in May to fill that gap.
44:31And the beauty of growing in plugs
44:34is it's really like having them in a pot.
44:36It makes them terribly easy to plant.
44:38All you have to do is just make a little slot and firm them in.
44:43And these are hardy.
44:45They will be fine over winter.
44:47Now, obviously, if it turns cold,
44:49and I have to say it's quite a chilly winter day,
44:51they won't do much growing.
44:53They won't get much bigger.
44:55But that's OK because it's not the top growth that you're interested in.
44:59It's what's happening underground.
45:01And the soil will take at least a month or two to cool down,
45:05and so the roots will go on growing.
45:07And even if they stop growing in the middle of November,
45:11they will pick up again in March,
45:13so you'll get this really good root system.
45:15And they'll grow fast and, as I say, hopefully fill that gap.
45:19Now, 35 years ago,
45:22I went to Whiz Beach in the heart of the Fens
45:25to visit the garden at the National Trust property of Peckhover House.
45:28It was fascinating. I can remember it very clearly.
45:30I've never been back, but I've often wondered how it might have changed.
45:34Well, Adam went to pay it a visit.
45:46Getting to have a nose around any garden, I think, is a complete joy.
45:52But when you visit one that was created centuries ago,
45:56there is a real depth to that story,
45:59and it makes me just want to explore.
46:04And the gardens at Peckhover House don't disappoint.
46:16They were created in the early 1800s by the Peckhover family,
46:21wealthy Quakers whose love of plants inspired them
46:25to design a series of horticultural gems
46:29with something to enjoy around every corner.
46:34What intrigues me is how much the garden today
46:37resembles how it was a couple of hundred years ago.
46:41Hello, Louise.
46:42Hello.
46:43Lovely to meet you.
46:44You too.
46:45I really wasn't expecting this.
46:47Has this been altered? Was it here from the beginning?
46:50So, this is a classical Victorian design,
46:53but actually none of this was here 30 years ago.
46:57It had been completely grassed over.
46:59Everything had been taken away.
47:01So, it was a bit of a mess.
47:03It was a bit of a mess.
47:05It was a bit of a mess.
47:07It was a bit of a mess.
47:09It had been completely grassed over.
47:11Everything had been taken away.
47:13The only evidence we had that there was anything else here
47:16was from photographs and paintings from the Peckhovers.
47:19So, you've created this from a photograph.
47:21That's right, yes.
47:23Brilliant.
47:25This is Alexandrina, with her cat and some friends,
47:28sitting around the rose garden in early 1900s.
47:32That's incredible.
47:33So, literally, you've got the water lilies.
47:36Was the pool found, or was it rebuilt?
47:38The stones had actually been used to build another pond in the garden elsewhere.
47:42So the railings, the pond and all the arches around the pond, they were all made new.
47:48But the water lily actually is from the original water lily that was in this photograph.
47:53How did that come about?
47:54There's a local resident who was given a piece of the water lily by the peck overs
47:59and she had had it in her pond all these years and when they recreated the rose garden,
48:05she gave a piece back.
48:06I bet she loves telling her friends that.
48:08It's a wonderful piece of history.
48:10And I love the cat.
48:12Yeah, we think that's Marmy.
48:14Marmy?
48:15Yeah, peck overs were very soft on cats.
48:17Oh, I think I'd have got on with them.
48:24On the other side of the garden is a modern border with a totally different history.
48:29According to the archive, a huge greenhouse once stood here,
48:34then a rockery and more recently Victorian style herbaceous planting.
48:42Unfortunately, with changing climates and changing practices,
48:46we're not irrigating our bedding in the summer.
48:48The bedding was struggling whenever it got really hot.
48:51So we ended up taking all that away and starting afresh.
48:56So when was this put in?
48:57This was put in two years ago.
48:59Oh, wow. And the thinking?
49:01The thinking behind this was to have a more resilient planting
49:05with pollinator-friendly plants using the same colour palette
49:10of the alpine rockery that was here.
49:13Lots of blues and whites linking back to that design.
49:17So you've got that ode to the past, but that's within the colour scheme.
49:20Yeah, that's right.
49:21Soil-wise, free draining.
49:23Yes, it's quite silty, free draining soil.
49:26Sunny.
49:28So the plants in here, things like the killias, the salvias,
49:31the geraniums, everything working well?
49:34Absolutely, yes.
49:35Everything that you can see is doing really well.
49:38We've got a lot of things, a lot of plants that are very resilient.
49:42They can take drought and they seem to be able to cope with our winters as well.
49:46The only thing that's not working very well is the line of roses
49:49that are behind and you can't actually see.
49:52I was sort of thinking, hopefully you'll say it and I won't have to.
49:56Yeah, they're doing terribly.
49:58So what was the thinking with those?
50:00Those roses, they were heritage roses.
50:02They were supposed to be a bridge between the planting at the front
50:05and the tall ramblers trained on the walls,
50:08but unfortunately they're really struggling.
50:10We're not sure why, but they've been getting some disease.
50:12They're not filling out and we've got to go back to the drawing board.
50:15Any ideas what you're thinking?
50:17Something shrubby, we're thinking maybe species roses.
50:20We'll train those in to create a bit of height at the back of the border.
50:26It's a huge question, I think, when it comes to looking after historic gardens
50:39and even moving them forward.
50:41What do you do when there's no photographic evidence or even a plan
50:46as to what an area should look like?
50:49Well, I think I'm just about to find out.
