Episode 17 Gardeners' World

Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

Now, at this time of year,

even though it's been a long time coming,

that combination of heat and flowers in their prime

is perfect to create lovely scent,

and tonight's programme is just filled with fragrance.

I'll be making an area in the walled garden

to maximise the possibilities of scent.

Carol goes in search of the scent of roses, both in the wild

and in the collection at Dutton Hall in Lancashire.

Isn't this just magnificent?

And the scent is light and apple-like. Delicious.

Rachel is visiting the RHS garden at Harlow Carr

to see their fabulous display of aromatic plants,

and the incredible collection of sweet peas.

And I'll be propagating herbs

in the herb garden here at Long Meadow.

This is our herb garden,

which we've used for years in a very basic way,

just growing enough herbs for the kitchen.

But we revamped it last year.

And to be honest, out of all the garden,

this has probably suffered most for the rain that we had,

because Mediterranean herbs in particular

really don't like hot, wet weather.

They're just not designed to cope with it.

They like baking sun and really good drainage and quite poor soil.

One of the problems of too lush conditions

is that they get incredibly lanky, and you can see how in here.

This is a disgrace, I admit it.

As a herb garden, this has not worked out.

You can see how this marjoram -

marjoram and oregano are the same plant -

has grown incredibly lanky,

and shaded out the thyme, which has died back.

A little bit of growth on that. But thyme hates shade of any kind.

Another one lost here. Disastrous, really.

Even this rosemary has got this classic dieback.

Rosemary hates having wet roots.

Now, I'm going to cut back in here and take some cuttings

to give me fresh stock, which I'm then going to plant

elsewhere in the garden, where it has a better chance.

Marjoram will regrow perfectly well. I love marjoram.

It's great chopped up in a tomato sauce.

You can add it, really, to flavour anything.

It's got that particular...

..hot oiliness, and it's that oil that we love.

You need sun to bring the oils out.

I like to leave the fennel,

because the seeds are really the bit that I like to harvest most.

Fennel seeds, either on their own,

a nice aniseedy taste that you can just munch,

or else with pork of any kind, are absolutely fantastic.

And of course, you can add the foliage to fish.

It's got that particular... aniseedy taste and fragrance.

But they're magnificent plants too. Absolutely lovely.

Now, there are a number of ways of growing many of these herbs.

And now is the perfect time to take cuttings.

First of all, you need to find a healthy plant.

I've put some in a planter here,

and deliberately mainly filled it with grit.

And they're fine, growing perfectly happily in the right conditions,

so that's a good starting point.

The second thing to look for is a nice,

upright stem that is not flowering.

What we need to do is hunt. There we are.

That's a non-flowering stem, so we'll take that.

Always put cuttings straight into a bag,

and the chances of them taking are increased hugely.

That's all really good cuttings material.

Get down the bottom, cut that off.

It looks fairly flimsy, but that's all right.

That will root perfectly well.

And herbs at this time of year

have got fresh new growth that's slightly hardened off,

so they're semi-ripe cuttings.

And this is the perfect time to propagate from thyme,

rosemary, sage, any of these Mediterranean, slightly woody herbs.

Do it now, and you'll have a good set of plants next year.

On a day like today, where it's warm, speed is of the essence.

Hence the importance of the bag to stop evaporation.

Essentially, all cuttings

need the growing tip, some leaves and some stem, and that's it.

The first thing to do is cut it down to size a bit.

You do need a sharp knife,

and a nice, flat surface, and make your cut just below a leaf node.

So in this case, we can go there, and just cut.

And then carefully strip off some leaves.

Not too violently, because that will tear it

and then you get wounds.

That's fine.

We need to put that into a potting mix that is really well drained.

I've added lots of perlite. Grit will do just as well.

I just happened to have some perlite spare.

And then put it in at the edge of the pot.

That's not critical, but it does seem to help.

I think it's to do with drying out.

The plastic pot stops it drying out so much.

You can go right round the edge.

I'm burying it about three-quarters of the way

down the length of the stem.

Right, I want to get these under cover. A quick label.

Water them lightly, and then I'm going to put them

under my mist propagator, but you do need to spray them.

If you don't have a mist propagator or even a mini propagator,

put them in a polythene bag.

If you put the polythene bag over the top, remember,

if you put it over like this, if I can find the hole,

you put the polythene bag over the top and support it

so it's not collapsing on it.

And then every day, turn it round,

so you don't get a build-up of condensation,

which will rot the plants. But if nothing else,

just keep spraying it with a mist sprayer of water

two or three times a day,

and that will go a long way to stop it dying off.

Right, let's get it in now.

