Episode 10 Gardeners' World


Episode 10

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Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

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We haven't been here for a few weeks and in that time,

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the garden has changed a lot.

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We've also had filthy weather.

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It rained and rained, it's been really cold

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and that's been miserable for gardeners, but good for the garden.

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It's given it lots of water, the whole place has become

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extraordinarily vibrant and lush, and because it's been cold,

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some things have been held back

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and other things have lasted much longer so, for example,

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the tulips and the alliums are both coming together

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and we have a richness that I don't remember for quite a few years.

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In tonight's programme, I shall be planting water lilies in the pond

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and I'll also be putting in the ground

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those plants I bought at Malvern.

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Carol visits an amazing fernery in Monmouthshire.

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It's magical! It's fairyland, isn't it?

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And Rachel's group of army gardeners

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get their inspiration from a trip to a commercial cutting garden.

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It's just lovely to see how much you can achieve

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from just planting some seeds in the ground.

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You don't HAVE to wear waders to wheel a wheelbarrow,

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but it does help when you're planting water lilies, as you will see.

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I've chosen three for the pond

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and that's about as many as it will take.

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The first is called 'Sunrise'

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and its proper name is Nymphaea 'Odorata Sulphurea Grandiflora'.

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And the "Odorata" is a clue

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because it's got a good fragrance

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and all three are yellow because that will match in

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with the yellow colours going on on the bank.

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I've got a Nuphar.

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This is not so much a water lily as a pond lily. It's native.

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It's fairly robust, but will attract wildlife

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and easy to grow, very hardy.

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So if you're new to growing water lilies this is a good one

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to get you going. And then finally,

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I've got Chromatella.

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Really good bright yellow flowers.

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Now, I could just take these baskets

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that they're planted in and plonk them in the water...

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and they will grow.

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The problem is they'd quickly outgrow these

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and I'd have to lift them and repot them next year or the year after,

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so I'm going to repot them now before I put them in.

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They need a fairly large planting basket

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and just line the pot with hessian.

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Most aquatic plants need minimal nutrition,

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but water lilies do need a little bit more oomph and in the past,

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it would be made up from Lomond's sand but you can buy

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water lily or deepwater compost and that's what's in here.

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They need to be anchored.

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So this, which is already only half full, quite heavy,

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will not float about or move in anyway.

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Now, the next step...

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is to plant this,

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and then fill more soil around it.

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I need to leave a little bit of room on the top

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because I want to cover that with grit.

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And the grit will hold the soil in place,

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so it doesn't just mix with the water and float away.

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What I will do is fold the hessian in but not covering the plant,

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and then cover that with grit so it looks nice.

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Right. The next phase is to put it in the water.

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I want the lilies to flower in this area here. It's in full sunshine.

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Now, lilies must have sunshine to flower.

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The idea is to get the balance between folia cover

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and clear water right.

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Ideally you want a third of the water covered by foliage

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and two thirds clear.

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If you have too much clear water, it heats up,

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the sunlight gets through and you get more algal bloom.

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If you have too little, you don't get enough light going through.

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This is the perfect place to plant them,

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but it's a little deep so I need to get something to prop them up on.

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Just before I get in

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you'll see that this will sit on that like that,

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so it should be steady enough

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and then raised up close enough to the surface so it can grow.

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The reason that I need support is that water lilies

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grow on the bottom of ponds.

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Most of them need at least two to three foot of water

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between the bottom and the surface,

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but a young plant has to be gradually introduced to the water.

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It can cope with about 1.5-2 feet and then it must be supported

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until the leaves grow up and there's a bit of slack,

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and then you can lower it down until it reaches the bottom.

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Right. All that just for one plant,

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but it probably won't flower this first year,

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but I can wait because when we get a really good spread

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of the yellow water lilies, different shades, that's fantastic.

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Water lilies are one of the most spectacular of all plants.

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I once visited Giverny in August when they were looking

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really at their best and you can see why people

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flock all the way round the world just to see them.

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You don't need to have a big pond to grow water lilies.

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There are a huge amount to choose from and some are tiny,

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little jewel-like flowers that grow perfectly happy in a container.

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But they need to be set against a great mass of greenery,

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and ponds and damp gardens really are based around lush, green growth.

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I suppose ferns epitomise that as much as anything else.

