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  • 6/7/2025
Gardeners' World S58E12 (6th June 2025)
Gardeners World S58E12
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Transcript
00:00Come on now, but this way.
00:16Yeah.
00:30Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:37I have two pots, one with Nelly inscribed on it and the other with Nigel, so they're special.
00:42And I like to plant them up as big statements at this time of year, it'll last me right through
00:46till October.
00:47And I've got actually a combination which I've not tried before, and the central piece is
00:51going to be this.
00:53This is a salvia, a salvia anistad.
00:56It's kept in the greenhouse over winter.
00:59It's quite big, but hopefully not too big for this.
01:03I've cut it back.
01:04Whoa.
01:05And it's heavy.
01:06Whoa.
01:07There we go.
01:09Right.
01:11That's like that.
01:12Now if I tease out the soil around the side, amistad is believed to be a cross between Salvia
01:19garanitica and Salvia gesneri flora.
01:23It has rich purple flowers, and of all the tender salvias, it's the easiest to grow, flowers
01:29longest, is the hardiest, and the most dramatic, I think.
01:33So that'll be in the middle.
01:35And around the outside, I've got a dahlia.
01:38And this is dahlia David Howard.
01:41Now David Howard has these slightly chocolatey tinged leaves and an orange flower.
01:48So you have the purple and the orange, the contrast of the two, real dual garden colours.
01:53Strong, dramatic, and yet will fit in with the flowering of the borders all around them.
01:58I'm going to put three in, so we'll put one there and push it down.
02:16I think three will be enough because they'll enlarge out.
02:19So all I've got to do is backfill around it and the job is done.
02:23Now, coming up on today's programme.
02:27Adam visits a walled garden in Essex, brought back to life thanks to the tireless dedication
02:32of one woman.
02:35What do you think it is that's driven you?
02:38We're between two areas of deprivation here, where we've got people with poor diets, low incomes.
02:45It's a garden built on love.
02:47Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
02:49I've gone all gooey now.
02:51I've gone all emotional.
02:54We meet a man who has transformed his barren new build plot into a haven for plants and nature.
03:03It's a garden that's four years old.
03:05But actually, hopefully the appearance that it has is one that's been here for decades, if not longer.
03:11We join Nick as he reveals his ambitious feature garden, The Gardeners' World Live,
03:15and explains why he wants to inspire us all to make a metre matter.
03:20Research has shown that dedicating a square metre to growing something green can make a huge difference
03:27to you, to your mental health and to the environment.
03:31And we visit a grower in Leicestershire who is truly potty about peonies.
03:36I call them look-at-me flowers because I don't think you can walk past a peony without thinking,
03:43wow, look at that peony.
03:45Of all the flowers in the garden, I think they're the showstopper, the queen of flowers really.
03:50The Gardeners' World Live
04:06Now this is a first for me because I felt it needed something else.
04:12And I didn't really have anything suitable, but then I thought actually the aeoniums,
04:17and I've got loads of cuttings in relatively small pots, would fit and they just might look quite good.
04:24So if I put them inside the terracotta pots, just place them in like that,
04:29and maybe that one can go there, and that one there, how does that look?
04:40Yeah, I think that looks quite good.
04:42It's a bit Victorian and a bit Gothic, but why not?
04:45Right, I want to put some soil underneath them,
04:47but I think in principle the old jewel garden's a bit Victorian and a bit Gothic,
04:51so I'm doubling down.
05:04A little bit of tidying up.
05:06When you're planting dahlias and you want them to have lots of flowers,
05:11it's a good idea to cut them back at this stage.
05:14So this is long and straggly, so I'm going to take that back to that leaf there.
05:19So that comes back, and then this one.
05:24And then this one.
05:27The reason you do this is to encourage side shoots.
05:31Take away the leader, you'll get more side shoots,
05:34and side shoots will carry more flowers.
05:37So they'll be a little bit smaller, but much more floriferous.
05:41It's a gritty compost, so it should drain well.
05:43I will water it.
05:46And I think this, which is a completely new composition for me,
05:50might look quite good.
05:52Let's keep our fingers crossed.
05:54Okay.
05:55This is the cottage garden, although for 25 years this was the vegetable garden.
06:13And then we started to add more and more plants, and particularly roses.
06:17And now we have over 100 different roses in here, and this is their moment.
06:23June is the month of the rose, and of course, right across the country,
06:28everybody is celebrating them.
06:30But I know some gardeners get a little bit intimidated by roses.
06:33You know, they worry about how to prune them or whether they got black spot
06:36or whether they got rust or mold or whatever.
06:39The thing to remember is these are tough plants.
06:42They're a glorified bramble, and all the better for it.
06:45But there are certain things that are worth knowing about them.
06:48For example, here we have lots of different types.
06:51We have old roses, which include Gallicas and Damas,
06:57and this is a Ragosa, and we have Centifolias and Moss Roses.
07:02And the great thing about the old roses is they can all be pruned in the same way.
07:08Take this.
07:09This is a Gallica.
07:11It's not flowering yet.
07:12Masses of buds.
07:13I cut this with shears last September.
07:16I just clipped it over.
