Episode 29 Gardeners' World


Episode 29

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BIRDSONG

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Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

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Now, we've had a few sharp frosts here at Longmeadow,

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and I think it's time to bring pumpkins in.

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You want to leave them out to get as much as the autumn sunshine as possible, which ripens them,

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but they don't like it too cold.

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So, to make sure they store well,

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I think it's time to get them out of the cold.

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You can see...there's one here that's had a bad time of it.

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But I've got a couple here that are good.

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Anyway, it'll soon be Halloween, so the timing is right.

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Now, this week, Joe is visiting a garden in Central London

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that shows how good design and clever lighting

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can maximise all the potential of even the smallest space.

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Every square inch has been used imaginatively

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to bring the indoors outside.

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Carol is in Pembrokeshire looking at willows.

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Now, these look wonderful in the wild,

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but also there are many variations

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that can look spectacular in any garden.

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The willow family is huge, it's enormous -

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there are hundreds of species!

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And I shall be lifting the tender plants

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that gave me such a good display in containers over summer

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and replacing them with winter-flowering plants

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and bulbs for next spring.

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This is my main pumpkin patch.

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Pumpkins are delicious, they store really well,

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they taste good and they're fantastic winter food.

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So I want to make the most of what I've got.

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Now, when you're harvesting them,

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it is important to cut them, not yank them.

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And, also, to keep a good piece of stem. Now, that REALLY matters.

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Because they won't store nearly so well if you cut the stem off.

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That's where the rot gets in.

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So when you're cutting them off,

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make sure you've got a nice length of stem like that.

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And the other point is, even though they've got quite a hard skin,

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look after them, treat them carefully.

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Because they can bruised and, if they bruise, they won't store.

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Now, it's not a particularly good harvest,

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but there's plenty of potentially delicious food there -

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pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie and, my favourite, just roast pumpkin.

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Cut them into segments, or pieces, stick them in the oven

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with a scattering of thyme and a bit of oil - absolutely delicious!

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Now, a few weeks ago, I cut all the leaves off,

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and I got an e-mail in response to that

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which shows I may have been missing a trick all these years,

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because Gallia Arup wrote to me from Zimbabwe and said,

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"I'm from Zimbabwe and we cook the foliage

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"and eat it as you do spinach.

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"And they are scrummy. And have tons of iron."

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Perhaps next year, even if there are no fruit,

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maybe it's worth growing pumpkins just for the foliage.

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And if you want that recipe, you can get it from our website.

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Now the thing to do is just find a sunny spot,

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so they can have a nice sunbathe.

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And the whole point of laying them out

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is to get the skins to harden as much as possible.

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Because the harder the skin, the longer they'll last.

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And even some of the thinner-skinned ones

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should last for at least three months.

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If we get hard frosts later in the week, they'll have to come in.

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But even a couple of days will do good.

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There we are. Let's hope we get some sunshine.

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Now, I planted these pots up last May

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and they're filled with tender plants -

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cannas, dahlias, two different types of cosmos, and nasturtiums.

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Now these all will be killed by temperatures below about minus five.

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So I think it's time to move on.

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Not least because I want to use the pots -

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I want winter colour and colour for next spring -

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and I need to start planting those up now.

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However, you can leave dahlias in

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until the tops are completely blackened.

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That won't kill them.

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With dahlias, just cut them back so that they're manageable.

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Dahlias have tubers, and it's the tubers they've developed this year

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that will feed next year's flowers.

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So, I'm going to rootle around... to try and take these out

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with the least damage possible.

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There we go. Can you see here, the potato-like tubers?

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Now that can go into there.

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Now the cosmos...

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There we go.

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The cannas have got fleshy roots.

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I want to bring up as much root as possible

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because that is storing next year's food.

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Come on, you. Come on. There we go.

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And it is the roots that we're going to preserve over winter.

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These are unimportant, and can be cut back to make life easier.

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I'll be storing these tender plants later on.

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But I'm going to replant these pots first.

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I used a rich compost in the summer, but it will be totally exhausted now,

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and must be removed and replaced before I can begin replanting.

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First thing I like to do when planting bulbs,

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is get large plants in and then I can work round them.

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The largest plants here are the wallflowers.

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The same ones I planted last week - Blood Red.

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I'm putting them right at the edge, so there's an element of spillage.

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These, of course, are grown from seed.

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And I'll put one in the middle.

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Around those, I'm going to put the tulips. I've got two types.

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The first is an old favourite, called Flaming Parrot.

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Parrot tulips have these wonderful raggedy edges.

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It's like this fire-burst of colour.

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Absolutely fabulous tulip!

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I'm going to put these in. Nice and deep.

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And the other one is a new tulip on me, this is Aladdin.

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This is always upright and stately. And elegant.

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And these will grown up through the planting I am putting on top of it.

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I've got here pansies and violas. And you can see the difference.

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Winter-flowering pansies are big flowers, floppy petals.

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And the violas which you could say are more modest, more muted.

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Less powerful. But it's not true, I prefer them.

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You get more flowers - they just keep coming back and back.

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And they're tougher, they're hardier.

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It's practically impossible to stop them flowering in any weather.

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We'll put these fairly close to the edge.

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There's no way this is pretending to be subtle, sophisticated planting.

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There's a time and a place for that.

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And here it isn't.

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The roots need a chance to establish in the pot.

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And for the roots to grow at their very best,

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they don't need to support flowers, which is the most demanding thing.

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So by taking this crop of flowers off,

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you're giving the roots a chance to grow really strongly and well.

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And you'll get new flowers within a week or two,

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and many, many more flowers over a longer period as a result.

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So this is a truly important thing to do.

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If you have a large garden,

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then even big pots blend into the picture.

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And this is particularly true if it's a country garden.

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But if you have a small, urban back garden,

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then you do need to pay attention to every detail.

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And Joe has been to visit a garden in Central London

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which is superb example of that.

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A small, shady garden can be challenging to design.

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But one effective idea is to turn it into an outdoor living area.

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In this garden in Notting Hill,

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every square inch has been used imaginatively

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to bring the indoors outside.

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This private urban garden is just eight metres by ten,

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and it inventively exploits every design rule

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to get the most out of the space,

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As well as providing a backdrop to be enjoyed both day...

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..and night.

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It's designed around three distinct living spaces,

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linked by limestone paving, water and planting.

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Now in a small urban garden like this,

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every plant has to really earn its keep.

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And this is a fantastic choice of a small tree,

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breaking up the eye-level in the middle of the garden here -

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Amelanchier lamarckii.

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I've got one in my own garden - a multi-stemmed version too.

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A lovely sculptural form all through the winter.

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Then it's got very early white spring flowers followed by bronzy foliage.

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And then you get fruit, which the birds love later in the year,

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and in a week or so, it will covered by flamey orangey-red foliage.

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Lots of interest all through the year. A fantastic choice.

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You can stay there for many years to come!

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In a small garden,

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it's a good idea to make the boundaries a real feature.

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In this space, the linear fencing makes the garden feel bigger,

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and provides an attractive backdrop for the planting.

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They've gone for a nice, slick look using slatted cedar timbers

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laid horizontally all the way around,

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and because the boundaries all have the same finish,

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it creates a lovely harmonious, cohesive look to the space.

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You don't have to splash out loads of cash,

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you can get softwood timber and maybe stain it.

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But this cedar... Well, it's classy, and it'll last a lifetime.

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To find out how this outdoor room was created,

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I caught up with garden's designer, Charlotte Rowe.

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This can only be described as a very cool garden.

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-It's very cool.

-Wouldn't mind it myself really.

-Nor me.

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And you're blurring the indoors and the outdoors. How have you done that?

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We were able to work really closely with the architect

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and interior designers and the client.

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So, for example, we wanted a pale stone out here.

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We used limestone a lot.

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We were able to make sure that the same stone was used inside and out.

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So it's completely seamless right the way through the ground floor.

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Then the colour palette used inside - a soft, browny colour -

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we were able to bring that out here.

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Using it in the pots there, in the furniture here.

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But also we were wanting to reflect this wonderful capsule.

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The use of the materials on that - the copper and the timber.

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And that was reflected in the garden, as well.

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The glass balustrade is so effective.

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If you'd had something blocking the eye, from indoors to outdoors, it would ruin the effect.

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Absolutely. When you come out, you have a through-view to the garden.

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Nothing is stopping the view. It's fantastic.

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Glass is what we always prefer, because it just looks amazing,

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and it isn't difficult to maintain.

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It just gives it a completely seamless look.

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We like to divide the garden up in urban gardens

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because it makes the space look bigger.

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So we put the water feature here, and were able to make a journey through -

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intersects through the Amelanchier lamarckii,

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to the sitting area, and to the dining area.

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You don't make a space look bigger

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by having narrow beds at the side and a patch of lawn in the middle.

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You do it by being more inventive with the space,

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and breaking it up a bit and creating a journey.

