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Gardeners' World - Season 58 Episode 18 - Full Movie
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00:00Hello,
00:30welcome to Gardener's World,
00:32and welcome back to Longmeadow after a few weeks away,
00:34when the weather has been as hot and as dry
00:37as I've known it in the last 30-odd years.
00:41And if you've got containers, you've got to water them.
00:44Otherwise, in the sort of heat and drought we've had,
00:47they will just frivel up and die.
00:49Now, that makes life tricky,
00:50because there are hosepipe bands, there are water meters,
00:53so it does mean using what water you need to use really carefully.
00:57And we haven't watered the borders at all.
01:01And the effect is beginning to become really noticeable,
01:04sometimes quite dramatic.
01:04So, for example, the big hornbeam balls that I planted in spring have suffered.
01:10The ones exposed to the sun are not looking good at all.
01:13The ones in the shade are actually looking fine.
01:16Just that difference of a few meters is transformative.
01:19And it's one of the many things we're learning about how plants react.
01:23Clematis, which I would expect to really not like this dry weather,
01:28are doing fine, because their roots are deep.
01:31These are all factors that we're having to learn about and piece together
01:36and try and adapt to the changes of weather that we are having to deal with.
01:41Now, coming up on today's programme.
01:46Ari visits a cut flower grower in Kent,
01:49whose plot is filled not only with floral beauty,
01:52but also a fascinating range of wildlife.
01:55Wow!
01:56We've got privet hawk moth, so...
01:59Look at that!
01:59That's our largest UK resident species.
02:02It's a good night for elephants.
02:04Wow!
02:05Elephant hawk moths.
02:07Is that your biggest ever hawk?
02:08I think this is the most elephants I've ever seen.
02:10Yeah, that's definitely peak elephant.
02:13We catch up with Jamie Butterworth
02:15as he puts the finishing touches to our RHS Chelsea dog garden
02:20in its final position at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
02:24Harold is doing exactly what you were talking about.
02:29He's using the garden, he's got a lot to explore,
02:32and he's taking it really slowly.
02:33He is.
02:34It's so lovely to see, genuinely.
02:36And we visit a grower who is a self-confessed obsessive
02:41about Echeveria's.
02:43This is Echeveria Madaba, and she is absolutely stunning.
02:48It's got beautiful wavy lines.
02:50Its leaves are almost metallic and shiny.
02:53It's just beautiful.
02:55It has to be said that Longmeadow is a wet place.
03:22We never get drought.
03:25Well, we never used to get drought.
03:27Plants are just shriveling up.
03:29Flowers have been going over much quicker.
03:31Obviously, the roses just went over almost overnight.
03:34And the other thing that's happened
03:36is quite a lot of things have held back.
03:39So, for example, normally by this time,
03:41the dahlias are really zinging with flower and colour,
03:45and one of our main jobs is deadheading.
03:47Hardly any have come into flower yet.
03:51Hemorrhochallis, untouched, not bothered by it at all.
03:54The yews which I planted are really suffering.
03:57I should be watering those more,
03:58and yet those are plants which I think of as tough as old boots.
04:02I have to confess that I don't know the answers,
04:05and I don't believe that anybody does.
04:07We'll share.
04:07Good boy.
04:21Now, obviously, when it comes to vegetables, water is essential.
04:25It's almost impossible to grow good vegetables
04:27without some kind of watering.
04:29But as with so many plants throughout the garden,
04:32what you water and when is key.
04:34For example, we've got fennel here, Florence fennel,
04:36a really great late-summer plant,
04:40but you have to water it,
04:41because once it bolts, which it will do
04:43if it feels too hot or too dry,
04:45then you can't go back.
04:47You can never reclaim the plant.
04:49So I have been watering the fennel.
04:52Now, the outdoor tomatoes are actually in the perfect situation.
04:56I've watered them once a week,
04:58and when I say water, they get a really good soak.
05:00But they're very happy.
05:02They like the heat.
05:03They're not suffering, so that's fine.
05:06But here's a really good example.
05:08The broad beans, I haven't watered,
05:10because I've never watered broad beans in my life,
05:12and they've suffered.
05:13And what we've got,
05:14and this is the first time this has happened to me,
05:16we've got very small pods
05:18with large, very mealy beans.
05:22And the pods are about half the size,
05:26often with just two beans inside,
05:28which, as broad beans go, is not what you want.
05:31You know, I love the young broad beans,
05:32and you get longer pods,
05:34and there's something succulent about it.
05:36These are dry, they're mealy,
05:38but by and large, broad beans are one of the worst years I've ever had.
05:42Now, this is Swiss chard.
05:44Now, Swiss chard is actually really good at adapting to drought.
05:48It's got deep roots, and it will survive.
05:52But that doesn't mean to say that it is plain sailing,
05:56because what it often does is bolt.
05:59And that means it throws up a flowering stem
06:03in an effort to produce seeds.
06:04If the plant feels stressed, and therefore it might die,
06:07the quicker it can reproduce, the better.
06:10So what you have to do is, as soon as you see it bolting,
06:15and this is the bolting stem here,
06:17and these will become flowers,
06:19is go right down, cut that off.
06:25Now, that can go on the compost heap.
06:26Look how limp the leaves are.
06:28When they're fully hydrated, they're crisp and full.
06:32So that slows down the process of the plant going into panic.
06:37As soon as we get enough water, this will survive.
06:40These plants, I can guarantee,
06:42I will still be harvesting next spring.
