0:00:07 > 0:00:09Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16Plums are one of those fruits that are so distinctly associated
0:00:16 > 0:00:17to a season for me.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23But there's always a surfeit and the best way to store them is as jam.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26And one of my favourites are damsons.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29The thing I most like about them, apart from their taste,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31is their story.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33They were brought over by the Crusaders
0:00:33 > 0:00:35back in the early medieval times
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and they're called damsons after Damascus.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Of course, humans aren't the only ones that love plums.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Butterflies will gorge themselves on the lovely, sticky juices.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54This week, Carol pays a visit to a garden in Kent
0:00:54 > 0:00:59where the beauty of salvias is celebrated in every form.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Salvias are one of the largest genera
0:01:03 > 0:01:05in the entire kingdom of plants.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11Almost all of them are worth growing for their extraordinary flowers.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15They say that gardening is one of the best ways of keeping your youth.
0:01:15 > 0:01:16Well, here's the proof of it,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20because we visit a gardener about to celebrate her 100th birthday
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and still gardening with enthusiasm and vigour.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27I couldn't live without it. It keeps me going.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And I'm going to be resolving a problem area,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35where hedges are shading out the grass,
0:01:35 > 0:01:40as well as harvesting a herb that belongs quintessentially to summer
0:01:40 > 0:01:44and replacing it with another that does very well in winter.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57I'm going to plant one of my favourite early summer flowers,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and that's the foxtail lily, the eremurus,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04which grows a fabulous spire of flower.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09When it's backlit, it's incandescent and it glows and burns
0:02:09 > 0:02:14and yet manages to be elegant and silhouetted by light.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It's a glorious, glorious plant.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Now is the time to plant it.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Don't wait till spring, because this is its dormant period.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24So you can move it, get it in the ground -
0:02:24 > 0:02:27it'll start growing in early and mid autumn.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30So, this is something to do this month if at all possible.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34And what you get when you buy the plant at this stage
0:02:34 > 0:02:36is anything but a spire of flower.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40It's these long rat's tails of roots
0:02:40 > 0:02:43with a central boss in the middle,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47and that's, of course, where the flower stem will come from.
0:02:47 > 0:02:48And these are very fragile,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52so you have to be careful when you're handling it.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55This, by the way, is a variety called 'Cleopatra,'
0:02:55 > 0:02:59which has got a pink, apricoty tinge to it - very beautiful.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02And I've got a space in there.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Now, you can see that the soil in there is nice and gritty,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07which is good.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Eremurus originates from Central Asia.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14That's the area around Turkey, Afghanistan,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and it grows on rocky, baked hillsides
0:03:17 > 0:03:19that are grazed by animals.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23So it likes good drainage and sunshine.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26And the animals, particularly cattle, won't eat the eremurus.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28So, they eat all around it so there's nothing shading it.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31So, think of all that when you're placing it in the garden.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34So, full sun and good drainage, which I've got here.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Now, when you dig a hole for it, it needs to be pretty shallow.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40I'm going to put some grit mixed with compost onto that.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Now, one of the slight peculiarities of eremurus
0:03:58 > 0:04:03is that you plant it very shallowly. Don't bury it deep.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Just an inch of soil over the roots is quite enough.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11I'm essentially putting the roots down like that,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and then I'll just heap the soil up over it...
0:04:14 > 0:04:16like that.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25I'm just going to put some grit mixed with compost
0:04:25 > 0:04:29over at the top and that will protect the roots
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and also ensure the drainage because you can guarantee,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36between now and next April when it starts to grow,
0:04:36 > 0:04:37we will have a lot of rain.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41There's one final job that's important.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46That is to mark it, because the roots are very brittle
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and if you don't mark it and come spring or winter,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53you're working in the border, you hear a horrible crunching sound
0:04:53 > 0:04:58and that's as my great feet tread on the roots and break them.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00I'm going to stick that in there...
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And that's it, it's completely happy now.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07And it will start to appear and what you get is this sort of steeple,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10this cone, that appears above ground,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14and, from that, the flower emerges.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Come on.
