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  • 5/31/2025
Gardeners' World Season 58 Episode 11
Gardeners' World S58E11
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Transcript
00:00Hello.
00:29Welcome to Gardener's World.
00:32I'm putting in sticks for my climbing beans.
00:37This is something that I enjoy actually because the structure is as much part of the vegetable
00:42garden as the beans themselves.
00:44And climbing beans need support.
00:48So I'm building a framework, a sort of tented framework.
00:56The ground is really hard, it's been very, very dry.
00:59Right, that's one side and then we'll do the other side.
01:02If the ground is really hard, a bar of some sort is invaluable because you can get in
01:10there and make a bit of a hole for them to go into.
01:32What I'm doing now is tying each of these into pairs.
01:37I will then put a bar across the top and then I will put struts diagonally and the whole thing
01:43is surprisingly rigid.
01:45And I would say that whatever you're planting that needs a support, get the support properly
01:49in place first and then plant.
01:51Otherwise, if you do it the other way around, there's a risk of damaging the plants.
01:55Now, coming up on today's program, Rekha shows us that anyone can grow delicious vegetables
02:03and also how to cook some of our own favorite ingredients.
02:09These are my peas.
02:11I grew them not for pods, but for the pea shoots.
02:15Pea shoots are very rich in nutrients.
02:18We meet a wildlife cameraman who has become captivated filming the secret life of bees
02:26in his own garden.
02:28Each plant here has a purpose.
02:30The primroses are massively important to the hairy footed flower bees.
02:35To dandelions, you will see bees on them just getting a drink.
02:40Arek meets a grower in Suffolk who is producing commercial cut flowers in her own garden.
02:47I'm very excited now.
02:48We're going to pick flowers.
02:50Well, Arek, I know you've had your eye on the fabulous apricot parrot tulips.
02:54Look at that beauty.
02:55Amazing.
02:57OK.
02:58I think now relunculus would be fabulous in here.
03:00You're going to have some ideas.
03:01Yeah, definitely.
03:03And a former model tells us why she left the catwalk to retrain and eventually become
03:10a head gardener.
03:12I don't have any regrets from leaving the industry because rather than just being placed
03:17into a story, I get to create the story and I think that is much more fulfilling.
03:24The temple has a great view to see the story of a place for a great friend.
03:28We can see it all over.
03:30We can see it all over.
03:31It's just like, I think it's really not going to be able to see it.
03:34We're going to have a great view of time.
03:36It's going to be a great view of time.
03:38It's going to be a great view of time and, really, a great view of time.
03:41Here's a great view of your dog.
03:43What is it?
03:45Yeah.
03:46There's a real sense that the seasons have shifted.
04:00We've gently moved from spring into early summer.
04:04So it's all changed here in the Jewel Garden.
04:06The purple sensation alliums are still flowering and still looking good, but the tulips have
04:11finished.
04:12Cleaned out all the pots, and now I want to plant them up with their summer display.
04:17And I say summer display, but this has got to look good from the 1st of June right through
04:22till November.
04:23And when you're planning a big pot like this, the cliché is you need a pillar, a filler,
04:29and a spiller.
04:30A pillar to give you height, a filler to give you body, and then a spiller to hang over the
04:34sides.
04:35And my pillar is going to be this.
04:38This is a ginger, acai am orange.
04:41It's got fantastic plumes of orange flowers, but they won't appear till late July, August
04:47at the earliest, and could be as late as September.
04:49However, it is a little bit large, this, so I'm going to divide it.
04:54And you could do this with a saw, you could do it with a very sharp knife, or you can just
04:57do it with a spade.
04:59And this is where you have to be brave.
05:04That's a beautiful day today.
05:15Okay Ned, jacket's coming off, we mean business.
05:18So you can see we've got really fleshy roots on that.
05:26And if I put this in the middle like that, the roots of this will fill the pot.
05:32So give them room to grow, and then they will perform above ground.
05:37So the next thing to do is to put plenty of compost in.
05:41This is a mixture of about one third garden compost, almost a half bought peat-free compost, and
05:52then the rest is grit.
05:53So it's a rich mix, never filled to the top of the pot.
05:57Leave at least an inch so that you can water.
06:00Now we come to the filler, and I've got two actually.
06:04This is a cosmos called Robenza.
06:06It's not the tallest cosmos, but it's perfect for pots like this.
06:10We don't want it rising right up, but what we do want is a mass of flower.
06:14Now the next one is a petunia.
06:17And this is almost black.
06:20We've got just three of these.
06:25This is a Calabracoa Cancan Double Wine Red, but you may well know it as Million Bells.
06:33And it's a spiller.
06:34And one of the beautiful things about this, it just keeps on producing a mass of flowers.
06:38And like all spillers, you want to plant it at the edge of the pot.
06:44Now this is an Ivy-leafed Pelargonium, and they spill.
06:49This is called Moonfair Burgundy, which I adore.
06:53Now this is the good bit.
06:55And the easy bit, as it happens, plantains.
06:57These are annuals, so you don't need to leave a lot of room for future growth.
07:03Just pack them in, and we're going for high voltage, maximum performance.
