0:02:07 > 0:02:10BIRDSONG
0:02:30 > 0:02:34So, the Earth is spinning around on its axis,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37and that causes the day-night cycle,
0:02:37 > 0:02:42as the sun appears to rise above the horizon and set below the horizon.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Meanwhile, the Earth is spinning around the sun.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48That takes it one year.
0:02:48 > 0:02:49So that's our annual cycle.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54And when the Earth's axis is pointing towards the sun,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57that's when we have the longest days,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00and when the Earth's axis is pointing away from the sun,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02you have the shortest days,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05so the orientation of the Earth's axis
0:03:05 > 0:03:09is what alters the length of time at which the sun is above the horizon.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23The winter jobs are part of that annual cycle,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and they are ritualistic.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30They are important for putting the garden to bed
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and preparing for the next season,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37so although we have time to stand back a little bit more in the winter
0:03:37 > 0:03:41and appreciate the garden in its winter glory,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and with ideas that we have for the next season,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46the actual work that we do is vitally important
0:03:46 > 0:03:49and it is part, as I say, of a cycle.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55The garden is never lifeless.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57In the winter seasons,
0:03:57 > 0:04:02there's just different things going on, and it's not so conspicuous,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06but there's always a certain amount of growth. and...
0:04:06 > 0:04:09things are happening in the soil,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and there's a different range of insects and birds.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Well, there's a rhythm to the garden,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and the winter jobs, like pruning,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28have to be done every year at a certain time,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31so it sort of feels like part of the calendar doing them.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35It's all about managing the light, and letting light in
0:06:35 > 0:06:37to allow the fruit to ripen.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33When I'm rotovating the soil, you really get into it.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36I mean, I don't know. When I'm doing it, I'm kind of in another zone.
0:10:36 > 0:10:37And the soil's got to be...
0:10:37 > 0:10:41It's a really weird word, but in my way, it has to be lush.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43It has to look like chocolate.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46I like the soil to look like you'd get hold of it and you'd think,
0:10:46 > 0:10:47"Yeah, that looks really good."
0:10:50 > 0:10:52I can imagine it wouldn't have been perhaps terribly different
0:10:52 > 0:10:55to the processes today, and particularly within the garden,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58because what you would have to do is aerate the soil initially,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01churn it up, plant your seeds, and so on.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03And we can see that they probably would have done this
0:11:03 > 0:11:06through very simple tools like antler picks,
0:11:06 > 0:11:12perhaps starting to use metal around 6-8,000 years ago
0:11:12 > 0:11:16as part of that process of managing the landscape around them,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and we can see the descendants of those tools today
0:11:19 > 0:11:25in things like hoes, mattocks, shovels and spades.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06INDISTINCT CHATTER
0:16:07 > 0:16:09A straight line, basically,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12so if you just stick that end...
0:16:12 > 0:16:13Yeah, there. Perfect.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19It feels wonderful, because you are starting the whole process
0:16:19 > 0:16:23of filling up all the beds, which at this time now,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25they're brown, completely bare,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29and so the garlic is probably our first crop we plant out.
0:16:29 > 0:16:30And it's the start of...
0:16:30 > 0:16:33The very, very start of the whole season,
0:16:33 > 0:16:34so it's a very exciting time.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38I mean... Planting out...
0:16:38 > 0:16:42When you're sowing direct, as we would say, you know,
0:16:42 > 0:16:43you're direct sowing, so...
0:16:43 > 0:16:47It is a big thing in a way, because you know that the season is off,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51because the soil has to be at the right temperature for us to do so,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54and you don't know that, really, unless you do it,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57but you kind of go by your own instincts to know,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01but once you've done that and the first seedlings appear, yeah,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03here we go again, you know?
0:17:03 > 0:17:05It's all lush and all growth, and...
0:17:05 > 0:17:08So the first direct sowing is quite an important sowing,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12because it kind of tells you that it's...
0:17:12 > 0:17:15you know, the soil is ready and the temperature is right.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34BIRDS SING AND BEES BUZZ
0:20:43 > 0:20:48So a crucial ingredient for plants to grow is the light from the sun.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53The photons coming from the sun are what allow photosynthesis to occur,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56which is how the plants get their energy.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59And those photons have been produced in the centre of the sun
0:20:59 > 0:21:02through a process called nuclear fusion.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05It takes eight minutes for the light to travel
0:21:05 > 0:21:07from the surface of the sun to the Earth,
0:21:07 > 0:21:12but the photons that are leaving the sun were actually produced
0:21:12 > 0:21:15a million years ago in nuclear fusion in the centre of the sun,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19and it's taken a million years for that photon to travel,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22bouncing around through the gas particles within the sun,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26to make its journey from the centre to the surface of the sun
0:21:26 > 0:21:29before it begins its relatively rapid journey to the Earth.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45BEE BUZZES
0:21:56 > 0:21:59The bees buzzing in the blossom is amazing.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03You can just stand underneath it and hear them just being so busy.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06They don't care, really, if you're there or not.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08I mean, they never sting us. We try not to walk into them.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12But it's a wonderful sound, cos you know they're doing such good work,
0:22:12 > 0:22:16and they're taking pollen back to the hive to feed the queen,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20to keep the bees producing and making honey,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23so that's the best sound in the garden, is the bees buzzing.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30BEES BUZZ
0:24:17 > 0:24:19BIRDSONG
0:24:51 > 0:24:56I think all gardeners are aware of the growth around them,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01not necessarily on a day-to-day basis, but...
0:25:01 > 0:25:05it never ceases to surprise myself or the gardeners I know
0:25:05 > 0:25:08how quickly things are growing,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and how quickly things come into flower...
0:25:13 > 0:25:17..and my experience, where perhaps I'm not in one particular garden
0:25:17 > 0:25:20every day, certainly on a weekly basis,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23you can see tremendous change.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28That, of course, is not always in the late autumn and winter months,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30although you do see change,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33but in the spring, when everything takes off,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36and everything is rushing away and growing particularly if we've had
0:25:36 > 0:25:38the right sort of weather,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42then you can see dramatic change, and that's...
0:25:42 > 0:25:43That's life-affirming.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45It's really, really thrilling.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02All gardeners that I know get a thrill
0:26:02 > 0:26:07from pricking out and planting out the first seedlings
0:26:07 > 0:26:11and the first small plants that they have,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15particularly if they've nurtured themselves in a greenhouse,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19and this is the beginning of the cycle in the garden -
0:26:19 > 0:26:23it's the beginning of the year in the garden,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and is a particularly thrilling point, I think.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36You notice everything, and sometimes you're absolutely amazed
0:26:36 > 0:26:39how quickly things germinate and come up.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Radish, rocket, lettuce, green leaves, you can sow -
0:26:42 > 0:26:46in three weeks' time, you've got a full lettuce,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48or, you know, a full row of rocket.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50They can germinate so quickly.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Every morning you go out, you notice something has happened every day.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Digging is one of those jobs that you feel quite satisfied afterwards,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13because you can see what you've done,
0:27:13 > 0:27:17so turning compost bins or digging out the base for a shed
0:27:17 > 0:27:19or a log shed or something like that,
0:27:19 > 0:27:20is difficult at the time,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22and it sort of depends on what time of year -
0:27:22 > 0:27:24you don't really want to be digging into the ground
0:27:24 > 0:27:26in the middle of summer,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29so it's more of a winter job, but then turning compost bins
0:27:29 > 0:27:31and stuff like that, I don't know,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34you sort of get to look at how things have changed
0:27:34 > 0:27:36while they've been there.
0:27:36 > 0:27:37So digging... Digging is all right.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40I don't mind digging, but it's tiring when it's hot,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42so I much prefer doing it in the winter.
0:27:54 > 0:27:55Oh, yeah, I mean...
0:27:55 > 0:27:58You know when you're digging, you've started digging,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02you've started on the plot, you're going to dig, you're thinking
0:28:02 > 0:28:06as you go along, "Now I'm going to perhaps have carrots in here,"
0:28:06 > 0:28:08or that this will be for potatoes,
0:28:08 > 0:28:13or I'll get it ready for the green stuff, the sprouts in the winter,
0:28:13 > 0:28:15cabbage in the winter.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17So you're always...
0:28:18 > 0:28:21..always ahead to look at what you're doing
0:28:21 > 0:28:23when you're digging the garden,
0:28:23 > 0:28:25and what's going to happen to it after you've dug it.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28I mean, after... Digging it is digging it,
0:28:28 > 0:28:33but then you've got to rake it, hoe it, get it level,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37draw your drills, I mean, just digging is only the start of it.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19So, the sun was formed about 4.6 billion years ago,
0:34:19 > 0:34:24and the Earth was formed relatively shortly after that.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28Ever since the Earth was formed, it has been moving around the sun,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31so the yearly cycle of orbiting around the sun
0:34:31 > 0:34:35has been going on for 4.6 billion years.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57So, we go from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle
0:34:57 > 0:35:00that we would have been part of as a human species
0:35:00 > 0:35:04for perhaps as much as 200,000 years when we start to first evolve.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07We're hunter-gatherers, we know the seasons,
0:35:07 > 0:35:09we know the plants that grow in the seasons,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12we engage with the animals that move with the seasons,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14and we're very...not controlled,
0:35:14 > 0:35:18but we are very much under the influence of that cycle.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Then about 10,000 years ago,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23with the new knowledge of agriculture and horticulture,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25we can start to not be so dependent on that cycle,
0:35:25 > 0:35:29and we start to change our psyche from moving with the seasons
0:35:29 > 0:35:34to staying in one place and growing through the seasons.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38And I think that's a very powerful cognitive shift
0:35:38 > 0:35:41in how we engage with the land around us.
0:36:23 > 0:36:24There is no time to relax.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26HE CHUCKLES
0:36:26 > 0:36:28I think the only time to relax in the garden
0:36:28 > 0:36:32is about two weeks in October. I mean... Summertime is...
0:36:32 > 0:36:35It's all busy. The garden is busy continuously.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37You can sit down and have a look at it
0:36:37 > 0:36:40and enjoy your fruits of your labour,
0:36:40 > 0:36:45I guess, but to relax, unfortunately, no!
0:36:45 > 0:36:46HE LAUGHS
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Obviously in the summer, you can sit outside a lot more,
0:36:51 > 0:36:56and you can enjoy your breaks, but...summer for me,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59and I'm sure for any gardener, is a time of work,
0:36:59 > 0:37:05and it's the same when any day produces good weather -
0:37:05 > 0:37:07the first thing you think about is,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10"I've got to get straight back in the garden and get back to work."
0:37:22 > 0:37:26Summertime is the peak in most gardens,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30unless you've got a garden that is particularly designed to have plants
0:37:30 > 0:37:33that are going to flower in the autumn and the winter
0:37:33 > 0:37:34and the early spring,
0:37:34 > 0:37:39so there is a plateau period, but in a garden such as this,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43where there's so much variety and so many different plants,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47you've got things happening all the time, and therefore,
0:37:47 > 0:37:48there's no complete plateau,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51no levelling off of two or three weeks
0:37:51 > 0:37:54where everything's absolutely the same and standing still.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56Everything is changing.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58As I say, more particularly in a garden such as this
0:37:58 > 0:38:00with so much variation.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42Summer makes me feel good.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46I think the sun on your back just makes everything OK.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Takes all the old aches away,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51and, yeah, everybody likes a bit of sunshine, don't they?
0:38:57 > 0:38:58It's always sad when you realise
0:38:58 > 0:39:00you've gone through the peak of summer,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04and that it's going to end soon.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10Seeing the season getting a little bit cooler, and things going over,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14flowers past their best, and a lot of the crops finished.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19But then you've got autumn to look forward to,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22and a whole different range of things being ready.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02It's amazing that you have this nectar
0:42:02 > 0:42:04at the end of a full growing season,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07so there you have your tree in the soil...
0:42:08 > 0:42:11..taking up the water and the nutrients in the soil,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13up through the tree, to give you the beautiful blossom,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17which then turns into the succulent, wonderful apples
0:42:17 > 0:42:21that we then press, and make litres and litres and litres
0:42:21 > 0:42:23of delicious pure apple juice.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Much as we think of spring as the beginning of life,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39the harvest then must have been linked
0:42:39 > 0:42:41to the completion of the summer -
0:42:41 > 0:42:44the project is done, and now you are gathering the food
0:42:44 > 0:42:47that is effectively going to allow you to survive
0:42:47 > 0:42:50the dark winter periods that are coming,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53so the harvest would have been extremely important to them
0:42:53 > 0:42:55in the respect of survival.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59We have a lot of modern festivities built around the spring
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and the harvest, going into autumn and so on,
0:43:02 > 0:43:03and these are hangers-on, really,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06from that older period where we were much more dependent
0:43:06 > 0:43:09on the immediate productivity of the land beneath us,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13rather than being able to import what we don't have from elsewhere.
0:46:06 > 0:46:11The cycle of growing and dying on the Earth in a garden
0:46:11 > 0:46:16is mirrored with the cycle of the Earth going around the sun,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19but all of these things can be put into the context
0:46:19 > 0:46:25of a very long cycle of the Earth continuing to move around the sun
0:46:25 > 0:46:30for billions of years, and even the sun moving around the centre
0:46:30 > 0:46:32of our own galaxy, the Milky Way,
0:46:32 > 0:46:37which is on a timescale of 230 million years,
0:46:37 > 0:46:41and the cycle of the formation of the universe to the present day,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45which has taken 13.7 billion years.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Summer draws to an end as...
0:47:10 > 0:47:15A stillness in the air, I think, when it comes to autumn.
0:47:16 > 0:47:22And I really love as everything sort of starts to sort of die down,
0:47:22 > 0:47:24because the light quality within the garden
0:47:24 > 0:47:26is just stunning in the autumn.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33I guess in the autumn, you sort of...
0:47:33 > 0:47:36It's a time where you notice it's been...
0:47:36 > 0:47:38It's sort of your annual mark.
0:47:38 > 0:47:39So when the leaves start falling off the trees
0:47:39 > 0:47:43and the plants start going back into hibernation,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46you sort of notice it's been another year,
0:47:46 > 0:47:49and so you notice everything is a year older.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53It's been a year since this time last year, so I guess autumn, yeah,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55it is quite a sort of reference point
0:47:55 > 0:47:58to being a year older.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Well, as a gardener,
0:48:09 > 0:48:11no season is ever long enough, really.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17Spring is by in the blink of an eye, and then summer.
0:48:17 > 0:48:18So...
0:48:19 > 0:48:22..the same with autumn, really. It's... It's just so quick.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Gardeners I think are aware of the years turning,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44because it's such a seasonal job
0:48:44 > 0:48:47that you're aware every month what you've got to be doing,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49so I think time probably goes quicker.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52As I say, there are jobs, especially in the garden,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55that you can only do at certain times of the year,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58so you can't do a job in January that you do in June,
0:48:58 > 0:49:02so you've always got a calendar with you, so you are...
0:49:02 > 0:49:03You're watching the time.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22Yeah, I suppose it's sort of a closing chapter in your life,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26but you mustn't think of it like, you know, the end of something,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29but the start of something new, I suppose,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32because, like I say, you're always looking ahead,
0:49:32 > 0:49:34but you've always got to look forward.
