0:00:03 > 0:00:09When it comes to designing our gardens, sometimes it's hard to know where to start.
0:00:10 > 0:00:17Perhaps surprisingly, I find the best place to look for ideas is in Britain's historic estates.
0:00:19 > 0:00:26In this series I'm looking at four of my favourite gardens, from four different centuries.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35These are the gardens that have inspired me, and which affect the way I garden at home.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39They're a perfect example of the evolution of garden design.
0:00:39 > 0:00:47But in many ways, every bit as relevant today as they were in the centuries when they were first made.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55My journey concludes in a garden that redefined design in the 20th century.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00I'll reveal the techniques that make it so influential.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06Just look all those colours which combine to make it wonderfully three-dimensional.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13We'll see how it's stirred others to explore new frontiers in garden design.
0:01:15 > 0:01:21It's more about shaping the land itself. To me, it's a piece of giant sculpture.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24We want a plant that really turns up the voltage on...
0:01:24 > 0:01:27on the colour wheel.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30And I'll show how you can learn from this magical garden
0:01:30 > 0:01:34and create simple but dramatic effects in your own plot.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38This is plants living together for mutual benefit.
0:01:40 > 0:01:46So sit back and be inspired by the gardens of Sissinghurst in Kent.
0:02:13 > 0:02:19Today many of us think of our garden as an intrinsic part of our home.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23It's somewhere to eat, to entertain, to relax.
0:02:23 > 0:02:30It's also a reflection of our personality, an indicator of our passions and our interests.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35We think that way because of gardens like this, at Sissinghurst
0:02:35 > 0:02:37in Kent.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10Gardens like this changed the way we Brits thought about our own back yards.
0:03:10 > 0:03:17They influenced our approach to colour, to space, but above all to mood.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28The design at Sissinghurst was the vision of two passionate amateur gardeners -
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Sir Harold Nicolson,
0:03:30 > 0:03:36a diarist and diplomat, and his wife, the poet, novelist and garden writer, Vita Sackville-West.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Vita and Harold were influenced by the Arts And Crafts Movement,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45a group of late 19th century intellectuals who rejected the
0:03:45 > 0:03:52design styles of the industrial age and promoted nature as a source of artistic inspiration.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58For them, the garden was a refuge, a place for living in, not a place
0:03:58 > 0:04:03for showing off with gaudy displays, as it had been in Victorian times.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11When they bought Sissinghurst in 1931, Vita and Harold began applying this new philosophy
0:04:11 > 0:04:15to its design, and they wanted to share their passion for the garden,
0:04:15 > 0:04:21so, starting in 1937, they opened it to the public.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23At the time,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27four million new suburban homes were being created in Britain, all with
0:04:27 > 0:04:30gardens to fill.
0:04:36 > 0:04:42This new generation of gardeners found groundbreaking ideas that they could relate to.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51The way the garden was laid out as a series of individual garden rooms.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59The original use of colour.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06A naturalistic way of planting.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10And one of the first semi-wild gardens.
0:05:12 > 0:05:19In the century before Sissinghurst, gardens were status symbols, places to impress your friends.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21But this is a garden for living in.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25It was designed to fulfil the practical needs of its owners.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Today, we look upon our area of decking or
0:05:39 > 0:05:41our barbecue as ways in which
0:05:41 > 0:05:44our garden can improve our lifestyle.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49Well, Sissinghurst was one of the first lifestyle gardens, comprising
0:05:49 > 0:05:55ten rooms, each with its own purpose and personality.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Vita and Harold needed a garden that would suit
0:06:00 > 0:06:02their every mood.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05So each room served a purpose.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10They could start the day with breakfast in the Cottage Garden.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Dine alfresco in the White Garden.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Stroll and reflect through the Spring Garden.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Greet guests and take tea on the Tower Lawn.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27And party in the Rose Garden.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36When they bought Sissinghurst, it was a ramshackle ruin of an Elizabethan castle.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41But they turned this to their advantage, using the disjointed
0:06:41 > 0:06:45layout as a template for the design of the garden.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50The writer Adam Nicolson is their grandson.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Whoo, healthy breeze!
0:06:55 > 0:06:58What were their intentions in creating the different rooms?
0:06:58 > 0:06:59About ten of them, a huge number.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03Yes, well, they lived in an extraordinary way.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06They lived completely scattered around the garden.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09So they slept in there, Harold worked in there,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14Vita worked downstairs here, their kitchen and dining room was over
0:07:14 > 0:07:20there, their sitting room was over there, their children lived there, and their servants lived there.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22They must have got very wet during the winter.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26But what it meant was that the garden was not some kind
0:07:26 > 0:07:29of adjunct beside the house, but completely integral to their lives.
0:07:29 > 0:07:35So you're there in the evening, you've had a glass or two of wine, dusk comes down.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39So there is this integration of life and garden.
0:07:40 > 0:07:47I think this is perhaps a reimagining of the garden as a lovely humane space.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51It's not some horticultural sort of display cabinet.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It's part of the substance of life.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04Enormous consideration has also gone into how each room looks and feels when you're in it.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10Today, we might put a little thought into where we put our table and chairs, but here
0:08:10 > 0:08:14it's almost as if an interior designer has constructed the space.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21The classic example of this is the Cottage Garden.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Every room needs walls.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29And the walls of the Cottage Garden here are constructed of clipped yew.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Now, when you've got the walls of your room, you need furniture.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Four great torpedoes of yew in the centre.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48And the decoration, the wallpaper and paint?
