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Gardeners World 2025 Episode 1 (S58E1)
# Bill Duncalf
#David Leighton
#Gardeners World - Season 58
#Geoff Hamilton
#Percy Thrower
#Peter Seabrook
# Bill Duncalf
#David Leighton
#Gardeners World - Season 58
#Geoff Hamilton
#Percy Thrower
#Peter Seabrook
Kategorie
📺
TVTranskript
00:00Hello, welcome to a beautiful day here at Longmeadow and a brand new series of
00:20Gardener's World. The sun is shining and of course everything is responding. The birds are singing,
00:26the flowers are growing at last and looking fantastic and a real feeling of hope of what's
00:33to come and also a feeling that we need to crack on with those winter jobs and finish them up
00:39and that includes pruning. Pruning any kind of deciduous tree or shrub is something you
00:46do need to get on with now because of course you don't want to disturb nesting birds.
00:50These are lime trees, not the limes that you eat but Tilia, Tilia caudata, small leaf lime
00:57and they're pleached and what that means essentially is we've got bear trunks and then a
01:02kind of hedge with this massive growth and by pruning it back every spring we can enjoy the
01:10colours of the bear stems in winter and then you get a new flush of growth with extra big foliage
01:15in summer. But it is a job that I need to do and do now. It's not just pruning of course,
01:22masses to be getting on with at this time of year.
01:27Coming up on today's programme, Francis meets a couple who've used their passion for salvaged
01:32material to help create their unique and beautiful garden. What you can't avoid is these amazing
01:41structure? Is this one of your creations Sandy? Yes, it was an old cow feeders so we've ended up with
01:48lots of bits of junk. We travel to London to visit a gardener who's created a full sanctuary on his
01:56balcony. In terms of the colour scheme I would love to have a really tasteful garden where a lot of
02:03thought had gone into it but it's more of a tutti frutti vibe where we just put as much in as possible.
02:09Adam visits the Isle of Wight to discover how the team at Vent the Botanic Garden are adjusting
02:16their gardening practices in the face of our changing climate. It's interesting isn't it because
02:22you're the hottest garden in the UK so you're in this test for what we might be growing on the mainland
02:29in 10-15 years time. And I'm going to share with you all the big changes that we've made this winter.
02:49I said we've had big changes here but actually here in the spring garden we've done pretty well
03:05nothing at all because this performs year in year out. Starts in January with the snow drops and now
03:12you can see the hellebores and the daffodils are coming through and there'll be muscarium pulmonaria
03:18and then we'll get the tulips and finally there's a big flourish with all the cow parsley that just
03:25makes this wonderful white haze running through it and by the end of May it's all over. But while it lasts
03:31it's fabulous.
03:47Now it may not seem like a big thing but we have increased the width of these paths. It took a lot
03:53of work. It was quite a big project but it's brilliant. It means we can bring wider wheelbarrows down
03:59but also we've dug up the strips of soil either side of them and so the borders are bigger and
04:05that means more planting and of course I'll share that with you in the coming weeks. However more
04:09dramatic, much more dramatic is that we have cut down apple trees. Now that may seem pretty radical or
04:17even very destructive but there is good thinking behind it. When I planted the orchard which was back in
04:241996-97 I had this idea of great big trees covered with blossom and then fruit and I thought it would
04:33be like a sort of fruity wood and the idea was really good but the reality wasn't so practical because
04:39great big trees carry a huge amount of apples really high up so we couldn't reach them to pick them.
04:46Also the shade from these big trees meant that these borders were really suffering.
04:51So what we've done is we've taken down the seven apple trees that were working least well for us
04:56and all the others we've dramatically pruned, halved them. So we're going to get half the
05:01amount of apples as a result and also they'll be lowered down so we can reach them and of course
05:07it means that the beds below the trees get much more light. However even that isn't the biggest thing
05:15that's happened in the garden this winter.
05:30It's here in the jewel garden that the biggest changes have been made.
05:34At its best it can be I know really magnificent but it was fading. It was losing its sparkle.
05:44So I decided that we need to start over again. This winter we've taken out as many plants as we
05:51possibly can. The next thing we've done is put in more structure. These fantastic hornbeam balls.
05:59We've made obelisks to take a rambling rose there and then there's another one on this side.
06:05And we'll bring the planting back reusing as much as possible and today I'm going to be planting a
06:11rose to go up this obelisk.
06:23I've got this rose to match the one on the other side called Chevy Chase. It's got a mass of red
06:42flowers and it flowers for a long time which is unusual because that is a rambling rose.
06:47A rambling rose tends to only flower once with lots of small flowers produced on the previous
06:55year's wood. Whereas climbing roses tend to have bigger flowers all produced on the current season's
07:03wood. Now it doesn't matter if you've got a climbing or a rambling rose the way of planting them is the
07:09same. You dig a hole and you put them in it. Job done. Well almost.
07:21I'm digging quite a deep hole because the roots are quite substantial.
07:28This is a bare root rose which is why I've got it in a bucket of water.
