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RADIO PLAYS "Tweedlee Dee" by LaVern Baker | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World, and June has come to Longmeadow | 0:00:09 | 0:00:13 | |
and it's very welcome, even though it's a traditional English June - | 0:00:13 | 0:00:17 | |
a bit wet, a bit blowy, a bit chilly, | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
but the garden is loving it because everything is growing lushly. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:25 | |
This week I'm planting out tender annuals into the Jewel Garden, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:30 | |
as well as giving my elderly citrus plants | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
a thorough and long-overdue service. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
Carol is helping a Wiltshire beekeeper | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
who wants ideas for shade-loving flowers | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
that will bring colour as well as nectar to her garden. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
And Rachel is going to Wisley... | 0:00:47 | 0:00:51 | |
Look how beautiful they are! It's almost... Oh, you feel mean. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
..to find out how your garden | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
can benefit from the miraculous Chelsea chop. | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
There's no doubt about it that there's a different kind of energy in the garden now. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:10 | |
In spring, everything is becoming - there is that electric thrill | 0:01:10 | 0:01:15 | |
that seems to run from plants into one's skin. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
But now we go into summer, it's a bigger pulse, | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
and that promises much more richness. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
Some plants, of course, span the gap | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
between spring and summer. The Geum 'Mrs Bradshaw' | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
has been flowering for weeks, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
and next to it, the Anchusa 'Loddon Royalist', | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
both with fabulous colour, but both have | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
the freshness of spring and the richness of summer. But in general, | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
everything is going stronger and deeper | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
and growing more powerfully. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
BEE BUZZES | 0:01:47 | 0:01:49 | |
But sometimes that exuberance of growth gets carried away with itself | 0:01:49 | 0:01:54 | |
and plants start to flop. You can see a really good example here. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
This is the poppy 'Patty's Plum'. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
This one's going over, this is just about at its best, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
but it flopped before I had a chance to support it | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
and although I've rescued it and put it upright, | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
it doesn't look great. It looks like | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
a drunk leaning on a lamppost. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
Not only does it not look very good, it also does damage to neighbouring plants, | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
so the idea is to support them BEFORE they need it, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
before they fall over. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:23 | |
And the main weapon in my armoury of supporting plants is cold steel. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:28 | |
Now the reason I go for cold steel to support my plants | 0:02:33 | 0:02:38 | |
is because it works so beautifully. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
If you buy yourself | 0:02:42 | 0:02:43 | |
a length of mild steel bars - this is 6mm thickness - | 0:02:43 | 0:02:47 | |
you can make really nice supports. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
They're cheap, they're easy to make, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
and certainly much cheaper than anything you can buy. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
This cost us, well, round about £2 | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
and that is about half of what it would cost you anywhere. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:03 | |
Go to a steel stockholder, steel merchant. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
You can look them up on the Yellow Pages or the Internet, there are lots of them. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
Get them cut to length - this is a 2.5 metre length - and bend them round anything you like. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:16 | |
I've used this to bend them round, you can use a tree trunk. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
In fact... | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
this bin is quite good cos all you have to do is just roughly get them | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
in the middle like that, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
and just bend it round following the contours, | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
take it round like that and there's your hoop, perfectly formed. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:35 | |
That's stage one. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:36 | |
Stage two, you need a couple of boards. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
Lay your hoop | 0:03:43 | 0:03:44 | |
on the ground like that. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
Put this across, stand on it, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
bending it up a little, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:54 | |
and just pull it back towards you. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
There we go. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
There we are. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:02 | |
A perfect plant support. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
Took, what, 15 seconds to make? | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
Now the key thing for any method of supporting | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
is to do it before the plant needs it. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
This group of Heleniums | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
is fine, perfectly upstanding, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
not battered at all. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
But there's a real chance as it grows, | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
which it will do very fast now, that on a windyish day | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
or in a storm, it'll get battered, | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
so if I put this in like that | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
and then put another one on this side... | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
Not touching, not pinching it or corseting it in any way. | 0:04:40 | 0:04:45 | |
There's the protection, it's in place. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
As it grows, if it leans outwards, it will be gently held up | 0:04:48 | 0:04:52 | |
rather than squeezed in, | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
and that's the way to stake plants. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:56 | |
Well, that's how I use these steel hoops, | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
