Episode 21 Gardeners' World


Episode 21

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Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

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Now, it's bank holiday weekend, which is

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always a good time to get some real gardening done.

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But it's also time to get out of the garden and go

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and visit places to see what other people are doing.

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And I've left Longmeadow

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and come to Essex to visit the RHS's garden at Hyde Hall.

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The garden is set on a windy hillside among 360 acres

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of former farmland.

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Like my own garden at Longmeadow, the soil here is heavy clay,

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but unlike Longmeadow, this is a very dry place.

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In fact, Essex has one of the lowest rainfalls in England.

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Despite the challenges that these conditions impose,

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the planting style here is varied,

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from semiformal rose walks to colourful borders,

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as well as their best-known feature - the Dry Garden.

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This is the first time I've been to Hyde Hall,

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and I made a beeline for these borders.

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They're long borders, buttressed by yew,

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and within each buttress is a different colour scheme.

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And what's great about this is not only can you see

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how individual plants work at representing the colour you want,

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whether it be a lemon yellow or a pure white or a rich purple,

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but also how they work together,

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how to build up a palette.

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And this kind of combination of inspiration and instruction,

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as well as a nice day out, is just perfect when you visit a garden.

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Also this week, we're marking the 50th anniversary of

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Britain in Bloom by meeting a couple in Dorset

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whose extraordinary front garden

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never fails to make a big impression on judges and visitors alike.

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A couple came and he said, "We come every year to see your garden

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"and we've told our friends, and they come.

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So I said, "Oh, I think I'll have a collection box!"

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And Carol takes a closer look at the insects that live in our beds

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and borders, and finds out about the good that they do for our gardens.

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This is called the black clock.

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It's very common. It's a fantastic predator.

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They are great little pest controllers, really.

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The gardens at Hyde Hall began in 1955,

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when Helen and Dick Robinson bought

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what was then a working arable farm...

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..and began converting the land closest to the farmhouse

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into what became a large and glorious garden.

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In 1993, the Robinsons donated Hyde Hall to the RHS.

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Now, the Robinsons were compulsive plant collectors,

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and this area is known as the Robinson Garden, with a wide,

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even eclectic range of plants that reflects their abiding passion.

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Another part of Hyde Hall that I have long wanted to see is

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the Dry Garden.

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Of course, I do have a dry garden at Longmeadow but it's small

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and not at all typical of the rest of the garden.

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But this is ENORMOUS.

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And it's a given - they can't change it.

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It's on top of a hill, it's completely exposed,

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and a really good example of how you can turn a situation which

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might seem to be a problem into a distinct virtue.

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'Gardens of this size need a guiding vision,

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'and this is provided by the curator, Ian Le Gros,

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'who has worked here man and boy.'

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-I know that this is a very dry place...

-Yeah.

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..but making a dry garden like this wasn't just

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a question of bunging in plants that are vaguely suitable, was it?

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No, there's a little bit more to it than that.

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Ideally, south, south-westerly facing aspect,

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-and also we have to make sure that you get the winter wet away.

-Right.

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So there's a lot of...

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a drainage pipe along the pathways, the rocks,

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and underneath is hard core.

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And then there's about 400 millimetres of topsoil that

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we've mixed with sharp sand and grit to about 50%.

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And do you ever water it?

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The only time you'll find us watering it is if we replace something,

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renewed something, any sort of new plantings.

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Then it's watered for about six to eight weeks till it's established

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and then, after that, it's pretty well on its own.

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The mulching helps, with the stones.

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Yeah, I noticed you're mulching with pebbles,

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-which keeps it nice and cool underneath.

-It does, yeah.

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Almost becomes self-irrigating.

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On the bottom of the stones, the moisture builds up

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and then it falls back into the soil.

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-You have a wide range of plants that are thriving.

-Yeah, we do, we do.

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What is your favourite at this time of year?

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Not only this time of year, but it's been flowering for absolute ages -

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Salvia uliginosa. It has just been flowering like that

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for about two to three months already

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and will keep going right into the autumn.

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Lovely. Lovely, lovely plant.

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And what is it you'd say characterises Hyde Hall? What...?

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Because every good garden has a special feel,

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something that sort of turns the key to its door.

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Yeah, for me, it's always been the atmosphere of Hyde Hall.

