Episode 4 Gardeners' World

Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

I know that there's masses to do to get the garden ready for summer,

but now we're in April I have to remind myself to stop.

This is spring - it's here and now.

Enjoy every second of it.

This week, I'm continuing the rejuvenation of the Jewel Garden

by adding shrubs for intense flower and foliage colour.

And now the soil is warming up, I can start to sow and plant some veg.

Carol visits Mount Edgcombe,

which is one of the best gardens in the country for camellias.

I don't suppose anybody realises

when they bring home this little plant,

that it could grow into something as vast as this!

Rachel goes behind the scenes at RHS Wisley to inspect a rather mysterious brew.

This must be the hub of the operation.

Yeah, it certainly is.

-It's getting a bit potent now.

-Oh, my goodness!

At this stage of the season, the spring garden goes into a new phase.

Throughout February and March, it's really carrying us through winter

with the snowdrops and the aconites and the crocuses.

And they are lovely but they are little beacons of hope.

Now it's beefing up and there's a new wave of plants coming through.

For example, snowdrops are gone but the snowflake is here.

That's coming through.

Lovely. But the dominant flower are hellebores.

Although most of the hellebores in the spring garden are oriental hybrids,

and they have hybridised with each other to make a slightly muddy pink.

But the overall effect is still lovely.

Even though the massed effect is really good,

it doesn't mean to say that you shouldn't notice the tiny details.

For example, this hellebore,

which from the top is white and quite pretty,

but if you lift it up like that it's got these lovely speckles inside.

Right next to it, these snake's head fritillaries.

The combination I'd love to take credit for,

but the truth is it's a happy accident

that the colours of this and the colour of the fritillaries

perfectly blend in.

And these plants, the fritillaries and the hellebore, like this rich,

wet soil, so they are perfect in every way as partners together.

This is the Jewel Garden.

And it's a formal space, practically square.

Four big beds edged with box -

all very geometrical and symmetrical.

But the idea behind it is to have a kind of riotous anarchy of colour

within an enclosed context,

like a box of jewels spilling over onto a table.

That's what we've tried to achieve over the last 14 years since we started planting it.

It's a process that's ongoing. You buy plants that you like that you think fit a colour scheme,

add to them, change, divide - the whole thing is changing

almost from day to day, as well as from season to season.

But this last year, we did a dramatic change here.

Last autumn, we decided to bite the bullet and tackle the growing

bindweed problem in the Jewel Garden.

All the plants were lifted, the roots scrupulously cleaned and the beds were thoroughly weeded.

Gradually, we're now starting to replant.

Today I'm adding some shrubs, and these will give the beds height

and structure as well as providing individual colour of leaf and flower.

Now... I've got a foliage plant here.

It's Cotinus Royal Purple,

and I'm growing it because it's got the most wonderful, intense colour.

The reason why purple foliage works so well in the Jewel Garden

is that as a backdrop, it makes bright colours look brighter.

Plants shine out against that purple backdrop, so it's very useful.

So that's the good thing.

The difficult thing is we find they struggle to get established.

Because our soil is so rich,

other plants that are lusty - annuals, herbaceous plants -

tend to shade them out and simply block the light from the leaves.

As a rule of thumb, I would say

always plant purple foliage plants in full sun.

What I'll have to do is make sure the plants around it

don't give it a hard time and don't shade it out.

Although these borders cover a big area by any standards,

in fact they're so organised that nothing's very far away from a path.

For example, I'm now as far away from a path

as I can be and yet I'm a metre or so from there and two metres from there.

It's a good idea if you want to make a big border -

don't necessarily put it backing onto a wall or hedge.

It can be accessible from all sides.

It gives you the sense of space but you can smell them,

see them and touch most of them, too.

What I'm putting in here is another shrub.

Instead of one that uses foliage for its effect,

this is all about flowers.

This is Buddleja Black Knight.

Really rich purple.

It comes from the shaley slopes of the Himalayas.

The seeds are spread by wind,

which is why you see it by railways and up on roofs and chimney pots,

because it loves lime, so it goes in the mortar of buildings.

It's a plant that gets in exactly where it wants to be.

And, of course, these enormous flowers of a really rich and deep purple.

Buddleja flowers are produced on new growth,

so this one can be pruned back hard

the minute I've got it in the ground.

And the time to prune Buddleja...

is February or March.

That will give you good flowers from July,

but it doesn't matter if you don't prune it till April.

It just won't flower till later in the summer,

but they certainly will grow almost anywhere.

That will grow back and give me the best possible flowers.

Buddlejas are very happy in lime but some plants really can't abide it.

They are acacias plants. One of the key ones of those are camellias.

At this time of year, they're at their very best if they have the right soil conditions.