07:31Now roses should always be planted deeper than they come in the pot. This is the graft and this is
07:42the rootstock. This tells you how it grows. This tells you how it flowers. I like to plant it so that
07:48that is about an inch below the soil and that will stop root rock and also reduce suckers.
07:53That's about right. Almost perfect. So hold that in position and then get the soil around it.
08:04You don't need to add any extra goodness to the soil
08:09because if you do you're just encouraging the roots to stay in the planting hole.
08:14Roses are tough particularly rambling roses. They will cope with all kinds of conditions.
08:20The bare root season is roughly November to the end of February so we're right at the edge of it.
08:26You may find it easier at this time of year to plant containerized roses.
08:32Give it a good soak.
08:38Always water any plant when you put it in but particularly a woody plant like this.
08:42Now remember this is a rambler so all the new growth this year will have not a single flower on it.
08:50That doesn't matter. We're just establishing it. I'll train it to work it around the obelisk
08:55and then next year we'll start to flower and in year three it should be magnificent.
09:02We're going to Wiltshire now to Melcham where a couple have combined the knowledge and experience of
09:09horticulture and agriculture to create rather a wonderful garden.
09:22As a gardener and a huge fan of recycling I get a tremendous thrill from going through the garden
09:29shed finding an old truck or something like that and turning it into a planter. But imagine
09:35you're going to have a garden shed if not only did you have a garden shed but you also had a huge
09:40farmyard full of goodies to upcycle.
09:50Lorraine McFarlane and her husband Sandy moved into their tied cottage 45 years ago.
09:57She is the gardener and Sandy is a retired farm manager.
10:01They've made a glorious and diverse garden with lots of recycling.
10:11It's quite a big project. How did you approach that from the beginning?
10:13We couldn't afford to go out and buy masses and masses of plants and stuff so I just started by first
10:21of all I'd have little borders around the house but never ever spent loads and loads of money and
10:27it's only just bit by bit and year by year and you add something.
10:30For what you can't avoid is these amazing structures. Is this one of your creations Sandy?
10:36Yes, it was an old cow feeders which had got bent and damaged and was just going to be put in the
10:43skip and I thought oh I'll use that I'll bring it home and that's how it happened and so we've
10:48ended up with lots of bits of junk. It's lovely and I love how this is open and you can see through and
10:55this would be open but you've got the fennel that actually becomes the wall. Yeah, yeah.
10:58It's lovely. Yeah. Fairly recently it's just down there what we call the potting shed. Yeah.
11:04There's a window in it. Right. Which is actually somebody's shower door and that was on the side
11:11of the road in the gateway. Yes. Oh wow. And now it's a window. I did have to knock a hole in the wall.
11:17Oh well you know. In this garden it's not just the hard landscaping ideas that have come from
11:29the farm. So tell me about this meadow. Probably 20 odd years ago now we converted the farm to organic
11:37and we ended up planting quite a lot of wildflower meadows. Right. And then when I retired I sort of
11:42had the idea. I thought well I'll do the same here. It's beautiful. It's got such a range because
11:46normally just one thing takes over doesn't it? Yeah. This has got a lovely balance. Yes.
11:50If there's too many of one thing she'll perhaps go around and pull a few of them out. Yeah.
11:56So you don't get overcome with all one thing. You do get one or two little nasties that you don't want.
12:00But it's just keeping an eye on it really. I just think the look of it is so gorgeous.
12:05Lorraine is incredibly humble about her planting and her creative eye.
12:22This garden feels so gentle and artful.
12:25The lovely thing in this garden is that these recycled elements have lost their original purpose
12:34and been turned instead into sculpture. So here we have a fence panel that's got no
12:40additional fence. There's a pergola that rather than housing seats houses a birch tree and under planting
12:46and an archway that is not leading you anywhere that actually is just within the bed and having
12:51climbers sprawling over it. And it's so beautifully creative. I really love it.
13:01It's helped by the structural topiary and the backdrop of the woodland that Lorraine planted.
13:08That foliage really brings this forward and allows you to see this area at its absolute best.
13:21In the woodland garden are some of Sandy's recycled seating areas.
13:32And they're incredible things. There are straight uprights holding this up but there are also so
13:39many beautifully arranged branches, gnarled bits of tree. There's a log pile just by the side here
13:46and a huge wildlife pond down there. So clearly nature and all its creatures are as much a part of this garden
13:53as Lorraine and Sandy themselves. I have to say I love this building.
14:07Next to it is the most handsome deadhead I have ever seen.
14:11And then a very different feel near the cottage. Lorraine said that when they first moved into the
14:22house this was tarmac right up to the front door and it meant that Sandy would drive his truck and
14:27park it right outside the window which she didn't like. So her solution was to remove the tarmac and
14:32instead plant up this gravel garden. It looks beautiful on its own but it also really puts the house in this
14:39amazing setting. The planting is so lovely as well. This Spanish broom is just a glorious tree but also
14:49the scent coming off it is incredible. I want one quite honestly. It's beautiful. And then giant oak grass
14:56steeper gigantea. This is one of my favourite grasses but you need quite a lot of space to grow them well.