07:18And then in February, I just went through it with a pair of secateurs,
07:21taking off anything that was damaged or actively crossing and rubbing.
07:25That's it.
07:26You don't have to worry about anything other than that.
07:29If you want it to be a bit smaller, you cut it down harder.
07:32If you want it to be a nice big drop, you leave it a bit.
07:35But fundamentally, that's all you have to do.
07:38If you get black spot, it's probably because it's a bit too wet.
07:42The air is too moist, and very often there's not much you can do about that.
07:45If you get powdery mildew, it's because it's too dry,
07:48and you can water them.
07:50Sometimes you get both.
07:51You get dry at the base, wet at the top, and it's a double whammy.
07:55But the flowers are usually good all the same.
07:58There are also a huge number of modern roses available, like this,
08:02which is a shrub that now acts as a climber,
08:05Crown Princess Margarita.
08:07It's yellow flush with a sort of apricotty orange.
08:11The modern English roses are a fantastic addition to anybody's rose garden.
08:17But as well as having a fantastic choice,
08:20the real advantage of them is that they flower for longer than the old roses.
08:25Some of them will flower from the middle of May right through till November.
08:29Many others will have a long period of about two months,
08:32a bit of a rest, and then come back in late summer and autumn.
08:36But either way, they all flower for longer than the old roses,
08:39which tend to just have a very brief season of about six weeks,
08:43two months at the most.
08:45But it does mean you need to underplant and companion plant alongside them,
08:51and that's what I'm doing now.
08:58Now, the underplanting that we've had in spring
09:01is dominated by a mixture of forget-me-nots and tulips.
09:06The tulips have gone, died back,
09:08and the forget-me-nots are in the process of dying back.
09:12So what I do is, over a course of about ten days,
09:16start to remove the spent forget-me-nots and replace them.
09:20We're pretty ruthless about it.
09:21Just pull at them, they come out easily, like this.
09:25And what we're doing, of course, is creating space.
09:32I'm going to put some geraniums in.
09:35This is one I've never planted before, but I've admired it.
09:39I'm really happy to have it in the garden.
09:41It's called Vision Light Pink.
09:43You can also get Vision Pink, which is just slightly darker.
09:47Very nice foliage, delicate flowers, pink.
09:52Remember the colour scheme here in the cottage garden?
09:55These are soft pastels dominated by pinks of every hue.
09:59So it completely fits in with that.
10:01This will accompany the roses.
10:03And then as the roses die back,
10:05which these are all Gallicas here, and they will.
10:07By the middle of July,
10:08there'll be hardly any flowers at all on here.
10:10But these will still be flowering.
10:12So I'm going to put one in there.
10:19So this can go in here.
10:21And I can add to it in a few days' time as that blue is lost.
10:27I can take those out and then put more in.
10:30And as long as they get some sunshine, they'll be fine.
10:33The great thing about hardy geraniums is that word hardy.
10:36Not only where they resist any amount of cold or bad weather,
10:40but also they're incredibly adaptable.
10:42They're growing full sun, they're growing full shade,
10:44they're growing a mixture of both.
10:46So this will be very happy here.
10:48OK, that's good.
11:00I'll add more in as we go along here.
11:02And it's all part of accompanying roses.
11:05Roses are still dominating the garden,
11:07and they will do joyfully for the next few weeks.
11:11But I'm planning for the future and accompanying them
11:14so that when they do fade, they'll be still a really good display.
11:19Now, last summer, last July,
11:21Adam went to visit a walled garden in Essex
11:25that has been transformed.
11:28Just a few miles from Romford Town Centre in Essex is a hidden gem.
11:38Bedford's Park walled garden,
11:41created in the 1700s to serve as a kitchen garden for the estate.
11:47In more recent years, the garden was used by a local nursery
11:51until it was shut down in 2000.
11:55This is a garden that seems to have had more lives than a cat.
11:59But now it's under the guidance of some enthusiastic locals.
12:04And looking at it, it worked a miracle.
12:11This one and a half acre plot has an abundance of vegetables.
12:19An orchard of heritage apples and glorious cut flowers.
12:25But it's no mean feat looking after a place like this.
12:29At the helm is retired horticultural lecturer, Lois Amos.
12:37Lois?
12:37Oh, thank you.
12:38Hey.
12:39Thank you very much.
12:40What do you think of those then, Adam?
12:41Hey, look at those.
12:42They look incredible.
12:43Aren't they lovely?
12:44They do, don't they?
12:45Walking straight in, a bit special, isn't it?
12:48Well, I used to be placing apprentices here.
12:51Yeah.
12:52For work experience.
12:53Yeah.
12:54So I knew it when it was a borough nursery.
12:55Yeah.
12:56And it was fully stocked with plants.
12:58Then they closed the nursery, had no more use for it.
13:01And they literally just locked the gates.
13:03I mean, there were still plants in the cold frames and in the glass houses.
13:07I was devastated.
13:08Wow.
13:09It's such a lovely garden.
13:11And I just remember getting in the car and crying all the way out of the park.
13:15Oh, sure.
13:17Sadly, the garden fell into disrepair and Lois fought for 11 years to save it.