but, of course, there are other ways of doing the job. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
The simplest and perhaps oldest-fashioned | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
means of support is by using | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
canes or sticks and string, | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
particularly suitable for individual stems | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
like delphiniums or sunflowers. The thing to watch | 0:05:13 | 0:05:16 | |
is not to make it so tight that the plants are squeezed, | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
but not so loose that they're not supported. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
I keep all our prunings, specifically for supports. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:29 | |
They can stand here, and what looks just like a pile of old wood | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
actually makes really good material for getting under plants. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
That's hazel, pruned from the purple hazel in the Jewel Garden. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
This is actually field maple, which is also nice and twiggy. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
You can see that you can either use a big piece like that, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
or you can even cut it right down and use it much more delicately | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
underneath smaller plants. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
If I cut that off and cut those off, | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
you can just stick that in underneath a plant | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
and it grows through it and that works as a support. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
Or even straight shoots like this. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:05 | |
They're flexible, so I can bend that round | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
and then that would go round a group of plants. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
I can weave that, bend this in so it goes into the ground | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
and, hey presto, you've got another kind of support. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
Of course, it doesn't have to be flowers. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
It also works well with vegetables. Look at this. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
Nothing supports peas better than pea sticks, which is just brushwood, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
and these are all just prunings from the garden, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
recycled and they work perfectly. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
All this is about supporting plants now | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
so they can grow as big as possible and still look good, | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
but Rachel has been to RHS Wisley | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
to see the technique with which they reduce the size of plants now | 0:06:43 | 0:06:47 | |
so that they can look really good a little later on in the year. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
The herbaceous borders here at RHS Wisley are world-famous, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
with thousands of visitors coming here every year | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
to get inspiration from the colour, the shape, the texture | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
of these planting combinations. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
But to keep the borders looking this good, | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
the gardeners here have a few nifty techniques up their sleeve, | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
including a radical technique called the Chelsea chop. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:22 | |
One man who's been using this crafty technique for years | 0:07:23 | 0:07:27 | |
is the curator of the garden here at Wisley, Colin Crosbie. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
The Chelsea Flower Show nursery men and exhibitors | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
grew a lot of plants and got them flowering at Chelsea Flower Show time. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
The plants they didn't use, they sent back to their nursery, pruned them back hard | 0:07:38 | 0:07:42 | |
so they could sell them in September cos they'd delayed the flowering. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
We've adapted that to the garden environment. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
We realise if you prune plants at Chelsea Flower Show time | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
you make them flower later, hence the name the Chelsea chop. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:56 | |
A wide range of perennial plants respond to the Chelsea chop. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
We'll practise on Veronicastrums and also Sedums, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
but there are a whole host that really do respond. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
It seems almost sacrilegious because these lovely soft flowering spikes, | 0:08:11 | 0:08:16 | |
they're really getting there now and you want us to cut them all off! | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
You have to be brave. Cut it down by about 50%. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:22 | |
The plant will respond and will flower six or seven weeks later. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
OK, I'm in your hands, so about 50%... | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
50%, down by half, don't be scared. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:31 | |
Right, I'll go for it. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
You're in control of the border and the flowering period and the height of the plants. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:38 | |
If you look here, we've got this lovely Eupatorium. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
What we'll do is prune three, leave three, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
prune three, leave three, | 0:08:44 | 0:08:45 | |
and that way we're adjusting the height | 0:08:45 | 0:08:47 | |
so you can see right through to the back | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
and it makes the border far more interesting. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
Actually, Colin, that doesn't look bad at all, does it? | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
Let's go and do some more. | 0:08:57 | 0:08:58 | |
These Sedums are ready to be done. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
Look how beautiful they are! It's almost... Oh, you feel mean. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:16 | |
If we left them, they'd have big flowers in the late summer | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
and they'd pull the plant apart. By pruning them hard now | 0:09:19 | 0:09:22 | |
you've got a much shorter plant, lots of small flowers | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
and it looks really, really tidy in the garden. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:28 | |
So how far are we looking at going down here? | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
We've got to cut them by about 50% again. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
OK, so the same thing again. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
These shoots are perfect. You can see where I've cut that one, | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