15:02They need to sit on their own and not be encroached on by too many other plants. So here they're perfect.
15:07And actually that's the key to any gravel garden is to give the plants room. So there's alpines here,
15:13there's thymes, there's lavenders and everything has space to breathe.
15:17And then tucked at the side of the house is an exquisite farmyard patio.
15:35These have got to be some of the most magnificent containers I've ever seen.
15:39They're actually the bottoms of the cattle feeders that Sandy used to make the pergola.
15:44They're enormous and they're filled with plants and the plant choices of Lorraine's have really
15:49set them off. So silverleafed formium with silverleafed echeverias and sempervivums and then the same
15:56form but a different colour in the aeonium schwarzkopf. But what's really nice is that things that you
16:01wouldn't expect like this cypress which is a bog plant and then this lady's bedstraw which is a wild
16:07flower have been left to grow and they really soften that hard metal structure. It looks beautiful
16:13with these little tables with succulents in higgledy-piggledy pots. It just looks so tasteful
16:20and yet all probably cost very very little.
16:31There's thought and artistry in every crevice of this garden.
16:36Here as a result of teamwork.
16:50When Sandy and Lorraine first got here the garden was very much Lorraine's and the farm
16:54was Sandy's and it's lovely to see that now this garden is shared. They both do it and Lorraine said
17:01to me that Sandy didn't even know how creative he was until he started doing all of this stuff.
17:06And isn't it lovely to learn that about yourself and about each other after all of those years.
17:31What I especially love about Lorraine and Sandy's garden is not just that they've been so innovative
17:45and the way that they've used the bits and pieces of farm kit but they've done it with such style.
17:52Now I've got a couple of pots here on the mound that I didn't plant up with bulbs and I want some
17:57colour in here to see me through while the rest of the bulbs come through and then I can replace it
18:02in summer. And what I've chosen for that are very simple plants starting with primulas. Now I love
18:10the native primulas, primula vulgaris, but I think it looks best in a natural setting,
18:15not necessarily when potted up. And this is where all the bread varieties come in and primulas are
18:20incredibly promiscuous. You get every shade of colour and here in the mound we've got a colour theme of
18:27pale yellow and blue. Now this has been bred. It's a variety called heritage and it's perfect
18:33because it's a little bit bigger than the native primrose, a little bit stronger which will work
18:37well in a pot, but also it's got that lovely straight primrose yellow and then the egg yolk middle.
18:44And I'm going to match that up with a blue. Now this is Viola piccati blue and the softness of it
18:52is absolutely ideal. If I hold these two together you can see they've got the same tone. You've got
18:58the pale blue and the pale yellow, the pastel colours, and yet on a lovely clear day like this
19:05they sing out. I'm also going to use this. This is a Viola called Bouton blue. The piccati blue will
19:14carry us through the next month or so, then these will kick in and we'll keep the display going until
19:19summer. When you've got a pot that you've been growing in for the previous year it's tempting
19:24to use the same compost but a lot of the goodness will be gone. So I'm going to empty out about a third
19:29of that. And then add in some garden compost just to freshen it up. So this is good long meadow compost.
19:46Add that in. Mix it up. Primulas do well in fairly rich soil.
19:59Okay, that's perfect for planting. Now that can go in the middle. I'm going to place these first
20:06and these which are in plugs I can pop round the outside like this.
20:17Now I've only got two of these but what I think I will do
20:21is I'm going to split this. I just put my thumbs in and divide it.
20:29There we go. Two plants for the price of one. Just pop that in there like that.
20:34Perfect. Now we've got that lovely blue and yellow singing together.
20:43And then these plants, there's almost nothing there. It's just a little bit of green shoots
20:49appearing. But then let me reveal the roots. It's a really substantial plant. So don't be put off
20:56by the lack of growth on top. And when you go to a garden center don't be shy about taking plants out
21:01of a pot. Have a look at the roots. That's what you're buying. I can go in there. You all right, Ned?
21:11You're okay, chap. I'm cramming these in because I do want a really strong display.
21:19And also they're not going to stay here permanently. I will take these out
21:23round about Chelsea time and replace them. And then all these will go into the garden elsewhere.
21:27So they've got a future life, but not in this pot. Now just fill in round there with a bit of compost.
21:38Right. I'm going to give that a good soak, but I'm going to do the other pot first
21:41and then wash them together. And we're off to London, North London, to join a puppeteer. We don't see
21:47many of them about, but he has a glorious garden, even though he's living a few floors above ground.
21:57Welcome to my balcony.
22:18I'm Oliver Hymans and I'm an amateur gardener.
22:21We're in North East London, in Dalston, in a very typical council block on the second floor.
22:31We moved in and it was completely bare, the balcony. There was a bit of junk lying down
22:35that end and there was absolutely no planting. We started by adding in some pots hanging on the wall
22:42behind me. And slowly over the years, we've added more and more and more until,
22:47as you can see, things have got a little bit out of hand.