0:05:23 > 0:05:24There's a good boy. Here.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27HE WHISTLES
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Go on, then. Good boy. Go on.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36I bought this salvia, Salvia 'Amistad',
0:05:36 > 0:05:39at Hampton Court Flower Show this year
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and it's got exactly the sort of intensity
0:05:42 > 0:05:44of colour that I love here in the Jewel Garden.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46I'd like to grow more salvias if I could,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49but they don't really like our heavy, wet soil
0:05:49 > 0:05:51here at Longmeadow,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55but Carol went to Sevenoaks to meet William Dyson,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59as part of her search for the iconic plants that we all love to grow
0:05:59 > 0:06:04in our gardens and the people who devoted their lives to them,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08and he has an incredible range of salvias.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Come on, mush. Come on.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20Salvias are one of the largest genii in the entire kingdom of plants,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24with more than 900 species.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Some of them are shrubs, others perennials.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30There are annuals and biennials too.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Most have aromatic foliage.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35But almost all of them
0:06:35 > 0:06:39are worth growing for their extraordinary flowers
0:06:39 > 0:06:42in a rainbow range of colours
0:06:42 > 0:06:46that brighten up even the dullest of days.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52William Dyson holds the largest collection
0:06:52 > 0:06:54of shrubby salvias in the UK
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and he is the country's leading salvia expert.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02So this border is completely composed
0:07:02 > 0:07:05of these shrubby Mexican salvias?
0:07:05 > 0:07:07It certainly is, yes, quite a sight, isn't it?
0:07:07 > 0:07:10When do they start flowering? How long do they go on for?
0:07:10 > 0:07:13These will start off flowering typically in early May
0:07:13 > 0:07:15and they will go right away through into late November.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18And which are the hardiest in all this vast range?
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Well, a lot of these are hardy, but the real stalwarts,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24bonehardy variety, if you like, would be these two here.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27The very dark purple Salvia 'Nachtvlinder'.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30- Lovely colour, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33And then the plant next to it which is Salvia 'Jezebel'.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35People get very worried
0:07:35 > 0:07:38because they've got a reputation for being tender, haven't they?
0:07:38 > 0:07:39They have.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42If you think about the environment where they come from, we are looking
0:07:42 > 0:07:47at high altitude, plenty of sunlight, plenty of air and perfect drainage.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49So, really, the reason people lose them
0:07:49 > 0:07:52is because it's a combination of wet and cold, isn't it?
0:07:52 > 0:07:55That's right. Don't try and grow them in clay.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59If you haven't got the right kind of soil, try growing them in containers.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09I think they look absolutely brilliant in these mixed borders.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12But they are a fairly new group of plants,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15as far as a lot of British gardeners are concerned, aren't they?
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Most people had only started growing them fairly recently.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20They have and I think the arrival of 'Hot Lips'
0:08:20 > 0:08:23really was the thing that started everybody on salvias,
0:08:23 > 0:08:24which is a shrubby salvia.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27What do people ask about salvias?
0:08:27 > 0:08:29People ask most of all about how do they prune them
0:08:29 > 0:08:32- and when do they prune them?- Yeah.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35And the two main periods of the year for pruning are
0:08:35 > 0:08:37the early April prune.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Take that maybe down to about a foot,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42but always making sure there's new shoots below where you're cutting
0:08:42 > 0:08:45and you'll then get a big amount of regrowth.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49- A surge of growth. - A surge of growth.- Lots of flowers.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50Masses of flowers.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53And, if you want to keep a good shape to the plant, it's better to actually
0:08:53 > 0:08:58prune the whole lot off again by about a half and do it in July.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01- We call this the Hampton Hack. - Oh, right.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03Hampton Court time, it's easy to remember.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05- As opposed to Chelsea Chop? - Chelsea Chop, yeah.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10And this is going to encourage a new crop of flowers within about four
0:09:10 > 0:09:14or five weeks from pruning and it's not going to give you a leggy plant.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16And those pieces that you cut off,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19can you grab hold of those and make new cuttings?
