The Beechgrove Garden 2025 episode 4
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Beechgrove Garden. On the programme, gardening vertically if you only have
00:20a small space and a different way to water your tomatoes. Coming up, don't let a shortage of space
00:28get in the way of your gardening. Off on holiday, automatic irrigation when you can't do it yourself.
00:36How to shape a Japanese garden. Flowering cherry trees are quite easy to care for. The only thing
00:43we have to be careful about is pruning. And shrubs that the local wildlife will love.
00:53Well Ruth, before all that we're heading into the trials area or should I now say
00:57the presenter's veg competition plot. I've heard all about what Lizzie's up to,
01:02we've found out what Callum's doing. Ruth, the bed is yours.
01:06Ah, I like that. That's good. Okay, so Brian, anyone who knows me knows that I love a theme.
01:13And what I really wanted to do was pay homage to where I grew up, which was Shetland. So my theme
01:18is the modern crofter. Crofting is the traditional farming practice from the Highlands and Islands,
01:24so I wanted to kind of adopt that. But I had a little bit of a scientific twist because that
01:29is what I'm all about. So what I'm doing is I'm using a four crop rotation system. Right. So here I've
01:36got my legumes where I've got my peas and a little secret weapon that I'll tell you about in just a
01:40minute that I think Carol might like. And then here I have my leafy veggies. So this is going to be where
01:46my kale goes, parsley, all kind of like your really high nitrogen crops. Okie doke. This is where I've
01:53got my root veg. So root veg need much more phosphorus than the other crops to get really
01:59healthy root systems going. And then up here I have got my heavy fruiters. So these are going to have a
02:06high potassium requirement. So I've got my strawberries and I'm also going to try some winter squash.
02:11So you're using all these practical words. Does that mean that you've done some preparation at
02:15the soil beforehand or are the plants pretty much going to take care of themselves? I think for now
02:20they're going to be fine. So I'm going to wait another couple of weeks before they go in the ground
02:23anyway. But over the season I will start to fertilise based on their requirements. Like I said,
02:29these are going to need more phosphorus. These ones are going to need more potassium. But the idea behind
02:34crop rotation is that if we were to do this again next year I would move them on one. So where your
02:40legumes they've added loads of nitrogen. So with my brassicas that's where I would plant them next
02:45year. And they're going to benefit from that. Exactly. Well what about this secret weapon use
02:49because I do not recognise this wee plant down here. Well when I was thinking about crafting I thought
02:54what could you use all this produce for and a Scottish institution is lentil soup. So I love lentil soup.
03:02I thought why not give it a go adding some lentils. These are lentils. These are lentils.
03:07I haven't seen these grown in Scotland before. No. I've never grown them. I'm not even sure George
03:12Anderson has tried growing them yet. Neither have I. Well great way to start on national television.
03:16Well done. Go big or go home. I think that is the plan here. The thing is is that they are a cool
03:22season crop. Right. So I thought why not give it a go and I think Carol might like the something a bit
03:27different you know. So these are going to go back up in the cold house just to get really nicely
03:32hardened off before I bring them out properly. Thank you. But I do have some more seed just in case.
03:38Best of luck to you Ruth. I think after listening to all this you're definitely my favourite. I'm
03:42pretty sure you're going to do well. I've got Kirsty here next week so I'm going to hear her plans but
03:47for just now I'm going to leave you to it because I'm off to the wildfire garden. Thank you very much.
03:50Through making our own compost, harvesting rainwater or avoiding the use of chemicals I like to think
04:01in the whole of Beech Grove we're gardening sustainably. But in this little corner known as
04:06the wildlife garden I like to think all the plantings that we have in here and the practices
04:11that we do are particularly beneficial to wildlife. Now a few weeks ago we had to get rid of some dying
04:19conifers. We had a decision then what do we do? Do we have the the whole effort and the expense of
04:25taking the whole tree out including the root system and then having to put all that compost back in
04:31or being in the garden for wildlife? We just decided to work with the stump that we've got. So I love the
04:37way that the arborists have just made this little coronet cut at the top so it makes that jagged
04:42effect as if the trees blown down in the wind. And already before all this the ivy was scrambling up
04:49it so that's a brilliant little habitat that we've got there. And that's perfect for ants and for beetles
04:56even bats for coming in and feeding off of. As you can see we've got lots of space and I think it's
05:02important that we get some plants in here now because we need to restore that cover that's been lost.