22:57In my day job, I'm a puppetry director and designer and my puppets have been seen in circus,
23:03theatre, on film and in dance. And I'm part of a new movement of artists trying to get that heritage
23:10craft back up and running again. My biggest critic within the gardening might be my partner Marcus.
23:21He sometimes does like to question some of my choices of putting things in particular positions
23:26or choices of plants. This fox clover is going to have to come out in a few days, isn't it?
23:31I know, but I want to keep it for all the seeds. It's a self-seed, yeah.
23:34Well, maybe we can just move it into a less prominent place.
23:36OK. And then these probably need deadheading as well, unless you like them.
23:42I quite like the dead flowers. It's not so colourful, but just, uh, it's better than not having anything,
23:48isn't it? OK. If you say so.
23:52I kind of like the fact that he has his own style and taste and I have my own,
23:56and this balcony is an amalgamation of both of those things.
23:59So we've gone for a bit of a Mediterranean vibe. We get blasted by the sun all summer. We're south
24:11facing and in terms of the colour scheme, I would love to have a really tasteful garden where a lot
24:18of thought had gone into it, but it's more of a tutti frutti vibe where we just put as much in as possible.
24:24This area, we call it the plant theatre. We have the lovely red geraniums hanging on the wall,
24:33but then we've got this wall of plants that just sort of organically look like they're growing up
24:39into the top of the balcony. It's quite a fun area because every year I sort of try different things.
24:46The great thing is it's all pot, so you can just move stuff around to change up the look of it.
24:51I really love this red dahlia here. It's got such a lovely colour and although it does take up probably,
24:58I would say, about a sixth of our balcony, it does give you that one area that feels like you have a
25:05sort of border effect.
25:10The grapevine started from a very small plant. It loves the sun, but one of the challenges here,
25:16we have an overhang. So depending on how hot and how sunny the summer has been, it will grow at
25:22different rates. A few years ago, we got a massive fruit bowl filled with delicious grapes. Last year,
25:29not so good, unfortunately. We do have a couple of bunches already growing here. I think they're going
25:34to be quite a good crop this year. So when we started out, I didn't know much about gardening
25:46and there was actually something exciting about the challenge of growing something from scratch.
25:52We've got some teasels scattered all the way down right at the end. Planted them quite a few years ago
26:00now and they've self-seeded, which is really exciting in a balcony as small as this that you
26:06can create that sense that the garden has a life of its own.
26:13Our three top tips for balcony garden. Number one, try and get as big as pots as you can manage just
26:19to limit the amount of times you have to water. Number two, grow things that you love. Don't limit
26:25yourself just to things that are supposedly good for balconies because chances are they may
26:29be great. And finally, try and grow things from seed and even better, take cuttings from friends
26:37so you can grow it all at home and save a bit of money. Cheers. Even though the space is small,
26:44at the end of a long day, the opportunity to sit here, enjoy this theatre of plants that we've been
26:50able to create, but also just taking the views of London. I would encourage anybody with a small
26:55space to just try it out. You're going to learn and you're going to find the things that you love
27:01the most about creating a small garden like this.
27:09I think that bit of advice about using bigger pots, even on a balcony or a small terrace,
27:31is really good because there's a temptation to try and cram lots and lots of small things into a small
27:36space. But a bigger pot will give you better effect, need less watering, which is really important.
27:43And also, as Oliver said, is give it a go. Of course, before adding any pots, do make sure that
27:50your balcony can take the extra weight. Now, I started pruning the roses in February. I'd given them
27:57a once-over in September with a pair of shears. We just cut them back so they don't get windrock in
28:01winter. And then from February onwards, I go through them all and just take stock, taking them back for
28:07about a third or a quarter and opening them up, getting rid of anything that's crossing or old or
28:12damaged, setting it up so the new growth will grow well and strongly. And of course, that will carry this
28:18year's flowers. And the prunings need not be wasted. I put them over the top of all our pots that contain
28:25tulips. And that deters birds, squirrels, rats and mice from digging away and trying to get the bulbs.
28:34And then as the bulbs appear, we take away all those pruned pieces, burn them, put the ash on the
28:40compost heap so everything is used and recycled. Now, still to come on today's programme. Adam visits
28:48Ventnor Botanic Garden and sees what adaptations they've had to make to their gardening as a result
28:56of climate change. If you look a little bit deeper in there, there's actually a tender banana.
29:02They leave it, don't cover it up, and it comes back every year. In 10, 15 years time, this could be my garden.
29:12And we meet a gardener who has turned a concrete slab into a dream garden.
29:17I've got an Edwardian terrace house with a garden that is completely made from pots and containers
29:24in what I call a sort of urban cottage garden style.
29:41One of the things that I love about this time of year is that it's really intensive seed sowing time.
29:47Almost anything that you can grow from seed can be sown now, whether it's tender annuals,
29:52vegetables, even cabbages ready for next winter. If you sow them now, they'll be really good.
