Episode 6 Gardeners' World


Episode 6

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Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World

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and the most glorious spring day here at Long Meadow.

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In my ornamental vegetable garden,

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I will be showing you how veg can be as beautiful as they are delicious.

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Euphorbias are so versatile, that there is virtually one

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for every part of every garden.

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Daffodils are now coming to an end, but Carol discovers

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some older varieties that you can grow to extend the season.

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Full of personality, look at the way they're just moving in the wind.

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Rachel helps a gardener whose borders are in danger of being overwhelmed with shrubs.

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It's not a thing of great beauty yet!

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But it will be.

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One of the many delights of this time of year is

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the way that deciduous hedges are coming in to new leaf.

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These are hornbeam, and we have masses of it

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at Long Meadow. It does well in our soil.

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It has brown leaves all winter, and then these fall off

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because they are pushed aside by these new leaf buds

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that are coming through and opening out.

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In a few weeks' time, this will be a green wall of that incredible

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lustrous green you get in May and at the end of April.

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It frames what we call the cricket pitch,

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which is a fanciful name, really, because we only once

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had a cricket net up here where the children played,

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but that hasn't been the case for ten years.

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We let the grass grow long and we have put bulbs into it.

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You can see there are daffodils nearly over,

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we have had crocus and a few fritillaries.

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That's what I want to increase today

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because fritillaries do really well on our soil.

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This is Fritillaria meleagris, which is the Snake's Head fritillary.

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I bought these in flower from the internet

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and you can see they are a delicate bundle.

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To buy them in flower like that costs about £22 for 50

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whereas to buy them as bulbs which you would plant in autumn

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would be £25 for 100, so roughly twice the price.

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The real advantage is that you can see what it looks like.

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You can put them in now and plan the way that they look.

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Also, you get that instant gratification, let's be honest.

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It's nice to see results straightaway.

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I'm planting them with a trowel, just chopping out the soil

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and popping them gently in, and they are quite fragile things.

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Snake's Head fritillaries will naturalise

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and there are wonderful examples.

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Magdalen College, Oxford, has a meadow full of fritillaries

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and at Cricklade, there's fields of them

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and they spread by seed and that is what I want to happen here.

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But it's a slow process, probably not in my lifetime

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will they become a great meadow, but they will spread gradually.

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That's fine like that.

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And...

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..what they like is ground that doesn't dry out in summer.

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They are from water meadows so that they flood in winter

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and then they flower

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and then the grass grows up and gets cut for hay

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and the seed, of course, has fallen by then and it is spread on the ground

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and the haymaking process spreads it.

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In gardening terms, all that means is if you don't want long grass,

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then don't plant bulbs into it

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because if you cut the leaves off before they set seed

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you will find that all your bulbs will disappear.

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One of the things that I particularly like about fritillaries is that they extend the bulb season.

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They're a link between the early spring bulbs

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and then the great burgeoning of spring.

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The daffodils here are almost over now

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and were by the beginning of the month.

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Increasingly modern varieties of daffodils tend to finish quickly,

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but Carol has been to the Garden House in Devon

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where they have a mass of extraordinary daffodils

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and particularly some that are very good for extending the season.

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Narcissus are synonymous with spring.

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It is the Latin name for a genus of bulbs in the amaryllis family,

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flowering mainly in the spring and native to Europe and North Africa.

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Usually we call them daffodils and when those big, vibrant,

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rich yellow flowers appear, we know spring has arrived.

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Right now, though, many of them are coming to the end of their show.

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But luckily, there is a whole range of old heritage varieties that are just coming into their prime.

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Matt Bishop, curator of the Garden House in North Devon,

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has a real passion for these very special daffodils.

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These are a far cry from modern cultivars where

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the breeding trend has been towards bigger, brighter, bolder plants.

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These are a narcissus called Stella and these are subtle, their segments

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twist and they've got an irregularity about them.

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If you look across a whole clump,

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between each flower, there is some variation in shape.

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They're not all standardised, are they?

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Not at all, and that really is part of their charm.

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Full of personality, look at the way they are just moving in the wind.

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It is just absolutely beautiful.

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Heritage varieties are difficult to categorise.

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They were generally grown before daffodils became really popular

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and commonplace with commercial breeders,

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who developed the shape and colours with which we are familiar today.

