Episode 27 Gardeners' World


Episode 27

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'Gardeners' World has grown to a full hour,

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'giving us even more time to celebrate the very best

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'of British gardening.'

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Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

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Now, I reckon that the end of September is the end

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of the gardening year,

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and tomorrow is a New Year's Day for us gardeners, so let's celebrate.

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Let's celebrate with some bright, brash, audacious colour.

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And these dahlias are supplying that in spades.

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So, the light may be waning,

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but we are not going gentle into any kind of night.

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And of course, in purely practical terms,

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if you keep cutting the flowers of dahlias, in particular, but

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anything at this time of year, you are promoting new flowers, new buds,

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and as long as the weather doesn't get too cold,

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these will go on flowering for weeks to come in our new gardening year.

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On tonight's programme -

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Frances Tophill goes out on a limb in Cornwall.

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This is just a light bit of weeding for you, is it?

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-Yes, extreme gardening.

-Yes!

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Joe Swift is in Scotland, rediscovering the rockery.

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Rockeries were popular with the Victorians and the Edwardians,

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who wanted to grow and show off the exquisite little plants

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that were being discovered

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in the mountainous regions from all over the world.

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And Flo Headlam transforms a derelict garden in Lewisham.

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I need to get busy!

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And we will also be catching up with Adam Frost's progress

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in his garden in Lincolnshire,

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I will be adding a few last splashes of colour into my Jewel Garden,

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and planting up an alpine trough.

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I have got some nepeta plants here that have done really well.

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They are looking fine at the moment and not dominating,

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because I cut them right to the ground in early August.

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And when they are growing and they are full sort of performance

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in June, they are right up here.

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This is a variety called Six Hills Giant, and it is pretty big.

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Now, it's lovely, and I don't want to get rid of it,

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but I do want to divide it and move it around.

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It is quite a good time to do it now,

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because you can see how big it is.

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If you leave things till either the winter or early spring,

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before they start to grow,

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you can't really get an idea of how much space it is going to occupy.

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Move things now, and you can really see the effect they will have.

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This here is one plant.

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So if I dig that up, I can divide it.

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Cats find nepeta irresistible, which is why it is known as catnip.

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And apparently, it has a narcotic influence on them.

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It is the chemical nepetalactone, and they absolutely adore it.

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However, by the same token, apparently, rats and mice hate it,

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and so do mosquitoes and midges, so if you rub yourself with nepeta,

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you won't get stung by mosquitoes, but you will get rubbed by cats.

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I am going to chop into that, rather than trying to lift the whole thing.

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There we go.

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Right, that, you see, I could transplant,

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lock, stock and barrel, which I am going to do.

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I will put that in one trug.

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But if I take this one out, I can divide it...

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..with my fingers, like that.

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And now I have two plants.

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Herbaceous plants grow outwards like a doughnut,

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so the outer reaches of it, the newest bits,

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are always more vigorous and healthier and stronger.

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And what you should do always is discard the centre,

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put that on the compost heap and replant the outer segments.

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So, we will pop that back in the ground.

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Inevitably, that looks a bit floppy now.

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I could cut it back hard and it won't regrow before next year,

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but that will be fine and it gives me more plants

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to take to another part of the Cottage Garden,

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where I think these are going to serve well.

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I have a campanula in there, which is too big and not wide enough,

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and this will just fill that gap more naturally.

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Right. This is a campanula called Pritchard's Variety.

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Fabulous, lovely blue flowers in July.

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But it grows to about seven, eight feet tall.

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And that is out of scale with the roses on either side of it,

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and even the espaliers behind it.

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Everything else in the garden is dwarfed by it.

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So, it is a lovely plant, I don't want to lose it,

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but it is in the wrong place.

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I'm going to dig that out

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and probably move it to the grass borders

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and replace it with nepeta.

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Here we go.

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Moving plants at this time of year gets round the trauma

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that they undergo when they are in full growth,

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because there is very little growth at this time of year.

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And the idea, in the long-term,

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is that the roots grow between now and, say, mid-November,

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get anchored in, get established and they can support the top growth,

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which will really kick in from April, May onwards.

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That will hardly know it's been moved

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and I'm sure will fit into that space better,

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and the campanula will be able to hold its own

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when I plant it among the tallest of the grasses

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in the grass borders.

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Now, this kind of rearranging of plants, designing and moving,

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is common to anybody who has a garden, whether it is a small

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urban backyard or rolling country acres,

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but occasionally you do come across gardens

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that stand outside any kind of common experience.

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And in the first of three films,

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Frances Tophill visits a cliffside garden near Penzance in Cornwall.

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Many of us gardeners often feel we have a battle on our hands,

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whether it's damp, shady spots or slugs and snails, aphids,

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but very few of us will ever have to use one of these - a winch -

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or deal with something like this.

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-You ready, Robert?

-Yes.

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This is one of the steepest gardens I have ever seen.

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Do you often use a winch?

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We do, we pull most of our shrubs and trees out with a winch.

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It takes the roots out. Generally, it is much easier than digging.

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-I can see that.

-Especially on a slope like this.

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This is a revelation to me!

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It is an extreme way of doing it, but it is extremely effective too.

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-Soil's off. Most of the roots are out.

-That is one way to do it.

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I think we will leave it where it is

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and go for a walk round the garden, have a bit of a relax.

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Sounds good to me!

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Basically, a cliff, really, you're gardening on!

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We are on the cliff. It is three acres, but we only garden two.

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-Is it difficult to garden?

-Yes!

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It is, but because we have terraced it, we've made it easier.

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-You can stand and rest on the paths.

-OK.

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And then you go up into the beds to do whatever you need to do.

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Aside from that, you must have other challenging conditions.

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The soil is very poor and that suits the plants that we grow.

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They like low nutrient conditions, so that is fine.

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The sea is very close, so we get salt spray,

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so that doesn't do things any good either.

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-And wind? I imagine...

-The wind...

-Storms and gales.

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-From the east and from the north.

-So, you have it all, really.

-We do.

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But you still manage to grow some lovely species, which is nice.

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This is a particularly favourite part of the garden.

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The astromelia and crocosmia and the euphorbia, all flowering together.

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Lovely and bright colours as well.

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I can see there is erigeron everywhere,

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is that a favourite plant?

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-It is.

-It is everywhere.

-It goes so well with the granite.

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-It is very...

-Beautiful, yeah.

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Ooh! That way.

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-Turn round and come down backwards.

-Yeah.

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This is just a light bit of weeding for you?

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Absolutely, just a light bit of weeding.

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We don't do this very often,

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but a couple of times a year when we have to take out the bramble,

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and this makes all the difference, because you have your feet on

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the ground, you are steady, safe, and you can weed easily.

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-So you need a bit of a head for heights, then?

-You do.

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-It is quite fun though.

-It is.

-Quite a novel way to do it.

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-Absolutely, yes. Extreme gardening.

-Yes!

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-These rocks are incredible.

-They are absolutely wonderful.

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Quite fantastic. We had to uncover them, but once we did,

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then we realised we needed a path through here.

