Episode 2 Gardeners' World

Welcome to Gardeners' World. The best thing about this time of year, regardless of the weather,

is every day, there seem to be more and more little signs of spring.

I love the way the hawthorn starts to appear almost

erratically as forerunners of what is to come.

Another thing that has appeared in the last few days,

which I am as relieved about as pleased,

because everybody told me it wouldn't work, and these

are the wood anemones that I planted on the surface of the ground.

Last September, the ground was such that I couldn't get into it at all.

I had read about a new technique and thought I would try it,

which is just to scarify the soil,

place the wood anemones on the surface and cover them with compost.

That's what I did, absolutely no sign of anything

until about a week ago,

and here we are - beautiful flowers,

and plenty more to come, it's a good technique.

We have lots going on in tonight's programme.

One of the virtues here at Longmeadow,

we've got lots of room to do things in.

But if you've got limited space,

one thing you must do is maximise the effect of any walls or fences,

and I will be planting up a wall here

with a tiny strip of soil beneath it.

Joe is continuing his masterclass in design, and this week,

he is looking at the layout of our gardens.

Play around with different shapes and how they relate to each other,

this is an exciting part of garden design.

If you live in the South or the South East,

you will know there is a drought going on

and it is likely to continue through the summer.

But Carol is looking at ways of turning that situation into an advantage.

I love and adore the plants that actually enjoy

growing in those sort of conditions.

I'm planting out some aconites.

But I got the tubers last summer

and they are a funny little bag of odd looking things, and I put them

into these plugs and kept them in a cold frame over the winter, and you can see

that they have formed nice plants

with a good root system. Now I'm planting them out.

If you have got aconites or snowdrops,

now is the time to lift them, divide them

and replant them to spread a group.

You can see, I am using a bulb planter,

it just takes out a neat hole.

You take the plant out of the pot or the plug...

..and then, just carefully squeeze it in.

What I want to do is develop a really nice

carpet of aconites around this chestnut.

Of course, this is going to look really good

on a horizontal plane, but I've got a piece of the garden

that is all vertical, it is really constricted and small,

just the other side of the Walled Garden.

The wall in question is west facing,

and although the border beneath it is very narrow,

the wall's excellent aspect makes it ideal for almost any climber.

A west facing wall has a rich, warm glow to it and plants love it.

In fact, I think it is the best orientation for any plant, better

than a south facing wall, because it is warm but it is also wet.

All the rain comes in so that plants don't dry out,

as they can on a south facing wall.

So, this is ideal for growing climbers up.

The first thing when you prepare any planting against a wall

is you must have a support, before you plant it.

I have put in wire, supported by hook and eyes, really securely

drilled into the wall so they can take the weight of mature plants.

And the plan is to have a couple of good roses

that will smother the wall, then also clematis.

This week, I'm starting with the roses.

I have chosen two, one is 'New Dawn',

the other is 'Madame Alfred Carriere'.

What is particularly good about them is,

they adapt to poor growing conditions.

They are good for poor soil, whereas some roses need a bit more mollycoddling.

The first one, 'Madame Alfred Carriere', is a Noisette rose

and it has got a fascinating story behind it, because it started in America.

There was an American rice farmer in Carolina

and he bred this rose and he liked it,

so he gave it to his neighbour,

who was a French immigrant, a Monsieur Noisette.

He grew some seedlings, liked them and sent them to his brother

in Paris and thought, these are definitely a new kind of rose.

And he named it, in his brother's honour, Noisette roses.

And they had masses of flower, they grew really strongly

and were crossed with other roses and became enormously popular.

And 'Madame Alfred Carriere' is, I think, the best of the bunch.

Now, I do know that it is hard to know

what to choose sometimes. I have chosen a couple of roses here

that will work in these particular conditions.

The best way to find out about plants is to see them growing.

But hopefully, see them growing in a garden, so you can imagine

what it would look like in your own garden at home.

And the best place to do that is in a national collection.

Last summer, we went to Moor Wood near Cirencester,

which has the national collection of rambler roses.

We started it back in 1983.

The garden was rather rundown and it needed something to resuscitate it.

A friend suggested we have one of the national collections

they were starting, and I said, what would be a good idea?

He said, rambler roses. And we have been collecting ever since.

We don't want to do proper, regimented gardening,

we want to do much more wild landscaping, really.

And the ramblers really are a wonderful focus.

A rambler flowers on old wood, so you prune it after it has flowered,

i.e. in the summer, usually July or August.

And a climber flowers on new wood, so you prune it in the spring.

And that is my sort of working definition.

People think they are all singles, but actually,

there are doubles, there are sprays.