06:44However, if this had been lettuce,
06:47and I grow a lot of lettuce,
06:49once it bolts, that's it.
06:51It's a one-way valve.
06:52It's rather like fennel.
06:53You can't reclaim it.
06:54Cutting back the bolting stem is no good.
06:57So it's a question of planning the plants
06:59according to the weather and the soil,
07:01and responding where response is going to be most effective.
07:04Now, we're going to join Arit
07:09as she continues her journey around the country
07:12visiting growers of cut flowers.
07:14And last month, she went down to visit a grower in Kent.
07:18This year, I'm on a mission.
07:28I'm meeting some of the growers
07:29who are driving a homegrown revolution
07:32right here in the UK.
07:34There are many people growing their own,
07:40and I don't just mean vegetables,
07:41which of course is important,
07:43but those that are growing seasonal British cut flowers.
07:46And they're doing it for the love of flowers,
07:48but also for wildlife.
07:50I've come to Kent to meet Nate Moss.
07:57Being able to grow his own fresh flowers
07:59was the motivation to transform his garden into a business.
08:06I brought a pair for you, actually.
08:07You knew I'd love that.
08:09Yeah, it's hard to keep up with them
08:10this time of year, this week, please.
08:11They're just coming into their prime now, actually.
08:14You just need sort of 10 or 12 to stick in a vase,
08:17and it gives you a really lovely display.
08:25Brilliant.
08:26Have you always loved gardening night?
08:27Brilliant.
08:28Have you always loved gardening night?
08:31I have, yeah.
08:32I think literally since I was five or six,
08:34I've got memories of being outside and planting stuff
08:38and growing and designing spaces.
08:41I grew up in a military family,
08:42so we moved around every year or two
08:45and actually also grew up with undiagnosed ADHD and autism,
08:49so I think being outside is where I feel most myself.
08:56So when did you decide to turn the space over to cut flowers?
09:02I think it's maybe not turned over to cut flowers.
09:07I think cut flowers is a part of it,
09:09but actually a lot of the space is turned over to nature,
09:13and I think it's trying to find the balance, really.
09:16I've been here a couple of years,
09:18so I see myself more as a guest, really,
09:21than a sort of custodian.
09:23I guess it's about trying to be a good guest,
09:26not a gate crasher, and make room for everyone else.
09:28Yeah, I like that.
09:29I really like that.
09:30It is about being a guest.
09:32I think there's a growing interest in British flowers
09:35and local flowers that haven't been shipped
09:37from the other side of the world.
09:38You know, they know how they've been grown,
09:41they've been grown sort of more environmentally friendly.
09:44Yeah, which is so, I think, important now.
09:54Oh, Nate, this is just lovely.
09:58Put these down.
09:59Absolutely, yeah.
09:59I mean, what do you choose?
10:02How do you decide what to grow?
10:03So, I think a lot of what I'm growing here
10:05is sort of country garden favourites.
10:08You've got dahlias and snapdragons and cosmos
10:11and kind of the more traditional stuff
10:13that you would grow in a cut flower garden in this country.
10:18To help realise Nate's ambition to bring more wildlife in,
10:22he's begun growing a very different group of plants
10:24for his bouquets.
10:25So, it's early days,
10:27but these are all British native wildflowers.
10:30So, we've got the wild form agrostemma, which is corn cockle,
10:34and then we've got our native salvia,
10:36which is just starting to come out, the lovely purple-blue.
10:40Ideally, what we want to do in terms of sustainability
10:42will be to grow almost like a cutting meadow.
10:45So, you've got plants growing in a community.
10:48They're going to need much less input from me.
10:50They'll be much more resilient.
10:52And that ambition is already growing into a reality.
10:57Well, this looks great.
11:00So, this was just a sort of bog-standard green lawn
11:03when we moved in a couple of years ago,
11:05and that's one of the first things we did,
11:07just let the grass grow and then cut it in the autumn
11:10and broadcast some wildflower seeds.
11:13So, this is, I guess, still an infant.
11:17Very much so, yeah.
11:19In some ways, but, you know, already,
11:21you know, seeing the butterflies dancing across it,
11:23I mean, it's doing its job.
11:24Yeah, as soon as the sun comes out on a day like this,
11:27you can start to see the meadow jumping,
11:29butterflies and bees, and, yeah, it just comes alive.
11:32And it's not just the daytime pollinators
11:36that Nate wants to attract to his garden.
11:39Yesterday evening, he set up a moth trap
11:41using a bucket and a light
11:43to see what other pollinators visit the garden at night.
11:49Wow!
11:52We've got privet hawk moth, so...
11:54Look at that!
11:55That's our largest UK resident species.
11:58It was a good night for elephants.
11:59Wow!
12:01Elephant hawk moths.
12:03Is that your biggest ever haul?
12:04I think this is the most elephants I've ever seen.
12:06Yeah, that's definitely peak elephant.
12:09It's the larval food that's so important, isn't it?
12:11Because often people are like,
12:13I don't like caterpillars,
12:15but they like, you know, butterflies
12:17and obviously the importance of moths.
12:19Most moths will have a single food plant
12:21that their caterpillars will eat.
12:23So, with the privet hawk moth, that eats privet.
12:26Elephant hawk moth, their larva depends on
12:29rose bay willow herb.
12:30So, that's a really important British native wildflower
12:32to grow in your garden if you want to see more elephants.
12:35Yeah.
12:36And what will you do with them now?