0:09:19 > 0:09:21You can make cuttings out of those.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Better still is to use the growth that comes from the April prune,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28take some those nice, soft tips and root those up.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32- They will root probably in about two weeks.- Get off!- Easy as that.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35- Two weeks, really?- Yeah, and then you've got a good, long growing
0:09:35 > 0:09:38season before the bad weather of the winter arrives.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41I just love the way they combine with other plants, don't you?
0:09:41 > 0:09:42I do. Absolutely.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44I mean, they will have been in flower
0:09:44 > 0:09:47when all the first perennials were here.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52And here they are again with dahlias and fuchsias and this lovely thing.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54- That is a salvia too, isn't it? - That's a salvia, yeah.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58That's a herbaceous species which comes from Argentina
0:09:58 > 0:10:00and that's going to die down completely to the ground
0:10:00 > 0:10:04in the winter and then rocket up from about May onwards to,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06what are we there, about seven foot high?
0:10:06 > 0:10:09- Yeah. Nearly as tall as you. - Absolutely.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19There's no doubt that salvias are wonderful garden plants
0:10:19 > 0:10:23but they are also fascinating when you actually get down to the detail.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24They really are.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27And, where they come from in Central America,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31one of the things that pollinates them is hummingbirds, isn't it?
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Indeed. Birds are very, very attracted
0:10:34 > 0:10:38to the nectar-rich sauce within the tube here.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41But it will come along and in goes its beak.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Oh, look at that!
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Astonishing.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47So this is the stamen
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and the antlers on the end are loaded with pollen, aren't they?
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Absolutely, yes. So that will go on to the Hummingbird.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55It will drink all the nectar out of the tube
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and then fly away to another one.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00And he'll go in and start sipping nectar from there
0:11:00 > 0:11:04and the pollen might just catch on to the stigma...
0:11:04 > 0:11:05That top bit is the stigma.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07That's the female part of the flower.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Sort of feathery on the end, isn't it?
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Yeah, and that will pick up the pollen grains
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and fertilisation will take place.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19It's rather wonderful. I mean, why has it got this sort of mechanism?
0:11:19 > 0:11:22The whole idea is to broaden the gene pool
0:11:22 > 0:11:27so you've got genetic diversity and you're not inbreeding, so to speak.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31- Yes, but you don't have any such problems, do you?- We don't.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33- You can cross pollinate. - We can do whatever we like.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36- We can cross anything with anything. - Yeah.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40We crossed this, for instance, Salvia 'Nachtvlinder',
0:11:40 > 0:11:43with this one, Salvia 'Dyson's Joy'.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45and we came out with Salvia 'Dyson's Gem'.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49- Beautiful. Deep purple, isn't it? - Nice colour, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55We are currently trying to work on a very, very dark blue Salvia Patens.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59- That's my favourite salvia of all time.- A fantastic blue.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04But that in a shrubby hybrid flowers from May till November,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06grows to about, I don't know, two feet tall.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Absolutely perfect. That's what we want.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11- So it's already in your mind, isn't it?- Completely.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15And now all you've got to do is create it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Of course, sage is a salvia,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31and a very beautiful one, too.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34We always let this flower before cutting it back.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Talking about beautiful flowers and herbs,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42the basil is beginning to show signs of autumn and, of all
0:12:42 > 0:12:44the plants in the garden,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47basil is the best measure of temperature
0:12:47 > 0:12:50because it hates cold and as soon as the temperature drops,
0:12:50 > 0:12:55the leaves get thicker and the plant gets less palatable.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58You lose that lovely freshness that good basil has.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01And if there is a touch of frost, just a nip,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04it will just blacken and you lose the lot.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08So what I plan to do is cut my losses,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10say that this will not improve,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14harvest all my outdoor basil and turn it into pesto where
0:13:14 > 0:13:18I can store it and then use the bed to plant some parsley.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22And, by the way, the outdoor basil has been OK this year.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23It's been worth growing,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26but not nearly as good as the basil in the cold frames.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Basil is a tropical plant that likes lots of heat, lots of water,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34good drainage, some goodness, richness in the soil.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38To put all that together is really tricky outside.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42However, let's make the most of it.
0:13:42 > 0:13:43Oh, look what I found.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46There's a surprise. You don't want that, do you?