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I think that Narcissus cyclamineus has to be my all-time favourite.

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It is a very un-daffodil-like daffodil, isn't it?

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But tremendously important because of its features.

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Its swept-back, rather frightened-looking flowers -

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the breeders have been trying to incorporate this feature

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into their hybrids. They are

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going over a bit, but are already fattening their seed capsules.

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So lots of these are of self-sown?

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They do, they seed around. We started with a small patch,

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and we have ended up with a great drift.

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It's difficult to buy as dry bulbs, isn't it, cos the bulbs are so tiny.

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It is much better in many ways to buy them in pots

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when they are in flower.

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You can see what you've got

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-and you stand a chance of getting your own seed.

-Exactly, yes.

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Although it's true to say heritage varieties are unusual and special,

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with a bit of determination, most of them can be tracked down.

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Sulphur Phoenix is an antique daffodil with no trumpet.

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It dates back at least to the 1800s.

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I love its poise, its gentle colouring and the way in which

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each petal is separate from the rest,

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completely un-muddled.

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If you love trumpet daffodils,

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what could be more refined than Narcissus johnstonii?

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Its deportment is impeccable

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and its colour as pale as the best lemon souffle.

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One of the most exciting parts of all this is creating your own daffodil,

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crossing to different ones.

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Taking chance out of the equation rather than just leaving it

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to nature, you can have a go yourself and cross to parents that

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you have picked out and hopefully they will inherit the features

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you like from either parent.

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First of all you have to have one growing.

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Here is one I potted earlier, so I am going to

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do the sacrilege bit, if you're a poor daffodil flower.

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I am snipping off all of the segments from the outside

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and that allows better access to the trumpet.

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Now I am going to insert the scissors down the edge of the corona

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and insert them just inside there like that

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and snip all the way around.

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-It's real surgery, isn't it?

-It is, a bit.

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Now they are all exposed, what I'm going to do...

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All those important sexual bits?

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Yes, I am going to remove those anthers.

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The anthers are the bits that bear the pollen?

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Yeah. And by removing them before they have shed the pollen,

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I am completely eliminating any chances of self-pollination.

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So your stigma's there in the middle?

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Yes, ready to receive pollen.

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-Ready and waiting!

-Now we get down and dirty.

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What we're going to do now is to

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reveal the anthers which we're going to apply to the stigma.

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Yank off this here and just get those anthers exposed

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and the anthers are covered in nice, fluffy pollen.

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We're going to apply the pollen to the stigma, and that is about it.

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Right.

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So you're going to wait for that seed capsule to form?

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Yes and probably in about six to eight weeks, just as the leaves are

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dying down, you will notice the seed capsule start to yellow.

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They fatten and go inflated.

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I pick it off, bring it indoors

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and put it in a small container to actually collect the seed in

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a place where you know it is and then sow it immediately.

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When do you expect it to germinate?

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Next spring,

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and then possibly four or five years afterwards, the first flowers.

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It can be well worth the wait?

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Absolutely.

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The Garden House is a truly wonderful garden.

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Other great gardens where you can see spring bulbs

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at their very best right now are

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Coton Manor Gardens in Northampton...

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..the Guy L Wilson Garden in Londonderry in Northern Ireland...

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..and Abbey House Gardens in Wiltshire.

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I think the best way to maintain a good display of daffodils

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is to do nothing, don't deadhead them and

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certainly don't cut the leaves back, let the bulbs develop,

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let them seed themselves, and at the beginning of July,

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you can clear them away, and that way they go on year after year.

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These bulbs, the imperial fritillaries, have been threatening

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to flower for weeks and they've got that particular

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catty foxy smell.

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Some people hate it, but I love it because I associate it

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with the flowers, but now they are flowering,

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and aren't they just amazing? The most dramatic plant we grow.

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I love the erythronium with them, too.

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I was up here last night till 8.45

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pruning these limes, trying to get it done by today.

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I didn't have time to clear up, but certainly, yesterday evening,

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there were no tulips in the spring garden,

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yet this morning, the West Point are starting to flower.

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I love the way at this time of year, you turn your back for

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five minutes and bang! Flowers everywhere.

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The crab apple blossom has appeared just this morning - fantastic.