50:57I hope this is the right area.
51:00Yeah, that looks like the right one.
51:02There you go.
51:03Brilliant, thank you.
51:07Come on then, tell me what this is all about.
51:09I'm gagging to know because it's all laid out that side,
51:13but actually at the moment it looks more like a cutting garden.
51:17A work in progress, yes.
51:18All the plants you can see behind you are stock plants that we've been buying in,
51:22growing from seed and trialling in the garden.
51:26So they're all labelled, all lined in rows, so we know exactly what we've got
51:30and they're ready to be divided in autumn.
51:33This designer in me, how are they being laid out?
51:36What's the thinking behind it?
51:37Because you've got no pictures or any plans for this.
51:40No, it was pretty much a blank canvas here.
51:42We don't have any historical evidence for what used to be grown here.
51:46So we're using inspiration from Victorian paintings of gardens at the time
51:52by an artist called George Samuel Elgood.
51:56He painted lots of gardens from around Britain and across Europe.
52:00They were beautiful, detailed paintings of herbaceous borders
52:05and we're using inspiration from that to design this Victorian-inspired mingled border.
52:12You're creating herbaceous borders that are very deep, very big
52:16and you would think back to if they'd have done this before, how many gardeners?
52:22They had a big team. At one time they had at least 14 gardeners here.
52:26At least 14 gardeners, yeah. Fast forward, go on, what have you got?
52:30Today we've got two full-time staff and about 20 volunteers.
52:34Yeah, which...
52:35So we couldn't do it without them.
52:37It's absolutely essential to keep a garden of this sort of complexity going.
52:53Every time I visit one of these gardens, I go home a happy man.
52:59And that's not just because of the beauty in front of me.
53:03The people that you meet care, they want to nurture,
53:07make sure this is here in another couple of hundred years' time.
53:11And you can see from the changes that are being made, we live in a different world.
53:17Gardens cannot stand still and I think that is what makes them special.
53:34BIRDS CHIRP
53:46It is astonishing to see the changes that have been made since I was last there.
53:52But what was there when I went 35 years ago was a marvellous orangery
53:58and I remember a fernry, you went down steps into it.
54:01And in the orangery, they had the oldest oranges growing in Britain,
54:06the oldest surviving ones, I think they were 300 years old or more.
54:09And the gardener at the time gave me a cutting from that orangery.
54:14And this is it.
54:16And a couple of years ago, it was blasted by cold and all signs of life went
54:21and I thought I'd lost it.
54:23But you can see it's regrowing and I think it's going to survive and be fine.
54:27So this is my little piece of peck-over house here at Longmeadow.
54:33Now, I've still got some more of these cornflowers to plant,
54:36but while I'm doing that, here are your jobs for the weekend.
54:50I've said it before and I'll probably say it again before the year is out,
54:54but deadheading is one of the most relevant and important things you can do at this time of year.
54:59Anything that's in flower, whether it be dahlias, cosmos, roses, tithonias,
55:04will go on producing flowers if you remove the spent flower heads.
55:10And don't just cut them off at the top.
55:12Go down the stem until you come to a pair of leaves or another bud and cut there.
55:25Now is the time to plant out biennials like these honesty.
55:29And that applies to foxgloves, wallflowers, forget-me-nots,
55:34all plants which have established their roots and foliage now but won't flower until next spring.
55:41Put them where you want them to flower and they will grow away
55:44and get nice strong roots ready to perform at their best as soon as spring comes around.
55:50And of course, water them in well.
55:55Unlike apples, pears do not ripen on the tree.
55:59It's a two-stage process.
56:01So at this point, you need to test them by carefully lifting them to the horizontal.
56:07And if they come away in your hand, treat them as gently as an egg
56:11and then take them to either a dark place to store
56:16or put them on a sunny windowsill to speed up the ripening process
56:20or put them on a sunny windowsill to speed up the ripening process
56:24so that they're lovely and juicy and ready to eat.
56:35I think by and large this summer has been good in the vegetable garden.
56:38The weather may not have been perfect but vegetables haven't minded too much.
56:42Although I have to say my Florence fennel is starting to bolt.
56:45It's really tricky Florence fennel.
56:47It responds so sensitively to changes in water and temperature.
56:54Chard always does well. It's doing particularly well this year.
56:57And the great thing about chard is it's one of those vegetables
57:00that you can grow almost 12 months of the year.
57:03I wouldn't be without it. I absolutely love it.
57:05But my favourite vegetable, particularly at this time of year
57:09in early autumn and really up through to Christmas, is radicchio.
57:14It's a form of chicory.
57:16Sow the seed in spring, plant them out
57:20and then they develop a mass of green leaves that are totally inedible.
57:25They're really bitter.
57:27But what they're doing is they're feeding the roots
57:30and then it starts to heart up rather like a cabbage
57:33which as the weather gets colder turns red.
57:38So there you have what looks like a sort of glorified lettuce.
57:44But if we start to take off these green leaves...
57:51I hope, having done this, there is a red heart in here.
57:54Some of them are more white than red, some of them more red than white,
57:58some of them have the red on the inside of the leaf.
58:01But if I cut through this,
58:04you can see that it's got that red and white interior.
58:08And all the red and all the white is delicious.
58:12Well, that's it for this week.
58:15Next week, Frances will be with you at Powderham Castle
58:19and you can join her at 8 o'clock.
58:21And I'll see you back here in Longmeadow in a couple of weeks' time.
58:24So until then, bye-bye.