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Go on.
0:13:50 > 0:13:57The best way of handling basil is to cut the whole stems and take them
0:13:57 > 0:14:01somewhere like a kitchen table and strip the leaves off.
0:14:01 > 0:14:07This is the last of the crop so the point is to store it
0:14:07 > 0:14:11as good as it can be at this stage of the year.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15And that means turning it, in our house, into pesto.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Pesto just means paste
0:14:18 > 0:14:23and if you use basil, pine nuts and Parmesan,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25you have a delicious pesto.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27It's really good.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30You can freeze it easily and then use it in the middle of winter
0:14:30 > 0:14:35and just get that lovely, rich taste of summer flooding back.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43This, by the way, is our second sowing of basil.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45COCK CROWS
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Oh, that's our cockerel. I got given some bantams for my birthday.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52They were tiny little things. That's the first time he's crowed.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54COCK CROWS
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Good on you, boy!
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Now just don't do it at four o'clock in the morning!
0:15:02 > 0:15:07This is our second sowing of basil. This was sown in April.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10This end section of basil is from the first sowing,
0:15:10 > 0:15:12which was in February, and you can see,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16if I pull that up, that's quite a substantial plant,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21whereas, when you buy the herb in a supermarket or wherever,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24in a little pot, they sprinkle seed, so you'll probably have
0:15:24 > 0:15:28a dozen different basil plants in a tiny little pot
0:15:28 > 0:15:30and the leaves will be good and they'll be nice,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32but they won't last very long,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36because that's what each of those dozen plants wants to be.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40So buy a packet of seeds, start sowing them next spring,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44space them out nice and widely and you'll get strong plants
0:15:44 > 0:15:47that you'll harvest from May right through till September.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Right, well, I've got an empty bed and I don't want that over winter,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59so I'm going to prepare this and put some parsley where the basil was.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Although there is added grit in this bed, which is
0:16:08 > 0:16:11good for the drainage, I'm adding some compost.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13I had added some before
0:16:13 > 0:16:17to slightly enrich the soil, because I'm going to put parsley in now,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20and parsley likes good drainage and it likes some sunshine,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24but it can take some shade and it does best in fairly good loam.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Now, compost is the ideal thing
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and you can see I'm just putting it on very thinly.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36Because compost works by stimulating
0:16:36 > 0:16:40the soil's bacterial and fungal activity.
0:16:40 > 0:16:46So, every time I replace any plant in these vegetable beds,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50I just dress it with compost and that, literally, is enough.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55This is flat leaf parsley
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and the more traditional English parsley is curly leaf.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02And the essential difference between the two is that this has got a
0:17:02 > 0:17:08milder taste and also the texture of the foliage is much finer, whereas
0:17:08 > 0:17:12curly-leaf parsley you have to chop up really, but they are both good.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Space it out generously. That's the key to it.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Give them a chance, and what that means, of course,
0:17:16 > 0:17:18is repeated cutting.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20I tend to harvest my parsley
0:17:20 > 0:17:22by cutting the whole thing down to the ground
0:17:22 > 0:17:23and letting the whole thing regrow.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27And you can probably do that three, four times in its life.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32It's not only delicious, which is the main reason for eating it,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34but it's actually very good for you too.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38It's rich in vitamin C and vitamin K, which is bone strengthening,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41in antioxidants, and so,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45it's one of those foods that is happily a combination
0:17:45 > 0:17:49of medicine and delight and you can't say that about many things.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Well, if I haven't persuaded you to go out and buy some parsley and
0:17:55 > 0:18:00plant it this weekend, here are some other things that you can be doing.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Many shrub roses put on a growth spurt when they finish flowering
0:18:07 > 0:18:13and this can result in long waving tendrils that can catch the wind and
0:18:13 > 0:18:15damage the roots over the winter,
0:18:15 > 0:18:20so prune these back so the shrub has an even, uniform shape.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27If you're going to water anything in your vegetable plot
0:18:27 > 0:18:30or your allotment this weekend give celery,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34celeriac and young lettuce a really good soak,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37as these are plants that will benefit most,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and, as always with watering, don't water the plant, water the soil.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47It's a good time to take Pelargonium cuttings.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52Choose a strong-growing tip and cut off between two
0:18:52 > 0:18:55and four inches and put this straight into a polythene bag.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Then, when you're ready, remove most of the foliage,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02just leaving a leaf or two.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07Make a clean cut with a sharp knife and place the cuttings
0:19:07 > 0:19:12around the edge of a plastic pot filled with a free-draining compost.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Now, I'll pop these in the greenhouse
0:19:18 > 0:19:23and keep the compost moist but not get the leaves too wet
0:19:23 > 0:19:27because Pelargonium cuttings like to be kept fairly dry.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Now they say that gardening is the best
0:19:30 > 0:19:33recipe for preserving your youth.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Well, here is the proof of that.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Well, my garden's small but I love it.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49I know everything in it
0:19:49 > 0:19:51and they all mean something to me.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Although, it's not...
