Episode 8 Gardeners' World

This week, I'm veering between two extremes.

As well as beginning to repair the ravages of winter in my dry garden,

I shall also be adding moisture-loving plants

to the damp garden.

Carol is swapping tips

with someone who's turned her garden into a wildlife haven.

Oh, this is great! It's like being a kid again, isn't it?

There he is!

And Rachel visits a beautiful Northamptonshire garden

full of design inspiration

for gardens of any size.

Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World

and to Longmeadow.

And in the last two weeks,

the garden has moved on,

it's become another season.

After the blistering heat and bone-dryness of April,

now we're in May it's a bit cooler,

we've had some rain,

and the garden has shifted, it's moved up a gear.

And this piece of the garden

has become dominated, quite frankly, by weeds.

But I try and nourish at least some of my weeds

because I think they're beautiful.

The cow parsley, for example, is one of the loveliest plants on the whole of these islands.

And the combination of cow parsley and the hawthorn blossom

is to my mind as good as anything any gardener has ever devised.

But there is goosegrass coming through

which is a bit of a thug.

It's pretty, but I weed it out as I pass.

And one of the things that I find most interesting about weeds,

is that they will always adapt to where they are.

It doesn't matter if it's dry soil, damp soil,

if it's a windy site, exposed -

you will find weeds perfectly suited to that environment.

And of course, you can learn from that,

in deciding what you plant.

And also, there's a whole ecosystem

because they're such an important part

of the biodiversity of the garden.

They're a really good source of food for insects and mammals

that depend upon those weeds.

So, they're interesting, they're useful,

and at times, a bloody nuisance!

This is the damp garden,

it leads off the spring garden.

We haven't been in here yet

but it's one of those areas that floods.

And what makes it damp -

the reason why we call it a damp garden -

is it really gets drenched,

probably two, three, even four times a year.

So the plants that we put in here

are those that love a really long, good soak.

Of course, one of the real disadvantages of flooding

is that a whole mass of weed seeds come in

and in this part of the garden,

the real danger are nettles.

And so, we've taken everything out and dug the nettles' roots out.

The good thing is it's created spaces

so I can do some more planting,

and that's what I intend to do now.

Now, one of the main sources of colour

are ligularias.

Now, I've got three ligularias here

which are self-seeded.

This is Ligularia 'The Rocket'.

But they're too close to the hedge, they're too close to the front,

so I want to move those.

And if I just get in there, underneath...

They come up fairly easily, they've got quite a good root system.

You can see...

I've got... In fact, you can see

one, two, three, four plants in there.

These stems aren't particularly dark,

but they will get much darker.

They get to the point where they're absolutely black

and you have the black stems, the green leaves,

and these yellow cones or spires of flower.

Dramatic, lovely plant.

It'll perform best in quite moist soil -

certainly heavy soil.

And in some shade too,

it doesn't like sunshine all day.

I'm not going to plant this immediately

because of the ferns.

These shuttlecock ferns love it in here,

but they are thugs.

And it's this idea of when a plant that you've deliberately put in place takes over,

does it become a weed?

In the case of these, I think they are,

I think they're a lovely, lovely weed.

So, I want to move some of these

to make room for ligularias.

I'm going to move them further back

because the point of the damp garden

is to let it merge out into the countryside

so it becomes wilder and wilder.

And then weeds, happily, are allowed to dominate.

I'm just going to pop that in the ground, like that.

And it's as easy as that.

Now, let's get on with these ligularias.

This is a mouthful to pronounce,

but lovely to look at.

Ligularia przewalskii.

It's got these cut leaves,

the stems aren't so dark.

It has fairly similar flowers to The Rocket,

yellow, tall spires,

and it's a graceful, tall plant.

And the third ligularia I'm growing here

is Desdemona.

And Desdemona has these pinky-purple stems

and undersides to her leaves.

Green on top.

The flowers are like great big egg-yolk yellow daisies.

