Episode 10 Gardeners' World

Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

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

the garden has changed a lot.

We've also had filthy weather.

It rained and rained, it's been really cold

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

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

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

some things have been held back

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

the tulips and the alliums are both coming together

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

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

and I'll also be putting in the ground

those plants I bought at Malvern.

Carol visits an amazing fernery in Monmouthshire.

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

And Rachel's group of army gardeners

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

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

from just planting some seeds in the ground.

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

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

I've chosen three for the pond

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

The first is called 'Sunrise'

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

And the "Odorata" is a clue

because it's got a good fragrance

and all three are yellow because that will match in

with the yellow colours going on on the bank.

I've got a Nuphar.

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

It's fairly robust, but will attract wildlife

and easy to grow, very hardy.

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

to get you going. And then finally,

I've got Chromatella.

Really good bright yellow flowers.

Now, I could just take these baskets

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

and they will grow.

The problem is they'd quickly outgrow these

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

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

They need a fairly large planting basket

and just line the pot with hessian.

Most aquatic plants need minimal nutrition,

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

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

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

They need to be anchored.

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

will not float about or move in anyway.

Now, the next step...

is to plant this,

and then fill more soil around it.

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

because I want to cover that with grit.

And the grit will hold the soil in place,

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

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

and then cover that with grit so it looks nice.

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

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

Now, lilies must have sunshine to flower.

The idea is to get the balance between folia cover

and clear water right.

Ideally you want a third of the water covered by foliage

and two thirds clear.

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

the sunlight gets through and you get more algal bloom.

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

This is the perfect place to plant them,

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

Just before I get in

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

so it should be steady enough

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

The reason that I need support is that water lilies

grow on the bottom of ponds.

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

between the bottom and the surface,

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

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

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

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

Right. All that just for one plant,

but it probably won't flower this first year,

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

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

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

I once visited Giverny in August when they were looking

really at their best and you can see why people

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

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

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

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

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

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

I suppose ferns epitomise that as much as anything else.

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

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

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

Ferns are amongst the most ancient plants on the planet.

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

and it's still going strong.

They evolved long before flowering plants

and they have an entirely different method of reproduction.

They don't set any seeds.

Instead of that, on the back of their fronds

they produce multiple spores, very, very fine spores

which are carried in the breeze hither and dither.

Despite the fact that some are evergreen and some herbaceous,

they all share one common feature

and that is each year on this marvellous cycle,

they renew themselves by producing these brand-new crosiers.

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

they lengthen and extend until they become completely new fronds.

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

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

you really don't need anything else.

You could make a garden out of ferns

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

Fern fever had gripped the country

and elaborate glass refineries were built at grand Victorian residences.

The one at Dewstow House in Monmouthshire

fell into disrepair after the Second World War,

and was buried under rubble for nearly 60 years

before its current owners decided to excavate

and restore this lost fern wonderland.

Keeping a watchful eye on this treasure trove

is head gardener Peter Lane.

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

-Beautiful, isn't it?

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

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

and you've just discovered it.

Basically we knew that there was something here,

so we started digging, found a pond,

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

the Tufa Grotto.

So is this what it would have looked like originally?

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

but with a few modifications to allow for new planting.

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

No, there certainly wasn't.

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

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

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

The vast labyrinth of underground grottos here at Dewstow

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

creating the perfect environment for moisture-loving ferns.

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

Athyrium niponicum pictum has an almost haunting presence.

"Pictum" means painted

and this is the Japanese painted fern.

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

It is a beautiful fern.

These damp caverns perfectly recreate the moist woodland

that ferns like this Woodwardia thrive in,

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

You can see the bulbil forming at the bottom there

and you can cut that off.

What, just sever it across the stem?

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

but this is my favourite way of doing it.

And very complex equipment(!)

Plastic bag with a load of compost in it.

-Yes, and a piece of string.

-Don't forget the piece of string!

-Don't forget the string. Most important.

-Shove it in there then.

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

-That's it, yes.

-Will you do the string bit?

-There we go.

-Were you ever a Boy Scout?

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

CAROL LAUGHS

So how long will you leave that in there?

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

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

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

OK.

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

but when you start looking at them,

you realise just how vastly diverse they are.

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

with large fronds, much divided.

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

Look at the filigree of this beautiful little maidenhair fern.

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

You can grow ferns just about anywhere

because they're so accommodating.

Even that grotty corner between the dustbin and the garage

is a perfect place to decorate with ferns

and what wonderful ornamental plants they are.

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

especially in a fernery,

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

to get the essence of them.