0:19:54 > 0:19:56a showy garden,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59I still love it all.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01I've enjoyed my life.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Wouldn't change anything in it.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06I don't think about being 100.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11I was born 23rd of September,
0:20:11 > 0:20:131914.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17I was the fourth of five children.
0:20:17 > 0:20:22My father was the head gardener in a large house,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25and my mother was parlour maid.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28So I presume that's how they met.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32They grew all their vegetables,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35like peas and beans and carrots...
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Potatoes used to last right through to the next season.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43You swapped with neighbours -
0:20:43 > 0:20:46nothing was wasted in those days, it was wartime.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50I like to think I take after my father.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53You wonder all your life what he was like.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Early 1917 he was called up,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02and he was killed at the end of 1917.
0:21:02 > 0:21:03December.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08And I would've only been three years old.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12None of us remember him, which is very sad.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Something we can't alter...
0:21:15 > 0:21:17..but always regret.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Well, my husband was a keen gardener
0:21:23 > 0:21:26but, like me, we were amateur.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28We learned the hard way.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Right from when we married, we had a garden.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34We loved our garden.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38We used to spend most evenings in the summertime in the garden.
0:21:40 > 0:21:41I always did the flowerbeds
0:21:41 > 0:21:43and he did the lawns and the heavy work.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49My husband would've liked the beds
0:21:49 > 0:21:52more organised than I have them,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54but I like them natural.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00This is my husband's favourite rose tree, because it was yellow.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02He loved yellow roses.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09That's my favourite photograph. He's sitting outside his shed.
0:22:15 > 0:22:21That camellia, a friend bought me, because it was called Margaret.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25And it's been beautiful.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28I cut it down. Don't know whether I should.
0:22:30 > 0:22:31But it still blooms.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34I don't do things by the book.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38If I want something cut off, I cut it off, then.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43I'm usually lucky. I don't kill them.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47These are seeds that I've gathered ready for next year.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50That's being optimistic.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Those are cyclamen and these are penstemons.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00I like taking seeds and cuttings.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04I like a little bit of everything in the garden.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09I have my tomatoes every year.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11These are called Shirley.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14And they're doing very well this year.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18And I have had cucumbers - got one left.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21But I think there's more coming.
0:23:21 > 0:23:22Love cucumbers!
0:23:31 > 0:23:33You can forget your troubles
0:23:33 > 0:23:36if you go out in the garden for a few hours.
0:23:38 > 0:23:39I couldn't live without it.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44I think it keeps me going!
0:24:05 > 0:24:07Well, all I can say is,
0:24:07 > 0:24:12wishing you a very happy birthday on the 23rd, Margaret,
0:24:12 > 0:24:13and may there be many more to come.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15You're an inspiration.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20I'll bet you're glad you're not doing this, though, Margaret,
0:24:20 > 0:24:21because it is HORRIBLE work!
