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Gardeners' World Season 58 Episode 14
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00:00I'm on my way to spend the day in what I've been told is a very magical garden and I've never been
00:20there before so I'm as much in the dark as you are. There's no doubt that today's program is
00:24going to be a very special gardener's world and here it is what a beautiful spot
00:54the gardener who lives here has told me just to come in and find her and I can't wait to explore
01:01coming up on today's program
01:23Carol will be sharing more tips and inspiration to guarantee color in your beds and containers
01:31all summer long. You'll get this wonderful growth on all these flowers from June, July,
01:39August, September right the way through absolutely beautiful.
01:44we're invited to an Aladdin's cave in Watford the garden is full of antiquities me being the oldest
01:56one full of little bits and pieces which all means something or other on the journey of putting this
02:02garden together and Adam continues his journey up and down the country meeting gardeners who really
02:09are battling the elements to create innovative gardens a few months ago the water was this high
02:17isn't that incredible that sort of demonstration of the power of plants
02:39good boy until this is a very dog friendly garden so I can let him off this reel that's collecting spring
02:52water through the garden it's just so beautiful so minimalist with this single iris pseudochorus
03:00we're obviously likes the real as well this gray stone also against the gray of the building is so
03:08beautifully balanced and leads you into this planting which looks like it's going to be incredible
03:20I love the textures you have the shrubs but also so many different kinds of leaves things like
03:25pachinicloas the veronicastrum actually before it's flowered is giving lovely textures then there
03:32are flowers too sangusorba which is one of my favorite flowers and the acid yellow of the euphorbia
03:37up there really draws your eye up the hill and to the landscape beyond which is what i want to
03:42explore via these very impressive stacks oh i think there's allison
03:58damson farm is the creation of allison jenkins and gardening is in her bones
04:03a stunning two acre small holding and edible garden set in a glorious valley on the edge of bath and the
04:10cotswold hills i guess i'm trying to create a space here that feels welcoming and nourishing because
04:20i think there's so many opportunities for learning in the garden and i'm really curious about how we
04:25garden now in an era of environmental crisis whilst also meeting our own needs for growing food and
04:34creating beautiful spaces but without compromising the needs of other creatures and everybody else we
04:41share the space with i'm thrilled to be having francis here i think we have a similar ethos and we're both
04:50interested in growing food and we both garden on the wild side of things so i sort of knew i wouldn't
04:56have to worry about the scruffy edges because i knew that she would kind of get that i'm looking forward
05:02to spending the day with allison doing what us gardeners love best being outside sharing ideas and
05:09getting our hands in the soil hi allison oh no the most beautiful garden down there oh thank you nice
05:19to meet you thank you this must be rua this is rua who's this twiggy twiggy hello twiggy so are you are
05:27you planting planters is that yes so i quite like to experiment with edibles and planters just to kind
05:33of see how it's possible to grow food in a small space i like experimenting i was just about to ask
05:40if you're an experimental gardener or if you do the research first so you know and then do it no
05:46well a bit of both but i i am also inclined to just think well we'll just see what happens you know
05:53because i think sometimes unexpected things happen you can plan and sometimes things happen that you don't
05:59plan and they're sometimes better yeah i agree with that so i've got some agretti here as well
06:04lovely good to go so i i also just like to kind of scatter things you know sometimes i'll plant things
06:10out a bit like a you know a bit like you plant a herbaceous border really so um and also with it
06:16being a planter i think we can afford to just put things in quite tightly yep guessing you don't want
06:22straight lines no no agretti is a tender annual succulent with a distinct fresh flavor it can be
06:31tricky to sow from seed but once established can be harvested all summer long basil will grow quickly
06:38to fill a space and happily thrive until the first frost cinnamon basil so that has really lovely um purple
06:45flowers so sometimes so it's nice to just grow as an ornamental as well and it's nice to have lots of
06:51them so that you can pick away at them as well true and i guess here you've got some nice big
06:57planters so you can get quite a lot of stuff in yeah absolutely if you've got the depth of soil then
07:03i think you can afford to um squish things in yeah this is the bull's blood oh with the beetroot yes
07:09yeah that might be nice closer to the front i guess yep so they're just a really nice dark purple i'm
07:17always thinking of um kind of making interesting salads really you know all the different edible
07:22flowers and different kinds of leaves you can put in a salad so i've got five different lettuces here
07:29okay do you have a theme no as well i kind of would quite like some green let's do some green ones these