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I was going to say, the terrain,

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working round it must be really hard.

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-Do you actually garden here?

-Yes, we do, a little.

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A lot of this is self-sown,

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but we have this miniature gunnera, which is, well...

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That is amazing. So small.

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When you think of gunnera, it's a great enormous thing.

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If it was here, it would take over everything.

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So, is this the lowest part of the garden?

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Yes, this is as far down as we garden.

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It's shady, damp, perfect for tree ferns.

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In fact, they do so well they spore everywhere and we get

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thousands of baby tree ferns, which go off into the trade.

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-Really?

-You probably, if you buy one it may have come from this garden.

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-That is amazing.

-Yes.

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Having walked down all of this way, how on earth do you get all this

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stuff, gravel and everything, down this far, is it with a wheelbarrow?

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No, we send it down pipes, and the pipes go about

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a third of the way down, so to get down here, we probably have to

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move the hopper three times, so it keeps us pretty fit.

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I'm only halfway up the garden. The house is way up there.

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And the bottom is somewhere far down there, and I just...

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I can't imagine gardening this on a daily basis, the two of them

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coming up and down these paths with compost and plants and tools.

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It must be absolutely exhausting!

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Well, thank you very much for showing me round,

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it has been a very steep learning curve!

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It's been a real pleasure to have you here, we have enjoyed it.

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Thank you very much. But there is one thing I am worrying about.

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I know now how to get everything down,

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but how on earth do you get it all back up again?

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I will give you this, and I will show you.

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-There is a little trick we learned in Nepal...

-OK!

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..which does make a big difference to carrying stuff up.

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Now, that is you get a bag like this,

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put it over your shoulder, on your forehead,

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and then off you go.

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Wow!

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Robert and Carol certainly have their work cut out here,

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but it's a fantastic garden,

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and it certainly is on the edge, in every way.

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But a garden doesn't have to be on a sheer rocky slope to capture

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the spirit of the mountains and the plants that thrive there.

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This summer, Joe Swift set out to uncover some of our most

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outstanding rock gardens.

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And in the first of a new series, he visits Branklyn in Perthshire.

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We fell out of love with the rock garden around the mid 1970s,

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along with shagpile carpets and avocado bathroom suites.

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And the reason for that, I think,

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was that we lost the original concept of what they are all about.

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They became a fad, people had to have them, so they started

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piling up soil in the corner of their garden, chucking a few

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rocks on and creating something that resembled a giant currant bun!

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Now, I want to show you over the next few weeks that

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rock gardens don't have to be how we remember them.

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This year, more than 80 huge pieces of rock were seen

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at Chelsea Flower Show, and countless smaller ones too.

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Now, many of them were in gold medal winning gardens,

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such as Cleve West's Exmoor-inspired garden

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and Andy Sturgeon's Best in Show.

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Now, we don't all want dramatic slabs of granite,

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but even on a smaller scale,

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and with complementary planting alongside,

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they can make a stunning garden feature.

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Rockeries were popular with the Victorians and the Edwardians,

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who wanted to grow and show off the exquisite little plants that were

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being discovered in the mountainous regions from all over the world.

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Now, the challenge for gardeners was to recreate the conditions

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in Britain where these plants would thrive.

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At their home in Scotland in the 1920s, Dorothy and John Renton

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set out to build a series of rock gardens that would support

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their growing collection of exotic plants

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from the four corners of the globe.

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'Branklyn has been nurtured by head gardener Steve McNamara

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'for the past 20 years.'

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So, Steve, how did the Rentons go about creating this rockery?

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Well, they started off, when they first came here in the 1920s,

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they got all the rocks from Kinnoull Hill, which is just behind us,

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and brought them down by steam engine.

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And then they had to manhandle everything in here to lay it out.

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It's well-drained, it's loamy, you know, the type of soil is

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really good here, so it made a great place for a rockery, actually.

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We are a little bit late in the season for the alpines,

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but there's still plenty going on here.

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Still plenty of colour. Lovely little diorama here.

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Yeah, we now grow the much shorter ones,

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and it's more appropriate, really, for a rockery.

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And we've got the likes of Bulbinella hookeri,

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the Maori onion, it's called.

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-I love that.

-It's happy and it's growing like mad, you know.

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And what's this one here, the green carpet?

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That is the vegetable sheep, Raoulia haastii.

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You can see the way it grows over the rocks and everything,

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it's a lovely thing, actually.

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People are fascinated, because it is rock-hard if you touch it.

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It's fantastic, it's like a miniature landscape all of its own.

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So it's not just alpines, you've got plants from all over the world.

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You're not snobby or a purist about it.

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No, I mean, the Rentons just collected plants from all over,

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because they were just interested in growing them and, you know,

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you can grow what you like, as long as you've got the right conditions.

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I see you've got lots of these planters sort of

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knocking around the place, haven't you?

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I really like these.

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I have to say, these stone containers with the moss and lichen,

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they look like they've been here for ever, but I guess they are

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a great way of getting a mini rockery into a smaller garden.

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Not everybody has got acres of the stuff.

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No, that's right, so this is a bit more manageable.

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So, you don't feed these plants a lot,

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is it getting some minerals from the rock itself?

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It's getting minerals from the rock.

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If you think of a scree slope, you know, all the rocks there,

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not much soil, but there's loads and loads of minerals, and that

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is what we are giving it here, all this gravel is giving it minerals.

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Again, you're trying to sort of emulate the slope of a mountainside.

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And OK, it's a little vignette of it,

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but it's still quite effective, you know?

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Come along!

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Well, of course, I'm old enough to remember when rock gardens

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were very much the rage,

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but it is funny how they went completely out of fashion.

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But I'm glad they're coming back,

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they're fabulous and they're interesting,

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and we should relish them.

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And you don't need to have a great big rock garden

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to enjoy rock plants.

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They look very, very good in stone troughs or pots.

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Now, I've got a couple of troughs and I originally planted them up

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in the Cottage Garden about three years ago.

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Then last winter, when we had a really wet winter,

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I couldn't work out why everything was dying.

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Cut a long story short, we looked and lifted it and found that

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the central plug had been blocked,

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and basically the plants drowned.

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They can take any amount of cold, they can take any amount

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of sunshine, but they cannot take sitting in the wet.

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So drainage is paramount, and if you give them that, they're fine.

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So, a big drainage hole, I've made some extra ones, but as long

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as that doesn't get blocked, that shouldn't be too bad, so I'm going

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to cover that over and I'm going to put some grit in the bottom.

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Because what I don't want is the roots to come down

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and then sit in a puddle.

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For the actual compost mix,

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you cannot be too well-drained.

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I've got our standard mix here,

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which has peat-free compost mixed with our garden compost,

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a bit of soil, a little bit of leaf mould and some grit.

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And I'm going to add to that 50-50 pure grit.

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We don't want that.

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Now, the plants.

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One of the many lovely things about alpine and rockery plants is

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they tend to be quite cheap and you can buy all kinds of different ones

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without breaking the bank.

