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Gardeners World 2025 Episode 6 (S58E6) # Bill Duncalf
#David Leighton
#Gardeners World - Season 58
#Geoff Hamilton
#Percy Thrower
#Peter Seabrook
#David Leighton
#Gardeners World - Season 58
#Geoff Hamilton
#Percy Thrower
#Peter Seabrook
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TVTranskript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:15And it's moments like this that justify all the work of gardening.
00:20This is what we garden for, to be able to just take stock on a beautiful spring day
00:25and really enjoy the way that the blossom is appearing daily.
00:31And the daffodils are looking really good.
00:34And I'm very happy with the yellow at this time of year,
00:38particularly from the daffodil Avalon,
00:41which has got exactly that paleness that I want in this border.
00:45There's a Forsythia too, Forsythia nymans,
00:49which is very late, but it's worth waiting for,
00:52and again it's got that soft tone to the yellow.
00:55And the colour scheme here on the mound is pale yellow and pale blue.
01:01And I certainly have got the yellow right, but probably not enough blue.
01:06One way of getting more blue in at the same time with the daffodils is to have muscari.
01:10So what I've done is brought a pot of muscari out,
01:13and I'll leave them here to seed.
01:15And muscari do spread by seed very readily.
01:19And in future weeks I will be adding more blue too,
01:22but for the moment I'm just letting the yellow wash over me.
01:26On today's programme, Carol will be sharing her tips and inspiration
01:34to guarantee colour and interest in all your beds and borders and containers
01:40right throughout the seasons.
01:42And I hope that I'm going to inspire you to try all sorts of things in exciting ways.
01:50We'll be heading to West Wales to discover more about the Welsh national flower, the daffodil.
01:57Some people just think daffodils are all yellow,
02:00but there's a big range of whites and yellows and pinks and oranges.
02:04And this time of the year the daffodils are fabulous.
02:09And I'll be showing you behind the scenes on my journey to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
02:15where I'm creating my first show garden.
02:18With help from Ned, of course.
02:21I would be a liar if I said I wasn't nervous.
02:25I really like the idea of making a garden the way that a dog sees a garden rather than a human.
02:49This is the writing garden.
02:51And essentially it's a white garden.
02:53But like all white gardens it's predominantly green.
02:55But at this time of year there is a lot of white.
02:57The Lecogeum are dominating.
02:59These are the snowflake.
03:01And then of course the tulips underneath that.
03:03We've got the white pulmonaria.
03:05We have a tulip called Lady Jane,
03:07which is actually pink on the outside and white on the inside,
03:10which I planted to mimic apple blossom.
03:13One slight problem is that by the time the apple blossom is out,
03:16Lady Jane the tulip has finished.
03:18But never mind, it's the right idea.
03:21Now one of the plants that features early in the year is this.
03:24This is winter flowering honeysuckle, Lonisra fragrantissima.
03:28And it flowers on wood that is produced in the previous season.
03:33So if you want to prune it, you need to do so now, immediately after flowering.
03:38And that applies to all really early flowering woody shrubs.
03:42You can probably see that there's new growth already coming there.
03:46And that's what will carry next year's flowers.
03:49So this arching stem here, I could take that right back.
03:53Say it to there.
03:55That can come out.
03:57Sorry Ned.
03:59That's really old growth that you feel is not very productive.
04:02Go right down to the base.
04:04But never take out more than a third of the old growth in any one year
04:07because that weakens it too much.
04:09Otherwise, just cut back so you've got a bit of a framework.
04:12And what I want here is a sort of curving backdrop.
04:16And then all this growth underneath, getting some sunlight.
04:21Let's stand back and have a look.
04:24There's always that thing when you're pruning.
04:26You're busy pruning away and going well.
04:29And then suddenly it's like when you're cutting someone's hair.
04:31You think, ooh, that's gone a bit far.
04:34So it's a good idea to stand back, have a look.
04:36And in fact, I've got a nice curve on that.
04:38But this is very much a plant of winter.
04:42To get the best from your garden at all times of year,
04:45then sometimes you need a bit of expert advice.
04:48And who better both for expertise and inspiration than Carol?
05:01The thing I love most about gardening in a temperate climate
05:06is the way that everything changes.
05:09Day by day, everything's different.
05:11And gradually, gradually, one season changes into another.
05:16And each one of those seasons has its very own character.
05:21Its own personality.
05:23Defined, of course, by the plants that grow then.
05:26This year, I want you to come with me
05:30and see how my garden changes through the seasons.
05:34And I hope that I'm going to inspire you to try all sorts of things.
05:40New plants, old favourites, putting them together in exciting ways.
05:46And showing you how, with some clever planting and combinations,
05:53it's possible to have beautiful borders and containers
05:58full of colour and interest all through the seasons.
06:02Of all the plants you could think of,
06:08probably the primrose epitomises spring more than any other.
06:14Now, they're in their element.
06:17This is a straightforward, our native primula,
06:20Primula vulgaris.
06:22Vulgaris means common.
06:24And it is fairly widespread, up and down the country.
06:27And just look at them here.
06:29I've got Euphorbia amygdaloides, our wood spurge.
06:33And this is a variety called Robii.
06:35It's a brilliant ground cover.
06:37But here, it's making this sort of curtain.
06:41And through its stems, you can glimpse even more primroses.
06:46I just think it's beautiful.