07:36are elf ears okay funky name i love growing lettuce i've got some nasturtium seed here so i thought we
07:46could just direct so yeah some of those um so this is blue pepe um which isn't a climbing one but it
07:53might work around the base of this and maybe also some just along the edges and that's on the edge flop
07:59over yeah yeah perfect i love nasturtiums they're so useful for slug repellent you can eat the leaves
08:07you can eat the seeds you can eat flowers yeah they're great in salads and they're beautiful i just
08:13think they're so cheerful yeah well this certainly is full yeah but i think it's looking really really
08:20nice and i hope it all grows so that you can i'm sure we won't see any compost i'm sure it will yeah
08:26we'll give it a good water and um yeah it's good to go good that's one job done lovely thank you
08:56now it's time to return to carol's beautiful garden and see what additions she's making to bring
09:20even more flowers to the early summer this year i've been looking to my garden for inspiration for
09:35new plantings in the spring first thing it was all about optimism and then came the anticipation of what
09:45was to come and now in early summer it's arrived
09:59one of the prettiest parts of my garden at this time of year in early summer is this it's alice's garden
10:08alice is my youngest daughter and it's full of all sorts of plants that i adore
10:14but i suppose one that really stands out in a quiet dainty kind of way is gillenia trifoliata
10:22it's vaguely related to roses but it's got these tiny white flowers that just sort of dance in the
10:28breeze later on all its foliage will turn to lovely rusty autumnal shades too and it looks perfect with this
10:39pimpinella a very simple humble member of the apac family it's like a sort of pink cow parsley except
10:47it's much daintier initially i planted a couple in here but now it sells seeds all over the place
10:53well the pimpinella is a really dainty little plant but there are lots of its relatives in these beds
11:10which are much much bolder and the main one amongst them is the astrantia well i say the astrantia
11:17there are loads of different ones here but the one that runs right the way through all the beds
11:23is astrantia roma it's true pink astrantia roma is a sterile hybrid which simply means that it can't
11:31set seed if you like later on in the summer you can cut it right down to the base and with a bit of
11:38luck you'll get further flaring in september right the way into october on the other hand lots of the
11:45astrantias in here are absolutely fertile and they'll drop their seeds and the consequence of
11:52that is we get all sorts of new astrantias popping up here and there
12:02in late spring i planted up this large container with perennials irigaran cat mint and scabious
12:10they've settled in happily and all i've had to do is keep it well watered and take off dead petals
12:17from the scabious leaving behind decorative seed heads
12:29well for my early summer pot i'm not going to put a whole load of plants together i want to use several
12:35containers with just one plant and repeat it as a little theme and the plants i've chosen is this
12:42rogersia it's called bronze peacock i think rogersia is such handsome plants with these great big palmate
12:51leaves often very bronzy and then later in the autumn going the most gorgeous colors and they've got a very
12:59shiny texture to the leaves as well and as if that wasn't enough they've got these tall spires of flower
13:06so i'm going to keep it really simple i'm going to put three rogers into three terracotta pots starting with this one
13:15now because these rogersias are in pots i'm really going to have to keep an eye on them i'm going to
13:41water them regularly and every so often i might give them a bit of liquid feed an organic seaweed feed
13:48the great thing about growing anything in the pot like this is you can move it wherever you like
13:54up and down the paths or if you can see a hole somewhere where something's died back or not done
14:00too well you can just plonk the whole pot in there but the real reason i've chosen rogersia is because
14:06i've got it planted in these beds and i really think it'll help take you on a little journey
14:12right the way through these beds and borders along the path and out again
14:17well now that i've sorted out my pots i'm getting down to the real nitty-gritty
14:35these are two little borders they're edge with bricks they're slightly raised in the vineyards for
14:41all manner of things i'm planting all sorts of wonderful new things in here this is one of a
14:47new breed of clematis they've been specially bred to be used on patios in pots and containers or like
14:55this to create a bit of height in the middle of a herbaceous border this one is called bridgewater
15:01they flower and flower for ages and ages if you just look along these stems on every leaf axle
15:08there are buds just waiting to come on so once these terminal flowers are over they will come out
15:15and prolong the flowering season right the way through into the autumn so much has been written
15:21and said about how to treat clematis and all the different groups they belong to and it can get a bit
15:27complicated but with this no problem whatsoever on valentine's day sometime early in the year you just
15:35chop the whole thing down to just a few inches from the ground and then you'll get this wonderful
15:41growth and all these flowers from june july august september right the way through absolutely beautiful
