Episode 11 Gardeners' World


Episode 11

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RADIO PLAYS "Tweedlee Dee" by LaVern Baker

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Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World, and June has come to Longmeadow

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and it's very welcome, even though it's a traditional English June -

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a bit wet, a bit blowy, a bit chilly,

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but the garden is loving it because everything is growing lushly.

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This week I'm planting out tender annuals into the Jewel Garden,

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as well as giving my elderly citrus plants

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a thorough and long-overdue service.

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Carol is helping a Wiltshire beekeeper

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who wants ideas for shade-loving flowers

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that will bring colour as well as nectar to her garden.

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And Rachel is going to Wisley...

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Look how beautiful they are! It's almost... Oh, you feel mean.

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..to find out how your garden

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can benefit from the miraculous Chelsea chop.

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There's no doubt about it that there's a different kind of energy in the garden now.

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In spring, everything is becoming - there is that electric thrill

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that seems to run from plants into one's skin.

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But now we go into summer, it's a bigger pulse,

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and that promises much more richness.

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Some plants, of course, span the gap

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between spring and summer. The Geum 'Mrs Bradshaw'

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has been flowering for weeks,

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and next to it, the Anchusa 'Loddon Royalist',

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both with fabulous colour, but both have

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the freshness of spring and the richness of summer. But in general,

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everything is going stronger and deeper

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and growing more powerfully.

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BEE BUZZES

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But sometimes that exuberance of growth gets carried away with itself

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and plants start to flop. You can see a really good example here.

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This is the poppy 'Patty's Plum'.

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This one's going over, this is just about at its best,

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but it flopped before I had a chance to support it

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and although I've rescued it and put it upright,

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it doesn't look great. It looks like

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a drunk leaning on a lamppost.

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Not only does it not look very good, it also does damage to neighbouring plants,

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so the idea is to support them BEFORE they need it,

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before they fall over.

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And the main weapon in my armoury of supporting plants is cold steel.

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Now the reason I go for cold steel to support my plants

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is because it works so beautifully.

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If you buy yourself

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a length of mild steel bars - this is 6mm thickness -

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you can make really nice supports.

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They're cheap, they're easy to make,

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and certainly much cheaper than anything you can buy.

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This cost us, well, round about £2

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and that is about half of what it would cost you anywhere.

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Go to a steel stockholder, steel merchant.

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You can look them up on the Yellow Pages or the Internet, there are lots of them.

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Get them cut to length - this is a 2.5 metre length - and bend them round anything you like.

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I've used this to bend them round, you can use a tree trunk.

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In fact...

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this bin is quite good cos all you have to do is just roughly get them

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in the middle like that,

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and just bend it round following the contours,

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take it round like that and there's your hoop, perfectly formed.

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That's stage one.

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Stage two, you need a couple of boards.

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Lay your hoop

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on the ground like that.

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Put this across, stand on it,

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bending it up a little,

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and just pull it back towards you.

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There we go.

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There we are.

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A perfect plant support.

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Took, what, 15 seconds to make?

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Now the key thing for any method of supporting

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is to do it before the plant needs it.

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This group of Heleniums

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is fine, perfectly upstanding,

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not battered at all.

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But there's a real chance as it grows,

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which it will do very fast now, that on a windyish day

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or in a storm, it'll get battered,

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so if I put this in like that

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and then put another one on this side...

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Not touching, not pinching it or corseting it in any way.

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There's the protection, it's in place.

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As it grows, if it leans outwards, it will be gently held up

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rather than squeezed in,

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and that's the way to stake plants.

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Well, that's how I use these steel hoops,

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but, of course, there are other ways of doing the job.

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The simplest and perhaps oldest-fashioned

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means of support is by using

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canes or sticks and string,

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particularly suitable for individual stems

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like delphiniums or sunflowers. The thing to watch

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is not to make it so tight that the plants are squeezed,

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but not so loose that they're not supported.

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I keep all our prunings, specifically for supports.

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They can stand here, and what looks just like a pile of old wood

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actually makes really good material for getting under plants.

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That's hazel, pruned from the purple hazel in the Jewel Garden.

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This is actually field maple, which is also nice and twiggy.

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You can see that you can either use a big piece like that,

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or you can even cut it right down and use it much more delicately

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underneath smaller plants.

