Episode 25 Gardeners' World


Episode 25

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Although this is a lovely time of year,

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this really is a season

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where everything seems to be changing all the time -

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the leaves, the weather,

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the borders, which are slipping away. You look,

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and you turn your back, and there's a little bit less there.

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However, this is the best opportunity

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to prepare for next year.

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There are loads of jobs to do now

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which will bear a really good harvest next spring and summer.

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This week, I'm planting shrubs

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that have both lovely spring flowers,

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as well as brilliant autumn foliage.

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Planning ahead, I'm planting great swathes

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of spring-flowering bulbs

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and sowing sweet peas to give me

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the most fragrant of all summer flowers.

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Carol finds great ideas

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for seasonal colour at Thorp Perrow Arboretum in Yorkshire,

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which has one of the most stunning collections

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of shrubs and trees in the country.

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Just look at the fruit!

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Isn't that brilliant?

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I don't think the dahlias

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have ever done better in this garden than they have this year.

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I'm particularly pleased with these ones in pots,

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because I got these as very small rooted cuttings in spring.

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They were so tiny, I thought I'd grow them on

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to plant out next year, but they did quite well.

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So we planted them three to a pot, thinking if they flowered,

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it'd be good. And look at them, they're fantastic. Next year,

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each one of those will make a whole pot,

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so I'll have three times as many from this batch.

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So I'm very, very pleased with these.

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This is the first year that we've put a pot on this spot.

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And it's worked well, because it catches the eye.

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This is the first thing you see when you walk into the walled garden.

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But these pelargoniums will go indoors in a few weeks,

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and then we'll have nothing here. I want something for early next spring

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which will work in the same way, which will be white,

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dramatic and really act as a centrepiece.

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So I'm going to plant a shrub behind here,

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because these won't come out again until next May,

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which will do the same sort of job.

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This the perfect time of year to plant any shrub.

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The soil is warm, the roots will still grow,

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but there are no demands on them by top growth.

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This is a Magnolia stellata,

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which has wonderful, daisy-like

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white flowers in April.

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It'll grow in almost any soil,

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although it's happiest if it's slightly acidic.

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And practically any position,

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though it does like some sunshine.

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The only thing to avoid is early morning sun.

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Don't put it on an east-facing wall,

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simply to protect it from spring frost.

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The buds and flowers can be damaged.

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But ideally in a west-facing position,

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although what we've got here is north-west.

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I'm going to plant it here, set back a bit from the path.

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If you're planting any shrub, keep it simple.

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There we go like that.

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Magnolias have rather fleshy roots that can be easily damaged.

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They're brittle, so when you take it out of the pot,

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be fairly careful.

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Good root system on this.

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Slightly pot-bound, so I'll just tease them a little,

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not to break them up,

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but just to stimulate growth outside the confines of the pot

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as quickly as possible.

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Although I'm not adding compost, I will add some mycorrhizal fungi.

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The purpose of this is to act as a conduit

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from nutrients in the soil to the roots.

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It speeds up the root growth and the way it can take up nutrients.

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The important thing is to have it in direct contact

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with the roots themselves.

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I'm going to give that a good soak, and then mulch it.

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The mulch is really important.

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Where did I put the lid?

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What a strange year it is.

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Here we have the viburnum, flowering in the middle of October,

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whilst at the same time,

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its leaves are turning that lovely rich purple colour.

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These should be and were produced in May.

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Likewise the primulas. Flowering again now,

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and yet they flowered from February right through almost into June.

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It's as though all the seasons are going topsy-turvy.

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However, it's still a very good time to plant shrubs.

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The second shrub I want to put in is a bit more special.

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Whereas Magnolia stellata is available everywhere,

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you might have to look around more for this one.

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This is a witch hazel, Hamamelis intermedia 'Diane'.

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It's got particularly red flowers.

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Witch hazel flowers are little

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fluttery ribbons

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that spiral off. They're produced

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at the end of winter, before the leaves come out.

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Incredible display,

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especially when the plant gets big.

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It also, as you can begin to see, has fabulous autumn colour.

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I've grown witch hazel before in this garden

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and had a lot of failure and trouble.

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They like a nice, sunny site. That's the way you get the best display.

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So putting it here in the damp garden, it'll have nice, moist soil.

