Episode 6 Gardeners' World

Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

This is the Writing Garden,

which I started to make about a year ago exactly.

Of course, this means that the way that it looks now is fresh and new.

It hasn't done a full 12-month cycle,

so to see these white daffodils, a variety called Thalia,

come through and looking really good is a thrill.

The soil here is very heavy,

and after last winter it's also very wet.

Mushroom compost is exceptionally good at lightening heavy soil.

It's got lime in it and it breaks down the clay.

Any kind of mulch will keep in moisture,

so what's in the ground will then work its way to the plants

rather than evaporating, and also it's the best way to suppress weeds.

So if you haven't mulched your borders, I would advise that this

is the single most important thing to be getting on with now.

Auriculas are spring showstoppers.

This week, we meet a collector with a passion

for these floral prima donnas.

If you look at them, they're all little faces looking at you.

They are the stars.

From the elegantly dainty

to big and blowsy,

Camellias come in many forms and Carol meets a world authority.

It's not really a job. It's a way of life.

You wake up in the morning and you look out and you think,

-"Wow, spring's on its way."

-Yeah, exactly.

I'll be starting to restock and rejuvenate my dry garden

with tips on how to select and place plants to maximum effect.

At this time of year, the acid green of Euphorbias is the richest,

brightest colour in the garden, such a signal to me of April.

This is Euphorbia characias wulfenii,

one of the biggest, and has got these fantastic columns of bracts.

These are not the flowers, they're bracts.

The flowers are tiny in there. Euphorbias, we'll take as cuttings.

Now, as you've got new growth coming through, is a good time to do it.

But wear gloves because as soon as you cut into them,

they exude latex.

That latex is toxic and your skin will react with them.

Just be a little bit careful.

This is probably the only time you'll ever see me

wearing gloves for gardening.

But euphorbias are a special case.

OK. Now I'm protected.

What I'm looking for are nice, healthy new shoots.

I'm just going to take a couple.

I'm not taking too much of next year's growth.

Can you see? As soon as you cut it, it's got a milky latex.

It's that that irritates.

That's what the gloves are all about.

Not the plant itself. I'll take one more from here.

Always when you're taking cuttings, use a polythene bag.

Essentially, this is surgery. You're transplanting the plants.

So you're cutting it off.

The minute you cut it, that plant starts to die.

Everything you can do to delay the dying

will increase the chance of new roots coming and living.

Taking euphorbia cuttings is just like any other cutting, really,

with one slight exception. We have a shoot there.

You can see latex is smearing itself around. We remove the lower leaves.

Where there are leaves, you have water leaving the plant.

We want just enough, but no more. That will do.

Then, make a clean cut with a sharp knife

and dip the end in some ground charcoal.

This isn't essential, but it does help seal the wound

and stop the cutting losing vital moisture.

For any cuttings, always use a very freely drained compost.

Doesn't matter what type.

Push it down the edge, or in this case the corner.

The reason for that is that against the sides it dries out less quickly.

Pop that in like that.

As soon as they're in the pot, water them,

put them somewhere warm but not in direct blazing sunshine.

Then, in about two to four weeks you'll see signs of new growth,

which means they've got roots.

When mine are growing, I'll show you how to pot them on.

Euphorbias are dramatic and wonderful,

but they're border plants. They mix in the hurly-burly of the garden.

But some plants stand aloof and alone,

and even demand their own theatre.

At this time of year, none are more special than auriculas.

I am a freelance writer.

My garden is a great joy to me, so I'm devoting more time

to the smaller things which give a lot of pleasure.

The auriculas are a perfect example.

I love them because they are in fact living antiques.

They have been bred to get them more and more refined

and more and more different.

Some are very velvety, some are full of the farina,

the lovely dust which makes them silver.

This is one that has been bred by someone fairly recently,

quite unusual. A new type of auricula.

They do require quite a lot of fussing, but that is relaxing,

that is part of the fun of having them -

they're almost more like having pets.

These are the ones that are coming into flower.

But to see them in their full glory, let's go to the auricula theatre.

There's a reference by John Evelyn in about 1690 or even earlier

where he describes auriculas being shown theatrically.

The need was there to cover, so the rain didn't wash them

and make them splodgy.

If you look at them, they're all little faces looking at you.

They are the stars.

This is one of my favourites. It's called Mrs Cairn's Blue.

It's a border, which means it's one of the country cousins,

it's not one of the very posh ones.

But I love it for the colour. I also love it because it's quite rare.

That's a good example of a double. It's a nice acid yellow.