07:08Now I think these will look really dramatic and strong and fit in with the whole theme of the
07:19Jewel Garden.
07:20But it's not edible.
07:21And growing anything that you can just sow the seed, grow them on, harvest, cook, eat,
07:28and share with family and friends is, I think, one of the great joys of gardening.
07:34And Rekka gives us a masterclass in how to do this to best effect.
07:44I've always been passionate about growing my own produce and creating delicious dishes.
07:49So this year, I'm going to show you how to sow the ingredients,
07:53grow them on, and turn them into simple and tasty meals.
07:57From my favourite vegetables to experimental herbs and spices, my aim is to feed my family
08:05nutritious homegrown vegetables throughout the season.
08:09And you can too.
08:12To achieve this, we need to be aiming to grow three essential food groups.
08:18Carbohydrates from plants like potatoes and artichokes.
08:21Proteins from legumes such as peas and beans.
08:24And dense nutrients.
08:27And vitamins from sumptuous leafy greens and fruits.
08:32Together, we'll be growing a whole host of vegetables,
08:35right here in my garden, in the Sunny Peak District.
08:42Now, you probably will be wondering, why am I growing potatoes in a pot,
08:47when you can get them quite cheap in a supermarket?
08:50It's not about the cheapness.
08:52It's about the quality, the taste, the nutrients.
08:56I know what's gone into these.
08:58And that's all it takes, is just a bucket and a few spuds.
09:06I'm growing one of my favourite first early varieties,
09:10Red Duke of York.
09:11But it needs topping up with peat-free compost as it grows.
09:19Potatoes grow on the stem.
09:21They don't just grow at the base of the plant.
09:23And by topping it up with compost, you're covering up the stem,
09:27and more tubers will come through along the stem.
09:40Out in the garden, the soil is now warm enough to sow seeds in the ground.
09:44And I'm starting with peas, which are full of protein and ready to harvest in around three months' time.
09:52It's always worth saving and storing a few seeds from your crop last year.
09:57When it comes to growing them, I tend to soak peas and beans before I sow them out.
10:08One, it helps them germinate faster because they've been hydrated.
10:12The second reason is mice don't like soft seed, and they tend to get deterred from trying these.
10:19Therefore, I'll get plants and they don't get the peas.
10:22I have decided to sow a variety called Deux Provence.
10:26It's a heritage variety.
10:28They will grow to about 50 centimetres, no more.
10:32And by just giving them a bit of support, they'll just look nicer as they're growing up.
10:37It also gives the short plants some help,
10:40as my garden is fairly exposed, so they won't get blown about.
10:45The peas go in every 10 centimetres or so and about 5 centimetres deep.
10:53Then they just need covering and watering.
10:56But I'm growing earlier peas down in the greenhouse for another use.
11:03These are my peas.
11:05I grew them not for pods, but for the pea shoots.
11:09Pea shoots are very rich in nutrients.
11:11There's about 15 within this pod, which is not the norm of growing peas.
11:17They need space.
11:18But because I only want them for their pea shoots and not the pods,
11:22I'm not worried about the spacing.
11:24All I'll be doing is harvesting the tops off.
11:27The next thing I'd like to get going with is sowing something,
11:31which is a protein but also a carbohydrate.
11:33And it's called maize.
11:35Not sweet corn, but maize.
11:37I used to eat this when I was young in Zambia.
11:40The plants look like sweet corn, but maize.
11:44You can eat it while it's fresh, but it is actually used for the flower.
11:48I noticed in this country we grow maize, but as a fodder.
11:52And I don't want to use it for that.
11:54I would like to use this and bring back memories of my childhood again.
11:58I'm planting these in deep root trainers as maize and sweet corn can be fussy.
12:07I don't want to touch their roots.
12:09They don't like root disturbance.
12:10So by just opening a sleeve up, taking it out and then planting them,
12:16I've not touched their roots at all.
12:18And they seem to establish far better.
12:20But if you haven't got a deep pot, they can be direct sown as well.
12:24And that way you're not disturbing the roots at all.
12:30I should be harvesting these late summer.
12:34Wish me luck.
12:36But there's one favorite of mine to grow that will definitely be staying in the pot.
12:43These are Jerusalem artichokes.
12:46They're full of iron, full of fiber, and full of carbohydrates.
12:51Be warned when growing these.
12:53If you want to grow them in the garden, go ahead.
12:56But if your space is small, they can run riot and go all over the place.
13:01That's why I'm growing them in a pot.
13:04Artichoke belongs in the sunflower family.
13:08That means they're going to grow very tall.
13:10And when I say very tall, six foot and taller.
13:13So way taller than me.
13:15So I am looking forward to seeing what this pot looks like later on in the year.
13:21But the best thing about them is because they are in the pot, I can keep them in here.
13:26Come winter, I can forage for a few little tubers and have them for dinner.
13:32I have a few left over.
13:34But before I cook with these, there's one more ingredient I need to pick from the garden.
13:38Tucked in a shady area, I'm lucky enough to have wild garlic growing.
13:48I always cut the leaves rather than pull them to help protect the roots.
13:54With the scent of wild garlic in the air, a good day of gardening, I'm ready to cook.