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We've got the shuttlecock fern growing all round the edge of the pond here,

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but there are many, many more to choose from and Carol has been

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to visit a fernery in South Wales, which has been brilliantly restored.

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Ferns are amongst the most ancient plants on the planet.

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They've been knocking around for almost 400,000,000 years

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and it's still going strong.

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They evolved long before flowering plants

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and they have an entirely different method of reproduction.

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They don't set any seeds.

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Instead of that, on the back of their fronds

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they produce multiple spores, very, very fine spores

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which are carried in the breeze hither and dither.

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Despite the fact that some are evergreen and some herbaceous,

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they all share one common feature

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and that is each year on this marvellous cycle,

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they renew themselves by producing these brand-new crosiers.

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First of all, they're tightly furled almost like fists and then gradually

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they lengthen and extend until they become completely new fronds.

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You might say that they're all green but those greens are so subtle

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and so various, and the forms of the fronds are so diverse,

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you really don't need anything else.

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You could make a garden out of ferns

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and over 100 years ago, that's just what people did in a big way.

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Fern fever had gripped the country

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and elaborate glass refineries were built at grand Victorian residences.

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The one at Dewstow House in Monmouthshire

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fell into disrepair after the Second World War,

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and was buried under rubble for nearly 60 years

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before its current owners decided to excavate

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and restore this lost fern wonderland.

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Keeping a watchful eye on this treasure trove

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is head gardener Peter Lane.

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-It's magical! It's fairyland, isn't it?

-Beautiful, isn't it?

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It really is. It is a grotto, isn't it?

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You just feel as though you're in this secret place

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and you've just discovered it.

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Basically we knew that there was something here,

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so we started digging, found a pond,

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found a path, kept going and one of the grottos was this,

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the Tufa Grotto.

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So is this what it would have looked like originally?

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Up to the roof level you see now, it is original

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but with a few modifications to allow for new planting.

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So it wouldn't have a corrugated iron roof, would it?

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No, there certainly wasn't.

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They were beams covering this grotto with stalactites, all man-made,

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and a rather grand Victorian domed glass roof over the top.

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It must have been really, really impressive in its day.

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The vast labyrinth of underground grottos here at Dewstow

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was started in 1895 and took over 15 years to carve out,

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creating the perfect environment for moisture-loving ferns.

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There are some ferns that are unforgettable, that stay with you.

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Athyrium niponicum pictum has an almost haunting presence.

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"Pictum" means painted

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and this is the Japanese painted fern.

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Just one plant of this makes a complete cameo all on its own.

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It is a beautiful fern.

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These damp caverns perfectly recreate the moist woodland

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that ferns like this Woodwardia thrive in,

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and Peter has his own tried and tested method of propagating it.

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You can see the bulbil forming at the bottom there

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and you can cut that off.

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What, just sever it across the stem?

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Yes, sever it and then pot it up and you would be OK, I would've thought,

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but this is my favourite way of doing it.

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And very complex equipment(!)

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Plastic bag with a load of compost in it.

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-Yes, and a piece of string.

-Don't forget the piece of string!

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-Don't forget the string. Most important.

-Shove it in there then.

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And you just want it to be in contact with that compost, yes?

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-That's it, yes.

-Will you do the string bit?

-There we go.

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-Were you ever a Boy Scout?

-I only know one knot, it was my granny's.

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CAROL LAUGHS

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So how long will you leave that in there?

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I'll leave it there for a minimum of six weeks.

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Hopefully you'll see one of the new fronds start to unfurl

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and you'll know then that it's ready to cut off and pot up for next year.

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OK.

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I suppose it's easy to assume that all ferns are pretty similar,

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but when you start looking at them,

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you realise just how vastly diverse they are.

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Very often you think of ferns as being these great big, bold plants

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with large fronds, much divided.

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But in contrast, some of them can be delicate and feminine.

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Look at the filigree of this beautiful little maidenhair fern.

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I think the point is that you don't need a grotto.

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You can grow ferns just about anywhere

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because they're so accommodating.

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Even that grotty corner between the dustbin and the garage

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is a perfect place to decorate with ferns

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and what wonderful ornamental plants they are.

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There is a kind of Gothic relish that you get from ferns,

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especially in a fernery,

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but you don't really need to have a wonderful Victorian fernery

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to get the essence of them.

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I bought some ferns at Malvern.

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I was looking specifically for those that would flourish in dry shade

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and I've got two different types of dry shade in the garden.