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A little saxifrage, like this one, Whitehill,

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which has beautiful little white flowers on delicate long stems.

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It's perfect, absolutely perfect.

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Now, this is an Androsace.

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Very happy in these conditions,

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and you can see it's got these extraordinary sort of floral type

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foliage, but in fact there are pink flowers that will come up through.

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Now, an awful lot of alpine plants flower in spring,

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but the Erodiums will start to flower in June

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and go on right into autumn.

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Very common sedums, but, you know,

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there's nothing wrong with being common.

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That can go over the edge.

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So, we've got plenty of flowers.

0:20:540:20:56

More Erodiums.

0:20:570:20:59

Of course, it's always an arrangement with any container.

0:20:590:21:03

That's better. That's more like it.

0:21:040:21:06

And planting them, of course, is easy.

0:21:080:21:11

The fact they're sitting a bit proud also doesn't matter,

0:21:210:21:23

cos I'm going to top this up with grit.

0:21:230:21:25

OK, that's an initial planting

0:21:380:21:40

and I'm going to add to that with some bulbs.

0:21:400:21:42

There are a whole range of minuscule alpine bulbs that you can get,

0:21:420:21:46

and I've got two, but this is a tulip, Illiensis,

0:21:460:21:49

which has got little yellow flowers.

0:21:490:21:52

So, we can pop that in there.

0:21:550:21:57

And these will flower March, April-time,

0:21:580:22:01

Quite early as tulips go.

0:22:030:22:05

Now, I've got a daffodil here

0:22:070:22:09

and I don't want any sniggering at the back.

0:22:090:22:12

We're all grown up.

0:22:130:22:14

This is Narcissus assoanus.

0:22:140:22:18

See? Easy. And it's beautiful.

0:22:190:22:22

It's got little yellow flowers and it's a tiny little daffodil.

0:22:230:22:27

That can pop in there.

0:22:330:22:34

So, we've got spring flowers, summer flowers, even some autumn flowers.

0:22:350:22:40

And the final thing to do is I'm going to dress it with some grit.

0:22:400:22:44

That will again improve the drainage,

0:22:450:22:47

but also stop any splashing.

0:22:470:22:48

These are very delicate flowers, so if you do get heavy rain,

0:22:480:22:52

and you've got soil and compost in there, they get splashed.

0:22:520:22:55

Finally, just because they hate sitting in water doesn't mean to

0:22:560:23:01

say that they don't need water, so water them in really well.

0:23:010:23:04

WATER SPRINKLES

0:23:060:23:07

There we are. Music to my ears.

0:23:070:23:09

Really good drainage.

0:23:100:23:12

The fact the water is running through the bottom means that

0:23:120:23:15

they won't get waterlogged.

0:23:150:23:16

Now, this kind of gardening is very particular, very precise,

0:23:180:23:22

but sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in.

0:23:220:23:26

And that's what Flo Headlam has been doing in Lewisham.

0:23:280:23:31

The RHS Greening Grey Britain campaign

0:23:340:23:37

has discovered that one in four gardens in the UK is paved over,

0:23:370:23:40

but it doesn't have to be this way.

0:23:400:23:42

Today I'm in south London to tackle a front garden

0:23:430:23:45

that's been unloved and forgotten for far too long.

0:23:450:23:49

I need to get busy.

0:23:490:23:50

The garden belongs to Nisha McGregor,

0:23:540:23:56

and I know she's desperate for some help.

0:23:560:23:58

So, how long have you lived here, Nisha?

0:23:590:24:01

I've been here for just over ten years now, I think.

0:24:010:24:05

-And tell me about the garden.

-The front garden.

-The front garden!

0:24:050:24:09

-Well, it's been a bit of a battle between me and the weeds.

-Yes.

0:24:090:24:13

So, that was my first thing.

0:24:130:24:14

I thought if I can get on top of the weeds, then I could maybe

0:24:140:24:18

inject some life into it, but it's been really difficult.

0:24:180:24:20

-And shade as well.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

0:24:200:24:23

Unfortunately the other side of the street gets all the sun.

0:24:230:24:26

I only get sun on my part of the garden

0:24:260:24:28

first thing in the morning and then it's gone.

0:24:280:24:30

So, it is a challenge, cos we're on a north-facing site.

0:24:300:24:34

However, I think my main thing is evergreens.

0:24:340:24:38

I'm passionate about evergreens, I'm a champion of evergreens,

0:24:380:24:41

so, I'm thinking evergreens

0:24:410:24:43

and I'm thinking some plants with coloured foliage...

0:24:430:24:45

-Oh, brilliant.

-..to bring a colour palette, you know?

-Oh, good.

0:24:450:24:48

Well, give me a few hours and come back.

0:24:480:24:50

I'll get to work. See you later.

0:24:500:24:52

Well, I'd better crack on.

0:24:550:24:56

I'm going to be busy, obviously, clearing all this stuff,

0:24:560:24:59

and then I can weave my magic.

0:24:590:25:01

I need to see what's underneath that membrane.

0:25:040:25:07

Well, this is what I thought I would find, perennial weeds,

0:25:070:25:10

and in this case bindweed,

0:25:100:25:11

so the most important thing is just to get rid of as much as you can.

0:25:110:25:15

I'm taking great care to dig out as many of these perennial weed roots

0:25:180:25:22

as I can, and the more I dig out, the less will come back.

0:25:220:25:25

Be thorough. It's worth it.

0:25:260:25:28

So, this little trick, I love.

0:25:290:25:31

I get a plank of wood, just the width of the bed,

0:25:310:25:35

and you use it as a leveller.

0:25:350:25:36

Right, I'm ready to put up my hedge now.

0:25:380:25:40

After planting the boundary line hedge, I'm going to put down

0:25:470:25:50

a brand-new weed suppressant membrane

0:25:500:25:52

and then position my star plants.

0:25:520:25:54

This one here is my favourite plant.

0:26:010:26:03

It's Pittosporum Tom Thumb.

0:26:030:26:05

And then this one is another Pittosporum,

0:26:050:26:08

and this one's Tandara Gold.

0:26:080:26:09

And what I love about it is it's got a fine, airy quality,

0:26:090:26:13

and it's got these beautiful mid-green and lime-green leaves.

0:26:130:26:17

I just think it's beautiful and elegant and quite simple.

0:26:170:26:20

Planting through a membrane, cut the membrane, obviously.

0:26:200:26:24

Some people do a circle. I do a cross.

0:26:240:26:26

So...

0:26:280:26:29

So, I open it up.

0:26:310:26:32

Oh, and another tip is, I dig a square hole for a round pot

0:26:360:26:42

so the plant has lots of room to spread its roots as it goes in.

0:26:420:26:46

I'm going to add some bone meal,

0:26:470:26:49

just a handful, sprinkled in like that,

0:26:490:26:52

because that will help with the root development and give

0:26:520:26:54

the plants the best start that they can have.

0:26:540:26:56

And then I'm going to place my plant.