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It sits on this sort of strange clay hillock in what is reportedly

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sort of flat Essex.

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But it isn't - a lovely, rolling landscape going out.

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And it's a garden that can talk to its landscape.

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-And some of the views...

-What do you mean by "talk to its landscape"?

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It's the way even the Dry Garden goes from quite extensive

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level changes in the early part, but in this latter part,

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it just gently rolls out, which is significant of the hills you can see

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rolling off into the distance there.

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And do you think that people coming here are getting that sense of,

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-"I'd love to do this, I'm going to have a go."

-I do hope so.

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Yeah, you do see loads of people asking the gardeners questions

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and hopefully they are sort of inspired enough to go home to try

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to reach a level of success and enjoy the journey.

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It is not just through its gardens that the RHS offers

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encouragement to garden lovers.

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It's also involved in projects that bring inspiration closer to home.

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This is the 50th anniversary of Britain in Bloom, which the

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RHS has been very closely allied to.

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And there, you get communities and individuals working together,

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from small villages to large cities, even to front gardens.

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We went down to Bournemouth to meet Margaret,

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whose front garden is a bit special.

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My theme for this year is the Red Arrows.

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I've chosen it because this year is their 50th display season

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and they come every year to Bournemouth.

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And so I thought, "Why not?"

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I've chosen these colours because, obviously, red white and blue...

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The red is for the Arrows. This is representing the plane.

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And the white and blue are the stream they throw out in the sky.

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And, at the bottom, I tried to make the rings.

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My hubby made the flags to make it look more like a plane.

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But, obviously, I wear them out watering them,

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and he has to replace them!

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If you have a theme, it's more fun.

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It all started with the Olympic Games. It was such an obvious thing.

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Once you've done it once, then people going past say,

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"Well, what are you going to do next year?"

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The part I suppose I play with Margaret in the garden is...

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I do not do flowers. I'm just not into flowers.

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They're lovely, but I don't have the patience for that.

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But what I do do is what I would call

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the mechanical side of gardening.

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I made the Red Arrows.

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I did start off thinking I'd make an aeroplane

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but it was a little bit impractical with the size of garden,

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so I came up with the idea that if we just produce a Red Arrow,

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a 4ft-long Red Arrow...

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I obviously fitted them in the baskets

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and then Margaret went off and has filled them up with plants.

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I've chosen flowers that are going to last for the season, if I can.

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I mean, it's been hard this year because it's very hot,

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but New Guineas seem to stand up to the weather

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cos we're near the sea and we get the wind.

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That is the busy Lizzie family, but these seem to be hardier.

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And then petunias. These are surfinias,

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they trail and they give a nice show.

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And then I like begonias because, also, they last. And I love fuchsias.

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The headache is when to order the plants and how many,

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cos I always like to have some spares.

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But I'm not mean with them - I pack 'em in!

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They need de-heading every day.

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And this time of year, cos they've now grown, it could take...

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don't know, an hour-and-a-half, at least.

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Even if I'm going out, I come out the door, Chris says, "Come on!"

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And I say, "Well, just a minute!" and I pick it off.

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It's a habit, I suppose.

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Because when I look at them, I look and think,

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"Oh, dear, that's got to come off."

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Do I think Margaret's obsessed with gardening? Er, yes!

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But she does love the gardening. I mean, she spends hours and hours.

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Most people would be bored out of their minds,

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but Margaret goes out there and she's picking the deadheads off

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and she's out there watering till it's dark.

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You know, I yell out the door, "Margaret!" trying to find

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where she is, and she's hidden somewhere down the garden.

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But she loves it.

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I've got a fan club. I know it sounds silly.

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There's about six couples that come down here,

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and actually, last week, a couple came and he said,

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"We come every year to see your garden and we've told our friends,

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"and they come."

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So I said, "Oh, I think I'll have a collection box!"

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When we know the judges are going to come, Margaret's on tenterhooks.

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Every morning, we're out in the garden -

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"Oh, look, this bit's fallen off! Oh, look, that bit's fallen off!"

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And she says, "Oh, it doesn't look very nice.

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"This doesn't look so nice!" But it is a tense time for Margaret.

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She really gets a bit wound up with the plants.

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It's all good fun. I enjoy it.