Well, I planted 'Apple Blossom' against the house, it is a vigorous

variety and it hit the gutter in three years worth of growth.

Rampant is the word, I would say.

We have to hack her back really hard, often, otherwise,

-she would have overtaken this side of the house.

-She would be in the windows!

But she is a beautiful colour, so we love her.

-And she flowers for a long flowering season.

-Good flowering.

Well, this is a wonderful rambler called 'Goldfinch'.

And it has a number of good characteristics,

one of which is that it is thornless, so when you are pruning it,

you don't get cut to ribbons.

And it's very pretty, yellowy, apricot-y, perhaps, fading to cream.

Lovely rose. And doesn't grow too big.

And so perfectly well-behaved, never steps out of line.

A lovely, natural looking, small-scale rose.

Very good small rambler.

This beautiful rose, 'Dawson's Rose', is actually

a source of contention with my husband,

because he longs for it to cover the whole apple tree,

and I long for it to be a blend of the two.

So, we have a battle. But after the flowering,

I do have a very hard cut back,

and it is a wonderful rose, it flowers its heart out

and looks glorious with the fruits coming.

This is a glorious one, beautiful, painterly colours.

It is called 'Madame Alice Garnier'.

And it is quite small, quite compact, could do well in a smaller garden.

And it will throw a second crop of flowers

if you don't set about pruning it in July.

They are one big burst of flower, glorious burst of flowering,

and we actually prefer it that way,

they do flower their hearts out for three weeks.

And it is like the strawberry season, you get this glorious show,

then it's over and you look forward to the next year.

There are early ramblers and late ramblers,

so you can spread the season and enjoy their moment of glory.

And when they go over, wave them goodbye and say,

see you again next year.

Now, that is a stunning garden.

But you can get a piece of it just with a few roses.

Because the great thing about ramblers and climbers, too,

is that they are so generous with their charms,

they spill and flow and froth and make life much richer as a result.

I have just planted 'Madame Carriere', which is a climber.

You can usually distinguish a climber from a rambler

because ramblers tend to have much more vigorous growth

and flower only once, with lots of small blooms.

Climbers, however, often flower repeatedly

and respond well to being tightly trained.

However, the next rose I shall plant is a rambler called 'New Dawn'

that breaks the rules, because it behaves like a climber.

'New Dawn' was bred in the 1930s and from the day it was released to

the public, it has been one of the most favourite roses that there is.

Partly because it is beautiful, but mainly because

it just goes on and on, it starts flowering in June and will continue

producing new blooms until the frost kills them.

So, planting, of course, is simple.

Dig a hole - if the soil was better,

I would dig a deeper hole than I am going to,

but it's going to have to cope with the conditions we give it.

Now, the key thing to planting roses, or replanting roses,

is in this tub. Because this is mycorrhizal fungus.

And the fungi are contained in this clay-like medium.

Mycorrhizal fungi occur naturally in healthy soil, but you can give

your plants a boost when you plant them by adding some more.

The fungi attach themselves to the plant's roots

and spread out, making a network of fine fibres,

which in effect increases the total surface area

through which water and nutrients can be absorbed by the plant.

Now, I used to think that its action was triggered by moisture.

That doesn't seem to be the case,

it's actually triggered by contact with the roots of the plant,

in other words, it's the plant that triggers the fungus into action.

So, the best way to apply is not to sprinkle it into the hole,

but just hold it over the hole and sprinkle it over the roots,

so it is touching the wet roots and will stick to them,

so any that miss the roots then goes into the hole.

You don't need a huge amount, just enough to get things going.

And it is also particularly good in poor soil,

which is going to be fairly deficient in the fungi.

Now, pop it in the hole and then just backfill around it.

Now, if you have got any straggly shoots at this stage,

they should be pruned back.

Even though you want a tall climber, now is the time to prune it

so you get good, strong growth from the base.

In fact, this plant is fine - four good shoots and these will grow out.

And it may look pretty inadequate now,

just a few sticks in brown soil, but that will grow vigorously.

And then, having given it a good drink,

the important thing to do is give it an equally good mulch.

And mulching does three things.

It keeps in moisture, it suppresses weeds, particularly annual weeds,

and it feeds the soil and improves the soil structure.

So if there is one thing you do in your garden in spring,

mulching is probably the most useful,

particularly if it is going to be very dry, and for a lot of us,

we are already in drought.

The South East, the East of the country and spreading across,

there is quite serious drought already and it is probably going to get worse.

And I suspect that most of us will have to deal with

drought at some stage, either this year or in coming years.

However, it needn't necessarily be a major problem, as Carol shows

in her own garden that drought sometimes can be an opportunity.

We often hear from viewers from all over the country who share

the same problem, that of dry conditions, drought.

Now, I garden in the South West

and my soil is heavy clay and we haven't got a drought yet, but nonetheless,

I love and adore the plants that actually enjoy growing

in those sort of conditions. So, 30 years ago, I built

this great big raised bed,

and it is built with local stone

but within it are two to three feet of rubble and on top

of that, rather poor soil with lots and lots of grit added to it.

This enables me to grow plants that will grow in any sort of dry

and droughty condition.

Just look at this pulsatilla with these soft, furry leaves.

Not just the stems and leaves but the flowers too which are covered in this thick fur.

And that fur collects water and takes it right down to the root.

Some plants though have developed quite different techniques.

This cotoneaster draped over the top of the wall has tiny leaves

so it loses very little moisture through them.

And how about this for an example of the strategy of tiny leaves?

This is a Whipchord hebe and the leaves are so reduced

they are hardly recognisable as leaves at all.

And of course, very little moisture is lost through their surfaces.

There are other plants with narrow leaves like this euphoribia.

This characias wulfenii grew from all around the Mediterranean, the Iberian coast -

conditions where it's really dry and well-drained.

And there are plants like this,

look at this verbascum, that everybody knows,

because it seeds itself around our gardens.

And both the back and the front of the leaves is covered in fine

hairs which prevents the sun from scorching the cuticle of the leaf.

Well, I've got lots of plants on here

but there's always room for a few more

and I think this time of year you really want to zhush things up.

There's a whole list of gorgeous plants that have adapted

themselves to withstand drought conditions.

Like this sempervivum with its thick, fleshy, leaves.

Each one is a self-contained natural reservoir.

Alpine plants like this Encrusted Saxifrage will also relish an arid situation.

And I'm going to introduce a bit of softness into this bed

with Stipa tennerisama, a fine bladed grass that will form a perfect backdrop.

It's a very light, really light compost and I know this isn't

going to settle in there so I'll take quite a lot off here.

It looks a bit sort of extreme, but breaking a grass's roots will,

at this time of year, will persuade it to make new root and move out.

It should settle in really quickly.

It's a good idea when planting perennials in dry borders to improve the soil

and boost its moisture retention by adding loads of organic matter.

But you don't have to go to huge expense

when trying to cover a large, dry area.

There are plenty of ways of creating new plants for free.

Well, one of the plants that loves this situation is one called

Primula auricular 'Old Mustard'. And the leaves are covered in flower,

another device to protect the leaf from the hot baking sun.

And I cannot resist but make a few extra plants from it.

And all I need do is pull these apart.

Out they'll come with these great big long roots.

So, each one will go into its own little clay pot,

I could plant them straight into the ground immediately but I think I'd

rather make sure each one gets settled into a pot first of all.

Firm it in. And then finish the top off with some grit.

So that the rosette, when it opens up,

will be sitting on the surface of the grit.

And if you want extra colour at this time of year,

just a sudden splash, then you can use some of the bulbs that inhabit

this kind of place in the wild, small crocuses and irises,

there's a lovely iris called 'Katharine Hodgkin' which would be ideal in here.

But to finish this off now, all I need is to mulch it.

The most appropriate mulch is grit. And it looks pretty good!

Gardening in dry and droughty conditions is just one problem

gardeners experience.

And if you've got a particular problem or dilemma from planting

to propagation, why not contact me via the Gardeners' World website?

Good boy!

Now these four borders are the grass borders.

And the grasses dominate not just the way they look

but the way we garden them.

In effect, we leave them all winter, a tiny bit of a tidy up

and they are allowed to slowly die back

and the structure of the plants remains stark and dominant.

I think that looks lovely, but now is the time to remove all that

so the new growth can be at its best.

Not all grasses are treated the same way, but it's simple.

Remember, if they've got straight upright stems like this miscanthus,

they can be cut right back to the ground.

If they have floppy growth like this Stipa gigantea

and they've also got some green growth,

they shouldn't be cut back but just teased out.

Get your hands in and comb them.

Just pull out all the loose growth, it's coming out

and that's all they need.

And you can do it... You can see some green growth coming through

so we'll weed that out.

And this pheasant grass is really easy to grow,

there isn't much dead in that.

But in front of it you see we've got this little miscanthus

that we can cut back.

So, I get in there and cut at the base.

Like that.

And it's important to cut now and not leave it

because if you cut the top off the new growth, it remains cut off.

And you get a curious shape to it.

If there is more detail you want to know about grasses

or anything else in the garden, go to our website and find it there.