It's called Forest Sunlight.

This is one of the much more traditional ones

that were beloved of growers throughout history.

It's White Wings.

This one is particularly interesting

because it's what they call a hose in hose.

In other words, you're getting two flower formations.

It's an Elizabethan term, and that came from the stockings

that they used to wear, which were one pair tucked into another pair.

All these plants are extremely artificial

and are arrived at by a grower just selecting what he wants.

So if he wants stripes, he will find one that is a bit striped,

then keep that and breed it with another one that's a bit striped

and so on and so forth.

All I really want to do is to tell people they're not difficult.

They're very suitable if you've got a tiny place or just a backyard.

They look fantastic if they're displayed en masse.

People are a little bit scared of them

and they think they're going to be difficult

and they're going to kill them.

They're quite tough. They're Alpine plants, after all.

Auriculas are absolutely sublime.

If you build a collection like Patricia's,

they become a performance in their own right,

quite separate from whatever else you may be doing in the garden.

She says they're not difficult to grow, and they're not,

but they are particular.

There are certain things you do need to know.

If you buy them, you'll probably get them like this in a plastic pot.

They both look and perform much better in a terracotta pot.

If you're going to the trouble of growing auriculas,

get a terracotta pot.

They're beautiful.

Then get a loam-based compost and add grit or sharp sand.

The result is perfect for them.

Then gently take them out of the plastic pot, like that.

Put them into a small pot. Don't try and pot them up too much.

I just need a little bit of compost underneath it. Pop that in.

That'll be fine.

That's all you have to do.

You can see what Patricia referred to as the farination,

which simply means the rather flowery, waxy quality

that you get on some auriculas. This is highly prized.

If you put that out in the rain or you water it from above,

that can wash off, so just water around the roots.

It can take a little bit of rain, but protect it.

In summer, don't let auriculas get too hot.

Whatever happens, don't let them dry out completely.

They will reward you with these completely unique flowers.

There is nothing else that has that sense

of delightful man-made artificiality in the garden.

Come on.

I know, it's good, isn't it?

I've been experimenting quite a lot recently with soil blocks.

I've used them for years, but then I stopped.

I've come back to them because it would be nice to do without

the paraphernalia, of all the plastic of raising seeds.

That's where soil blocks come in.

Soil blocks are made using a soil blocker. You can buy these online.

This one costs about 15 quid. A pretty useful all-round size.

To use it, you have to make your own compost, but that's not complex

because bought compost can be part of it.

If you buy a peat-free compost, that can make up 50% of the result.

Then you have a bit of soil from your garden, but you need a binder.

This is where coir comes in. This is a block of coir.

This is how you buy it.

You soak it in water and it ends up looking like this.

It breaks down and it's a fairly friable, loose growing medium.

I've worked out a recipe which is fundamentally half coir

plus some soil from the garden, a bit of leaf mould

and a bit of garden compost.

On our website, you can get the actual recipe that I use.

Mix it up. It's sieved, it's well mixed.

This is where it really differs from using plugs or seed trays,

because then we make that into mud.

So I'll water it.

You have to experiment with this to see how much water to add.

I mix it up so that it's wet enough

that when I squeeze it in my hand, water actually runs out.

Yeah, there's water running out.

What I'm left with is holding together reasonably well.

So wet the blocker.

Hold it and push it really firmly

and twist it around into your compost mud.

Lift it, and hopefully they'll come out clean.

This doesn't have to be in a seed tray,

it could just be on a flat piece of wood.

You can see that there's a divot in each one,

designed so you can just pop your seed in

and it won't roll off or roll away.

Perfect arrangement.

I'm going to put the next row a little bit apart from it,

because one of the great virtues of soil blocks

is that the roots air prune.

As they reach the edge of the block, they stop growing

and will spread, and you'll get a nice, solid, fibrous root ball.

Whereas if you have plugs, this is slightly unfair

because this is a very old one,

but it's a good example to see how they get root bound.

Any plant grown in a plastic container will reach

the end of the container and then go round or up or sideways,

and it never recovers from that.

It might grow, it might work, but it never performs properly.

Whereas when you have a soil block and the roots are all contained

within the block, you plant it out and it grows away much quicker.

I still use plugs, I still use all kinds of different compost,

but it all adds to the variety of your garden.

Talking of variety of the garden,

Carol is continuing her series looking at the iconic plants

that have made our gardens,

and the people that have given their lives

to developing particular plants.

Set in a valley that tumbles down to the sea,

historical Abbotsbury Gardens are a sub-tropical paradise.