13:25It took a long time because everybody thought I was completely balmy.
13:28I mean, to be fair, they had a point.
13:30Yes, I suppose so.
13:32Yes, I suppose so.
13:33But I don't think there was anybody else balmy enough to try and take it on.
13:38So when you guys first sort of got involved in this, totally luckily overgrown?
13:42Absolutely.
13:43You couldn't see from one end to the other.
13:45There was nothing growing.
13:47And I just went for it, really.
13:49And you managed to get some people to support you and some funding for the project?
13:52Yes.
13:53Yes.
13:54What do you think it is that's driven you?
13:56I love to see people enjoying nature and growing.
13:59And we're between two areas of deprivation here, where we've got people with poor diets,
14:05low incomes, and the aim really was to produce food that's healthy and also to teach them what to do with it.
14:15All of that sort of thing, you know, it just spurs you on.
14:18It's a garden built on love.
14:20Yeah.
14:21And, you know, everybody's had a part in it.
14:23So far, Lois has inspired 22 volunteers to help transform the garden.
14:29And today, I'm joining them.
14:31Maxine needs a hand with some pruning.
14:36Maxine.
14:37Hi there.
14:38You all right?
14:39Lois has sent me to help you.
14:40Very welcome.
14:41We have a lot of...
14:42How'd it go?
14:43A lot of...
14:44It goes all the way up to the fruit cages on both sides.
14:47So it's a labour of love.
14:48So what are we doing?
14:49Just cutting out the old growth.
14:50So we're cutting out the old growth, letting the new growth come through.
14:53Yeah.
14:54I mean, it's a good, tough plant.
14:55It's very reliable.
14:57Yeah.
14:58It looks beautiful.
14:59Blooms twice a year.
15:00Yeah.
15:01What's not to mind?
15:02No, exactly.
15:03In a big place like this.
15:05So how long have you been coming up here and playing your part?
15:08So I discovered the garden last year.
15:11I get very excited.
15:12I come to the garden on the way here.
15:14What's going to be out this week?
15:16What are we going to be doing?
15:18What are we going to be sowing and planting?
15:20It's lovely.
15:21It's lovely.
15:22And there's always something new going on.
15:24The benefits of having a place like this on your doorstep are huge.
15:29Locals can come here for their fruit and veg,
15:33be close to nature and make friends.
15:36Pam has been coming here for eight years.
15:39It's got a great feel about the place, isn't it?
15:42I think it's absolutely wonderful and it's done so much for me.
15:46In fact, the garden's probably done more for me than I've done for the garden.
15:51Yeah.
15:52I just love being here.
15:54Chemo has knocked the stuffing out of me.
15:56Yeah.
15:57And I just like walking around, meeting up with the people and just being here.
16:04Yeah.
16:05This is my garden.
16:07Yeah.
16:08And it'll always be my garden.
16:10Yeah.
16:11That's magical, isn't it?
16:12It's not just about the garden, it's about the people that are involved.
16:15Yeah.
16:16Absolutely.
16:17Yeah.
16:18Faye has spent the last few years creating the wonderful herb garden.
16:28Faye, you walk straight in here, you get a lovely waft of what?
16:31Rosemary, mince.
16:32Lemon balm.
16:33Lemon balm.
16:34Yeah, we've got lemon balm growing.
16:36Obviously, we've got our big row of lavender.
16:39One of my favourite herbs, I think, is the English mace.
16:41It used to be used in pudding.
16:42It's not really used as a herb very much now.
16:45It's really nice to know that, obviously, this place is back to what it was.
16:50Yeah.
16:51And just knowing that you're working in a garden and continuing on that process, it's just a really nice feeling.
16:58This garden has a really special feel to it. Everyone here seems so at peace and happy to be here, including me.
17:11Lois, you have got an amazing group of volunteers, haven't you?
17:17Yes.
17:18They seem to have the same passion about the place as you have.
17:22Yes, I've infected them with it.
17:24Right.
17:25Yeah.
17:26Probably have ejected them, though, yeah.
17:28We try to instil into everybody that this is a very historic setting and that these types of places need protection and conservation.
17:36And, you know, they need using and loving.
17:39I can put it better. You've just given me goosebumps, girl.
17:42You are, honestly.
17:43It's like, I think, in a way, it's that sense of legacy.
17:48Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
17:50Bless you.
17:52No.
17:53It's gooey now.
17:54Bless you.
17:55I've gone all emotional.
17:56I didn't mean to do that.
17:58Oh!
17:59Well done.
18:00I've seen such amay.
18:01Well done.
18:05Well done.
18:06Thank, Charles.
18:07I don't know.