06:57I think this is one of the loveliest combinations in the whole garden.
07:02And it's very much of this time, of this moment.
07:06So the centerpiece here is this Trillium.
07:09It's Trillium chloropitalum.
07:11I love everything about it.
07:13Everything is in threes.
07:15It's got three big braps round here.
07:18The petals are in threes too.
07:20It's even got these extra bits.
07:22And if you look into the center of the flower,
07:24that's all in triplicate as well.
07:27Now, although it's a woodland plant,
07:30it grows deep down in between the roots of plants,
07:33which is why it'll come up year after year after year.
07:37And in the background,
07:39Aerometallicum, Marmoratum pictum.
07:42Pictum just means painted.
07:44And that's exactly what those leaves look like.
07:47But taken together, what a glorious combination they are.
07:54While there's plenty going on in the garden,
07:56there's always an extra opportunity to get early spring colour, shape and texture into our garden.
08:04However big or small.
08:06Even in the container.
08:08If you haven't got a garden or you just want some sort of moveable feast,
08:15then it's a great idea to celebrate early spring in this kind of way.
08:21Now the centerpiece here is this lovely daffodil.
08:25And I think it goes brilliantly well with these gold lace.
08:29This is a primula too, a sort of polyanth.
08:32A lovely old fashioned one with these dark velvety petals and golden centers.
08:38And I think that picks up the yellow in here.
08:41But to add even more pizzazz, I'm going to use this little anemone called Ranunculoides.
08:48And it's related to wood anemones.
08:51Wood anemone is one of its parents.
08:53And I'm just going to squeeze thin in between.
08:57Doesn't it go well?
08:59It really looks just the part.
09:01Now the whole point about something like this is you can enjoy it for the moment.
09:06You can move it where you want to.
09:09And you can enjoy that perfume, enjoy looking down on it.
09:13But then, when it's all faded down and your polyanthus could do with dividing
09:18and your anemone is just about going to sleep,
09:22you can put everything out into the garden and enjoy them year after year after year.
09:39I love this time of year, especially on this side of the garden.
09:51The canopy hasn't filled in overhead yet.
09:54And that means that all what I call Cinderella plants,
09:58all these lovely woodland treasures,
10:01are really making the most of the low light
10:05and the fact that the sun can actually get through.
10:09So we've got Leukogenes.
10:11We've got Epimediums.
10:13We've got Chinodoxa.
10:15It's absolutely glorious.
10:17And I've chosen this little bed
10:20to kind of put a bit of new life into.
10:24And I was prompted to do that
10:26because I've taken out this Ankyanthus.
10:29It was absolutely bone dead.
10:34Completely gone.
10:35And I've dug this ground over.
10:38I've taken out any sort of perennial weeds that are here.
10:42And I've added masses and masses of good compost.
10:47So this Ophiopogon, this lovely evergreen.
10:51I've got a clump down there and these clumps up here.
10:56But what I want to do is to kind of join the two together
10:59and make a sort of little rhythm through the bed.
11:03With a bit of leverage.
11:08Look at that.
11:10Completely separate.
11:12Two brand new, beautiful big plants.
11:15And if I put them in here,
11:18and you just want to spread these roots out.
11:23Gently tease this soil in amongst them.
11:28And shake as I'm going.
11:30Just to make sure that it's right in between all those fibrous roots.
11:36So this can act as a backdrop for all these lovely sparkling treasures
11:41we're going to plant in between.
11:43Woo-hoo!
11:44The first thing I want to start with is one of my favourites.
11:47It's anemone nemorosa.
11:50It's our own wood anemone.
11:52This is one called Robinsoniana.
11:54And it's this pale sort of misty blue.
11:57It's absolutely beautiful.
11:59And it moves.
12:00So although they're going to look like clumps right now,
12:05eventually they'll spread right the way through this bed
12:09and make this beautiful sort of carpet.
12:11Because every single one of these leaves and the flowers
12:15comes from a little rhizome.
12:17See those there.
12:19And those rhizomes live just under the ground
12:22and just move around under the fallen leaves.
12:26Just a couple of inches below the surface of the soil.
12:33Another dainty addition to our shady scene
12:36is the Naminella phthalic troides.
12:39So-called because of the similarity of its leaves
12:42to the foliage of phthalictrons.
12:45They're both members of the buttercup family,
12:48ranunculaceae.
12:51Erythroniums are some of the most exquisite
12:54of spring woodlanders,
12:56with their reflex petals and marbled leaves.
13:00They're bulbous and their roots penetrate deeply
13:04into the spaces in between tree roots.
13:15Most of the things I'm adding to this bed are spring cinderellas
13:20and will go to sleep during the summer.
13:23My Ophiopogen mihalibors are evergreen
13:26and I want to add these beguenias too
13:28for another evergreen element.
13:30This is a beguenia called flirt.
13:34They're incredibly versatile plants.
13:37They'll cope with sun, dry shade like this.
13:43It's going to flourish perfectly in this sort of position.
13:47And it's a huge advantage,
13:50quite apart from the shape of its leaves,
13:52which are a lovely contrast,
13:54is their colour.
13:55Just look at that.
13:56It's like somebody's been round with a red boot polish.
13:59There's a bit of shine to it as well.
14:01So this bed's undergone quite a transformation.