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It'll also get the sun from morning to late afternoon.

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That way, I should get a fantastic display round about February time.

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Witch hazels come from America and Asia.

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Intermedia is a cross between

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Hamamelis mollis, the Chinese witch hazel,

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and japonica, the Japanese one.

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So it's got hybrid vigour.

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Take it out of the pot.

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Rather like magnolias, they do best on a slightly acidic soil.

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Now, is that the right aspect?

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This is quite an expensive shrub.

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It cost over 30 quid.

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But any plant that can give you really good flowers

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in winter as well as this stunning autumnal foliage

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is worth money, time and trouble.

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I'm so pleased to have this back with me in the garden.

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But you don't need a fancy plant

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to get good colour at this time of year.

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Carol has been to Thorp Perrow,

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to the arboretum there, to relish the autumnal colours.

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Well, autumn's well and truly here.

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It's the time of year

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that sees the most definite changes in our garden,

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the time that announces that winter's on its way.

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Although the change is gradual,

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it's also intensified by these huge splashes of colour.

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And they're seen most clearly in trees and shrubs.

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What better place to see this change than in an arboretum?

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Thorp Perrow Arboretum is set within 80 acres

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of beautiful parkland in North Yorkshire.

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Arboreta like this

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are the perfect places to gather inspiration

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for autumn colour for us to incorporate into our own gardens.

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I suppose with autumn colour, it's leaves that we think of immediately.

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But of course, autumn's also the season of mellow fruitfulness,

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and it's at this time of year when trees and shrubs

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display these wonderful berries

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that have taken them all year to produce.

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This is a particularly fine example.

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This is Euonymus hamiltonianus, and it's from Asia,

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from Korea and China and Japan.

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And as well as these pink-tinged leaves,

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it's got these beautiful, magnificent pink fruits.

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When they split apart, they're full of these seeds

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coated in orange flesh, almost fluorescent.

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What a beautiful picture.

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If you want to bring fiery drama to your borders,

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Cotinus coggygria, the smoke bush, sets a whole garden aflame.

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It's easily grown,

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and there are green and purple leaf forms,

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both attractive from the moment their leaves emerge in the spring,

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though it's now, in the autumn,

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that they lend special enchantment to the garden,

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when the whole shrub positively glows.

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Decaisnea fargesiis, surely one of the most spectacular,

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the most exotic shrubs you could have in your garden.

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All this foliage turns to glowing gold.

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And as if that wasn't enough,

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just look at the fruit.

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Isn't that brilliant?

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This gives it its name, the blue bean tree.

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Just look at that. Isn't that spectacular?

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There are these rows of seed in serried ranks,

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and they're surrounded by this sort of sticky flesh.

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You can just imagine,

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as the weight of these pods brings them down to the ground,

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birds and small mammals rush in,

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chew the flesh and then either wipe it off

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or it goes straight through them.

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And it germinates and another Decaisnea fargesii is created.

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As the first strong winds of autumn bring the leaves

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crashing to the ground, the trees are revealed

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in all their stark simplicity.

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You can really appreciate their architecture.

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For a full six months of the year, trees are without their leaves.

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But if you choose a tree with beautiful bark,

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then your enjoyment of it is twofold for all that time.

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This is a beautiful example. It's Prunus serrula,

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and you really can

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hardly keep your hands off it.

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You just want to polish this perfect bark.

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The white bark of Betula jacquemontii

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has become a familiar sight, especially in show gardens.

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But other birches are equally desirable.

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Betula albosinensis is a medium-sized tree

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with peeling, papery pink bark.

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It can be grown with a single trunk or as a multi-stemmed specimen.

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Few of us will ever have the pleasure

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of owning an arboretum like Thorp Perrow,

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but we can all take away inspiration from places like this.

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All around the country,

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there are glorious arboreta full of autumn interest

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to visit at this time of year.

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Near Peebles, there's the Dawyck Botanic Garden.

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There's Winkworth Arboretum in Surrey,

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and Batsford Arboretum in Gloucestershire

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has an autumnal walk,

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the Golden Mile.

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You can go to our website for even more suggestions.

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I don't think I can remember a year that's been so good for sweet peas.

