Episode 5 Gardeners' World

Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

Now, Easter is the biggest weekend in the gardeners' calendar.

It's the first holiday of the year and the chance

either to tackle a big project,

or just potter happily around the garden.

This week, Carol's in Lincolnshire to celebrate the glorious daffodil.

From the native Lent lily to the hundreds of garden varieties.

It announces the spring. It trumpets it.

It's a clarion call to feel happy and to just enjoy the season.

Gathering a bunch of home-grown flowers is one of gardening's

greatest treats and Rachel is helping a group of novice gardeners

raise their own cup flowers from seed.

And Joe concludes his series of design masterclasses

by showing how the careful use of focal points

and feature plants can enhance even the smallest garden.

For many of us, Easter is the first weekend of the year

that we really get to grips with our vegetable garden.

This veg plot was made last year with the aim of growing

enough produce to support an average family -

and I think it did really well -

but, hopefully, in its second year, it'll do even better.

One of the long standing Easter jobs is the planting of potatoes.

In fact, I've already put in a couple of rows

of very early ones and I'm going to fill this bed

just with first early potatoes,

with lots of varieties, as a kind of test.

Last year, my first earlies were really disappointing.

I had red Duke of York, which is beautiful potato.

It's a pinky, red oval shape. It grew pretty well

so I harvested it on my birthday,

as I always do with the first new potatoes,

and boiled them up and went to eat them and they were not good.

They broke up as soon as they were ready to eat

and the taste was very poor. That was true of the whole batch.

I thought it was just me, but then I had lots of letters -

people saying exactly the same experience -

and I found out it was down to the cold weather

we had in May, June and July

and that altered the structure of the potato.

So they grew OK, but it was this breaking up on boiling

and this very, very bland taste.

Nothing we can do about the weather,

but we can grow them as well as possible.

Planting potatoes is dead easy.

I start by drawing a deep drill,

and a mattock is the ideal tool for this,

and add a few inches of compost along the bottom of it,

then place the seed tubers about 18 inches apart.

See, these are chitted so they've got nice knobbles

and you can just rub off any surplus chits.

So you've got one nice, strong and knobbly shoot at the top.

'Then draw the soil back over the planted potatoes.

'The rows do need to be far enough apart to allow room

'for earthing up later on when the new foliage appears.

'This will protect them from any late frost

'as well as ensuring the emerging tubers aren't exposed to light.'

Normally, I grow just a couple of varieties of new potatoes,

but this year, I thought I'd try five or six different types

just for the taste. After all, this about food not gardening.

The gardening is all leading to the plate.

And because last year's taste was so disappointing,

I thought I'd do a little taste test.

I've got three varieties I have grown before

and three I haven't.

I'm planting Duke of York,

Swift, Winston, International Kidney,

Sharpe's Express and Foremost.

For more information about each variety, check our website.

Right, that's done. Now, of course, Easter varies in time,

so you can plant your potatoes any time from the middle of March

to the end of April, but the one flower you can guarantee

to be out at Easter time, in some form or other, is the daffodil.

As we approach Easter, once again a familiar friend returns

to our gardens.

It's the true harbinger of spring - the daffodil.

And here at Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire

they're not just blooming, they're absolutely flourishing.

This must be a most optimistic wild flower.

It announces the spring. It trumpets it.

It's a clarion call to feel happy and to just enjoy the season.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus - the Lent lily

because of the time of year when it first appears.

It just epitomises spring and it's such a tough, robust little flower,

yet it looks so delicate and dainty.

From this bulb buried deep in the ground,

up thrusts these shoots with these straight little leaves

and then the flower - this big, bright yellow trumpet.

And it makes these great dancing colonies

that just waft in the breeze.

Doddington is the ancestral home of Antony Jarvis.

Ever since they were first introduced over 150 years ago,

daffodils have become an integral part of the landscape.

I really haven't seen such a magnificent array of daffodils.

These chestnuts are just...

They are. People don't believe them when they see them.

I've never seen anything like them.

They're so alien and strange that people don't even recognise them

as being sweet chestnut.

But they make the perfect foil for the daffodils?

They do, yes.

-Can you always remember there being daffodils here?

-Oh, yes.

That's one of the things that got me going as a child.

I'd go out - as a toddler, really, -

and nobody'd mind you picking daffodils because there were so many

and I'd discover there were different ones and I'd come back

and see how many different ones I could find

and I'm still doing it now with a little bit more method.

So, these have been planted since, what, Victorian times?

I'd say yes. Erm, which is when it all started.

I think they started, probably, by digging up their own or other people's

wild ones and bringing them in and that's what we've got in the wild garden.

One of the nice things about here is, whatever else we've got,

we've got this background, always, of the seeded wild ones.

The fact that they reproduce by seeding and don't clump up.

So you're saying that Narcissus pseudonarcissus,

our wildy one, increases by seed.

That's why you should see them in a wood or a meadow in Devon,

they are spread out and spotted.

You'll see another area where somebody's planted daffs 20 years ago

and they're big clumps.

When you glimpse across here, you can see these great clumps

-of just one variety.

-Well, that's what I've tried to do.

That's why we've got the pale Dove Wings there,

which are quite modern, very beautiful.

Then beyond are the stronger yellows

and I'm hoping, eventually, to get more of these sort of

patches of colour.

So it's segregating them and making a bolder, more integrated statement.

Yes, which matches the pattern of the gardener.

So that each cultivar can be enjoyed for its unique characteristics,

Antony has embarked on a mission to segregate the many varieties

of daffodils growing here at Doddington.

Over the last 25 years, he estimates that he's moved

or planted at least 150,000 bulbs.

The thing is, you've got a thick turf and if you simply dig in

-and heave out...

-Lever.

-..you can't get them out through the turf

and if you try, you'll break them off.

What you need to do is just make a little cut alongside the plant -

as close as you dare without cutting the stem...

-And without cutting the bulb.

-Yes. You just chop in a bit

and then you try and go right down under and haul up.

As they come up, you just take it firmly and gently ease it out.

-And hope that...

-And it comes out with the roots on.

And then, with these, what would you do?

Immediately go and transplant them?

We can simply move them into the patch where they belong.

And just go in nice and deep,

pull back, just slip the thing in and tread it down

-and that's it.

-Just tuck them in and tread then down.

And tomorrow, they'll be standing up as though nothing has happened.

The daffodil growing heritage has been kept

well and truly alive here at Doddington,

but for me, the real treat is being able to wonder amongst

the carpets of Lent lilies in the wild garden.

What an inspiring sight.

Could you be anything but happy when you see this beautiful host?

And when you look at those flowers, their simplicity, their innocence,

their beauty just reminds you that wild flowers have a grace

and a quality

that none of their over-bred cultivars could ever aspire to.

Aren't we lucky to have the wild daffodil as part of our heritage?

If you're planning a garden visit this bank holiday weekend,

then go to our website for a list of other gardens

that are going to be looking wondrous.

We've had a number of messages this week concerning daffodils

and problems that have arisen from them.

In fact, Sally Hallam, Maureen Cann

and Nina Tidy have all written in to say they've planted daffodils

but they've come up with lots of foliage but without flowers.

Actually, this is a problem I've got here,

although it's not such a problem for me,

because we planted masses of little pseudonarcissus to complete the ones that we've had for years

here in the cricket pitch, and very, very, very few have come up.

But I know why that is.

It's because they often don't flower in the first year,

and also, it was really dry last September and October.

So these poor little bulbs were going into dry ground

and were desiccated.

So the first lesson is to give them a good soak,

particularly around September-October time.

And that will help.

Also, be patient, give them another year or two,

and then they will flower.

But if you've got daffodils that HAVE been flowering regularly,

and then suddenly don't, it's probably because they're congested

and they're exhausting their food supplies,

so the best thing to do is divide them, and if you divide them

and move them up,

they're much more likely to flower better the following year.

And give them a feed of liquid seaweed.

With a bit of luck, I think they should flower fine.

I certainly hope that these do next year.

Now, you may not grow daffodils at all, but it's Easter weekend,

and there is masses to do.

If you have a large clump of primroses,

now is the perfect time to dig it up,

to divide it whilst it's still in flower or just finished flowering.

Pull it apart into separate plants which can be spaced out

about six inches to a foot apart.

The roots will immediately establish and grow well,

ready for a fabulous display next spring.

At this time of year, although the grass is growing quickly,

there are places that can seem more mud than grass,

particularly on our paths.

The problem is compaction.

And the best way to deal with it is to work a fork into the ground,

loosening it and letting air in and allowing the roots to grow free.

And in a week or two, the grass will green up

and it will look perfect again.

If you sow some peas now and again in a month's time

and even perhaps a few weeks after that, you should have a good supply

from late spring right through till late summer.

I like to sow a double row, and I use a board to space them apart,

putting each pea about two or three inches apart from each other.

Leave plenty of room between the rows, as after all,

you need to be able to walk down them harvesting your delicious peas.

I never get bored of this sowing of seed year after year,

but of course the structure of the garden has taken ages to make.

There are a lot of people who never get that opportunity,

even though they have gardens, because they have to move on regularly.

And Rachel has been to see one such group,

and shown them how they can make a garden

and make it look beautiful in just a year.

'I've come to 11 EOD Regiment's barracks in Didcot, Oxfordshire

'to help them with an exciting new project.'

-Good morning.

-Good morning. Can I help you?

-Yes.

-I've come to do some gardening.

-Yeah.

11 EOD is the British Army's specialist counter-terrorist

bomb disposal unit.

The work they do is highly controlled and specialised.

The regiment's men and women are deployed around the world,

and even when they're at home, they're on call 24 hours a day.

So when it comes to family life at the barracks,

they try to live as normally as possible.

-Thank you. Here's your pass.

-Brilliant. Thank you.

-OK. Thank you.

'As part of the regiment's welfare, the army has set up

'a community-based gardening initiative to enhance life on the barracks.'

They've got lots of outdoor space,

but they can't really make gardens here,

because they don't live here permanently,

and also, they have to return the grounds

in exactly the same state in which they found them when they leave.

'A large house on the barracks has been converted into a child-friendly community centre,

'where the soldiers and their families can meet and make friends.

'It's also home to something completely new. A communal garden.'

There's so much potential here, really is a lot of room.

We can do a lot with this.

Hello, everybody!

'These army wives are novice gardeners.

'They want to fill their new garden with flowers.

'It's my job to help them get started by showing them

'how to grow their own from seed.'

-Bring your wheelbarrow!

-See what you like the look of. You like that one?

Sweet peas, they're fantastic and have a wonderful fragrance

and children love them too.

So why have you chosen those? What do you like about them?

Just the colours, really.

-So you like them bright?

-Yeah.

Always have a little bit of white in there as well.

Although you want to have really nice, bright, rich colours,

you need that white just to sort of really give

that little bit of sparkle as well.

'While I'm finding out what they want to grow, outside,

'an army of contractors are building raised beds with one

'of the driving forces behind the project, welfare warrant officer Mike Pearce.'

I hope that Rachel can spur the families on to bigger and better things.

This is good therapy for families.

My dream would be to have one of these areas in every base.

'The existing soil is very poor,

'so the new raised beds are being filled with good-quality compost and topsoil.

'But this is no instant makeover,

'as the army wives have to grow the majority of the plants from seed.

'And they're starting from scratch.'

So basically you just want to fill the trays with compost.

Big handfuls of it. This is a multi-purpose compost,

peat-free, but it's also specially for seeds.

'We got started on the garden by sowing seeds in different containers, trays, tubes and modules.

'Broadcast sowing is the simplest way to sow seed,

'which is evenly spaced over the surface of the compost.'

All we need to do is put a very thin layer of compost on the top,

and you can get sieves that will do that,

but actually, I tend to just take a handful and just kind of

use my hands to drizzle it on like that, so you get a good dusting.

And then most importantly, write a label.

'I've always found that a great way to water seed trays is to soak them

'in a few centimetres of water.'

And that'll be enough just to give it a good watering

without dislodging the seeds.

'Up next are modules as a great way to reduce root disturbance.'

So what you want to do is aim to get maybe two or three maximum

in each little module, try and space them out

so they're not right on top of each other.

'Finally, the sweet peas.

'Biodegradable tubes are the perfect choice for them.

'They can be planted directly in the soil once the plants have grown

'so that their deep roots are undisturbed.'

-Have you chosen what you want to sow?

-Yeah.

I've chosen the flame, cos that's what my little boy wanted,

but I quite like the idea of having Winston Churchill ones.

Well, it seems very apt to have that. Why don't you do half and half, then?

Tip them out into your hand so you can have a look.

And I would just push one into the centre of each.

Gosh, Amy, your nails are so beautiful for gardening!

'While we've been busy sowing seeds, the plot has been taking shape,

'and all this activity has created a bit of a stir on the barracks.

'And it's not long before others can't resist joining in.'

They won't grow yet!

Oh! Ah!

THEY LAUGH

Well, I can assure you it happens to the best of us,

and Rachel will be following the progress of the flower garden over the next few months.

Now, in the damp garden, our new pond is ready for its next phase.

Now, I can't be clumsy with this, because, A, they're very heavy,

and, B, I don't want to puncture the liner.

But what I am doing is hiding it and protecting it.

Because we've got it into place, tucked it all in,

the reflections are fantastic, the water's had a chance to settle down,

and now the next thing to do is get on with planting,

but I can't plant until I've got stone in place.

Now, I've had this pile of stone accumulating over the last 20 years.

Some of it we dug up,

some of it were left over from little building projects.

They're heavy, they're awkward,

but they're exactly what I want in style

because although we've got this very formal shape,

the planting will be informal and I want the stones to be that link

between the formal water and the informal edges.

Of course there'll be lots of planting in the water too,

so it should all blend and merge together

whilst retaining a real sense of structure.

And eventually, I don't want to see the liner at all

and want to know that it's protected and going to stay in place.

So let's put that in there. That's it.

I don't really want them all the same height but, of course,

plants will soften that because I can plant in-between them.

Just come out a bit.

There's a very shallow shelf here, if I put my hand in,

and, of course, that's where I'll put marginal plants in pots,

so this will soften and break it up and hide it.

The key thing is to be really happy with each stone before you move on,

then you can plant and, of course, that is very flexible

and that's where you really start to play.

But the structure is vital

and Joe, in the last of his design masterclass, looks at the way

a structure not only has to work in a fixed, stationary way,

but also it's got to have flow and movement through it.

So far we've looked at boundaries, layout,

landscaping and vertical elements.

The next thing to think about is focus and flow, drawing the eye

into key areas in the garden and how the different areas relate

to each other and feel relatively seamless as you move through them.

So, with this very formal layout, it's pretty obvious here, really,

because the eye is being drawn right up the middle of the garden

so you've got to see something at the end, the eye can't be disappointed.

Nice and formal and then as you enter this middle area,

again maybe a feature on either side, adding a bit of ornamentation,

but just helping the whole design to sit comfortably together there.

With this informal layout, I like the idea that the eye is drawn

diagonally across the space, the long view of the garden maximising it.

And with the plants, we're also looking to create a simple rhythm

using plants quite graphically,

so here I can see maybe three box balls and then echoed down there.

Structural planting that's going to help the garden flow together.

Here, a trio of olive trees is repeated throughout the garden,

linking together its different areas.

Repetition throughout a garden is an important part of the design.

It's relaxing to the eye and it helps pull the spaces together.