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I am planting an avenue of artichokes

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here in the ornamental vegetable garden.

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This started out life as our veg patch and gradually over the years,

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it's got more and more ornamental

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but it's still a working vegetable garden

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and for all the fastigiate yews and the box hedging,

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these beds grow food and food that we like to eat.

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And I like that, it's fine, because it's still very much

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a working vegetable garden, but the only proviso is

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it's to look good, so we're choosing our varieties

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for ornamental value as well as taste.

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It's not difficult, you're not having to make

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many compromises, because so many vegetables look fantastic.

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Think of ruby chard and purple podded peas and artichokes and

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climbing beans and then you can put in sweet peas

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and things like that, too.

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By having them along here on either side, I have this ribbon

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and I'm planting a particular variety, called Violetta di Chioggia

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and these are the flowers.

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Don't they look amazing?

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Isn't that beautiful?

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They taste really good, too, and I love artichokes.

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So you've got the perfect combination, and it doesn't

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matter what variety you choose,

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if you're planting them, they do like rich, well-drained soil.

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My soil has had 20 years of muck

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and a little bit of magic to improve it and it was good to start with.

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By the way, aren't these wrapped beautifully?

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They come and they are wrapped up

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in moss,

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isn't that lovely?

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Just take that off.

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And I hardly need to dig, I could almost use my hands,

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but I just turn the soil over, I don't add anything underneath them

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because it is so rich, but if you have very sandy soil,

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add plenty of goodness and if it is very heavy, you do need

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to lighten it up, because they don't like sitting in cold, wet soil.

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When I've have planted them all,

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I'll water them all in and give them a mulch.

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For the first year, I want them to concentrate on developing

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strong roots, so they will throw up a stem with a large flower on it.

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You should cut that off before it gets too big,

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and if they do develop other flowers, which they will later on,

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eat them small, don't let them get bigger than a golf-ball size

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so that the roots get really strong, that means they will over-winter

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much better, and next year you'll get a better harvest.

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I think artichokes last what, three, four years,

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and then you need to replace them,

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but because there are so easy to propagate, that isn't a problem.

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Whatever you do with your veg and however you grow them,

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you'll have to deal with the same problems that we all have to do,

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however common they may be.

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One of the many e-mails and letters we got

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in response to it our garden dilemmas was from Ian Purdy

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and he says very simply, "How do you prevent carrot fly?"

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Well as it happens, Ian, I will be sowing carrots next week,

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so watch next week's programme and we will cover that.

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But I have had many e-mails about shrubs.

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And a couple about shrubs going out of control.

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So, Rachel went along to see if she could help rein them back in.

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She's off to meet Moyra Gardener who lives in Surrey.

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BELL RINGS

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-Hello, Moyra!

-Rachel!

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Hi. Very nice to meet you too.

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-Please come on in.

-Here to see the garden.

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So how long have you been here?

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Well, I came in September, so just six months.

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I wanted a small house with a large garden. And here we are.

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-And you succeeded!

-Yes. Yes.

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But there are some issues I have got.

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You don't have to be in a rush.

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You have been here since September, so you've been through an autumn and

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a winter, but you've not yet seen it in spring and summer.

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So there might be things that perhaps don't look promising now but will be

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beautiful and you might fall in love with them

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and other things that don't work,

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but I know there are areas you really want to tackle now.

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Well, I have already made a start on this part of the border.

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-I have taken out something I thought was dead.

-Right.

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I have created some space, but I am not sure what to do next.

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This doesn't look very good, rather ugly and in the way.

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No. I agree with you completely.

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This is a Choisya ternata,

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which is a great workhorse of a plant,

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but you have got one enormous one.

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You've got this other one at the front.

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It's in completely the wrong place because it is

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right here at the front, so you will be forever hacking back at it

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to try and keep it away from the edge of the grass.

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-Yes.

-So that is something we could get rid of. Will we take that now?

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-OK!

-Let's do it.

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Whoa!

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-Great. I'm just going to drag this off onto the lawn.

-OK.

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This big choisya at the back, and that really is quite a mature thing.

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-Yeah.

-It's sort of trying to take over.

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This is just really encroaching here on the viburnums.