29:57Now, I'm sowing tomatoes today. I tend to grow my tomatoes in the greenhouse, but I also like to have
30:03some outside too. So I've got three varieties here. We've got a beefsteak variety, which is
30:09Costoluto Ferrientino. They're absolutely delicious, but they do need a bit more heat,
30:13so I'm going to grow these in the greenhouse. I've got Gardener's Delight, which is a really good
30:18variety if you've not grown tomatoes before. And this I will grow outside and inside. They're a really
30:24good all-round tomato. And finally, Tigerella, which is an earlier one. It doesn't matter what variety you have,
30:31they're grown in exactly the same way. You need a seed tray, some compost,
30:36a peat-free compost, and let's start with Tigerella.
30:51Now, I'm going to use this, but the pencil does the job just as well. And just lick the end,
30:56and that means that you can pick up a seed, here we go, and then you can place it where you want.
31:02The more space, the more light, the more nutrition they have, the better they'll grow.
31:20It's a good idea to press these down gently so you get really good contact with the compost.
31:26And then cover them over. Now, you can sprinkle compost on them, but I like to use the miculite
31:34because it's a very good way of stopping too much light getting through, but letting the moisture
31:40get in. And also, it doesn't form a crust.
31:45Label. Now, they will need watering, and then you put that in a hot place, and the combination of
31:51the dampness in the heap, the seeds will germinate. One way to water it is with a watering can from
31:57above. The slight disadvantage with that is there's a risk that the top layer will get water, but the
32:03bottom will remain dry. And then, as the roots grow, they'll go into dry compost. Another way of
32:09watering, which works very well, is simply place them in a tray of water and let them soak it up
32:14for about 10 or 15 minutes. And then you can just top it up with a sprinkle of water, maybe once every
32:20other day. Now, it will need heat to germinate. So, a minimum of 18 degrees. So, above a radiator is
32:27fine. On a windowsill, obviously, you've got a greenhouse, so much the better. And they should
32:32start to germinate in about a week or so. Now, I grow these in a greenhouse because Longmeadow is not
32:40the warmest of places. But more and more people can grow tomatoes outside, and we're all adapting
32:46to the way that the climate is affecting us. And Adam is taking a look at the way that gardeners
32:53are reacting and coping. And he starts off by going to one of our most southerly gardens in the UK.
33:06Early spring is an exciting time for gardeners, as bulbs begin to break and vibrant colours return to
33:15the borders. But if you think back, all that colour used to arrive with a reliability. Whereas now,
33:24spring bulbs can flower in winter. I've even picked roses, put them on the table on Christmas Day.
33:32Our plants don't know whether they're coming or going.
33:35There's estimated to be 30 million gardens in the UK. And they're all being affected by a changing
33:49climate. But I want to learn more about the impact that is having on the way we're gardening.
33:58So, I've come to the Isle of Wight to visit Ventnor Botanic Garden. Located on the island's
34:04south coast, it's one of Britain's warmest gardens, and has been documenting significant change.
34:14Wayne Williams is head gardener.
34:18Hello, Wayne. I'm smiling away. You've got some jump there, haven't you?
34:21No, just a bit, yeah. It's a beautiful garden, though.
34:24Oh, it's a fantastic place to work. It really is.
34:26I bet it is. I bet it is. What's your main problems you're dealing with here?
34:30So, the main issues here in this garden is heat and drought. In the last few years,
34:34summers are getting obviously hotter. Yeah. And some plants are starting to suffer.
34:38Yeah. Anything in particular you think is doing really well, or things that are starting to struggle?
34:43Well, obviously this is doing too well, of course. Yeah, well, yeah. Literally,
34:46moulambacca is swallowing other plants as it's going up through. I mean, it's normally a pot plant
34:50growing inside as a house plant. But here it is becoming quite invasive, really. But there's equally,
34:57some other plants here, such as hebees and pitosporum, which in the summertime, it gets too hot now.
35:03And so the leaves can go black.
35:08But actually, this is in its happy place, isn't it? Because this is what it would be doing
35:13in its own environment. Exactly. It grows like this in New Zealand.
35:16So I suppose, in a sense, the behaviour patterns of plants is changing. That's what you know it's in.
35:21It definitely is, yeah. What about flowering plants? You know,
35:24have you got things performing at odd times? Well, we have things in flower from the summertime
35:29flowing all the way into the winter now. Yeah. And then we also have spring flowering plants
35:34flowing early. Every year on New Year's Day, the curator does a flower count. This year,
35:40it was 216 in flower on New Year's Day. Wow. 216 flowers on New Year's Day. How many of those
35:46do you think were meant to be there, roughly? Oh, about 10% or so, something like that. Yeah.
35:52That's amazing, but scary at the same time. Oh, it is. It really is. But it means that we've got all
35:57these fantastic plants to look at during the winter months, of course. Yeah.