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If I cut that off and cut those off,

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you can just stick that in underneath a plant

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and it grows through it and that works as a support.

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Or even straight shoots like this.

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They're flexible, so I can bend that round

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and then that would go round a group of plants.

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I can weave that, bend this in so it goes into the ground

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and, hey presto, you've got another kind of support.

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Of course, it doesn't have to be flowers.

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It also works well with vegetables. Look at this.

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Nothing supports peas better than pea sticks, which is just brushwood,

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and these are all just prunings from the garden,

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recycled and they work perfectly.

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All this is about supporting plants now

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so they can grow as big as possible and still look good,

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but Rachel has been to RHS Wisley

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to see the technique with which they reduce the size of plants now

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so that they can look really good a little later on in the year.

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The herbaceous borders here at RHS Wisley are world-famous,

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with thousands of visitors coming here every year

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to get inspiration from the colour, the shape, the texture

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of these planting combinations.

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But to keep the borders looking this good,

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the gardeners here have a few nifty techniques up their sleeve,

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including a radical technique called the Chelsea chop.

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One man who's been using this crafty technique for years

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is the curator of the garden here at Wisley, Colin Crosbie.

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The Chelsea Flower Show nursery men and exhibitors

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grew a lot of plants and got them flowering at Chelsea Flower Show time.

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The plants they didn't use, they sent back to their nursery, pruned them back hard

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so they could sell them in September cos they'd delayed the flowering.

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We've adapted that to the garden environment.

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We realise if you prune plants at Chelsea Flower Show time

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you make them flower later, hence the name the Chelsea chop.

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A wide range of perennial plants respond to the Chelsea chop.

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We'll practise on Veronicastrums and also Sedums,

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but there are a whole host that really do respond.

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It seems almost sacrilegious because these lovely soft flowering spikes,

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they're really getting there now and you want us to cut them all off!

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You have to be brave. Cut it down by about 50%.

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The plant will respond and will flower six or seven weeks later.

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OK, I'm in your hands, so about 50%...

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50%, down by half, don't be scared.

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Right, I'll go for it.

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You're in control of the border and the flowering period and the height of the plants.

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If you look here, we've got this lovely Eupatorium.

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What we'll do is prune three, leave three,

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prune three, leave three,

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and that way we're adjusting the height

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so you can see right through to the back

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and it makes the border far more interesting.

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Actually, Colin, that doesn't look bad at all, does it?

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Let's go and do some more.

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These Sedums are ready to be done.

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Look how beautiful they are! It's almost... Oh, you feel mean.

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If we left them, they'd have big flowers in the late summer

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and they'd pull the plant apart. By pruning them hard now

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you've got a much shorter plant, lots of small flowers

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and it looks really, really tidy in the garden.

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So how far are we looking at going down here?

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We've got to cut them by about 50% again.

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OK, so the same thing again.

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These shoots are perfect. You can see where I've cut that one,

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I would trim it just underneath the leaves there,

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put it into a general potting compost.

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You've got a cutting, you've got a plant for free.

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-It's a win-win situation, isn't it?

-Certainly is.

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I know around Chelsea is obviously the optimal time to do this,

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but is there a point at which it becomes too late in the year?

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We wouldn't do it any later than mid-June.

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Cos you've got to leave enough time for the plant to regrow

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and enough energy to reflower.

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Generally, the Chelsea chop works well with any herbaceous plant

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that has leaves branching from their stems,

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such as Heleniums...

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Phlox...

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..Repertorium...

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..and Asters.

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So we're heading towards this clump of Pulmonaria on the corner.

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They've finished flowering those lovely bluish-purple flowers,

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they've gone over, and the foliage, that lovely mottling,

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that's also looking a bit sad, isn't it?

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It's looking tired, there's mildew on there, the foliage is brown,

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-we've got to be ruthless, dive in, cut it down to ground level.

-Right.

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That reinvigorates the plant.

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And it encourages it to send up fresh new foliage

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which is really clean, you see the markings on it.

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You'll continue to get flowers throughout the summer months.

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What about people who've got a very small garden and they feel

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they have to hang on to every bit of greenery that's there?

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I think it's more important in a small garden

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cos you want it to look good for as long as possible.