A very dramatic, startling plant.

I'll put a few in here.

They're slightly less vigorous than the other two.

I'll put one there...

I've got those group there and there,

so I think I'd like one up here.

# Doo-doo-doo-doo sh-boom

-# Life could be a dream

-Sh-boom

# If I could take you up

-# In paradise up above

-Sh-boom...

-#

And because I want to create a lush, exuberant feeling in this garden,

Hostas are an obvious choice.

The first one is this,

which is called Sum and Substance

and if you plant it in the sun,

it turns almost yellow.

It's a very yellowy green

which, of course, picks up with the ligularia theme

and also the bright, shining green of the ferns.

Put it in full shade and it'll stay greener,

but I like the yellow

and hostas will grow perfectly happily in sunshine

if they've got enough moisture.

They're not actually completely happy in full shade,

dapple shade is best.

This is sieboldiana,

which is another large hosta

with a nice glaucous blue colour.

It will grow, and keep on growing, for about 10 to 15 years,

getting bigger and bigger

and the leaves get very cupped.

Now, obviously, the first question you get asked about with hostas

is how do you defend them

against the attacks of slugs or snails.

You can put grit round them,

that deters slugs and snails.

If you're growing them in pots, as I did in London, 20 years ago,

we used to put copper round the pots, or Vaseline.

You're making life more difficult for a snail to get at.

I've also tried - and with some success - using comfrey.

We've got, over here, Comfrey leaves.

And if you just pick leaves, like that,

and lay them around a hosta

or any other plant that you're worried about -

and I've used this on lettuce seedlings -

the slugs and snails will eat the comfrey first.

As it breaks down, it's much more attractive

to your average slug than the hosta leaf.

Now, that will want feeding,

and one of the issues with hostas is getting the balance of feed right

because they love nitrogen, especially in spring.

But if you give them too much nitrogen,

you get lush growth

and then the slugs and snails go for it.

So either give them a balanced fertiliser,

or - and I always come back to this - good old garden compost,

which is not too rich in nitrogen,

but just releases its nutrients nice and slowly

and in a balanced way.

And I will mulch these nice and thickly with compost.

# ..Life could be a dream, sweetheart

# Hello, hello again

-# Sh-boom and hope we meet again

-Boom-be-boom

# De-dong de-ding-dong

# A-linga-la linga-la Linga-la linga-la oh

# Oh bip

# A-be-ba-doh ba-din whoa

# Life could be a dream

# Life could be a dream

# Doo-doo-doo-doo sh-boom. #

Now, the reason why the soil here is so rich

is because it's silt from flooding

that's built up over thousands of years.

The reason why it floods is because it's dead flat -

this garden is flat and it's surrounded by a flood plain.

But Rachel's been to Coton Manor

which is built on a slope

and over the last 20 years,

the garden has been planted and maintained and designed

to make the very most of that particular feature.

Coton Manor is packed with inspirational planting so I've brought my camera.

Beyond the 17th-century manor are ten acres of fabulous gardens shelving away down the hill.

In fact, these slopes form a series of beguiling mini-gardens.

Be it shaded or a sun-trap, skilful planting makes the most of the conditions.

Each separate part of the garden has a different feel.

It's all the vision of Susie Pasley-Tylor.

20 years ago, Susie was a hobby gardener. Then, when her husband inherited the family home,

she found herself with an enormous garden to manage.

It took a couple of years

and then I was completely hooked. I've been learning ever since.

I'm out here every minute I can be, really.

Anything that interferes with this is sort of set back.

-You're not a fair-weather gardener?

-No, I'm out in all weathers.

You're on quite a steep slope. How have you managed to deal with that?

People who have got very flat gardens

feel they have got to create a structure, the slope does it for us.

Pushing a barrow uphill is hard work. But from every other point of view, it's fine.

Oh, this is quite a different feel.

It is. It's a different mood here altogether.

This corner of the garden gets heavily shaded by a canopy of mature, deciduous trees.