I would trim it just underneath the leaves there, | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
put it into a general potting compost. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
You've got a cutting, you've got a plant for free. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
-It's a win-win situation, isn't it? -Certainly is. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
I know around Chelsea is obviously the optimal time to do this, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
but is there a point at which it becomes too late in the year? | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
We wouldn't do it any later than mid-June. | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
Cos you've got to leave enough time for the plant to regrow | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
and enough energy to reflower. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
Generally, the Chelsea chop works well with any herbaceous plant | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
that has leaves branching from their stems, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
such as Heleniums... | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
Phlox... | 0:10:16 | 0:10:17 | |
..Repertorium... | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
..and Asters. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
So we're heading towards this clump of Pulmonaria on the corner. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:32 | |
They've finished flowering those lovely bluish-purple flowers, | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
they've gone over, and the foliage, that lovely mottling, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:40 | |
that's also looking a bit sad, isn't it? | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
It's looking tired, there's mildew on there, the foliage is brown, | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
-we've got to be ruthless, dive in, cut it down to ground level. -Right. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
That reinvigorates the plant. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
And it encourages it to send up fresh new foliage | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
which is really clean, you see the markings on it. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
You'll continue to get flowers throughout the summer months. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:05 | |
What about people who've got a very small garden and they feel | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
they have to hang on to every bit of greenery that's there? | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
I think it's more important in a small garden | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
cos you want it to look good for as long as possible. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
Rather than having something that's tired and dead in the summer, | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
you've got fresh foliage, which is clean, lovely markings on it, | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
fresh flowers coming up - far more important to do in a small garden. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:28 | |
So now, Colin, from now on, every year, I'll be thinking of you | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
at about Chelsea time, | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
and getting out in the garden and giving it a good chop. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
# Tweedlee tweedlee tweedle doe | 0:11:40 | 0:11:45 | |
# I'm a lucky so-and-so | 0:11:45 | 0:11:50 | |
# Hubba hubba honeydew | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
# I'm gonna keep my eyes on you | 0:11:55 | 0:11:59 | |
# Tweedlee tweedlee tweedlee doe... # | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
At this time of year, | 0:12:03 | 0:12:04 | |
I start to plant out the tender annuals | 0:12:04 | 0:12:09 | |
that have been growing in the greenhouse | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
for the last couple of months. They've been through stages | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
of germination, pricking out, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
putting into the cold frames, hardening off. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
And now we've reached June, they're ready to come into the garden. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
I really like using annuals in a mixed border. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:27 | |
They take on the baton from the early bulbs. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:32 | |
These have been grown for a while, they're ready to go out. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
This is a Cosmos, it's called 'Dazzler'. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
You can see the plants have been growing in plugs...perfect. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:41 | |
The roots are well-formed, but not pot-bound at all. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:43 | |
I can put these out in groups. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
Pop them in. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
These won't flower for quite a few weeks, | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
but the whole point about annuals is to bring on the succession, | 0:12:50 | 0:12:54 | |
add variety to the border and spread the colour, | 0:12:54 | 0:12:58 | |
spread the flow of plants. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
These are grown from seed. You can buy trays of annuals. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
But the beauty of growing plants from seed is you can grow so many. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
You can get real volume in here. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:10 | |
We've got hundreds to put in | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
for the same amount of money it would have cost to buy dozens | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
as plants. And there's bound to be some left over. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:20 | |
I intend to bring those along to | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
the bring-and-buy stall at Gardeners' World Live, | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
which is in two weeks' time. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
I will be bringing plants from the Jewel Garden | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
and some vegetables. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:30 | |
And if you bring any spare plants you've got, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
it really doesn't matter what kind. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
Donate them to the bring-and-buy stall | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
and then you can buy other plants | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
that you would like to have in your garden. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
All the proceeds for your purchase will go to Children In Need. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
'There are plenty of other tender annuals that can be planted out | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
'now the weather is warmer.' | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
Cerinthe 'Purpurascens' is elegantly beautiful. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
Its glaucous blue foliage and its rich mauvy-blue flowers | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
last for ages. It will seed readily but not invasively. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
Tithonia, with its intense orange daisy flowers, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:06 | |
is one of the key plants in our late summer border | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