0:08:48 > 0:08:54Well, there's no magnolia here, no clashing strident whites, but warm colours -
0:08:54 > 0:08:57reds, oranges, yellows.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00It's cosy. It's comfortable.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02It's sociable.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09No other garden is more connected to their daily lives.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Harold's office and Vita's bedroom look down onto the Cottage Garden,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18and Harold's favourite chair still sits by the door.
0:09:20 > 0:09:27You might think, then, that it's simply a matter of getting together those classic cottage garden plants,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31every one of them a dumpling, and putting them all together.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34But a closer look at this shows you that's not the case.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38There are strident colours here and strident shapes.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42It's got a modern twist to it.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45This may have been the place where
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Harold and Vita socialised 60 years ago,
0:09:47 > 0:09:53but today it's very much a cottage garden for the 21st century.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57With so many different rooms at Sissinghurst, the Nicolsons
0:09:57 > 0:10:01had the luxury of being able to give each one its own identity.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04But today our outdoor spaces have shrunk.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15Declan Buckley has ingeniously designed two outdoor rooms to make them multifunctional.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19It's always the biggest room in the house, and people don't realise that.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20It may be a mud patch to start with,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24but by the time we've redesigned it, re- reinvigorated it,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26it becomes something very different
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and it becomes the focus of their lives for much of the year.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32In South London, he's divided the garden into
0:10:32 > 0:10:38four distinct areas, for dining, lounging, sunbathing and playing.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40It's a long narrow space.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44It's about 34 metres long. So I've...
0:10:44 > 0:10:47I've used big blocks of planting to break the space up.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55So this external space here, this...
0:10:55 > 0:10:59This terrace area is bigger than any of their internal spaces in the house.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02So the kitchen and dining area flow right out
0:11:02 > 0:11:06into the garden, so it works as a fantastic entertaining space.
0:11:10 > 0:11:17In Broadstairs, he's turned a tiny back yard into an outdoor kitchen/diner.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21This is a tiny little coastal garden for Dan and Alex.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23It's only nine metres by five metres.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Dan is a really passionate gardener, and Alex loves to cook, and they both love to entertain.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30So that's what this little space is about.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33We actually find we do get a lot of use out of here.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38There's scarcely a weekend goes by throughout the summer when we're not out here doing something.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Even during the winter, because it's so sheltered, we can come out here and do
0:11:41 > 0:11:46a roast on the barbecue without any problems really.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49You can see so much of the garden from inside the house.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53The very clean flooring that we have, mean that you can sort of
0:11:53 > 0:11:56wander in and out without really feeling the difference
0:11:56 > 0:11:58between inside and outside.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03We took the same slate material we used on the floor and made a counter top out of that.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05So the whole thing ties together.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09The fencing material, it's all very unified and simple.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17A lot of the planting here is evergreen, so it gives a lot
0:12:17 > 0:12:19of good green structure for the wintertime,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22which is vital in a town garden, because you...
0:12:22 > 0:12:28Otherwise you're looking at a lot of brick, a lot of timber fencing and a lot of neighbours' buildings.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32You know, the scent and sensuality is very
0:12:32 > 0:12:35important in a city garden, so we've clad all the walls with Star jasmine.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37It's a wonderful evergreen climber.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40It keeps all its leaves down at the base of its legs.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46And especially in the evening, it releases its scent, which is when much of the time this garden is used.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51Gardens are very healing spaces, and very much so in the city as well, and I think people...
0:12:51 > 0:12:55People forget that initially, but realise it as they use the garden more and more.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57That it is a de-stress zone.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02The outdoor dining room remains our most popular garden room,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06but it can be more than a nice place to put the table,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08the chairs and the barbie.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19I've a novel way to make your garden furniture feel part of its surroundings.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29The rain's good for the garden.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32But it's also good to have somewhere to shelter.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37So what I want to do is to bring alfresco dining and gardening
0:13:37 > 0:13:41absolutely close together, with this cheap table,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and this pot here,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50two pots here. I've drilled holes in the bottom, because compost is going to go into these.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55I've marked with a pencil where the cuts need to be made.
0:13:55 > 0:14:02And these then will sit inside. The cut needs to be just inside that rim so that the lip sits over the edge.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Then I need to drill the corners.
0:14:17 > 0:14:24With the holes made, I can now use a jigsaw to take out evenly that rectangle.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33There it goes.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41I'll need to sand round that, just to make sure it's smooth.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43And then to paint. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47Phew!
0:14:48 > 0:14:53You can paint your table any colour you want.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57And then, with your trays neatly planted,
0:14:57 > 0:15:03here a nasturtium for a bit of brilliance, Golden-leaf marjoram.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05That then just drops in there.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09This one, Variegated nasturtium, a bit of lavender for fragrance.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12It'll outgrow it, but it'll stay in there for a while. Another bit of marjoram.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16So you can pick your herbs and pop them in your supper.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20And in the middle, well, a mixed bowl of basil, if you like.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22That will sit in there quite beautifully.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27Or I can offer you, to go with your gin and tonic, a drum which has been
0:15:27 > 0:15:32perforated in the bottom for drainage, with either a lemon tree in it, or in this case a cumquat.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35That'll sit there and you can slice them as you need them.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Lovely!
0:15:50 > 0:15:52The first thing that
0:15:52 > 0:15:55strikes you at Sissinghurst is the sheer range of colour.
0:15:58 > 0:16:04Vibrant reds, rich purples and cooler shades effortlessly put together.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21Many of us like to be adventurous with our gardens, when it comes to colour.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26This desire to experiment and take risks began with pioneers like Vita.