Well, Mediterranean plants have had a tough year so far.

Making more should set me up to do better next year.

But some herbs have had a really good time,

and none have done better than mint.

We've got various mints around the garden,

but you can see that this Moroccan mint is loving it.

This, of course,

is the mint they make the delicious tea out of in North Africa.

We've got Eau-de-Cologne mint there, and in other places

we've got apple mint, spearmint and peppermint, all of them

really happy in this wet, lush weather that we've been having.

These are actually planted in pots and sunk in the ground,

because if mint takes root,

it can take over, and it's difficult to get rid of.

However, for all its robustness,

there is a potential problem for garden mint.

We went along to RHS Wisley to find out more about it.

The beetle is 7mm in length. It's a shiny, dark blue colour.

You're likely to find it on mint plants,

either possibly on the upper surface of the leaf,

or more likely feeding or hiding underneath the leaf.

In the worst-case scenario,

it is a pest which will cause noticeable damage,

to the extent that people may have to take control measures against it.

What you're looking for is holes in the leaves.

It was recorded for the first time as a breeding beetle in Britain

from a garden in Newington in Kent in July of last year.

As far as we know, this is a specific pest of mint plants,

i.e. mint, the species, both wild and cultivated ones.

We don't think it will feed on anything else in gardens.

The blue mint beetle has a typical life-cycle for beetles.

The females will lay eggs.

Those eggs hatch out into soft-bodied larva,

rather globular appearance, with a black head and a blackish-grey body.

And the larvae, like the adult beetles,

will feed on the foliage of mint plants.

In Britain, we now have two species of mint beetle.

There's the green mint beetle, which is native to Britain.

It's not a major pest of mint in gardens.

It's perhaps more common on wild mint

growing alongside rivers, lakes and so on.

Whether or not the blue mint beetle is going to be worse,

we don't know yet. It's still early days.

We're still waiting to see whether or not it will spread,

and if it does spread, how abundant it becomes on garden mint plants.

How you tackle this pest

depends partly on how big a clump of mint you've got.

If it's a small clump, it's feasible just to search the plant,

pick off the adults and larvae as you find them,

and that will keep the damage down to a low level.

If you need to use a pesticide,

there is an organic chemical called pyrethrum, which you can use.

That should be reasonably effective against the larvae,

but maybe less so against the adult beetles.

There are also synthetic pesticides, which are approved for use on mint

and these include chemicals like lambda-cyhalothrin and deltamethrin.

At the moment, we still don't know

how big a problem blue mint beetle is going to be.

So this is where the public can help us.

They can send us records, and this will give us

a better impression of what is happening with this insect.

If you think you've got blue mint beetle,

you can contact the RHS via our website.

Now, there's plenty to do in the garden

without worrying about pests and diseases.

Here are some jobs to get on with this weekend.

My lavender has had a miserable time of it so far this wet summer.

However, by cutting lavender back now, you rejuvenate it

and give it a chance to perform again before summer is out.

Be careful not to cut back into last season's wood,

because there's a risk of dieback.

Just leave a little bit of this year's growth.

I suspect, like me, that you've got out of the habit of watering.

But don't overlook regular watering of containers.

The plants are full-grown. They're doing a lot of work

and making huge demands on their roots,

so make sure they have a good water at least once a week,

even if the weather is wet.

Parsley is an invaluable herb

that you can grow and eat all year round.

If you sow some seeds now,

you'll provide yourself plants to take you right through winter.

You can sow them direct outside,

but I prefer to sow them in a seed tray or plugs,

raise individual seedlings so that they're strong

and healthy, and then plant them out in about six weeks' time.

A job that I tackle at this time of year, every year,

is pruning back these espalier pears.

Now, the point is

that all restricted forms of apples and pears,

whether they're espaliers, cordons, fans,

or just bush or dwarf trees, need summer pruning,

and this is to hold their form.

If you prune in summer, it restricts growth.

Prune in winter, and it encourages growth.

So if you want espaliers,

it's something you have to do regularly.

At this time of year, it's not all about being busy in the garden.

It's time to have some fun too, and visiting other gardens

is both really enjoyable and also very informative.

Rachel's gone up to RHS Harlow Carr,

where they have a fabulous collection of aromatic plants

and really good sweet peas.

When I arrived early this morning, these philadelphus,

or mock orange, were already pumping out the perfume.

You knew that it was there before you reached it.

As you see, this is a very large double-flowered variety,

and I think this is the best place for it,

somewhere towards the back of the border,

because you don't need to be up close in order to get that fragrance.

When it finishes flowering,

those stems can be a bit ungainly.

The leaf isn't terribly interesting.