0:26:560:26:58

Put all the soil back, make sure it's nice and compact,

0:26:590:27:02

nice and firm, so you don't want any air pockets around the plants,

0:27:020:27:06

as firm as you can go.

0:27:060:27:08

All that's left for me to do is just to tidy up the soil,

0:27:110:27:14

push the membrane back and that's one Tandara Gold planted.

0:27:140:27:19

I'm going to put all the soft plants,

0:27:220:27:23

all the ground cover plants in position now before I plant up.

0:27:230:27:26

All the plants I've chosen are good for shade.

0:27:280:27:31

I've got ferns, I've got Alchemilla mollis,

0:27:310:27:34

which has a beautiful lime green, sort of acid green flower.

0:27:340:27:39

That sits really nicely with the Heuchera and they have really tall

0:27:390:27:43

flower spikes as well, so gorgeous. And Liriope.

0:27:430:27:47

So, altogether, I think they work really well,

0:27:470:27:49

it's a really good combination.

0:27:490:27:51

They will brighten this spot and just add some really soft colour.

0:27:510:27:55

And I'm adding another burst of colour with this window box,

0:27:570:28:00

which I planted with pink cyclamen, heather and variegated ivy.

0:28:000:28:04

The finishing touch is to add some gravel just to make it

0:28:050:28:08

beautiful and presentable.

0:28:080:28:10

Well, that's it. The garden is complete.

0:28:100:28:14

I hope Nisha likes it.

0:28:140:28:15

-Come and have a look.

-Oooh!

-See what you think.

0:28:170:28:20

Oh, my God, that's lovely.

0:28:200:28:22

-I can't believe this is my garden.

-This is your garden now, yes.

0:28:220:28:26

Oh, my gosh. I'll definitely be spending more time out here.

0:28:260:28:29

I won't be scared to come out here because of the spiders

0:28:290:28:31

-hiding under the weeds.

-Put a chair here, you know.

-I know!

0:28:310:28:35

A bit of Prosecco out the front.

0:28:350:28:37

It's absolutely beautiful.

0:28:400:28:42

It's elegant, sophisticated, it's just like you said.

0:28:420:28:45

-Thank you so much.

-My pleasure, thank you.

-Thank you.

0:28:450:28:48

I think that's inspiring.

0:28:550:28:57

It does show you that whatever the conditions, wherever you are,

0:28:570:29:00

where there's a will,

0:29:000:29:02

there is a way.

0:29:020:29:04

I get a lot of questions and e-mails and letters from people about fruit.

0:29:080:29:13

This is a very typical e-mail

0:29:130:29:14

which I've had from Dick Keeling in London.

0:29:140:29:17

He's sent me a picture here which shows a new branch

0:29:170:29:21

covered with a kind of white woolly froth.

0:29:210:29:27

This is the protective layers around the woolly aphid.

0:29:270:29:31

The nymphs spin this material to stop birds eating them.

0:29:330:29:36

Like all aphids, they are sap-suckers,

0:29:360:29:39

so they'll suck the sap of the new shoots

0:29:390:29:42

where the bark is thin and they can get through.

0:29:420:29:46

That will slightly weaken the plant but hardly at all.

0:29:460:29:49

The important thing is it doesn't affect the flowering

0:29:490:29:52

or the subsequent fruiting.

0:29:520:29:55

My attitude to this is that your garden is full of myriad

0:29:550:30:01

small creatures, the vast majority of which do no harm.

0:30:010:30:06

You share your garden with them.

0:30:060:30:08

In practice, the woolly aphid parents are now flying away

0:30:080:30:11

and the nymphs may well overwinter in crevices in the bark.

0:30:110:30:14

You can clear away the wool with a brush or with water,

0:30:140:30:18

but best of all, you can not worry about it.

0:30:180:30:22

Now, still to come on the programme,

0:30:240:30:26

we rejoin Adam in his garden in Lincolnshire.

0:30:260:30:28

What I want to get done today lay some of the paths here.

0:30:280:30:31

Something I actually call picking paths.

0:30:310:30:34

And the garden designer Mark Lane

0:30:340:30:36

shows us around his own garden in Canterbury.

0:30:360:30:40

It's really about just having fun

0:30:410:30:43

and getting out there and having a go.

0:30:430:30:45

But first, earlier this summer I paid a long overdue return visit

0:30:500:30:53

to a garden that's tucked away in a leafy Dublin suburb.

0:30:530:30:57

This garden is the life's work of the celebrated gardener and

0:30:590:31:03

writer Helen Dillon and is famous among plant lovers the world over.

0:31:030:31:09

In the 25 years that it's been open to the public,

0:31:090:31:12

it has inspired thousands of visitors

0:31:120:31:15

with its variety of garden rows,

0:31:150:31:17

each filled with an array of beautiful and unusual plants,

0:31:170:31:21

all surrounding the centrepiece,

0:31:210:31:24

an elegant canal flanked by borders plangent with colour.

0:31:240:31:30

Helen, I came here 21 years ago and this was lawn.

0:31:330:31:38

That lawn was nurtured within an inch of its life.

0:31:380:31:41

There was great obsession with this lawn,

0:31:410:31:43

so I thought the best thing to do was we take away the lawn

0:31:430:31:45

and make something terribly plain that nobody can be worried about.

0:31:450:31:48

This slightly compensates for the confusion and all the stuff.

0:31:480:31:54

You call it conf... This "stuff", as you call it.

0:31:540:31:57

The most incredible intensity of floriferousness.

0:31:570:32:02

I find colour terribly exciting,

0:32:020:32:06

and that's not fashionable at the moment.

0:32:060:32:10

I do have people coming here and they got their eyes nearly shut

0:32:100:32:12

because of the whole strain of looking at all this colour

0:32:120:32:15

and they say, "I only want green and white."

0:32:150:32:18

"I only want green and white," and I think, "Well, too bad,"

0:32:180:32:22

or something ruder.

0:32:220:32:24

Yes, I suspect something ruder, and good for you.

0:32:240:32:27

Well, I like colour too

0:32:270:32:29

and I think that the excitement and energy of it...

0:32:290:32:32

It's the energy of them clashing with each other.

0:32:320:32:34

-You see that orange rose over there?

-Yes.

0:32:340:32:37

That's absolutely oomph, it's called Warm Welcome.

0:32:370:32:40

-Yeah.

-Have you met it before?

0:32:400:32:42

-No, but to be truthful...

-You can't stand it?

0:32:420:32:45

It's not I can't stand it THERE.

0:32:450:32:47

I tend to view orange roses with a great deal of suspicion.

0:32:470:32:50

-One does, but they illuminate the place.

-Yes.

0:32:500:32:53

-Were you always a really keen gardener?

-Really. Boringly keen.

0:32:530:32:57

I've been gardening all my life. I love gardening.

0:32:570:32:59

-Yeah.

-Can't live without it, actually.

0:32:590:33:02

And what is it that drives you?

0:33:020:33:03

It's the only thing that makes me feel calm, relatively calm.

0:33:030:33:06

It's a kind of playing, it's a kind of...