12:37So, what I'll do now is I'll record the numbers
12:39and the species
12:40and then we can submit that to our local moth recorder
12:43and then this evening we'll let them go
12:45and they'll just fly off into the night.
12:47Brilliant.
12:48It wouldn't be a proper visit
12:50without creating a display
12:52from what's looking great now.
12:54And Nate has a vase, or three, at the ready.
12:57We've got sustainable mechanics here.
13:00What I'm going to use is a pin holder.
13:02That'll just give it a little bit more support
13:04for the size of the stems we've got.
13:06And then just a bit of chicken wire
13:08which you sort of scrunch up.
13:10You can use that over and over again
13:11and just make a ball,
13:13pop it into your vase and push it down.
13:16So, when you're picking cut flowers,
13:17the ideal time to do it is
13:19first thing in the morning
13:20when it's nice and cool
13:21and they're well hydrated after the evening
13:23and then ideally you just let them condition
13:26for 24 hours in a nice deep drink of cool water.
13:32And just stripping off these lower leaves
13:34really just stops all of that
13:36going basically mouldy in the water,
13:39keeping the stems nice and clear.
13:42So, we've got some lovely meadow sweet here
13:45which is an ancient strewing herb
13:47they'd have used us back in the medieval time
13:49to dry and put on their bedchamber floors
13:51just because of the lovely fragrance of it.
13:55So, this is a lovely rose bay willow herb.
14:00This is just celebrating
14:02lovely bright colour palette this time of year.
14:07That looks absolutely stunning, Nate.
14:09I love it.
14:10I love it.
14:12Meadow in a vase.
14:13It's absolutely a meadow in a vase.
14:15The colours are just so gentle.
14:18That pink and yellow, I just adore it.
14:20I really love how Nate's passion for nature and wildlife
14:29has driven him to grow these British wildflowers
14:33alongside the more traditional cut flowers.
14:35You can really feel the love in every single stem
14:38and the great thing is that they haven't been flown across the world.
14:42They haven't used any pesticides.
14:44They've been grown here in this native soil.
14:57Come on.
14:58I have to say, I am deeply jealous of those sweet peas
15:11because the drought has affected mine catastrophically.
15:14Nevertheless, they looked wonderful.
15:16I thought the arrangements at the end were simply magnificent.
15:20Lovely.
15:21Now, these are my potatoes.
15:24I planted these in early April.
15:26They have not had a drop of water at any stage in their growth other than the rain.
15:32They're charlotte.
15:32They're a second early, which means that they're ready from about the end of June, beginning of July.
15:38Now, what I will do is pull a little bit away, like this, and already we can see that some are coming up by hand.
15:56The soil is dust.
15:59Normally, the soil sticks to your feet.
16:01It sticks to the spade.
16:02When you dig spuds, they are coated in mud, and these are practically clean.
16:07You could almost just put those straight into water and cook them because the soil is so dry.
16:22Well, that's enough for lunch.
16:25And I have to say, I'm really genuinely happy with that because no water, soil like dust,
16:31no care and attention at all.
16:34And look at them.
16:35Really nice potatoes.
16:36They'll store for about three months and make us very happy in the process.
16:41Now, inside the greenhouse, obviously, it hasn't just been hot.
16:55It's been really roasting.
16:58In here, it's been in the mid and high 40s day after day.
17:02And managing that can be quite tricky with interesting results.
17:05So, something like the cucumbers haven't minded the heat at all.
17:09They're fine as long as they get enough water.
17:12I should harvest some.
17:14So, let's have a couple for lunch.
17:16There, that will do.
17:17That one is a nice small variety called Passandra.
17:20The squashes, also a member of the cucurbit family, have really done well.
17:27I've watered these probably twice, maybe three times a week.
17:30They're absolutely incredible.
17:31But, what we're aiming at are really good fruits.
17:35Now, each plant, I think, can cope with three fruits and no more.
17:40So, at this stage, you're going to start cutting back.
17:44Now, the first thing to do is to cut back foliage that's blocking light.
17:47So, we can see there's a fruit there.
17:49That looks really nice.
17:50So, if I take that out and that out.
17:57And, of course, what that's doing is letting light onto it.
18:00And that will help the ripening process.
18:03Come on.
18:10Now, you can see I've got masses of flowers.
18:19I haven't got very many fruits.
18:21But, in order to have a fruit, you need a flower.
18:24So, if I cut all the flowers off now, I won't get any more fruits.
18:28So, I'm going to leave the flowers for the moment and see how they fruit.
18:33And then, when I've got three per plant, I'll cut all the rest off and keep cutting them off.
18:37And the reason you do that is because flowers take energy.
18:41The plant wants to produce as many fruits as possible to maximise the opportunities of producing seed and, therefore, more plants.
18:50So, by limiting the amount of flowers, we are focusing all the plant's energy into developing the fruits that it has.
18:57I've been away for a couple of weeks.
19:04And, while I was away, someone very kindly watered the greenhouses for me.
19:08And, on that side, because the tomatoes were younger, they didn't water so much.
19:13Over on this side of the greenhouse, bigger plants, they thought they needed more water.
19:16They watered every day.
19:18And, that was too much water.
19:19And, the result is this, you'll see these tomato fruits are horribly blackened, but they have one feature which is common to all of them.
19:30The discolouration is all at the bottom of the fruit, which is where the flower was.
19:37And, this is called blossom end rot, and it's really quite common.
19:43This is very dramatic.
19:44This is the worst example I've ever seen.
19:47But, sometimes, it's just a general browning, a stain at the bottom of the fruit.