14:08Of course there are still spaces between the plants,
14:11but by next spring the whole thing will be wall to wall,
14:16foliage and flowers.
14:18We'll be joining Carol throughout the year
14:33and learning from somebody who probably knows better
14:36than anybody alive of how to make those plant combinations
14:40so there is something special right throughout the year.
14:48The Taihaku cherry has been at its very best over the last few days.
15:08The leaves are beginning to come now,
15:09which means that in the next 48 hours
15:11all those petals will gently come wafting down.
15:14But what's been fantastic this year
15:16is that there's been no rain and very little wind.
15:22So that means that the blossom has stayed longer
15:24than I've ever known it.
15:25And Taihaku is famous for being very brief.
15:28Most years it's two days if you're lucky.
15:30This year we've had a full week
15:32of what I think is the best cherry blossom in the world.
15:39The reason I've come here to the damp garden
15:41is to collect a hosta.
15:43Now is a really good time when you can see the new growth
15:47to divide, plant, move hostas of any kind.
15:52But also I want to try something else
15:54because I suppose I get more questions than anything else
15:58about slugs eating hostas.
16:00And nearly always that's to do with hostas in pots
16:04because my hostas here barely get touched by slugs or snails.
16:08And I want to take a couple so I can do this experiment
16:12to see how they grow in pots compared to the ground.
16:14So all you have to do is just get the spade
16:17and dig round it.
16:19And hosta roots are quite deep.
16:23This area floods.
16:25So these get a really good soak in the winter.
16:28And I find that as long as hostas get a good winter soak,
16:32they can take a surprising amount of summer dryness.
16:37Now, you can see that is a really substantial plant.
16:47So what I'm going to do now is just divide this,
16:50just lean the spade on it and apply pressure.
16:54And hopefully it'll be enough just to force it apart like that.
16:58This, that's cut through quite nicely.
17:00Very satisfying, sharp sound there.
17:04There we go.
17:06So, I have the smaller segment there.
17:10It's not a nice size hosta.
17:12And you can see the really woody roots.
17:15And that should grow with more vigour having been divided.
17:18So I'm going to put this back in the hole like that.
17:22I'm going to fill round it.
17:31I will give that a really good soak.
17:33And this bigger chunk, I'm going to take back up and split it and pot it up.
17:43So we can see how that grows compared to the one in the ground.
18:03I'm going to subdivide this division and plant each half in a pot.
18:11Same idea, rest it on and give it a good push.
18:17There we go.
18:20So, this is quite a large hosta.
18:24So it needs a large pot.
18:26And then give it a good rich compost.
18:30So that it can access plenty of moisture and nutrition.
18:34Because it needs that to be healthy.
18:36And unless it's healthy, it will become stressed.
18:38And if it's stressed, that's when it will get eaten.
18:41So, that's about the right height.
18:45I've got a mix here.
18:46I'll pack around it.
18:48This is one-third peat-free compost, one-third leaf mould, and one-third sieved garden compost.
18:56And I would expect this to be here in this pot for about another two, three years.
19:07Right, that's one.
19:08And now I've got the other.
19:19Never fill right to the brim.
19:21Leave at least an inch.
19:23So that when you water it, you can flood it and it will soak gradually in.
19:33I will put these with the other pots that I've got over there.
19:36And what I've done is potted up a whole range of hostas.
19:39Just to see if my hostas can survive really well in containers as well as the ground.
19:45And don't get eaten by slugs and snails.
19:47Right, I'll leave those there for the moment.
19:49I've got another job I need to get on with.
20:08I've got the grass borders on this side, which at this time of year are only just beginning to show new green and grow.
20:15And the jewel garden on the other side of the path has had big changes this year.
20:21We still wanted it to be the jewel garden as it's always been, but we needed to just rethink the planting.
20:28Given all that we've learned, given that we've got climate change, given that we're getting older and therefore we want to reduce maintenance a little bit, how would we plant it?
20:37And one of the things I've decided to do is add more grasses.
20:41I did add a few Miscanthus sacchariflorus last year.
20:45They're down at the end and I didn't cut them back because I wanted to see how they looked.
20:49And I've decided to add more.
20:51Miscanthus is one of those grasses that is very forgiving.
20:55It's very adaptable.
20:57It will grow in most soils and most situations.
21:00So a great place to start if you're not used to growing grasses.
21:04And sacchariflorus is huge.
21:07It's the biggest of the lot.
21:09It grows 14, 15, 16 foot tall.
21:12So I want these to go in the middle of the borders where they can compete with the vigor of all the growth around them.
21:30Grasses are best planted when the soil warms up.
21:33Now that will vary from garden to garden and place to place.
21:36Right, let's see if I can get out of the pot.
21:39There we go.
21:41Right.
21:45Right.
21:46Don't plant it too deep.
21:48When you're planting any grasses, if in doubt, put it on a slight mound.
21:52That is actually perfect.
21:57Right.
21:59We're going to visit one of your gods now.
22:01It takes us to Scotland.
22:02It belongs to Jess Goddard.
22:04And although it's small, it's full of lovely things.
22:08Hi gardeners world.
22:11My name's Jess.
22:12And welcome to my balcony garden in Glasgow.
22:15When I first moved to Scotland, I was delighted to find that my flat had a balcony.
22:20And so I started to create a garden.
22:22My balcony is small, but it doesn't stop me from filling it with as many plants as I can.