I bought some ferns at Malvern.

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

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

The first is woodland.

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

and the trees sucking up all the moisture.

I've got a couple I want to plant.

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

Very adaptable, likes good drainage but makes a handsome plant

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

The second is Dryopteris 'Cristata the King'

and it does make a really majestic plant.

They look fairly similar at this stage,

but as they grow they develop distinct characteristics.

Those don't look like much now,

but they will establish and grow fairly quickly.

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

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

Now this is the dry garden,

and it really is dry too.

There's hardly any soil in here at all.

It couldn't be more different from the copse.

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

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

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

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

Not a hint of soil whatsoever.

And although I'm catching the sun now,

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

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

And a Dryopteris 'Cristata',

which actually does really well on that spot.

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

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

if I can find space.

The first is a Polypodium, which is a native,

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

that will pop up all over the place.

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

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

and will grow in this very, very poor soil.

Right, that goes in there.

This is a hart's tongue. Asplenium marginatum.

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

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

It really doesn't like being too exposed.

It likes to be protected,

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

If I take that out,

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

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

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

Now these ferns are drought tolerant,

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

Obviously rain will do most of the work for you,

but they should be watered in after planting and then,

if there's no water at all,

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

However, most of the soil at Long Meadow

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

This is especially true in the ornamental vegetable garden.

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

which are one of my favourite summer annuals,

which I set up at the beginning of the year

to see if there's any real difference

between autumn-sown sweet peas,

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

So I've got three wigwams,

or there will be when I put this one in,

of identical sweet peas

which I'll plant today at the same time,

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

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

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

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

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

really respond well to feed

and, above all, moisture.

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

So that's a good source of nourishment underground.

Pull the soil back over.

Just to remind you,

these were sown last October.

'Monty Don' sweet pea.

These, exactly the same seeds,

planted on the 30th March.

And there's a packet of seed.

Now if you sow sweet peas this weekend,

they will grow in summer

and also give a really good display

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

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

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

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

and then put them out into the ground.

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

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

That way, you keep a succession of plants,

providing you with a delicious salad right through the summer.

As the weather warms up,

all plants in containers will start to grow vigorously.

This is where a little bit of extra feed

will make a real difference.

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

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

Liquid seaweed, either applied

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

if I'm going to grow them from seed.

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

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

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

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

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

You just get so much more for your money.

You could fill a whole garden from seed for a fraction

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

Rachel has been gearing a group of army families

into making a garden from seed this year.

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

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

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

have embarked on a new mission.

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

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

'They built raised beds...'

We're going to do little steps.

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

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

'They've had their ups...'

That's amazing after five days.

'..and their downs.

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

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

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

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

but they seem to be holding on at the moment.

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

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

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

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

A lot of them have taken really well,

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

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

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

Rachel showed us how to plant them.

You can now tell the difference between the weeds

and what is growing.

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

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

Some thing that, two months ago,

we wouldn't have a clue how to do.

So we're picking up lots of new techniques.

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

..and an impressive entrance for the garden.

I was told we'd got some spare timber,

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

As they grow ever more confident with the garden,

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

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

into actual beautiful pink flowers.

Yes, they don't look too good now,

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

Our novice gardeners have been working really hard.

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

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

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

So we have a rather large polytunnel,

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

These lovely flowers are called ranunculus.

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

and you can literally pick about ten stems per bulb.

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

Good to grow outside,

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

Once your annuals are growing up a little bit,

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

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

You want to think about staking those,

so that you get nice long straight stems.

You see this netting?

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

It's stretched nice and taut

so that it forms a very good, strong support

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

It sort of creates this hedge.

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

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

Sweet peas are all about the picking.

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

otherwise they will go over,

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

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

It is just literally...

Right down to the base of the pant.

And straight into the water.

Get rid of some of these tendrils.

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

and they take energy away from your flowers as well.

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

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

I want to get my fingers dirty.

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

from just planting some seeds in the ground.

It's just so inspiring.

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

comes together, and we can achieve something really positive.

That's one seed tray sown.

When you're sowing any seed,

you want to think through the process.

So how's the seed going to end up?

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

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

to and how you're going to do it.

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

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

But these are small seeds to handle

and also the whole process is quite long,

so you might as well start a seed tray,

which is a lot easier initially.

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

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

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

A seed like that and sprinkle them fairly thinly.

That's enough.

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

Very light.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

just somewhere protected.

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

and they will germinate and be ready for pricking out

in about four or five week's time.

That's it for this week.

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

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

I'll see you then. Bye-bye.

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