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It's not giving this room to breathe,

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so I think we should try and clear this back here.

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Do it after flowering so you don't lose the flowers.

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We'll lose a certain amount this year,

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but you can see the little buds -

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wait for those lovely flowers, and when they've finished,

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-then you can do it.

-But I can take off some of this that's been frosted?

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Yes, I would take that back now because it doesn't look great,

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-particularly over on that side, I think.

-Right.

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If I'm cutting down into the wood,

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how far down can I go down into the old wood?

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They are very forgiving, so you can cut them back very hard.

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You could do it all in one go, but I think a better approach is to

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do it over three years and take back a third of the oldest stems

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each year, right down to base so it invigorates the plant

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and sends up new growth.

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Well, let's step back and have a look,

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it's always a good plan before we go too far.

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It's looking really much better now.

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A really nice shape and I can see how this viburnum looks better in this context.

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As a backdrop - certainly I don't want to lose it at the moment.

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It's a good start, and look at this space we've created.

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-Yeah.

-Lots of this, let's get rid of all of this.

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Lovely room. Erm, to put in something more interesting

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that's going to give me colour for a longer period of the year.

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Exactly, so shall we put some perennials through the front?

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-That would be exciting, yeah.

-Make it a bit less shrubby.

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I saw you had these lovely big clumps of hemerocallis

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and thought, we'll raid those and use some of them over there.

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-Is this what I call day lily?

-Yes.

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They go from pale yellows right through rich oranges

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to burnt umber, those sort of colours. So, very nice.

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If you get your spade, just push it in right through the middle.

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That's it, there we go.

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-I'll come down this side..

-Yes, come the other way.

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And give it a good...

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Will it go?

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-Yes!

-Well done, excellent.

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They are fibrous roots, but they're quite solid, those roots, as well.

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No, no, that feels right.

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Perfect. Go for it again.

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-Yes!

-Oh, yeah... And this is the right time to divide them?

0:19:110:19:14

Yep, fine to move them now. You can do it in the autumn as well when they finish flowering,

0:19:140:19:19

but there's something about the vigour in their growth at this time of year.

0:19:190:19:22

They sort of want to grow, so I quite like moving them now.

0:19:220:19:25

So, Moira, we could've divided these up even smaller, but I think

0:19:250:19:28

if we keep them to fairly reasonable clumps, you're going to have

0:19:280:19:33

flower colour substantially this year without waiting too long.

0:19:330:19:37

OK. That's great.

0:19:370:19:39

-And I know that you've also been out spending, haven't you?

-Yes.

-Little spend.

0:19:390:19:44

Yes, I've indulged myself with some of those herbaceous plants in those

0:19:440:19:48

strong colours, reds and yellows and so on, that I really like.

0:19:480:19:51

This looks like a great selection.

0:19:510:19:53

I've even put some blue there.

0:19:530:19:55

That's veronica and achillea.

0:19:550:19:58

Gorgeous. So you've got yellows, things like the helenium there.

0:19:580:20:01

You've got rudbeckia and then an achillea.

0:20:010:20:04

Oh, this is terracotta. This I grow masses of.

0:20:040:20:06

It's fantastic.

0:20:060:20:08

It's got really dark, rusty red flowers.

0:20:080:20:11

As they age, they get paler.

0:20:110:20:14

I love that horizontal shape of the flowers, fantastic in a mixed bed.

0:20:140:20:17

-Good.

-You know what I was wondering?

0:20:170:20:19

Because these look like fairly

0:20:190:20:22

good plants, I'm just going to squeeze.

0:20:220:20:23

let's have a look at the rootball.

0:20:230:20:25

What we could do, actually,

0:20:250:20:27

-is get a couple of plants out of this as well.

-Oh, right.

0:20:270:20:29

Divide this. We'll double them up.

0:20:290:20:32

-Yeah. I like that idea.

-Just pull that now.

0:20:320:20:36

-Wow!

-OK?

-Yeah.

0:20:380:20:41

So again we can just bulk that up.

0:20:410:20:43

So that would make a really nice clump if we put four pieces together.

0:20:430:20:46

This is the really fun bit when we try and get

0:20:530:20:55

the combination of shapes, textures and colours just right.

0:20:550:21:01

-I think it's looking good, Moyra.