22:27I have two microclimates, one on each side, a dry side and a damp side.
22:33I learnt this because all the plants on one side kept dying because they were getting too wet.
22:39So I switched it up and started growing hostas and ferns on the damp side and moved everything else to the dry side.
22:45And since I've done that, it's worked really well.
22:48The conditions on my balcony can be quite unpredictable.
22:52But the plants adapt really well to the conditions as long as I put them in the right place and protect them from getting too wet.
23:01My favourite thing in my garden is my Devon Green Hoster because I really like the leaf shape and the colour.
23:07Most of the hostas in my garden were given to me by my Dad, who divided the ones from his own garden.
23:13I love that even eight hours apart, we can chat about the same plants and their progress just like I used to when I lived back at home.
23:21It makes it feel extra special.
23:23This is my first garden and I'm really proud of what I've created.
23:27And I hope that you've enjoyed it too.
23:37I love the enthusiasm.
23:47And of course you can get that from any space.
23:49You don't need a big garden or a garden at all to really get the pleasure from plants.
23:54And funnily enough, I could really relate to Jess's balcony
23:58because that thing of having one area quite close to another with very different growing conditions,
24:04what we've got exactly here in the herb garden.
24:07On this side of the path, the bigger side, it gets full sun in summer and at least half a day in winter.
24:15And we grow Mediterranean herbs in there without too much trouble.
24:19But once you get back into this space, the shadow is quite deep and no herb thrives in deep shade.
24:28However, some will cope with shade much better than others.
24:32I've got here some chives, which are really good.
24:37Chives are probably the easiest herb of all to grow, easy to grow from seed.
24:41And when you cut them, they regrow really fast.
24:43And as long as they get three or four hours of sunlight, they're good for shade.
24:48I've also got mint.
24:50Now, listen carefully.
24:52Do not plant mint into any kind of border because they are very, very invasive.
25:00However, they're brilliant in a pot or a container of any kind.
25:03And I've got three types of mint here.
25:04I've got apple mint, which is the best mint to add to new potatoes.
25:09I've got spearmint, which as an all-round mint is probably the best for cooking.
25:14And peppermint, which I think makes the best mint for drinking.
25:18And I'm going to put them in pots, but not the same pot because they muddy each other's taste.
25:25Now, this is a particular favourite of mine.
25:28I'm not sure you could technically call it a herb, but I'm going to.
25:31It's red-veined sorrel.
25:34It's got a distinct tangy taste.
25:37And I think it's a really good plant to add to all kinds of things.
25:40You can cook with it.
25:41You can add it to salads.
25:43It's just an unusual and beautiful plant.
25:46You all right, Ned?
25:47You okay?
25:48Do you want to come and help me?
25:49Nope.
25:50Now, I'm going to start with the sorrel.
25:55The sorrel, of course, is a perennial.
25:58And so it does come back year on year.
26:09When you're preparing the soil for any herbs, always err on the side of too much drainage rather than too little.
26:16And just remember that herbs and sun go together.
26:21If you've got shade, cut your cloth accordingly, reduce the options, and just enjoy what will grow successfully.
26:33Come on.
26:34Good boy.
26:36I have taken on this year another garden away from Longmeadow, and its deadline for completion is approaching fast.
26:45I've lived with dogs all my life, so it's natural for me to be always accompanied by a dog or two, especially in the garden.
26:52I mean, my wife always says that I understand dogs better than I do people.
26:57I've never in my life had a garden without dogs.
27:00They are as much part of the garden as plants.
27:03So, last year, when I got a call from the RHS and Radio 2, asking if I would consider designing a garden that celebrated dogs and gardening at Chelsea, I was up for the challenge.
27:19And could depend on Ned to give me a helping hand.
27:25To have Monty and Ned designing the RHS garden, I mean, I think it's a dream come true for us.
27:30We're very conscious that right now it's really difficult times, and so we thought, why not actually celebrate some of the things that people in this country love the most?
27:41Gardens and dogs.
27:43Bringing them together with Monty and Ned in one great big package, I think, would just bring joy to the nation.
27:49I knew that if I was going to be able to do this, I would need the help of the very best team available.
27:57So, I enlisted the nurseryman, Jamie Butterworth, who has established himself with a gold medal pedigree from RHS Chelsea.
28:07When I got the call from Monty the first time, I couldn't quite believe it, actually.
28:11Not only is it RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which is the biggest flower show in the world, but it's Monty Don.
28:16He's the reason I got into gardening in the first place.
28:20As excitement about the garden began to grow, over on Radio 2, DJ, RHS ambassador, gardening enthusiast and dog lover, Joe Wiley, has been on hand, offering us support.
28:33The garden is all about reflecting the special place that dogs hold in our hearts and our gardens.
28:37Ned has had a formal invitation, so I think everybody involved should bring their dogs and let chaos reign.
28:43Monty, stop! You are so mischievous!
28:46This is Monty's design, it's his vision, it's his garden at Chelsea, but my job is to bring it into reality and actually create what's in Monty's head.
28:59I would be a liar if I said I wasn't nervous.
29:05I really like the idea of making a garden or having a part of a garden that really catered for the way that a dog sees a garden rather than a human.
29:16I wanted it to be a place where dogs would feel happy and at home and that the human element would enjoy it as a garden and just where those two things met.
