Episode 25 Gardeners' World

Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

We've had a really fabulous week here at Longmeadow.

The days have been hot and sunny

and then first thing in the morning, just as the light is rising,

the garden has just been shrouded in mist.

And then as dawn comes up, it slowly reveals itself.

It's been really good.

This week, Carol is celebrating ornamental grasses

as she meets the UK's leading specialists.

What is so fascinating about them is that I don't think a day,

almost an hour goes by, without them changing.

And Joe continues his tour of remarkable allotments.

This time he's with a vegetable grower whose hobby is

benefiting all the plots around him.

They say, "All your bees are on my plants,"

so, yes, it all seems to work well.

-They know they're your bees?

-I recognise each one!

But first, it's time to cut my mad flower meadow.

The seed heads of the wild carrot form this lovely tangle,

it is like a bird's nest. Beautiful.

And the important thing is,

that most of the plants here now either have, or are setting seed.

And the seed has fallen to the ground

and that means we will get new plants next year.

Now, this may not look like most people's idea

of what a wild flower meadow should look like, but it is.

It is seed I sowed about a year ago and this is very heavy,

fertile soil.

And most wild flower meadows are made on thin, un-fertile soil.

So it is a completely different mixture of plants.

And the good things are coming up - like the wild carrot,

we have got some sorrel in there, we have got these coming through.

Some foxgloves, we've got some geraniums

and at the same time, amongst the clover and the grass

which of course is part of the mix, we have got nettles.

We have got some comfrey, we have got far too many docks.

But whatever is in it, I need to cut it at the end of summer

and take the grass away.

It will look terrible, by the way. But that's OK.

And then next spring,

it will grow back through with a fresh flush of growth.

Right, it's going to be a long job.

The critical thing is, once you start to cut, it is indiscriminate.

Don't cut around anything, just go for the whole thing.

Cut it all flush to the ground and rake it up.

And to be honest, I started using the shears.

But they are not man enough.

Or maybe I'm not man enough, there's a thought! It's not doing the job.

I think I need a little bit more oomph.

ENGINE REVS

The reason for raking all the material up

and taking it to the compost heap is to stop it rotting down

and returning nutrients to the soil.

If the soil is too fertile, the grass will grow more strongly

and outcompete the wild flowers.

So, by removing all the cut material,

I am restricting the growth of the grass...

giving the wild flowers a fighting chance when they start next spring.

Well, this is one quite complicated way of making grasses

and flowers look beautiful growing together.

Of course, the other way is to grow border grasses

in amongst flowers in your borders.

And at this time of year, they are looking spectacular.

And all this year, Carol has been going around the country,

visiting people who have devoted their lives and developed huge

expertise in raising the plants that we all love to grow in our gardens.

And this week, she has gone to meet Neil Lucas,

an expert in grasses in Dorset.

During the last 20 years, grasses have instilled themselves

on the front pages of our gardening vocabulary.

They bring sparkle, sound and movement to our gardens.

And, what's more, they extend the season

right the way through the year.

20 years ago, Neil Lucas got hooked on them.

Now he has an enviable collection

and his expertise in the subject is unrivalled.

In recent years, everybody's sort of wanted a grass, haven't they?

-Just for the sake of having it.

-Yes.

But do you think we're coming out of that phase now?

I think, thank goodness, we are.

When something is fashionable, it is overused.

And I, truthfully, as a specialist,

am absolutely delighted that we're past that

sort of effervescence of fashion, where everything has to be a grass,

and now we can see more clearly how adaptable they are

and being such huge family, 10,000 odd species, you have a wide choice.

Who would have thought you could get such an effect with just one grass?

This is the purple moor grass, Molinia caerulea.

It is native to the UK.

And it's present in just about every county of the UK.

What kind of conditions does it need?

Well, they come from just acid and often wet, though sunny conditions.

But they're growing here in sandy, dry soil

and that's what's so good about it as a garden plant.

It has a range of tolerances that allows it

to be grown in most gardens.