0:24:21 > 0:24:25This is a strip of ground either side of the path,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27and up to five years ago
0:24:27 > 0:24:31this was perfectly mowable grass -
0:24:31 > 0:24:32just like the rest of path
0:24:32 > 0:24:35all the way down the centre of the garden, here.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38But in the last five years
0:24:38 > 0:24:40the hedge has grown quite substantially -
0:24:40 > 0:24:42not up, because we kept it cut,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44but the roots have grown out
0:24:44 > 0:24:47and you can see as I dig in - you can hear -
0:24:47 > 0:24:49I'm just tearing at roots.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51And the upshot is that it's mud for half the year
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and a dust bowl for the other half.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57So I want to make a virtue out of necessity.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03You can buy very specific grass and wild flower mixes
0:25:03 > 0:25:07for almost every kind of soil and situation.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09And if you're not sure where to go for it,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11if you look on the internet
0:25:11 > 0:25:15and just type in "wild flower mix for hedgerows", for example,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18you will come up with all sorts of choices.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19And what I'm doing
0:25:19 > 0:25:23is preparing the ground to sow seed
0:25:23 > 0:25:26for a predominantly wild flower, with some grass in it,
0:25:26 > 0:25:28that will cope with shade,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30that will cope with the roots of the hedges,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32and will look really nice
0:25:32 > 0:25:36and then can be mown later on in the year.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39And to prepare the ground, all I've got to do is just loosen the soil.
0:25:39 > 0:25:40It doesn't need double-digging,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44it doesn't even need going very deep, at all - just an inch or two.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48And you can do this in quite a small area.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50If you've got a patch alongside a fence, a wall,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53or a hedge that's a bit shady,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56then you can just do a small area - a yard or two -
0:25:56 > 0:25:58and that would look really good.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59And the other great virtue,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02as well as looking good, is it's fantastic for wildlife.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07All the unruly growth that you get with wild flowers and long grass,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11is perfect, particularly for bringing insects into the garden.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16So having lightly dug it over,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21it just should be raked to get rid of the worst of any lumps or stones.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Doesn't matter that it's perfect -
0:26:25 > 0:26:26this is not going to be a lawn.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28It's a nice, even surface.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Now, I have a seed mix that I've ordered specifically for
0:26:36 > 0:26:39dry shade along a hedgerow.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41And that's the amount
0:26:41 > 0:26:43for what I've prepared already.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46And you can see there's not very much there.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Hardly any seed, at all.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51In fact it works out at about four grams per square metre.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54And it's quite important not to sow too much.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56There are about 12 wild flowers -
0:26:56 > 0:26:58including red campion,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01cowslip, wood avens, knapweed -
0:27:01 > 0:27:03and some grasses.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06The first year there will be more annuals than perennials,
0:27:06 > 0:27:07and gradually, the perennials
0:27:07 > 0:27:11will germinate, grow and spread.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13And by about year three, you have the final mix you want.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16So don't be tempted to sow too thickly.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20And the reason why you're not sowing too thickly
0:27:20 > 0:27:23is because each of these seeds,
0:27:23 > 0:27:26even though they may seem tiny and insignificant,
0:27:26 > 0:27:27are plants,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29and the closer they are together,
0:27:29 > 0:27:31the more they're competing for nutrients.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33Particularly perennial wild flowers
0:27:33 > 0:27:35need to have good start in life.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38That's the seed sown.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Now, if this was a lawn, you'd rake it,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43but what you need to do for wild flower seed, in particular,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46is to make sure it has really good contact with the soil.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48The easiest way to do that is tread on it.
0:27:50 > 0:27:51Right...
0:27:51 > 0:27:55that's the closest you'll ever get to see me on Strictly Come Dancing!
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Next thing to do? Water it in.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06One of the great beauties of sowing any kind of grass seed
0:28:06 > 0:28:10at this time of year, is not only is the soil warm,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13but there's usually enough moisture, if not from rain, then from dew,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16to help it germinate and grow very strongly.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Next spring it will take off and the first wild flowers will appear
0:28:19 > 0:28:22and, hopefully, we'll get the transformation
0:28:22 > 0:28:24from a rather bare, ugly path
0:28:24 > 0:28:27into a woodland walk, filled with flowers.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31Well, the proof will be in the pudding.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Hang around, and next year we'll see,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36but certainly, that's it for today.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39I'll see you back here at Longmeadow next week at the usual time.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41Till then, bye-bye.