15:55i wanted to use white foxgloves to kind of link these two beds together over here i've already planted
16:02digitalist purpuria alba the white version of our native foxgloves but this is a brand new foxgloves
16:10this one's called digitalist lucas white and you can see the bells are slightly smaller it's more
16:17branching in habit but it's a sterile hybrid and it's that that gives it its perennial nature
16:25no seed no reason to stop flowering at all so it'll just carry on and on
16:38so this is the final act al camilla mollis it's sometimes called ladies mantel when i first came here
17:03i knew very little about gardening i know a little bit more now but i desperately wanted this plant
17:09and i couldn't find it but i searched and searched eventually found it put it in
17:14and now it's all over my garden just a bit of organic matter in the soil dig it in well put your plant in
17:22water it furiously and then leave it alone and it'll just repay you with years and years of service
17:32and then it's just glorious it's ebullient everything's just bursting into bloom everywhere
17:41you look flowers are opening and look at this cornice just have a look at that the wedding cake tree
17:48cornice controversa very garter it's foliage is fabulous and all these heads of flowers pale green and
17:58white the whole thing is just wonderful and if that wasn't enough through it is growing this paul's
18:05himalayan musk this beautiful pink rose just beginning to open its flowers and a real taste of what's to
18:13come hello
18:37come on then
18:37i think it's fair to say carol that you know a lot more than most of us about gardening
18:51and the garden is looking absolutely beautiful come on
19:08like me alison is really keen on growing veg and produce but she has a really interesting way of
19:15approaching it and it makes for a beautiful veg garden but i really want to explore the different
19:21ways that she manages to get a succession through the year come on then
19:37so
19:51everybody has crops each year that don't work so well and this kohlrabi is one of them it's been
20:00munched by pigeons so i'm just going to remove all the kohlrabi and any plants that aren't wanted being
20:07careful not to weed out things like wild rocket coriander there's a little ochre here which is a
20:13perennial root vegetable and some calendula so everything else will go especially fat hen which tend to
20:20seed themselves everywhere it can be really disheartening to have a failed crop when you're
20:29growing veg especially if you haven't thought about succession succession is when you're almost
20:37constantly sowing seeds throughout the spring and summer so that when something goes over you've harvested it
20:43or it hasn't worked very well you have something ready to replace it with so the basic way of
20:50thinking about succession sowing is all your long crops so things like tomatoes cucumbers chilies aubergines
20:58they need to be sown early in the spring because they need a whole season to develop and then brassicas
21:03which do need a whole season to develop but are often hardy through the winter can be sown for a longer
21:08period but then your short crops so coriander lettuce radishes can be sown all the way through the year
21:15and if you keep doing them you're always going to have something to plant out and hopefully something
21:19to eat as well
21:33now i've got rid of everything allison wanted me to get rid of and i have a nearly blank canvas and all
21:39i'm going to do is get some seeds so there's red vein sorrel there's some viola with edible flowers and
21:45some fennel i'll mix them up and then just scatter some through this space
21:59just a couple of chard in here because they'll get quite big take up a lot of space and provide
22:17food for months and months it's such a good vegetable to grow and that is this space hopefully transformed
22:29so
22:59Isn't this meadow incredible, and especially being down in amongst it,
23:08which I wouldn't normally dare to do, but it's lovely being here.
23:12And this meadow's actually on clay soil,
23:14which is not what you would expect to be successful.
23:17But what Alison has done is sown lots of yellow rattle.
23:21This takes nutrients from perennial grasses, which weakens them,
23:24and then gives space for other plants to grow.
23:26So, you can see behind me, there's no yellow rattle in there,
23:29and that's what this would have been.
23:31It's about 12 years old. It takes time to establish.
23:34But now, when I look around, there are so many different species.
23:37There's clovers, there's vetches, we've got oxeye daisy,
23:41but it's not taking over, which they do have a tendency to do.
23:44There's sorrel, there's plantain, there's so much going on here.
23:48But what is really special is that there are also orchids.
23:52There's the common spotted orchid, and there's quite a few of those,
23:55but Alison says this year, for the, I think, only second time,
23:59there's a pyramidal orchid, and there's a few of them.
24:02And it just shows that although we know that meadow habitat
24:05is really, really important for lots and lots of fungi,
24:09invertebrates, insects, and I can hear bees around me everywhere,
24:13it's also a really important place
24:15where we can conserve some rare plant species too,
24:17and it's so magical that they have arrived here.
24:21That's a bit quieter than a swimmer.
24:44Shall I pick up what you've cut?
24:48Oh, that would be amazing.