05:07Today I'm wanting to focus on some shrubs but this time as important sources of food for our bees,
05:13our butterflies, other pollinating insects and of course the wild birds.
05:27As you can see behind me we've got a temporary fence. Now hopefully the ivy and the honeysuckle
05:32that'll soon colonise it all but I must admit the best thing that I've ever seen for benefiting
05:38wildlife into my garden was putting in a hedge. One of the best choices for hedges that I would
05:44recommend is the hawthorn. In a few weeks time it's going to be covered in clusters of fragrant white
05:51flowers. These flowers are going to be full of pollen and nectar that the bees, the butterflies, other
05:56pollinating insects they are going to devour and then they're going to slowly develop into dark red
06:02fruits or haws that the wild birds are going to enjoy later on. Another plant that does exactly
06:09the same thing is the cotoneaster. Now I think these are very underrated shrubs. They're perfect for
06:15the Scottish climate being very tough and they're very reliable at producing berries. This one's
06:20cotoneaster horizontalis. I do love the heron bone structure of the branches. It makes a brilliant low wall
06:28shrub. I think it's going to look just lovely at the bottom of this log pile here and it's going to
06:33scramble a bit.
06:43I think the term wildlife gardening sometimes conjures up images of jungles in folks heads.
06:49That's certainly not for me. I do want to benefit wildlife but I want to do so in a style that suits
06:54me and incorporates some of the things that I like. So I do have a variegated version of the common holly
07:00here. Again can make a brilliant hedge or a middle or back of the border plant but it's also brilliant
07:07for creating topiary. So here I'm going to tie in the central leader and I'm going to let it grow
07:14up to the desired height and then I'm going to pinch off some of these side shoots and then I'm going to
07:19create a wee lollipop. It's called a standard. It's like a ball on a bare stem. Again to help the wildlife
07:26I'm going to get the lovely creamy white flowers at the beginning of the year and they're slowly going
07:31to form their lovely clusters of red berries. But this is a female version of the plant. To get those
07:37berries I need a male plant as well. Doesn't mean you need to find room for two plants in your garden.
07:43A holly growing somewhere nearby will do perfectly and together they'll both form part of a pollination
07:49in one corridor as all those insects swoop through from one garden to another.
07:58You'll recognise this. A heather just now but this is the tree heath. Lovely little white flowers. Look
08:04at them. There's absolutely millions of them just now. Perfect if you're gardening on acidic soil.
08:10And then the last plant that I want to introduce. This silvery glaucus foliage will work anywhere in
08:15this garden. This is a lavender. The bees, the butterflies love the flowers. And if I plant this
08:22close to the path as I walk past and gently brush against the foliage, that aroma is just going to
08:28fill the air. Now despite the size of these flowers that we have here, they're small, they're tiny, the insects
08:35can still get access. So the flowers of the shrubs that I've chosen today, they maybe have small flowers,
08:41but they're what we call single flowers. They're not those doubles, those big blousey ones. So the
08:47insects can still get access. When the double blooms, the pollen and the nectar parts, they join together
08:53to form additional petals and it makes it a lot more challenging for the insects to get access and get
08:59that important food. Now, as you can see, signs of spring are all around us and especially so in Irene
09:08Berry's Japanese style garden in the borders. Welcome back to my sanctuary in the Scottish borders.
09:27The last time you were here, it was late summer and the garden was full of colour.
09:34Well, today it's early spring. It's still quite chilly. This beautiful cherry tree,
09:41Puno's acolade, started blooming two weeks ago. It's now past its prime. It's fast thinning and
09:48every day I could see more petals falling to the ground, but it's still beautiful because the way that it
09:54sheds its petals is it's like a little show of stardust and they fall to the ground. It just gives a
10:04different feel to the garden and that's another way to enjoy it. Usually the flowers steal the show,
10:12but the park itself is also very beautiful. If you take a look at it closely, it has this horizontal
10:21like pattern and it's quite amazing. It helps the tree to breathe and altogether I find the
10:29flowering cherry tree a great specimen to have in the garden, even a small space like mine because it
10:37reminds you how precious and how fragile life is, but also how glorious.