As a loose heap of strawy material, this will take years to compost down

but if you chop material like this up

and then mix it with very green matter like grass clippings

or kitchen waste, it makes brilliant compost.

The point of this area is that we have the formal structure

with loose growth, I want it to grow back as vigorously as possible.

And from conception, that was the idea.

That's the important thing with any garden, plan how you want it

and work towards that end.

And Joe in this week's Design Masterclass

is looking at the layout of our gardens.

Great garden design is about combining aesthetics

with practical solutions.

Over five weeks, I'm taking a close look at six very different real

gardens that beautifully illustrate the principles of good garden design

and with the help of my sketchbook and my own ideas, I am attempting to

explain these principles and show you how to make your garden a success.

Last time I talked about boundaries.

Now I am looking at how to make your space work for you with garden layouts.

When you're thinking about your garden layout,

get it down on paper.

Play around with different shapes and how they relate to each other.

And it's really fun. This is an exciting part of garden design.

I always start thinking about the lines people follow as they

walk through the garden and that's going to be decided by your style.

Formal or informal.

Say you're a formal person and you want a formal style garden.

The movement through the garden will be very much up and down.

The eye will be drawn straight through.

That gives you a nice line of symmetry

and from that we can impose geometric shapes onto the space itself.

And I like to use strong geometry because it helps define

the garden space and hold it together and give it structure.

With an informal garden we're trying to create more movement

through the garden and use the width.

So, draw a line across it, you can see more flow

and it creates more of an informal movement.

All the areas outside of these areas will be planted up and help

soften it and by breaking a garden up into three seems to work quite well.

If you break it up into two, you have one area or the other

but with three you've got more interest

and a transition between the first one and the last one.

This garden layout is incredibly simple

and that's what makes it work so well.

It's divided into three main areas - the terrace,

the lawn in the middle and the back area of gravel and paving.

What this garden's got is great balance and good proportion.

If you want to create a fluid design consider using circles because they

impose strong geometry on the garden, hold it together all year round.

At the same time,

the eye constantly moves around so it never quite knows where to stop.

Here, there are three circles throughout the garden

all connected somehow.

This one overlaps the other

and there's a path leading through to the pond.

And the whole look is really effective.

No matter what the size of your garden,

I really like this geometrical approach.

This small urban garden is divided into three offset circles.

I think it shows how, in a small space, breaking up the area

and packing it full can actually make the garden seem bigger

because there's more to slow the eye down and keep your attention.

So, once you have your shapes and their basic arrangement, size comes into play.

I like to make sure the different areas allow

plenty of space for how they will be used.

When it comes to seating areas, be particularly generous.

I lay out the terrace, seating area, to work with the size of table

and chairs I know will be bought and then add another chair's width

onto it so when everybody's sitting down there is plenty of space for all.

All these gardens have great examples of a nice balanced layout.

They allow appropriate space for each area

and keep things simple by working with one geometric shape.

It gives the gardens a real sense of structure.

To make your garden really work, you need to choose the right

materials for the different areas you've created and that's what

I'll be talking about next time when we look at landscaping.

This is not only a good time of year to plant roses

but also to prune them, particularly hybrid teas or shrub roses.

The basic thing to remember about these is they flower on new growth.

So after pruning you get reinvigorated growth

and that's what bears the flowers.

If you grow them in a border like this one,

this is William Shakespeare, a fabulous modern shrub rose,

beautiful flowers but the growth is irregular.

What I want is a strong framework to see those flowers held up around

waist height and to achieve that end I need to encourage new growth.

And the harder you cut, the more vigorous the growth.

The logic is if you want strong growth, cut weak stems hard.

You can see here that's a nice strong growth,

but this is fairly weedy.

There's a little bud. Just cut above it.

Like that. This stem is strong, this one's weak.

To balance it I'm taking the weak one down to the ground. There we go.

It seems slightly counterintuitive but it works.

Now, you may not grow roses but here are some jobs you can do in your garden this weekend.

If you have a greenhouse, you won't be using it for tomatoes

and other tender veg for a little while.

It's a good time now to sow or plant out some salad crops.

These temporary crops will grow quickly and you can harvest them

and enjoy them whilst there is little else in the garden.

But you don't need a greenhouse to raise masses of seedlings

for your vegetable garden or flower borders.

All you need is a small seedbed. Remove all weeds and stones,

add some grit if the soil is heavy and rake it smooth.

And sow the seeds in rows, being sure to label them clearly.

Go on...

That's it for this week, don't forget Sunday is Mothering Sunday

and there's no nicer present than a bunch of flowers from the garden.

In four days' time, it's the first day of spring.

Everything is getting better!

I'll see next Friday. Bye-bye.

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