So you could grow something like a Clematis viticella through it

to give you a second season of interest.

I grow this rose in my own garden, where it gets much taller,

but depending on how you prune and how open the situation is,

you can keep it low and then it's a perfect partner for lavender,

also an essential for summer fragrance.

This one is called Peter Pan.

It's nice and low-growing,

which makes it a perfect edging for the front of a border.

Here at RHS Garden Harlow Carr,

sweet peas are integral to the summer display.

I met up with curator Elizabeth Balmforth

to get some real tips from the top.

Even in a bad year, this hasn't been a great year for sweet peas,

and look at them - beautiful.

We have had a particularly good year where others have struggled.

In terms of the cultivation of sweet peas,

the soil is probably the most important aspect,

because if you imagine all of that top growth they put on

during the season and the amount of flower they're going to produce,

they really need to get their roots down.

An open structure is what they desire most.

As long as you can keep it moist through the season,

it's really important.

I love these soft, pastel colours

but this one at the end,

it's drawing me to it.

It's the colour, almost, of an old lady's lipstick.

I don't mean that in a bad way but it's got that punchy red.

-You're telling me that's not in your make-up bag?!

-No, it's not!

I know exactly what you mean!

Yeah, it's beautiful.

That's one called Restormel.

Actually, the scent is pretty good on that.

One of the best things about sweet peas is you should pick them often

so that you get more of them.

Yes, exactly.

It always evokes memories of childhood.

I used to go out and pick with my mum.

I'd bring them in and the pine kitchen table, which was clean,

was full of pollen beetle!

THEY LAUGH

But the real trick is to put them in a shed before you bring them in.

They'll migrate towards the light and you'll be clear of pollen beetle

and can sit at your table and the scent will waft around the room.

You get all the fragrance and not the beetles inside.

This is a lovely variety.

Again, another small flower and not very frilly,

in fact, not frilled at all.

-You're a lover of the Grandiflora as well.

-I might be.

This is the way I'm leaning.

You can grow dwarf sweet peas in a container like this one.

This is the Cupid Series.

It makes that blend of purples and pinks,

which means you can enjoy that wonderful fragrance

so quintessentially part of a summer garden,

not only in a place the size of Harlow Carr

but in the smallest plot.

I like my sweet peas to be as tall as possible.

There's something about the height they have.

The crucial thing is that they're fragrant.

That perfect scent is an integral part of the whole flower.

Scent is what I want to get into this area.

This is where we sit.

The sun quite neatly divides into morning sun here,

so it's great for an early-morning cup of tea in the sunshine

and then, from lunchtime onwards, it's in shade.

On this side, you get the afternoon and evening sun

and you can sit and lap it up.

Wherever you have stone, you'll always have

the potential for more heat and more fragrance

because the heat bounces off the stone,

heats up the oils in the plants

and somehow the scent gets caught.

You want to create the most fragrant parts of the garden where you sit.

That could be more than one place but you want to

really pack the scent around seats.

Far better to have one area

that is really rich with fragrance

than just dots all over the garden.

That's what I'm trying to do here. We've had lilies,

we've got scented-leaf geraniums and these are all fantastic

but I wanted a bit more, particularly to go on into autumn.

I've got some climbers here.

This is Trachelospermum jasminoides.

I've never grown this before. I've often admired it

in other people's gardens and love the fragrance.

When it's in full glory, it can cover a wall,

this mass of flower that repeats.

It's a little tender but if I put it here,

where the figs were,

it's going to get full sun, perfect south-facing sunny walls.

I've got a slightly hardier jasmine.

For some reason, I've not grown a jasmine in this garden.

I've had it in previous gardens.

We all love jasmine.

It's familiar because it's used in various things.

It's on the edge of being cloying but the right side -

rich and strong and seductive.

Before I plant, I'm going to add some grit.

As a rule of thumb, you'll never go wrong improving the drainage

for any plant that loves being baked in sunshine.

As an example, we've got some marjoram

growing out of the wall.

You think of the marjoram in the herb garden we saw

that was growing lank and falling all over the place.

This has got pure lime.

There's no soil of any sort in there at all

and it's completely upright and happy.

That's a pretty good clue for what it likes.

Right.

When I plant a border, I'm thinking about all the colours.

I'm thinking about the relationship between colours,

the effect of colours.

I guess we should do that with scents as well.

What will scents work like with each other?

What effect do they have on us?

I'm wondering if we ought to be working the mix of scents

with the same skill that we work our colours

rather than just bunging them in.

What I'm constructing here is a highly artificial exercise in scent.

There's nothing wrong with that - that's what we do in our gardens.