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The first is woodland.

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This is the copse and it's very dry because the roots of the hedges

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and the trees sucking up all the moisture.

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I've got a couple I want to plant.

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The first is the soft shield fern and that's Polystichum setiferum.

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Very adaptable, likes good drainage but makes a handsome plant

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with wonderful crosiers, which will grow about two or three foot tall.

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The second is Dryopteris 'Cristata the King'

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and it does make a really majestic plant.

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They look fairly similar at this stage,

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but as they grow they develop distinct characteristics.

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Those don't look like much now,

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but they will establish and grow fairly quickly.

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And, of course, they'll spread, which is fantastic.

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But the remainder of these are for a completely different spot.

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Now this is the dry garden,

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and it really is dry too.

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There's hardly any soil in here at all.

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It couldn't be more different from the copse.

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And yet, pretty much the same ferns will cope with this.

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You can see I've already got some ferns in here.

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Up here on the wall is a hart's tongue fern,

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which has sown itself, perfectly happy, right in the wall.

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Not a hint of soil whatsoever.

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And although I'm catching the sun now,

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this is only in late afternoon. Until about mid-afternoon,

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there is no sun here at all and none in the winter.

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And a Dryopteris 'Cristata',

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which actually does really well on that spot.

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So ferns are happy, but the soil is practically non-existent.

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Now, I've got another two types to add,

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if I can find space.

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The first is a Polypodium, which is a native,

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and this is one of those ferns, like the hart's tongue,

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that will pop up all over the place.

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In walls, on top of walls, in cracks in paving.

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And that's a good sign that it's adaptable

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and will grow in this very, very poor soil.

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Right, that goes in there.

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This is a hart's tongue. Asplenium marginatum.

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You can see it's got these wavy edges to the fronds.

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That, by the way, is a little bit of wind and sun damage.

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It really doesn't like being too exposed.

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It likes to be protected,

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sheltered from wind and quite happy in pretty much full shade.

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If I take that out,

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I think I can force it into the base of the wall.

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Now, there are not many plants that you could do that to,

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but I think that will survive and, we hope, even thrive.

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Now these ferns are drought tolerant,

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which doesn't mean to say that they don't need any water at all.

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Obviously rain will do most of the work for you,

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but they should be watered in after planting and then,

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if there's no water at all,

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given a really good soak once a month for the rest of this year.

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However, most of the soil at Long Meadow

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is fabulously rich and fertile and everything tends to grow with exceptional vigour.

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This is especially true in the ornamental vegetable garden.

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This year, I'm doing an experiment in here with sweet peas,

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which are one of my favourite summer annuals,

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which I set up at the beginning of the year

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to see if there's any real difference

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between autumn-sown sweet peas,

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sweet peas sown in the New Year, and those sown direct by seed.

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So I've got three wigwams,

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or there will be when I put this one in,

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of identical sweet peas

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which I'll plant today at the same time,

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in the same soil and then we can see which do better.

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And by doing better, I mean which lasts longer with the most flowers.

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That's the real key thing. It doesn't matter how tall they grow,

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it's just flowers we want. As much of them for as long as possible.

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Now I'm putting plenty of compost in, because sweet peas

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really respond well to feed

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and, above all, moisture.

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This will hold the water and give them lots of grub.

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So that's a good source of nourishment underground.

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Pull the soil back over.

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Just to remind you,

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these were sown last October.

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'Monty Don' sweet pea.

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These, exactly the same seeds,

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planted on the 30th March.

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And there's a packet of seed.

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Now if you sow sweet peas this weekend,

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they will grow in summer

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and also give a really good display

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right on into September and even October if it's a cool summer.

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And if sweet peas aren't your thing or you've already done them,

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here are some other things that you can be doing this weekend.

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In spring, it's easiest to raise salad plants in plugs

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and then put them out into the ground.

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However, at this time of year, they can be sown direct

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and as you plant one lot, or harvest them, sow another batch.

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That way, you keep a succession of plants,

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providing you with a delicious salad right through the summer.

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As the weather warms up,

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all plants in containers will start to grow vigorously.

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This is where a little bit of extra feed

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will make a real difference.

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Don't feed them too much and avoid all nitrogenous feeds,

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which will just create leafy growth and put extra strain on the roots.

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Liquid seaweed, either applied

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as a folia spray or a drench from a watering can, is ideal.