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This outdoor room maximises every inch of space.

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But as day falls to night,

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garden lighting transforms it into a magical setting.

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It's really tempting to put big, bright lights all over the garden,

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but it's not good for wildlife

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and it's not good for the look of the garden, too.

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What we're really looking for is something pretty low-key,

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creating ambient light that drifts nicely through the whole space.

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Level changes and steps should be lit for practical reasons.

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Use energy efficient LEDs

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to gently sweep light across the paving surface.

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Down-lighters are great for emphasising design details.

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And up-lighters are really good for raking across textures of tree trunks and walls.

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But remember to subdue the light levels to keep things really moody.

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And water lights enhanced the depth of this contemporary pond,

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creating a lovely shimmering light that indirectly illuminates the garden.

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Using garden lighting takes the idea of an outdoor room to greater heights,

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one that you can enjoy both day and night.

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I think the really important thing if you've a tiny garden

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is to make the places you sit in attractive, so you want to go there.

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Anyway, now I must deal with these plants

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and get them properly stored.

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Now the three basic plants here -

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Cosmos atrosanguineus, dahlia and the canna -

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all have slightly different ways of seeing them through the winter.

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If we take the chocolate cosmos first...it's still in good nick.

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There are buds on there, flowers that will go on growing,

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so I'm going to put this into an individual pot

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so I can keep it flowering outside until the risk of frost is really there.

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I want to make the most of it.

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It doesn't have to be cut back necessarily.

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You're not looking to store its roots in particular,

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but it can be kept as an entire plant.

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Then, when it's finished flowering, you just cut it back a bit,

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and pop the whole pot into a frost-free place.

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A cold frame will do the job ideally.

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So that's the easiest of the lot. Next up...

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is the canna.

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You can see, this has got big, fleshy roots,

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and you can see there are shoots coming from it.

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As the temperatures drop we want to keep it alive, keep it happy,

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but suppress its desire to grow.

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And the important thing is to keep it moist.

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Not let it dry out too much.

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Just get a bag. I use old potting compost bags. And pop it in.

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And this will keep in the moisture, keep it dark.

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Now that can be put anywhere that is frost-free and not too warm.

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But, of course, do remember to label it. Really important.

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This is where dahlias come in.

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Because if you have a dahlia, like this one,

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which is Bishop of Llandaff, just cut it back a little bit more,

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so we can take that back like that and like that.

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All this extra growth, cos we don't need it and it's not going to stay.

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That is ready to dry out, but we don't want it to dry out completely.

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So the best thing to do is leave it where the soil can start to dry,

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the top growth can dry off, so plenty of ventilation.

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It's really important to label dahlias.

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You'll THINK you'll remember what it is, but you won't.

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Not if you're anything remotely like me!

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That can sit for a week.

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In a week's time,

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I'll show you what the next stage of storing dahlias is.

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But here are some other things you can do right now, this weekend.

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Although the changing colour of trees and their foliage

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is one of the glories of the season,

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it does bring with it a few problems for pond-owners.

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Because leaves in the water will sink, decompose and add nutrients

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and that, in turn, will feed weed and algae next season.

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So clear them out regularly.

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It's one of those jobs it's better to do little and often.

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Good for a piece of quiet contemplation.

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If you're growing tender bulbs, like Galtonia or Eucomis,

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they need lifting or protecting -

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as they'll only be hardy to a few degrees of frost.

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Dig them up and take them in under cover.

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Trim off any loose leaves

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and either pot into a very free-draining compost

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and put them somewhere dry, like the greenhouse,

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or simply let and the bulbs dry out and store them in a cool place.

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If you have young salad plants growing,

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they do need some protection if they're to last till next spring.

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This is where cloches are useful.

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Place cloches over the plants, but don't close the ends.

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Ventilation is just as important as protection.

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Right, that should protect them.

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The leaves are started to stream off the trees,

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but some trees and shrubs look fantastic with their bare silhouettes

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and willows, or at least some of them,

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are right there amongst the best of them.

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I suppose the way that most of us think about willows

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is in the spring, as pussy willows,

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adorned with these delightful, fluffy yellow catkins.

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But the willow family is huge, it's enormous.

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There are hundreds of species,

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scattered all over the Northern Hemisphere.

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And there are 19 or so that are native to the British Isles.

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And some of them are trees.

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This is the common willow.

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It's Salix cinerea.

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And the closer you get, the more you're aware of the magical life

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that's happening along these deeply-fissured branches.

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All manner of soft mosses and beautiful lichens.