19:51And, it's caused by lack of calcium.
19:55And, it's not that there isn't enough calcium in the soil, but if you have too much water, it inhibits the plant from taking up that calcium.
20:03To make life complicated, if you have too little water, you can also get it.
20:07It's not something that's going to spread, because it's caused by the cells collapsing.
20:12However, it's really easy to fix.
20:14Just change the watering regime, twice a week, a good soak, and that's almost always enough for any tomato.
20:33Although we're in the middle of summer, it is important to start planning ahead and sowing seeds for autumn and winter veg.
20:51There are a few salad-y type crops that I always grow, which grow best in spring and in autumn and even in winter.
21:00And, amongst them, I've got here, I've got chicory, radicchio.
21:04I've got fantastic pala rossa radicchio.
21:08Slightly bitter, crisp, wonderful in winter salads, and also really nice cooked.
21:12You wilt them.
21:13And they're delicious.
21:16I always grow rocket.
21:17Now, rocket doesn't like hot weather, so you can imagine it would have been hopeless over the last few weeks.
21:23Finally, I've got parsley.
21:25The technique is exactly the same for all of them.
21:27So, compost into a seed tray.
21:30Chicory, this is pala rossa.
21:33Now, I'm sprinkling the seed as thinly as I can.
21:36You can, of course, sow these direct, and they'll grow perfectly well, except that the ground at the moment is so dry, so you've got to water well and keep watering.
21:48And you don't need a greenhouse.
21:49You can do this perfectly well on a windowsill.
21:52Gently press them in.
21:53All I'm doing is making contact with the seed to the soil.
21:57I'm not pressing down.
21:59And they need to be covered over.
22:01And it's just a light covering, which lets a little bit of light through and also lets some moisture through.
22:09A label.
22:14And this is certainly something I'd get on and sow now.
22:17I wouldn't leave this any longer.
22:19Now, that will need watering, and I'm going to dip that in a tray of water, so we'll put that to one side.
22:31These need to be kept watered, but not soaking wet.
22:58Just make sure they don't dry out.
22:59They should germinate in about 7 to 10 days' time, be ready to prick out in about 3 weeks' time, and plant out in sort of about the middle of September.
23:10The rocket will be ready to harvest quite quickly, certainly by October, November.
23:14The chicory may well be something that you harvest in the middle of winter, but I can tell you it will be very welcome.
23:20I love it.
23:21Now, one of the things I also love about gardens, and gardening, is that it allows for every kind of niche obsession.
23:30And we went to visit one grower, who certainly comes into that category, in North Lincolnshire.
23:36Hello, my name is Tracy Coogan, and I am obsessed with Echeveria.
23:50I had an old book, and it said in the old book that grey neck of Echeveria soon becomes a major embarrassment due to lack of space.
24:04And I stood in my little greenhouse thinking, oh, I wish I were in that position.
24:1113 years later on, I've got four large greenhouses, and I'm seriously embarrassed by the lack of space.
24:18Echeveria are just the most perfect genus.
24:31Unlike other succulents, there are so many different varieties and forms within the genus.
24:37You've got plants that have hairs on the leaves, compacted rosettes, we've got shrub-type plants,
24:43we have plants that look like ornamental cabbages.
24:45They come in every colour of the rainbow, from pure snowy white, through blues, greens, pinks, purples, blacks.
24:54They are just the most amazing plant.
24:57This is Echeveria polydonis, and I would say it's possibly one of the most easily recognised plants.
25:08It's a species plant from Mexico.
25:10It's got beautiful, beautiful margins.
25:13It's tough, it's robust, and it's one of the few plants that will cope with the British weather.
25:18It can manage sub-zero conditions, providing it's protected from the rain and it's not wet.
25:25This is Echeveria Madaba.
25:32She's absolutely stunning.
25:34It's got beautiful, wavy lines.
25:37Its leaves are almost metallic and shiny and multi-turned.
25:42In different lights, it picks up different hues.
25:45It's just beautiful.
25:47One of the things I love about Echeveria is the reese of propagation.
26:03This method, leaf propagation, is probably the easiest of all.
26:07You need to choose leaves that are healthy and plump.
26:10And simply give it a good wiggle.
26:17And the leaf will come off with a perfect C shape.
26:21Use 50% compost and 50% grit and simply lay your leaves onto the compost.
26:28And you don't need to water now until they've developed roots.
26:31The leaf cannot absorb the water without roots, so adding water at this stage would just cause it to rot.
26:37Place them in a light, sunny position.
26:41You can do this at any time of year, but it's preferable to do it in spring.
26:44It gives the leaf time to develop a nice, strong little plantlet that will get through the following winter.
26:51And within four or five weeks, they should start rooting and grow little heads that would be the perfect clone of the parent plant.
26:57This is one of the Echeveria raindrops varieties.
27:08It's a beautiful mutation that's got, like, little teardrops that are formed on the leaves.
27:14This form has drops 52 weeks of the year.
27:17There are some forms that during the summer, the drops are no longer visible, and then they'll reform again in winter.
27:23Here's a beautiful plant called Echeveria skinneri.
27:28It's not something you'd associate as being Echeveria.
27:31It's got these beautiful tall stems.
27:34It grows very much like aeonium, and much like aeonium, you can propagate it by cutting the heads off when they get too long,
27:43letting them callous over and putting them on.
27:44The needs are really, really simple and basic.
27:56The only way you can really kill them is by over-watering.