It's the perfect place for plants that flower before the trees come into full leaf.

It just goes to show. People think of dry shade as a terrible problem,

-but look at this - it's absolutely heaving with plants.

-In spring,

you can grow these things while they've still got light.

I particularly love the erythroniums.

They're just so stunning and only here for a short time.

This one, Pagoda, is the most lovely soft yellow.

And we've got Californicum White Beauty with its mottled leaves,

which are spectacular.

So you get double interest, once the flowers have faded.

You've got an epimedium with equally lovely foliage. Completely different.

Epimediums are wonderful. They flourish and thrive in dry shade

and don't give us any trouble.

What are the tricks that you use in order to keep this amount of flower going under this dry shade?

We put a lot of leaf mould in every year. That does help

because it's moist and helps retain the moisture already in the ground.

We have to keep right on top of the weeding and the plants that want to invade the others.

It seems to be working a treat.

-It is absolutely beautiful.

-Thank you.

At Coton Manor, plants create the atmosphere in each area

and coherence comes from a restricted colour palette and carefully chosen leaf texture.

Further down, Susie has taken advantage of the slope to create

naturalistic planting round the stream.

We've come from dry shade, but in this area, you make use of the water

-to make a damp, shaded area.

-It's a wonderful opportunity for all these plants

to show their contrasting foliage.

We've got ferns, matteuccias, masses of different euphorbias.

This one is Euphorbia palustris. It's stunning at this time of year.

Do you have a particular favourite combination of plants in this area?

I think these plants here are as good as they get in this area.

We've got the marsh marigold

with its yellow flowers picking up the Euphorbia palustris

and the foliage of the lysichiton,

the skunk cabbage, with the contrasting foliage of the acer,

and I think that does compose a lovely picture at the moment.

It's ephemeral. It's not going to last all summer.

You've got these rounded mounds of colour building up as you go up the slope. It's quite brilliant.

Everything I've seen at Coton Manor would work in a garden of any size.

This is a particularly beautiful combination -

Euphorbia griffithii Fireglow, and it really lives up to its name,

and right next to it the tulip Orange Emperor. A sensational combination.

To make it even better,

Susie's added that bright blue Himalayan poppy.

The colour just pops!

It really is very effective.

Coton Manor is open until the end of September, but if you can't get to Northamptonshire,

there are lots of other outstanding gardens to visit now.

Aberglasney Gardens is fantastic for damp shade.

As is Beth Chatto Gardens near Colchester.

And for a stunning woodland garden, you can't beat Castle Howard.

For even more suggestions, go to our website.

I've got some e-mails here in response to our gardening dilemmas.

A number of them cover the same topic.

This one from Lorraine Fountain is representative of all of them.

Lorraine, you say your bay tree - and you've sent a picture -

has been hit by something that has browned the leaves and you've got black stains underneath.

Well, you're not alone. I bet there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of you,

who have had bay trees turn to shrivelled brown. That's the cold.

The good news is it is amazing how they will regrow.

So wait till you see active signs of new growth,

then cut out all the dead, reshape it - that's the tough bit -

give it a bit of TLC and it should come back. Now, I've got...

a rosemary, also a Mediterranean plant,

that has had exactly the same harsh response

to a harsh winter. I've pulled out six in the last month or so.

I thought this one would be OK, but I don't think it's worth keeping.

So I think this had better go. I'll plant another rosemary in its place.

First, I'll cut it back and then dig it out.

If you've got a shrub like this rosemary, the new growth is all at the ends

and it will never make an attractive, well-foliaged shrub.

It will always be straggly and struggling.

By the way, we keep any rosemary we cut

and put it on the sitting room fire because it burns really well

and smells delicious.

There's something about rosemary stems when you hold it.

They feel particularly dry and scaly.

They've got all that parched quality

of a Mediterranean hillside.

In fact, there are two bushes in here.

There we go.