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They flowered constantly from July

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right through to the middle of October, and every ten days,

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we've picked at least two big buckets full

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and the house has been full of them for months and months.

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I sowed these in March, and they've done well.

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But there is debate whether that's the best way,

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whether you should sow them in October, in early spring

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or even sow them direct in the middle of spring.

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So thinking about next year,

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I thought we'd do a trial on our sweet peas.

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The nature of the trial will be to see which is the best time

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to sow sweet peas to get maximum flowers for as long as possible.

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Now, I'm going to sow the same sweet pea in October, March

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and then directly in April.

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It's a variety called Monty Don,

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which is the grandiflora type.

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It's got a lovely ruby, purpley colour

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and a splendid sweet pea.

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And each of them I'm going to sew in exactly the same way.

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In three-inch pots with a decent potting compost.

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I've added some grit and some home-made compost.

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But it's the same formula and I'll use it again in March.

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I'm going to put three peas per pot.

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And then these will be planted out when I've done all three,

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side by side, on three wig-wams in a piece of trial ground.

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And we'll see how they turn out.

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And really we won't be able to draw many conclusions

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until this time next year. It's a long-term project

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because it could well be that early-sewn ones look good early on

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but stop flowering earlier or later ones come up on the outside.

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I tend to grow sweet peas in these three-inch pots

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and it works perfectly well for me.

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The main thing is to use something with a nice deep space

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for the roots to grow down in.

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It could be a purposefully made container like that.

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You can use an old loo roll.

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Whatever it is - lots of depth, so you get nice deep roots.

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I don't soak my sweet peas, I don't nick them with a penknife,

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I know lots of books will say that's a good idea

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but actually, I've not found any need.

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They grow perfectly well in compost.

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And there we have identical peas

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and I put three per pot.

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The big disadvantage of growing sweet peas now for me

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is that they do have to be protected over winter

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so you either need a greenhouse or a cold frame

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or even a very sheltered corner, but I certainly wouldn't leave them outside unprotected

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if we had a winter like we did last year.

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The advantage of course is that they will develop into nice, strong, bushy plants

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when they're ready to be planted out - good and early.

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Right, I'll give those a good soak and put them in a greenhouse

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and that's part one of this trial completed.

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Part two will follow in March.

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You can buy sweet peas in most garden centres at this time of year,

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almost any time of year, actually, with a wide range of varieties

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and you can take for granted that all seeds are always available,

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but in fact that's not true,

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and particularly with a lot of vegetable varieties.

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A lot of the more interesting or rarer ones have disappeared

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and are very hard to get hold of

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because DEFRA has a list of approved varieties

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and if they don't appear on that list, they can't be sold

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and if it wasn't for the likes of the Heritage Seed Library at Ryton,

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many more would vanish and they would never be available again,

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so the work they do is really important.

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The Heritage Seed Library is a collection of vegetable varieties,

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about 800, that we conserve here at Ryton Gardens.

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The important thing about some of these varieties is that

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they might be useful in the future for breeding work,

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but also some of them are specifically good for gardens,

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rather than potentially large-scale agriculture

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or for niche growing things in poor soils et cetera,

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so there's quite a range of why people might want them

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and also some of them are obviously quite unique

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and different to some of the varieties you get today.

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This is radish Rat's Tail. It's a podding radish.

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What I mean by that is that you grow it for these pods

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rather than for the root

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and you can see why it gets its name, Rat's Tail.

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It produces these long, almost like a rat's tail.

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And these are what you eat so you can just take a bit off there.

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Just have a taste.

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And it has - the first bite is quite clean

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and then you get a real peppery aftertaste.

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This is the tomato White Beauty.

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Not quite white, but quite pale.

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You'll see that you'll get some yellow tomatoes

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and you'll get the red ones, but this is a very pale yellow variety.

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This variety is lettuce Bronze Arrow,

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an old variety from America, from the West Coast.

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We've done some trials against commercial varieties with this

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and it came top for the taste and disease resistance.

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Taste with varieties is very subjective.

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People will rave and say, these are much better than the old varieties.

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I think it can be said and we've had lots of people come back and say,

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"That reminds me of what I used to eat when I was younger."

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It's one of those strange ones that you can't measure,

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but it's been said that some of the older varieties

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have a lot more taste than some of the modern ones.