0:16:26 > 0:16:33Always one for flouting convention, at Sissinghurst she ripped up the rule book on colour.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39The Edwardians before her championed the use of subtle pastel shades.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Nothing clashed as they strived for harmonious colour combinations.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50Purple was deemed difficult, and white flowers were to be used sparingly.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56It was their reaction to the garish blocks of colour so beloved of the Victorians.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Vita embraced all colours.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Her palette was sophisticated and cutting edge.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07You know, there's nothing more contentious than colour in a garden.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10I have friends who won't have yellow or orange flowers.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13I think it's a kind of rebellion against that '60s mood, when it
0:17:13 > 0:17:18was blue and white alyssum, orange French marigolds, scarlet salvias.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23And so we all became very pastel-orientated in the '70s and '80s and '90s.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27But now it seems to me there's a movement back towards those strident colours.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32It's been picked up from the fashion catwalks of Paris and making its way into our gardens.
0:17:32 > 0:17:39But Vita was one of the very first to break the mould of being careful with colour.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46One of Vita's ideas was to create a single colour border.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Potentially dull and uninspiring, but her technique
0:17:49 > 0:17:54was to combine a host of shades that would create a single hue.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08Here in the purple border, we've knocked in a stake which is
0:18:08 > 0:18:13coloured at the top with the shade of flower which sits underneath it.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23Vita was very clever. She's taken the spectrum all the way through
0:18:23 > 0:18:29from the bluest shades of purple and lilac, to the pale pinks.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35To lilac here. Here's a slightly darker one.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38This one is almost verging on the red.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43And instead of it being a flat one-dimensional border, just look at all
0:18:43 > 0:18:48those colours which combine to make it wonderfully three-dimensional.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54Not only did it look good, but the choice of plants meant it had year-round interest as well.
0:18:59 > 0:19:05But Vita's most dramatic use of single colour can be found in the legendary white garden.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15At the time, the white garden was completely radical.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19White was a colour more commonly associated with stark concrete
0:19:19 > 0:19:22modernist architecture, not a traditional garden.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27White flowers and silvery foliage had rarely been used on their own.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33The white garden was actually a bit of a publicity stunt.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36It was created in 1951 for the Festival of Britain,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40and Vita and Harold hoped that swarms of foreign visitors
0:19:40 > 0:19:46would come to Sissinghurst and pay to see it.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49The white garden was to become one of the most celebrated
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and influential gardens of the 20th century,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56copied thousands of times all over the world.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Of course, you could say, well, I mean, anybody could create a white garden.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09Just get a bit of ground and fill it with white flowers.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11But it's not as simple as that.
0:20:11 > 0:20:17Fill a bed or a border with white flowers, it can be very dull, very mono-chromatic.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20You need to be a bit more cunning.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24What sets this white garden apart from the common herd
0:20:24 > 0:20:28is three things - structure, form and texture.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32The structure is provided by this path network,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35and the strictly-clipped box hedges which give wonderful shadow.
0:20:35 > 0:20:41The form is the shape of these plants in drifts and their heights.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44And the texture by the foliage.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Some of it soft and fluffy.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48some of it big and bold.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52This is plantsmanship at its most masterful.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02After the white garden had been created,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07Vita wrote about her ideas on planting for a radio broadcast in 1954.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14"I believe in exaggeration in gardening.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17"I believe in big groups, big masses.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21"I believe that it's far more effective to concentrate
0:21:21 > 0:21:28delphiniums into one big bed than to dot them about at intervals in twos and threes."
0:21:35 > 0:21:40What isn't generally known is that this garden was designed
0:21:40 > 0:21:42to be just as dramatic at night time.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50As daylight fades into moonlight,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54this garden takes on a natural luminous quality.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Vita and Harold would dine here in the evening,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02so they wanted to enjoy their garden under the stars.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09The arbour of rosa mulliganii glows under the moonlight,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13and the silver grey foliage all around seems to sparkle.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18The garden's illuminated without the need for artificial light.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Today, the tradition of experimenting with colour
0:22:26 > 0:22:31continues at Sissinghurst, thanks to head gardener Alexis Datta.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Alexis, it'd be wrong to assume that all the plant
0:22:34 > 0:22:37combinations here and the colour combinations are from Vita's day.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41You're obviously constantly moving forward the whole time.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44all the time. We look at different plants, pick out new plants.
0:22:44 > 0:22:50We get new plants, a lot. We'll grow seeds that we find or out of catalogues we'll pick
0:22:50 > 0:22:55out what we like the sound of, grow them on in the nursery here and then see if we like them for the garden.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58And if we don't like them, well, we reject them.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00It's a great treat being allowed behind the scenes
0:23:00 > 0:23:04to see what you're experimenting with. What have you got here?
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Well, I've got this quite nice lily.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08I've been waiting for it to flower.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11- And, er... - Astonishingly strident orange.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Orange with little spots.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15So it'll probably go out.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20She'd just take it out to the garden and wander about and decide where it's going to go.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24And that is another... as you mentioned, that's the way that Vita always used to do it.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26In that way, the tradition continues.
0:23:26 > 0:23:33Yeah. We try and keep it in the spirit of how Vita had it.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35I know the garden really, really well.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38So I feel like I know what fits in and what doesn't.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44Sissinghurst isn't the only garden in the 20th century to have pushed the boundaries with colour.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49Not far away, at Great Dixter, the late, great plantsman
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Christopher Lloyd was also rewriting the rules on colour.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56To Christo, nothing was taboo.