29:27Today, Jamie has brought some sample bricks for the Chelsea Garden paths, which we hope will give it just a little nod to Longmeadow.
29:37But like everything else, the devil is in the detail.
29:40How are you?
29:41How are you?
29:42Really good to see you again.
29:43What have you got here?
29:44God, you've got a lot.
29:45A load of bricks.
29:47This type, which is very like what we call a Lemsbury, which is really heavy and solid, makes brilliant paths.
29:53Yes.
29:54Absolutely brilliant.
29:55But these, which are old bricks, have much nicer colour.
30:01In addition to the brick paths, my garden design includes an area for dogs to explore in their own mazy way.
30:09A selection of trees, a flower meadow, a stream to wallow in, a lawn and a building which is a combination of a summer house and enormous kennel.
30:22Oh, and there'll obviously be a couple of chewed balls.
30:26It's more than just a jokey dog garden.
30:29Yeah.
30:30Although there's an element of that.
30:31It's somewhere where dogs are part of a family.
30:34And that family may be one person and two dogs.
30:36It might be, you know, it could be any combination, but it's part of a life.
30:41And, yeah, I think that's the core of it.
30:44If we can achieve that, I'll be happy.
30:47For the planting, I've chosen very familiar trees and shrubs like hazel, filled maple and crab apple, along with a ball theme, including circular flowers and topiary.
31:04And, of course, there'll be dogwood in there, too.
31:08I'm assuming that everything's going swimmingly in the polytons. How are the plants?
31:12The plants are growing.
31:13Well, that's a good start.
31:14Which is a good start.
31:15Yeah.
31:16We can't second guess or know what it's going to do is the weather.
31:19And, obviously, it's incredible today.
31:21And if we have this between now and Chelsea, we'll mostly be looking at a palette that would, in normal years, be in flower in June.
31:29So we'll have to say goodbye to the tulips and some of the bulbs that we wanted to use.
31:33Whereas we could still get snow next week.
31:36It's that time of year where we just don't know what's going to happen.
31:38On the one hand, you know, we're not being judged, so therefore no one's going to take points off if something is not perfect.
31:44On the other hand, it's got to be perfect.
31:46It will, it has to be perfect.
31:48Yeah.
31:49I do want people to like it. I want people to love it.
31:51And if I equip myself, well, phew, and if I don't, well, it'll be embarrassing and it will be a pity, but it won't be for want of trying.
32:02With just weeks left until Chelsea, the biggest decisions are still to be made.
32:11So I've come to the nursery where they've marked out the garden to scale.
32:15Now I can really start to understand the space and place the trees and shrubs and discuss the structural bones of the design with Jamie and his team.
32:27Very nice.
32:29This is your garden.
32:31It's glorious.
32:33I want to stop here.
32:34Let's just leave this like this.
32:36Oh, hi.
32:37How are you?
32:38Nice to see you again.
32:39Yeah, you too.
32:40How are you?
32:41I'm all right.
32:42I'm okay.
32:43I'm...
32:44Sort of...
32:45I'm...
32:46I'm somewhere between excitement and just pure cold panic, actually.
32:52One of the crucial features to get right is the garden's summer house, including my own love of reclaimed material
33:00for garden buildings.
33:01But at the moment, we have a small problem interpreting the idea into reality.
33:06As if it's too derelict, it cuts out everybody who has no access to a derelict building and then becomes a stage set.
33:13Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:14And I want to avoid that.
33:16The arm check on that side, sofa on that side.
33:19But I don't think we want a great big window.
33:21Just sneak, yeah.
33:22Dogs are exactly where the seats are going to be.
33:25I think that's a doggy seal of approval.
33:28There is almost nothing that you can think of that doesn't have to have a decision made about it.
33:33And lots of things you haven't thought of that have to have a decision made about it.
33:37One thing that we just have to decide today is the exact placement of the trees.
33:42OK, you're good.
33:43You're good.
33:45What that means is we don't need...
33:48No, something like that in there.
33:49And that takes a lot of fine tuning.
33:51So Jo's arrival is a welcome relief.
33:54And she's here to get a dog garden update for her listeners.
33:58It's all about detail for me.
34:01Inches will make a difference.
34:02You know, the difference between being dead right and OK is small but critical.
34:11Having finished our radio interview, we've still got a lot of trees to place.
34:15So Jo lends us a hand.
34:18So we're trying to create a foreground of trees where you look through the stems.
34:24Yeah, that's much more like it.
34:29Much more like it.
34:30That's gorgeous.
34:31That's great.
34:32The height is right.
34:33Yeah.
34:34And the width.
34:35They're just working things out at the moment.
34:37That's exactly what's happening.
34:38It's like, does this look right here?
34:39No, it's not quite right.
34:40Just moving stuff around.
34:41It's actually quite frantic and quite manic.
34:43I quite like the idea of you having the gate in the corner.
34:46That's nice.
34:47So this is exactly where Jo is now.
34:48Jo, you are the gate.
34:49I am the gate.
34:50Slightly over.
34:51That's it.
34:52Perfect.
34:53You're gate-tastic.
34:54That's it.
34:55I'm gate.
34:56Is this garden going to be judged?
34:58Not by judges, no, but by people.
35:00It's going to be so scrutinised.
35:02Everybody, everybody is going to have a view about this garden.
35:05He's a very brave man, Monty Don.