0:33:060:33:09

I would get lost in myself, it's the only thing I can lose myself in.

0:33:090:33:12

See, I like this idea of playing. I've always thought that...

0:33:120:33:15

gardening is grown-ups going outside to play.

0:33:150:33:17

That to me is exactly what it is,

0:33:170:33:20

exactly what it is and I can remember just how I felt

0:33:200:33:23

as I put in my first polyanthus and I thought, God, that's gorgeous,

0:33:230:33:27

-isn't that gorgeous? And it was only one plant, one polyanthus.

-Yes.

0:33:270:33:30

I get the same pleasure out of one polyanthus as all this,

0:33:300:33:33

it's the same thing, it's the same kick.

0:33:330:33:35

Where have you drawn your horticultural inspiration from?

0:33:350:33:38

God knows. I am not educated, my dear. I left school at 16.

0:33:380:33:42

That was it. And, er, so, I suppose I'm educating myself.

0:33:420:33:46

Nonstop reading,

0:33:460:33:48

particularly old gardening books, and I've been terribly lucky

0:33:480:33:51

in travelling in lots of places in the world to look at the plants.

0:33:510:33:54

But that's the lesson, isn't it? Trust yourself, trust your eyes.

0:33:540:33:57

Yeah, yeah, learn and particularly, go and look at what other people

0:33:570:34:00

-are growing, even if it's only just somebody in the next-door village.

-Yeah.

-And get an idea.

0:34:000:34:04

Longing for ideas, you can get very good ideas in very bad gardens.

0:34:040:34:08

There's something that I always feel is that wonderful plants

0:34:080:34:11

can make bad gardens and boring plants can make good gardens.

0:34:110:34:14

-That's an excellent point.

-Yeah.

0:34:140:34:16

This is a very sophisticated garden. You know, it's very...

0:34:160:34:19

it's quite frankly grand, and yet you're happy to have

0:34:190:34:22

dustbins and plastic pots and things on display. Why's that?

0:34:220:34:26

Well, I'm very keen on dustbins.

0:34:260:34:28

-Dustbins are excellent for growing, er, roses...

-Right.

0:34:280:34:32

-..because you've got a deep root run.

-Yeah.

0:34:320:34:35

They'll do for five years in a dustbin,

0:34:350:34:36

provided you feed them.

0:34:360:34:38

If all you've got room for is one bin,

0:34:380:34:40

you can do a cracking good job.

0:34:400:34:42

I'm doing a sort of mobile gardening thing, particularly with things like

0:34:420:34:46

lilies, which look wonderful for three weeks and there's no reason

0:34:460:34:50

for them to block up a good bit of the border for the other 49 weeks.

0:34:500:34:54

BIRDS TWEET

0:34:540:34:56

To me, the garden was always a stage,

0:34:560:34:57

it's a stage in which I am moving the players

0:34:570:35:00

and if I get bored of the player, the player

0:35:000:35:02

will just have to go and get on with it in the yard, quite frankly.

0:35:020:35:04

If it's a lovely player, it can come out to the front.

0:35:040:35:07

It has to be a stage.

0:35:070:35:08

But all this is about to change,

0:35:090:35:12

because after 44 years spent creating

0:35:120:35:15

and tending her masterpiece,

0:35:150:35:16

Helen has decided that she needs a new challenge.

0:35:160:35:20

So, you've made this intensely beautiful garden,

0:35:200:35:24

-and now you're going.

-I know, because it's the time.

0:35:240:35:27

I just want to go while I'm strong enough to go,

0:35:270:35:30

and I used to think that I could watch it quietly fall to bits.

0:35:300:35:34

I've now decided I can't do that, I'd rather leave it

0:35:340:35:37

in its full glory and play at something new. I'll be making

0:35:370:35:41

a new very small garden, but I'm going to be thinking about it

0:35:410:35:45

and enjoying it and changing it and just getting excited about it.

0:35:450:35:49

A lot of people would say that at a certain age

0:35:490:35:53

it's time to wind down and do less and not have... Less of a challenge,

0:35:530:35:58

so where's that come from?

0:35:580:35:59

That's the whole joy of the challenge, you silly boy. Really.

0:35:590:36:04

That is the fun, isn't it?

0:36:040:36:06

I'm with you, I'm with you on that.

0:36:060:36:09

But Helen is not leaving everything behind.

0:36:100:36:13

Some of her favourite plants will find a home in her new garden.

0:36:130:36:17

There's no point taking plants you can easily get,

0:36:170:36:21

but there's great point in taking a plant like this,

0:36:210:36:24

which is my favourite, er, slightly mauve melianthus.

0:36:240:36:28

It's distinctly mauve, isn't it? Gosh...

0:36:280:36:30

And it gets more distinct as summer continues.

0:36:300:36:32

Has that melianthus got a special name?

0:36:320:36:35

-It's called Purple Haze.

-OK, Purple Haze.

0:36:350:36:38

So, that's one. OK, another?

0:36:380:36:40

-Step this way.

-Right.

0:36:400:36:41

So, Monty, what do you think of this spiky-looking customer?

0:36:460:36:50

It's very singular, is what I think.

0:36:500:36:52

It's a Pseudopanax Crassifolius from New Zealand

0:36:520:36:55

and the interesting thing is

0:36:550:36:56

it's evolved in that extraordinary form

0:36:560:36:59

because it wanted to stop itself being eaten by a giant extinct bird.

0:36:590:37:03

The grazing moa used to eat it.

0:37:030:37:05

This plant, when it gets to about 15,

0:37:050:37:07

it completely changes how it looks

0:37:070:37:09

and it ends up looking like that there.

0:37:090:37:11

It is amazing, this, isn't it?

0:37:110:37:14

How evolution has enabled it to...disguise itself.

0:37:140:37:18

I will be taking this with me because I love it.

0:37:180:37:21

Although Helen has spent more than half her life creating this garden,

0:37:210:37:25

her eyes are fixed firmly on the future.

0:37:250:37:29

What intrigues me listening and actually looking at you with

0:37:290:37:32

a twinkle in your eye, you don't seem upset by it, by leaving.

0:37:320:37:37

Because I'm excited by going - the creation is the excitement,

0:37:370:37:41

because there's no room to create anything here.

0:37:410:37:44

I can't take that bed to bits,

0:37:440:37:45

I actually think that's the best I can make that bed.

0:37:450:37:47

-It's done.

-It's done, it's done,

0:37:470:37:49

and it's like painting a picture, I don't want to go on

0:37:490:37:51

doing the same picture, coming down every morning

0:37:510:37:54

give it another little spot there, another little,

0:37:540:37:56

little bit of pink possibly there. I want a new picture.

0:37:560:37:59

I loved seeing Helen's garden again, and one thing you can be sure,

0:38:090:38:14

that if she paints a new picture,

0:38:140:38:16

it may be a miniature compared to that,

0:38:160:38:19

but it will be, in its own way, another masterpiece.