36:12So, Wayne, French lavender, did it make the list? It certainly did. So that was flowering just after
36:17Christmas? Yeah. And as you can see, it's covered in flowers now and also flower buds. I mean,
36:21it's just non-stop. Yeah, it's got some new stuff. Amazing. So for you then, that is flowering 12
36:26months of the year? Yeah. It's flowering, it's performing, it's taking nutrients and moisture
36:31out of the ground. So, you know, does it get extra food? Yeah, we do have to feed plants extra,
36:36obviously, if they keep continuously flowering, because it does almost exhaust them really over
36:40time. It's interesting, isn't it? Because you're the hottest garden in the UK, not that it feels like
36:45that today. No, not today. So you're a litmus test for what we might be growing on the mainland
36:50in 10, 15 years' time. Yeah. Are you constantly experimenting? We certainly are. So we've actually
36:56got an aloe arborescens, a tree aloe, which is tender. Yeah. Normally grown under glass on the
37:01mainland, and that's in full bloom outside. So that's flowering now? It is, yeah. It's absolutely
37:07stunning. Wow. Yeah. We've more or less learned to garden with a rule book. Yes. What have you done
37:12with yours? Throughout the winter. Yeah. The iDev. Yeah. And, you know, now we're active. Definitely,
37:18yeah. So we're watching the plants constantly, making notes and adjusting to that. Yeah.
37:23I've just passed fromus in flower, fuchsias in flower, daililies just coming in. I've even seen agapanthus
37:45about, but also the salvia's holding on. But the one big thing that jumps out, it's not all
37:53about that temperature. If I get in the car about three hours north of here on the east of the country
38:02is my garden, which is dry, very much like this. So if I look at these plants and I'm thinking 10,
38:0815, 20 years time, yes, this is what might be happening in my garden. But at the same time,
38:14if I'm on the west of the country and it's wet, but warmer, then that's a completely different group
38:21of plants. So these cannas, we do leave cannas out in dry parts of the country, southeast,
38:32but they do tend to want a bit of mulching. Whereas these are fine and have been left here for absolutely
38:38years. Me at home, I couldn't do that at the moment. And if you look a little bit deeper in there,
38:45there's actually a tender banana. That's an insetti and they leave it, don't cover it up.
38:51And it comes back every year. In 10, 15 years time, this could be my garden.
39:11Look at this. That bark is incredible. And the fall is just great. It's called Lagerstromia,
39:18known as a crepe myrtle. When I first saw this, it was in the Mediterranean and definitely it would
39:25have been classed as a tender tree. 20 years ago in my garden, I could not have even thought about
39:33putting one in the ground. But a couple of years ago, I bought one and took a gamble. Then it has
39:40absolutely flown. Dealt with one really cold winter. Admittedly, I've got those drier conditions.
39:47But I think that is going to be part of what we do going forward. It's just take
39:53a few more risks, add that diversity to our gardens, especially when it comes to our trees.
40:00Our gardens are evolving, whether we like it or not. And all of us are going to have to adapt to
40:11different ways of gardening. But this can also mean a host of new planting and design opportunities.
40:19Following the success of the olive grove planted 24 years ago, this year, a new citrus grove is on the horizon.
40:29Wayne, that is not something I ever thought I would see in the UK.
40:35Yeah, it's pretty amazing, isn't it? I know.
40:37So we're going to plant many more in this area and the bank beside us.
40:40And we're going to be planting what we believe is the UK's first citrus grove.
40:45So are we dropping this straight in? We are, yes.
40:50You've not really put any fertilizer or any manure or anything like that in?
40:55No, because they do grow in quite poor soils, really, anyway. And they're originally from China,
41:00but of course people see them growing in the Mediterranean, don't they, on the holidays.
41:04Yeah.
41:05And the poor soils are there as well, so. But drainage is the key.
41:09These are great places just for gardeners to come to, and you guys are taking the risks,
41:18you're doing the experiments. If they work, they make a little note, go home,
41:23and can start to do that in their own garden.
41:25Yeah, we hope to inspire many people across the UK.
41:28Well, I'm sure you will. We'd better get the rest of these in.
41:42As I watched that, I increasingly thought,
41:57that garden is about as different to here at Longmeadow as you could possibly conceive.
42:02It's only about 120 miles away from here, but it could be a thousand miles,
42:07because the weather has generally got much wetter here. We're now flooding four or five times a year.
42:13So it's changing and affecting us in different ways, and this is what Adam's going to be looking at.
42:17Do you know how to make the best of it, not just how to survive?
42:21Now, I've got a clematis here that I'm going to give a big change to,
42:26because I want to dig it out, move it, and put something else in its place.
42:30Now, I would point out this is a group three clematis. That means it doesn't start to flower
42:36till June at the earliest and produces a mass of small flowers in late summer and sometimes into autumn.
42:44Group one clematis are those that flower now, and group two in between.
42:50Only group three can be moved now, and if you're not sure which they are, don't do it.
42:56Now, to move it, I need to cut it back, but now is a really good time to prune late flowering
43:01clematis anyway, because they produce all their flowers on new growth.
43:08Be brave and go right back down to a low bud.
43:21If I haven't got the clematis here, I don't need the supports.
43:26I've got a number of different pots. I'm not quite sure how big the root system will be,
43:33so I've got pots of different sizes ready for that. I've got some potting compost,
43:39which I've added extra garden compost to, to make it feel at home.
43:46If you know where it wants to go, just take it straight across, otherwise pot it up and look after it.