24:49What you've cut?
24:49Yes, yes, please.
24:51And is it just the nettles that we're picking up?
24:53Yes.
24:53OK.
24:54Yeah.
25:01How often do you have to do this?
25:02What we tend to do, I like to use the nettles as a compost activator.
25:08Right, OK.
25:09So when we're ready to make the compost,
25:13it's quite good to have fresh nettle leaves
25:16because they contain lots of iron and other nutrients
25:19and, of course, lots of nitrogen.
25:22So how do you do that as an activator?
25:24We just layer it in.
25:25OK, so just in with your normal green waste compost.
25:29Yes.
25:29Yeah.
25:30I might just kind of rate some of these towards you now.
25:34Make sure you don't compost nettles that have gone to seed
25:37as you'll have them growing everywhere.
25:39Nettles are just...
25:41I mean, they're so brilliant in every way.
25:43I love drinking it as teas, you know,
25:45especially in the early spring
25:46when all that fresh new growth has come through as well.
25:50It's so good and it's so delicious in soup and things as well.
25:53I love it as a plant.
25:54Yeah, you can always taste how nutritious it is.
25:57I mean, they're also really fantastically beneficial
25:59for all kinds of wildlife as well.
26:01A lot of our common butterflies lay their eggs on nettle.
26:06So, yeah, I definitely don't scythe all of them.
26:09I would leave patches in places as well for the wildlife.
26:13Amazing.
26:15There are so many uses for this valuable and versatile plant.
26:19I'm going to make some fermented nettle juices,
26:28a plant food from the nettles
26:30that Alison was scything from the field.
26:33It's very simple.
26:34You just want to crush up the nettles
26:36as much as you can to bruise them and rip them
26:39and then mix them with an equal weight of brown sugar.
26:46Really then work the two together
26:47so that you're breaking the nettles even more
26:51but allowing the sugar to get to every part of it
26:53because that sugar is going to be extracting the liquid
26:56from the nettles, sparking the fermentation,
27:01and it's that liquid that's going to be the plant food in the end.
27:05So, the more broken, the better.
27:07Now that that is all mixed up,
27:10just put this mix into a sterile jar
27:14and really, really, really firm it down
27:17so you're removing as much air as you can from the mix
27:20so that you're not introducing bacteria and fungus.
27:25And then just to finish off that air seal,
27:26I'm going to pour a bit more sugar on
27:28and that will form a cap on the top.
27:31Weigh the whole thing down with a stone.
27:34Leave an air gap at the top
27:36so that there's room for the gases to escape
27:38and then put a breathable cover on top
27:41so you don't want insects landing in it
27:43but you do want the air to be able to escape
27:45so just some kitchen towel with rubber bands to hold it on.
27:49Then leave that somewhere cool and dark
27:52for five to seven days.
27:54Strain off the liquid that forms
27:55and that's your plant food
27:57and it needs really diluting
27:58so one in 500
27:59or for delicate plants,
28:01one in 1,000
28:02so it lasts a long time.
28:04This is one that's busy fermenting.
28:06It's about five days old
28:09and you can see the liquid there
28:10already forming like thick tar
28:14and the lovely thing is
28:16it doesn't smell bad at all.
28:18It's about six days old.
28:19All right.
28:20All right.
28:51Look at this border. It's absolutely packed with colour. It's so beautiful. There's sweet
28:57Williams here. The woad is just going over to seed. Vipers, bugloss, fennel. There's some
29:02annuals like poppies. It's just a massive riot of colour and looking absolutely perfect
29:08right now. But if you want to plan something like this for next year, now is the time to
29:15be thinking about sowing those seeds.
29:21I've got a multi-purpose compost here with some horticultural sand mixed in to improve
29:34the drainage.
29:35By now, you've probably finished sowing any annual flower seeds. But now is the time to
29:41think about sowing biennials and perennials. Now the difference obviously is the annuals,
29:46you'll sow them, they'll grow, they'll flower, and they'll grow to seed all in one season.
29:51Whereas biennials will grow a little bit now and then they'll actually flower next year.
29:57And perennials will start growing now and then flower hopefully for many, many years to come.