13:59The wild garlic is going to make baratas, which is a type of flat bread.
14:10So it's added to plain flour with ginger, chili, cumin, a little bit of oil,
14:19and then some lukewarm water to make a dough.
14:25It should roll out nicely to make individual flat breads.
14:29And garnished with some of those lovely pea shoots.
14:38The flat bread joined veggie bean balls dipped in homemade tomato sauce.
14:43And spicy Jerusalem artichoke fritters.
14:48What I like about it is the simplicity of cooking food.
14:52I've got my proteins, I've got my carbs, I've got my leafy greens.
14:55And that's all I need.
14:57It just brings joy to me, because I know where this has come from.
15:01And I can't wait to share with you more sowing, growing and cooking.
15:05I can't wait to see what else Rekha is going to grow and cook so beautifully.
15:17Now these pots are now all planted up and give them a soak once a week.
15:35And in about a month's time I'll start feeding them.
15:38The compost will feed them well, but then a liquid seaweed once a week will be all they need
15:44to look good from now till autumn.
15:58This is a good time to take stock of the vegetable garden.
16:03So we've got a bed of parsley, which we grow as a vegetable.
16:07Chard, which I planted out over a year ago.
16:09We've been eating all year, still growing strong.
16:12We have spring cabbage I put in as young plants last September, October.
16:18We haven't started to eat them yet.
16:20We've got garlic, little gem lettuce, which is actually starting to go over,
16:23but was delicious and we've been eating it.
16:25More lettuce coming through, carrots which have germinated well.
16:29Broad beans are looking good.
16:29The flowers are starting to form.
16:32Cavalo Nero, really healthy looking chard, which will last for the whole of the coming year.
16:38And finally, I want to plant out the climbing beans that I made the frame here.
16:43I've got a variety here called Blauhilda, which I love.
16:46They are a purple bean.
16:47They look lovely when they're growing.
16:49They taste delicious.
16:52Now when you're planting, plant on the inside of the support, not the outside.
16:57And the reason for doing that is that when you water,
17:01you can water down in between and the roots will find it.
17:05I've put two beans per pot and I'm going to plant both if they've germinated.
17:17These will need tying in initially and then as they grow,
17:20they will hold themselves and they'll twine around.
17:27And climbing beans in general will grow in some shade and they like warm, fairly moist conditions.
17:34So don't let them dry out.
17:37As I was taking these out of the tray, I snapped one of the plants.
17:42And if that happens and you find yourself a bit short, just make sure you've got some spare beans
17:47and just pop a bean in underneath the support.
17:50It'll grow a little bit slower than the others, but because the soil is warm,
17:54you'll be surprised how quickly it'll catch up.
17:56And of course, you can direct some of these.
17:59Just put a couple of beans under each of the supports and they will be germinating in days.
18:16Now it is absolutely essential at this time of year.
18:25Anything you plant, give it a really generous soak.
18:30I will actually go and refill this watering can and give them another full can because the soil is so dry.
18:36Now, one of the features of this year so far is that there have been noticeably more insects.
18:44In fact, more insects than I can remember for a very long time.
18:47Now that in wildlife terms is really good news.
18:51And we went to visit a professional wildlife cameraman who has developed a fascination for one particular group of insects.
19:04You can see him hovering down and you can see he's looking at her and he's really like really,
19:09really just staring at her and as she moves, he follows her everywhere she goes.
19:13I'll play your game again if you let me play as the queen of your heart.
19:20And it's like he can't take his eyes off her and if she goes over there,
19:23he'll go over there and then he says to her, I love you, I do, I love you.
19:35My name's Martin Dawn, I'm a wildlife filmmaker.
19:38I started as a cameraman about 35 years ago and I've been travelling all over the world ever since,
19:47filming every kind of creature, lions, elephants, ants.
19:52But I never really thought of my garden as somewhere, you know, dramatic or that interesting
19:58until about 12 years ago when I saw what turned out to be a wild solitary bee.
20:05And as soon as I got closer to the bees, I was drawn in to a whole other universe.
20:17In this garden, I would say there are 60 or more species.
20:25As I was filming the bees, you know, I was learning about which plants they like.
20:29And so we let them spread and we let them grow more.
20:33And thus, the garden you see is a result of that kind of non-invasive gardening.
20:38This section here, pretty much all of the plants are naturally seeded, naturally planted.
20:55Some of them are plants people would call weeds, but you know, in my view, these are plants in the
21:02right place at the right time, just growing the way they like to grow. Each plant here has a purpose.
21:09The primroses are massively important to the hairy-footed flower bees, among others.
21:15The dandelions, you will see bees on them just getting a drink.
21:18The bugle is such a spectacular plant, and again, it's a favourite of many different kinds of bee,
21:26because it has a particular tubular-shaped flower, which, for example, honeybees can't access,
21:32so there's less competition.
21:45This here just looks like a little pile of earth that you might just walk over or ignore,
21:51but actually, it's the excavations of a mining bee. She's dug that nest over the last few days.