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Rather than having something that's tired and dead in the summer,

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you've got fresh foliage, which is clean, lovely markings on it,

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fresh flowers coming up - far more important to do in a small garden.

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So now, Colin, from now on, every year, I'll be thinking of you

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at about Chelsea time,

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and getting out in the garden and giving it a good chop.

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# Tweedlee tweedlee tweedle doe

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# I'm a lucky so-and-so

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# Hubba hubba honeydew

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# I'm gonna keep my eyes on you

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# Tweedlee tweedlee tweedlee doe... #

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At this time of year,

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I start to plant out the tender annuals

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that have been growing in the greenhouse

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for the last couple of months. They've been through stages

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of germination, pricking out,

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putting into the cold frames, hardening off.

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And now we've reached June, they're ready to come into the garden.

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I really like using annuals in a mixed border.

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They take on the baton from the early bulbs.

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These have been grown for a while, they're ready to go out.

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This is a Cosmos, it's called 'Dazzler'.

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You can see the plants have been growing in plugs...perfect.

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The roots are well-formed, but not pot-bound at all.

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I can put these out in groups.

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Pop them in.

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These won't flower for quite a few weeks,

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but the whole point about annuals is to bring on the succession,

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add variety to the border and spread the colour,

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spread the flow of plants.

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These are grown from seed. You can buy trays of annuals.

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But the beauty of growing plants from seed is you can grow so many.

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You can get real volume in here.

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We've got hundreds to put in

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for the same amount of money it would have cost to buy dozens

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as plants. And there's bound to be some left over.

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I intend to bring those along to

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the bring-and-buy stall at Gardeners' World Live,

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which is in two weeks' time.

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I will be bringing plants from the Jewel Garden

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and some vegetables.

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And if you bring any spare plants you've got,

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it really doesn't matter what kind.

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Donate them to the bring-and-buy stall

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and then you can buy other plants

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that you would like to have in your garden.

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All the proceeds for your purchase will go to Children In Need.

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'There are plenty of other tender annuals that can be planted out

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'now the weather is warmer.'

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Cerinthe 'Purpurascens' is elegantly beautiful.

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Its glaucous blue foliage and its rich mauvy-blue flowers

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last for ages. It will seed readily but not invasively.

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Tithonia, with its intense orange daisy flowers,

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is one of the key plants in our late summer border

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and will flower bravely on till the first frosts.

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I'll get those in.

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It all adds to the rich variety of the border.

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Of course, that border is not just plants. It's insects,

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it's butterflies, all attracted to the nectar and the pollen.

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And Carol has been to Wiltshire to see a beekeeper

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who contacted us with a garden dilemma.

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What are the best plants to put in your garden to attract bees?

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Bees have been around for millions of years,

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whereas human beings are fairly recently on the planet.

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But we rely on bees.

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Over a third of our food production depends upon them.

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But during the last few years,

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bee numbers have experienced a serious decline.

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And that's prompted a renaissance in the art of beekeeping.

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'One of our viewers, Jane Ranger,

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'who's recently started keeping bees,

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'has written in and asked me to come to her garden

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'to give her a few ideas for planting the perfect flowers

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'for her bees.

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'We had a chat on the phone,

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'and I brought along a selection from home

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'that should do the job.'

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What gorgeous chickens!

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And I love your garden, it's really laid-back.

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-Love the daisies.

-Thank you, Carol.

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We try and keep everything as natural and comfortable as possible.

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The main problem I've got is down here with the bees.

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I'm no good at bees!

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LAUGHING: No, it's the plants!

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It's the plants I need your help with

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because we've got this shady area down here

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where there's a nice lot of weeds coming through.

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But we'd like your thoughts about what plants we could put there.

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-It is a real corner, isn't it?

-It does, it goes to a point.

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All this deciduous shade. But you've got lots of things around here.

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You don't think of brambles being blossom bushes,

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-but they are, really.

-Yeah.

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They flower over a long time, hugely attractive.

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-I think we ought to keep those.

-Really?

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Your cow parsley's wonderful.

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And your poppies, full...

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-Lots of poppies.

-Yeah, and packed with pollen when they come out.

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Yeah.

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If we have a really good clear-out

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whilst leaving the things that are useful.