I don't know if you can here, but I am on solid, solid rock there.

Actually, because of that, I'll add some horticultural grit.

There's nothing that rosemary hates more than its roots sitting in wet,

particularly in winter when it's cold. So that goes in.

It doesn't matter that it's poor soil.

Rosemary is tough when it comes to conditions.

I've had this plant in a pot all winter. Pretty pot bound.

What I like to do if things are pot bound is just loosen it slightly.

You damage some roots, and I don't want to break them open completely,

but just tease them a little bit and they will respond

as though they have been pruned and grow out. OK, that can go in.

I think that'll be fine.

Fundamentally, rosemary will be at home in these conditions and that is the secret of happy plants

and, therefore, a good garden, which is to go with nature.

Now, Carol has been to visit a garden which started just going with nature like this

but, as it went along, has taken things much further.

Sue Camm loves gardening but, for her, it's not just for the plants.

It's for the wildlife those plants attract.

I've never seen so many different bird feeders!

Aren't they wonderful!

They're all for different birds.

That one's for robins and sparrows.

These are for the tits and the finches.

-So they've got their own special...

-Yes.

-..restaurant, haven't they?

-There's one to suit every bird that comes into the garden.

-What's this?

It's the dog hair! THEY LAUGH

I collect it up in a carrier bag

and in the spring, put it in there for the birds for nesting material.

Must be very popular right now!

-I can fill that up a couple of times a day.

-Cor.

This is a much more traditional sort of bird table, isn't it?

Not only the birds use that one, the little voles come to that one too.

Which is probably why we get through about six kilos of bird food a week.

-What?!

-I think they eat better than us.

'Now wildlife, being wild, is quite shy

'and my visit's a bit of a disturbance,

'so we organised a specialist wildlife cameraman

'to stake out Sue's garden and film the creatures that visit in a single typical day.'

-Oh, a chaffinch!

-You can hear them already all around the garden, can't you?

BOTH: The woodpecker!

He's hidden again!

That's the Great Spotted Woodpecker, and that's a female.

-She's got...

-How do you tell?

She's got no red on the back of her neck.

The male has a red stripe on the back of his neck.

You must get masses of other creatures in here.

We've got newts in the pond, frogs and toads,

and grass snakes. Buzzards, we see a lot of those.

There's a pair of them which nest not far from here.

Did you originally imagine that it was going to be a wildlife garden?

No. No, not at all. It didn't even cross my mind.

It was just a case of dig beds, put flowers in,

and gradually they arrived.

And the more wildlife arrived, the more interesting I found them,

and the more I tried to encourage more to come.

Fascinating pictures, but I want to see the real thing.

-Can we go and explore?

-Yes! Come and see what I grow.

BIRD CHIRPS

This is my favourite part of the garden.

I've always loved the woodlands around here

with all the bluebells and wildflowers, and I wanted one of my own.

And very beautiful it is, too.

It's amazing what you can do in such a small space, really, isn't it?

'An important part of Sue's success in attracting wildlife

'comes from creating different habitats.'

-What's this contraption?

-Oh, this is for the toads.

-LAUGHTER

-Toad Hall, is it?

The bottom of it is filled with wet sand.

And I found that when I've been doing building work,

I find toads hibernating in my building sand,

so I filled this with wet sand and that's where the toads are.

-Is he in there, then?

-I don't know.

It's probably warm enough for him to have woken up now,

and gone finding food.

-Yeah, he's out eating all your slugs.

-Excellent, yes.

-With luck.

'Ponds attract masses of wildlife,

'and I want to see what Sue's got in hers.'

Oh, this is great! It's like being a kid again, isn't it?

I didn't go out with a goldfish bowl, though.

-Ooh, huge, huge.

-What can you see?

Just have a...

There he is!

Look at that.

Oh! It's beautiful!

-How brilliant. He's a great diving beetle.

-How wonderful.

It's one of the biggest predators in the pond.