18:37when you think about it every single big house in the country and there were hundreds if not
18:49thousands had a wall garden and during my childhood they nearly all went into disrepair
18:56and no one could afford to use them and they weren't relevant anymore so i think it's fantastic
19:00to see how many are being used like that one for a variety of reasons but very often they're
19:08community projects growing lots of food which of course is exactly what they were intended for
19:13now what i'm doing here is adding quite a lot of compost underneath these supports because
19:23i'm about to plant some squashes and pumpkins in the greenhouse now pumpkins and squashes
19:30are really heavy feeders and what all that means in practice is that they will use and consume and
19:37benefit from any feed that you give them the more you feed them the more you water them the happy
19:43they'll be so lots of extra compost i normally grow squashes and pumpkins outside but they love heat
19:51and sun and the hotter the summer the better they'll be so very often they'll be iffy if we have a bad
19:58summer whereas in a greenhouse they should be great so i'm going to give them a go so i'm going to grow
20:03some in here some outside and i'll compare the two the selection i've got is i've got a button-up
20:10a wolf and button-up which is really good i've got rouge detain which is an old favorite of mine
20:18and crown prince which is a really good eater and it's it's actually pretty reliable if you're going
20:25to grow just one squash go for crown prince it's worth noticing that my potted plants particularly if
20:35they've been in the pot for a while invariably have weeds growing in them and that is because
20:39i always add soil and garden compost to my potting mix and there are some weed seeds in it but it's
20:47no trouble at all to weed them out and to me it's a sign of health right let's start planting
20:59when you're planting them the normal advice is to make a saucer around them so that you can water
21:05them really thoroughly and the water doesn't run off in here i'm not too worried about that because
21:11the nature of being in a greenhouse means they will get watered they don't need to be too deep
21:16just plant them up to the soil level and this plant that looks pretty insignificant
21:22will become very big if you left it it would spread right across and if you're planting outside
21:28on the ground you need at least a meter square around each plant that's where the supports come
21:35in because all its growth is going to go up but the beauty of growing them up means that you can have
21:41the spacing so much closer and that means you can grow more plants in a smaller area and that means
21:49you're going to get more back for your buck now this is rouge de tames which technically is a pumpkin
21:56whereas the butternuts are squashes i said technically because in practice
22:02it doesn't make much difference one will have a thicker skin and
22:10therefore will store better by and large pumpkins store better and to put into context
22:14here we are now in june and i've still got a couple of pumpkins left over from last year turk's
22:20turban there which are fine and we've stored right through winter so if you keep them right uh this
22:27is a this is a harvest that will see you through all the winter months and into next spring
22:32so keep them very well watered if it's really hot i'll water these most days
22:49i would think that you would start to see fruits forming in about six weeks time and harvest should
22:55be september now increasing number of people are buying new build houses moving into them with a
23:04plot that is genuinely bare very often compacted who filled with rubble and quite daunting when you
23:11set out to make a garden but it can be done and we went to visit andrew jackson in beverly in his new
23:18build house to see how he had turned that bear plot into a magical garden
23:38we bought our property off plant so it was just a kind of picture in a brochure we got to choose the plot
23:44itself because we were quite early on i did deliberately choose the one with kind of the
23:52most interesting shaped garden at the time garden's a bit of an exaggeration but the one that looked
23:58like it got the most interesting shape i had absolutely zero gardening experience it's fair to
24:10say that there was a lot to learn there was absolutely nothing here it was just a lot of
24:17compacted building rubble so actually the soil quality was the number one issue that we had to
24:24deal with immediately we did lots of things from aerating the soil manually to using all sorts of
24:30different compost and organic matter to just improve it and i think that's the key really every time i see
24:37a worm i think oh actually that's you know that's a fantastic thing so the design really started
24:51actually as a kind of privacy thing so we're overlooked as a lot of new build houses are by an
24:57awful lot of other properties so we started with the kind of tree screening element
25:03these cotoneaster cornubia which we bought at six feet tall which you would think might be really
25:11expensive plants but they only cost about 60 pounds each and they've decided to turn themselves into
25:15multi-stemmed trees which really helped i think in just giving some of that privacy to the garden
25:21and then really it was around building up the bones and the structure of it
25:25um so you know i'm a huge fan of flowering shrubs and then really it was around filling in the spaces
25:33and actually trying to use colors and themes that worked together
25:43and then obviously we've put the pond in which i think is one of the key features of the garden
25:48every garden needs a water source but i wanted this one to look really naturalistic so that it blended in
25:55with the landscape
26:00the things you can plant around ponds are completely different to that that you can plant out in the
26:03normal borders so it actually opens up a whole new world of opportunities in terms of the stuff
26:08that you can do and the different things that you can plant
26:14the best thing anyone says to me about the garden is that it looks like it's been here
26:18forever and that's kind of the style and the design that i've gone for is that it's a garden that's four
26:23years old but actually hopefully the appearance that it has is one that's been here for decades if
26:29not longer well i'd never say there was too much in the garden but some days i sort of think maybe i
26:37should be less ambitious i think it's now got to a point of almost maturity and my next challenge i think
26:44is knowing where to start cutting back actually you know i've let things grow really freely over the
26:50last four years to give that look of maturity but as a gardener i know you know for things to look