21:57There's a tunnel in there. I know she's in because the door is shut. There's no hole in the top,
22:03and she's down there excavating little cells that she's going to fill with pollen. If you tread on it,
22:11you'll make her life harder, but if you lawn mow it, when she's out, she won't be able to find it
22:17again. See this dandelion here? When she leaves, she'll clock the position of that dandelion. If it's
22:23gone when she comes back, she really won't be able to find the nest.
22:31People, when they think of being nice to bees, they think of planting bee-friendly flowers,
22:36and that's great, but the truth is that what bees really need from you is a nest site. If you want
22:43to cut your grass without mucking up the bees, do it at dusk, and I use a sickle. It's much more
22:48accurate and much less destructive, which means I can cut around these holes quite easily. Oh look,
22:55I've got a bee. Now this, I'm pretty sure that's a chocolate mining bee male. He's quite a small one.
23:09Bee City started off just as an old lump of sycamore that I just drilled some holes in,
23:14and some bees came and nested in it. The more holes I made, the more bees I got. Yeah, the bees,
23:20they like a clean entrance, no splinters or anything like that. If you drill along the grain, there's
23:28fewer splinters. It's smoother for the bee. The sighting of any kind of bee hotel really needs to have a
23:36good chunk of sun in the day. Ultimately, the wood must be dry. Leaf cutters are actually among the most
23:44interesting because they cut leaves and because they use those leaves to line their cell so that
23:50they make a wall so that they can then lay an egg in there. They cut the sort of long shape to wrap the
23:58cell and then they cut circles and they use the circular pieces for the plug of the cells. So, you know,
24:06if you see a plant with these beautiful circles cut out of it, that is a leaf cutter.
24:12For me, a flower is more beautiful if it has been designed by the process of evolution entirely,
24:19but it's even more beautiful if I can see the bee it was designed for actually using it.
24:26And in the case of the gumphrey, this bee needs a huge tongue to get to the nectar at the top of the
24:32flower, but then the flower also makes it get pollen all over its belly in order to get the nectar,
24:39and thus take pollen to the next flower.
24:48This plant here, most people would see as a weed. It's a kind of hawk's beard. When this is in flower,
24:56it's kind of just have loads of yellow dandelion-like flowers, which is a crucial resource to a couple
25:02of species of bee here. For me, it's grown to be a really valuable plant. I really try and nurture them,
25:08so I try not to tread on them or cut them, and this patch here seems to be where they thrive the best.
25:15When they're all out, that's when I have pride in my garden.
25:18I love brambles. They're great for bees. There's lots of species of bee that really like the flowers,
25:28but their yellow-faced bee family seems to like brambles above all else. They go around in little
25:33gangs, a little bunch of males all fly around the flowers, and they try and find the females on the
25:38flowers, and then they jump on them, and you can train them to go where you want them. I think of it
25:43as a kind of rose, and some of them have got a lovely pink colour to them. They're very beautiful flowers,
25:48the green alcanet. A lot of people just take it out because the leaves are quite rough,
25:55but actually I find that the blue flowers, which are a constant presence really from early April
26:01all the way through to July, they're still flowering, and they're really useful if colour is your thing.
26:08They grow like weeds, they self-seed, and bees also love them. For many species of bee, they're a key
26:15nectar source. Forget-me-not is really interesting for certain kinds of bees, in particular
26:24the nomad bees, the cuckoo bees of the mining bees. Yeah, we just let it go. It's lovely. How could you
26:31not want that? I would say bees are people too, and I don't mean that they're like people, but they are
26:40individuals. There is a being there. Across the country, across the world, bees pollinate so many
26:48plants. Without them, many ecosystems would collapse because the plants would no longer be able to set
26:54seed would no longer be able to reproduce. Bees are absolutely crucial to the world.
27:07I know that sometimes it can seem as though it's a black and white thing. You either have a garden
27:21that attracts wildlife or you don't, but actually that just isn't true. There are lots of different
27:26ways of gardening to maximise the benefits for wildlife and for you as a gardener. And one of the best,
27:33the most simple ways, is just let some grass grow long and then let cow parsley grow in it, let the
27:39buttercups. And all of this is great for pollinating insects, it's great for small mammals to get in,
27:47its cover. And if you combine that with a little bit of controlled gardening, like a mown path through it
27:54or clipped hedge, that contrast can be very beautiful as well as really good for wildlife.
28:14I brought the citrus that we keep in the big greenhouse out here about a month ago,
28:19but I didn't do anything then because I wanted them to acclimatise and start to grow. Because
28:25when you start to see new growth, that is the time to do any pruning that you want to do,
28:30and maybe repotting. Now as far as pruning goes, with citrus you never want to just take them down by
28:38half because all that will happen is you'll get a mass of side shoots. Either pinch out the tops as they're
28:45growing, literally just the top inch or two or go back to the main stem.
28:57One of the rules of pruning is you need to be able to see through it. If it's a solid mass,
29:02you need to thin it so air can get in. It also means that if it produces fruit,
29:07more sun will get to them and they'll ripen.
29:16Now that's the first stage we're looking after at this point. The next thing is to address the
29:20compost that they're in. The compost is looking a bit too hard, so just scrape the top layer off.
29:28Try not to damage the roots, but expose them. And citrus need good drainage. Any compost that the
29:41roots are growing in should be a mixture of a peat-free compost, garden compost and plenty of grit.