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I've won lots of awards for my garden, but the one I'm most proud of

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is the best garden for the whole of the South, Southeast of England.

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That's from Poole right the way down past Brighton.

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I have had that two years running, and keep your fingers crossed...

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There's no such thing as second!

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I'm afraid that all that colour and

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all that enthusiasm will just have to wait a little longer.

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The regional results are in September

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and the national judgment made in October.

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Whatever colours you have in your garden,

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you need green to bind it all together,

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to act as the link and, of course, grass and lawns do this

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practically better than anything else.

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So far, we've had no Nigel on the programme but we can rectify that

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because Nigel Downs is part of the team that looks after

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the immaculate grass here at Hyde Hall.

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-Nigel, hi.

-Hello.

-Nice to see you.

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-I have to say, the lawns are superlative.

-Thank you very much.

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That's not accidental, is it?

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-A lot of work goes into it.

-An awful lot of work goes into it, yes.

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Particularly in the autumn and in the spring, where we do the aeration

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-and top dressing.

-Do you do it all like this, by hand?

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The smaller areas like this, which is a pinch point for people that

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walk through the garden,

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it tends to get worn out very quickly,

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so these areas we would do by hand,

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but the bigger areas we would do with a tractor-mounted unit.

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This is heavy clay. How do you grow good grass...

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-on heavy ground?

-The secret, really, is to provide good drainage.

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We go deep as we can.

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It's quite important to heave back the fork rather than just push

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it in and wiggle it out of the holes

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because that tends to break the compaction up.

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-Right. Compaction's a big enemy, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

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If we don't relieve the compaction regularly every year,

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it can destroy the root structure.

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A lot of people say, "How do I get rid of moss?"

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Moss you'll get if you've got poor drainage or if you

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-particularly have a lawn which is in a shady area.

-What's the next stage?

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The next stage is, we will spread a top dressing.

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Most garden centres will sell lawn top dressing already mixed,

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but alternatively, and probably a cheaper option, is to go to

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a topsoil supplier, get a sandy topsoil

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and perhaps some washed sand and mix the two together.

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I think the key to this is, a lot of us know about this

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but it's the detail of how thick, for example.

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What we try and avoid is to actually smother the grass.

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You need to be able to then work this into the holes that you've

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already created.

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We use this implement here which is called a lute.

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And if you hold it flat to the...

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and gently work it across.

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And you see it start filling up the voids

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and filling up the small undulations in the ground.

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-Can you buy these easily?

-You can get them.

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Most of the big garden centres, if they don't stock them...

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So if you go into your garden centre, "Can I have a lute?",

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-you're not going to come out like a wandering minstrel?

-No, no.

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I'll tell you what, I thought I'd used most tools in the

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garden in my time but I've never used a lute before.

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So, is that it? Is that going to repair the damage?

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We will use this implement, which is a rubber rake, or you could just

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use a normal broom. It would do the same job.

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Now you can see the grass leaf coming through the actual top dressing.

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That's looking nice, isn't it?

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I'm often asked, as I'm sure you are,

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"What is the secret of the perfect lawn?"

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I think the secret, I'd say aeration, aeration, aeration.

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Get some air into the soil.

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-Brilliant. Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

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Now, here's another secret on how best to enjoy good grass.

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Take your shoes and socks off.

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When you've done that,

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here are some other things you can be getting on with this weekend.

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Here at Hyde Hall's Rose Walk, the long,

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arching new growth of ramblers and climbers can wave around in

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the wind and get damaged as well as possibly scratching any passers-by.

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If you have any of these in your garden, tie them in loosely for now

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and use them to create the plant's structure.

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Don't be tempted to remove them,

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as this is the growth that will provide the best flowers next year.

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Sunflower heads can be left over winter in our herbaceous borders,

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but others can rot, and this detracts from the display.

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So tidy up perennials by removing spent flowers

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which are looking particularly tatty.

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Cut the stems right back to the base where they join the main plant.

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This will promote strong, bushy new growth

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which may even produce flowers before winter.

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The wisteria here grows in a large pergola,

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and now is a good time to cut back this year's new lateral growth.

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Reduce it to five or six buds.

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This will reduce the weight of the plant and prevent damage

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but, most critically, it will encourage the plant to form

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new flower buds which will be your display next year.

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Hi, Ian. Hi, Christine.

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Is that the end of your pruning, or do you have another bash at it?

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We'll come again in January or February

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-and actually reduce those growths back to about two to three buds.

-Why?

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Just to create lots of nice big,

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fat buds for nice flowering spurs for May and June.

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So better to have fewer fat buds than lots of smaller ones,

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or maybe growth that has no buds at all?

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A bit like fruit pruning where you're reducing down to

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a couple of buds to produce a bigger fruit, maybe,

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so you reduce the number of flower buds down to two or three

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to have fewer but bigger flower heads.

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-Great. I'll let you tidy up.

-Thank you.

-Thanks a lot.

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As part of her series looking at wildlife in our gardens

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and how to attract it, Carol has been to RHS Wisley

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and looked at the long borders to see the interesting

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and actually really important forms of wildlife that they contain.

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The borders in our gardens offer colour and joy year after year.

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They also provide an important habitat.

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They offer homes, food and hunting grounds,

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or sometimes just a place to rest

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for all manner of insects.

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But who are the creatures amongst our flowers?

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And are they friend or foe?

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RHS Wisley has some of the most famous flower borders in the world.

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Andrew Salisbury is the senior etymologist here,

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and he's been specialising in the insects that visit our

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gardens for 16 years.

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I love the fact that we're in this garden

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because it's very much like a lot of our gardens at home.

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Just the variety of plants we grow here provides a wide

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range of habitats for insects. There are a few pests

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but they make up a tiny proportion of the species that are out there.

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The pests are a vital part of the base of the food chain

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and you get a greater balance of predators and parasites

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and, overall, probably less damage.

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-So pests have their place?

-Pests do indeed.

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They're important in that chain.

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You can divide the garden into three different layers.

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The ground level, and in the soil where you get

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things like ground beetles and some species of spider.

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Then you can move up into the middle layer,

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the main greenery layer, where you get herbivores.

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Again, you get lots of predators including some different

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types of spider.

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And eventually you get the top layer, where you get to see

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the pretty things -

0:19:490:19:50

the bumblebees and the other flying insect visitors in the flowers.

0:19:500:19:53

-I suppose those are the insects we're most aware of...

-Yes.

0:19:530:19:57

..but not necessarily the only interesting ones.

0:19:570:20:00

No, you could start really with the ground layer

0:20:000:20:02

and actually I've set some pitfall traps,

0:20:020:20:05

and we'll see what we've caught.

0:20:050:20:08

If we just lift this out... See how simply that comes out of the ground?

0:20:090:20:14

What we see are things that wander around.

0:20:140:20:16

Look at all the movement in there. Spider.

0:20:160:20:19

The ones you get on the soil surface are ambush predators or hunters,

0:20:190:20:23

rather than those which catch insects in a web.

0:20:230:20:25

-What else is there?

-There's some woodlice here.

0:20:250:20:28

Woodlice often get blamed for damaging plants

0:20:280:20:31

but actually they are fantastic detritivores,

0:20:310:20:35

which are animals that feed away on decomposing organic matter.

0:20:350:20:39

They're wonderful recyclers.

0:20:390:20:41

The most obvious things in here are these beetles.

0:20:410:20:43

These big ground beetles.

0:20:430:20:45

And this one here is one of the few with a common name.

0:20:450:20:47

This is called the black clock.

0:20:470:20:49

It's very common and it's a fantastic predator in gardens.

0:20:490:20:52

They've been shown that they will feed on vine weevil eggs,

0:20:520:20:55

larvae, the pupae and even each other.

0:20:550:21:00

So they are great little pest controllers, really.

0:21:000:21:03

These black beetles, you very seldom see them.

0:21:030:21:06

You're not aware of them, are you?

0:21:060:21:08

Not really, but one predatory beetle most people are familiar

0:21:080:21:11

with are the red and black ladybirds.

0:21:110:21:14

Ladybirds are incredibly important predators of greenfly and blackfly.

0:21:160:21:20

It's the adult beetles that overwinter.

0:21:200:21:22

As soon as it warms up in the spring, they start to emerge,

0:21:220:21:25

they mate, they lay eggs.

0:21:250:21:27

Those eggs hatch into little alligator-like larvae.