0:49:34 > 0:49:35If you spend too much time looking back,
0:49:35 > 0:49:40you'll...spend all your time regretting what you haven't done,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42rather than enjoying what you have achieved.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23You've got... Perhaps you've dug your potatoes,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26you've harvested your carrots, you've got your...
0:50:26 > 0:50:28green stuff ready for the winter,
0:50:28 > 0:50:33after you've netted it to keep the pigeons off, but otherwise, I mean,
0:50:33 > 0:50:35there's always something to look forward to.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38You think, there's pruning the garden and tidying up.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40There's always jobs to do in the garden.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42I mean, you never... You never...
0:50:42 > 0:50:46Even if you sit in the potting shed, my old potting shed down there,
0:50:46 > 0:50:49you think, "Well, what am I going to do next week," you know?
0:50:49 > 0:50:51So you've got to plan ahead all of the time.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15I think there's always time for reflection in gardens,
0:51:15 > 0:51:17but perhaps that's...
0:51:18 > 0:51:24..more true in the autumn, when you see things dying back,
0:51:24 > 0:51:30and you see things that are no longer going to grow and flourish
0:51:30 > 0:51:35in the way they have during the past spring and summer season.
0:51:35 > 0:51:37In relation to one's own life...
0:51:38 > 0:51:42..I think it's quite important to reflect on the fact
0:51:42 > 0:51:46that we're not here forever, but...
0:51:47 > 0:51:53..as a gardener, you know that that cycle is something which is...
0:51:56 > 0:51:59In the winter, you're not seeing things completely die -
0:51:59 > 0:52:04they go to sleep, and then things come to life again.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22Oh, autumn feels like an ending and a beginning,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25because it's when you harvest things -
0:52:25 > 0:52:29that's the end of that growing season for a particular plant,
0:52:29 > 0:52:32but it's definitely a beginning to things as well.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35There's a lot of...a lot of things that grow during the winter
0:52:35 > 0:52:37and things that you can only do in the winter,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40so it's a fresh start on all those jobs.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44It's a culmination of your work of spring and summer in many ways,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47but it's also the starting of something new,
0:52:47 > 0:52:52and winter crops and winter jobs, and a refreshing of the soil...
0:52:52 > 0:52:55and I'm approaching the autumn of my life,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59and I feel that it's a little bit of a change and a fresh start.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05The times I've been here and the times gone, I mean,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08cos you're more aware of each month,
0:53:08 > 0:53:12you know, March, sowing, summer, autumn, winter...
0:53:12 > 0:53:15Time goes fast.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19And you are more aware of it. That's not a bad thing.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Today, I'm cutting down the tomatoes, etc.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24And it doesn't seem like five minutes ago
0:53:24 > 0:53:26that you were growing the tomato from seed,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29and now we're putting it all away,
0:53:29 > 0:53:31and putting it back into the garden in the compost.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12Ever since humans have been on the Earth,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16we have measured our time by the movement of the Earth,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18and the movement of the Earth
0:54:18 > 0:54:21relative to other objects in the sky.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26We measure our days by the cycle of the Earth spinning on its axis,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30and we measure our years by the Earth moving around the sun,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33or the sun appearing to move around the Earth.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51When... Yeah, when you build a house,
0:54:51 > 0:54:52you have bricks and mortar,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55and you are left with this big statue of life,
0:54:55 > 0:54:58and that's your remnants of life, but mine is in the garden.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Somebody else can come along in a year's time and say,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03"Somebody worked here and they dug this soil."
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Well, you know, that's my step in time,
0:55:06 > 0:55:08so I do leave something behind.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Well, when you work in a garden that's been around
0:55:23 > 0:55:26as long as this garden has, you do feel that you're...
0:55:27 > 0:55:30..a caretaker, and you're just there for a time...
0:55:31 > 0:55:34..building on what other people have done before you.
0:55:43 > 0:55:49I think all people that work in gardens and on the land
0:55:49 > 0:55:56can't fail to see...the cycle of life and the years turning by.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59It's in front of us all the time.