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That will boost the roots and provide long-lasting nourishment.

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Although in most parts of the country, the risk of frost

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is over, it's still a good idea to earth up potatoes.

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This will not only protect them from frost, but also make sure

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the emerging tubers have a layer of soil to keep the light off them.

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Now, just as they're looking at their best in the garden,

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it's time to be thinking about next year's wallflowers

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if I'm going to grow them from seed.

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It is worth planning ahead, because they're biennials,

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so you sow them now, and they do their growing until autumn.

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Then they hold a bit, but they've got good roots

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and a good system, ready to burst into flower next spring.

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The great advantage of growing anything from seed is the volume.

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You just get so much more for your money.

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You could fill a whole garden from seed for a fraction

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of the cost of just buying, I don't know, a dozen plants.

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Rachel has been gearing a group of army families

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into making a garden from seed this year.

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They're based at Didcot and this week, they've gone down the road

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to visit a local cut flower grower to get some inspiration.

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The 11 EOD Regiment, the Army's bomb disposal squad,

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have embarked on a new mission.

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Over the past few weeks at their base at Didcot in Oxfordshire,

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the whole community on camp has pulled together to create a garden.

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'They built raised beds...'

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We're going to do little steps.

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Go all the way round, don't forget the corners.

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'..and I gave them a helping hand to start sowing seeds.'

0:21:440:21:47

'They've had their ups...'

0:21:500:21:51

That's amazing after five days.

0:21:510:21:54

'..and their downs.

0:21:540:21:57

'And for the last five weeks, they've been entirely on their own.'

0:21:570:22:01

OK, so this is how far we've got.

0:22:030:22:06

As you can see, we've got some lovely plants growing.

0:22:060:22:09

We were a bit worried about the younger sweet peas that we've got,

0:22:090:22:13

but they seem to be holding on at the moment.

0:22:130:22:15

We've got a board just outlining a few little things that we've

0:22:150:22:20

got going on, so we've got the garden plan here and then we've got

0:22:200:22:24

a rota here for everyone to come up and help out watering.

0:22:240:22:26

We've got these out of the greenhouse to harden up.

0:22:260:22:29

A lot of them have taken really well,

0:22:290:22:31

however, we've had a few that haven't done so well

0:22:310:22:35

and some that have actually just not done well at all.

0:22:350:22:38

We were a bit concerned whether these were weeds or not.

0:22:380:22:42

Rachel showed us how to plant them.

0:22:420:22:44

You can now tell the difference between the weeds

0:22:440:22:47

and what is growing.

0:22:470:22:49

I came up to water and there were just these lovely lines

0:22:490:22:53

where we'd obviously put all our seeds and it was working.

0:22:530:22:57

Some thing that, two months ago,

0:22:570:23:00

we wouldn't have a clue how to do.

0:23:000:23:03

So we're picking up lots of new techniques.

0:23:030:23:05

Rusky has been using his carpentry skills, creating bird boxes...

0:23:080:23:13

..and an impressive entrance for the garden.

0:23:150:23:18

I was told we'd got some spare timber,

0:23:180:23:20

so I thought it'd just set the entrance off a little bit.

0:23:200:23:23

As they grow ever more confident with the garden,

0:23:250:23:29

I decided to send them something new to plant - dahlias.

0:23:290:23:33

They're very ugly and I just can't imagine that they turn out

0:23:330:23:36

into actual beautiful pink flowers.

0:23:360:23:39

Yes, they don't look too good now,

0:23:390:23:41

but I'm sure they'll look lovely once they're done.

0:23:410:23:44

Our novice gardeners have been working really hard.

0:23:470:23:51

So as a treat, I organise for them to visit cut flower grower

0:23:510:23:54

Rachel Siegfried, to give them a taste of what's to come.

0:23:540:23:59

Ooh, there's a lot of you! And a little one.

0:23:590:24:03

So we have a rather large polytunnel,

0:24:050:24:08

which does give us a little bit of a head start.

0:24:080:24:11

These lovely flowers are called ranunculus.

0:24:110:24:15

It's just a little bulb. It goes in about October time,

0:24:150:24:19

and you can literally pick about ten stems per bulb.

0:24:190:24:22

With the anemones, you'd be planting those about September, October time.

0:24:240:24:28

Good to grow outside,

0:24:280:24:30

they just need that little bit of extra protection with some mulch.