0:38:190:38:22

Now, something that struck me very strongly about the way that

0:38:220:38:26

Helen uses colour in her borders

0:38:260:38:29

is she's constantly adding plants in,

0:38:290:38:32

either in pots, or on top of pots, and what I'm going to do

0:38:320:38:37

is something that goes against most of the advice that I'd give you.

0:38:370:38:41

Normally I'd say, look for small plants, particularly perennials,

0:38:410:38:45

don't buy plants in flower,

0:38:450:38:46

because they're spending energy that you want in your own garden,

0:38:460:38:50

but I've been and found plants

0:38:500:38:53

that are in full flower

0:38:530:38:56

and got all the tones and colours I want to add to the garden.

0:38:560:38:59

They are only going to stay in flower for a week or two at most,

0:38:590:39:03

but it'll give me a chance to experiment

0:39:030:39:05

with places to plant them to look best next year.

0:39:050:39:09

It's a kind of dress rehearsal. So, for example, I've got this helenium.

0:39:090:39:14

It's called Mardi Gras.

0:39:140:39:16

Lovely caramel, orange colours coming through

0:39:160:39:20

and it fits in with the David Howard Dahlias

0:39:200:39:23

and the cannas and the sunflowers,

0:39:230:39:25

but actually, if you analyse this section,

0:39:250:39:28

this corner of the bed in the Jewel Garden,

0:39:280:39:30

it's flat and green

0:39:300:39:32

and these iris sibirica are not contributing much,

0:39:320:39:35

but if I can get in there and add that in at that height,

0:39:350:39:40

one of the ways of doing it is to put a pot there, like that...

0:39:400:39:44

It lifts it and if it grows into that, that's a good height,

0:39:450:39:49

there's no point in propping up a plant that is never

0:39:490:39:52

going to reach that final height,

0:39:520:39:54

but if you can get a plant that's sort of half its size

0:39:540:39:57

and then lift it up,

0:39:570:39:59

that's a good indicator of where to plant it for next year,

0:39:590:40:02

or you can make a group out of it.

0:40:020:40:03

And I bought these in threes,

0:40:030:40:05

because I'm looking for a hit of colour.

0:40:050:40:08

And the point is, at this time of year,

0:40:080:40:10

these plants will be fine in the small pots

0:40:100:40:13

for the next two, three weeks,

0:40:130:40:15

and if I like it, I can plant them in that spot.

0:40:150:40:18

If, on reflection, I think it's not going to work, well,

0:40:180:40:22

I simply just pick them up and move them. How's that looking?

0:40:220:40:25

Yes, that's much better.

0:40:250:40:26

So I'll take that one out.

0:40:260:40:28

I've got a Crocosmia 'Harlequin',

0:40:310:40:33

which has got exactly the same colour range

0:40:340:40:36

as the Helenium Mardi Gras.

0:40:360:40:38

You can see, I love crocosmias, anyway.

0:40:380:40:41

And 'Lucifer', for example, is long over,

0:40:410:40:44

that's the crocosmia of bright, brilliant red,

0:40:440:40:47

but some of them are much more subtle, and flower later.

0:40:470:40:50

You see, I think that's great, so if I take another pot...

0:40:500:40:53

..and pop that in here, pop that down.

0:40:550:40:59

See, the colour is ideal, and the whole point about this is

0:41:020:41:05

this is a great time of year to be planning for next July,

0:41:050:41:10

August and September.

0:41:100:41:13

Go and buy plants, move them around, get height, get texture,

0:41:130:41:16

get colour, and you can see what they're going to look like,

0:41:160:41:20

you can plant it and know next year at this time they will come up

0:41:200:41:24

and they'll be in the right place, giving you the right colour,

0:41:240:41:28

and that is a real advantage.

0:41:280:41:31

Now, this is for fine-tuning, it's finessing an existing garden

0:41:320:41:38

to try and get it as good as it can be every single day of the year,

0:41:380:41:42

whereas for Adam, in his new garden in Lincolnshire,

0:41:420:41:47

he's still very much at the stage of creating from the ground up.

0:41:470:41:52

It's mid-August and I've just returned from the family holiday.

0:41:550:41:59

The feeling, though, when you get back home in your own garden

0:41:590:42:02

is just wonderful.

0:42:020:42:03

I think in the UK, if we've got the weather,

0:42:030:42:07

I don't think there's anywhere more beautiful in the world, and...

0:42:070:42:10

out early in the mornings, walking round

0:42:100:42:12

this space here that, I mean, I'm calling the meadow area,

0:42:120:42:15

round the back end of the woodland, is beautiful.

0:42:150:42:18

But I wanted to get into this area,

0:42:200:42:22

so all I did was took the lawnmower, cut these paths through.

0:42:220:42:26

It's already got structure in here, so these brilliant old shrubs,

0:42:260:42:30

I've got that scent from philadelphus, lilacs,

0:42:300:42:33

but then I've got the edibles, the sorbus, and even the hawthorn,

0:42:330:42:36

you know, they used to eat the leaf and the flower

0:42:360:42:39

and call it bread and cheese.

0:42:390:42:40

Bit bitter for me, but I love those little stories.

0:42:400:42:43

So, I've been out taking pictures in the lanes and I'm really going to

0:42:430:42:46

start to work out what are those plants we can use

0:42:460:42:50

to bring into this meadow that are edible?

0:42:500:42:52

I think what I'll do in the winter is literally lift the canopies

0:42:520:42:56

and then I can start to add these edible plants, all the way through.

0:42:560:43:00

At the moment,

0:43:050:43:06

I'm really chuffed to bits with the progress of my veg garden.

0:43:060:43:09

The base for the greenhouse is coming along

0:43:090:43:11

and the cooking area is done.

0:43:110:43:13

The two sets of weather still planters are in place

0:43:130:43:16

and all my raised beds are looking great.

0:43:160:43:19

Most of the hard-core base for the paths is down.

0:43:200:43:23

Now I just want to add a few really useful design details.

0:43:230:43:28

What I want to get done today is lay some little paths in here,

0:43:280:43:32

something that I actually call "picking paths".

0:43:320:43:34

Sometimes when you create a bigger bed,

0:43:340:43:36

you can't actually get in there, so I can't get into weed,

0:43:360:43:38

I can't get in to pick the goodies that are going to come off the bed

0:43:380:43:41

and what I don't want to be doing is trampling all over this bed,

0:43:410:43:44

taking the mud on my boots, across the gravel

0:43:440:43:47

and across the rest of the garden,

0:43:470:43:48

so the idea is the big, long paths that go in between

0:43:480:43:51

the gravel beds, they run straight through these beds.

0:43:510:43:54

I'm going to use a mix that's six parts ballast and one part cement

0:43:540:43:58

for the footings.

0:43:580:44:00

The bricks for the path are 60 millimetres deep.

0:44:000:44:04

And they sit on a ten mil bed, so I need to establish some pegs

0:44:040:44:07

that sit at 70 mil below the finish level of the path.

0:44:070:44:11

These pegs set my levels as I'm laying my concrete mix,

0:44:140:44:17

but they will stay in place once the footings set.