Within its 20 acres, it nurtures some exquisite specimen camellias.

Camellias are familiar shrubs, and yet there's something special,

something mysterious, something Eastern about them.

hardly surprising since they come from the Far East.

For several months in the year, they wait in the wings,

this dark presence, but first thing in the spring

they step into the spotlight,

covered in this myriad of beautiful flowers,

some of them great big rosettes,

some of them tiny, dainty butterflies.

They really do take centre stage.

Jennifer Trehane, specialist camellia grower and world expert

has been visiting the gardens at Abbotsbury

for over 40 years to admire their collection.

You think of camellias being shrubs,

-but a lot of these are trees, aren't they?

-Absolutely.

This is how they grow if you don't actually prune them

and keep them down to shape.

But they've been at Abbotsbury for a long time, haven't they?

Yes, these were all planted here in the 19th century.

-This particular one...

-Which is beautiful.

-You love it, don't you?

Yeah, I really do.

This is Alba Plena, one of the first two japonica varieties to be

brought into Britain on a tea clipper. They came in in the 1790s.

It's still available now, actually. Stood the test of time.

Didn't your father have quite a lot to do with popularising them?

My father was absolutely key.

He collected 1,000 different varieties from all over the world

and tried and tested them first.

That was very important to see how well

they performed in the British Isles.

You've continued that work.

Well, I've tried.

Because I love my job, it's not really a job, it's a way of life.

-They really do just light up the place.

-They do.

And you wake up in the morning, and I look out and you think,

-"Wow, spring's on its way."

-Yeah, exactly.

One of the things I think is most endearing about camellias is

-the way their flower forms vary.

-Absolutely.

I just love these formal doubles with their regular flower

petals packed in together and beautiful.

They almost look as though they've been drawn, don't they?

Yes, they do.

And they made wonderful buttonholes for the Victorian gentleman.

You could hardly get anything more different than this, could you?

Isn't it beautiful? So simple. It's a single form flower, Carol.

It's only got eight petals or less. It has that wonderful simplicity.

I just love them.

This is different again, isn't it?

Yes, it's a completely different flower form.

It's an anemone form camellia.

And you can see why

because it has this very tight centre of petaloid stamens.

And this wonderful ring of true petals around it.

-It's almost like it can't make its mind up.

-It is.

But it's very lovely.

This is only one of several different flower forms. There are plenty more.

Jennifer, you're at the hub, the very centre of the camellia world.

Which way do you think camellias are going? What are the coming trends?

I think there's a great movement away from the bigger flowered,

brightly coloured exotic looking camellias to the more delicate,

miniature camellias that are more garden-worthy.

They fit into the modern garden because they are compact growers.

They're upright and disease-resistant.

So this has got loads of buds on it. And it's full of flower.

It's been flowering since December.

Jennifer, you're such a leading authority on camellias,

people must ask you loads of questions about them.

What are the most common ones?

One of the most common ones is, "My camellia's got yellow leaves.

"It looks tired and sick.

"What can I do about it?"

If it's in the springtime, it probably needs feeding.

And then people, think, "I'll dash out with the feed now, immediately."

No.

Wait for the young leaves to start forming

and then you know that that's an optimum point to give

it its breakfast, if you like, after the winter.

Of course, another question I get asked is,

"Is there trouble at the roots?"

Is your camellia in a wet position? Are the roots drowning?

Maybe you've planted it in soil that's a little on the alkaline side,

because camellias do like to be in a slightly acidic soil.

So it could be that it's in the wrong site.

And the other thing is "My plant has got too big. It's out of control".

What can I do about that?

The obvious thing to do is to prune it.

The time to prune is just before growth starts,

when the plant is still just dormant.

They're tough. They like being pruned.

They're stimulated by pruning. So it's very easy to do.

But meanwhile, when you've tackled all these problems,

what's your advice about what to do with them this weekend?

I think this weekend, I would be enjoying them.

I would be looking at the blooms, as I do, out of my kitchen window

and say, "Isn't spring a wonderful season?"

You've got all these various flowers, colours, shapes, sizes.

All within the one genus, the camellia.

I've got some kale here. There we are.

That's that.

Well, if you want to take Jennifer's advice and go

and enjoy camellias, there are lots of different places you can.

If you look on our website you'll have addresses

and opening times of the various gardens,

including Abbotsbury.

But if you want to be busy this weekend,

here's some jobs you can be getting on with.

'Shallots are delicious and now is the best time to plant them as sets.