28:00You need to use a really good quality potting compost and mix that 50% potting compost, 50% grit.
28:06You need to allow the compost to dry out completely before you water them again.
28:11So during summer, maybe water once every week to 10 days.
28:15They like a bright sunny position, but would be really, really happy if you could give them a little bit of afternoon shade.
28:21At the first sign of frost, you need to bring them in and dry them out and allow them to go into dormancy.
28:26Once it goes cold, they won't take up water, so watering them is pretty much pointless.
28:31Because propagating from leaf and headcutting just doesn't produce enough plants,
28:39I've started hybridising my own Echeverias from seed.
28:43So last year, I chose Echeveria Shabiana Peregrina
28:48and added it to a more robust plant, Echeveria Cuspidata, with its beautiful, pointy claws.
28:58The resulting progeny!
29:00Ooh, look at that!
29:02It's really lovely with its delicate peachy turns, its lovely pink claws.
29:07For all the plants I have in my collection, it's different to anything else I've got.
29:13And another beautiful Echeveria is Echeveria linguis.
29:17People either love it or hate it.
29:19There is no middle ground with it, to the point where they can't stand to look at the caruncles
29:24and they find it the most disgusting, stomach-turning plant,
29:28to other people like me who think it's amazingly beautiful
29:31and you just want to get up close and personal and look at all the fantastic patterns on the leaves.
29:36They're really good therapy.
29:40It doesn't matter how you're feeling or what's happening in other parts of your life or the world.
29:46You can come down to your greenhouse, you can play with your plants for a few hours
29:49and you just forget everything.
29:51I now feel a bit inadequate about my own Echeverias because although they're lovely and really interesting
30:11and incidentally, very easy to look after because, as Tracey so brilliantly pointed out,
30:16if they're not growing, they don't need water and they don't need much water anyway.
30:20They're wonderfully adapted to neglect, if you like.
30:26Now, this is a yew hedge that I planted from cuttings that I took some years ago
30:33deliberately to replace the box hedges that lined all the borders here in the Jewel Garden.
30:38They're coming into being, it's not yet what I would call a proper hedge,
30:42but when I planted it, they were completely individual plants, they are growing together
30:46and you have to have an element of patience.
30:48But the first thing I would say is don't be frightened of yew as a hedge.
30:53There is this belief that it grows very slowly and it's going to take ages.
30:58It's not true. Yew grows quite fast.
31:02You can see that's this year's growth, there's probably about 10 inches of growth on that.
31:05It's going to be a minimum of 6 inches and can be up to a foot.
31:10The secret is to cut the sides nice and tight, even if eventually you want it to be wider
31:15because that will encourage lateral growth.
31:17So the first thing I'm going to do is just start to cut the side back.
31:21And the thing about yew, and it's true of holly and box as well,
31:24is the harder you cut it, the denser it will grow.
31:28And one of the measures of a compact hedge, particularly a low one,
31:31is so you can put your cup of tea with a saucer on it and it will balance like a shelf.
31:35When you're cutting an evergreen hedge like yew,
31:45it's best to do it between August and even November.
31:50And that way they also will stay sharp really well into May.
31:56And I would stress these have not been watered or fed ever.
31:59What I do is mulch them in spring, and that's been it.
32:06Now, having done that and been along, I can now think about doing the top.
32:13I need to also do the inside, but there's much less growth on that
32:16because that is north-facing and you've got other plants,
32:20so there's very little light getting to it, so therefore it's not growing so well.
32:23Now, when it comes to the top, hip height is about right.
32:27You can put a string, you can get a level, you can aim to get it dead right.
32:32At this stage of its growth, I just want to get a line, and I can do that by eye.
32:37So if I just go across like this, and I can level it up a bit later.
32:42That's very rough, but it's early days.
32:56It'll be another two or three years before that's a solid hedge.
32:59And just remember, all this came from cuttings, so worth doing.
33:06Now, at Chelsea this year, I did my first show garden.
33:08I say I did my first show garden.
33:10It was very much a team effort.
33:13And the key person who worked with me throughout this was Jamie Butterworth.
33:19And we both agreed from day one,
33:21we wanted it to be permanently placed a batterseed dogs and cats home.
33:27And we're joining Jamie now as he's finishing off with the planting
33:31and preparing for its grand opening.
33:38Helping to bring Monty's RHS and BBC Radio 2 dog garden design to life at Chelsea this year
33:48was an absolute honour for me as a plantsman.
33:52It was a huge whirlwind of a project that got lots of attention.
33:58It was an emotional rollercoaster, and I loved every minute of it.
34:02But the story of this garden is far from over.
34:06The RHS and Monty were so passionate.
34:09This garden brings as much joy to as many dogs as possible.
34:14Which is why it's coming here.
34:17Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in central London
34:19has been rescuing, rehabilitating and reharing animals ever since 1860.
34:25The operation to transfer the show garden from Chelsea
34:30to its forever home here has been going on for six weeks.
34:34And now its royal grand opening is just five days away.
34:40And I think we're in a pretty good place.
34:45All the major structural bits from the garden at Chelsea are now here.
34:50So all the trees have now been moved over.
34:52The hard landscaping is all in.
34:54So these are all the bricks that made the path at Chelsea.
34:57We've redesigned it slightly.
34:58Because we needed to have an entrance area
35:02that the dogs could actually go onto in the first place
35:04and then on and into the garden.
35:06The hedge that was at the back of the garden is now in
35:08and actually is doing a really important job.
35:11Because just a metre behind that hedge is a railway line.