Carol has gone along to Mount Edgcumbe, where the soil is perfect for camellias.

Mount Edgcumbe estate is just across the river from Plymouth,

where the Tamar meets the sea.

There are so many camellias thriving in its grounds

that the park has been recognised by the International Camellia Society

as a garden of excellence.

Only 16 other gardens in the entire world share that accolade.

Most of our gardens are just getting going

but here's one plant that's at its absolute peak right now.

Not only has it got gorgeous, glossy foliage

glistening out and announcing the spring,

but the whole things are covered with these most exuberant

and glamorous of flowers in every shade of pink and white,

in all manner of forms.

It's just lovely - spring has arrived!

There are literally thousands of different camellias.

But as far as we gardeners are concerned,

they fall into two main groups.

On the one hand, there are the japonicas.

On the other hand, the williamsii.

The advantage of japonicas is that

they have the widest range of colour and of different cultivars,

but they're not tremendously hardy so they're most suitable to be grown in the south of the country.

But as far as the williamsii go, they can be grown practically anywhere.

The foliage stays glossy and gorgeous even in severe weather -

and what beautiful flowers they are, too!

Lee Stenning has been tending the camellias here for 19 years.

What - more camellias?

You can never have enough camellias!

CAROL CHUCKLES

There's a really fine collection here, Lee.

Thank you very much. It's been a lot of work over the years.

The conditions must be absolutely perfect for them.

We are very fortunate -

we've got a good acid soil at 5.5.

We have lots and lots of sunlight and lots and lots of rain.

One more camellia - how many have you got now?

We now have 1000 cultivars in the collection.

Right. And how many to go?

-Worldwide, there's another 36,000 to collect.

-Is that all?!

You must find yourself getting obsessed by camellias.

I suppose obsession would be one word to put it.

There'll so many different types and we are always on the lookout for new, different forms and varieties.

We are very fortunate to be where we are today.

Talking about different forms, this is a very unusual camellia.

This is called CF Coates.

It's a fishtail camellia.

It looks quite straightforward, but it's the foliage, isn't it?

It's not the flowers that are different.

Look at that! It's fascinating.

With this extra little leaf

at the end. It's beautiful, I've never seen anything like it.

I don't suppose anybody realises, when they bring home this little plant,

that it could grow into something as vast as this.

People have realised how big they become.

A lady a few years ago, I had a phone call, she said, "I planted two camellias outside my house.

"I can no longer get into my front door and I have no light in my window."

So just beware what you are buying and how big eventually they can become.

Fortunately, they can be given a good short-back-and-sides every once in a while.

As you can see from the shape, it's actually become very dangly.

So what I'm after is that nice, even shape until we can take...

You mustn't be afraid of camellias, you can really reduce them.

You can take a really mature camellia down to two thirds.

People are scared, and you mustn't be scared of pruning.

I'm going to cut just above a node.

That's a place where the leaf or the new shoot actually emerges.

-That's right.

-Here...

-like that.

-Perfect.

-Comme ca!

I'm enjoying this.

So this is the right time to prune it, when it's finished flowering

and it's got this dormant period before you get this flush of new growth.

You've got to remember when you start to prune that it can affect flowering the following year.

Yes, but it's worth it, because the year after it's going to have belting flowers.

-Masses and masses of flowers.

-I'm coming back to have a look.

The camellias at Mount Edgcumbe Country Park are looking better than ever.

But if you can't get to Cornwall, there are plenty of other

camellia displays to enjoy around the country over the coming weeks.

The garden at East Bergholt Place in Suffolk has a stunning collection.

Whilst Renishaw Hall,

near Sheffield, has an impressive woodland camellia walk.

And those at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire are looking fantastic, too.

For even more suggestions, go to our website...

Have a look at this, because I only noticed it yesterday.

We've got primroses in the copse and there are cowslips along the edge.

Moving to this bit of woodland, they hybridise and we get false oxlips.

This popped up yesterday, it only came into flower. Look at the colour on that -

it's amazing!

What's really extraordinary to me is I know for a fact we've only planted

yellow primroses and yellow cowslips, and that colour has come from some parentage way back.

That's a normal one, that's what I'd expect to see.

But it's thrown up that. That's a gift.

# Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work

# Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work

# Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work

# Or you'll end up where you came from, like the rest of us

# Start digging, digging, digging

# Do-da-deedle-aw. #

This is our top a veg plot.

The idea is to keep this as a contained vegetable garden that will grow all the vegetables

we possibly can, so that you can have a supply of delicious vegetables

right throughout the year on a plot this size.

I tell you what, you can grow an awful lot in here.

So we've got four beds.

This one, which starts off with legumes and alliums.