29:49OK, I've exposed the roots there and now I'm going to top dress it. Any plant that lives in a pot,
29:57it's worth doing this every year and then re-potting them, particularly with citrus, maybe every three
30:02or four years. This is sieved garden compost. I'm just going to put a layer, not too deep,
30:10just spread it round. The next thing to do is give it a really good drink because with citrus they need
30:18flooding. And you water them until the water is running freely out of the bottom. The one thing
30:27they hate is sitting in water.
30:32Now these are plants that need as much sunshine as you possibly can give them,
30:38so put them in the sunniest spot that you've got.
30:45Come on there bud. Come on. Good boy. Off you go.
30:57Now this is one of my favourite garden tools. It's a hoe, but it's more than a hoe because it's a small
31:05hoe. And although it's been very hot and dry, it just feels as though the weeds are just emerging
31:10from every particle of soil. Now these are the wallflowers that I sowed about six weeks ago.
31:16And just a gentle bit of hoeing is the best way to control weeds. But sometimes even a hoe is too big.
31:25And what I have here looks like a knife, but it's completely blunt. And it does mean,
31:32for example, I can get in here and carefully lift out aceline without disturbing the roots of the
31:42wallflowers. There's something very satisfying about just taking out one little weed in amongst lots of
31:52plants you want to keep. And I do intend to thin them and transplant the thinnings to fill up the rest
31:59of the bed. However, this time of day is not a good idea. It's already quite warm. It's going to get
32:06hotter. So if I was to transplant these, however much I watered them, they would suffer. So if you're
32:12going to do any thinning and transplanting, either wait until the weather is cool and damp, which is
32:17ideal, or do it in the evening. Water them well and then you've got the cool night ahead and they've got a
32:24chance to get settled in. It's now time to join Arit, who is setting off to have a look at not so much
32:34flowers that we grow to make our gardens look good, but those destined for our homes.
32:39We're a nation that loves a bunch of fresh flowers. But for a country that prides itself on its green
32:54fingers, a staggering 86% of UK cut flowers are imported. Fortunately, things are beginning to change.
33:04We're starting to see a trend of UK consumers wanting to buy more sustainable flowers.
33:11This year, I want to meet some of the growers who are driving this homegrown revolution
33:17and get some tips of how we can grow our own at home.
33:23Being able to grow her own fresh flowers was a motivation for Anna Valwa Davis to transform her
33:30own garden into a brand new venture, Spring Cottage Flower Co.
33:37And I'm here today to find out how she's making it all work.
33:41I'm ready Anna, come prepared. Excellent, great. What are we up to?
33:45Right, we're going to plant out some scabias.
33:48When did you decide to turn your garden over to a lovely flower plot?
33:52This is my third full season this year and it's kind of grown quite organically from two little
33:59cutting beds and then to this bit and then beyond that as well.
34:04I've just always loved flowers in gardening and it just felt like the right thing.
34:09You're really brave getting your season started really early in spring because you've got to work
34:14hard for that.
34:15Yes, well I mean lots of things I've been growing since September and they've been in my greenhouse
34:21which I got a couple of years ago so that's made a massive difference as well.
34:26Your compost is lovely, is this from what you've created yourself?
34:29Well yes it is actually, this is the first year that I've actually been able to mulch without buying
34:34anything in. We have lots and lots of leaf moulds which we collect and then do lots and lots of
34:40composting as well and it's all no dig. The garden, all the beds have been done in the no dig way.
34:48With succession because of course in a small space keeping that flowering going it's really
34:53hard so how do you manage that?
34:54Yes exactly, you always have to have something waiting in the wings.
34:57So we've got these ones here but also we've got a later lot that I've just sown down in my greenhouse.
35:11So this is Gloria, my greenhouse. Glorious Gloria. Where everything starts.
35:17The half-hardy annuals, lots of cosmos and sunflowers. I love it, it's bijou but a workhorse.
35:24I can tell Gloria has to work hard. Absolutely, it's all going on.
35:30So these are your zinnias then? Yes, they're absolutely gorgeous, I've got a few different varieties.
35:35Okay, so we're going to prick these out yeah? Please, yeah let's do that. Talk to me about your
35:40system in here, I love it. So I generally start things off in the kitchen on the windowsill there.
35:45Okay. And then when they've germinated they actually often go into our conservatory which is
35:53basically my second greenhouse. And then they come down here but the temperatures have been
36:01swinging all over the place so it can be a bit hit a mess. So you don't have any heat in here?
36:07No heat and I don't use any grow lights so it's all it's all very natural.
36:13Considering actually, I mean these are still reasonably young, that root system is fab.
36:18Yeah, it's really healthy doesn't it? They're obviously great seeds and they're very happy.
36:23They do, they have lovely green leaves as well.
36:26So once these are all done then, so outside here.
36:30Yeah, so this is the hardening off stage in the cold frame. And so here we've got some
36:35Cylendula which I thought we could add to the other patch.
36:38Oh yeah, let's do that. Yeah, shall we do that?
36:46Even though it's early in the season, Anna prides herself on having something can flower all year round.
36:52In a few months time, this is going to be amazing.
36:57You won't even see the soil hopefully.
37:02And this is the exciting part. We're going to cut a selection now to create a display.
37:09Well Ari, I know you've had your eye on the fabulous apricot parrot tulips.
37:13Now, how do you harvest? So what I do with the tulips, I treat them as an annual crop.
37:19I actually find that especially the fancy ones that I tend to grow, they don't come back particularly well.
37:24But with the bulb, you get the longer stem length, which is really useful, especially for when you're
37:29doing larger arrangements. And also all the bulbs go back on the compost.
37:35Hold on.
37:36Oh, look at that. Look at that beauty. Amazing.
37:41Okay, I think now a relunculus would be fabulous in here. You're going to have some ideas.
37:44Yeah, definitely. These are really too open to use. The actual perfect stage to cut them for a bouquet is this
37:52squishy marshmallow stage. Nice. So where do you like to cut on these?
37:57So with these, you need to go quite deep if you can. There we go. Oh, beautiful.
38:05I really like using lots of foliage in my arrangements. And I think this Philadelphus is just so zingy.
38:12So I'm going to cut some of that. It just adds that extra layer of interest, doesn't it, I think.
38:19These are really, really nice, aren't they? You do really need to pick the flowers at the right time
38:25of the day, which is preferably very early in the morning or last thing in the evening,
38:31because the stems are filled with water at that point. And obviously that's really
38:36good for their vase life. Yeah.
38:47What's so lovely with these, Anna, is that they're straight out of your garden.
38:52You know, there's no air miles. No. There's no going via somewhere and, you know.
38:58No chemicals. No. No preservatives. We call it grown, not flown.
39:03No, it's great.
39:06When you actually have them at home, they just carry on developing and growing, don't they?
39:11Which I think actually often with flowers that have preservatives, they just don't ever really change.
39:17And I think that's something that's so lovely about British flowers, is that character that they have.
39:22I mean, the thing obviously as well, having that fragrance come straight in from the garden,
39:27in your vase, onto your table, you can't get better than that.
39:30No, it's gorgeous, isn't it? And actually, the Philadelphia, in a week or so,
39:35when those buds are popping, that will smell absolutely incredible.
39:39Absolutely.
39:48It does bring me a lot of joy. It's just such a positive, magical thing, growing something from
39:53seed. It's just like the ultimate hope and promise.
39:57I adore this palette. It's so feminine.
40:00Oh, thank you, Arit. That's really kind of you. I absolutely love your jar posies as well.
40:06They're just such lovely colours together.
40:10I love Anna's drive to turn her passion into a sustainable business.
40:15If the idea could be replicated across the country, environmentally, it could make a really big impact.
40:21It's fascinating to see
40:34It's fascinating to see how many flowers you can produce with really quite a small setup like that.
40:40But Arit will be looking at bigger and very different cut flower producers over the coming weeks.
40:47Now, here at Longmeadow, last year, I made these four raised beds specifically to grow cut flowers for the house.
40:53But what's amazing about these is how tall they've grown.
40:57Because if I planted these out in the bed, the cornflowers and the nigella would be half the size.
41:04No question about it.
41:05And yet, the soil in these raised beds is deliberately poor and free draining.
41:11And I thought they might not like it.
41:13Well, I was very wrong because they're clearly loving it.
41:18Now, I've got to grip my teeth and get stuck into a job that I've been putting off
41:25for far too long.
41:38Right.
41:39I've got my most flattering outfit on.
41:41Let's go.
41:42Now, I don't often dress this fashionably.
41:56But these must because I need to thin the water lilies here in the pond in the damp garden.
42:03Now, water lilies ideally should be spread flat along the surface of the water without any leaves overlapping.
42:12And when you start to see them growing vertically, it means they're crowded.
42:16And now is a good time to get in and do it, i.e. when they're actively growing.
42:20I've got this as a stick because it's very slippery in there.
42:23And this I may need to use to cut the roots.
42:28We have a number of different water lilies in here.
42:30We've got a couple of yellow ones with this sort of mottled, marbled leaves.
42:35This one here is an inferior candida, a white, quite small water lily.
42:41Oh, I've just discovered that my waders leak at this point.
42:48I'll never lift that up.
42:49That's too big. I don't have to cut it.
42:50You should divide water lilies every four or five years.
43:06I'm using this bill hook, which seems to work, but you could use a sharp knife or a saw, maybe.
43:23When you're doing something like this and taking plants out of a pond, it's a good idea
43:30to leave anything that you don't need on the side of the pond for at least 24 hours.
43:36And that means that any small creatures or maybe newts, maybe young frogs, has a chance to get back into the water.
43:52Okay, that's the messy bit.
43:56Now, what I'm going to do is replant one or two and the rest will go.
44:02So what I want to do is take a piece, and this will do fine.
44:06You can see it's got some buds on it.
44:08What I'm feeling feels solid and it's got strong, solid roots.
44:12And these white spaghetti-like roots are for fixing into the bottom of the pond.
44:19The fibrous roots that you can see in amongst them are the feeding ones.
44:24Now, that is ready for replanting.
44:28Now, to replant it, I need a special pot like this, which you use for aquatic plants.