We create an environment, fine-tuning it,

tweaking it to make it exactly as WE want for us.

Carol has been in search of a scent

that couldn't be more natural.

BIRDSONG

Roses are amongst the most romantic and iconic of plants.

For centuries, they've been seducing gardeners

with their heady scents and their sumptuous petals.

They come from all over the northern hemisphere

but the rose that we hold close to our hearts

is our own wild rose.

There are a handful of species in the British Isles

but the most widespread and the most familiar

is our dog rose, Rosa canina.

It spreads itself along hedges, scrambling all over the place,

and if it meets a tree,

off it goes, descending into its branches.

It's these simple, single flowers, which are so emblematic.

It is the national flower of England.

This is the red rose county of Lancashire.

Standing at the top of a picturesque Ribble Valley is Dutton Hall,

a 17th century manor whose garden is filled with

over 200 different species of roses.

Rich in colour and heady with scent.

And this is the red rose of Lancaster,

otherwise known as the apothecary's rose

because it was used hugely medicinally and herbally

probably in many cases just to disguise some of the bad smells

that were around at that time.

It has the most beautiful perfume.

It's robust, strong, has lovely foliage.

If you're into white roses,

then I suppose you could go for the white rose of York

but it's tall, gangly in comparison.

Just doesn't have that scent.

I know which one I'd choose.

Roses come in all shapes, sizes and scents.

Away from the geometric formality of the front terrace of Dutton Hall,

the roses have been left to relax into their surroundings.

Isn't this just magnificent?

This is Rosa 'Betty Sherriff'. It's got big, open, loose clusters

of single flowers.

It's the same simple flower formation as our dog rose.

The roses themselves, opening from little pink buds,

pink at first and then fading to white.

You get this great cascade of bloom.

The scent is light and apple-like, delicious.

Both that and the fact that these flowers are so open,

they're drawing in the insects from all around.

The garden has been created by Cathryn Perry.

The ramblers are brilliant at scrambling where they want to.

Judging by the roses she has here,

she has a fondness for the older and more aromatic varieties.

I used to grow roses commercially.

Just some of these were budded in the ground and never lifted.

-So you've left them?

-I've left them.

And them made a garden around them.

What in particular is it that attracted you to roses so much?

As a child, we had more modern roses in the garden.

I had not come across the old-fashioned ones.

Then when I did, looking at other people's gardens,

I realised that there were all these roses

that were far from stiff and rigid

and pointed buds.

There were these big, flat flowers, there were single,

there were giant single ones.

It's so varied.

Old roses are so much more refined and subtle.

When I first moved to Glebe Cottage, one of my burning ambitions

was to grow old roses and in particular, this one.

This is Rosa alba 'Celeste'.

I'd read all about it, the beauty of its flowers,

the perfection of its buds.

The sort of shape that you feel

the people who have bred hybrid teas have been trying to attain.

All alba roses have really tough foliage

and they're really disease resistant.

As for the scent, it's beyond words.

Just a few weeks ago, I harvested my first new potatoes from here,

everything looked great.

Now look at it. It's been afflicted by blight.

You can see these chocolate spots appear on the leaves

and then, in a matter of days, the whole thing is withered.

Blight is a fungal infection. You need high humidity and heat.

We've had JUST that. It's common across the country.

I'm getting stories of people getting it.

The thing to do is to remove all the foliage

and dig up potatoes, dry them out, and then eat them.

They'll be good to eat but they may not store very well.

Once you've removed the foliage, it is best to burn it if you can.

Otherwise, take it to your local green waste collection

for them to dispose of.

Don't grow potatoes in here next year.

But you wouldn't want to because of the natural rotation.

If the weather is dry, you can leave the potatoes in the ground

for up to a week.

But it's probably a good idea to get them out

as quickly as possible.

Before I do that, though, I want to show you another kind of blight

that's a bit more serious.

Now look at this.

Here we have one, two, three, four patches of box blight.

There are two types of box blight.

There's Cylindrocladium buxicola and Volutella buxi.

But the net effect is the same.

The plant collapses in on itself and dies back.

Once it's here, it's unlikely to disappear very quickly.

You can't spray specifically for it,

even if you want to.

Your best bet is to clean it all out and leave it. Don't feed it

because all you're doing is getting soft growth that is more prone.

If you've had blight, I'd be interested to hear from you.

Box blight is one of those things we are all learning about

all the time.

However, first job I'm going to do,

is cut out all the material, pick up every scrap of stuff

and disinfect my secateurs.

Hopefully, it doesn't spread. But it's not all doom and gloom.

There's lots of lovely things in the garden so enjoy yourself

and I'll see you back here next Friday. Bye-bye.

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