-I'm absolutely delighted.

0:21:010:21:04

I really love the way, even the leaves already, the lovely contrast,

0:21:040:21:08

the feathery and the silver and the bright green.

0:21:080:21:11

So, hmm, yeah, I'm really excited. It's going to be a great summer.

0:21:110:21:16

It looked to me as though Rachel was having a good time there.

0:21:370:21:41

Getting stuck in.

0:21:410:21:43

Now, this is the Wall Garden.

0:21:430:21:46

I was in here last week sowing some hardy annuals

0:21:460:21:49

and also repairing the grass.

0:21:490:21:51

Look, it seems to be taking well.

0:21:510:21:53

That's knitting, starting to grow.

0:21:530:21:56

Another week, I'll mow that and we'll be able

0:21:560:21:58

to tread on it absolutely as normal.

0:21:580:22:00

The Wall Garden is where we eat, where the children

0:22:000:22:02

have played as they've grown up.

0:22:020:22:04

I want to add some euphorbias.

0:22:040:22:06

There are so many different species of euphorbia.

0:22:060:22:10

There is certainly one you can put anywhere in your garden.

0:22:100:22:12

This is martinii "Tiny Tim"...

0:22:120:22:17

which doesn't get very big.

0:22:170:22:19

It probably grows, 12, 18, maybe two foot in our rich soil.

0:22:190:22:23

Which is fine, because it's in front of the rows, fairly near

0:22:230:22:26

the path - not too near because, as with all euphorbias,

0:22:260:22:31

it does have a sap that can irritate your skin.

0:22:310:22:35

If you've got sensitive skin, it's probably a good idea to wear gloves.

0:22:350:22:41

Now, you don't need to prepare the soil.

0:22:410:22:43

Martinii grows on any good free-draining fairly rich soil in

0:22:430:22:48

full-sun or part-shade, which pretty much fits this description.

0:22:480:22:52

This is west-facing.

0:22:520:22:54

I'll pop that in like that.

0:22:560:22:58

Of course, the point of euphorbias, particularly

0:22:580:23:00

at this time of year, is that they have that electric zing.

0:23:000:23:03

This is beautiful lime green.

0:23:030:23:07

Which no other plants quite gets the same.

0:23:070:23:10

These aren't the flowers, these are the bracts around the outside.

0:23:100:23:13

Now, that as a group will make a really good impact.

0:23:130:23:18

A group is always more effective than the same number of plants dotted about.

0:23:180:23:22

I'm going to make another group of these euphorbias here.

0:23:220:23:26

This is Euphorbia cyparissias "Fens Ruby".

0:23:260:23:30

You can see it's got this amazing

0:23:300:23:32

vivid lime green top and these pink, flush through

0:23:320:23:37

with tawny coloured stems.

0:23:370:23:39

Cyprissias is a euphorbia that grows well

0:23:390:23:42

in free-drained, very bright, sunny conditions.

0:23:420:23:47

I just want to show you while I'm here

0:23:470:23:50

about the sap,

0:23:500:23:52

because it is very spectacular.

0:23:520:23:55

If I cut a piece off, if I cut that out, you do see the latex.

0:23:550:24:00

That sappy latex there, that's bleeding out.

0:24:010:24:05

That's what will irritate your skin. If I got it on my horny old hands,

0:24:050:24:09

it wouldn't hurt at all,

0:24:090:24:10

but if I then rubbed my face or eyes, that would irritate it.

0:24:100:24:14

So if you get that on your skin

0:24:140:24:16

just wash it off with cold water straightaway.

0:24:160:24:19

If you want to take a cutting from euphorbias,

0:24:190:24:21

you can do, but dip them in charcoal.

0:24:210:24:23

That stops the bleeding and they will root quite easily.

0:24:230:24:27

Quite possible to take good cuttings from most euphorbias.

0:24:270:24:30

Right, I'll put that in the barrow. I'll stick that in the soil so

0:24:300:24:34

there's no risk of getting that on my skin and I'll plant these up.

0:24:340:24:38

While I'm putting these in the ground, here are some ideas for other jobs you can do this weekend.

0:24:380:24:44

If you have sweet peas ready to plant outside,

0:24:490:24:52

it should be safe to do so now,

0:24:520:24:54

especially if you live in the South or a sheltered area.