0:23:56 > 0:24:03His garden is a dramatic reaction to what he considered to be the stuffy world of horticulture.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Head gardener Fergus Garrett is carrying on his ideas.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14People should be absolutely free in... in what they do in a garden.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19There are ecological rules you follow to put the right plant in the right place.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22But other than that, it doesn't matter whether you put a...
0:24:22 > 0:24:24a pink flower next to a yellow flower.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27People say, "Well, it's not natural."
0:24:27 > 0:24:31When you see pink campion and yellow buttercups, is that not natural?
0:24:37 > 0:24:39It's about trying new things, because we're...
0:24:39 > 0:24:41painting with flowers.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44It gives you a great sense of adventure.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48We don't plan the borders on paper at all.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50We shoot from the hip.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Always we're thinking about that contrasting element.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58So that your eye is made to work, so that the garden excites you.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Christopher was known as the King of Clash, if you like, or...
0:25:07 > 0:25:12or the Bad Taste Gardener. The more people sneered at him, the more he sneered back.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17And now, here we are, where everybody likes bright colours,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19and that's become the fashion.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26The whole point about a zinnia is that it should be colourful.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31So we want something, a plant that really turns up the voltage on... on the colour wheel.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38And so we tend to err on the side of...
0:25:38 > 0:25:45of the really vibrant colours, the bright reds, the bright oranges that almost make your eyes hurt.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51These are Mexican and they're full of character, aren't they?
0:25:51 > 0:25:54They've got a touch of the sombreros about them.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01And even though we're going to use these in the borders,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I quite like a field of them. You can lose yourself in...
0:26:04 > 0:26:06in all this colour.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Freedom, that's the name of the game here.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19And I know there's such a thing as a colour wheel and...
0:26:19 > 0:26:23it actually gives you a great sense of freedom when you don't understand
0:26:23 > 0:26:26the colour wheel, because you can just go and please...
0:26:26 > 0:26:27please yourself.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Combining colours in your garden can be a liberating experience.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38But not all of us have the confidence to just go for it.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44So for those of you of a more nervous disposition,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46here are a few simple rules.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52Colour scheming your entire garden might be a bit excessive, but it's quite fun to do the odd border.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55I want to make a Delft border.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59You know, blue and white china, using grasses and border perennials.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Should be quite fun.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06A blue and white colour scheme is a good starter kit for a border.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11And the idea is to keep as much colour and interest as possible throughout the year.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18These Echinaceas will be shown off well by those grasses that are at the back of the border.
0:27:18 > 0:27:24And they're a lovely daisy that goes on flowering from midsummer right the way through to the end.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Achillea, the pearl.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Lovely white fluffy flowers.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32They can go at the back.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36This is another long flowering hardy perennial that's drought tolerant.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40In front of them is some Perovskia,
0:27:40 > 0:27:46lovely aromatic grey-leafed plant with these purple spires of flower.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Those flowers provide later summer colour,
0:27:49 > 0:27:54and in winter, you're left with attractive groups of white stems.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58I love this bit, where you're just sort of working out what goes where.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02And there's absolutely no need to rush.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09A bit of grass, I think, now. We'll have this variegated one here.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13These grasses are an elegant perennial backbone to a border,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17and their delicate seed heads bring interest in the winter months.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22This variegated Miscanthus Sinensis will reach over two metres.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27These fescue grasses are great for the front of a border.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Little blue shaving brushes that look good for most of the year.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Like a lot of the plants in here, they don't need heavily manured soil.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Just decent earth in reasonable sun will do them.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47The great thing about grasses is they make good glue.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52They join together bulkier plants with a sort of fine airiness.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54It seems to work for me.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57This is a lovely geranium called Roseanne.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00It may look as if it's flopped, but this is its habit.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02It sort of runs along the ground.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12Over the coming seasons, these perennials and grasses will
0:29:12 > 0:29:17bulk up, forming clumps and drifts of year round texture and colour.
0:29:26 > 0:29:33It wasn't just through visiting Sissinghurst that Vita accrued her vast army of disciples.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38Many of them read her weekly column in the Observer, from 1947 almost to her death.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42Here's one written in June 1955.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47"Not nearly enough use is made of that airy flower the columbine.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52"I confess that I never have the heart to tear it out from wherever it's chosen to sow itself."
0:29:52 > 0:29:54Wonderful stuff.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58This is her inner sanctum in this place of seclusion,
0:29:58 > 0:30:03and around all kinds of things, from the books she wrote her columns in,
0:30:03 > 0:30:08to a little notebook here with notes for Pam and Sybil, her head gardeners.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13"Don't cut witch hazel." Catalogues galore, packets of seeds,
0:30:13 > 0:30:19a picture of the donkey, Abdul, who used to pull the mower to cut the grass.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23And a photograph of Harold, taken just a year before Vita died.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26That was in 1961.
0:30:26 > 0:30:32As everywhere here at Sissinghurst, this is a room rich in atmosphere.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48Sissinghurst is often described as a romantic garden.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52The key to this is another of Vita's design tricks.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56The use of naturalistic planting.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09Vita's planting was inspired by nature.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13She used choice garden plants in an informal way,
0:31:13 > 0:31:16allowing them to interact with each other.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Plants spill over paths.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23Annuals, perennials and shrubs grow side by side.
0:31:23 > 0:31:29The upright spires of acanthus tower over sweet peas and roses.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33It's a rich tapestry of texture that overloads the senses.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40Vita shared her ideas in a series of BBC radio broadcasts.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43This one is from 1938.