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Now this is broad bean Crimson Flowered,

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one of our greatest success stories.

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It was donated to us by Rhoda Cutbush and her sister in 1978.

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Her father and grandfather before that had been growing it.

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She gave us three beans that were in a tin and from that,

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we've bulked it up and gardeners are growing that all round the country.

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One of the things with broad beans is that people ask us

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how dry do the pods have to be before they're ready to harvest.

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In a word, very dry.

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You can almost hear, they rattle as you hold them,

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they're very dark black.

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You basically just open them, crack open like that

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and you end up with the seed inside already dried,

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ready to sew for next year.

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The varieties you'll find in lots of catalogues

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tend to be the hybrid varieties which tend to be very uniform,

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they tend to mature at the same time and be quite standardised.

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The varieties we have in our catalogue are quite varied,

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maturing at different times.

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We can't sell you these seeds, so we have a membership scheme.

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You join as a member, we provide you with a catalogue once a year

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and from that, you can choose free seed.

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We want people to try these varieties, we want them to eat them,

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we want them to taste and enjoy them and save some of the seed from them

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so that they can grow them again the next year if they enjoy them.

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Now, I always get a sense of guilt at this time of year

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that I've missed the boat in planting spring bulbs,

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because in August and September, it can feel terribly early.

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It still feels like summer, the ground is really hard

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and somehow that emotional connection with next spring isn't there,

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but it's not too late to do it now

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and you can have wonderful spring bulbs as early as next February, and then March and April

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and that's what I'm going to do now

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because I want to plant some anemones in this part of the garden.

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And we did plant a whole mass of crocus in here a few years ago

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and every February, they come up and look really good for a week or two - and that's it,

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so I want to increase that planting

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especially for spring before the leaf cover comes in

0:22:120:22:15

and anemones are perfect. These are Anemone blanda.

0:22:150:22:18

You can get them in white, blue, pink

0:22:180:22:21

and they flower roundabout March into April time.

0:22:210:22:25

Perfect for the edge of woodland, dappled shade

0:22:250:22:28

and of course, because the foliage won't be out,

0:22:280:22:31

there's plenty of light in here up until April

0:22:310:22:33

-and they should do really well.

-PIGS SQUEAL

0:22:330:22:35

Even the pigs think so.

0:22:350:22:37

I've got 150 tubers in here of a variety called White Splendour,

0:22:370:22:42

because I want a swathe of the white daisy-like flowers underneath the trees.

0:22:420:22:47

However, you can get them in mixed colours

0:22:470:22:50

and it's cheaper to do that, particularly if you're buying in small quantities.

0:22:500:22:54

150 of a named species cost me 37 quid.

0:22:540:22:58

These are just £2, £1.99 I think, for 20 mixed

0:22:590:23:03

but if they were a single colour, they would be £2 for five

0:23:030:23:07

so if you're going for a single colour and you want a massed effect,

0:23:070:23:11

shop about and buy them in bulk. It's much, much cheaper.

0:23:110:23:15

Now, you can soak these overnight

0:23:160:23:19

and I have done so in the past, although it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.

0:23:190:23:24

Also, this is a very wet place.

0:23:240:23:25

Although the ground is dry now, you can guarantee this will be sodden over the next few weeks and months,

0:23:250:23:31

so they should be OK,

0:23:310:23:32

but if it's going to be dry and you've got any doubts at all,

0:23:320:23:35

soak them overnight before planting.

0:23:350:23:37

The ground is hard now and planting into there is tough work,

0:23:370:23:41

so I'm going to try a new technique.

0:23:410:23:43

This is an experiment. I've not done this before.

0:23:430:23:45

I read about it the other day, so I don't know if it'll work,

0:23:450:23:49

but I like the idea.

0:23:490:23:50

And that's simply to take the area where they'll be planted

0:23:500:23:53

and give it a good scratching.

0:23:530:23:56

So that the ground is roughened up.

0:23:580:24:00

And then simply sprinkle the tubers on the surface of the soil.

0:24:000:24:06

So we'll just chuck those down.

0:24:060:24:08

They want to be about three or four inches apart

0:24:080:24:11

but don't try to space them, just push them down like that.

0:24:110:24:15

They look alarmingly like something a small dog has left behind.