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And every so often, here and there along the branches,

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are these little colonies of the most exquisite tiny toadstools.

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Absolutely magical!

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We can't all find a space for something this big,

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but the great thing about willow

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is that there are so many varieties and forms to choose from.

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Here in West Wales, Dave Clark has amassed a diverse collection

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of more than 300 different willows.

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Which one did you start with?

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We started with some of the viminalis, some of the bigger ones,

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and a few of the basket willows.

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The viminalis are the stronger-growing ones.

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And it was used a lot, especially in parts of Wales,

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as a framework for coracles.

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If you take a piece of willow and wrap it round your fist,

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-if it doesn't break, then you can use it.

-Yeah.

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So how long have people been making baskets then?

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When they were doing Hadrian's Wall, they found a basket when they were excavating there.

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So some of these willows may have been brought over by the Romans.

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Yes. Almost certainly they were.

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You've got willows that grow into bushes,

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willows that grow into trees.

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You've got willows which rabbits don't like.

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Which are those?

0:20:530:20:54

Most of the purpureas, you've got, because they're bitter.

0:20:540:20:57

They have a high salicin content, which is where aspirin came from.

0:20:570:21:02

So the rabbits are going to leave it alone unless they've got a headache!

0:21:020:21:06

But I want a willow that's going to be brilliant for wildlife.

0:21:060:21:10

-What would you recommend?

-I think Sekka is the best one.

0:21:100:21:13

-It only produces a bush.

-Yeah.

0:21:130:21:15

All the branches twist and go backwards

0:21:150:21:18

and forwards on themselves.

0:21:180:21:20

It attracts all the birds because nothing can get at them.

0:21:200:21:23

It has nice, bright, shiny leaves right the way up until December.

0:21:230:21:26

You've sold it!

0:21:260:21:28

-One of the things about willows is how easy it is to make more.

-It is.

0:21:320:21:36

And if you look at these little brown spots,

0:21:360:21:39

-that's where the roots will come from.

-Right.

0:21:390:21:42

So how many cuttings would you take from something like that?

0:21:420:21:45

Out of this one, I'd only take two.

0:21:450:21:47

The cuttings are about ten inches, but the interesting thing is

0:21:470:21:50

that if you planted this in the grass, you'd expect to see

0:21:500:21:55

between 18 inches and two foot of growth in the first year.

0:21:550:21:59

If you took a rubbish bag outside and put on the grass first

0:21:590:22:02

and went round it with a spade and pushed it into the grass,

0:22:020:22:05

and then planted that in the middle,

0:22:050:22:07

that would put out between seven and nine foot.

0:22:070:22:10

Right. That different? Just because of the competition from the grass.

0:22:100:22:14

Just because the competition from the grass.

0:22:140:22:17

Wouldn't you just love this in your garden?

0:22:270:22:30

This is Salix alba 'Yelverton'.

0:22:300:22:33

And you achieve this wonderful, glowing orange colour

0:22:330:22:38

by cutting it hard back.

0:22:380:22:40

Come March, or the beginning of April,

0:22:400:22:43

if you cut it down to the ground, up will come these lovely new shoots.

0:22:430:22:47

This is just a year's growth.

0:22:470:22:50

At first, that new growth is green,

0:22:500:22:52

but as autumn changes to winter and temperatures begin to plummet,

0:22:520:22:58

it manifests these beautiful orangey-red stems.

0:22:580:23:02

Positively sizzling!

0:23:020:23:04

In contrast to all those delightful willowy willows,

0:23:060:23:11

you come across something like this.

0:23:110:23:13

This is Salix magnifica,

0:23:130:23:15

with its resplendent thick, solidly-textured leaves.

0:23:150:23:21

And these gorgeous dark-red stems.

0:23:210:23:24

Some willows are superbly sensual.

0:23:240:23:28

If you touch the back of the leaves of this lovely Salix candida,

0:23:280:23:34

they're soft and fluffy, covered in down.

0:23:340:23:38

And so, too, are the stems. As soft as a deer's new antlers.

0:23:380:23:43

And once these leaves have fallen, it reveals these beautiful stems

0:23:430:23:49

and these buds swell and become quite round.

0:23:490:23:52

They're next year's catkins.

0:23:520:23:54

And I suppose that's the thing about willows.

0:23:540:23:58

It's not just what they are at the moment,

0:23:580:24:00

but what they're going to become

0:24:000:24:02

in all those various stages that they all go through.

0:24:020:24:05

And the anticipation of those lovely fluffy catkins next spring.