and will flower bravely on till the first frosts. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
I'll get those in. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:16 | |
It all adds to the rich variety of the border. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
Of course, that border is not just plants. It's insects, | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
it's butterflies, all attracted to the nectar and the pollen. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:25 | |
And Carol has been to Wiltshire to see a beekeeper | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
who contacted us with a garden dilemma. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
What are the best plants to put in your garden to attract bees? | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
Bees have been around for millions of years, | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
whereas human beings are fairly recently on the planet. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
But we rely on bees. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
Over a third of our food production depends upon them. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:50 | |
But during the last few years, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
bee numbers have experienced a serious decline. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
And that's prompted a renaissance in the art of beekeeping. | 0:14:56 | 0:15:01 | |
'One of our viewers, Jane Ranger, | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
'who's recently started keeping bees, | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
'has written in and asked me to come to her garden | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
'to give her a few ideas for planting the perfect flowers | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
'for her bees. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:13 | |
'We had a chat on the phone, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:16 | |
'and I brought along a selection from home | 0:15:16 | 0:15:18 | |
'that should do the job.' | 0:15:18 | 0:15:19 | |
What gorgeous chickens! | 0:15:21 | 0:15:22 | |
And I love your garden, it's really laid-back. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
-Love the daisies. -Thank you, Carol. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
We try and keep everything as natural and comfortable as possible. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:33 | |
The main problem I've got is down here with the bees. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
I'm no good at bees! | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
LAUGHING: No, it's the plants! | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
It's the plants I need your help with | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
because we've got this shady area down here | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
where there's a nice lot of weeds coming through. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:48 | |
But we'd like your thoughts about what plants we could put there. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:51 | |
-It is a real corner, isn't it? -It does, it goes to a point. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:55 | |
All this deciduous shade. But you've got lots of things around here. | 0:15:55 | 0:16:00 | |
You don't think of brambles being blossom bushes, | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
-but they are, really. -Yeah. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:05 | |
They flower over a long time, hugely attractive. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
-I think we ought to keep those. -Really? | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
Your cow parsley's wonderful. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
And your poppies, full... | 0:16:14 | 0:16:15 | |
-Lots of poppies. -Yeah, and packed with pollen when they come out. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:19 | |
Yeah. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:20 | |
If we have a really good clear-out | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
whilst leaving the things that are useful. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:27 | |
It still looks very rough, | 0:16:37 | 0:16:39 | |
but for our purposes it'll do. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:41 | |
-Yes. -Yeah? | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
-Can you grab the rose? -I will, Carol. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
If we just sort of place these. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
I think the rose ought to go at the foot of your damson, there. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
Will it climb up into it? | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
It's not strictly speaking a climbing rose, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
but I've got one at home, Rosa rugosa, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:01 | |
that goes right up into my apple tree and uses it for support. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:05 | |
-Wonderful. -It's got these fabulous, almost single flowers. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
The trouble with double flowers | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
is that very often they don't produce any pollen or nectar, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
and even if they do, it's hardly accessible to any insects. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:18 | |
-Right. -So single flowers are always the best. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
Flowers for a long time and it puts up with rough conditions. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
-Needs to! -So it's just the thing. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
And this Geranium nodosum. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
-Yeah. -This is a shade-loving geranium. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
And again, all crane's-bills are great for bees. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
They're all over this... | 0:17:37 | 0:17:38 | |
-And it's open again, isn't it? -Yeah, it is. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
And can you see here, it's already made seed. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
It will flower on and on, right into the autumn, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
and it'll chuck its seeds around all over the place. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
-And it's evergreen, it's a handsome plant, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
This Lamium, too, it belongs to the family Lamiaceae, | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
they used to be called Labiates cos they've got lipped flowers. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:02 | |
Yeah, I can see that. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
So there's a nice landing stage for the bees. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
They can access all the nectar that's in there. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
I think this will just scramble everywhere. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
-As it goes, chuck a bit of soil on top of the stems... -Right. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:17 | |
..so that they'll root from each of these nodes. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
And then you can just detach a few pieces later and move them around, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
-out into the rest of the garden too. -Great. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
It might not be a Chelsea garden, but I reckon it's the bee's knees! | 0:18:38 | 0:18:42 | |
It is fantastic. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