'Prepare the ground by forking it over and add a little compost.

'Then place each set with the roots facing down so half of it is buried.

'This will then multiply

'and produce a bunch of new shallots for harvesting in summer.

'Space the sets about six to nine inches apart in rows or a grid.

'And then keep them weeded.

'It's now time to sow sunflowers.

'You can use pots, modules or, as I am, soil blocks.

'Plant two seeds per unit and put them somewhere warm.

'When they've germinated, remove the weaker of the two seedlings.

'Many young seedlings, like these tomatoes I sowed a month ago,

'are now ready to be pricked out.

'Hold them by a leaf and carefully lift them,

'keeping as much root attached as possible.

'Plant them onto a module or seed tray, leaving

'plenty of room for the roots to develop.

'They will then grow strongly

'and be ready to pot on in a few weeks' time.'

This is...

It's a semi-tender clematis from New Zealand

and I planted it last spring

hoping it would survive our winters but to be honest, a bit worried

because it can be very cold here.

And although it was so wet last winter, it was incredibly mild

so it's loved it, grown really well. It's flowering gloriously.

It's very happy and, I think, very beautiful.

This is the dry garden,

so called because it's got sun for most of the day

and also, the soil drains really fast.

And two weeks ago, I began taking all the plants out.

All these plants came out of just these two bits of ground.

And it's been dug over, weeded as best as we can.

And it's now ready for replanting.

Before I replant, I'm going to give this a little bit of refreshment.

I'm adding compost. Not very much.

A thin layer to add bacteria and fungi to the soil.

Because that life provides the means for the plants to take up

the nutrients.

Half an inch thick and that's all you need.

Having put compost on, I'm adding grit.

The compost is refreshing the soil. It's not acting as a mulch.

But the grit is improving drainage.

Spread the gravel evenly over the whole area

so it's on top of the compost.

Finally, I need to work it all in.

You can use anything to do it.

You could rotivate it if it's a big area, you could use a fork,

but I love using this tool.

This is a cultivator. I remember my grandfather had one.

I don't get to use it very often, so I jumped at the chance.

Of course, it's designed to cultivate deeply

and churn the soil over and mix it all up.

Right, having gone to all the trouble of preparing the soil,

now it's important not to walk on it.

So let's put a plank or two back down

so we can get on with the creative bit,

which is starting to place the plants.

This is why it's worth putting plants in pots,

because it gives you the chance to move them around, take your time

and the other tip is, don't plant anything

until you've got everything out because you've going to alter

things as you go along. Putting one thing down will affect another.

And you know this grows four foot tall and that's only four inches,

so it needs to be in front and so on and so forth.

Take your time. I'm going to start with the iris...

Which are looking perfectly healthy and I hope these will flower.

They don't want to be too far back,

so we'll keep these fairly near the front.

Because although the flowers are quite tall,

it is important they get sunshine.

I don't want them blocked by too much.

Don't dot them

unless that's specifically an effect that you want.

They'll be much more effective in groups

and if that means just one group, so be it.

I like to do odd numbers because it looks slightly more natural.

Sedums are designed to cope with nice stony, well-drained conditions.

And here they grow much shorter, but healthy and upright.

I shall be putting back most of the plants I've taken out.

But I've bought a few new ones.

And I want to get them in position so I can work around them.

These are three very different plants.

I've got a biennial, which is Verbascum olympicum. Really tall.

Loves tough conditions and has wonderful felted, woolly foliage.

I've got a perennial. This is an achillea,

Achillea moonshine,

which is really my favourite achillea

because it has a slight luminous, white glow to the yellow flowers.

And I've got a cistus. This is Cistus ladanifer...

A shrub which loves baking sun

and has got white flowers

and slightly sticky foliage.

Now, the cistus wants to go fairly near the front...

And getting all the sun.

The heat will radiate off the walls too, so somewhere around there.

The verbascum, on the other hand, is really tall,

so it wants to go nearer the back.

This could go...

..right back there. And it will grow six foot tall. Be really dramatic.

The achillea is quite delicate.

Its effect is luminous, but subtle.

So let's put this...

..about there for the moment.

This is going to take time. It's not a job to be rushed.

Only going to do it maybe once more in my lifetime.

So I want to make sure it's right.

And not until I'm really happy with any of them

will I plant any of them.

It will happen over the next few days, anyway.

That's it for this week.

Next week is Easter and, of course, it's the first chance

most of us have to spend some real time out in our gardens.

Join me here in my garden at Longmeadow at the same time

next Friday.

Until then, bye-bye.