This one is going to be for potatoes and other roots.

This one for brassica.

And this one for root crops, particularly carrots, parsnips and then I will inter-fill

and dot around lettuce and salad crops and things like sweet corn, as and when space comes up.

But the job in hand is to get the new potatoes in.

Now...

Potatoes were traditionally planted round about Easter, but Easter is later this year...

So it's worth getting them in as soon as you can, particularly if you are planting earlies.

Although potatoes will grow almost anywhere, it's a good idea to rake the soil off so you can work it.

And so that it feels nice to handle.

There is a tip about planting anything, is if the soil feels cold, then nothing will grow.

In fact, the old farmers used to take their braces off,

drop their britches and sit on the soil with their bare backsides.

If that felt cold, then they didn't plant.

I shall restrict myself to my hand.

For your sake, if not just for mine!

That's fine, that's warm and prepared.

There's no magic about planting potatoes.

But I've just worked out a system that works well for me.

So I can recommend it. I used a mattock.

If you get hold of one of these tools, they are fantastic.

I'll draw a trench along the line of the board, like this.

Then at the end, just chop it back.

The distance apart of rows for potatoes, what you've got to think of

is partly the growing distance but also they have got to be earthed up.

So you've got to have room to get in and draw the soil up on either side.

With new potatoes they can be closer than for main crop, but really 3ft.

A much less than 3 ft and a lot of cramping goes on.

Draw that through.

The beauty of a mattock is you can work sideways or straight on.

Potatoes will clean the soil up.

So if it's a bit stony or a bit weedy or heavy, don't worry.

Potatoes are ideal for sorting out a rough piece of ground.

Along the bottom of the trench, I'm going to put some compost.

This is garden compost.

I'm just going to sprinkle it along.

You don't need a lot.

This is to give them a kick-start.

I've got two varieties of potatoes.

We've got Red Duke of York, which is a first early.

We want that to be ready for harvesting around about the time

of my birthday, which is the beginning of July.

This is Charlotte, a second early, which will stay in the ground

until October if you want, but should be ready for harvesting about the middle-to-end of July.

I'm going to put in the first earlies in first.

They can stay to chit a bit longer.

The advantage of chitting a new potato is it does harvest earlier.

Just stick them in the ground. New potatoes can go in about a foot apart.

The main crop a little bit wider.

The closer they are together, the smaller the potatoes will be.

It's exciting this. Always, this moment - you've got warm sun,

warm soil, the first potatoes of the year going in. There's a ritual to that.

You are connecting to something - I love it.

At that stage, they are ready to be covered over.

All I'm going to do is this.

And you notice I'm heaping the soil up over the top of them.

This is to protect them from frost.

Here is a tip.

What I like to do is sprinkle some rocket, or radish will do, any vegetable that grows really fast,

on top of the ridge.

It's just going to give a quick catch crop

and you are using the ground.

We will sprinkle in there.

Before you need to earth it up and before the potatoes start appearing,

you will get a nice harvest of salad leaves.

Now, Rachel has been to Wisley

to explore the virtues of tea.

But I suspect that it's not tea that she'll be wanting to drink.

I love this place.

It's impossible to come here and not be inspired.

Keeping 60 acres looking this gorgeous isn't just an art, it's a science.

And to keep ahead, they've been experimenting with a completely new kind of plant feed.

It's called compost tea, and it's got the horticultural world buzzing.

They first started using it in the propagation greenhouses.

Sam Gallivan is responsible for raising the garden's new plants.

Each year, she raises thousands of seedlings.

So this must be the hub of the operation.

Certainly is.

It's getting a bit potent.

Oh, my goodness.

-It's very strong.

-Quite unpleasant. Real hubble-bubble going on!

-It certainly is.

-What is actually going on in here?

-We're basically brewing microbes.

We're not extracting any nutrients or anything.

We are just creating a good atmosphere for the microbes to actually grow.

We're used to using feeds to increase nutrients, literally to feed the plant.

This is not doing that?

No, we're not feeding. We're not feeding.

What we're doing is brewing the microbes

that will then go into the soil

and make a better environment for the roots for the plants.

When we say "microbes", what are we talking about?

Good bacteria, good nematodes, good fungus. That's what we're looking at.

-So what goes into that? What are the ingredients?

-I've got some over here.

-This is a box of the ingredients that we've got here.

-Right.

This is what we normally get supplied.

-It's something that we buy in.

-It doesn't say, it just says "Ingredient 3", which is rather mysterious.

Nobody really knows what is in here.

It is a bit of a mystery. You'll love that one.

Oh, that's terrible. That is fishy. That's the fishy one!

That's the one that creates the smell.

And a big bag here of compost.