35:08We started this journey last July.
35:12We're committed.
35:13Can't get out of it.
35:14Got to go ahead.
35:15We are two, three steps closer to what we're trying to achieve.
35:20From the outset, I wanted to be sure that the finished garden was somewhere that was good for both people and dogs, which is where my co-designer Ned comes in.
35:34That's your bit there, OK?
35:36You're going to design that.
35:37OK?
35:38Got that?
35:39Good boy.
35:41So last week, Ned and I went to Jamie's nursery together to decide, from a dog's point of view, where the pathway should go.
35:50Hello, Ned. How are you?
35:53This is the garden plan, and we had made some sort of tenuous nods as to where the dog paths might go, but obviously it was always going to be designed by Ned.
36:01And so I've got a blank corner here that, as we watch Ned wander through the garden, we can actually map it out, and that is what we will build at Chelsea.
36:11To make it easier for ourselves and Ned, we've made the planting area twice the size that it's actually going to be at Chelsea.
36:19So now, all we have to do is watch Ned's progress as he maps out our paths.
36:26There was a distinct sense of that, wasn't there? Yeah.
36:47Actually, watching Ned go through it was quite interesting. It was quite instructive.
36:54We did genuinely learn how Ned behaved within the space, and we will genuinely use that.
37:00Yes, exactly.
37:01It's the Chelsea conundrum. It's trying to be as authentic as possible whilst putting it on the world stage, and it's a battle every year.
37:12I sort of feel like someone who's dived into a deep pool, and you're nearing the bottom part of the dive, and therefore the only way is to get out, you've got to go up.
37:23To get out, you've got to go up.
37:24We're sort of out of the worst bit now because it's only going to get more exciting.
37:28Yeah.
37:29And it's going to happen. It's real, and we're surrounded by it, and it's quite lovely.
37:32And I hope it's this calm at Chelsea. I really do. It won't be. It really won't be.
37:38I'm very aware that that's the story so far. There's another month to go, an awful lot to do, an awful lot that can go wrong.
37:59But let's be positive. An awful lot that hopefully will go right, and we'll share all that with you when we get to Chelsea.
38:05And, of course, you'll be able to see the finished garden, so fingers crossed.
38:09Now, Chelsea coverage starts on the 18th of May, and we'll have more coverage of this journey towards completing the dog garden.
38:16And if you want more news about it, then Radio 2 is really involved, and Joe Wiley has been a great partner from the very beginning.
38:25.
38:52These four raised beds last year had cut flowers in them, and this year we've got bulbs that I'm trialing.
38:59These are all bulbs that I've never grown before, types of tulip, types of daffodil. In fact, they're coming through really nicely.
39:05We've got hardy annuals in that bed, dahlias, which have overwintered in that bed, and this bed I cleared.
39:13Actually, I'm not going to use it for cut flowers because it makes a really good seed bed.
39:18Now, a seed bed saves a whole load of money. You don't need seed trays, you don't need to buy compost, you don't need a greenhouse.
39:25All you need is a spare patch of ground, and it can be just a metre square.
39:29And some plants react really well to growing in soil as opposed to growing in compost, and it tends to be the brassica family.
39:37Now, we all think of brassicas as vegetables, but actually it's quite a wide family.
39:42So, it includes rocket, it includes radish, it includes swedes and turnips, and also wallflowers.
39:49So, I'm going to sow my wallflowers in here and grow them on with the idea next spring, because they're a biannual, of having a really good crop.
39:59If you're growing biannuals, now is a really good time to grow them.
40:03You do need to prepare the seed bed well. It needs to have not too many lumps and bumps.
40:08So, rake it and take out any obvious big stones or clumpy soil.
40:14And I'm going to use a spacer that's quite narrow, because they're not going to grow very big before I transplant them.
40:20So, this will do fine. And that fits in there.
40:24Now, I'm going to start with a variety called blood red.
40:30And wallflowers are a fantastic companion to tulips.
40:34And, of course, the other thing about wallflowers is they have some of the best fragrance of any flower you can grow.
40:39They have a really honey fragrance.
40:43All you need to do is, with your hand, just draw a little drill, like that, and down the other side.
40:48And sprinkle the seeds thinly. Now, this is the tricky bit.
40:54Ideally, you want each seed to be about an inch apart.
40:58Now, that's, in practice, impossible.
41:01But try and just space them out the best you can, so that you don't waste seed.
41:10Having done that, just lightly cover them over.
41:13And the easiest way to do it is just run a thumb and a finger down either side of the furrow.
41:22And that just pulls the soil across it.
41:26I will grow these on.
41:27And then, when they're large enough to handle, I will move them so they can develop into nice, strong, bushy plants.
41:34And then, in autumn, transplant them.
41:36And, hopefully, next year, I'll have a really good display of wallflowers.
41:43I have to overwinter all my salvias.
41:53But, in the greenhouse, they do have an inclination to keep growing, sometimes even flowering quite well.
41:59And they get leggy, because the light levels are low.
42:02So, it's a good idea to cut them back so the new growth that comes through is nice and strong and robust.
42:07However, what you cut back very often provides really good cutting materials.
42:12And, of course, cuttings is one of the most rewarding ways of making new plants.
42:17There is a genuine magic about it.
42:20And I have to say, it's a really economical way of producing new plants, too.