43:51Clematis roots are quite substantial, so I need to take out obviously as much root as possible,
44:01because that will do least damage to the plant.
44:03Right. I'm going to need the biggest pot I've got. I'm going to put some soil in the bottom.
44:15Right. Let's see if I can lift this. Okay, this is heavy. And there's a lot of root in there.
44:28In it goes.
44:32Compost around it.
44:33And this would be perfectly okay in this pot for another year or two. But if I want to keep it in
44:43a container for more than a year, I will need to pot it on. A good rule of thumb is if you have a plant
44:49that doesn't show any signs of growth, it almost invariably means that its roots are too constrained,
44:54and it needs a bigger pot. But sometimes you have to grow things in pots. And that was certainly the case
45:01when we went up to Lincolnshire to visit a gardener there.
45:04I didn't know that I could make a lovely garden. When I step in, the novelty never wears off.
45:16Lots of colour, plants which brushed my arms and legs. I'm really, really thrilled with how it's turned out.
45:29My name's Fiona Cumberpatch. I live in a small town in Lincolnshire, and I've got an Edwardian
45:34terraced house with a garden that is completely made from pots and containers in what I call a sort
45:40of urban cottage garden style. When we moved into the house, we wanted to create a kitchen extension
45:52with bifold doors. I thought, yes, that will be great. We'll be overlooking the garden.
46:00It is only 12 by 5 metres. I'll make big flower beds, and it will be just lovely to sit in there
46:05winter or summer. Then we delivered a bit of a bombshell from the builder, which was that there
46:11was no soil. It was layers and layers of concrete. There was a clay pit underneath. So even if you did
46:18bore through, he said it's just rubbish. I was really gutted, devastated, because I thought,
46:25we've created these huge doors with a view, but we're looking out on concrete.
46:32I didn't know what I was going to be able to do, and it has surpassed my expectations,
46:36and in a much shorter time than I thought as well.
46:38My favourite part of the garden has got to be the brick path. I'd always loved seeing them in cottage
46:53gardens. So I thought, well, we can't just have a straight path down the middle of the garden,
46:57that would look really boring. So let's curve it so we look like we're going somewhere.
47:02My husband and I spent almost a week with a length of hose moving it here and there with
47:08three bends, four bends. We built it with bricks from an old outhouse which had been pulled down
47:14during our kitchen extension, and they also tie in with the rest of the house. So they have a lovely
47:19mellow tone.
47:32Even in a small garden, I wanted to create different areas, and I knew that should be possible,
47:37using the path and then plants to screen off different areas. For example, we've got some bamboo
47:43that screened off part of the garden. And I also wanted a second sitting spot apart from the patio,
47:49and that's by the little greenhouse. And again, I've surrounded that with plants,
47:53just so that you feel immersed.
47:58I'm always looking at ways to garden on a budget, and there were lots of ways I've done that.
48:04This is my car boot corner. It's full of finds that I've gathered together over the years. I
48:09absolutely love car boot sales. So I've got a lovely old catering sieve, which I've filled with sedums.
48:16I've got a galvanised dustbin, which I've used for dahlias. And this grading panel from agricultural
48:23machinery, I think. I've got a climbing hydrangea going over there. My family are very used to me
48:28rolling up with a boot full of rubbish.
48:40I've saved money on plants too.
48:44And one way of doing that is to use perennials in pots rather than having to spend on annuals and
48:49bedding plants every year. I've had great success with salvias. I like this caradona with lovely purpley,
48:55blue stems. Also, GMs are brilliant in pots and napita. So it's a really good way of just making
49:03my money go that bit further.
49:09We don't have a garage, so we needed a big shed. But I've painted it black to help it recede into
49:14the background. And then I went very small. I really wanted a greenhouse in my garden,
49:21but I was limited on size. I couldn't have a walk in one. So I settled on this. And inside,
49:27I grow peppers, cucumbers, herbs, but they're all miniature ones. So they just all fit in really
49:33nicely. And this way, I can have fresh crops that fit the size of the garden.
49:36I wanted to find a way to soften these rather unattractive brick walls that we inherited.
49:48So I've chosen plants that will form a screen. I've got grasses, miscanthus. I've got cupid
49:54starts and trees. They create texture just basically to blur the boundary and keep your eye in the garden.
50:00I've used gravel over the top of the concrete. We drilled some drainage holes into it and put about
50:11an inch of gravel over the top just to soften the look. And I was amazed. And it was completely
50:16unexpected about the self-seeders, which have popped up. Particularly my favourite is Mimulus,
50:22which I'd had as a little pot of bedding plants. And obviously, the seeds had scattered. And I've got
50:26these little pockets of colour in just an inch of gravel. They've been flowering for weeks,
50:31and completely out of the blue, just appeared.
50:43While I've been making this garden, we've uncovered some old cinny footage of my great-grandfather.