26:55really good you've got to make some clinical decisions sometimes when you do that so yeah i
26:59think cutting back is going to be one of those challenges and knowing just where and when to do
27:04that without losing that sort of naturalistic feel sometimes there's a little bit of controversy over
27:14new build homes and their impact on the environment this land was arable farming land before so i think
27:22what we've done here is actually create more biodiversity actually than was here previously which
27:28you know is something i'm incredibly passionate about and that you know we've taken away from
27:33nature by building a house on their space so i think there's a responsibility actually to try and
27:39help them along and give them a space that actually they can really value the uk today is about 200 000
27:46new homes a year being built and the government's got a target of 1.5 million homes over the next five
27:51years so i think there is an onus on us as a homeowners group to give back a little bit if everyone
27:57in every single one of those homes does one thing that will make a huge impact actually
28:02on the future of nature and our country
28:11like a lot of gardeners i mean i come out here and often see things that need fixing and problems that
28:16need solving but i think when i do give myself the minute to kind of sit and reflect i do think
28:21you know what a huge thing we've done over such a short space of time which is really nice
28:25my perspective on the world has completely changed from becoming a a gardener it's genuinely changed
28:35how i look at things and i you know if i could do one thing i just want to kind of bottle up that
28:39feeling that the garden gives me and give it to everybody else because it's genuinely just incredible
28:54so often on those new build gardens the compaction is terrible and there's all kinds of rubbish often
29:13beneath a layer of thin top soil or even some turf but boy has andrew made it work
29:20now the writing garden here works in phases it looks really good for a week or two and then looks
29:28a bit scruffy which is where we are now and i've learned over the years that in order to maintain
29:34the feel i want from it and the look of the plants i constantly have to refresh it every month or so i
29:40need to cut back add new plants just keep refreshing the way it looks in order that it can stay much the
29:46same now one of the good examples is this this is a lilac fantastic when it's in flower lovely white
29:52flowers beautiful fragrance but you can see once the flowers go over it's a disaster the fading flowers
30:00just leap out at you in the eye and they're terrible now what i'm going to do is prune it but i'm not just
30:05going to take the flowers off i'm going to coppice it back really hard that will encourage new growth and
30:11lilacs flower on new growth so it'll flower next year but it'll be much lower we'll have more shoots
30:18more single flower heads bigger flowers not so many at about that height so this time of year
30:25any early flowering shrub like lilac now is the time to prune if you're going to
30:47right now this is obviously really radical you do not need to do this every year you don't need to
30:53prune lilac at all but just bear in mind the flowers will get taller and taller and taller but
30:59you can do this every five to ten years reinvigorate it i will clear around it all this will come out
31:07for about a foot or two around it mulch it very heavily give it a good water in other words give it
31:13a boost and that boost should produce healthy new shoots which will flower next year
31:27this way come on go on
31:57what i'm doing is i'm clearing the alliums to create space remember over last winter we cleared
32:16out almost everything from the jewel garden the idea being to give it a complete revamp
32:22now we didn't take out the alliums while they were flowering even though they were a weed because
32:27they look good but now they're going over it's time to move on to the next phase and i've got some
32:34perennial plants salvaged from the jewel garden from last year and i've got a whole batch of annuals to
32:39go around them and what i've got here are some baptisia you just see the beginnings of the blue flowers of
32:48that so we'll just for a moment pop that down it's not necessarily we're going to put it
32:54now let's put one in the front
33:00now i like a group of three
33:03so i've got a nephophia there but if i put that like that that will give a really good display like that
33:10this has caused me a lucifer really strong red so we've got the sapphire of the baptisia and the
33:21ruby of lucifer like that what i did was gather up a load of corn so they were all loose
33:30potted them up so hopefully they develop roots right now so i can plant them out
33:34i think in here would be good so what i have is towards the front what we should do about this
33:42sort of height the baptisia the lucifer coming out the red shining out i've got rebeckia here which will
33:48grow up as tall as that so that leaves me room in this space to start placing some of the annuals
33:55around them but first of all it's important once you've placed your perennials to plant them
34:04so
34:08Right, that's this little batch of perennials in the ground.
34:35And it is important to get the sequence right.
34:37Start off with your woody shrubs and trees, if you've got any in the border.
34:41Then your herbaceous perennials.
34:43And then, depending on the time of year, your annuals or your bulbs or both.
34:48This is a sunflower called Claret.
34:51And I love the reddy, marmalady, brown colours you can get with sunflowers, just as much as
34:57the traditional yellow sunflower.
35:00And here in the jewel garden, they tend to work better.
35:03Now, these are not giant sunflowers, but they will be six to eight foot tall, so they don't
35:08want to be right at the edge.
35:10Next up, a different type of sunflower, Mexican sunflower, Tithonia.
35:14Now, these are one of my favourite annuals for the jewel garden.
35:19This is a variety called Tithonia torch, bright orange, intense orange colour.
35:41Water everything in really well, give it a good soak, even if it's raining.
35:45And especially in a year like this, when we had the driest spring for 69 years, so give
35:51it a good soak.
35:52I then never water again.
35:54Once things are in the soil and they're watered, they look after themselves, and they will.
35:57They will find the water.
35:59Whereas if you keep watering, particularly if you water lightly, the roots will stay near
36:03the surface, and they will be more prone to drought because you're watering more often.
36:08And if you just let them get deep and find that moisture, they'll survive.
36:17We are going to join Nick now as he prepares for his show garden that he's going to be revealing
36:22to all of us at Garner's World Live.
36:25And that is going to contain a really strong message about making every metre matter.
36:45This little area doesn't look very big, but in fact it is one square metre.
36:51And research has shown that dedicating a square metre to growing something green can make a
36:57huge difference to you, to your mental health, and to the environment.
37:02Now when I was asked to create the headline garden for Garner's World Live, I was really
37:06excited at the opportunity to be able to show off some of the different ways that you can
37:11make metre matter in your garden.
37:14So you could dedicate one square metre to being a compost heap, it could be a pollinator
37:19patch.
37:20Or it could be purely ornamental.
37:22And no matter what size your garden is, from a balcony to a sprawling space, now imagine
37:27if everybody in the UK did that, that would really make a huge difference.
37:44Now of course the garden I'm creating isn't just one square metre, in fact it's 196 square
37:50metres so that's a plot of approximately 14 by 14 metres.
37:55So looking across the site I've got raised square metre beds dedicated to veg, there are
38:01individual ponds which are each a square metre, there is the square metre elevated multi-occupancy
38:07birdhouse.
38:08So I think there's a whole load of inspiration and different ideas that people can take away
38:12and try at home.
38:14But the idea here is that it isn't just the planting, it's also the hard landscape that's
38:18made of plants.
38:20So with a combination of western red cedar, with cork, with bamboo and with clay bricks,
38:27we've basically managed to create all of the garden, avoiding using any concrete, any metal,
38:32any glass or any plastic.
38:36Most of the plants are being grown for me, but I am raising some myself.
38:45I roughly split the show garden in half, so 50% of it's ornamental and 50% of it is edible
38:52and useful.
38:54There's veg coming on well with lots of brassicas.
38:59And then I've got a whole load of nasturtiums or tropiola which are going to grow in the
39:03edges of those kind of raised beds and pour over and just give that sort of sense of abundance.
39:09And then finally, just up here I've got these tumbling tomatoes and I'm absolutely thrilled
39:14to say by giving them loads of heat, loads of light, I managed to get them into fruit.
39:19So all of these plants are nearly at a state of readiness and will make their way over to
39:23Birmingham, ready to be installed in the show garden.
39:31I'm growing these sunflowers which are going to go on the edible side of the garden, essentially
39:36because I'm growing them for their seeds which of course yield oil, but of course it's an
39:41ornamental plant as well so it could equally go on to the other side of the garden.
39:46And incidentally there's two plants I'm really looking forward to seeing growing over there.
39:50One of them is a bearded iris called Kemp Pride that has a beautiful kind of gingery pickety
39:55edge just creeping in.
39:58And then the key sort of continuity plant that's running all the way through is Geum Totally
40:03Tangerine.
40:04It has those wonderful vibrant semi-double flowers and it really should pull the garden
40:08together as one complete entity, I hope.
40:12It's so important for this show garden that I source the elements sustainably.
40:19So I'm roping in local friends.
40:22Just up the road is willow weaver Sue Kirk, grows her own willow.
40:28She's creating a large urn that will form a key focal element in the design.
40:32Oh, so this looks absolutely fantastic.
40:39Thank you so much.
40:40I love the different colour tones.
40:41Is there a particular cultivar you've used?
40:44Yeah, so the cultivar is Brittany Blue and the species is Salix purpurea with Daphnodes.
40:53So it's a cross.
40:54Yeah.
40:55The great willow comes up beautifully when you soak it.
40:58We allow them to dry out.
41:00That takes about six months.
41:02And then once we want to make an item with them, we select the rods from the bundles and
41:09we re-soak them in water for roughly between two to three weeks to make them flexible again.
41:15So I have to say, I feel like this kind of embodies everything I've been trying to do with the garden.
41:21It's truly sustainable and, yeah, I think it absolutely ticks every box.
41:30As well as making every metre matter, I wanted the show garden to be accessible from all four
41:35sides.
41:37The centrepiece is a collection of buildings which can be seen from any direction.
41:42And that inspiration came from somewhere equally local.
41:48In fact, the streetscape I'm looking at right now in a village very close to me and I've
41:53literally replicated it with the juxtaposition of these buildings and the fact that there
41:58are a series of chimneys rising out of these buildings in the distance that are square and
42:03cuboid and they look exactly like my multi-occupancy birdhouse.
42:08And so inspiration can strike you in all sorts of different ways.
42:11This one surprised me, but I think it works.
42:17Right now this show garden only exists in my brain and on a few bits of paper, but myself
42:23and the landscape team and our fantastic planters have got the challenge of pulling it all together
42:28and turning it into reality on site.
42:31There are so many different things that could go horribly wrong, but one has to trust in the
42:37process.
42:38I've done this a few times before and hopefully at the end of it all, we'll wind up with a
42:41fabulous garden.
42:43And my biggest hope is that it will leave a whole load of visitors to the show, inspired
42:47and going home, buzzing with ideas, they can try in their own gardens.
43:03Well, I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished garden and won't have to wait
43:09long because we can all enjoy it in a week's time at Gardeners World Live, which is from
43:15the 12th to the 15th.
43:17I'll be there along with lots of other members of the team, so I hope you'll be there too.
43:21Come on in.
43:22Good boy.
43:23This way, yeah.
43:36Good boy.
43:37Good boy.
43:42A few weeks ago, I planted out tomatoes in the big greenhouse and they're set now and
43:47growing.
43:48But I kept some back deliberately to grow them outside.
43:51Now, growing tomatoes outside is a completely reasonable thing to do, but you just have
43:55to manage your expectations.
43:58They won't grow and ripen as quickly as they will in a greenhouse.
44:02They will have a smaller harvest and unless it's a nice hot summer, they may not be quite
44:07as good.
44:08However, that's all the negative side.
44:10The plus side is they will definitely grow, they will definitely ripen and they will definitely
44:16taste better than anything you can buy.
44:18So if you don't have a greenhouse, you can still grow tomatoes.
44:22This is a variety called Gardener's Delight.
44:26And some varieties are much better suited to growing outside in a British summer than
44:30others.
44:31So Gardener's Delight, Shirley is another one that grows well outside.
44:34But Gardener's Delight is a good place to start.
44:36So you can see these have grown well, nice root system.
44:39Actually what's interesting, these have been outside for a few days hardening off, had a
44:42good water.
44:43It's only sunk in, what, half an inch?
44:45At this time of year, when you're watering anything in a pot, soak it, really soak it.
44:51You could plant this perfectly well up to the depth of my finger without doing any harm
44:55at all.
44:56And that would anchor it and you would also get roots growing off the side of the stem.
45:01So always plant them deep.
45:05You'll notice that all these plants are looking slightly jaded.
45:09The green is a bit pale, they've got some yellow leaves.
45:12And that's simply because they've outgrown the nutrition that's in their pots.
45:16Don't worry about it.
45:18Tomatoes are actually very robust plants.
45:20They will recover quickly and within a week or so, this will be, all the new growth will
45:25have lots of fresh, vibrant green, but they will need support.
45:36The staking does want to be quite robust because a laden tomato at full height,
45:41is going to be quite heavy and can flop and fall.
45:46So, get the thickest bamboos you can.
45:57Having staked them, you must regularly tie them in.
46:00Having a stake if you don't attach the plant to it.
46:04And then they should be fine.
46:05They really shouldn't need feeding and this is showing clear signs of distress and above
46:10all hope for sun.
46:13Because it's sun that makes a good tomato.
46:17While I'm doing this, in the rain, we're going to visit Eleanor Tivey on her peony patch.
46:25And it's sun patch in Leicestershire.
46:28I call them look at me flowers because I don't think you can walk past a peony without thinking,
46:38wow, look at that peony.
46:40Of all the flowers in the garden, I think they're the showstopper, the queen of flowers, really.
46:46My name is Eleanor and this is my field of peonies.
46:51I adore this field, it's a great place to spend my time.
46:56I can't get enough of them.
46:58So when I ran out of space in my back garden, I rented some land and decided to start a peony
47:03farm.
47:04I now grow troll varieties which I sell as cut flowers.
47:09There's over seven and a half thousand different cultivars of herbaceous perennial peonies and
47:16each of those is different and they all have different growing habits.
47:23I do tend to think of them as my girls here in the field.
47:27Each of them have their own personality but they are very feminine, you know, they're ruffles,
47:32they're frills.
47:33But don't be fooled, they may look delicate, but peonies are really robust, I'd even call
47:41them hardcore.
47:42They're originally from China and Japan and have really, really good tolerance to cold
47:48weather.
47:49I don't ever have to be afraid during the winter time.
47:52It can get cold, it can snow and I know that they're going to be perfectly fine.
47:56According to folklore, the colder the winter, the bigger the flowers.
48:03I think peonies have got a bit of a bad reputation for being a bit of a diva but they just need
48:09three very important things and they should thrive for you.
48:13You really shouldn't plant them too deeply.
48:16They won't flower unless you've got them quite near to the surface, only an inch of soil over
48:21your crown as we call them.
48:24You shouldn't really mulch peonies, they need to be able to feel the temperature and they must
48:30be in well-drained soil.
48:31You have to make sure that the crowns themselves do not sit in wet because that is what will
48:35kill a peony.
48:41I grow the doubles and the bomb form and the semi-doubles.
48:46So this one here is a lactiflora peony.
48:52This one is called Monsieur Jules Elly.
48:54It's a beautiful rose pink bomb form peony and they're called a bomb because they have
49:00this huge mass of what are actually modified stamens that have become petals within a set of what
49:07we call guard petals which are larger outer petals.
49:10And this one starts as a very dark pink in bud where the guard petals are protecting these large
49:17stamens and then as it fades out you'll see it fades into this beautiful soft pink.
49:22This one's highly scented with a lovely rose scent, I recommend growing this one.
49:36Some peonies are more highly scented than others and some of them have got the most beautiful scent.
49:42This one in particular is called Gardenia and not only is it a beautiful double with these blush
49:48outers here but it smells of gardenias which is a fabulous almost linen fresh scent absolutely gorgeous in the vase.
50:01So this one is a semi-double because it has an open centre.