35:15So it's really important to try and screen that out from the dogs.
35:19Over at the back of the garden,
35:20we've got the most incredible team of volunteers from back to see planting away.
35:25But I reckon today, maybe tomorrow, we'll get those all in.
35:28The garden at Chelsea was essentially a stage set,
35:35a representation of a dog-friendly domestic garden.
35:39Monty wanted features that would suit dogs,
35:42like the wallow, plenty of shade and a nice thick lawn.
35:46But it was on a scale and in a style
35:48to suit a typical back garden and a typical family.
35:52We originally thought we'd be able to pretty much
35:58transpose the design from Chelsea into the garden here at Battersea.
36:03But this is not only a completely different space,
36:07but has completely different requirements.
36:11Here at Battersea, to replace a simple patch of plastic grass,
36:16the home wanted a place where the vulnerable rescued dogs
36:21get a chance to be outside amongst plants
36:23to explore and to feel safe.
36:26I reckon we can do a clump of amistad here.
36:29OK.
36:30I reckon we can do a clump of amistad here.
36:32OK.
36:32And a clump of amistad here.
36:34If we get the key structural bits in.
36:35A clump of amistad here.
36:37If we get the key structural bits in.
36:39OK.
36:39First.
36:40So, I've been working...
36:42OK.
36:42First.
36:43So, I've been working closely with Battersea's lead horticulturalist Dawn Richards
36:52to make sure this is a garden that really fits their brief.
36:56Dawn, why is this garden so important to the dogs here?
37:01Well, as you've probably seen, it's a really urbanised environment here.
37:07You know, it's very built up.
37:09And the dogs that are in kennels, whilst we do provide the best enrichment
37:14and the very best care we can, shelter life can be quite one-dimensional.
37:18So, it's great for them to be able to get out, experience sort of green spaces,
37:23come into contact with nature,
37:24and just sort of be able to make that sort of freedom of choice to explore.
37:29I garden in a very different way to how I would say in my own home.
37:32And when I place plants, when I put plants in the ground in an area here,
37:36I'm really thinking about how the dogs are going to interact in that space.
37:40You know, they're a lot lower to the ground than us.
37:42Yeah, of course.
37:43So, they're going to navigate through the garden differently.
37:47And the enrichment benefits that they're going to gain from it is from touch,
37:51is from, you know, the aromatics, the smell.
37:54So, like the oregano.
37:55So, like the oregano, absolutely.
37:56And, you know, like, if you...
37:58Like, that's really powerful for a dog.
38:00You know, we think an awful lot about mindfulness,
38:04about coming into contact with nature,
38:06and how intrinsic that is for our own well-being.
38:09But equally so, you know, with dogs,
38:12they enjoy and need the same enrichment.
38:15In terms of well-being, that's massive.
38:18You know, massive.
38:21To see if we're going in the right direction,
38:24it's time to put the new garden to the test,
38:27with the help of the canine residents themselves.
38:30First up is Jasper.
38:34Yay!
38:35There he goes.
38:37He is picking his way through.
38:39He's meandering.
38:40And smelling.
38:41Which is really lovely to see.
38:44He's using it exactly how we hoped dogs would use it.
38:48He's getting the benefit of this environment,
38:50but not free-running, burning off energy,
38:53but engaging his brain and having a little nibble,
38:56which is really, really incredible to see.
39:00If you've got a dog at home,
39:02and you're wanting to try and replicate a bit of this,
39:04what would your advice be?
39:06I'd say, you know, if you can,
39:09don't be so precious about your gardens.
39:11Allow your dog to use it.
39:13Place your most precious plants maybe to the back of the borders,
39:17where the dogs won't necessarily, you know,
39:19walk on them or flatten them.
39:21But also, you know, think about what dogs want from nature,
39:25what they look for in nature.
39:26They love a bit of shade,
39:27maybe, you know, some water.
39:29That could be a small child's paddling pool.
39:32It could be, you know, a large bowl of fresh water every day.
39:36Am I right in saying there are particular colours
39:38that are best for dogs so that dogs can see?
39:41Yeah, well, dogs see on the blue and yellow spectrum,
39:44so those are the colours that they can actually visually see.
39:47You know, things like marigolds and asters,
39:50visually they will see them,
39:51so it does give them a little bit more of a dynamic.
39:54Sis, what do you think?
39:56Oh, there you go.
39:58Oh, good boy.
39:58Good boy.
40:00Next to road test the new space, Harold.
40:08Harold, again, is doing exactly what you were talking about.
40:13He's using the garden, he's got a lot to explore,
40:16and he's taking it really slowly.
40:17He is.
40:18It's so lovely to see, genuinely.
40:21Harold, as we can see, is, you know,
40:23a slightly more subdued character to Jasper,
40:26and just watching him moving through the garden,
40:29he's gaining confidence.
40:30And this garden will provide that resource for so many of our dogs
40:34that are quite vulnerable,
40:36are feeling a little bit, you know, in a new environment and unsure,
40:39and then you give them something that's totally natural
40:42and as close to nature as you can get,
40:45and they're going to use that,
40:46and that's going to really, really help them
40:49with their journey through the shelter into a new home.
40:52These are the moments that you really realise what you do
40:56has a massive impact.
40:58It's quite emotional.
41:00It's a dream come true to know that this is here now for these dogs.
41:05The legacy of the garden here at Battersea
41:08is something that's close to many people's hearts,
41:11which is why its official opening is being done
41:14by Her Majesty the Queen.