'The shady corner should now offer a feast for Jane's bees. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
'But I've also brought along some more plants for a sunnier position. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
'They will help with the period that both beekeepers | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
'and gardens struggle with - the June gap, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
'when the spring flowers are fading | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
'and the summer ones have yet to bloom.' | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
I bet the bees have been all over these Alliums, haven't they? | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
They certainly have. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:07 | |
-This is Anchusa. Bees love borage. -They do. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:13 | |
Every description. It is in that family. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:16 | |
It's going to... | 0:19:16 | 0:19:17 | |
withstand this poor ground. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
But it's here, this is the vital bit. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
These wonderful blue flowers. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:24 | |
Good colour for bees, isn't it? Blues and purples and whites. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
Yeah. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:29 | |
Just look at this one. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:30 | |
Oh, I know what that is, that's a clover, isn't it? | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
-Yes, but it's a big clover. -It is. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:35 | |
It's Trifolium ochroleucom, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
and it'll make a great big bushy plant, | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
absolutely smothered in these gorgeous blooms. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
-Right the way through June into July, on and on. -Brilliant. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
It's not just your honey bees that are going to love it. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
All bees will love it, as they will all these plants. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:54 | |
-Is there any chance of us having a look at them, Jane? -Yeah. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
Can't stand on one foot! | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
They're very happy bees, aren't they? | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
-They're quite calm. -They really are. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
There's the queen. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
Oh, look at her! | 0:20:19 | 0:20:20 | |
-What's that bright blue? -I've marked her. -You've marked her? | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
-Yeah. -So you can tell. She is quite a lot bigger. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
She is bigger, especially her abdomen where all the eggs are. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
She is the centre of the hive and the one who... | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
Without the queen, you know, your hive dies, basically cos you get no more babies. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:39 | |
So, why do they need pollen and nectar? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
Pollen's mainly used for growing, | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
the nectar is a sort of carbohydrate, | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
the energy food that they use to fly around and everything. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:50 | |
Isn't that why it's so important to have masses of plants that flower over a really long period of time? | 0:20:50 | 0:20:57 | |
So they can have a steady flow coming in, definitely, yeah. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
-You don't just have to keep bees to care about bees, do you? -No. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
Our gardens cover a greater area than all our nature reservations. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:10 | |
-Mm. -So, what we all put into our gardens is important. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
-And it's going to help. -Yeah. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:15 | |
RAIN PATTERS | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
A few weeks ago I potted up Pelargoniums and lavender | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
to make the most of this very warm, sunny wall on these steps. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
They're growing fine, they're great. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
I also added in these citrus, these are very trusty old plants. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:45 | |
This one I've had for about 15 years and this one for over 25 now. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:50 | |
They're not quite the right place for them | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
and actually they're not looking that healthy, I have to confess, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
they need some TLC. | 0:21:57 | 0:21:58 | |
So, if I take this off to the potting shed | 0:21:58 | 0:22:03 | |
I'm going to give it a bit of attention and now is the perfect time to do this job. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:07 | |
Also, the perfect weather to go indoors. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
All right, just come in the dry. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
Gently lower this down, so I don't break the pot. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:31 | |
Even a citrus plant that's ailing a little bit is still a wonderful thing. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
I think that combination of the brilliant green leaves, | 0:22:35 | 0:22:38 | |
the fruit - a bright orange, a bright lemon, | 0:22:38 | 0:22:42 | |
a terracotta pot and preferably a blue sky is as lovely as anything. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:47 | |
Now, this has lived all winter, indoors. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
It needs winter protection because it's not really frost-hardy. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:52 | |
But when you keep it indoors, it always tends to get a bit tired | 0:22:52 | 0:22:56 | |
and then when you put it outside in spring, the whole plant perks up. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
You get lovely new, green growth, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
you get the flowers coming out that smell fantastic, | 0:23:02 | 0:23:05 | |
got fruit forming and you have flowers and fruit at the same time, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
the whole thing is a joy. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:09 | |
So, to get a full measure of joy from this plant | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
I want to give it a boost and about every five years it's a good idea to re-pot them. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:18 | |
That's what I'm going to do now. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
I don't quite know what to expect because... It's not too bad. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
If you look at that, the roots are growing round the edge of the pot, | 0:23:27 | 0:23:32 | |
they've run out of space. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:33 | |
Let's put that down for a minute, it's heavy. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:35 | |
Best time of year to do this is early June. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
So, your normal topping up and light pruning | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
you want to do about March, April, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
but leave this until growth is really getting going. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
And just tease off the old compost without damaging the roots. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
Now, I've mixed up a compost mix for it, | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
it's a combination of a proprietary, organic, peat-free potting compost, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:04 | |
a good bucket of grit | 0:24:04 | 0:24:06 | |
and a generous bucket of sieved, well-made home garden compost. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:11 | |
And that combination gives it the right amount of nutrients. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
They need sustenance. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:15 | |
But they also need drainage and that's what the grit's for | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
and they MUST have good, quite quick drainage. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
When you water them, you want to see the water coming out the bottom of the pot. | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
OK, let's put a layer underneath the plant. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
There we go. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
Now, this is where I know whether I've got to trim the roots or not. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
Yeah, I think I am. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
Just going to trim those back. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
I don't want them touching the side of the pot | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
so all I'm going to do is snip them off a little bit. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:52 | |
I have not done this for six years and that's probably enough. | 0:24:56 | 0:25:01 | |
If you did this every year to your citrus they would not be happy. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
So, if in doubt don't prune the roots. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:11 | |
The main reason I'm pruning them is to fit them into this pot. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:16 | |
I must stress - that root pruning is not something you do every year. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:30 | |
Just do it about every five years and then every year | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
you just need to add a mulch, the compost | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
and then pinch out the growing tips so you keep the shape. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
But this has lost its shape a bit, | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
so I'm going to prune slightly more radically | 0:25:40 | 0:25:42 | |
because I've taken roots off | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
and now I'm going to take a bit of the top off. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
That's a goner. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:48 | |
Here. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
There. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:54 | |
That's looking much better. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
Next stage will be to give it a good soak, a bit of a feed, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
top-up with mulch and find the right spot for it. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
That reminds me, I've got in my pocket a letter from June Lucas, if you're watching, June, | 0:26:05 | 0:26:10 | |
it says, "I have a couple of citrus trees which I think are grapefruit | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
"which I grew from pips about 10 years ago and they're very green and healthy, the trouble is | 0:26:13 | 0:26:18 | |
"they've never flowered and I'm wondering why." | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
That's an easy one - they're ten years old. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
Grapefruit grown from seed don't flower for about 20 years. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:28 | |
You're halfway there, June, hang on. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
It's a good idea to give any citrus a feed of liquid seaweed once a week throughout the summer months. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:38 | |
And here are a few other things to be getting on with. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
When June arrives I know it's the best time to sow climbing beans. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:49 | |
I put two seeds at the base | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
of each support of their frame and by the way, it is important | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
to make sure that the support is good and strong. | 0:26:55 | 0:27:00 | |
When they've germinated, I'll weed out the weaker of the two. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
And now the nights are getting warmer, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
they should germinate and grow very fast indeed. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
One of my favourite flowers of all, the foxglove, | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
is in full glory at the moment. You can buy these at garden centres | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
but they're quite pricy when bought as individual plants. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
A much better way of growing them is to sow seed | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
but like all biennials you need to do this now for next year's display. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
Sow the seed in the seed tray and put them somewhere protected. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
It doesn't need to be in a greenhouse. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
When they're big enough to handle, | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
put the seedlings either into a corner of the garden where they can grow on or into pots. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
And then they can be planted into their final growing position in early autumn. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:45 | |
Although it's showery at the moment here at Longmeadow, | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
for most of us it's been a really dry spring and our ground is parched | 0:27:52 | 0:27:57 | |
and we need to water. | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
The secret of effective watering in the garden | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
is to give things a really good soak. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:05 | |
Far better to water thoroughly once a week than lightly every day. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
Try and get the water to roots of the plant, not just on the foliage, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
water in the evening and if you're going to use a sprinkler, leave it on for at least an hour. | 0:28:12 | 0:28:19 | |
That's it for this week. Next week I'm working in my herb garden, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
building up a range of delicious herbs for the kitchen. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
I'm also paying a visit to Claude Monet's garden | 0:28:28 | 0:28:31 | |
at Giverny in France which is looking staggering. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:36 | |
I'm there to meet the new head gardener, | 0:28:36 | 0:28:37 | |
the first one for 35 years who is an Englishman. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
So, see you then. Bye-bye. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:44 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:51 | 0:28:54 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 |