0:21:290:21:32

Those larvae are voracious predators.

0:21:320:21:35

Before pupating, usually attached to a piece of leaf,

0:21:350:21:38

then the adults emerge

0:21:380:21:40

and when they first emerge from a pupa, they're always yellow

0:21:400:21:43

and it takes them a few days

0:21:430:21:46

to gain the red and black colouration we're all used to.

0:21:460:21:49

Ladybirds are mainly found in the middle layer, where their prey

0:21:520:21:56

also are the aphids.

0:21:560:21:58

-So on the stems and leaves of plants?

-Yeah.

0:21:580:22:00

And there is an awful lot of other life there which is very

0:22:000:22:04

difficult to find.

0:22:040:22:06

But fortunately we have something called a suction sampler -

0:22:060:22:09

a device which basically sucks the insects off the plants.

0:22:090:22:12

-Doesn't hurt them?

-Doesn't hurt them.

0:22:120:22:13

It deposits them in a bottle in one piece. They're perfectly alive.

0:22:130:22:16

They can be identified and released later.

0:22:160:22:19

There we go. So, what can we see?

0:22:240:22:27

We have the young stage or nymph of one of our predatory bugs.

0:22:270:22:31

These things wander around and they have sucking mouth parts

0:22:310:22:34

-and they grab their prey and suck the life out of it.

-Bleugh!

0:22:340:22:38

What's that very beautiful, iridescent thing?

0:22:380:22:41

There we have a shield bug nymph,

0:22:410:22:43

one of about 20 species and most of them are plant feeders.

0:22:430:22:47

With these herbivorous insects, are they fussy about what they feed on?

0:22:470:22:52

Do they have to be native plants?

0:22:520:22:54

Some insects are very fussy, others feed on a wide range.

0:22:540:22:58

But there are others which are more or less specific

0:22:580:23:00

and feed largely on native plants.

0:23:000:23:03

The elephant hawk-moth is an interesting one.

0:23:030:23:05

Its host plant, as a caterpillar, are willowherbs

0:23:050:23:08

but in gardens they have come to like fuchsias, which is a completely

0:23:080:23:12

-non-native plant to the UK.

-Comes from South America.

0:23:120:23:15

And the caterpillars thrive on it.

0:23:150:23:17

In late summer, early autumn, when fully grown, these caterpillars

0:23:180:23:23

will drop down to the ground and find a place to pupate.

0:23:230:23:25

They can wander some distance from the host plant

0:23:250:23:27

before they go into the soil.

0:23:270:23:29

And they spend the winter as a pupa,

0:23:290:23:31

emerging as the adult moths in spring.

0:23:310:23:33

They will then feed on nectar and pollen from flowers before

0:23:330:23:36

they mate and lay their eggs on suitable host plants.

0:23:360:23:39

These eggs hatch into the caterpillars

0:23:390:23:41

and the life cycle begins again.

0:23:410:23:43

Through its development, the hawk-moth actually lives in all

0:23:450:23:48

three layers, doesn't it?

0:23:480:23:50

Sometimes in the ground, sometimes on the middle layer

0:23:500:23:52

but when we notice it most...

0:23:520:23:54

It visits flowers and is one of the pollenating insects.

0:23:550:23:59

It's this top layer that's so important, isn't it,

0:24:010:24:04

-to all sorts of pollinating insects.

-It is.

0:24:040:24:07

Just the sheer range of flowers we have up there attracts different things.

0:24:070:24:10

The honeybees, the bumblebees, solitary bees, the hoverflies.

0:24:100:24:13

And all those beautiful butterflies.

0:24:130:24:16

And the greater variety of flowers we have,

0:24:160:24:18

the more of these insects we'll see.

0:24:180:24:21

A mixed border really is exactly that.

0:24:240:24:26

The mixture of plants provides a wide variety of habitats for a huge

0:24:260:24:30

range of insects.

0:24:300:24:32

Not only is it full of fantastic-looking plants

0:24:320:24:34

but it is brimming with insect life.

0:24:340:24:36

It's interesting that, until a few years ago, it was generally thought

0:24:460:24:50

that native plants were the key to getting insects into your borders.

0:24:500:24:54

But research has shown recently it doesn't make much difference.

0:24:540:24:57

As Andrew was saying there at Wisley, it's variety that counts.