42:24These salvias, the Salvia garanitica here, Salvia fulgans, might cost between 10 and 30 pounds in a garden centre, might create up to a dozen cuttings.
42:36Now, you can see here on the fulgans this soft new growth.
42:40And these are softwood cuttings.
42:42And these are softwood cuttings.
42:43And if you can bend it over without breaking it, then it's a softwood cutting.
42:48So, first things first.
42:50Have your material mixed up.
42:52And this is a very, very free-draining material.
42:54It's about two-thirds perlite, one-third compost.
42:57You can do it in pure perlite.
42:59Have your pots you're going to put them into ready.
43:01So, we're going to take it from the end.
43:03If I just take that, that, and...
43:13Having taken the cuttings, I'm then going to cut excess foliage because there's water released by foliage.
43:20And water loss is what's going to kill it.
43:23So, that's one.
43:26Got another one here.
43:27Cut it beneath the node.
43:28The node, by the way, is just the point at which leaves or side shoots emerge on the stem.
43:38Perfectly good.
43:39And another.
43:40Now, this one, that is not a node.
43:44So, that length there is less likely to produce roots than that point there.
43:49So, we'll cut it off.
43:51Like that.
43:52So, now I have my cuttings.
43:57Make a hole and go into the corner of the pot.
44:02Burying it about half its length.
44:05Now, this is where you have to be quick.
44:18And then, and this is critical, you will need a bag.
44:23But these locking bags, they're a game changer.
44:27Because all you do is just put them over, pull the zip tight, and that now is sealed around it.
44:34And what it does is it stops evaporation.
44:37That will keep it alive long enough to produce new roots.
44:40Put it somewhere sunny, pot them on in about two, three weeks' time, grow them on, and then plant them out later in summer.
44:48And as for the parent plant, harden it off for at least a week in a sheltered place outside if it's been indoors before planting out in mid-May.
45:01Now, there are still daffodils, thankfully, looking glorious.
45:05But I suspect that they were at their best a couple of weeks ago, which was when we went to West Wales to visit the small holding of Julian Wormald, where he had thousands of daffodils in glorious display.
45:20Some people just think daffodils are all yellow, but there's a big range of whites and yellows and pinks and oranges.
45:34And this time of the year, the daffodils are fabulous.
45:37We're about 800 feet up here in North Carmelinshire.
45:41And in the landscape, still at the end of March, in a year like this, there's almost no wildflowers, just a few celandynes.
45:48And daffodils obviously give us that burst of spring colour.
45:53So they get us through the long grey days that we often experience here in the heavy rainfall.
46:00I'm Julian Wormald, and over the last probably 10 years, I've started to acquire more named types of daffodils.
46:13And we've maybe got 240, 250, something like that now.
46:17We bought this property in 11 acres as a derelict small holding that hadn't been lived in for 30 years.
46:26And there was no garden and no landscaping.
46:31And gradually, we started to work on the garden, but never with any plan.
46:35You just do a little bit at a time and you keep chipping away.
46:39The only garden flower that was here at that time was a very, very old daffodil growing on the access track bank
46:48that actually dates back to at least 1620.
46:53I started with snowdrops and gradually built up a big collection of maybe 150 different cultivars,
47:00and then started to look at daffodils.
47:03But with both snowdrops and daffodils, the thing that interests me most, in a way,
47:09is the social history and the human stories behind these flowers.
47:13This is the temby daffodil, which is native to this particular part of southwest Wales.
47:28And it's a species daffodil, Narcissus ovularis.
47:32And because it usually comes into flower on March the 1st, which is St David's Day,
47:38and it's a classic all-yellow daffodil, it's a great emblem for the Welsh national flower.
47:45Daffodils became popular in the 1800s, and the temby daff was part of a major hybridisation industry,
47:58where some flowers were highly prized.
48:00This lovely daffodil is one called Brunswick, and it's one of our favourites because it flowers really early.
48:12It's tall. The flowers are probably the longest lasting of any daffodil that we have.
48:18And I really like the combination of the flower with the bluey green leaves.
48:24And when it was first launched in the late 1930s, early 1930s maybe,
48:31the people who first bought the bulbs had to pay about 450 quid in today's money to buy a single bulb.
48:37And they wouldn't have known whether it would be a good daff, but it's a great daff.
48:41Historic daffodils are often more subtle in colour and form than newer hybrids,
48:50and many have proven hardiness, although modern hybrids have stretched a range of flower types.
48:59So there are 13 different divisions, classifications if you like, for daffodils,
49:04and this one which we really like is a daffodil called Orange Comet,
49:08which is quite a recent hybrid that was created over in America.
49:12But it's Division 6 cyclomineus, and all the cyclomineus have sweatback petals,
49:19and they all tend to thrive in very wet conditions,
49:22so we thought this would be a good one to try growing different sorts off here,
49:26and most of them do pretty well.
49:28And these are just going over, but then they've been in flower since the beginning of March,
49:32and we're now at the 30th of March, so that's not bad going.
49:38Due to the hybridisation process, many daffodils don't set seed, but some do.
49:48These are Narcissus, Pseudo-Narcissus, which is the other native daffodil in the UK,
49:55and it's the daffodil that inspired Wordsworth in the Lake District
49:59to write his very famous poem about daffodils.
50:02It sets seed, even though it flowers early, and it probably produces more seed in a seed capsule
50:08than any of the other daffodils.