10:53So while the prunus acolade is past its prime, here we have a weeping cherry tree that's just coming
11:06into bloom. This is called the prunus kikushidare sakura. It's teals weeping tree and it's a compact
11:16weeping tree and it looks great in a small garden, especially if it's a Japanese style garden. And as
11:24you can tell, it has a natural arching branch. Flowering cherry trees are quite easy to care for.
11:33The only thing we have to be careful about is pruning. They are prone to diseases. They are prone to
11:40silver leaf or bacterial canker. So best to prune as little as possible. The usual advice is to prune
11:49in summer when the wound cuts heal fastest and also to cut diseased, damaged or crossing branches that
11:57might cause wounds as they rub against each other and be an entry point for infection. So in my first
12:04few years of growing flowering cherry trees, I followed the advice diligently. And as you can see,
12:12I've done some here. And I realized over time that maybe there's another way to do it because it seems
12:18such a shame to cut back perfectly healthy branches that will give beautiful buds. So what I did was I have
12:28managed to improvise and find a way to do it by using twine that I gently tie around the branch and I
12:37weigh it down with a rock. And I hide this rock underneath the ferns. And I find that it's quite
12:45useful because it keeps its shape. At the same time, you don't sacrifice the branches and you don't
12:50unnecessarily expose the tree to possible infection. And at the same time, when it comes to spraying,
12:57and when it comes to full bloom, there are a lot more buds for us to enjoy.
13:09This time of year, my wildlife pond
13:13is a constant source of wonder. The news have returned to the ponds after hibernating
13:18and the frogs have visited to spawn. And this year, we not only have one clump of spawn,
13:25but two more clumps. Usually, because where there are newts and where there are dragonfly nymphs,
13:32the tadpole has a very small chance of survival. But with three clumps, I think, hopefully,
13:38they will have a better chance. And I created a space here, a shallow part of the pool,
13:45where there's grasses for the tadpoles to escape, as well as planters and rocks and pebbles,
13:51which gives them hopefully a better chance of survival. And even if two or three make it,
13:59that's good for nature and that's good for us.
14:01And we'll be back in Irene's garden later in the year. But for now, it's time to start thinking
14:10about tomatoes. I'm here in the 8x6, where over the years, Carol has grown many fantastic crops.
14:19Now, thinking of Carol, what I wanted to do was an observation, because I know that she loves to do it.
14:25So, from my observation, what I'm looking at is two different methods of growing tomatoes.
14:32So, over here, I have the traditional grow bag. And what I'm going to do is compare that to a
14:38hydroponic method of growing. And for my variety, I've chosen croquini. Croquini is meant to,
14:46allegedly, be able to produce 300 fruits per plant. So, I thought it would be a really good test.
14:53So, I'm going to be looking at the number of fruits, but also how much water is being used
14:59in each of the systems, just to see if there's a difference. So, hydroponic growing requires some
15:06form of bucket. Now, this is a passive version of hydroponics. So, no electricity required at all.
15:14The key with your container is to make sure that it is completely opaque, so no light can get through.
15:21If light gets through, you're going to start getting algae growing and it can cause all sorts of problems
15:26with your root system. So, getting your container right is the first step. Now, within here, what I've
15:32already added is a nutrient solution. So, this is just water mixed with a generic liquid feed for now,
15:38high in nitrogen just to get my tomatoes growing. Later in the year, I will change that to a typical
15:44tomato feed. So, really high in potassium to really help those fruits and flowers come on.
15:52In the top of the container, what I've got here is what's called a net pot. Now, net pots
15:58specifically have these holes in them. Now, that's twofold what they do. One is to let oxygen in to
16:05really help that root system, but the other is to let the roots grow out because the roots will eventually
16:10grow into that nutrient solution. But in the meantime, another key step is to make sure that
16:16you have a wick system. So, this is just fabric cord that is really readily available online,
16:21and you just add that to allow the water to move up through capillary action towards the root systems.
16:28So, what I've got here is my corkini tomato, and I'm just going to plant it in here. Now, to start with,
16:35I have some sphagnum moss. Now, you can use loads of different substrates. You can use a bit of moss.