0:31:43 > 0:31:50I can't hope to convey to you how happy a combination has been achieved in this very satisfactory garden.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54You have both formality and semi-wildness.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58It was so imaginative, so romantic, it wasn't too grand.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00It wasn't oppressive.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04It was a place in which one could have made one's home.
0:32:04 > 0:32:05And then I went on...
0:32:10 > 0:32:15This is, I suppose, one of the most romantic gardens in the country.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19So what makes, do you think, a romantic garden?
0:32:19 > 0:32:23Well, it's got to be the plants you use, the colours that are used,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26and I think the very fullness of the garden, the fact you get
0:32:26 > 0:32:31these little delicate things next to something rather big and strident.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35Probably one of the other wonders of it, which you can't get at home,
0:32:35 > 0:32:36- is the scent.- Yeah, it's...
0:32:36 > 0:32:40now, the thing about all these wonderful walls at Sissinghurst
0:32:40 > 0:32:43is they hold onto the scent, even on a breezy day like today.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46You feel as if you're almost drowning in it.
0:32:46 > 0:32:52Yeah, and I think also, you say about a breezy day, the way the plants move around slightly in the breeze is...
0:32:52 > 0:32:54adds to the romance somehow, doesn't it?
0:32:54 > 0:32:59It is, it's all incredibly full, incredibly generous.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01It's just glorious.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06It's the feeling of romance and the abundant unstructured style
0:33:06 > 0:33:13of Vita's planting that cemented our love of what we call the natural style.
0:33:14 > 0:33:21Naturalistic planting is still a key part of garden design today.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23In Devon, at his Wildside home,
0:33:23 > 0:33:28the great plantsman Keith Wiley has taken it to a new level.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32I've always been interested in natural landscapes, and I...
0:33:32 > 0:33:39I think I try to capture some of that excitement that you see when you look at natural landscapes.
0:33:39 > 0:33:45What I actually do is I look at a natural landscape and say how can I interpret it and
0:33:45 > 0:33:47actually create a garden from it?
0:33:47 > 0:33:51And I don't actually know anybody else who's quite doing it that way.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54It's a completely different way of looking at gardening.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10This style of gardening was sort of dubbed 'new naturalism'.
0:34:10 > 0:34:16It's more about shaping the land itself. To me, it's a piece of giant sculpture.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20The whole garden is one giant sculpture
0:34:20 > 0:34:25on which I can create different planting associations.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33We started with a field like this one.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Exactly the same shape, size and slope as this.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39And we had a wide collection of plants
0:34:39 > 0:34:43that require an incredibly different range of conditions to grow them in.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46So we weren't going to be able to do it on this.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50So we stripped the soil off the whole site, then shaped
0:34:50 > 0:34:54the ground underneath it and brought the soil back in varying amounts,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56from two inches to two metres.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58Initially we needed to...
0:34:58 > 0:35:00to get a digger in, obviously, to do all this work.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03It's a lot to do by wheelbarrow, believe me.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05And actually we've moved 50,000 tons of soil
0:35:05 > 0:35:07in the process of doing all this.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13It's taken six years of on and off digging to
0:35:13 > 0:35:17actually create a landscape as sort of complicated as this one.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24Gardening, for me, is about trying to capture some of that
0:35:24 > 0:35:26pit of your stomach excitement that you get
0:35:26 > 0:35:29when you look at a really good natural landscape.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33It's about the emotional response that you can have to plants and they,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36I mean, by throwing the plants up
0:35:36 > 0:35:39on the banks like this, you know, right up by your eye level
0:35:39 > 0:35:42and just look them. Absolutely gorgeous
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and the smell is just overwhelming.
0:35:49 > 0:35:50And you see plants in the
0:35:50 > 0:35:52wild and they're...
0:35:52 > 0:35:57they're just part of a community, and there's no prima donnas.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01And I think it's that sort of feeling that I like to create.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10Things like a foxglove, for example, with its enormous leaves.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13Really they don't want to be part of a community.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17They want to take over the world all by themselves.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21And so they're not good community spirited. They're...
0:36:21 > 0:36:23they're football hooligans really.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26And they're lovely, but they don't mix very well.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30I like to have plants that mix really well.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41You know that wonderful feeling you used to get when we were kids
0:36:41 > 0:36:44and you'd just walk into a field of oxeye daisies
0:36:44 > 0:36:45and they'd be up by your face.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48And yet you go back to the same field when you're adult
0:36:48 > 0:36:52and they're down by your knees and the effect's never the same.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56So what I try and do is actually recreate the same effect by putting flowers up higher.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58And they're not moon daisies, these.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02These are actually Anthemis, but they create the same effect.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04This wonderful dreamy memory.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19I don't water anything, except the newly planted things.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23I don't spray anything. it's fairly organic
0:37:23 > 0:37:27and certainly if you've got a healthy wildlife garden, the...
0:37:27 > 0:37:32the birds themselves will keep lots of the pests down.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34It's a very relaxed way of gardening.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38If you didn't actually bite off quite as much as we have really.
0:37:40 > 0:37:46So where do you start if you want a natural looking area in your garden?
0:37:46 > 0:37:50How about creating your own little wildflower meadow?