50:10All the daffodils that you can see in this part of the field have got here,
50:14just as a result of saving the seed and scattering it onto the surface of the meadow,
50:19and then waiting.
50:21And it takes maybe five, six years for a daffodil seed to produce a bulb that's of flowering size.
50:29But, actually, that's a lot easier and a lot cheaper than planting lots and lots of bulbs.
50:41The meadow's grazed in the autumn, and the daffodil seed is scattered at this time.
50:47The seed's pushed into the soil by a specially named sheep.
50:51Every year we get a new crop of lambs, and we decided to give them daffodil names.
50:57So we've got a lovely ewe lamb, the first one to be born this year,
51:02which we've called Lalique, after a gorgeous daffodil, actually, that flowers later on.
51:08I've got a ewe called Jetfire from two years ago that's particularly friendly,
51:13and she will come and have nuts out of the bucket and she'll have her chin tickled.
51:22And Jetfire, the daffodil, is a lovely, reliable, orange and yellow, cyclamineous daffodil
51:29with swept back petals that flowers fairly early. It's a very good doer.
51:38Renovating the house and creating the garden has been a long journey,
51:42but each spring, when the daffodils begin to flower again, we're so pleased we persevered.
51:47I like the idea of spreading seed just directly onto meadows for daffodils.
51:52It's a lot easier than planting bulbs, and five years goes quickly enough.
51:56Now, some daffodils are becoming extremely rare, and the RHS would like your help in discovering three in particular.
52:05They are Mrs R. R. O. Backhouse, Mrs William Copeland and Sussex Bonfire.
52:14And if you either have those growing in your garden or you've seen them, if you go to our website, you'll get instructions on what to do and how to contact the RHS.
52:23And if we do just get one or two of those and can collect the seed, then that keeps them for posterity.
52:30Come on.
52:35Easter has always been the traditional time when people planted their potatoes. Now is the time to get them in the ground.
52:42There are lots of ways of doing it. Potatoes actually are quite easy to grow.
52:45But to get the best from them, really, you want to know what to do and how to do and how to contact the RHS.
52:50Really, you want to have them well covered, have them fairly deep, and also you need to make sure that they're not exposed to late frost.
53:11And the best way to do that is to dig a sort of mini trench.
53:15If you pull out the soil along a line or a board like I've got here, pull that out.
53:27I've got them growing here next to strawberries, and strawberries and potatoes share pretty much the same growing conditions.
53:34They're like rich soil, plenty of moisture, and plenty of sunshine.
53:43If your soil is very thin, it doesn't hurt to put a layer of compost along the bottom.
53:53Now, this is a variety called Charlotte, which is a second early.
53:58First earlies are the traditional new potato. Second earlies, like Charlotte, they have the sweetness of new potatoes, but they store better.
54:07And Charlotte are one of my favourites.
54:11Now, when you're planting, the basic rule is that the closer together they are, the smaller the potatoes will be.
54:19So, with new potatoes, you don't want great big ones. By and large, I would say about a foot or so apart is fine.
54:27And these have chitted well. You can see that they've got a nice, firm, purpley-green little bud on them.
54:36You can rub off any side ones, and that will put all the energy into that shoot, and so they will grow away faster.
54:43So, we can pop that in there like that.
54:45All right. One more in there.
54:59There's my friend the robin.
55:01Of course, if you're really short of space, and you don't even have a garden, you can still grow potatoes.
55:11Because they grow very successfully in a large container or a sack.
55:16You need to puncture it to make sure they drain, keep them well watered, and they work perfectly well.
55:22When you're covering them over, you do not want any light to touch the tubers as they grow, otherwise they turn green,
55:51and that can be poisonous.
55:54I've left enough space between the rows for earthing up.
55:59Now, earthing up is when you draw up soil over the emerging foliage.
56:10Right, now you've been watching me work, it's your turn. Here are your jobs for the weekend.
56:21If you're growing any of the late flowering clematis, you'll notice that they're now putting on masses of new growth.
56:31And this needs supporting.
56:33Use soft twine and never plastic or wire, as this new growth is very tender.
56:40And you may have to repeat this two or three more times until they develop their own tendrils that will support the weight.
56:47If you're growing tender annuals like these cosmos, they will be starting to grow strongly and even developing some flower buds.
57:03But it's too early in the year for this. So be bold and be prepared to cut them back by up to half.
57:10And this will encourage lots of side shoots and strong bushy plants that will flower better and longer.
57:18If you're growing tomatoes, it's important to keep them growing so you have nice strong plants when you put them out, either outdoors or in a greenhouse.
57:35But it's a bit early for both those.
57:37So, making sure they don't get root bound, pot them on either from a plug into a pot or from a small pot to a bigger one.
57:44And this will ensure that they continue their healthy growth and buy you some time.
57:50I always think that this is above all the time of blossom.
58:10And the great thing about blossom is you don't need big trees. You can have a socking great periper like the one behind me.
58:16But also, blossom works just as well whether it's on the step over apples or cordons.
58:23And of course, you can grow those in any size garden.
58:25So this Easter, just take time to relish the blossom and maybe a bit of time to get stuck into the garden too.
58:34And I'll see you back here at Longmeadow next Friday at eight o'clock.
58:38So until then, happy Easter and bye bye.
59:04Bye bye.
59:05Bye bye.
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