50:06It has a ring of petals which are a ruffle but it gives an open centre where you can see the stamens there.
50:12Much better for pollinators as they can reach the inside of the flower much easier.
50:17This one's called Coral Charm and I love this one because it's different from a lot of other peonies
50:22in that it fades in the vase so once you've cut it and it starts in this beautiful bright orange peach
50:28colour it will fade from that into a soft apricot and as it opens it can even turn white.
50:36Hello Bumbler. Sometimes you can be working in the field and you can hear one he's got stuck
50:43and he's buzzing away trying to escape from all these fluffy ruffles it's quite cute.
50:54Just look at the size of her this one is Katerina Fontaine she's a full double absolutely gorgeous
51:01sumptuous in all her petals each different in pink and white across this massive massive flower head.
51:08The great thing about doubles is they're quite slow to open when you cut them but they also last
51:15brilliantly in the vase. The bomb forms tend to explode all their petals after about seven days.
51:20These ones you'll get ten days from in the vase.
51:25To see them in the field all dancing in the breeze with their beautiful ruffles they are like ballerinas
51:29and I think they're just absolutely mesmerizing.
51:41Some peonies not all of them will produce more than one flower on a stem and these are called side buds
51:48and these will open after the main flower has opened and died away. They will be much smaller than the
51:54main flower so if you really want to put all the energy into this one what we call a king flower
51:59you can remove these side buds by just taking hold of the side bud and just dropping it down
52:06and it will snap away easily giving you a nice clean stem and you've got all the energy going up into
52:15this main flower now which will give you a really big bloom. Now this one will come out in a bomb form
52:22this one angel cheeks but what happens is when this one will come out further is you will get this
52:27beautiful creamy stamens here that will make it look like a scoop of ice cream and again beautifully
52:34scented absolutely lovely variety.
52:45It can really lift your mood when you first enter the field and see all the flowers
52:51bubbling about in the wind. What a privilege to be able to walk amongst so many of them all flowering away.
52:59Yeah I just I just think they're fantastic. I love them.
53:21I love them. I love them. That's a good boy.
53:30It's a good boy.
53:43You would be amazed at how often I'm asked that question of why aren't my peonies flowering but
53:54as Eleanor pointed out and it's worth repeating herbaceous peonies should be planted shallot
54:01if you bury them too deep they will not flower ideally the crown is level with the surface of
54:06the soil and don't mulch over the top of the crown either because that buries it too if you
54:11plant them level with the surface of the soil they will flower freely and last for years and years
54:18and be lovely every single time now I am pruning back the vine here this is black hamburg it's a
54:26dessert grape and I have learned over the years to be ruthless the reason for that is that you can
54:34have a hundred two hundred bunches of grapes in here none of which ripen properly and even if they
54:40did who's going to eat two hundred bunches of grapes within about a month or so that they ripen so
54:46it's worth cutting it back to maybe twenty thirty forty bunches at most of really good grapes that
54:54have lots of light all that energy going into them and so that they are at their very best and that
55:00means pruning them now so for example I've pruned that off well you can see it's a lovely bunch of
55:07grapes but I don't need it it's too high up I try and restrict it so I just have ideally a bunch
55:14coming off each spur but certainly no more than two but if you don't have grapes here's some other
55:22George view this weekend now is a good time to sow french beans direct into the warm soil grow them
55:40in rows about 9 to 12 inches apart and space each being along the rows a couple of inches apart press
55:48them into well-prepared soil cover them over lightly and they should germinate and start to appear in a
55:54couple of weeks time I like to sprinkle radish seed over the top these will germinate in days and be ready
56:02to harvest before they're competing with the beans comfrey flowers are lovely but when comfrey takes hold it can
56:12be invasive however a really good use for it is to make a liquid tea cut it leaves stems and all and
56:22chop them up cramming as much as you can into a bucket then top this up with water and put it to
56:28one side it will smell disgusting but hang on because in about two or three weeks time this can
56:34be drained off and is the basis when diluted for a really nutritious liquid feed now is a good time
56:44to serve biannuals like these Fox gloves and you could also do wallflowers or forget-me-nots and they
56:51will flower next spring sprinkle the seed thinly on a tray of compost cover them lightly and soak them in a
56:58tray of water they don't need any extra heat to germinate and the seedlings should appear in a few weeks time
57:19I talked earlier about the roses in the cottage garden which are mainly shrub roses although there are a few climbers as well
57:24well this is another kind of rose this is a rambler I have ramblers growing on most of the apple trees here in the orchard and ramblers have two
57:32differences to climbers the first is they tend to have lots of small flowers only flowering once the earliest
57:40will be the end of May and the latest the end of July but most of them in June and July when they're finished
57:46flowering that's it the other thing about them is that ramblers produce their flowers on the previous season's
57:54growth whereas climbers do it on the current season's growth so if you prune a rambler in spring you'll
58:00have no flowers the time to prune them is immediately after flowering in midsummer but to be honest they
58:07don't need it and they look lovely just sprawling unpruned and free well that's it for this week
58:15and next week we will be a gardener's world live so join us there bye bye
58:24you
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