0:24:050:24:10

If you want more ideas about willows for your garden, go to our website.

0:24:110:24:16

Willows are lovely and they grow fantastically well round here,

0:24:290:24:32

but just one word of caution is because they grow so easily from cuttings,

0:24:320:24:38

there is a temptation to put them in everywhere

0:24:380:24:40

and that's what I did when we first came here to Longmeadow,

0:24:400:24:43

especially down by the dam garden.

0:24:430:24:46

And they go on growing, they become big trees.

0:24:460:24:49

And after about ten years, they're really quite difficult to move.

0:24:490:24:52

So, although they're easy to grow,

0:24:520:24:54

they're a little more difficult to get rid of,

0:24:540:24:57

so choose your site carefully.

0:24:570:24:59

Now, IF it was dry, I'd be planting broad beans now,

0:25:010:25:05

out in the vegetable garden.

0:25:050:25:06

But the chances of it being dry here at Longmeadow in autumn

0:25:060:25:10

are pretty remote. At the moment, it's absolutely sodden.

0:25:100:25:13

We've got heavy soil, it's a low-lying area and we've had a lot of rain.

0:25:130:25:17

The result of that is it could be wet right through till next spring,

0:25:170:25:20

which means that I wouldn't be able to get my broad beans out.

0:25:200:25:24

It doesn't mean to say that I can't sow broad beans.

0:25:240:25:27

They grow very well in pots and then can be planted out as young plants

0:25:270:25:30

as late as next March or April. I've collected my own seed.

0:25:300:25:35

These are the seeds of Crimson Flowered broad beans.

0:25:350:25:39

They're beautiful plants.

0:25:390:25:41

These lovely cherry-magenta coloured flowers.

0:25:410:25:45

And the beans are good to eat.

0:25:450:25:47

You just let the plant get mature and it looks as though it's died.

0:25:470:25:51

And then you harvest the brown pods

0:25:510:25:53

and inside are the slightly dried-up beans,

0:25:530:25:58

which of course is what you want.

0:25:580:26:00

You need to dry them a little bit more.

0:26:000:26:02

And what I do is simply spread them out in a seed tray

0:26:020:26:05

and leave them for one or two weeks.

0:26:050:26:07

You know they're ready when,

0:26:070:26:09

if you press them with your fingernail, there's no give.

0:26:090:26:13

Now these would stay ready to sow for at least a year.

0:26:130:26:16

Perfectly good to leave these to sow direct into the ground next spring.

0:26:160:26:20

But I want to get ahead.

0:26:200:26:21

Use a potting compost rather than a seed mix

0:26:230:26:27

because these might well stay in the pot for nearly six months.

0:26:270:26:31

So they need a little nutrition. And then just plant one seed per pot.

0:26:310:26:37

Push it in like that.

0:26:370:26:39

And of course if you can sow them outside, prepare the soil,

0:26:390:26:44

sow them about nine inches apart and then let them germinate.

0:26:440:26:50

The problem with having them outside is mice love them.

0:26:500:26:53

So in many ways, growing them in pots is a lot easier.

0:26:530:26:57

Now these will be perfectly happy in the cold frame without any extra heat.

0:27:070:27:11

The reason that cold frames work so well

0:27:110:27:15

is that they can protect plants from wind, rain

0:27:150:27:19

and, to a certain extent, cold

0:27:190:27:21

because when you close them down, they're nice and insulated.

0:27:210:27:24

But it is really important to open them up

0:27:240:27:28

and let the plants harden off from being exposed to the air.

0:27:280:27:31

# We're only making plans for Nigel

0:27:470:27:52

# We only want what's best for him... #

0:27:540:27:57

Now, Nigel has been off the programme.

0:27:590:28:04

He's been off games for a few weeks.

0:28:040:28:06

And lots and lots of you have written, emailed, tweeted,

0:28:060:28:11

all wanting to know where is he and how is he.

0:28:110:28:13

He's here and he's fine.

0:28:130:28:16

He had a freak accident, leaping for a ball

0:28:160:28:18

and he damaged his spine rather badly and that affected his legs.

0:28:180:28:23

But, through amazing treatment and recuperation,

0:28:230:28:26

he's recovering very well indeed.

0:28:260:28:29

We're expecting him to return to complete fitness by next spring.

0:28:290:28:33

Which is when he will be back in the garden again, won't you, Nige?

0:28:330:28:37

And I'll be back next Friday as normal.

0:28:370:28:40

So join me then. Bye bye. Come on, Nigel.

0:28:400:28:43

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