30:02And I am going to sow some woad seed. This is a seed that Alison actually collected from
30:07the garden here. And it is a biennial or short-lived perennial. It's Isotis tinctoria and the word
30:16tinctoria gives a clue that it's actually a dye plant. This one is traditionally used as
30:21a blue dye. It's also quite a large plant with a huge yellow inflorescence, which is incredibly
30:28good for wildlife. So it's a really useful plant in the garden. These are quite big seeds and normally
30:33with big seeds I would put them in a module or a pot. But biennials and even more so perennials
30:39can take quite a long time to germinate. And so it sometimes saves you space if you put them into a
30:45tray. And I'm just going to place them in rows, quite well spaced because of their size. And that
30:52means I can see when they come up in a sort of grid that they're the right thing. Anything that comes up
30:57not in a line is probably a rogue seed or even a weed. And I'll just cover these lightly with a little bit
31:03of compost because these seeds don't need sunlight to germinate. Burn it down so that there's good
31:13contact with the soil. Stick in a label, give it a good water and then I'll leave this outside to
31:20grow because it's fully hardy this time of year it's warm enough. And now we're off to Watford to
31:30visit a garden that is positively jammed full of treasures.
31:33It was doing need a lot of water, there's so many flowers. Hi everyone and welcome to my lovely
31:46garden. I hope you're going to love it as much as I love it. This is made up of maybe ten different
31:53little rooms. My crystal room, my blue and white china room. Here we have the birdcage corner with
32:02at least ten bird cages. They're all so beautiful and different in all their own ways.
32:06I'm Susie or Susette, whichever. I've lived here in the house for 58 years. When we moved in,
32:17there was a lawn and vegetables and shrubs everywhere. It was just so boring. And we used to spend every
32:26weekend mowing the lawn. Why waste so much time? I said to Vic, the first thing we do is the garden.
32:35He said, no, no, no, we've got so much here. I didn't know. The garden comes first.
32:43The garden is full of antiquities, me being the oldest one. Full of little bits and pieces,
32:51which all mean something or other on the journey of putting this garden together.
32:56The last corner of my garden is my chimney pot, my chimney pot corner. I rather like them.
33:09When you think of all the years they've been on roofs and now they're adorning my garden, I love it.
33:15I was an interior designer and my customers, they used to clear their rooms and they would say,
33:26Susie, it's going in the skip. Do you want it? I say, does a bird fly? So, of course, they land back here.
33:35Oh, definitely not a junkyard. No way. No, a gem yard. Totally. I like that expression.
33:45Bird cages really are my obsession. I have to say that.
33:49So, I'm going to find this, a new area for this pretty little one, which I think I'm going to hang up here.
33:56How about that? I hope it fits in. Yeah.
33:59I always leave them open for anything to fly away, because I am a free bird myself.
34:09And I need to know that I can fly whenever, whenever I want to.
34:15They're so pretty to put plants in. I mean, I could put this in here, for instance.
34:21The petunia, which goes rather well with the purple.
34:24And it's all surrounded by an hibiscus at the back.
34:29It's covered with the wisteria, which goes all over there.
34:34This is my restful corner.
34:37I've cleared this space of all the laurel and the philadelphus.
34:42It came out here. You didn't, you just saw greenery.
34:47And I decided to clear the whole lot and give it a calmer feeling.
34:50I've got an acer coming out here and some lovely ferns coming through gently.
34:57They'll be better next year.
35:00The favourite plants in this area alone are the begonias and the hookeras.
35:05The hookeras are lovely because of their contrasting colour.
35:08And these just go on and on.
35:10I bought over a hundred of them at the beginning of the season.
35:14And they've seen me right the way through.
35:17So that's well worth buying.
35:19Don't buy one, buy ten.
35:24Oh, the work in this garden really never stops.
35:28I'm always deadheading, which gives me more flowers in the long run.
35:36Mind you, I have no nails because of it.
35:38And I know I should wear gloves, but I like to fill my plants.
35:43But it's my passion, for a start, and it's my sheer joy.
35:48I mean, how lovely to work with flowers all day and every day, which I do.
35:54And I love the garden.
36:00Oh, hoover.
36:02My garden gets hoovered more than my house.
36:04I can assure you of that one.
36:06If I know somebody's coming, that hoover comes out.
36:09And the garden looks 100% cleaner and nicer.
36:15I think I'm getting maybe just too many articles.
36:21This is another little corner called my blue and white charity china.
36:28Every one of these pieces come from the charity shop.
36:31And everybody saves them for me, which is lovely.
36:34And top, my lovely petunia, which goes on through the summer.
36:38And it's a compliment to each other, which is lovely.
36:41And sometimes I fill them up with these little succulents.
36:45Just put them into water and they will take.
36:48Can you hear that frog?
36:57Do you hear it?
37:02Proper gardeners would say, she ain't no gardener.