0:24:150:24:19

I'm covering them with a mixture of leaf mould and compost,

0:24:220:24:26

but actually, soil would do.

0:24:260:24:27

This is just easier for me to use, but it won't do any harm.

0:24:270:24:31

But soil or even sand will do the job

0:24:310:24:34

Of course, the other good thing about this is it will mark where I planted them.

0:24:360:24:40

And that's it.

0:24:400:24:42

The squirrels may come and try to dig them up,

0:24:440:24:47

but they'll get broken teeth cos they're too hard for them,

0:24:470:24:50

and no doubt the dogs will have a scratch around, but we'll see.

0:24:500:24:53

If it works, it's a really easy way to do mass planting of anemones.

0:24:530:24:59

Over the next few days, I shall be planting lots more spring bulbs,

0:25:090:25:13

but here are some other jobs for you to get on with this weekend.

0:25:130:25:17

As the weather gets wilder, now is the time to pick any remaining pears

0:25:190:25:23

so that they don't fall and bruise.

0:25:230:25:26

Pears don't keep very well at the best of times

0:25:260:25:28

and a bruised one will rot quicker than it ripens.

0:25:280:25:32

Store them carefully in a cool, dark place and check them often

0:25:320:25:36

because as soon as they're ripe, you should eat them.

0:25:360:25:39

If your shrub roses have put on vigorous growth in the summer months

0:25:430:25:47

these can act like a sail in winter winds, damaging the roots.

0:25:470:25:51

You can both protect them and prune them at the same time

0:25:510:25:54

by shearing them back by about a third.

0:25:540:25:57

It's a good time now to give your greenhouse a really good clean-out.

0:26:010:26:05

This will maximise the winter sun

0:26:050:26:07

and also get rid of any lurking pests and diseases.

0:26:070:26:11

Choose a dry day and then give it a thorough scrub

0:26:110:26:13

with a mix of warm water and a splash of washing-up liquid

0:26:130:26:17

and get into every nook and cranny.

0:26:170:26:21

Then leave it wide open so it can dry properly before evening.

0:26:210:26:25

Now, the scattering on the ground and covering up system

0:26:330:26:37

works really well for Anemone blanda,

0:26:370:26:39

but it will be no good for daffodils or any of the more conventional bulbs.

0:26:390:26:43

They need to be in the ground.

0:26:430:26:45

And here on the cricket pitch, we've got some daffodils

0:26:450:26:48

at the top left-hand corner, and I want to fill it up.

0:26:480:26:51

I managed to get hold of some wild daffodils.

0:26:530:26:56

This is pseudonarcissus.

0:26:560:26:59

You can see that the bulbs are tiny.

0:27:010:27:04

Now, I've bought 500 of these,

0:27:050:27:08

but whether you're planting a big bulb or small,

0:27:080:27:11

the technique is just the same.

0:27:110:27:13

Take a handful and just go like this.

0:27:140:27:16

And that will always look much more natural than the most artful placing

0:27:180:27:22

you can do, because it is uncanny how the eye reverts to a grid.

0:27:220:27:26

By the way, if you're thinking of planting daffodils in long grass,

0:27:260:27:31

just remember you can't cut the grass until the daffodil leaves have died down

0:27:310:27:36

and that's going to be June at the earliest and could easily be July.

0:27:360:27:39

There we go. That will go in the ground.

0:27:400:27:43

Get it in the ground at least its own depth again deep.

0:27:430:27:46

That's better. That pops in there.

0:27:470:27:50

When I've got all the bulbs in the ground,

0:27:500:27:53

it'll be covered with little pot marks

0:27:530:27:55

so I'll go over it with some compost and work it in with a stiff brush

0:27:550:27:59

and that will fill it all up and then it'll be done and ready.

0:27:590:28:02

The reason why I want to get it done

0:28:020:28:04

is because you never know at this time of year what the weather's going to do.

0:28:040:28:08

It could be frosty, it could be stormy, it could be glorious.

0:28:080:28:11

So if I get it in the ground, that's it. I can rest.

0:28:110:28:14

But whatever the weather's like,

0:28:140:28:16

I'll be back next Friday here at Long Meadow at 8pm.

0:28:160:28:19

So join me then. Bye-bye.

0:28:190:28:22

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