Having water in your garden, however big or small it is,

it's the sort of hub, isn't it, it's the centre for wildlife.

It's fantastic for everything.

So many insects use it, so it's good for the birds,

it's good for the bats, good for frogs, good for snakes, good for toads.

It's just... It's good for everything.

'In Sue's garden, the door's always open for wildlife.

'And whilst I'm here, she's keen to find out how to attract even more.'

Just looking a mite sparse around the edges.

Last year I re-lined it,

so it needs more plants,

but I'm not sure what to plant in here

that's not going to be incredibly invasive but is good for wildlife.

You could think about bogbean, lovely native plant.

Menyanthes trifoliata, cos it's got three leaves.

Trifoliata. And it's got such pretty little flowers,

-so that will also attract insects.

-Does that float?

Yes, yeah.

It's a half and half. You can plant it as a marginal

and it'll spread its leaves out beautifully.

But it's not invasive.

And then you could think about introducing more things

that have got straight leaves, for all those dragonflies to climb.

You've already got lovely irises,

that gorgeous carex, but how about butomus?

-Do you know that?

-No.

-It's called Butomus umbellatus,

it's flowering rush. It's got pretty pink flowers,

but it still does the job of all these other things

because it's got straight linear leaves

so it will act as a wonderful resource for those dragonflies.

I certainly share Sue's pleasure that she gets from her birds.

This garden is full of birds, and, I've just noticed it actually,

this is last year's nest.

In here, I didn't see it at all last year. Pruned this back,

this is a thrush or a blackbird.

If it was this year's there'd be young in it and I wouldn't disturb it.

But because we have so many hedges and allow them to grow,

it's full of birds, particularly songbirds, which is a delight.

It's very good for the garden too, because they eat slugs and snails,

they eat they insects. They add to that sustainable balance

which is what we're trying to get in a healthy garden.

If you want to encourage birds,

as well as feeding them, as good a way as any

is to have lots of hedges.

We don't cut our hedges at all between the beginning of March

and August, so that gives them time to nest and rear young without disturbing them.

And also the other great secret for attracting birds, is don't be too tidy.

Leave some leaves, leave dead wood. Leave piles of bits and pieces.

The birds will love it.

'Although I won't be cutting my hedges,

'there are plenty of other things to get on with this weekend.'

'Now that they've finished flowering this is the best time to prune early-flowering clematis.

'You can cut back as hard as you like,

'as long as you do it now.

'I'm cutting this clematis macropetala

'right back to the ground,

'because it's become an unruly tangle

'and I want the new growth to be trained in as it grows.

'Next year, it'll be full of flower again.'

'The lily beetle is spreading fast across the country,

'causing havoc in its wake

'as it feasts on the leaves of all plants in the lily family.

'However, it is bright red, so very easy to spot.

'If you move gently, you can catch it before it falls to the ground,

'and then destroy it in whatever way you feel fit.'

'Even though we've had such a hot past month,

'we could still get some frost yet,

'so it's worth earthing up your potatoes now.

'Pull the soil up the ridges to cover the foliage.

'This won't only protect them from the cold

'but also cover any tubers that are appearing

'and stop them going green,

'and provide an extra layer of protection

'against possible blight spores later in the summer.'

Everything has been tremendously early this spring,

even in this garden, which normally lags behind most.

These alliums, for example, are a good two or three weeks ahead of normal.

But they're fantastic.

And what I love about seeing plants as they come back every year

is you greet them as old friends

but they always exceed memory and expectation.

They're always better than you possibly could imagine.

And that's one of the great joys of gardening.

Next week I'll be seeing old friends,

as myself, Carol, Rachel and Joe are all visiting the Malvern Show.

And that'll be on at eight o'clock, half an hour earlier than normal.

I suspect to see a lot of plants because it's such an early season,

that I wouldn't normally get there.

Maybe plants that you would expect to see at Chelsea.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, I hope you join us all then.

Till then, bye-bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]