41:16So, the day before the royal visit,
41:20Monty arrives to give it the final once-over.
41:24Jamie, I got here at last.
41:25Nice to see you.
41:26How are you, Monty?
41:27I'm fine. I'm fine.
41:29I'm looking around.
41:30I'm relieved.
41:31The planting looks good.
41:33The garden's been open tomorrow by the Queen.
41:35So we had a hard deadline.
41:37And ultimately, what I'd have loved to have done
41:40is cut back a lot of these plants as we plant them.
41:42Horticulturally, it would have been so much better
41:44to give them a complete Chelsea chop, Hampton hack,
41:47and let them try and root down a little bit.
41:50But we needed to look full.
41:54It wouldn't be Monty if he didn't want a couple of tweaks.
41:59But actually seeing the garden in situ here at Battersea
42:03feels absolutely right.
42:06To me, this is just... It's morphed.
42:09It's just shifted.
42:10It's just sort of flowed across the Thames and arrived here.
42:14And it's taken up a different shape.
42:16And obviously, the final piece of this jukesaw
42:19will be Her Majesty coming tomorrow and opening it up.
42:22And then I sort of feel, fine, off you go.
42:25That's your life now.
42:26It's closure.
42:26Yeah, it's closure.
42:27Like a ship just sailing away.
42:29You know, and it leaves you and I.
42:31I've done a few Chelsea gardens,
42:33and we've relocated all of them.
42:34But this is...
42:35I think this is the most authentic, nicest, will...
42:40It's going to have such a legacy.
42:41Seeing the garden come to its final resting place was deeply satisfying.
43:06Jamie and I had worked on it over the past year so intensely.
43:10For about two or three months,
43:11we spoke over the phone about four times a day
43:13and went over every detail,
43:16every conceivable square inch we both knew intimately.
43:21And then for the Queen to come and open the garden,
43:25and for so many people, and dogs, of course,
43:28to so obviously get pleasure from it was very satisfying.
43:32And knowing that that garden is going to live on for years to come
43:36is a really good way to conclude my involvement with it.
43:42Back to reality.
43:43And this area here, which is really one big bed,
43:47is dominated by species roses.
43:49And the thing about species roses, and I love them,
43:52is that they all have small flowers, tend to be single.
43:55They tend to flower earlier in the year, just once.
43:59They don't repeat flower.
44:00They flower on old wood,
44:02so the wood that's grown the previous year.
44:05And they tend to very often be quite big.
44:07You can see, although I pruned these last year a bit,
44:10they're really big as roses go.
44:13And I like that.
44:14However, they do need some pruning and some control,
44:17and now is the time to do it.
44:18Because if you prune them in winter,
44:21like normal shrub roses,
44:23the new growth won't carry any flowers.
44:25So when you prune, go as low as you can
44:28and take the oldest material out.
44:31So if you can see in here, I've got a nice old bit there.
44:34If I take that like that,
44:38I don't know if I can get it out in one go.
44:40Here we go.
44:41See, what I've got, and I can hold this up,
44:48that's always a whole rosebrush on its own,
44:50the stems.
44:52Now that's a new stem.
44:53I could have cut there, and that would have been fine.
44:54This is what will bear next year's flowers if I'd left it on.
44:59This year's new growth.
45:01So that's what we want to leave plenty of behind.
45:04All this older stuff, that can be chopped up,
45:07and it could go on the compost heap.
45:10No.
45:19Anything that's got flowers on it
45:22is not going to flower next year.
45:24So I can take that back like that.
45:27That can come out.
45:31So let's go right down low.
45:33I can just see a slight bud.
45:34If I go above that, it will regrow from that point.
45:54I've taken off about half the plant.
45:57And what I've left is going to give me flowers next year.
46:00Now this is not its final size.
46:03I want it to be bigger than this.
46:06But that gives room for it to grow.
46:08And I don't prune these every year.
46:10At most every other year,
46:12and actually on average about every three years.
46:15By and large, that is it.
46:17That's all you need to do every three years.
46:19Your work is done.
46:20We're going to go to one of your gardens now.
46:23It belongs to Simon Farrell,
46:24who lives not very far from here in Herefordshire.
46:28And I think you'll find it's rather a special place.
46:30Hello, my name is Simon.
46:49And welcome to my one-acre patch of paradise
46:53in the middle of Herefordshire.
47:00Well, 25 years ago,
47:04I started to turn this into a nature reserve
47:09and a wildflower garden.
47:12And basically, it's evolved over that time,
47:16every year being slightly different from the year before.
47:21But unfortunately, I now have this motor neuron disease.
47:26So I rely very much on family and friends
47:29to help keep the pathways open down through the orchard.
47:35And anyway, follow me.
47:40This border, which is right outside the cottage,
47:56it's really started off as a herb garden.
48:03And you can see the say and the apple mint.
48:08And I've just added occasional garden plants as well.
48:13But this year, this tall, thin mallow has appeared.
48:18And this is the exciting thing about wildflower gardens.
48:26It's that you never know what's going to come up.
48:30And it's such a surprise.
48:32When I see these plants and flowers,
48:36I think those marvelous lines by William Blake,
48:43to see the world in a grain of sand
48:46and heaven in a wildflower
48:49is to hold the universe in the palm of your hand
48:54and eternity in an hour.
49:01I think it's right.
49:03Maybe not.
49:04Yes, a pond is central part of a wild life garden.
49:22And to have dragonflies come to your pond
49:26is just sort of wonderful beyond belief.