50:50He lived in a small terraced house with a yard with his wife and eight children. He was a champion
50:55chrysanthemum grower. People came from stately homes to buy his chrysanthemums. And his backyard
51:02was just filled with the most giant greenhouse. And he would spend hours out there with his pipe and
51:07his dog, Jip, just growing these incredible plants. So I think it's really lovely that my great-grandfather
51:14and I both had modest spaces, terraced houses with a yard. And he created this greenhouse full of colour.
51:22And I've done the same thing. I've created my own haven. So it's a nice link across the generations.
51:29I've created my own haven. So I've created my own haven. I've created my own haven.
51:44Well, certainly, a beautiful garden as a result of growing everything in containers.
51:54But I don't know, some people will be thinking, well, that's an awful lot of watering.
51:58But watering needn't be a problem.
52:01I remember visiting a man who had a wonderful roof garden, and he had no irrigation system.
52:06And I asked him why, and he said, because watering is my main interaction with the garden.
52:11I come home from work, I water for half an hour, I relax, I wind down, and I enjoy my plants.
52:19And I've always remembered that, and actually I realised that I like watering too.
52:29Now this is the reason that I've moved the clematis, to make room for this yew ball,
52:35which is the last in a sequence that I've added over the last year to the cottage garden.
52:41And what it's doing is giving me winter structure.
52:45I actually haven't bought this specially.
52:48I did have it planted over in the corner, where it's been for the last couple of years.
52:53But I want to move it so I can complete the symmetrical layout.
52:58Horticulturally, what I have to think about is that what the clematis really thrives on
53:04is plenty of moisture, but what yew thrives on is really good drainage.
53:09It hates being waterlogged.
53:11So I am going to add some grit to the bottom.
53:15You cannot overdo the drainage for you.
53:18I'm going to tip all of this in.
53:20This is horticultural grit.
53:22So that goes in there like that.
53:23Mix it in.
53:31That guarantees that the roots won't sit in water.
53:37Okay.
53:38Out you come.
53:38Now, what I need to do is just line it up.
53:47Okay, let's move it over a little.
53:50I think that's good.
53:52So, the next thing to do is to check the level.
53:56I want to make sure that the top of the roots of the plant is above the soil level of the ground.
54:03Again, that's to do with drainage.
54:07Yeah, that's fine.
54:08This is a very good time to move any evergreen.
54:14Really, between now and the end of April is the perfect moment because the soil is warming up.
54:19It hasn't started to grow, so it's not making demands on the roots.
54:23And like everything that you move, it'll grow very slowly in the first year.
54:26So don't worry about that.
54:28But then once it gets established, it'll take off.
54:30The next step is to give it a good drink.
54:44I'm really pleased about that because that completes a job that I've been wanting to get on with for ages.
54:59And now here are your jobs for the weekend.
55:02I think one of the most important jobs you can do at this time of year is to mulch any bare soil.
55:20Use an organic material and put it on at least an inch thick and preferably twice that, because the purpose of mulching is to have a thick enough layer to block light, suppress weed growth, to keep in moisture, to stop evaporation.
55:35And to enrich the soil's fertility and structure as it slowly is worked into the ground.
55:48This is not one of the most glamorous gardening jobs, but now is a really good time to tackle perennial weeds, especially those in your borders.
55:57Dig them out with a fork, getting as much root as possible.
56:00And then when you've gathered them up, if you've got a good composting system, they will compost.
56:06But if you're in doubt, bag them up and then take them to your local green waste.
56:18Although it's a bit early to be planting seed potatoes, because the ground is a bit cold, it's a good time to chit them.
56:24Now chitting simply means exposing them to light so that the sprouts can get really knobbly and firm, and then they will grow quicker once they're in the ground.
56:37Check them over, find a good sprout, put that in a seed tray or an egg box works perfectly well, and then put the container on a windowsill in full light, but make sure it's frost free.
56:47So when the ground does warm up, you can plant them, and you'll get an even earlier harvest.
56:53One of the seasonal jobs for this time of year is cutting back all the grasses.
57:15This is something you can do any time for the middle of February, but it does want to be done before the new growth comes through, or at least as soon as you see new growth.
57:24So all the lovely, old, tawny-coloured stems that have looked so good over the winter, cut them back, and then they can be taken away and added to the compost heap.
57:35Or you can chop them up and just leave them on the ground as mulch.
57:39However, that's only for deciduous grasses.
57:41Where you have evergreen grasses, and we've got a steeper here, just take out any loose material, any dead material like that, to freshen it up.
57:52I find using the fingers works perfectly well.
57:55But don't, at this stage, divide grasses or add new ones.
57:59The ground's too cold, and they really don't like sitting in cold ground.
58:03Wait until the ground warms up, which I think will be at least till mid-April and maybe even mid-May, so be patient on that front.
58:09And, of course, the great thing about grasses are, when the new growth comes through in May and June, it looks fantastically fresh and vibrant.
58:18In high summer, they're noble, and in autumn, they are majestic.
58:25They do an awful lot of work for the garden.
58:28But no longer today, I'm afraid, because that's it.
58:31I will see you back here at Longmeadow next week at 8 o'clock.
58:36So until then, bye-bye.
58:38Longmeadow next week at 9 o'clock.
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