44:37So it has holes in it.
44:38It's a mesh, essentially.
44:40And a piece of Hesse.
44:45And put it inside the pot, and this will hold the compost.
44:50And you buy aquatic compost because it wants to be heavy.
44:53You could use subsoil from your garden, but this seems to have a high degree of sand in it.
45:00And it's heavy and will wear it down.
45:02So we put some in the bottom, sit this in here, put the soil around it,
45:07making sure that it's not buried too deep.
45:12And every section you divide must have a bud.
45:15So if it doesn't have a bud, don't be frightened to discard it.
45:20And very quickly it will grow.
45:22But to stop it floating away as I put it in, you now need some grit.
45:28Just normal horticultural grit and sprinkle it on the surface.
45:32If there are any fish, it will stop them nosing in amongst the soil and disturbing it.
45:37And that is now ready for replanting.
45:48All right, sink that down so the leaves float on this surface.
45:51There we are, that's about right.
45:53It doesn't want to be more than about six inches deep in the water.
45:58And certainly any leaves should not be submerged.
46:02And if your pond is deeper than that, you need to put some bricks or a pot in there to raise it up.
46:08And then as it grows, you remove the bricks.
46:11It wasn't very long ago that gardening seemed to be the preserve of middle and even old age.
46:18I remember when I started in my twenties, I was often the youngest by ages.
46:23But thankfully, now there are a lot of really brilliant young gardeners
46:28gardening exceptionally well, and we went to visit one of them.
46:47I grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and I grew up in the bush.
46:51Very dry, very harsh landscape.
46:53And coming to England, it's so, so very different.
46:56They're very beautiful in their own ways, but here, everything's so lush.
47:00It's green.
47:02Spring comes and there's real seasons, and it's just something to fall in love with.
47:06I'm Sharni Gates, and I'm the head gardener at the Old Rectory in East Sussex.
47:16I was working at RHS Wisley a full time.
47:19I'd just finished my apprenticeship.
47:20I'd graduated, and I got a call from a recruiter who said
47:25she had a garden in mind, and she thought that I would be perfect for it.
47:29She said, you're energetic, and you're young, and you're full of ideas,
47:31and the garden owner is really looking for someone to collaborate with.
47:38I fell in love with the garden.
47:40You could see the bones of it, and you could see it was a beautiful place to be,
47:44and I knew it was right.
47:51I get to do tons of really high-skilled tasks and really push myself and push that limit of
47:59it's a big garden with a very small team.
48:02How much can we progress the garden and level up its manicuredness?
48:11We are currently in the stream right by the side of the house.
48:14It runs all the way along the property, and I'm clearing it.
48:18Anything that I'm taking out, I'm going to try and reuse.
48:21And the nettles here, I'm actually going to make them to nettle teeth,
48:24and it's a really good fertilizer for plants.
48:27Nettles have a really high nitrogen, and that's great for leafy growth.
48:30So anything that's new, young growth, really happy to put it on.
48:35But I won't put it on anything that we want to establish a root with.
48:41This is Carex Pendula.
48:43It's highly invasive.
48:44It pollinates through wind dispersal and spreads like wildfire.
48:52You find it in the shade.
48:53You find it in anywhere that's damp.
48:55Full sun even.
48:57It just, it loves it in this country.
48:59And the only way to control it is digging it out.
49:04Sometimes the crowns of the Carex can be so big, you need a digger to get it out.
49:10While it's small, it's great to dig it out just by hand.
49:18I want someone to come into the garden and to feel,
49:21wow, this is amazing, but not actually go, oh, that looks like hard work.
49:29You want it to look effortless.
49:31You want it to kind of be a sweeping landscape of very thought out things.
49:35But it doesn't look thought out.
49:37It just looks like it was always there.
49:38That's my aim for the garden.
49:41Lots of hidden work.
49:47We're in another part of the stream.
49:48And this area I cleared last year in September.
49:52This section alone took about six trailer loads into the compost.
49:56It was a lot of hard work.
49:57But it's so worth it because you look at it and you can see your kind of curated moments
50:02where the bluebells are that you've planted or the irises in the corner.
50:05And it looks really natural.
50:08All the gaps of earth that I've left have just exploded with wild flowers.
50:12So you can see wild strawberries, some adjuga.
50:15You can see some cuckoo flower.
50:17And yeah, I'm super happy with it.
50:21Gardening is actually my second career.
50:24I was a model for eight, nine years in the fashion industry.
50:28I did a lot of campaigns and editorials.
50:31I was flying almost every day to America or Germany or wherever else.
50:36And 2019, Australia had these huge bushfires, like historical bushfires.
50:41It really made me think about what impact I was having on the environment
50:46and how often I was flying and how big my carbon footprint was.
50:49And I thought, I need to change this.
50:52I couldn't see myself moving back to Australia.
50:55So I thought, I'll go volunteer.
50:57And it was amazing.
50:59I was volunteering at an 18th century garden in Surrey.
51:02And I was going almost every day.
51:04I really loved getting my hands in the soil and I loved the hard work.
51:07And I just realized, yeah, gardening's it for me.
51:10So I started to slowly career change and transition from modeling into gardening.
51:15And I would never change it.
51:16I love it too much.
51:26This time of year is one of the peak times for the garden.
51:29We have a huge tulip display where we've planted over 16,000 bulbs.
51:33And they're all up and looking really lovely at the moment.
51:39Most of them are planted in the West Garden and they're planted in swathes.
51:43The colors that are in the tulips come out in summer in the perennials, in the roses.
51:50It's the deep reds.
51:51It's the whites of the roses.
51:53It's the lilacs of the pulmonary areas.
51:55And it's the colors that you find in the garden throughout the year,
51:58but in spring.
52:00And it's an instant impact moment.
52:05Adding the tulips into the taller urns and pots that are higher up at eye level
52:09really ties in the garden nicely.
52:12So as you walk around the garden, it slowly transitions, but the pots kind of keep that continuity going.
52:19It's just a bit of vibrancy when you're needing that after winter.
52:23Thinking about the environment is a really important thing for me.
52:35Growing up in Perth, you see nature and you see the severities of nature quite a lot.
52:39And so it's very instilled into me that nature is all around you and wildlife,
52:46even if you don't want them there, they're there.
52:47So why not make it a home for them too?
52:59This is our wildlife area here.
53:01And I've started making some wildlife stacks.
53:05It's a little teepee that I hammer into the ground.
53:08And then I put brash and twigs from the garden into it.
53:12And as it breaks down, invertebrates come and live in it.
53:16Little bugs, little mice, all sorts of different wildlife.
53:19And then it becomes mulch at the bottom.
53:21So as it goes lower, you'll start stacking it higher and higher.
53:25So this is old apple prunings that from winter I like to save them
53:30because they make a really nice base layer.
53:33This is some of the Carex from the stream earlier.
53:36And it's nice to kind of mix the layers in together.
53:44The more wildlife we have in the garden, the more biodiversity we have in the garden,
53:48brings health to the soil, brings health to the plants and stops pests and diseases.
53:55As it dies down and as the invertebrates enter it,
53:59it will slowly brown and be a really nice sculpture in your garden.
54:06It's really nice to see you in the garden.
54:12Modelling got me to England and got me to discover the English gardens.
54:16But I don't have any regrets from leaving the industry because
54:20I get to be front and centre of part of the project.
54:23I get to be in control.
54:26I get to have all the creative influence.
54:28And rather than just being placed into a story,
54:32I get to create the story.
54:33And I think that is much nicer and much more fulfilling.
54:50I always find it really interesting when people change jobs,
54:53let alone a glamorous job like that, to become a gardener.
54:56But what Shani was being very modest about was that to get a job like that straight from Wisley,
55:01she must be really good.
55:03The garden looks great.
55:05And I think it's really inspiring for anyone who wants to become a gardener,
55:11both to see that it's possible and also to know the reality.
55:14You need to really apply yourself.
55:17Now, here in the wooden greenhouse, in winter, it's where we store non-hardy plants.
55:22Now, in theory, these aeoniums should only be in here from September, early October until May.
55:30But they've actually been in here for 18 months, and I really want to get them outside.
55:35So my plan now is to move these to the table outside the potting shed and make a really good display.
55:41And if you've got houseplants, don't be shy of putting them outside.
55:44Now any risk of frost has gone.
55:46As long as they're protected from wind and get plenty of sunshine,
55:49it'll do them good to go outside.
55:51So that's my plan.
55:52There are a lot.
55:54They're heavy.
55:54They're fragile.
55:55It's going to take me a little while.
55:57So while I'm doing this, here are your jobs to get on with this weekend.
56:01If you grow strawberries, you'll find that the blackbirds will devour them before they are fully ripe.
56:22So to avoid this, they must be netted as soon as the fruits start to appear, when they're green.
56:28Use a net with small holes so the birds can't get through and make sure that it is stretched
56:34and pegged tightly down all the way around.
56:47At this time of year you can do the famous Chelsea chop.
56:52The main reason for doing this is to stagger flowering and promote side shoots so you get
56:59a lot more flowers, albeit a bit later.
57:01I'm doing this on these sedums which will also have the effect of making them tougher plants
57:07that will be more upright in my rich soil.
57:19Now is the time to support raw beans.
57:20And as with all support for plants, you need to do it before they need it.
57:25I find the easiest way to do this is simply put in some canes and stretch string tautly from cane to cane,
57:35forming a kind of cage.
57:37And then you can add extra layers of string as and when needed.
57:51I put the smaller ones down.
57:59These are most of the bigger ones but there's still a few more to bring.
58:03Oh Ned, you want to be part of it too.
58:06Of course Ned, after Chelsea, wants to be star of everything.
58:10You just, it's going to be Aeoniums, not Nediums.
58:14Got a few more to bring down and then I'll take my time and trouble just to make it look as nice as possible.
58:20And the important thing is that the Aeoniums will love it.
58:24They'll love the sunshine, they'll love the fresh air and I think they'll look great too.
58:30That's it for this week.
58:32I will see you back here at Longmeadow at the same time next Friday.
58:35So until then, from Ned and I, bye-bye.
58:40I'm gonna see you back here.
58:57I will see you back here at Longmeadow in the 90s.