16:41You could even use sponges to really keep costs down, or you could use something like a clay pellet,
16:47because all it's going to do is just hold the plant up and allow that root system to penetrate down
16:52into that nutrient solution. So, just lining the base there with the sphagnum moss. Now, if you do
16:59use sphagnum moss, just make sure that you pre-wet it. It has a really high moisture content,
17:05once it's wet, and it'll hold on to that, which will really help to establish your plants going in.
17:12Now, I think this is going to get a bit messy, so bear with me. Now, I'm just going to try and take
17:16my tomato out. Oh, it's coming out all right, actually. And I'm just going to place it into
17:21the net pot. And what I want to now do is just use the moss to create anchorage. So, I'm just going to
17:29place that around my tomato. So, I mentioned feeding earlier, and that's kind of the key to
17:37hydroponics, is just making sure that the plants have everything that they need. So, they need water,
17:41they need food, and they need oxygen. So, when you're filling your tank, just make sure to leave space
17:48between the base of your net pot and the water, because that creates an oxygen layer that allows
17:54the root systems to stay aerobic, because otherwise you're going to start seeing a variety of different
18:00problems in your plants. Now, this system doesn't have to be used just for tomatoes. You can use it
18:07for loads of different plants. I've even tried it with bulbs, and it actually works really well.
18:12Lettuce works nicely, herbs, onions, all sorts of things. It's a really versatile method of growing,
18:19that just means you don't have to water it as often, because everything that the plants need
18:23is stored in here. The good thing as well about this container being black is that it also will
18:30retain heat as well. So, it'll create this really nice warm environment to set our tomatoes off right.
18:36And we'll see what happens. Next, we visit a Fife estate where the Backhouse family has been
18:42cultivating daffodils for generations.
18:44The Backhouse Rossi estate in Fife is home to the national collection of Narcissus Backhouse cultivars.
18:54These daffodils were bred by generations of the Backhouse family,
18:58dating back to the 19th century. Today, the collection is preserved by Caroline Thompson.
19:06So, this part of the east side of Scotland is well known for growing daffodils.
19:14And an ideal location to bring our family's horticultural history and grow it initially as a living library.
19:25And we also run Scotland's daffodil festival.
19:28So, we're here in the wall garden at Backhouse Rossi, and here we really have the family's living history in daffodils.
19:47William Backhouse was the first in the dynasty. William Backhouse's Narcissus are known around the world,
19:57emperor and empress, and Weardale Perfection. His children, Henry, created this beautiful little
20:07Triandrus Narcissus here called Niveth. His son, Robert, created lots of daffodils, but this one is really rather lovely.
20:20It's a division four double called Glowing Phoenix. And Robert married Sarah Backhouse.
20:28Sarah Dodgson, who became Sarah Backhouse, and this is one of hers. It's called Little Witch. It's quite sweet.
20:34It's a cyclamenius. You can almost imagine this little witch flying through the sky on her broomstick.
20:40It's rather lovely. And her most famous creation was the first two pink daffodils. This one was named by her husband Robert
20:52after her death in 1923. This one is called Mrs. R.O. Backhouse. The backhouses themselves created over 900
21:03cultivars, of which Sarah Backhouse created 600. But after she died, a lot of her achievements were
21:13attributed to R.O. Backhouse, because the missus was being lost. Whereas now we can all realise just
21:21what an amazing person she actually was.
21:33So the science of hybridisation is quite complicated, but what we're doing here isn't. And indeed, I think
21:46anybody could enjoy hybridising daffodils in their own garden, recreating what Sarah Backhouse would have
21:53been doing in her glass house all those years ago in Harropshire. We're looking to create a daffodil which
22:01picks up some of the characteristics of this rather pretty cyclamenius here and one of Sarah's own
22:10narcissus here. So what we do, we look for a narcissus where the pollen is ripe and we remove one of the
22:23anthers, gripping the stamen. And you can see this pollen is ripe. The stigma here is ripe. You can just see the
22:35little spot in the centre. And all we do is brush the pollen carefully onto the stigma.
22:44And that's how easy it is. We might, and I have done this, put a fine mesh bag over this to make
22:57sure that the work that we've done, the bees don't undo. But what we'll be waiting for
23:06is to see this seed pod ripen and swell. And the seeds within it would be growing to about four times
23:17their size. Blackened, shiny, and ready for planting. I plant them immediately into a seed mix
23:27in a polystyrene box with a lid at least six to eight inches deep to give the narcissus a chance
23:35because bulbs grow down and that would be long enough for them. A seed tray is a little bit too
23:41shallow. Year one we expect to see leaves that look like grass coming up. The second year two
23:51actual leaves coming up, we would probably plant out then, possibly keep in for year three. And by year
24:02four or five, I would expect a flower to be flowering the way it would always flower. And a new daffodil created.
24:21From country estates to tiny spaces. If you're short on space and you really want to have a garden,
24:33all is not lost. You could think about growing vertically instead. Vertical growing is absolutely
24:39fantastic if you have a balcony or if you have an unloved wall or fence like this one, or if you wanted
24:46to create a backdrop to a patio. So this is a purpose-built planter. This one has a really good
24:53watering system. Water it right from the top and it'll just trickle down and it tells you if you need
24:59to water any more. The depth is quite nice too. These ones are quite deep. Some of the planters that you
25:04get can be quite shallow, so you do need to be mindful of the plants that you're going to put in it
25:08just to make sure that they've got enough space to really thrive. What I've chosen to add into mine
25:14are some trailing lobelia. So I've added these here and dotted them around kind of randomly.
25:20They're going to just fill out and create loads of really beautiful greenery. I've also added some
25:25allisum. This is highly scented. It'll create this really nice aroma whilst we're just sitting
25:31enjoying a cup of coffee. But I want it to be pretty and productive, so I'm going to add some food in
25:37here too. These are great for things like cut and come again lettuce. You could also create a herb garden
25:42out of it. It's really really versatile. What I'm going to do is add some strawberries. Strawberries go
25:49really well in these systems because they've got a very small root system and even as they develop
25:54they don't need a lot of depth to them. So something like this is absolutely ideal.
25:59Planting them couldn't be easier. You're going to just pop them straight in, a little bit of a sort of
26:06jaunty angle so that they want to naturally fall outwards. Similar to a hanging basket really. And
26:12we're just going to backfill and firm in. And that's all we need to do. You might want to do a
26:18little bit of a watering just to settle them in, but as I said you can water these ones from the top
26:23and they just naturally fill in and there's a wick system inside that soaks the water up and makes it
26:28accessible to the plants. Time now for an update on a Scottish garden classic. Great blooms come in
26:40a number of shapes, colours and sizes. Yes, it's time to get our dahlias started. Now they're tender
26:46plants so we don't want to put them out in the ground too soon. Now I'm looking at maybe mid to late
26:52May once the risk of frost surpass. But if we get our tubers and pot them on just now we could be
26:57getting blooms something like six to eight weeks sooner. So first of all get your tubers and you
27:03want to get a pot that's got a good size. We don't want to be ramming it in and damaging the tubers,
27:09which when you get ones the size of this could be a bit of a problem. A wee bit of compost on the
27:14bottom and then gently fill it up round the side until we get our pot looking like so. Now as you can
27:20see this is last year's stem. We don't want that covered because there's every chance a wee bit of
27:24rot could get into there. After that we want to keep it somewhere light and frost free. Give it
27:31one good watering and then just wait. As soon as we start to see green shoots of life that's when
27:36we'll start giving it a wee bit of more water. Now this year I'm also keen to have a go at growing
27:42chrysanthemums. I must admit I've never been too tickled by them before but there are some great
27:48varieties out there so I'd love to do a wee bit of growing of these this year. So we got these as wee plugs,
27:52maybe a couple of weeks ago. You can see the growth that's happening here. I'm now going to count one,
27:58two, three, four, five leaves and I'm going to pinch out the top and then that's going to encourage a
28:04whole load of side shoots and then that means more blooms.
28:12Well that's all we have time for for now. Next week Kirsty will be with us. She's going to be looking at
28:18chillies and also preparing containers for this year's sweet peas. But don't forget we are also
28:23an eye player. Just search for Beach Grove and we pop up. But for now it's bye from us. Bye.
28:53Bye.