That's where the actual microorganisms are.

And all of that goes in here?

Yes.

Lucie, this is one of my favourite places at Wisley.

I always make a beeline for the Alpine House.

-I hear that you're keen on the compost tea?

-I am, yes.

Out of the team of five of us, I use the compost tea the most.

Where do you see the differences?

Well, I've been using it on my hepatica collection.

They're woodland plants. For me, I feel that they're much healthier,

I can see that they flower better.

And when I repot them after flowering and in the early autumn, the roots are much more vigorous.

Do you know how it actually works?

To be honest with you, I can't tell you how it works!

I leave that to the scientists.

All I know is that it works for me, and here's the results.

Exactly, look at it. Wonderful.

How do you think the composting might be working?

What's happening there?

One of the theories is that, microbiologically,

it competes with fungi

and other problems that growers may experience.

Compost tea is incredibly complicated.

It's microbial-active, so there could be benefits of the microbes.

It's chemically active, so there could be benefits of the chemicals.

It's difficult for science to pin down what it is that's having a beneficial effect.

-No straightforward answers!

-It would be lovely to give a definitive answer, but it's complicated!

The RHS very much sets the standards, and of course you guys know exactly what you're doing,

so doesn't the fact that it's all a bit "muck and magic" worry you?

It doesn't worry me, because in gardening,

there are so many things we do

that could be described as muck and magic.

Adding manure to the soil,

mulching - where is the evidence

that it actually scientifically works?

But as gardeners, WE know it works.

That's why we do those jobs in the garden, and we see the end product.

So it's as if the horticulture's ahead of the science?

It is, because then the science catches up and looks for how things are working.

You're so enthusiastic about it, I'm going to give it a try. Thank you very much indeed.

-It's been fascinating.

-Good luck!

It is completely fascinating, and it does reinforce

what I've felt for years, that there is a magic in compost that is life.

It's more than just fertilisation, it's actually triggering life,

even though we can only guess at the complexity of it.

However, getting hold of the compost tea kits is an expensive business.

The cheapest that I could find was nearly £600.

There are garden centres that are brewing it, so if you find one, you could go along and try it yourself.

But there's nothing stopping any of us making as much garden compost as we can, and it is wonderful stuff.

Nothing does the garden more good.

Now, my tomato production line is already running pretty well.

I sowed my first seeds in February -

this is San Marzano, which is a great Italian tomato

that Italians love best for making sauce -

from a packet of seed, and I've got plenty of seed left.

The packet of seed probably cost me about £3.50.

Now I've pricked some out into here.

The pricking-out process if you sow seed like that is very easy.

Just hold it by a leaf, tease one out, and you'll see plenty of root on that. Nice root system.

Never hold by the stem, always hold by the leaf.

Then that can go into a plug or a pot and grow on.

I've only sown these early because they're going in a greenhouse. It's not too late to sow tomatoes.

If you're going to grow them outdoors, now is the perfect time.

New to garden centres this year are grafted tomatoes.

These are grafted Belriccio, which I've not grown before.

So you get three little plants like that.

And the graft means that you have a different root to the top.

You have the roots of one with the stem

grafted on to the top growth of another.

So you get all the vigour of the roots,

and the variety

and hopefully the taste of the top.

That's the theory.

BUT these plants cost over £3 each.

A box like that is ten quid, or £9.99.

For ten quid, I can buy two or three or four packets of seed, each of which will produce dozens of plants.

If you do buy plants, it might be interesting to try them, particularly if you grow them

in a greenhouse in soil where you don't change the soil.

There might be real advantages.

If you're going to give it a go, try buying some grafted plants and compare them to your other types.

I would be very interested to hear from you at the end of the season.

As it is, I'll grow these on, compare them to the ones I grow from seed, and we'll see how they do.

As well as getting your tomatoes under way, there are plenty of other jobs to get on with this weekend.

Growing clematis in the middle of a border adds height and drama.

But like all climbers, they need to be given support right from the start.

Bamboo canes will do the job, but I prefer to use hazel beanpoles cut from a local coppice.

Now is the best time to sow tender annuals.

Sunflowers, cosmos, nicotiana, zinnia, they're all very quick and easy to grow.

I like to sow large ones in modules and use a seed tray to scatter smaller seed.

When you sow them, move them somewhere warm and light, and water them well.

You'll remember that I forced my rhubarb a few weeks ago.

I guess this will be ready now. There you are.

Look at that. The thing about forced rhubarb is that it's sweeter than anything else.

Remember, when you're picking rhubarb, you pull from the base, you don't cut it.

Anyway, that will be delicious. I'll be eating that this weekend.

And I'll see you here next Friday.

Bye-bye.

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