0:37:59 > 0:38:04You may not want to give over your entire garden to wild flowers,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08but most of us can fit in a corner where we can attract butterflies,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11bees, insects and all kinds of wildlife.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16But don't make the mistake of thinking you can take an ordinary lawn, let it grow a bit,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19sprinkle wild flower seeds among it and turn it
0:38:19 > 0:38:22into a beautiful natural looking meadow. You can't.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26The grass'll be too strong, it'll kill out those wild flowers,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28and the result will be failure.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32No, no, no. There are one or two rules that you need to follow.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35For a start, you need to work out
0:38:35 > 0:38:38what kind of wild flower meadow you want.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42If you want it full of annual cornfield weeds like yellow
0:38:42 > 0:38:45corn marigold, blue cornflowers, scarlet field poppies, remember
0:38:45 > 0:38:52the soil will have to be disturbed again every autumn so that the new generation of seeds can germinate.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56But if you'd rather have a meadow that you didn't have to do anything
0:38:56 > 0:38:59except cut every year, then you sow a different mixture.
0:38:59 > 0:39:04The technique of sowing is exactly the same for both.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08If you strip the turf off in spring or early summer,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11you'll notice a rash of weed seedlings coming.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14You don't necessarily want these.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18So hoe them off, just to make sure that they perish in the sun.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21With the plants that you don't want killed off,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24you can set about sowing the seeds of the plants that you do want.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27The best time, late summer, early autumn.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31That way they go through a winter of continuous freezing and thawing,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34which stimulates those seeds into growth.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38Here I'm sowing a perennial wild flower meadow.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Quite a lot of grasses in this mixture, but also moon daisies,
0:39:42 > 0:39:49knapweed, scabious, all kinds of vetches that butterflies and bees will love.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Sprinkle the seed quite thinly.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56How much? Well, a tiny clenched fistful to a square metre.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59As though you were putting salt on your fish and chips.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02And sprinkle it over the surface of the soil.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05There's absolutely no need to rake it in.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07Nature doesn't use a rake.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11The wind and the rain will take that down and in.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16It will come up and germinate the spring after you sow it,
0:40:16 > 0:40:23and as the years go by it will get better and better, with the flora appearing to change year on year.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28To make sure the grasses never get a real foothold in there and overpower the wild flowers,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31make sure there's some yellow rattle in your mixture.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36This is a semi-parasite that keeps the grass in check, weakening it a bit,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39and letting all those wonderful wild flowers come up through it.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47If, as the years go by there are certain wild flowers that you're not getting much of in your meadow
0:40:47 > 0:40:53and you want to include them and enrich their numbers, then you can buy plug plants in trays like this.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Each row a different seedling.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00And they come in these little plugs with well-established roots here.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03These'll be, I should think, about six months old.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08And you can get your trowel out, make divots in your meadow and pop those in.
0:41:08 > 0:41:14But if all this seems like too much hard work and you just want an instant wild flower meadow
0:41:14 > 0:41:18that you can unroll like a carpet, then you can buy just that.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20This is one such.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22About £20 a square metre.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26It comes like this. You can see the root system on this mat.
0:41:26 > 0:41:32You lay it down on your raked and levelled soil, pat it in, water it, instant meadow.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38I think I'd rather be patient and get myself a packet of seeds.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04The reason why there are so many ideas that work in the garden at Sissinghurst,
0:42:04 > 0:42:10is because it reflects the meeting of two minds.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15Vita and Harold had a strong influence on each other's designs.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Here at Sissinghurst, you can feel those two gardeners working together.
0:42:22 > 0:42:29For them, gardening wasn't about wealth and power, it was about romance, emotion, intimacy.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33Vita's passion and creativity
0:42:33 > 0:42:39worked hand in hand with Harold's knowledge of structure and design.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Adam, this must be one of the most dissected and closely examined
0:42:46 > 0:42:48husband and wife relationships in history.
0:42:48 > 0:42:53If we just boiled it down to the garden there is this idea that he did the layout
0:42:53 > 0:42:56and she did the planting. Was it as simple as that?
0:42:56 > 0:42:58No, definitely not.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03That everyone thinks that Harold had this lovely clear, classical view
0:43:03 > 0:43:10of how this space should be, and that she somehow then poured rich, romantic profusion into it.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12In fact, if you look at their letters...
0:43:12 > 0:43:15and they were always writing to each other,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17he wants to make it much grander than she does.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22So in the rondel, this famous clear space in the rose garden there,
0:43:22 > 0:43:27he wanted a giant Versailles-style fountain.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30And then in the upper courtyard on the other side here,
0:43:30 > 0:43:35he wanted along the wall, the top of that very nice plain, dignified wall,
0:43:35 > 0:43:40a whole row of statues and busts of him and his friends.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43- A kind of temple of worthies.- This is a temple of worthies at Stowe.
0:43:45 > 0:43:51Everyone comes and... and people think of it as somehow a monument to the last of fine Englishness.
0:43:51 > 0:43:58What they don't know is that when the lime walk, the spring garden was laid out, by Harold,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01and this was another of Harold's great schemes,
0:44:01 > 0:44:05which is now paved in beautiful National Trust York stone.
0:44:05 > 0:44:13Harold paved it in a lovely mixture of red, yellow and green concrete slabs.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18- As was then copied in most gardens in the 1950s and '60s.- Exactly.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20Thank god, the colour's faded.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24You can still see some of the concrete slabs there, but the colour has drained away.
0:44:26 > 0:44:34It was the very tension between the two of them that created this garden which is so full of energy.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38And if you think about it, it's probably just the same in your household.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42He does the hedges and the lawns and the lines.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46She does the overflowing flower beds and the colour scheme.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50There may be moments when there's a bit of a domestic, but between them
0:44:50 > 0:44:52they create something bigger then both of them.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56# I'll find a romance
0:44:57 > 0:45:00# With no kisses
0:45:00 > 0:45:04# I'll find romance
0:45:04 > 0:45:07# My friend, this is...#
0:45:07 > 0:45:11The point is, this garden reflects a passionate exchanging of ideas,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15many of which can be applied to our own gardens.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23There's something strange going on in your rose beds here.