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It still looks very rough,

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but for our purposes it'll do.

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-Yes.

-Yeah?

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-Can you grab the rose?

-I will, Carol.

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If we just sort of place these.

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I think the rose ought to go at the foot of your damson, there.

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Will it climb up into it?

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It's not strictly speaking a climbing rose,

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but I've got one at home, Rosa rugosa,

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that goes right up into my apple tree and uses it for support.

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-Wonderful.

-It's got these fabulous, almost single flowers.

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The trouble with double flowers

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is that very often they don't produce any pollen or nectar,

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and even if they do, it's hardly accessible to any insects.

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-Right.

-So single flowers are always the best.

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Flowers for a long time and it puts up with rough conditions.

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-Needs to!

-So it's just the thing.

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And this Geranium nodosum.

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-Yeah.

-This is a shade-loving geranium.

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And again, all crane's-bills are great for bees.

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They're all over this...

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-And it's open again, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

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And can you see here, it's already made seed.

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It will flower on and on, right into the autumn,

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and it'll chuck its seeds around all over the place.

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-And it's evergreen, it's a handsome plant, isn't it?

-Yeah.

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This Lamium, too, it belongs to the family Lamiaceae,

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they used to be called Labiates cos they've got lipped flowers.

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Yeah, I can see that.

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So there's a nice landing stage for the bees.

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They can access all the nectar that's in there.

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I think this will just scramble everywhere.

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-As it goes, chuck a bit of soil on top of the stems...

-Right.

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..so that they'll root from each of these nodes.

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And then you can just detach a few pieces later and move them around,

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-out into the rest of the garden too.

-Great.

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It might not be a Chelsea garden, but I reckon it's the bee's knees!

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It is fantastic.

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'The shady corner should now offer a feast for Jane's bees.

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'But I've also brought along some more plants for a sunnier position.

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'They will help with the period that both beekeepers

0:18:510:18:54

'and gardens struggle with - the June gap,

0:18:540:18:57

'when the spring flowers are fading

0:18:570:18:59

'and the summer ones have yet to bloom.'

0:18:590:19:02

I bet the bees have been all over these Alliums, haven't they?

0:19:020:19:06

They certainly have.

0:19:060:19:07

-This is Anchusa. Bees love borage.

-They do.

0:19:080:19:13

Every description. It is in that family.

0:19:130:19:16

It's going to...

0:19:160:19:17

withstand this poor ground.

0:19:170:19:20

But it's here, this is the vital bit.

0:19:200:19:23

These wonderful blue flowers.

0:19:230:19:24

Good colour for bees, isn't it? Blues and purples and whites.

0:19:240:19:28

Yeah.

0:19:280:19:29

Just look at this one.

0:19:290:19:30

Oh, I know what that is, that's a clover, isn't it?

0:19:300:19:34

-Yes, but it's a big clover.

-It is.

0:19:340:19:35

It's Trifolium ochroleucom,

0:19:350:19:38

and it'll make a great big bushy plant,

0:19:380:19:40

absolutely smothered in these gorgeous blooms.

0:19:400:19:43

-Right the way through June into July, on and on.

-Brilliant.

0:19:430:19:47

It's not just your honey bees that are going to love it.

0:19:470:19:50

All bees will love it, as they will all these plants.

0:19:500:19:54

-Is there any chance of us having a look at them, Jane?

-Yeah.

0:19:540:19:57

Can't stand on one foot!

0:19:590:20:01

They're very happy bees, aren't they?

0:20:110:20:14

-They're quite calm.

-They really are.

0:20:140:20:16

There's the queen.

0:20:160:20:19

Oh, look at her!

0:20:190:20:20

-What's that bright blue?

-I've marked her.

-You've marked her?

0:20:200:20:24

-Yeah.

-So you can tell. She is quite a lot bigger.

0:20:240:20:26

She is bigger, especially her abdomen where all the eggs are.

0:20:260:20:30

She is the centre of the hive and the one who...

0:20:310:20:34

Without the queen, you know, your hive dies, basically cos you get no more babies.

0:20:340:20:39

So, why do they need pollen and nectar?

0:20:390:20:42

Pollen's mainly used for growing,

0:20:420:20:44

the nectar is a sort of carbohydrate,

0:20:440:20:46

the energy food that they use to fly around and everything.

0:20:460:20:50

Isn't that why it's so important to have masses of plants that flower over a really long period of time?

0:20:500:20:57

So they can have a steady flow coming in, definitely, yeah.

0:20:570:21:00

-You don't just have to keep bees to care about bees, do you?

-No.

0:21:020:21:05

Our gardens cover a greater area than all our nature reservations.

0:21:050:21:10

-Mm.

-So, what we all put into our gardens is important.

0:21:100:21:14

-And it's going to help.

-Yeah.

0:21:140:21:15

RAIN PATTERS

0:21:230:21:26

A few weeks ago I potted up Pelargoniums and lavender

0:21:300:21:34

to make the most of this very warm, sunny wall on these steps.

0:21:340:21:38

They're growing fine, they're great.

0:21:380:21:40

I also added in these citrus, these are very trusty old plants.

0:21:400:21:45

This one I've had for about 15 years and this one for over 25 now.

0:21:450:21:50

They're not quite the right place for them

0:21:500:21:53

and actually they're not looking that healthy, I have to confess,

0:21:530:21:57

they need some TLC.

0:21:570:21:58

So, if I take this off to the potting shed

0:21:580:22:03

I'm going to give it a bit of attention and now is the perfect time to do this job.

0:22:030:22:07

Also, the perfect weather to go indoors.

0:22:090:22:13

All right, just come in the dry.

0:22:230:22:26

Gently lower this down, so I don't break the pot.

0:22:270:22:31

Even a citrus plant that's ailing a little bit is still a wonderful thing.

0:22:310:22:35

I think that combination of the brilliant green leaves,

0:22:350:22:38

the fruit - a bright orange, a bright lemon,

0:22:380:22:42

a terracotta pot and preferably a blue sky is as lovely as anything.

0:22:420:22:47

Now, this has lived all winter, indoors.

0:22:470:22:50

It needs winter protection because it's not really frost-hardy.

0:22:500:22:52

But when you keep it indoors, it always tends to get a bit tired

0:22:520:22:56

and then when you put it outside in spring, the whole plant perks up.

0:22:560:23:00

You get lovely new, green growth,

0:23:000:23:02

you get the flowers coming out that smell fantastic,

0:23:020:23:05

got fruit forming and you have flowers and fruit at the same time,

0:23:050:23:08

the whole thing is a joy.

0:23:080:23:09

So, to get a full measure of joy from this plant

0:23:090:23:13

I want to give it a boost and about every five years it's a good idea to re-pot them.

0:23:130:23:18

That's what I'm going to do now.

0:23:180:23:20

I don't quite know what to expect because... It's not too bad.

0:23:220:23:26

If you look at that, the roots are growing round the edge of the pot,

0:23:270:23:32

they've run out of space.

0:23:320:23:33

Let's put that down for a minute, it's heavy.

0:23:330:23:35

Best time of year to do this is early June.

0:23:350:23:38

So, your normal topping up and light pruning

0:23:380:23:42

you want to do about March, April,

0:23:420:23:44

but leave this until growth is really getting going.

0:23:440:23:48

And just tease off the old compost without damaging the roots.

0:23:480:23:53

Now, I've mixed up a compost mix for it,

0:23:540:23:58

it's a combination of a proprietary, organic, peat-free potting compost,

0:23:580:24:04

a good bucket of grit

0:24:040:24:06

and a generous bucket of sieved, well-made home garden compost.

0:24:060:24:11

And that combination gives it the right amount of nutrients.

0:24:110:24:14

They need sustenance.

0:24:140:24:15

But they also need drainage and that's what the grit's for

0:24:150:24:18

and they MUST have good, quite quick drainage.

0:24:180:24:22

When you water them, you want to see the water coming out the bottom of the pot.

0:24:220:24:26

OK, let's put a layer underneath the plant.

0:24:260:24:29

There we go.

0:24:350:24:37

Now, this is where I know whether I've got to trim the roots or not.

0:24:370:24:40

Yeah, I think I am.

0:24:400:24:43

Just going to trim those back.

0:24:450:24:47

I don't want them touching the side of the pot

0:24:470:24:50

so all I'm going to do is snip them off a little bit.

0:24:500:24:52

I have not done this for six years and that's probably enough.

0:24:560:25:01

If you did this every year to your citrus they would not be happy.

0:25:010:25:05

So, if in doubt don't prune the roots.

0:25:060:25:11

The main reason I'm pruning them is to fit them into this pot.

0:25:110:25:16

I must stress - that root pruning is not something you do every year.

0:25:250:25:30

Just do it about every five years and then every year

0:25:300:25:33

you just need to add a mulch, the compost

0:25:330:25:35

and then pinch out the growing tips so you keep the shape.

0:25:350:25:38

But this has lost its shape a bit,

0:25:380:25:40

so I'm going to prune slightly more radically

0:25:400:25:42

because I've taken roots off

0:25:420:25:44

and now I'm going to take a bit of the top off.

0:25:440:25:47

That's a goner.

0:25:470:25:48

Here.

0:25:510:25:53

There.

0:25:530:25:54

That's looking much better.

0:25:560:25:58

Next stage will be to give it a good soak, a bit of a feed,

0:25:580:26:02

top-up with mulch and find the right spot for it.

0:26:020:26:05

That reminds me, I've got in my pocket a letter from June Lucas, if you're watching, June,

0:26:050:26:10

it says, "I have a couple of citrus trees which I think are grapefruit

0:26:100:26:13

"which I grew from pips about 10 years ago and they're very green and healthy, the trouble is

0:26:130:26:18

"they've never flowered and I'm wondering why."

0:26:180:26:21

That's an easy one - they're ten years old.

0:26:210:26:24

Grapefruit grown from seed don't flower for about 20 years.

0:26:240:26:28

You're halfway there, June, hang on.

0:26:280:26:30

It's a good idea to give any citrus a feed of liquid seaweed once a week throughout the summer months.

0:26:320:26:38

And here are a few other things to be getting on with.

0:26:380:26:42

When June arrives I know it's the best time to sow climbing beans.

0:26:430:26:49

I put two seeds at the base

0:26:490:26:51

of each support of their frame and by the way, it is important

0:26:510:26:55

to make sure that the support is good and strong.

0:26:550:27:00

When they've germinated, I'll weed out the weaker of the two.

0:27:000:27:04

And now the nights are getting warmer,

0:27:040:27:07

they should germinate and grow very fast indeed.

0:27:070:27:10

One of my favourite flowers of all, the foxglove,

0:27:100:27:13

is in full glory at the moment. You can buy these at garden centres

0:27:130:27:17

but they're quite pricy when bought as individual plants.

0:27:170:27:20

A much better way of growing them is to sow seed

0:27:200:27:24

but like all biennials you need to do this now for next year's display.

0:27:240:27:28

Sow the seed in the seed tray and put them somewhere protected.

0:27:280:27:31

It doesn't need to be in a greenhouse.

0:27:310:27:34

When they're big enough to handle,

0:27:340:27:36

put the seedlings either into a corner of the garden where they can grow on or into pots.

0:27:360:27:40

And then they can be planted into their final growing position in early autumn.

0:27:400:27:45

Although it's showery at the moment here at Longmeadow,

0:27:480:27:52

for most of us it's been a really dry spring and our ground is parched

0:27:520:27:57

and we need to water.

0:27:570:27:59

The secret of effective watering in the garden

0:27:590:28:01

is to give things a really good soak.

0:28:010:28:05

Far better to water thoroughly once a week than lightly every day.

0:28:050:28:08

Try and get the water to roots of the plant, not just on the foliage,

0:28:080:28:12

water in the evening and if you're going to use a sprinkler, leave it on for at least an hour.

0:28:120:28:19

That's it for this week. Next week I'm working in my herb garden,

0:28:200:28:24

building up a range of delicious herbs for the kitchen.

0:28:240:28:28

I'm also paying a visit to Claude Monet's garden

0:28:280:28:31

at Giverny in France which is looking staggering.

0:28:310:28:36

I'm there to meet the new head gardener,

0:28:360:28:37

the first one for 35 years who is an Englishman.

0:28:370:28:40

So, see you then. Bye-bye.

0:28:400:28:44

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0:28:510:28:54

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0:28:540:28:57

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