0:24:570:25:01

Lots and lots of different types of plants.

0:25:010:25:04

Of course, not just decorative ones too.

0:25:040:25:07

Insects love edible plants and we need insects to pollinate them.

0:25:070:25:12

So I'm finishing my visit with a look at Hyde Hall's vegetable plots,

0:25:160:25:20

and one crop has really caught my eye.

0:25:200:25:23

It's under the stewardship of Matthew Oliver.

0:25:230:25:26

How many different varieties of pumpkin

0:25:290:25:31

and squash have you got here?

0:25:310:25:33

We've got about 70 varieties in total,

0:25:330:25:36

of pumpkin, squash and the ornamental gourds, as well.

0:25:360:25:40

That's really, really impressive.

0:25:400:25:43

And, of course, they look fantastic here. What's the regime?

0:25:430:25:46

They're grown on mounds that are made of garden compost that we

0:25:460:25:50

produce on site.

0:25:500:25:51

A nice mounded slope, south-facing, as well,

0:25:510:25:54

so they get the heat of the sun all day, which they love.

0:25:540:25:58

-That's what they need.

-I like the gourds coming up over the pergola.

0:25:580:26:02

They look great, and some of them are edible, some are decorative.

0:26:020:26:06

-Do they get the same treatment?

-Yeah.

0:26:060:26:08

Grow them pretty much the same way.

0:26:080:26:10

The only thing we have to do different with them

0:26:100:26:12

is try and train them up and guide them up the posts,

0:26:120:26:15

but once they reach the top they're on their own and off they go.

0:26:150:26:19

Do you have a favourite variety?

0:26:190:26:21

For eating, quite conventional,

0:26:210:26:23

I prefer the butternut squash variety.

0:26:230:26:26

We grow ones like "Barbara Butternut".

0:26:260:26:28

I prefer those for eating.

0:26:280:26:29

And "Crown Prince", that's better for eating.

0:26:290:26:32

But I do like growing the big ones, just for the challenge.

0:26:320:26:34

They're the most impressive ones.

0:26:340:26:37

But you're a bloke, you can't resist it, you see? It's a male thing.

0:26:370:26:41

I am so impressed with your melons. Look at them.

0:26:470:26:50

This has been a fantastic success this year.

0:26:500:26:53

The first time we've grown them like this.

0:26:530:26:57

Obviously, you're growing them through plastic.

0:26:570:26:59

-What's underneath the plastic?

-Same principle as with the pumpkin.

0:26:590:27:02

This is garden compost put into a mound,

0:27:020:27:05

and covering the mound with the black plastic just keeps that soil

0:27:050:27:08

a couple of degrees warmer. It's a challenge to grow these outside.

0:27:080:27:14

-It's good. It's really good.

-And they are pretty flavoursome,

0:27:140:27:18

I've got to say.

0:27:180:27:19

I do believe you, but there's nothing like tasting for yourself

0:27:190:27:23

-to be sure, so can I taste one?

-You certainly can.

0:27:230:27:25

-There's some ready for picking now.

-What variety is this?

0:27:250:27:28

These are "Outdoor Wonder",

0:27:280:27:30

which are a galia-type melon.

0:27:300:27:32

It's cutting nicely.

0:27:340:27:35

This is the first time I've grown them so it is all new to me.

0:27:350:27:39

There you go.

0:27:390:27:40

Let's just take a piece out and taste.

0:27:410:27:44

Mm!

0:27:470:27:49

That's really good.

0:27:510:27:53

And, more importantly,

0:27:540:27:55

it makes me determined to grow melons outdoors next year.

0:27:550:27:58

That is wonderful. Thank you very much indeed.

0:28:000:28:05

Well, that's it for today.

0:28:100:28:12

Of course, the best thing about visiting any garden,

0:28:120:28:16

whether it be a magnificent one on a huge scale like RHS Hyde Hall

0:28:160:28:21

or just a small garden that happens to be open once a year,

0:28:210:28:25

is that you get ideas that you can take home.

0:28:250:28:29

And that's exactly what I shall be doing now,

0:28:290:28:32

going back to Longmeadow, and I'll see you there next week.

0:28:320:28:36

So until then, bye-bye.

0:28:360:28:37

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