This is what I love, too - it's dark down here,

when you get it from the top, it's bright, limey green

and then you get these floating heads above it, it's just beautiful.

-Now, this is really quite a popular grass, isn't it?

-Isn't it beautiful?

Japanese Hakone grass.

This is what I think is so great about this one,

is that it actually does very well in sun or in shade.

And under tree roots.

Which is probably one of the most difficult situations to plant.

And this is a good example of one that will almost cope in nothing.

We're a sandy soil here with virtually no nutrient.

So a perfect plant for a container.

In this part of the garden, there's loads of Miscanthus,

one of the most dramatic groups of grasses.

They really are a real solid mound of foliage

and then topped by these rather incredible flowers.

I love the way the flowers develop.

I mean, first of all, they can be completely vertical.

Almost arrow-like, and then they suddenly start to open,

if you can see just to the right there.

-Almost like a dragonfly.

-Isn't it? So incredible.

Totally different from the flower that you now see up here.

They almost look as though they've been crimped.

They do, or very fluffy is the technical word we use, "fluffy".

I mean, Miscanthus Malepartus is still one of the oldest cultivars,

but probably still the darkest.

Miscanthus Ferner Osten is a newer one -

little more compact, but just as dark a red.

I grow them in my garden in fairly heavy clay.

They are absolutely fine with that.

They like this - open and sunny, but they will grow in sandy soils,

as we are here, to quite heavy clay once their established.

Isn't it true that this is a grass that's brilliant in the winter?

This is one of the best,

because it's got big, solid stems and it stands and waves in the wind and

you physically have to cut it down, as we do the whole border here,

in about March or even the first week in April.

One of the qualities that gardeners value grasses so much for

is their ability to move around in the wind, isn't it?

It's one of their prime qualities, I think.

But it's not an accident, is it, Neil?

It is all about wind pollination.

Whereas if you take, for example, sedums, with their beautiful petals

and they attract all the bees, as you can see here,

grasses have chosen a different course of action.

They have adapted to their particular niche,

which has been very, very successful,

because grasses cover a massive area, percentage-wise, of the Earth.

When you look closely in here, it's completely fascinating.

I really do need my specs for this,

because each one of these little, tiny units

consists of almost fluffy stigma, the female bit, red in this case.

And then, dangling down, these tiny anthers,

that look quite sort of yellow or orange,

-but that's the pollen, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

It's just incredible, the detail, close up, they look so beautiful

and then en masse they have this wonderful, airy, effervescent effect.

-Exactly.

-Wind pollination - very clever.

Grasses come from all over the world

and you do a fair bit of travelling, don't you? Looking for new ones.

I do travel around a little bit, yes.

Where do you mainly go to?

Probably the United States more than anywhere else

and I brought back a number of plants over a period of time.

Pennisetum Fairy Tales, for example, is one of the successes,

where it's really done beautifully in the UK.

But a lot of the other cultivars I brought back weren't so successful.

It gradually dawned on me

that what we really want to do was focus on our own selection programme,

so that we can choose plants that we know are going to perform

for UK gardens.

And this is one such in front. This is Pennisetum Short Stuff.

This one just arose in our growing fields and was in full flower

when the others weren't, so it had announced itself as being

a good plant for the UK, before we even knew about it.

Neil, you've introduced us to so many plants

that do so brilliantly in our gardens.

So not only do we have the information,

but when we see them growing like this,

we've also got the inspiration, too.

Absolutely brilliant.

Now is absolutely the best time to go and see grasses

and get ideas of what you might like to grow in your garden.

There are lots of gardens around the country of course use them

really well and if you want to go to Knoll Gardens,

they're open for most of the year and you can get information

about their opening times

and anything else in today's programme on our website.

Now, there's one little thing here I want to show you.

In this compost bay, the third one along,

so it's been shredded, it's been turned a couple of times,

is growing very happily an avocado.

So an avocado that got eaten, pip put in the compost bin,

loving it in the compost heap.

Unfortunately, the chances of raising avocados as fruit

are pretty slim, unless you've got a heated greenhouse

and probably extra lighting, too.

But it's interesting what survives the composting process.

However, all of this material that I have raked up

will compost beautifully.

But it's best, if you can, to break it down.

You can see that in this heap, we've got a mixture of grass clippings,

which are essentially green and quite soft,

and if you just have a great wodge of them,

turn into a horrible slurry.

And in here, an awful lot of hedge clippings.

We've cut our hedges and these have been chopped up

and are composting really well.

And, of course, at this time of year,

there's a lot of brown material.

This is carbon-rich material like hedge clippings,

like the dried stems on perennials or annuals.

When you mix them up with material that's high in nitrogen,

and they work together and that makes a lovely compost.

But the only way to get material like this, you can see I've got

hedge clippings waiting to be cut up, is to chop them up in some way.

We've got a shredder and if you can afford it and justify it,

they work really well. You can, we do this with hedge clippings,

lay them on the ground and mow them.

Run the mower over them, and if you've got a collector,

that collects it up,

and then just put that straight on the compost heap.

But, however you do it, if you can break down woody or brown material

and then mix it in with green, that will make a much better compost.

I hope you are all making compost,

but here are some other jobs you can be doing this weekend.

Next year's flowers on camellia's, rhododendrons and azaleas

are ready formed as buds.

But unless these have a good soak with rainwater, now, in autumn,

there is a risk that they may drop off before they open.

So water them now and every week for the next three or four weeks.

And that will ensure you get the best possible display next spring.

Now is a good moment to de-thatch your lawn.

Use a wire rake and give it a vigorous scratch.

This will take up any dead material and moss

which can be put on the compost heap.

It'll also expose the roots of the grass to light and air.

There'll be some response this autumn,

but the main benefit will be seen

when it starts to regrow next spring.

If you cut your mint back a month or so ago

you should have plenty of fresh, strong growth.

Now is the time to separate a section

and pot it up into a rich, free-draining compost.

Water it well and put it onto a bright windowsill or greenhouse.

And this will give you fresh mint

long after the outdoor plant has died right back.

It's very much bulb-planting season.

And, as well as planting bulbs in the ground,

of course you can grow them really well in pots.

And I try and grow as many bulbs as I've got pots,

just fill them all up.

But you can also fill individual pots with layers of bulbs

and this is great, either if you have a pot or pots

that you absolutely love, or if you've just tiny space

and you want to maximise the colour from the space you've got.

Now, I've got a couple of pots here,

which have got a really wide top

and therefore are good for being full of flower.

And what I'll be doing is planting bulbs in here.

When they finish, take them out and then have another display,

which will see me through summer.

And one of the beauties of growing bulbs in pots,

if they're only going to be temporary,

is you can break all the rules.

The first thing to do is to cover that drainage hole,

otherwise all the compost will fall out.

Now, all these bulbs like free-draining compost,

so whatever compost you use,

mix it with either perlite or grit

and I've also added leaf mould

because bulbs do really well in leaf mould.

So a layer in the bottom.

Now, the bottom layer, I'm using some tulips.

I've got a variety here called Negrita,

with its nice, long stem and a lovely purple flower.

I compact them in,

so we'll pop the bulbs just an inch or two apart.

Pointy side up.

When you buy tulip bulbs,

look for nice, big, plump bulbs.

The bigger the bulb, the better they will flower.

That is our late April display.

We cover that up with a layer of compost.

So the next layer is going to be daffodils.

What I have here is Tete-a-Tete

and everything about it is elegant, petite,

full of grace.

We don't need to worry about blocking

the root of the tulips underneath.

They will find their way past these bulbs

and negotiate a passage.

We also don't need to worry about finding enough food for it.

We don't need to add any extra feed to the compost,

because everything that bulb needs to flower is there now.

On top of that, I'm going to put some irises.

These are dwarf irises with intense colour,

and they just shine like jewels very early in the season.

These will flower certainly in February

and perhaps last into March,

which, of course, is when Tete-a-Tete will come through.

The bulbs are set.

Just put them in some reasonably sheltered,

reasonably sunny spot and you can leave them there

until the shoots start to appear

and then you put them where you want to display them.

But it will only look like that.

If I want it to look great from now,

right the way through until the irises start flowering in February,

I need to add something on top

and I love pansies and violas.

Now, the secret of growing really successful violas and pansies

is not to let them dry out too much.

So they will need some water

and the bulbs will find their way through the pansies,

don't worry about that.

So what we have

is a succession of flowers

starting with the dwarf iris in February

and as those die back,

the daffodils come up

and they will flower in March and even into April

and finally, in all their glory, the tulips will burst through

and come into flower from mid-April into May.

Then by the middle of May,

they'll all be over and we can clear it out

and use this pot for our summer display.

This is looking forward to next spring,

but this summer has been particularly good

for those of us that grow fruit and vegetables

and Joe's been seeing this in action in allotments all around the land

and this week he's gone down to an allotment near Bristol.

September is a wonderful time of year for allotments,

with the harvest reaching its peak

and plot holders reaping rich rewards for all their hard work.

-Hello, John.

-Hello, Joe.

-What a wonderful setting for an allotment.

-It's fantastic.

-With the Clifton Suspension Bridge in the background.

Have you sorted that out just for me?

I painted it there this morning, a nice piece of scenery as a backdrop.

It's beautiful.

These grapes are fantastic.

-Well, they...

-They really are.

They've been absolutely amazing this year.

-Can I try one?

-Please do.

-Plenty of 'em.

-Ooh, look at those.

Oh, that's really good.

We've had a wonderful summer.

-Oh, look at all the squash.

-I know, these have been fantastic.

-Yeah.

-Absolutely amazing, you've got two varieties here.

You've got, I think that one's called Hooligan.

Which is great, a cheeky little thing.

And this one is called Winter Golden Hubbard.

Oh, that's a good name, isn't it?

This is planted on your compost heap, is that right?

It's in a manure heap. There's some pallets there

and there's all the horse manure in there.

I put four plants in there, turned my back, and this is the result.

And these beans are looking good as well.

Wow, look at those!

These are Borlottis. I think you can hear a bit of a rattle.

The seeds are beginning to dry and what we do is

when they've really dried off, in a couple of weeks,

we'll pick all the pods when they look like this one,

crack 'em open and they're just wonderful

in casseroles in the winter.

Sausage casserole with Borlotti beans - cor...

-It's real comfort food for a cold winter's day.

-It sounds good.

But John doesn't just rely on his beans to get him through the winter.

He has something much sweeter to tempt the taste buds.

How long have you been keeping bees?

Well, I started when I was 14.

My parents had this wonderful builder guy

who used to come in and do jobs around the house

and I was already interested in bees.

He mentioned one day that he was a beekeeper and I was hooked.

I haven't been keeping bees all these years.

I returned to it about five years ago when I got this allotment

-and I had the space.

-And is it a busy time of year?

This is THE busy time of year, the honey harvest is in full swing.

-You know, I've never actually looked inside a beehive.

-Come this way.

-Fantastic.

-We need to get kitted up first.

-It's like a onesie, is it?

-Like a bee onesie.

A bit of smoke just to tell them we're coming.

-Wow.

-And there is a colony of honey bees.

How many would you expect to be in there?

I should think there's probably 20,000-30,000 bees.

20,000-30,000 in each hive?

So there's a lot of honey in here, is there?

There's masses of honey.

When it's full, there's about 30 pounds of honey.

-30 pounds?!

-Yes, yep.

So how much honey do you get a year, then?

Well, this year, from these hives,

I've had about 230 pounds in weight of honey.

That's unbelievable! Just from these hives here?

Well, we've had a wonderful summer.

-That's a lot of pots of honey.

-Yeah.

I'd never have known they produce that much.

Here we go.

Wow, look at that.

Look at that honeycomb. Ooh, that is amazing.

So how do you go about extracting the honey?

Well, first of all, you have to clear the bees

out of the honey boxes

and you take all the frames out with no bees on them

and you get one of these things, which is called an uncapping knife.

Now, I'm not going to do it, Joe, because the minute I take this off,

-we'll have bees going everywhere.

-Yep.

But you take a very thin slice of the wax off the top,

-and if I just take that little bit, there's the honey.

-Oh!

Wonderful, golden nectar,

and already I can see some little red tongues there.

You see how they're all forming a ring around it?

Are they getting a bit noisier,

or is it just me getting a bit closer,

or are they getting a little bit more agitated?

I think they are. I'm going to pop it back in.

-Sounds like a very sensible idea.

-There we go.

It's incredibly popular these days, keeping bees. How easy is it?

You do need to know what you're doing.

During the summer, you've really got to check your hives,

keep on top of disease like varroa,

make sure the queen's laying properly.

There's a lot of hard work involved.

It's looking after livestock, after all.

Have you noticed better crops as a result of the bees?

Oh, yes, definitely.

Particularly fruit trees,

soft fruit has been really, really splendid.

-So the other allotment holders here, they really benefit?

-Oh, yes.

The people I know well down here, they say,

"Your bees are on my plants," so yeah, it all seems to work well.

-They know they're your bees? That's amazing!

-Absolutely.

I go over and check and I recognise each one.

Joe, before you go, I've got a little something for you.

There we are - that's a jar of this season's honey.

Oh, thank you! I'm going to try it.

-Please do.

-I'm going to try it on the allotment from whence it came

and from the bees that I now know so well.

-Now...

-Look at that.

Way!

Delicious. Really deep, rich flavour as well.

Do you think that's from the allotment

because there's so many different plants here?

Oh, I'm sure it is. There's so much variety

and you're getting that variety coming through

in the flavour of the honey.

Nice to meet you, nice to meet you, bees,

-and thanks again for the honey.

-Thank you.

Of course, encouraging bees into your garden

is best done simply by having lots of plants

that they will be attracted to.

They just do good in every possible way.

All wildlife, though, is going to be good for a balanced garden,

and we made this pond specifically as a wildlife pond,

that it would attract a whole range of amphibians

and insects that would enrich the whole balance

and ecosystem of this garden,

and it's worked.

Now, this pond does have quite a lot of duckweed,

but almost every pond does. I've got an e-mail...

..from John in Surrey.

"Dear Monty, our pond is being taken over by blanket weed and duckweed.

"The pond is treated weekly.

"We prefer natural products -

"barley straw, other bacterial cultures which remove the nutrients

"that the invasive plants need and every few weeks,

"all visible blanket weed and duckweed is removed manually.

"We are desperate for any further advice."

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, John,

but there's not much more to say,

because you're doing all the right things.

Duckweed and blanket weed form

through excessive nutrients in the water

and they're incredibly successful at harnessing them

and the reason why you've got too much nutrient in the water

is a combination of things.

If you've got any bare soil,

certainly above the level of the water or nearby, you get run-off.

If you've got plants planted in the water,

and we've got various plants planted in baskets in here,

they have soil and there's a certain amount of nutrients with them,

and any decomposing plants.

Inevitably, you are going to have some weed,

but the thing to do is everything you're saying.

If you use bacterial cultures,

if you use barley straw and manually just scrape it out,

and put it to one side, that will help.

When you take out any plants, whether they be in a basket or weed

from the pond, you take out insects with them.

Give them a chance to get back in the water by putting it

on the side for at least 24 hours

and then it makes very good compost.

So just keep at it.

Keep managing it and accept

that it is part of the ecosystem of the pond.

It's not a problem. The wildlife won't mind.

Well, I will gently potter in the pond

for a little while,

but that's it for today,

and I'll see you back at Longmeadow next week,

but an hour and a half earlier,

at eight o'clock, so until then, bye-bye.