0:44:170:44:20

And all I'm doing is finding the top of those pegs.

0:44:220:44:24

You know then that it's not only going to give you something firm

0:44:240:44:27

to build off, but it's not going to go anywhere.

0:44:270:44:30

Just check that it's going to fit.

0:44:310:44:34

There you go, brick's going to be level across the top,

0:44:340:44:36

fingers go in, which means I can get a nice bed all the way through.

0:44:360:44:40

You're probably thinking,

0:44:400:44:41

actually, that's an awful lot of effort to go to

0:44:410:44:43

for a tiny little bit of pathing,

0:44:430:44:45

but actually, I don't want it to move. I can put the bricks

0:44:450:44:48

straight on top of the soil and the soil gets wet,

0:44:480:44:50

I pull some vegetables up

0:44:500:44:52

and everything's moving all over the place.

0:44:520:44:53

So, I think, do you know what?

0:44:530:44:55

If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

0:44:550:44:57

The mortar needs at least 24 hours to set,

0:44:590:45:02

but I won't be sitting around waiting.

0:45:020:45:04

There's plenty of jobs to be cracking on with.

0:45:040:45:06

Today, my boys Jacob and his younger brother Oakley

0:45:080:45:10

need a hand with some new arrivals.

0:45:100:45:12

Right.

0:45:140:45:15

Here we go.

0:45:150:45:17

All right, mate. Look.

0:45:190:45:22

Little blue one.

0:45:220:45:23

HENS CLUCK

0:45:240:45:25

So, these two think they're going to be businessmen,

0:45:270:45:29

so they're going to set themselves up a little business.

0:45:290:45:32

As far as selling the eggs, they've already made their brand,

0:45:320:45:35

they've got their boxes,

0:45:350:45:36

he's going to make some little flyers, take them into school.

0:45:360:45:38

I think it's a great way for the youngsters

0:45:380:45:41

not only to understand where their food comes from, but that

0:45:410:45:43

responsibility of looking after something, which I think is great.

0:45:430:45:46

And obviously make their old man a millionaire.

0:45:460:45:49

Since I've returned from holiday,

0:45:510:45:53

I've put together a full planting plan

0:45:530:45:55

for the new foraging border in the front garden.

0:45:550:45:58

I'll give you some idea actually about how I approach...

0:46:010:46:04

planting design, really.

0:46:040:46:05

First of all, I actually choose more or less like a pallet,

0:46:050:46:08

so I look at the plants that I want to use,

0:46:080:46:10

make sure they all grow well in the space.

0:46:100:46:13

Sometimes when I'm designing I have a word floating around in my head -

0:46:130:46:16

this one, you know, is food, it's foraging, but exotic,

0:46:160:46:19

it creates a certain atmosphere for me.

0:46:190:46:21

The next thing I do is I start to put in my trees

0:46:210:46:24

and my large shrubs,

0:46:240:46:25

and you'll see that these are worked all the way through the space.

0:46:250:46:28

I'm going to need that height, need something to break the sky

0:46:280:46:31

and actually break one area to the next area.

0:46:310:46:34

The taxus domes I planted when we first moved in

0:46:340:46:37

have really bounced back

0:46:370:46:38

and they're providing the framework

0:46:380:46:40

for the rest of the structural planting.

0:46:400:46:42

So the next thing to go in will be my smaller shrubs,

0:46:420:46:45

and you'll see from the colours on my plan that I, I like to

0:46:450:46:48

actually repeat a certain shrub here and I'll repeat it

0:46:480:46:51

a little bit further up the border,

0:46:510:46:54

then the herbaceous plants go in,

0:46:540:46:56

and that's really my border put together.

0:46:560:46:58

And the last little bit that I love doing

0:46:580:47:00

is what I called "drift planting",

0:47:000:47:02

so you'll see these big old shades of planting,

0:47:020:47:04

-and it's more or less if I just go...

-MAKES WHOOSHING SOUND

0:47:040:47:07

..and they're self-seeded over.

0:47:070:47:09

They're the ones that give me that natural feel and that feeling

0:47:090:47:12

that this garden really wants to take on a sort of a...

0:47:120:47:15

a life of its own.

0:47:150:47:16

While Adam's garden is still very much work in progress,

0:47:250:47:28

the garden designer Mark Lane has created a space

0:47:280:47:32

that is both beautiful and works well for him.

0:47:320:47:35

And earlier this summer, he showed us around.

0:47:350:47:38

As a garden designer, but also as a gardener,

0:47:400:47:43

here in my own garden,

0:47:430:47:45

it's a perfect playground for me to experiment

0:47:450:47:48

with choice of materials,

0:47:480:47:50

as well as plants and different plant combinations.

0:47:500:47:53

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't,

0:47:530:47:57

but it's really about just having fun

0:47:570:47:59

and getting out there and having a go.

0:47:590:48:02

I love this small border.

0:48:120:48:14

It's actually a range of pinks, it's my rose and peony border,

0:48:140:48:19

and here we have Rose "Princess Anne",

0:48:190:48:22

and it's still in full flower.

0:48:220:48:25

And right in front of me

0:48:250:48:26

is Hydrangea paniculata "Vanille Fraise",

0:48:260:48:30

and then behind,

0:48:300:48:31

the Japanese anemones.

0:48:310:48:33

Now, this front part of my garden

0:48:330:48:35

is probably about a third of an acre, so it's a large area,

0:48:350:48:39

and we don't have an endless pot of money.

0:48:390:48:42

So we've actually used gravel underfoot.

0:48:420:48:46

Now, gravel, some people think,

0:48:460:48:48

"Well, it's not a very good material to use,

0:48:480:48:50

"especially for people in wheelchairs."

0:48:500:48:53

But if you actually lay it right,

0:48:530:48:55

it can really work well.

0:48:550:48:57

If you tamp down a good Type 1 base,

0:48:570:49:01

and then tamp down granular, angular gravel on top of that,

0:49:010:49:07

and then dress it with a finished layer,

0:49:070:49:10

you get a very solid surface.

0:49:100:49:13

And then, as you come up,

0:49:130:49:14

we've used gravel boards as edgers.

0:49:140:49:17

I've used a fence capping on top.

0:49:180:49:21

Now, that does two things.

0:49:210:49:23

One, well, I think it looks great.

0:49:230:49:26

But it also hides a white LED strip light all the way around,

0:49:260:49:31

and that goes around the whole of this part of the garden.

0:49:310:49:34

So, at night-time, the whole borders just lift,

0:49:340:49:38

and they look like they're floating on top of the pale gravel.

0:49:380:49:42

And then, as we come from the gravel boards,

0:49:430:49:46

we have these lovely green low hedges.

0:49:460:49:50

Now, this is Ligustrum ovalifolium,

0:49:500:49:53

which is a large-leaf privet.

0:49:530:49:56

Some people might shy away from privet,

0:49:560:49:58

thinking it's a bit ugly compared to box.

0:49:580:50:01

But when I tell you that it comes in at about a third of the price,

0:50:010:50:05

and might need a bit more trimming than box,

0:50:050:50:08

it still creates a wonderful, dense hedge.

0:50:080:50:12

And if you're actually worried about the size of the leaf,

0:50:120:50:15

I mean, that's quite a large leaf,

0:50:150:50:17

you can go for the smaller leafed privet,

0:50:170:50:20

Ligustrum delavayanium, or the Delavay Privet.

0:50:200:50:24

And I've used that elsewhere on my lollipops,

0:50:240:50:27

and they work brilliantly,

0:50:270:50:30

and they look just like box.

0:50:300:50:32

Go for privet, it's a good choice.

0:50:320:50:34

I really love my blue-and-yellow border,

0:50:430:50:45

it is simplicity itself,

0:50:450:50:48

just two colours.

0:50:480:50:50

And here are some really great tips which I've learned.

0:50:500:50:53

Use big, bold drifts of colours, such as the yellow rudbeckia,

0:50:530:50:57

and then, as a contrast, dotted amongst them,

0:50:570:51:00

are these jewels of blue

0:51:000:51:02

from the aster and the agapanthus.

0:51:020:51:05

Now, agapanthus are great plants to keep inside their pots,

0:51:050:51:10

because it actually constricts them and makes them flower more.

0:51:100:51:14

And then the beauty of that is you can pick that pot up

0:51:140:51:17

and move it around your border to fill a space.

0:51:170:51:20

And then, behind me is the Achillea "Cloth Of Gold",

0:51:220:51:25

which, when you cut back at the end of May,

0:51:250:51:28

around the Chelsea chop time,

0:51:280:51:30

it allows the flowers to grow at different heights,

0:51:300:51:33

giving a much more natural feel to the plant itself,

0:51:330:51:37

and then gives a natural flow to the border.

0:51:370:51:40

This is our white garden, and it's actually quite a new garden,

0:51:580:52:01

it's only five months old, but it's already looking really full.

0:52:010:52:05

People always think, "Well, white, is that really just it?"

0:52:050:52:08

Well, when you actually look at plants, there are obviously

0:52:080:52:11

different shapes and different forms, so you have the daisy heads

0:52:110:52:15

of the cosmos, then you have these beautiful umbelifers,

0:52:150:52:19

which are quite flat on top,

0:52:190:52:21

but they are made of tiny little pinheads.

0:52:210:52:24

And when you put them together, they just work.

0:52:240:52:27

I absolutely love this part of the garden.

0:52:350:52:38

It's exuberant, it's colourful.

0:52:380:52:40

I'm surrounded by it,

0:52:420:52:44

from every single angle,

0:52:440:52:46

and it's plants, there's shrubs,

0:52:460:52:49

there are grasses, there's trees -

0:52:490:52:52

everything that forms a garden,

0:52:520:52:53

and I just think it's incredible.

0:52:530:52:57

It's like someone has lit a match inside of me,

0:52:570:53:00

and it's just growing,

0:53:000:53:01

I just love this whole feeling that

0:53:010:53:04

the plants are actually almost hugging me.

0:53:040:53:06

And, for me, that just gives me a great warmth inside.

0:53:060:53:11

You know, it doesn't matter how much you rationalise your planting

0:53:170:53:23

or intellectualise the design of your garden.

0:53:230:53:26

If it doesn't get you by the heart, it's not going to work.

0:53:260:53:31

Now, what next?

0:53:350:53:37

Oh, I know. Jobs!

0:53:370:53:39

If you've got a bare piece of ground on your allotment or veg patch,

0:53:430:53:47

it's too late to sow any seeds,

0:53:470:53:49

but it's a good idea to cover the ground

0:53:490:53:52

with a generous layer of compost.

0:53:520:53:54

You don't need to dig it in,

0:53:540:53:56

just leave it for the weather and the worms to incorporate,

0:53:560:54:00

and it will be ready for use as soon as the ground warms up next spring.

0:54:000:54:05

Now is a really good time to take salvia cuttings.

0:54:060:54:10

Look for a nice, strong shoot growing at 45 degrees

0:54:100:54:14

between the main stem and a leaf.

0:54:140:54:17

And as always, choose a shoot that does NOT have a flower bud.

0:54:170:54:21

Pot them up with really well-drained compost,

0:54:230:54:25

put them somewhere warm, water them well,

0:54:250:54:28

and they should root and be ready for planting out next spring.

0:54:280:54:33

It's Michaelmas, and harvest time.

0:54:350:54:38

And if you've put all the work and trouble into growing vegetables

0:54:380:54:42

across the spring and summer,

0:54:420:54:44

do be sure to harvest as many of them as you can.

0:54:440:54:47

I know that some people find chard a little bit intimidating.

0:55:010:55:05

I've got a very, very simple recipe that we've eaten here for years.

0:55:070:55:11

For this recipe, you just need the leaves.

0:55:110:55:15

Just warm up a couple of tablespoonfuls of olive oil,

0:55:200:55:25

and gently warm it, you don't want it fizzing.

0:55:250:55:27

And then a couple of cloves of garlic,

0:55:270:55:30

soften that in the oil.

0:55:300:55:33

Now, at this time of year, we've got lots of fresh chillies -

0:55:330:55:35

this is a jalapeno,

0:55:350:55:37

but chilli flakes will do just as well.

0:55:370:55:39

There we go, give that a gentle stir around.

0:55:450:55:48

You don't want either the chilli or the garlic to brown,

0:55:490:55:54

it's just softening.

0:55:540:55:56

Now, you've washed the chard.

0:55:560:55:58

Just drain it lightly,

0:55:580:55:59

and you want to keep some of the water,

0:55:590:56:02

and then break it up a bit,

0:56:020:56:05

pop that in.

0:56:050:56:06

Stir it around and leave to cook,

0:56:080:56:11

and the whole point about chard is it's like spinach.

0:56:110:56:15

You know how you have that thing with spinach,

0:56:150:56:17

you get a large pan and you cram it full of leaves,

0:56:170:56:20

and it reduces to that much.

0:56:200:56:22

Well, this will reduce to about that much!

0:56:220:56:27

A bit of salt.

0:56:270:56:28

And the juice of a lemon.

0:56:310:56:33

You can either serve this as a vegetable,

0:56:350:56:38

or, as I like to eat it best of all, is as bruschetta.

0:56:380:56:42

Just get some good bread -

0:56:420:56:44

I like sourdough bread - toast it,

0:56:440:56:47

and then serve this on the bread.

0:56:470:56:52

It makes a really good starter.

0:56:540:56:56

Let's let that cook a bit.

0:56:570:56:59

Mmm!

0:57:050:57:06

I love this vegetable,

0:57:090:57:11

and it's a great way to eat it.

0:57:110:57:13

And we've been growing chard and eating it like this and other ways

0:57:130:57:18

for the last 25 years, and I never get tired of it.

0:57:180:57:21

But however you cook your vegetables, enjoy it.

0:57:210:57:24

And I'll see you back here at Longmeadow next week.

0:57:240:57:29

Till then, bye-bye.

0:57:290:57:30

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