37:06But I don't really care.
37:08This is one of the easiest plants to take a cutting from, the Levetera tree.
37:16Sometimes they call it Levetera.
37:18But I call it Levetera.
37:20You literally split it off a joint and plunge it into good, damp earth.
37:31Give it a good water and leave it.
37:33You'll have a tree next year.
37:35I mean, the garden, as much for me, I want to show it off to everybody else.
37:46Maybe that's a little bit big-headed of me because I think that everything looks so beautiful.
37:51Of course I love gardening.
37:53Yes, it's part and parcel of my life.
37:55I'd be lost without it.
37:56Don't move me to a flat when I'm too old.
38:01I'd have to have a garden.
38:02What makes our gardens so special is how personal they are to us.
38:18And I love that Suzette turned what would have been a garden like everybody else's
38:22into something completely, uniquely hers.
38:25Are you making some of your beautiful supports, Alison?
38:38Yes, I'm just putting something in for the dahlias, just because when they grow up, they're
38:42going to start getting a little bit floppy.
38:44Fair enough.
38:45But they're absolutely stunning all around the garden.
38:48I love it.
38:48It gives so much character to the space.
38:51It's quite addictive once you start working with the willow and the hazel, yeah.
38:55I've never done it much.
38:56I've always intended to and then found other things to do and ended up just stringing things.
39:00But could you show me how you do it?
39:02Yeah, of course, yeah.
39:03So, yeah, if you grab, we're just two willow sticks initially.
39:06Two willow sticks, okay.
39:07What you're doing is you're going in at 45 degrees because that way, when it's finished,
39:13you've got an open centre.
39:14Okay.
39:15And then hold them in the middle point and then just ease them round.
39:20Sometimes it's helpful to put your hand through and grab the end.
39:26Is that right?
39:28Yeah.
39:28And then you'd come in and put the next two outside.
39:32Yes, that's right.
39:32Okay.
39:33Exactly.
39:34You can get quite creative with it.
39:35I suppose it's like anything, once you've got the technique of the basics, you can start
39:39to kind of riff off that and do it a bit more with flair.
39:42Yeah.
39:43I'm not going to attempt flair today.
39:45I'm just going to attempt the very, very basics.
39:52Looking good.
39:53Oh, thank you.
39:54You see how strong they are once you've twisted them?
39:58It makes a huge difference, doesn't it?
39:59Yeah, it really does.
40:01Well, I think I've sort of got the hang of this.
40:03If it's helpful, I can carry on doing this.
40:05That'd be great.
40:06Yeah.
40:06Okay.
40:07No worries.
40:08New skills.
40:09Good.
40:10Told you it's addictive, I warn you.
40:12It might look like I'm doing this really prematurely because this dahlia is very, very small, but actually
40:33getting stakes in the ground now before the flowers get tall is a really good way of doing
40:39it because if I waited for this stem to get tall, the wind to blow and it to flop over and
40:44then I tried to pick it up, it would never quite look right.
40:47So by doing this now, it's going to make the world of difference to how this border grows.
40:55And of course, dahlias are late summer flowers.
40:59They're filled with quite big flowers, which makes them more prone to falling over because
41:05the weight of them can collapse the stems.
41:07So it's the ideal candidate for some staking now.
41:17The thing I like about this method as well is that although this is using willow that's
41:22bought especially for weaving, you could use other things.
41:26Gardening can be quite expensive.
41:27So if you had some maybe hazel branches that you'd coppiced, spare pea sticks, something
41:32like that, or you just had any old branches that have come off in winter storms, you can
41:37save them and reuse them and create something that may not be quite as neat as this, but would
41:43certainly be a lot more bespoke and wild looking.
41:46And I really like that.
42:16I love you.