One element of flow to consider is to try and create the garden

where you don't actually end up going down a dead end and turning back.

This garden is really successful in that respect, because there's

movement all the way through it.

As you come down from the terrace, you come through the path

and then round to the area where I'm sitting now,

but then rather than having me go back that way,

there's a way around another path that leads you

back round to the lawn and back up to the terrace,

so the route through the garden becomes a journey

and you get rewarded at every turn.

Those rewards, like sculptures and features, can be a real treat,

especially when the garden design draws you to a special spot

to find them.

As I walk down this path towards the gap in the hedge,

I get a glimpse of something shiny.

I can't quite see what it is

and then I enter this circular outdoor room

and I'm not disappointed because there's this wonderful modern sculpture.

Without it, this space would feel so empty,

but it's pulled me physically close up to it.

When it comes to features and plants, I find that opting for simple

rather than complicated choices will help stop

the garden from looking cluttered and confused.

Also, the number you choose can have a strong influence on the effect

you're trying to create.

When you're buying plants or ornaments for your garden,

think about the quantities that you're buying.

If you buy two, then you have quite a static composition because your eye

just bounces between the two and it's perfect for say framing a doorway,

adding a sense of formality to the garden.

But the minute that you bring a third one in,

you've instantly created some movement between them.

The eye constantly moves rather than just bobbing between two,

so the odd numbers will lend themselves to a more flowing,

naturalistic style, whereas, if you use even numbers,

it's going to create a more static, formal, symmetrical design.

These garden designs are effective because every choice

about every feature has been made with the bigger picture in mind.

Garden furniture, of course it's somewhere to sit,

but it can also be much more than that.

It can become a sculptural element in your garden that draws your eye

and just looks fabulous.

I love this wave-shaped bench.

Just because it's a finishing touch, don't make it an afterthought.

For me, gardens work best when there's a definite colour scheme

that extends to all the elements of the garden from the planting to pots,

and the hard landscaping to the furniture.

Careful garden styling will hold your space together

and will go a long way to creating a garden that is a great success.

Before we began to dig the pond,

we lifted all the plants from the damp garden and potted them up.

Now they're all starting to put on vigorous new growth

so I'm keen to get them back into the ground.

This is a hosta

and you can see that it's bursting out with these foliage spikes

that will then unfurl into great fat leaves and now is

the perfect moment to chop it up and divide it to make new plants.

To do this I need to take it out of the pot

and I don't want to damage the foliage, so this is a bit tricky.

There you are. There's the plant.

If I pop that on there...

Now, I could make as many as half a dozen really substantial

plants out of this because, in theory, each one of these will make

a new plant as long as they've got a bit of root attached.

However, I think I'm just going to divide it into two because I want

nice big plants, so I'm going to cut a line down there like a cake.

The key to dividing hostas is to be brave.

It's a fairly corky, solid chunk of root in there

and if you go too tentatively, you can actually damage it.

So choose your line with a sharp spade and then go for it.

That's it, and there you are.

You can see it's sliced through the roots

and that will be a healthy plant and because it is divided,

it'll actually grow stronger and with more vigour.

So...I've got one there and another there.

Now, if your soil is at all light, it's really worth enriching it

with compost when planting hostas.

What they like is rich, damp soil and the drier they are,

or the drier the soil is, the more shade they need.

If it's nice, damp soil, they can be in full sun.

That can go like that.

And this one...in here.

If you can imagine that they'll come up with these great leaves

I'll want to just arch down over the stone,

so it'll soften up all these rather regulated edges.

I can work round the pond creating that effect just with the plants we've got.

We shouldn't need to buy any at all really for the outside.

As for the stone, I'm going to spend the rest of this long weekend

carefully doing it, taking my time,

just satisfying myself that it looks spot on and dead right

and then in a couple of weeks,

we can start planting the pond itself, which will be good.

Whatever you're doing, enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend

and I'll see you back here at Longmeadow

at the same time next week. Bye-bye.

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