0:24:540:24:57

Put each at the base of the tripod, water them in well and pinch out

0:24:570:25:02

and pinch out growing tips to ensure a nice bushy plant.

0:25:020:25:05

If you haven't sown any seeds yet, it's not too late to do so if

0:25:050:25:09

you put the seeds directly into the soil at the base of each tripod.

0:25:090:25:13

Just over a month ago, I sowed some salad seeds

0:25:160:25:20

in the greenhouse to use the space before it gets filled with tomatoes.

0:25:200:25:24

Well, the job for the weekend is to enjoy it.

0:25:240:25:27

Pick them when they are very young,

0:25:270:25:30

cos they're not going to be there for long

0:25:300:25:32

and have a beautifully delicate salad.

0:25:320:25:36

I said that there are euphorbias for everywhere. In fact, it's one of

0:25:460:25:50

the largest genus in the world. There are over 2,000 species,

0:25:500:25:54

and into the Jewel Garden here, I'm adding

0:25:540:25:57

a suitably rich colour. This is Euphorbia wulfenii,

0:25:570:26:02

which is a sub species of Euphorbia characias.

0:26:020:26:05

As you can see, it's got these fabulous cymes as these are called -

0:26:050:26:09

these great towers of flower.

0:26:090:26:12

And a really beautiful, elegant,

0:26:120:26:15

grey-blue foliage.

0:26:150:26:17

That will go in there.

0:26:170:26:21

It lasts a long time.

0:26:210:26:23

It's not just a spring flower.

0:26:230:26:26

This will flower on into summer.

0:26:260:26:28

It gives structure to the border cos this will grow a full four, five foot tall.

0:26:280:26:34

And where you've got the space, it's a magnificent plant.

0:26:340:26:37

Quite long-lasting, and when the flowers have finished,

0:26:370:26:42

cut them back to the ground, cut them right back down,

0:26:420:26:45

and then that will throw up a new shoot which will flower

0:26:450:26:48

next year.

0:26:480:26:50

Because it does this constantly, you have a succession of flowering

0:26:500:26:55

shoots as well as the foliage, which looks great in autumn too.

0:26:550:27:00

Firm that in.

0:27:000:27:02

Now, the Jewel Garden is going to feature

0:27:020:27:05

at Gardeners' World Live in June,

0:27:050:27:08

where we will be making a show garden

0:27:080:27:11

that captures the essence of it.

0:27:110:27:13

It's not going to be a replica,

0:27:130:27:14

but hopefully it will get the spirit.

0:27:140:27:16

So if you come along to Gardeners' World Live,

0:27:160:27:19

then you can get a first-hand view of this Jewel Garden.

0:27:190:27:23

Right. That is going in there, and I've got another one of my favourite euphorbias over here.

0:27:230:27:29

This is Euphorbia griffithii "Fireglow".

0:27:310:27:35

You can see it's got this

0:27:350:27:36

incredible orange-pink inflorescence and pink stems.

0:27:360:27:41

We did have it for years

0:27:410:27:43

all over the Jewel Garden, and I thought last winter

0:27:430:27:46

had killed it, but look.

0:27:460:27:48

Just in the last few days, it's popped up out the hedge.

0:27:480:27:52

Obviously, the hedge has protected it.

0:27:520:27:54

It's coming out the side there. We've even got it

0:27:540:27:57

pulling out the side.

0:27:570:27:59

That's the sort of scale it can grow.

0:27:590:28:01

It'll come up like this, this great stems with their

0:28:010:28:05

pinky, ruby, coral-coloured glow.

0:28:050:28:08

Of course, it wants to flower with this fantastic fiery flame.

0:28:080:28:13

I'll keep that flame burning by adding some more griffithii into this part of the Jewel Garden.

0:28:130:28:18

Lots to do, no more time to do it in, I'm afraid. That's the end of today's programme.

0:28:180:28:23

But next week we've got an hour-long Easter programme.

0:28:230:28:27

It does start half an hour earlier.

0:28:270:28:28

Eight o'clock to nine o'clock here at Long Meadow.

0:28:280:28:31

So, join me then. Bye-bye.

0:28:310:28:34

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0:28:520:28:56

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