49:34And there's so many different types
49:36and colors and forms
49:40and the way they hover and hunt.
49:43Oh, there's a newt.
49:45I've just seen a newt.
49:46And before long,
49:58a whole afternoon
50:00will have just kept by.
50:02And my mind is full
50:19of the wonder of it all.
50:23for the wonder of it all.
50:45Mum?
50:45Baba.
50:46Uh-hm.
50:47Bam.
50:47Some reason.
50:48Thank you, Simon. Thank you for sharing your garden with us.
50:59Now this is a Philadelphus, a mock orange, and until about three weeks ago was a cloud of white
51:07flowers with some of the most distinctive fragrance you could get in the garden. I don't have a
51:13wonderful sense of smell, but just walking down here you'd be bathed in this wonderful,
51:18wonderful scent. So I want more, and the best way to get more is to take cuttings.
51:24So if I go down there and take that, now obviously that is too long for a cutting,
51:31so I'm going to divide it up. I could probably divide it into three actually. Go one and then
51:38just cutting there, two. And as ever with cuttings, bring a polythene bag and pop them in. Even if
51:50you're going to go straight away to deal with them, it's going to help the longevity,
51:55and longevity is what it's all about. So we've got those.
52:08I've got these cuttings in the bag, and now the important thing to do is to process them
52:26as quickly as you can. Have compost ready that has got a lot of perlite, sand, or grit in it.
52:34You need drainage. You don't need nutrition at this stage. It's much more important that they
52:39have good drainage. So that's ready. I've got these ready. I've got a knife to hand,
52:44and now we can take them out. This is the top, and you can see already that is very soft. And it's
52:52worth pointing out the definition of a softwood cutting is, can you bend it? Is it soft enough
52:56to bend back on itself? So if I just took that top, it would be a softwood cutting. Softwood
53:01cuttings strike very easily. However, they die very quickly. This, though, has got a base
53:09that is firmer, and you can see that if I tried to bend that, it's flexible, but it can't bend
53:15on itself. So it's semi-ripe. They're slower to take, but they're pretty reliable. They're
53:20less prone to dying back. So I need to reduce the leaves. Now, these leaves would lose moisture,
53:31and if the plant loses too much moisture, it'll die before it has a chance to grow roots. And if it
53:40doesn't have roots, it can't take up any more moisture. It's a very simple equation. So I've just
53:44left a few little leaves on the top. Clean it off by cutting below a node. Now, a node
53:50is simply a fancy name for where the leaves join. And if you cut just below the node, the
53:56sharp knife, that's the place where roots are most likely to form. Now, I need that to make
54:03a hole. So I've sunk it in nice and deep. This one, I'll take the leaves off. And that can
54:13go in. Take these off. This is a more woody one. Water that and put it somewhere protected
54:35from direct hot sunlight and being too wet or too windy. I will not touch these until I
54:43next spring. However, I'm really confident that what I'll get next year is this. Because what I
54:51have here are a tray of Philadelphus that I took as cuttings this time last year. And you can see,
54:57the result is, and they've been potted on into their own separate pots, really nice healthy plants.
55:04Now, if you were to buy that in a garden centre, you would be looking in excess of £10 and maybe as
55:10much as twice that. I will probably plant these next spring, when they will be up here. And they'll
55:17be having a good root system, nice big pot. And it's cost me absolutely nothing. And if that doesn't
55:24make you want to take a cutting, then I don't know what will. However, even if cuttings aren't your bag,
55:29here are your jobs for this weekend.
55:42At this time of year, plants grown in a container will need a bit of a boost in order to go on
55:48performing at their very best. I'm using a homemade comfrey tea, but I can recommend liquid seaweed too,
55:54which you can buy at any garden centre. Don't be tempted to mix it up stronger than the recommended
56:00dosage. And you only need to feed once a week. And this will make all the difference in the coming months.
56:12We tend to focus on the water needs of plants at times of heat and drought. But don't forget wildlife.
56:19A whole range of wildlife in your garden must have water too. And especially birds at this time of year.
56:27So if you don't have a bird bath, get a container, raise it up out of reach of any predators,
56:34and make sure it's topped up with fresh water daily.
56:37Because of the intense heat and drought of this summer, many of us have plants that look burnt to a
56:50frazzle. I'm afraid there's nothing to do but to cut them back hard. If you can, give them a good soak.
57:00They may well regrow this summer, but even if they don't, they'll be healthy and grow back next year
57:06as though nothing has happened.
57:15One of the major events in the garden this year is the rejigging of the dual garden. Stripped it out last
57:22winter. Gradually been replanting it throughout spring and into summer. And it's been quite tricky
57:27because of the weather. But some things have come really good and the helleniums are just beginning
57:33to take off. This is Sahin's early. They epitomize everything we're trying to do in the dual garden,
57:39which is about richness and intensity and those velvety colors. And, you know, the caramel and the orange
57:47and the burgundy that come through is exactly the right tone. And bees love it too. It's just a joy.
58:05Well, that's it for today. I think, on reflection, we have to learn to adapt as gardeners.
58:23Climate's changing. How our gardens are growing is changing. How we garden is changing. But we can still,
58:30whatever the weather, have beautiful, productive gardens. And that's to be celebrated.
58:37And next week, you're with Adam. And I'll see you back here at Longmeadow in a couple of weeks' time.
58:42So, until then, bye-bye.
59:00Bye-bye.
59:09Bye-bye.
59:15Bye-bye.
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