0:45:23 > 0:45:24This is Ulrich Brunner, but he...
0:45:24 > 0:45:27he's bent double. What's happening here?
0:45:27 > 0:45:32Well, this is the traditional way of training roses that you don't see very often any more, and we...
0:45:32 > 0:45:37what we do is we put these, what we call benders of hazel, so those
0:45:37 > 0:45:44arched pieces of wood are poked into the ground and then you tie the rose to it.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48And then as you get higher you tie the rose to itself as well.
0:45:48 > 0:45:53And that gives you that look, but it also puts the plant under pressure,
0:45:53 > 0:45:57puts the actual stem of the rose under pressure, which makes it flower more.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00So it flowers right along that stem rather?
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Exactly, yeah. And so you're not kind of floating around up there,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06you've got it at eye and nose level. And it's quite nice.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09It's extraordinarily nice and very effective.
0:46:14 > 0:46:19You know the problem. You've got an old fruit tree in your garden, an apple, a pear or a cherry.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23It gives you lovely stature but it's on its last legs.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26It's dying out. If you chop it down there'll be nothing there.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28Don't worry. Do what Vita did.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30Plant a rambling rose at the foot of it,
0:46:30 > 0:46:36and over the next two or three years it'll shoot its stems up through the branches of its host
0:46:36 > 0:46:38and give you a whole new view.
0:46:41 > 0:46:48Tucked away on the south side of Sissinghurst is a part of the garden quite different to the others.
0:46:48 > 0:46:49The nuttery.
0:46:51 > 0:46:58This semi-wild woodland garden became symbolic of a new type of gardening.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13In the 1930s, this neglected woodland area was the catalyst
0:47:13 > 0:47:16in Vita and Harold's decision to buy Sissinghurst.
0:47:16 > 0:47:23It was an overgrown plantation of hazelnut trees, but offered enchanting possibilities.
0:47:23 > 0:47:30Not only did they restore its natural beauty, but they enhanced it by adding other woodland plants,
0:47:30 > 0:47:36like foxgloves, ferns, orchids and primroses that carpeted the ground.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40It required a different mindset to the rest of the garden,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44to plant and grow as if nature had created it herself.
0:47:44 > 0:47:50But maintaining it is a huge challenge, as head gardener Alexis Datta explains.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53There's quite an art in making something look completely natural.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56And yet it's... it's totally managed.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59So clearly you're quite careful about what goes where.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03Oh, we are. And the plants most of these plants aren't.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06So they either seed themselves of run.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10- And so we're forever sort of moving, taking things back.- Adjusting.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Lovely stand of orchids, though.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14- Great.- Yeah, they... yeah, they are fantastic, aren't they?
0:48:14 > 0:48:17They are planted, those aren't completely natural either.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19But again, if they seed we'll let them go.
0:48:19 > 0:48:25But you have to be able to recognise the little seedlings and the mask and lily seedlings in everything else.
0:48:25 > 0:48:26Plantsmanship!
0:48:30 > 0:48:34Vita and Harold weren't concerned with ecology or biodiversity.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37They weren't wild gardeners.
0:48:37 > 0:48:44But I believe that in creating the nuttery, they taught us a different gardening aesthetic.
0:48:44 > 0:48:4880 years since its creation, wild gardening has changed.
0:48:48 > 0:48:54Today, we expect our gardens to look good and be ecologically sound.
0:48:59 > 0:49:06In Hampshire is a third of an acre garden based on permaculture principles, where its natural beauty
0:49:06 > 0:49:10comes from the gardening practise of its creators Tim and Maddy Harland.
0:49:12 > 0:49:18Permaculture is a totally sustainable form of organic gardening, taking inspiration
0:49:18 > 0:49:23from natural growing environments like woodlands and wild meadows.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29The garden provides itself with everything it needs to flourish.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35You don't have to be an expert or have a PhD to do permaculture.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Its utterly intuitive.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42Most things produced within the garden are edible.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45Flowers are grown for the benefit of insects,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49and rain water is used to create a totally self-sustaining ecosystem.
0:49:49 > 0:49:56When we first started this garden, almost 20 years ago, at that time wildlife gardening
0:49:56 > 0:50:00was beginning to sort of make an appearance on the scene.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02But it wasn't the usual.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08And we were regarded as somewhat eccentric in what we were doing.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13We now have a garden with wild-flower meadows,
0:50:13 > 0:50:15very diverse hedgerows,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19over 60 fruit and nut trees.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23Herb gardens, all kinds of things.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28When I was younger, when I used to go round people's houses and they'd just have
0:50:28 > 0:50:32really plain, flat, open lawns, and you'd think, "Yeah, you can
0:50:32 > 0:50:35"run around on those, but where's the adventure?"
0:50:35 > 0:50:36There's no place to go hiding,
0:50:36 > 0:50:40there's no long grass to go be a tiger in. There's nothing like that.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45So this place in itself was just a wonderland.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57This garden, to some people, looks very random and very wild.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00But it is actually a design.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02And it's very deliberate.