42:46the space i'm in is a rather magnificent but unintentional dry garden so all these beautiful
43:02plants are self-seeded as well as lots of other things these are just sages and this incredible
43:09digitalis parviflora milk chocolate it's called with beautiful sort of orangey flowers has just
43:16popped up everywhere here and given allison the idea of turning it into a much more planned out
43:22dry garden this is a lovely euphorbia called euphorbia saguariana and it's very small now but
43:30it gets about 80 centimeters height and spread when it's fully grown but it keeps this lovely
43:36delicate foliage it's really beautiful and it should go very nicely against things like the blue
43:42flower of the sages that have self-seeded these lovely yellow bracts but also the form of it sort
43:48of echoes the shape of the digitalist and there are other euphorbias here as well there's large ones
43:55down here but also different kinds throughout the higher garden as well but dry gardens in general
44:02they're one of my favorite kinds of gardens and as you can see when i dig down into this
44:08it's really sand and gravel that i'm planting in no soil at all and of course lots of plants
44:15wouldn't love that kind of position but then many many plants really do like to have dry roots
44:23so particularly if you're living in a wetter area you might want to introduce some gravel and sand
44:29and just plant straight into that rather than trying to grow plants like
44:33mediterranean herbs for example that would really be unhappy in a waterlogged soil it could be one
44:39way of doing it or you can just go with what your garden naturally does and exploit the kinds of
44:44plants that would thrive in your conditions there are two schools of thought but here this was just a
44:49nice usable place for the family and has now become a self-designated dry garden there we go
44:59so
45:23even though these are drought tolerant plants
45:25plants they'll still need a really good watering in just to get them to establish well
45:30and then they should be happy to be left here in this sunny free draining spot
45:37now obviously not all gardens have this kind of very dry position and adam recently went to visit one
45:44that was quite the opposite
45:46we're always talking about the weather this year it's been a hot dry spring some of us like it some
45:58of us don't and some of our gods have suffered and it's quite easy to forget that other extreme
46:06cold wet winters a lot more flooded well today i'm off to meet a lady who's dealing with just that
46:16wonder when they bundy moved here with a late husband in 2006 this two-acre garden had bags of
46:25potential and nearly 20 years on it's become something really special what makes it all the more
46:33impressive is where this garden sits right on the banks of the river derwent so during the winter months
46:41it's vulnerable to flooding you look very busy yes i'm trying to get rid of all this himalayan
46:50balsam which is dominating in this border as you can see comes in every year it floats in on the
46:56flood very easy to get out but you have to keep doing it very gently so paint me a picture i mean
47:03this floods nearly every year we've been here nearly 20 years and we've had one winter when
47:08it hasn't flooded some winters it comes up for a week and goes down and then it comes up again in
47:13the spring sometimes it's much much longer the winter and spring of 23 to 24 this lot was all
47:21underwater from october to the beginning of march wow so four and a half months everything in here
47:28survived that we're at the bottom end of the river so it comes up very slowly but you can't get cross
47:33with it because it's the flood you've got a great attitude to just you know what will work will work
47:39and i'm not going to worry about the other stuff well you can't and i've learned over the years what
47:43will go what won't go so everything that survives is tough and so it's common because common things
47:49in gardens after toughest that have survived and whilst everybody said oh we can't plant roses where
47:55it floods well you darn well can actually as you can see yeah the 40 years of experience i've had in
48:00the village i'm sure it's got worse yeah and it's got worse in the sense of there is more water yeah
48:06it lasts longer so when the water eventually goes away you're left with a mess yes but silt that
48:14does you some good yes and i'm looking forward to finding out a little bit more but we've pulled some
48:19of this out yeah what do you do with it put it in the compost yeah it's interesting because a lot of
48:23people would then panic wouldn't they but i'm assuming it's not in flower there's no seed it rots down
48:29beautifully well i'll get rid of this for you thank you very much this himalayan balsam can be an
48:35absolute thug but when he's got quite a laid-back approach trying to keep on top of it she knows
48:42she's never going to get rid of it and when it comes to the composting it's not in flower you know
48:48it's not seeding so that makes sense but for me if it rocks up in my garden it probably would make me
48:54very nervous and i wouldn't just put it in the green bin in reality what i do is i check with
48:59the local authority because you're going to find that some of them are going to take slightly
49:04different approaches as to how to deal with it
49:12wendy's practical she's not chasing a dream and that word common tough hard-working plants
49:19plants i think sometimes we can be a little bit snobby but look at that they are exactly that
49:26you know plants that you'll see maybe around a car park at the supermarket but it works on so many
49:32levels but first of all if you look at the trees things like the plum cherry the hazels and then you've
49:36got the salis is so good hard-working stock we come down to the shrubs cornice dogwoods spireas
49:44lovely white flower and then you've got the berberus but they work as really good forms for the herbaceous
49:50planted things like the alcamilla and then adraniums and this lysomachia which loves those damper
49:57conditions but one more thing that for me has become a bit of a fascination is the annuals the biennials
50:07and the short-lived perennials whatever your conditions yeah other plants might suffer but
50:12anything seed-based hits the ground it stays there we could have dry we could have wet but you can
50:19pretty much guarantee they'll come up the following year and that's exactly what's going on here you've
50:24got the poppies popping up and then you've got the marigolds and you can see bits and pieces doing
50:30that around wendy's garden so think about it a few months ago the water was this high isn't that
50:39incredible that sort of demonstration of the power of plants
50:47as tough as some plants can be wendy's really embraced the changes that come with more extreme
50:53weather and being on the edge of a flood plain means it's not if the garden will flood but when
51:00the river sort of wraps all the way around yes it goes around in a great big curve and there was
51:07a mill there at one stage but actually looking at it you know your view quite incredible you
51:13just see the irises coming up and then that's followed by meadow sweet and the reedy type grasses
51:19absolutely i mean they're like moving aren't they and dancing yes it's very beautiful
51:31your pond obviously gets a natural feel once a year absolutely on a positive look your hostess
51:37seems to absolutely love it they've come off and go from strength to strength and i suppose they're
51:41getting that dose of silt other people mulch with bark but in reality you couldn't
51:47because bark floats exactly and it finishes up all over the lawn
51:54fruit trees don't really like sitting in wet soil so here they've been planted on slightly raised mounds
52:01to keep some of their roots out of the water they seem to be thriving and it's not just apples and pears
52:08look at my apricots oh wow yeah in north yorkshire yeah yeah you love that then didn't you yeah gosh
52:17north yorkshire apricots there we go yeah it's probably though absolutely yeah yeah
52:38i'm smiling wendy because i'm thinking flood plain asparagus wouldn't be the first thing that jumped
52:44to mind no absolutely and it only survives because we are prepared to build up this bed on top of the
52:50raised bed already so you've got raised beds on raised beds it's the only way to do the asparagus
52:55and what sort of mix did you put in there then a real mixture of compost gravel and sand real sharp
53:01sand yeah and then more compost i'll take my hat off to you you seem to have really stuck at it
53:06grown what you can taking gambles experimenting which ultimately is what gardening's all about
53:13it's a hobby isn't it and and you have to do what you can with the hobby and i enjoy achieving what
53:19you can achieve and then actually also seeing what you can't achieve yeah and also understanding that
53:24one year will be good and the next year it'll be rubbish but you mustn't think you've actually had a
53:28a poor year and it's never going to be good yeah but it'll come back again extraordinarily
53:33i'm going to take you back yes 20 years to when you moved in here yeah would you do it all again
53:48probably i've had the health and strength today as i did have 20 years ago i probably would i knew
53:53this is exactly what you're going to say honestly i seriously you is great absolutely brilliant i love
53:59the way you've just got your head around the conditions and you just plowed on yes absolutely
54:03oh somebody else does the playing these days
54:23so
54:33you
54:33so
54:35This year roses seem to have done really really well. I think we've had lots of quite warm and
54:59dry weather. They flowered early but that means that they are now in need of a little bit of
55:05deadheading if you want to keep them going. This one is a repeat flower so cutting off the deadheads
55:10will keep new blooms going. You can see there's lots of buds forming for more flowers and when I
55:17deadhead them I don't just take the top off I cut it right down to where that meets a new joint so
55:25that it's also doing a little bit of pruning at the same time and that just keeps it in good health
55:30but there getting rid of the deadheads just means you're maximizing the flowers without the unsightly
55:36old blooms at the same time but if your rose forms hips then once these later flowers are finished
55:43leave them on because then you'll have something to feed the birds through the autumn. There of course
55:49this is the time of year when we can really enjoy our gardens but there's always more jobs to do.
56:11As soft fruit like these tabories start to ripen it's time to protect them from hungry birds.
56:16Drape a temporary netting over the plant making sure it's pulled tight and secured firmly.
56:26Check it regularly to ensure no wildlife has got trapped inside.
56:37To protect young plants from suffering in the heat it's important to keep your greenhouse cool
56:41as the weather warms up. Open all the doors and windows to allow air to flow through
56:48and pollinating insects to come in and out.
56:54It's a good idea to close it all again at night in case the temperatures drop.
56:57While self-seeding plants like borage, alchemilla and this valerian make beautiful additions to the garden,
57:13they can sometimes become a bit too dominant.
57:16To keep them in check remove most of the seed heads leaving just a few behind for the seeds to ripen and spread naturally.
57:36There you go. A cup of nettle tea?
57:48Yes please.
57:50There you go.
57:51There you go.
57:52There you go.
57:53There you go.
57:54There you go.
57:55There you go.
57:56There you go.
57:57There you go.
57:58There you go.
57:59There you go.
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58:01There you go.
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58:07There you go.
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58:16There you go.
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