0:24:300:24:33

Once your annuals are growing up a little bit,

0:24:360:24:40

I know they're a bit small at the moment, but as soon as we get

0:24:400:24:42

some sunshine, they're really going to get away very rapidly.

0:24:420:24:45

You want to think about staking those,

0:24:450:24:47

so that you get nice long straight stems.

0:24:470:24:51

You see this netting?

0:24:510:24:53

It's pea and bean netting. You can get it from the garden centre.

0:24:530:24:56

It's stretched nice and taut

0:24:560:24:58

so that it forms a very good, strong support

0:24:580:25:02

for the cornflowers - these are all cornflowers - to grow through.

0:25:020:25:06

It sort of creates this hedge.

0:25:060:25:08

After a demonstration on the art of hoeing, our gardeners were keen

0:25:100:25:13

to know the best way to look after all those sweet peas they've sown.

0:25:130:25:17

Sweet peas are all about the picking.

0:25:190:25:22

Once they start to flower, you've got to keep up with the picking,

0:25:220:25:25

otherwise they will go over,

0:25:250:25:27

go to seed and the crop will finish early for you.

0:25:270:25:30

So even if you don't want them, you still have to pick them.

0:25:300:25:34

It is just literally...

0:25:340:25:37

Right down to the base of the pant.

0:25:370:25:39

And straight into the water.

0:25:420:25:44

Get rid of some of these tendrils.

0:25:440:25:47

They tend to get wrapped round flower stems and kink stems,

0:25:470:25:51

and they take energy away from your flowers as well.

0:25:510:25:55

The first thing that hit me is, "Wow!"

0:25:570:26:00

I want to get back in that garden, as do the other girls.

0:26:000:26:04

I want to get my fingers dirty.

0:26:040:26:06

It's just lovely to see how much you can achieve

0:26:060:26:10

from just planting some seeds in the ground.

0:26:100:26:13

It's just so inspiring.

0:26:130:26:17

It'd be good to show it all comes together, the whole team

0:26:170:26:19

comes together, and we can achieve something really positive.

0:26:190:26:24

That's one seed tray sown.

0:26:350:26:38

When you're sowing any seed,

0:26:400:26:43

you want to think through the process.

0:26:430:26:45

So how's the seed going to end up?

0:26:450:26:48

Most seed, if it's small, is best started off in a tray

0:26:480:26:51

and then pricked out. Think where you're going to prick them out

0:26:510:26:54

to and how you're going to do it.

0:26:540:26:56

If they're larger seed, it's sometimes easier to sow into a plug

0:26:560:27:00

so they don't need any pricking out at all.

0:27:000:27:03

But these are small seeds to handle

0:27:030:27:04

and also the whole process is quite long,

0:27:040:27:08

so you might as well start a seed tray,

0:27:080:27:11

which is a lot easier initially.

0:27:110:27:13

This is Primrose Bedder, but the same would apply for foxgloves,

0:27:130:27:18

forget-me-nots, any of those spring biennials,

0:27:180:27:22

which just make the garden sing at this time of year.

0:27:220:27:25

A seed like that and sprinkle them fairly thinly.

0:27:280:27:32

That's enough.

0:27:340:27:35

Now I'll just cover that with a sieved layer of compost.

0:27:350:27:40

Very light.

0:27:410:27:43

'Now if you've been sowing seeds over the last few weeks and months,

0:27:460:27:50

'the chances are you've got a plant or two going spare.'

0:27:500:27:54

Well, I've got the perfect home for them.

0:27:540:27:56

Gardeners' World Live is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham

0:27:560:27:59

in mid-June. We're building a living wall there,

0:27:590:28:03

and we would love you to bring along a plant to add to it.

0:28:030:28:08

Now just pop these in a tray of water to soak up moisture,

0:28:100:28:16

and then they don't have to go into the greenhouse,

0:28:160:28:19

just somewhere protected.

0:28:190:28:20

Cold frame is ideal, but just in a protected place outside

0:28:200:28:24

and they will germinate and be ready for pricking out

0:28:240:28:27

in about four or five week's time.

0:28:270:28:29

That's it for this week.

0:28:290:28:31

We shan't be here next week because it's Chelsea Flower Show,

0:28:310:28:34

but I'll be back here in a fortnight's time.

0:28:340:28:36

I'll see you then. Bye-bye.

0:28:360:28:39

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