0:51:02 > 0:51:03Just outside the back door
0:51:03 > 0:51:06are the vegetables that need regular harvesting,
0:51:06 > 0:51:08like salads and herbs.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12Further away is the veg plot proper.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22Beyond that is the forest garden, a small edible woodland.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28We use the principles and structure of a natural woodland.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32In a natural woodland you'd have beech, an oak, as the top storey.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37So here we have a top storey of apples and pears,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40mulberry, cherries.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44Below that we have gooseberries and currants.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Underneath that we have a ground cover of things like mints.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51So exactly the same as a native woodland,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54except in this case we're replacing them all with edibles.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06Beyond the forest garden or orchard,
0:52:06 > 0:52:12we do have enough room for our wilderness.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15A place that is secret.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18A place that I don't actually know what is going on.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21To me, that is invaluable.
0:52:25 > 0:52:31In a way, this kind of gardening is very empowering, because it makes you feel...feel
0:52:31 > 0:52:37that you are making a difference, a personal contribution to wildlife.
0:52:45 > 0:52:51You don't have to turn over your entire plot to enjoy the benefits of wild gardening.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54You can start on a smaller scale.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58Here's my scheme for a manageable forest garden.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07Funny, isn't it, how we all get it into our heads
0:53:07 > 0:53:09that veg belong on the veg plot,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12fruit belongs in the fruit cage, flowers in the borders
0:53:12 > 0:53:13and shrubs in the shrubbery?
0:53:13 > 0:53:16It's quite fun to have a corner of your garden
0:53:16 > 0:53:18which has this kind of forest feel to it,
0:53:18 > 0:53:21where every different kind of plant is mixed together,
0:53:21 > 0:53:27all of them are either edible or providing something for one of the other plants to help them grow.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31So I'm taking this little corner of garden here
0:53:31 > 0:53:37and trying to do something similar which, over the months and years ahead, will help each other grow,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40and help you thrive by giving you something to eat.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45These shrubby things here are hazels.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49We used to call them cobnuts and filberts.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Lovely old English names.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55They're great for autumn, if you can get to them before the squirrels.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59This is a lovely golden hop,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03which will scramble over this bit of trellis here.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05You can see I'm starting to build up layers here.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07This hazel is quite tall, it's a...
0:54:07 > 0:54:13it's a forest tree, you know, 15-20 feet high, but you can keep cutting it down and stooling it.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16using the stakes within the garden as beanpoles.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21I've got two hazels, wind pollinated. That'll make sure you get a good crop of nuts.
0:54:21 > 0:54:22So that's fairly high.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25The middle storey here, we'll use currant bushes,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28a blackcurrant and a whitecurrant on this side.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30They'll be about waist-to-chest height.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35And on the other side, we'll have an autumn-fruiting raspberry.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38This'll keep coming up, offering you fruit even in its first year.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41It's always nice to plant autumn-fruiting raspberries.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43You get a crop the year you plant them.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45This is a variety called Autumn Bliss.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50And then we can start looking at this lower layer, fitting in a bit of colour.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52Flowers can start appearing now.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55Hemerocallis here, the daylily.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58With these flowers which individually only last a day,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02but it keeps producing them week after week after week, and they are,
0:55:02 > 0:55:04believe it or not...
0:55:04 > 0:55:06edible.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Not exactly like a Mars bar,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12but a pretty colourful decoration for your salad.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17Now, it may look like a bit of a jumble, and that's because it is.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19It's meant to look wild and woolly,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21but give your plants room to grow.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24And you'll notice that, because it's all mixed,
0:55:24 > 0:55:30there's no concentration of any one crop in any one area.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34And that's a practical way of helping to avoid pests and diseases.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38If you've got a great bed of carrots that fills this entire area,
0:55:38 > 0:55:40carrot fly just hone in on it.
0:55:40 > 0:55:45If, on the other hand, you mix up everything, there's no concentration which attracts them.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Popping in plants like mint and lemon balm...
0:55:48 > 0:55:52It adds another dimension to your garden, with fragrance,
0:55:52 > 0:55:54but also it masks the scent of other crops
0:55:54 > 0:55:57which are prone to pest and disease attack.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03Now you're probably looking at this now and thinking,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06"Cor, that must have cost a fortune, all those plants there."
0:56:06 > 0:56:08How much do you think?
0:56:08 > 0:56:09This whole little lot here.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13Total bill at the garden centre of £92.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15So for 92 quid in this scenario,
0:56:15 > 0:56:20you're getting a little garden which will mature to be there each year,
0:56:20 > 0:56:22every year you'll be getting nuts, currants,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25all kinds of different things that just keep coming.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28Smelly herbs, little fruits stands, for under £100.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30There's no reason why, in the tiniest corner,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34you shouldn't do it with one nut tree, one currant bush and a few strawberries.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52We owe a huge debt to Sissinghurst.
0:56:52 > 0:56:58It taught us to invest in our gardens emotionally as well as practically.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04Whether it's using our gardens as living spaces,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07being bold and brave with colour,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10embracing naturalistic planting,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13or creating a natural woodland space
0:57:13 > 0:57:15that can be functional and beautiful,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Sissinghurst, perhaps more than any other,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21teaches us to love our gardens.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31All the places I've visited in this series
0:57:31 > 0:57:35show how four centuries of taste and design,
0:57:35 > 0:57:40combined with social change, have shaped the British back garden.
0:57:43 > 0:57:50The people behind these gardens can never have imagined the enduring impact their ideas would have.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52But because gardening never stands still,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56I like to think they'd approve of how we've taken their ideas
0:57:56 > 0:58:01and made them a vital part of 21st-century gardening.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:21 > 0:58:24E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk