Episode 28 Gardeners' World


Episode 28

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Gardeners' World has grown to a full hour, giving us even more

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time to celebrate the very best of British gardening.

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Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World. Now, if there's any one thing

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that defines this time of year, it's apples,

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the sight of them on trees, ranging from the slightly furred

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browny-green of the russets to brilliant red and even the

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dark purple of an apple like Spartan.

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But above all, for me, it's the smell,

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that cidery tang that is carried on the slightly damp autumnal breeze.

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It's the perfect marker of the season.

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And when you store them, it needs to be cool, dark and slightly humid.

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It's no good, say, in an airing cupboard.

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And then, to go to your apple store, take out one of these lovely fruits,

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cut it open, and all that autumnal, cidery tang comes flooding back.

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Frances continues to look at extreme gardening.

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This week, she's on the west coast of Scotland.

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This is the protection from the famous Highland midge.

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We visit a couple whose collection for acers sets their garden

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This is, I think, one of the brightest reds that you get,

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and the combination of the trees is magnificent.

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And Joe celebrates a rock garden of epic proportions.

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This is the rocking stone, and if you just very gently...

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try this end, it actually rocks perfectly. Oh, wow!

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It's nice to have a sense of fun and play in the garden.

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And I shall be planting elephant garlic,

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Whilst I love apples and try and eat them for as much of the year

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A good pear, exactly ripe, is a supreme, sensuous experience.

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It's lovely. But - and it's a big but - to get it exactly ripe needs

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a little bit of organisation. Now, I need to get a container here.

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Now, this is a variety called Concorde,

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and you can see it's got good fruit, they're in a good shape.

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And you just take a finger, put it on the point where the stalk

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meets the stem, the spur of the espalier, and just lift carefully.

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Now, that is not ready to come, so we'll leave it.

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Now, that one's come off neatly in my hand.

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and then you handle it, like apples, really carefully.

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So what I do is I pick them over the course of about two weeks,

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put them in the larder on a shelf so they're not touching,

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and then I'll take at any one time about half a dozen and put them

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on a sunny windowsill, and those will ripen in a matter of days.

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And you can tell if a pear is ripe by at the stalk end just press

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because it does most of its ripening from the inside out.

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A ripe pear is juicy in a way that almost no other fruit is.

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The late, great Christopher Lloyd said that the only way to truly

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enjoy a pear was to take all your clothes off and eat it in the bath.

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And now is a good time to be thinking of planting pear trees.

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Bare-root plants have the great advantage of being cheaper

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and a much better range of varieties to choose from.

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And all you need to do is buy a whip, which is a straight stem,

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and then put in some sort of support - and these are just simple

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bean sticks, but you could do something fancy with wires -

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and just start training the buds that grow to grow along the stem.

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At first, that seems like a long journey. It's going to take forever.

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In two or three years, you have espaliers,

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and in ten years they look as though they've been there forever.

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Anybody can grow pears - they couldn't be more domestic -

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any garden, anywhere, which of course is a great virtue.

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But Frances Tophill has been looking at gardens that are not anywhere,

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they're right out on the edge, taking horticulture to the extreme.

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And this week, she's gone to little Loch Broom

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Where I'm standing is on the same latitude

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some places with some pretty extreme and inhospitable weather.

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So you might think that any garden laying on the same latitude

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will struggle and feel uncomfortable being here.

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Not this one, created by Sue Pomeroy and Will Soos.

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And in a beautiful setting, as well, but you really are

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right on the edge here, so there must be some challenging conditions.

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Well, the wind, you get gales up to 50mph on a regular basis.

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That's our average norm, gusting up to 80mph,

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and sometimes recorded at 120mph. Really?

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So you can imagine it does cause a lot of problems.

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Everything has to be grown with that in mind.

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As well, of course, we have heavy rain. Yeah.

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Yeah, on average it's 80 inches a year.

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Wow! So that's sort of three times the national average of rainfall.

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And how we cope with that in our garden is by putting in

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a lot of rills and drainage around the edges of the flowerbeds.

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And if you notice, the garden's on a gentle slope,

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so it sort of takes the water, hopefully, away down into the sea.

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You can see we've created this very large raised bed here... Yes!

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It's very sandy and well drained, and it's full of these stones,

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as well. All these are from your own garden? Yes. Yes. There's loads!

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The idea of this bed was actually to build it as a South African bed.

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We've chosen the plants that can cope with extreme amounts of rain.

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And also, having the impoverished soil is very necessary for

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South African flora. They hate nutrients.

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You can find them up in the high mountains.

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So those obviously require still quite

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And it's really beautiful. Stunning. It's structurally amazing.

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'Despite the extra steps that Will and Sue have gone to with

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'their drainage, some plants still need special care.'

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So, Frances, we're digging out these succulents from this round

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bed here because they need a little bit more protection

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in the wintertime. They come from a hot area in South Africa, the Karoo.

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Right. But this aloe obviously is tender,

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but there's another one in the middle. Does that not come out?

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It's much bigger. We actually leave that one in, Frances.

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It's actually hardy. It's Aloe striatula,

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and it's been in position for about three to four years now. Really?

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And it's coped really, really well. That's so surprising, isn't it?

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You just actually pop it straight into this terracotta pot.

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It looks very loose... OK. ..and empty. We don't put soil in with it.

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No soil, no gravel! It's a storage vessel for the winter.

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And the only bit of watering we do is to actually water the

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outside of the terracotta pot, which absorbs the moisture... OK.

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..and just keeps it going throughout the winter.

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That's all it needs, is that tiny bit of moisture.

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But we try to keep it as dry as possible.

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So, clearly, as well as the water, wind is a massive consideration.

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We've chosen grasses like the Molinia here,

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the Molinia Transparent, which actually acts as a fantastic prop

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because it's got a central root system.

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Herbaceous plants tend to have a spreading root system and grow

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around these grasses and grow up through grass.

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Oh, so it sort of acts like a stake, but a natural staking system.

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Absolutely, yes. Wow. A bit like an anchor.

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But the best thing about the grasses, of course,

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is we use their movement in the wind.

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The wind kind of enhances the grasses' movement.

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We also have this beautiful eupatorium which is really solid.

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We had an 80mph gale, actually, at the beginning of August. Really?

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You would never know, would you, from looking at it? No, not at all.

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I think we need to explain what's happening with our faces.

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Yes, this is the protection from the famous Highland midge. A-ha.

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This is what we have to wear for four months of the summer

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when they're out... They're really...

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..because of the biting. They really itch, don't they? Yes.

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So, what are you doing with this watsonia?

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OK. This is the flower here on a healthy plant. Mm-hm.

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OK. That's quite a big clump there, isn't it? Yes.

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so these are ready for planting out now.

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So the reason that you can't just divide that and stick them

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back in the ground is what? Because they'd be weaker plants?

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Yeah, there's a tendency for them to rot off if you plant

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the divisions directly in the ground... OK.

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..at this time of year. Then leave them in the pot for a year?

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Yes, till they get established and a good root system.

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don't give ourselves credit for what we do.

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And this is a prime example, where you take

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one kind of landscape, which is really quite barren - it's harsh.

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But if you put in a lot of hard work,

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you can turn it into something like this - completely different.

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Joe Swift has been visiting a range of rock gardens and this week,

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where the rockery is truly magnificent.

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Last time, we looked at how rockeries became popular

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with the Edwardians and Victorians as somewhere to display

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and cultivate alpines and other similar plants.

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But personally, I like a rockery where the rocks take centre stage.

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Over the last couple of years, designers have used rocks

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to structure and define their gardens, allowing them to give

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character to the space and help shape the planting.

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Now, as a garden designer, I find that really exciting

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where two garden designers, many years apart,

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have used rocks in dynamic but very different ways.

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Steve, I've got an admission to make -

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this is my first time ever at Chatsworth. Wow!

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Very disappointing! I should've been here years ago, I know. Yeah.

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Now, what is the idea behind this rockery, originally?

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So the rock garden was built by the sixth Duke of Devonshire and

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his head gardener, Joseph Paxton, and between them they had travelled

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across Europe and they had been building fantastic things

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here at Chatsworth and they were getting more and more ambitious,

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I suppose, so the rock garden was about bringing nature from

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the surrounding landscape in and turning it into

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a garden feature, but on a monumental scale.

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Is that one enormous rock? No. It does look like it, doesn't it?

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But, no, it's many rocks and they're stacked up on top of each other

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and almost cemented together, to create this wonderful stag.

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That's amazing! I mean, the craftsmanship behind that,

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and it does look like it's just a rocky outcrop.

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How did they lift these two or three-tonne boulders to do it?

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Yeah, phenomenal. And Paxton developed a steam-powered crane

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that he built on-site to lift the rocks into place.

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This is the rocking stone and if you just very gently...

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try this end, it actually rocks perfectly. Oh, wow!

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This was designed to be a spectacle, something to show off with,

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with the guests that were coming round the garden at that time.

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It's nice to have a sense of fun and play in the garden.

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Now, of course, more domestic-sized rockeries,

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some that I've looked at, are much smaller - well, smaller rocks -

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but also the approach to planting is completely different, as well,

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using lots of small alpines in amongst the rocks.

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But how has the planting evolved and what is the approach now to it?

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Originally, it was secondary to the rocks - the rocks were

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the main thing and the planting was quite natural,

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probably reflecting nature but with horticultural twist,

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but certainly low-key compared to the rocks.

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And over the years, the rockery's gone out of fashion.

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Some generations have liked it more than others.

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Particularly the ninth Duchess, we know,

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wasn't the biggest fan of the rockery.

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so she planted it as a woodland with trees -

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yew trees, actually. You can still see some today.

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In the '60s, the 11th Duke and Duchess cleared

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a lot of the woodland away and then they planted in more ornamentally

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with herbaceous plants but also with things like rambling roses.

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So what we've done in the last five and ten years is started

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to remove much of the vegetation, actually.

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We've selected the key plants we want to maintain -

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just to try and put it back to what we think the sixth Duke wanted.

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Do you think someone can take the essence of this

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and recreate it in their own garden? Yeah, absolutely.

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There's some lovely areas where we've got some very simple planting,

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whether they're shrubby or herbaceous, and just a few rocks,

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just to create a bit of a stack or a bit of a feature,

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and they just provide a foil to the planting.

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Of course, perhaps not on the scale of these rocks -

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not two or three tonnes - but on a smaller scale,

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Last year, one of our most successful

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contemporary garden designers used Paxton's Chatsworth garden

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as his inspiration at the Chelsea Flower Show.

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Dan Pearson used elements of Paxton's designs

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and rocks taken from Chatsworth itself

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to create a naturalistic rock formation around a water feature.

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The Chatsworth garden won best in show.

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Now, what did he take from here for his inspiration?

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He really loved the trout stream and it's a wonderful feature,

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created by the sixth Duke of Devonshire.

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He loved the planting that was already established along

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the trout stream but then put horticultural twist on it.

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That's what we've brought back and added back here, so we've now got

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an improved trout stream, thanks to the Chelsea Flower gardens.

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So we've got the lovely primulas, haven't we? They're looking great.

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It's called Inverewe, and Dan selected it because it represented

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the primulas we were already growing here.

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And, of course, we've got these rock formations which...

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Well, they are classic Chatsworth. They are.

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He's used them in a very different way.

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Down there is, like, a huge serious rockery.

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Here, they're just single sculptural features.

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here it's about the stream, about the planting,

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and so they're secondary or they're in the background, I suppose.

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There's nearly 3,500 plants dotted along the trout stream,

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which is a huge number, and you hardly know which ones

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have been here a long time and which ones have been introduced.

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I remember a very dark iris at Chelsea, an absolute beauty.

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A bit further down the stream, we've got Dark Aura

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and it has the inky stems and then the wonderful dark flowers

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and, yeah, one of the many things that have come back.

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The thing is that, you know, people think,

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"they're like this currant bun effect."

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I'm trying to persuade them that, actually, they can be

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incorporated in gardens in so many different ways.

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You know, something like this - it sort of connects you with geology.

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It does, and the planting's fantastic here.

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We've got natural planting around it and ornamental planting behind.

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I feel like I'm preaching to the converted, frankly.

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you wouldn't want to work here, would you?

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I paid my only visit to Chatsworth a couple of years ago

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and was bowled over by that rockery. I just thought it was magnificent.

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Mind you, the whole gardens are extraordinary

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and, like hundreds of thousands of people do every year,

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if you can make a visit it's definitely a place to go to.

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I've got some plants growing here in the border in the cottage garden

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which, actually, will look really good by water

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and in amongst rocks, and I want to move them.

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and like cowslips, they have a tall stem - much taller than any cowslip.

:18:15.:18:24.

and they're not really working in the front.

:18:25.:18:37.

But I grew them all from seed, which I collected from the Damp Garden,

:18:38.:18:42.

and I want to return them now to the Damp Garden and break them up.

:18:43.:18:47.

Traditionally, you move and plant primulas in spring

:18:48.:18:52.

but the way the weather has changed,

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it means our autumns are getting warmer and warmer,

:18:55.:18:56.

so now is a really good time to move plants and to plant fresh ones.

:18:57.:19:08.

We'll pop that in there. Sorry, Nige!

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Hasn't yet hit that high tone of autumn glory,

:19:15.:19:52.

Now, the idea in here is to add primulas in amongst the hostas.

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I've cleared quite a lot of ferns. I've divided hostas.

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Cos when we initially planted this, there were many, many primulas,

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candelabra types, florindae, bulleyana.

:20:08.:20:10.

All these lovely flowers which are at their best May, June

:20:11.:20:14.

and into July and I want to recreate that.

:20:15.:20:17.

a mixture of leaf mould and garden compost.

:20:18.:20:25.

That gives it a really nice rich soil.

:20:26.:20:36.

I'm tempted, actually, to put in a sizable clump because...

:20:37.:20:40.

that will enable them to compete a bit better and if

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you think of the flowers growing up this tall...

:20:43.:20:46.

they need to be fairly muscular...

:20:47.:20:48.

If you're moving any plant, but obviously particularly

:20:49.:21:14.

a plant that thrives on moisture, give it a really good soak,

:21:15.:21:18.

And that will set it up for winter. The whole point of this is

:21:19.:21:26.

to have the roots growing strongly over the next month or so.

:21:27.:21:31.

..it's in a good place, the roots are strong

:21:32.:21:36.

and can support the top growth. Now, that's a big clump,

:21:37.:21:40.

I think I'm going to put a smaller amount over on the other side.

:21:41.:21:53.

I've got a gap I've created in here,

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and in fact, I'm going to divide some up

:21:56.:21:58.

and spread them around. And obviously,

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when you divide any herbaceous plant,

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..a clump like that, that's a really decent-sized one...

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The best way to break this up will be just to

:22:18.:22:20.

Then, being brave, just force it apart...

:22:21.:22:28.

And obviously I could break that up even more,

:22:29.:22:33.

As you can see, there's one, there's one, there's another.

:22:34.:22:38.

Each one of those would make a separate plant.

:22:39.:22:46.

And I'll water that well. And I've got another plant here,

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One of the very best colours in this garden is

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And these leaves, which are starting to turn now,

:22:57.:23:01.

will be a deep, rich chocolate purple

:23:02.:23:04.

And the moist dramatic autumn colour that I've got in the garden.

:23:05.:23:10.

However, not as dramatic as the autumn display in the garden

:23:11.:23:15.

of Ray and Michele Blundell in Staffordshire,

:23:16.:23:20.

where their collection of acers fills the autumn garden...

:23:21.:23:25.

We decided to buy this piece of ground

:23:26.:23:42.

and we decided to build a green oak-frame house.

:23:43.:23:45.

"That sounds expensive. I think I could do that myself."

:23:46.:23:52.

And I got all the grotty jobs, didn't I? Yep!

:23:53.:23:56.

The garden was always in the back of our minds,

:23:57.:23:59.

so we asked the digger guy to level all the soil off

:24:00.:24:02.

and at the same time he dug out a pond for us

:24:03.:24:06.

and that was the start of the garden.

:24:07.:24:11.

When I was 13, I worked with my uncle, who was a landscape gardener,

:24:12.:24:17.

and he really was a big influence on my gardening life.

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The garden is about a third of an acre,

:24:21.:24:23.

so it gave us a lot of ideas to speculate with.

:24:24.:24:26.

Michele wanted to see particular trees and things from the house

:24:27.:24:31.

and so...we sat down with a piece of paper, sorted out

:24:32.:24:36.

the plants that we wanted, and Japanese maples figured

:24:37.:24:40.

largely in that because they were such wonderful things

:24:41.:24:43.

with colour in the spring, through the summer, into the autumn

:24:44.:24:48.

and then the coloured stems all the way through the winter.

:24:49.:24:52.

The tree behind me is the first acer that I bought.

:24:53.:24:55.

It's called "Eddisbury". It is a magnificent tree.

:24:56.:25:02.

but it also has red stems, and to complement that,

:25:03.:25:08.

we have another striking tree, which is

:25:09.:25:12.

called "Osakazuki". This is, I think, one of the brightest reds

:25:13.:25:17.

The one at the back of it is called "Westonbirt Orange".

:25:18.:25:23.

And the combination of the trees in this group,

:25:24.:25:28.

This section of the garden was from an idea that Michele

:25:29.:25:36.

saw at Trentham Gardens, a wonderful combination

:25:37.:25:39.

it's so ephemeral and it's a wonderful combination

:25:40.:25:48.

and lasts for a long time, from August through to the autumn.

:25:49.:26:06.

I lovingly placed all the pebbles around the pond.

:26:07.:26:11.

I love growing zantedschias from seed

:26:12.:26:14.

and created this bog garden earlier this year.

:26:15.:26:19.

This is where I over-winter my young acers.

:26:20.:26:23.

It's airy, it's light, but it doesn't have the

:26:24.:26:26.

rain falling onto the acers, which is what you need to protect against

:26:27.:26:29.

during the winter. They don't mind the cold,

:26:30.:26:32.

they're OK down to, I think, minus 18.

:26:33.:26:34.

But it does serve as a sort of a nursery over the winter

:26:35.:26:38.

This bed here I created to show what you can do with

:26:39.:26:52.

dwarf acers. This tree here, which is beautiful at this time of year,

:26:53.:26:56.

is called "Skeeter's Broom". It's about as tall as it will get,

:26:57.:27:00.

about two metres - this time of the year it's absolutely fantastic.

:27:01.:27:04.

If we move through here, this is a variety called

:27:05.:27:07.

"Kiyohime". By contrast, a smaller...

:27:08.:27:11.

Also a dwarf variety, won't get more than about a metre high.

:27:12.:27:14.

I planted this about three years ago but the plants themselves,

:27:15.:27:19.

the trees were looked after for three years probably before that,

:27:20.:27:24.

from small pots, gradually growing them into larger pots,

:27:25.:27:28.

protected from the elements because they need time to

:27:29.:27:32.

grow accustomed to the conditions, the microclimate

:27:33.:27:35.

if you put them in in the autumn, they sit in the ground

:27:36.:27:40.

and they sulk, they don't like those conditions over winter.

:27:41.:27:43.

Whereas, if you plant them in the spring,

:27:44.:27:46.

give them a few months through the summer to establish themselves,

:27:47.:27:49.

then you get all the beauty of the new leaves and you find out if

:27:50.:27:53.

it likes it there. And in the autumn, this is what you get.

:27:54.:28:01.

The issue with collecting acers is that there are

:28:02.:28:03.

many thousands. You go further and further afield

:28:04.:28:07.

and this passion has taken me all round the country

:28:08.:28:13.

and into Europe...coming back with carloads of trees.

:28:14.:28:18.

I've now got about 120 different varieties of those thousands...

:28:19.:28:23.

And you have become quite obsessive about it... Yes.

:28:24.:28:25.

You can visit the garden on the sixth of November,

:28:26.:28:39.

And you get all the details on our website.

:28:40.:28:43.

Now, I have to say, I'm inspired to try acers again.

:28:44.:28:46.

I did try and grow some here...about 20 years ago,

:28:47.:28:48.

and the site was very windy and they didn't like that at all.

:28:49.:28:51.

But now there's more protection, I think it's time

:28:52.:28:54.

for another bash. So, next spring we will plant some acers.

:28:55.:29:05.

The colchicums are appearing here in the copse.

:29:06.:29:09.

They are called "Naked Ladies" because

:29:10.:29:12.

they appear white...untouched by sun, leafless...

:29:13.:29:18.

But with these lovely flowers, crocus-like flowers on top,

:29:19.:29:24.

looking as though they've arrived six months too early.

:29:25.:29:27.

And they can be planted round about late summer,

:29:28.:29:34.

so too late now for this year, and the great thing about

:29:35.:29:37.

planting them under a hedgerow or under a shade of trees

:29:38.:29:40.

is it does protect them from rain because rain can just

:29:41.:29:43.

Alan Powers spends a day in the gardens of the

:29:44.:29:57.

One of the best places to enjoy a herbaceous border

:29:58.:30:03.

is from right in the middle of it. That's it, yeah!

:30:04.:30:06.

you're in amongst the architecture of the plants,

:30:07.:30:10.

..and Flo Headlam has gone to Birmingham to green grey Britain,

:30:11.:30:18.

and is adding colour to a concrete roof garden...

:30:19.:30:22.

I've chosen plants that are tough and that will survive, you know,

:30:23.:30:27.

with very little watering, so they're quite drought-tolerant.

:30:28.:30:31.

..but first, we catch up with Adam Frost

:30:32.:30:35.

as he continues his transformation of his new garden in Lincolnshire -

:30:36.:30:40.

and we joined him a couple of weeks ago.

:30:41.:30:47.

It's one of my favourite times of the year -

:30:48.:30:49.

The lovely cool, damp mornings, the perfect conditions for planting out.

:30:50.:30:58.

The shrubs and herbaceous plants have arrived,

:30:59.:31:01.

so it's time to get them placed and get on with my front garden.

:31:02.:31:06.

Early in the morning, out planting, in September -

:31:07.:31:10.

you have to use your imagination a little bit.

:31:11.:31:15.

Some of it's looking a bit tired, you know,

:31:16.:31:17.

but you don't worry about, necessarily, what's on top -

:31:18.:31:19.

it's what's underneath, it's those roots.

:31:20.:31:21.

As long as those root systems are good,

:31:22.:31:23.

that's all you're worried about, this time of year.

:31:24.:31:26.

This is all edible, so everything that we're using in this space

:31:27.:31:29.

Things like Scottish lovage, we can use the leaves.

:31:30.:31:34.

Things like my gooseberry - I actually dug it up

:31:35.:31:37.

from the old garden, brought it with me,

:31:38.:31:39.

so it's suffered a little bit through the year,

:31:40.:31:41.

I've got thymes in here, I've got strawberries in here,

:31:42.:31:46.

and, actually, as I move away from this space,

:31:47.:31:49.

it'll be slightly more sort of international, I suppose.

:31:50.:31:52.

So, as I've got closer to the house, and where you would naturally walk,

:31:53.:31:56.

I've started to actually mix the gravels up,

:31:57.:31:58.

I've started to introduce a smaller gravel all the way through.

:31:59.:32:03.

I suppose just makes it look a little bit more inviting.

:32:04.:32:07.

Anyway, I'm going to get on planting these plants.

:32:08.:32:17.

Over the past month, the veg garden has really come on,

:32:18.:32:20.

and now it's time to get the picking paths finished,

:32:21.:32:24.

Obviously, on a day like this, what you've got to remember is,

:32:25.:32:33.

actually, everything's going to dry out really, really quickly.

:32:34.:32:36.

So, first of all, what I've done is made sure this mortar mix -

:32:37.:32:40.

which is sharp sand and cement, six to one -

:32:41.:32:43.

And then what I do, just got a little boat level,

:32:44.:32:51.

And all I do, really, now, is work my way back.

:32:52.:33:02.

I'm actually not pointing these bricks -

:33:03.:33:04.

you'll find, sometimes, you'll see the edge of bricks,

:33:05.:33:06.

and there's a pointing gap in between.

:33:07.:33:09.

They'll do a lovely job just as they are,

:33:10.:33:11.

so, I'm just what we call butting them up.

:33:12.:33:15.

You know, design-wise, the back wall, here,

:33:16.:33:23.

and I think that was a nice thing to work on and pick out those details.

:33:24.:33:31.

So, eventually, when the whole garden's put together,

:33:32.:33:33.

you'll get that idea that the wall actually really flows

:33:34.:33:35.

into the space, you know, and it'll have a real reason.

:33:36.:33:45.

I'm probably just going to tease some of these joints apart.

:33:46.:33:50.

What I've got to do, cos I've moved those,

:33:51.:33:53.

I've just got to make sure that I key them all back in.

:33:54.:34:01.

and I'm haunching along the edge of the bricks.

:34:02.:34:07.

This will help hold them firmly in place.

:34:08.:34:22.

The wisteria that I've completely and utterly fallen in love

:34:23.:34:25.

with has finished flowering for the second time,

:34:26.:34:28.

so I can now, finally, give it a prune.

:34:29.:34:34.

I think people worry quite a lot about pruning wisterias,

:34:35.:34:37.

and actually it's quite a simple process -

:34:38.:34:39.

and all I'm doing is looking for these wispy old shoots.

:34:40.:34:43.

Big old shoots - and what we're doing is,

:34:44.:34:45.

we're taking those back to about five leaves,

:34:46.:34:48.

so you count one, two, three, four, five, give that a little cut...

:34:49.:34:53.

One of the reasons that I do this is to clear round the windows

:34:54.:34:58.

I'll save the structural pruning until the winter,

:34:59.:35:03.

when I can clearly see the bare bones of the plant -

:35:04.:35:07.

and I'll also trim back the stems a bit harder,

:35:08.:35:09.

to encourage the plant to make lots of short flowering spurs.

:35:10.:35:14.

but, actually, I've just got an awful lot of it!

:35:15.:35:26.

My two girls, Abbie and Amber-Lily, are absolutely horse mad -

:35:27.:35:31.

but the upside to their costly obsession

:35:32.:35:34.

that I'm putting to really good use in the veg garden.

:35:35.:35:39.

knows that I do not like wasting anything,

:35:40.:35:54.

so, to be able to re-use this manure is fantastic -

:35:55.:35:58.

and that's one of the reasons I've constructed these hotbeds.

:35:59.:36:01.

This is not a new idea, you know, the Victorians were doing it -

:36:02.:36:03.

even the Romans understood the value of that stuff,

:36:04.:36:06.

which is, ultimately, pressure-treated timber.

:36:07.:36:11.

Set the first one up nice and level on a solid base...

:36:12.:36:14.

..and what I've done is actually, each corner, I've overlapped,

:36:15.:36:17.

and that just gives it some strength.

:36:18.:36:19.

All I've got to do now, to finish this off,

:36:20.:36:21.

simple timber frame, nice glass on top,

:36:22.:36:26.

I'm filing the hotbeds to two-thirds deep

:36:27.:36:33.

with a mix of fresh manure and straw.

:36:34.:36:38.

The manure will break down and generate heat,

:36:39.:36:41.

and create a warm environment that I can use

:36:42.:36:43.

at the beginning and back end of the year to grow salad crops.

:36:44.:36:48.

But it'll also be great for growing heat-loving plants,

:36:49.:36:51.

After about four months, that heat will start to disappear,

:36:52.:36:56.

and you'll actually have to clear the whole thing out

:36:57.:36:58.

but, what you will have is this wonderful manure

:36:59.:37:03.

that can go straight onto the garden,

:37:04.:37:05.

so, actually, in reality, you know what? It's win-win.

:37:06.:37:22.

These climbing beans are called Blauhilde,

:37:23.:37:26.

and they're a really good colour, and delicious.

:37:27.:37:31.

They may look like dried-up old husks,

:37:32.:37:34.

but inside are perfectly good dried beans.

:37:35.:37:39.

Now, you love a pea, don't you, Nige?

:37:40.:37:42.

But these are beans, and they're dry, and you won't like these.

:37:43.:37:45.

So, when you have your baked beans, that's what these are,

:37:46.:37:51.

so I can just dry them for a few days,

:37:52.:37:56.

anything where the air can get through,

:37:57.:38:00.

and then put them in a jar with a screw-top,

:38:01.:38:02.

I'll pull up the bean sticks, and then take the beans off later,

:38:03.:38:10.

because I want this piece of ground to grow some elephant garlic.

:38:11.:38:16.

..out like that, and I can strip it...

:38:17.:38:24.

It actually does very well in rich soil,

:38:25.:38:39.

as long as it doesn't get too waterlogged.

:38:40.:38:43.

However you grow it, garlic usually ends up looking like garlic -

:38:44.:38:47.

but that isn't true of all vegetables,

:38:48.:38:50.

particularly not root ones, and a couple of weeks ago,

:38:51.:38:52.

I asked you to send me any pictures of misshapen

:38:53.:38:56.

or even rude vegetables that you had grown in your garden.

:38:57.:39:00.

Well, we got some very rude ones indeed -

:39:01.:39:03.

And I hope you enjoyed that as much as we did.

:39:04.:39:48.

Now, elephant garlic, as the name suggests,

:39:49.:39:51.

..so you can imagine there'll be four or five cloves in each bulb

:39:52.:40:03.

that one clove goes a long way, but even though they're bigger,

:40:04.:40:14.

they are actually milder than most garlic. Very, very good for you too.

:40:15.:40:20.

They seem to be fairly resistant to the diseases

:40:21.:40:24.

that a lot of alliums can get. I'm talking about rust, white rot...

:40:25.:40:29.

And white rot is a problem in this garden

:40:30.:40:32.

and I'm hoping that we won't have it in these borders here.

:40:33.:40:36.

That is a ball put there by a dog, and not a garlic.

:40:37.:40:40.

No point in looking at me like that. Go on. Good boy.

:40:41.:40:45.

That, however, is an elephant garlic that hasn't formed cloves

:40:46.:40:50.

and the reason for that, and it's quite common in garlic of all kinds,

:40:51.:40:54.

is because it didn't have enough cold weather in winter

:40:55.:40:57.

and I like to have it done by the end of October.

:40:58.:41:10.

Like all garlic, you need to bury it.

:41:11.:41:14.

The pointy end wants to be at least an inch,

:41:15.:41:16.

And as for spacing, a good nine inches or a foot apart.

:41:17.:41:26.

All I have to do is cover these over, label them and leave them.

:41:27.:41:30.

Keep them weeded, but leave them and they'll be ready to harvest

:41:31.:41:34.

The important thing is, give them a winter to get cold and that will

:41:35.:41:40.

vernalise them and then you get those nice, separate cloves.

:41:41.:41:45.

I've got the garden and beyond the garden are green fields,

:41:46.:41:49.

and as part of the RHS Greening Grey Britain campaign,

:41:50.:41:57.

Flo Headlam has been transforming grey gardens with a touch of colour.

:41:58.:42:03.

This week takes her to the West Midlands.

:42:04.:42:11.

This week, I'm amongst the rooftops in the city of Birmingham.

:42:12.:42:16.

Out cities are expanding, populations are growing

:42:17.:42:19.

I'm wondering, "Will there be spaces for gardens?"

:42:20.:42:25.

has come up with an eye-catching solution.

:42:26.:42:31.

Its magnificent roof terraces are essentially

:42:32.:42:34.

Taking inspiration from the library garden,

:42:35.:42:42.

I caught up with busy junior doctor Christian Lebee, to see if I could

:42:43.:42:45.

help him transform his stark, exposed, south-facing roof terrace.

:42:46.:42:51.

You've got this great space up here, this roof terrace, you know,

:42:52.:42:55.

looking out over all of this. Do you get much chance to come up here?

:42:56.:42:59.

I try my best to come up here as much as possible,

:43:00.:43:01.

but as you can see, it's a little bit dull, a little bit derelict.

:43:02.:43:04.

Yeah, yeah, we could do with some more greenery up here, I think.

:43:05.:43:10.

It's a really big space, so I think what I'm going to do is

:43:11.:43:18.

I'm just going to focus on one corner, so I've got four planters

:43:19.:43:22.

I'm going to put in here in this corner and they're really easy

:43:23.:43:26.

to make up and I'm going to show you how to do it.

:43:27.:43:30.

I've chosen flat-pack wooden containers

:43:31.:43:32.

because they're lightweight, they're easy to transport,

:43:33.:43:35.

especially if you have to bring them up to a roof terrace

:43:36.:43:38.

and you can put them together quite easily.

:43:39.:43:43.

I've put the ends together, now I'm going to put the long side on.

:43:44.:43:53.

It's almost done. I just need to put the feet on now.

:43:54.:44:00.

I've planted up a couple of them already,

:44:01.:44:07.

but I'll just show you what I'm going to do with this one.

:44:08.:44:09.

I've lined it with some geotextile material.

:44:10.:44:12.

The liner is permeable, so it will help keep the compost in place,

:44:13.:44:16.

but also reduce the amount of rot on the wood.

:44:17.:44:19.

Now I'm just going to fill it with compost, multipurpose.

:44:20.:44:22.

It's moisture-retentive. I'm also adding gravel

:44:23.:44:26.

cos that's going to help with my Mediterranean plants

:44:27.:44:30.

and with my alpine plants that like stony, free-draining soil.

:44:31.:44:34.

I'm going to just get my hands in and just turn it over and mix it in.

:44:35.:44:47.

I know Christian's a really busy guy,

:44:48.:44:49.

so I've chosen plants that are going to be tough and that will survive,

:44:50.:44:54.

you know, with very little watering, so they're quite drought-tolerant.

:44:55.:44:57.

which will be great for his kitchen garden.

:44:58.:45:02.

I've got some sage, some nice purple sage.

:45:03.:45:07.

I might just try that next to that one there.

:45:08.:45:10.

One of my favourites, Verbena bonariensis,

:45:11.:45:13.

great for attracting wildlife, and some great height as well.

:45:14.:45:17.

Again, you know, they love that dry, hot situation. Gorgeous.

:45:18.:45:23.

cos it's always good as part of your kitchen garden.

:45:24.:45:29.

Christian can just come up and grab a handful and go to the kitchen.

:45:30.:45:33.

And a beautiful hebe, which is evergreen, from New Zealand,

:45:34.:45:37.

I'm packing them quite tight, but, you know,

:45:38.:45:41.

These young plants are all going to need to be watered

:45:42.:45:54.

every two or three days until they establish,

:45:55.:45:56.

but once they mature, this particular mixture

:45:57.:46:00.

of herbs, alpines, grasses and exotics should all cope naturally

:46:01.:46:05.

They're all great plants for busy professionals.

:46:06.:46:14.

City centres are often warmer and milder than the countryside,

:46:15.:46:18.

so I'm chancing my arm with exotics -

:46:19.:46:20.

a Mediterranean olive tree, Mexican echeverias

:46:21.:46:24.

and a beautiful silver-leafed Astelia from New Zealand.

:46:25.:46:30.

They have the bonus of being evergreen too,

:46:31.:46:33.

perfect for balconies, terraces and window boxes -

:46:34.:46:40.

the ideal choice for greening grey, inner-city Britain.

:46:41.:46:45.

I think it's just what the doctor ordered.

:46:46.:46:50.

Yeah, I completely agree with you, it's really, really great.

:46:51.:46:52.

It's lovely. You said you wanted something for the kitchen,

:46:53.:46:56.

so we've got some thyme, oregano, we've got some sage, purple sage.

:46:57.:47:02.

My favourite is the Verbena bonariensis

:47:03.:47:04.

and then a wallflower here, so that gorgeous colour which really blends

:47:05.:47:09.

nicely with the thyme and with the herbs and with the grasses.

:47:10.:47:12.

Beautiful colours and they will just bring some wildlife

:47:13.:47:15.

into your little corner here. Lovely.

:47:16.:47:18.

I'm really excited to invite some friends over,

:47:19.:47:20.

enjoy the summer, enjoy the weather and enjoy these lovely plants. Cool.

:47:21.:47:23.

In the first of a new three-part series exploring the work

:47:24.:47:31.

of his fellow head gardeners, Alan Power has gone to meet James Cross

:47:32.:47:35.

and his working day begins with a very unusual task.

:47:36.:47:43.

The swans have been here since about 1870

:47:44.:47:47.

and it was one of the bishop's daughters in 1875 who taught them

:47:48.:47:50.

to ring a bell which was placed just outside the gatehouse here.

:47:51.:47:53.

So the swans ring the bell? Yes, they do. Do they?

:47:54.:47:55.

But the adults ring it, they teach the cygnets to ring it quite young,

:47:56.:47:59.

We think we're training them, but actually they've trained us

:48:00.:48:08.

to feed them every day, just by ringing the bell.

:48:09.:48:12.

And to be honest, I'm a bit jealous, it's a great way to start the day.

:48:13.:48:16.

I wish I had this going on in my own garden.

:48:17.:48:18.

I might be training swans when I go back.

:48:19.:48:24.

One of the most scenic areas of the gardens is outside the moat.

:48:25.:48:28.

The well's border runs alongside the reflection pool and is designed

:48:29.:48:31.

to incorporate the bishop's colours and complement the cathedral.

:48:32.:48:34.

Hello, Bishop Peter. Nice to see you.

:48:35.:48:37.

This is Alan, who's come to see me today. Alan, nice to see you.

:48:38.:48:39.

So what are you planning to do, then, today?

:48:40.:48:41.

We're going to deadhead these astrantias

:48:42.:48:43.

Take out some of the deadheads and encourage some new growth.

:48:44.:48:48.

Well, there's so many people coming through this year.

:48:49.:48:50.

The word's gone out, these gardens are beautiful, so we need to get

:48:51.:48:54.

them looking at their best for a long time and that's a tricky task.

:48:55.:48:58.

It's like polishing a border - you can look back at the end of the day

:48:59.:49:00.

and although it's a very subtle task, it makes a massive difference.

:49:01.:49:03.

I'm not going to keep you any longer. Alan, lovely to see you.

:49:04.:49:05.

You know, when you have deadheads on perennial plants, some of it

:49:06.:49:14.

looks messy, but actually some of it can be beautifully architectural

:49:15.:49:18.

and can form really a nice autumn colour,

:49:19.:49:20.

so it's important not to strip it out completely, isn't it? That's it.

:49:21.:49:23.

You have to be careful at choosing what you are going to take back.

:49:24.:49:26.

some of the Sanguisorbas will too, but it depends.

:49:27.:49:30.

I think this is one of my favourite roses, this Louis XIV,

:49:31.:49:34.

which is a particularly rich, deep, dark colour.

:49:35.:49:43.

James takes me on the tour of the garden to get a sense of scale.

:49:44.:49:48.

What size is the whole place put together?

:49:49.:49:50.

It's 14 acres altogether, so it's a big area to look after.

:49:51.:49:53.

And intensively gardened, isn't it? It is intensive, yeah. Yeah.

:49:54.:49:56.

Trying to keep it all neat and tidy and weed-free.

:49:57.:49:58.

How many have you got on the team here?

:49:59.:50:00.

We're fortunate here - I've got four gardeners here,

:50:01.:50:03.

but then we've also got lots of excellent volunteers as well,

:50:04.:50:06.

as to what we can actually achieve each day.

:50:07.:50:11.

And if we're very lucky, they'll bring in doughnuts for us as well.

:50:12.:50:15.

Well, that's important, cos there's no better motivational thing

:50:16.:50:18.

for a gardener than cake or doughnuts. That's it, at tea-time.

:50:19.:50:21.

And James, these hydrangeas, they're quite young, aren't they?

:50:22.:50:24.

that you've put in over the past couple of years?

:50:25.:50:28.

Yes, yeah. We put those in about three years ago,

:50:29.:50:31.

They're more natural, more relaxed out here in the outer gardens.

:50:32.:50:44.

It feels really different in here, James, doesn't it?

:50:45.:50:47.

Different styles. It's far more formal,

:50:48.:50:50.

more of an English Garden style here in the inner gardens.

:50:51.:50:53.

This hot border really is just about having fun. Yeah.

:50:54.:50:56.

It's about having as long a season as possible,

:50:57.:50:59.

So you're kind of using your own expertise,

:51:00.:51:03.

your own knowledge just to extend that season?

:51:04.:51:06.

That's it, yeah. Just, as I say, right through from May,

:51:07.:51:09.

right as far into the autumn as possible.

:51:10.:51:12.

So, James, how come these Rudbeckia?

:51:13.:51:14.

Well, these will fill out quite nicely in the next couple of months.

:51:15.:51:18.

Yeah. And they'll take over from some of the other plants,

:51:19.:51:20.

such as the Achillea just here, which is just starting to go over.

:51:21.:51:24.

Yeah. And as head gardeners, we're all thinking about the next season,

:51:25.:51:29.

and sometimes two or three seasons ahead.

:51:30.:51:32.

Yeah. You really want people to enjoy being able to see

:51:33.:51:34.

lots of things at as many times of the year as possible, really,

:51:35.:51:38.

and that's what we're doing. Giving people more to enjoy as well.

:51:39.:51:41.

I quite often say, you know, one of the best places

:51:42.:51:44.

to enjoy a herbaceous border is from right in the middle of it.

:51:45.:51:47.

you're in amongst the architecture of the plants,

:51:48.:51:52.

you can smell the scent, and actually,

:51:53.:51:55.

gives you a really good sense of what it's all about.

:51:56.:52:07.

On our kind of last walk on the way out,

:52:08.:52:11.

We've spent a lot of time looking down -

:52:12.:52:15.

looking at the soil, looking at the plants, looking at the colour -

:52:16.:52:18.

but actually, just looking around here,

:52:19.:52:20.

my head is just being pulled up to the trees.

:52:21.:52:22.

We're very fortunate here. This is a very different part of the garden.

:52:23.:52:25.

So we've got the gingko tree behind us,

:52:26.:52:27.

and lots of other ancient trees just on this south lawn here.

:52:28.:52:36.

It's been lovely to spend the day with you and pick your brains

:52:37.:52:38.

and learn something from you as a fellow head gardener,

:52:39.:52:41.

but also learn a bit more detail about your garden.

:52:42.:52:43.

It's been a really special day, so thank you very much.

:52:44.:52:46.

Thank you! Thanks for your help. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

:52:47.:52:58.

We have swans here, and they swim down the river,

:52:59.:53:02.

and when it floods, which it does three or four times a year,

:53:03.:53:05.

they swim across the fields and come to the garden gate.

:53:06.:53:08.

Well, I can't offer you swans this weekend,

:53:09.:53:13.

but I can give you some jobs, and here they are.

:53:14.:53:18.

Although red chillies look fabulous on the plant,

:53:19.:53:22.

it is important to pick them as soon as they're ripe.

:53:23.:53:24.

but also the red fruits inhibit the green fruits from ripening.

:53:25.:53:30.

Remove them, you'll get more ripe fruits,

:53:31.:53:34.

and indeed, more flowers and more fruits forming well into autumn.

:53:35.:53:39.

and if you're leaving pots out over winter,

:53:40.:53:44.

it's the combination of cold and wet that does most damage.

:53:45.:53:49.

Jack up your pots so that they are raised above ground

:53:50.:53:52.

that will give you more flowers that will last for longer

:53:53.:54:05.

Put them somewhere warm to germinate and keep them watered,

:54:06.:54:16.

and then, when the seedlings have emerged,

:54:17.:54:19.

they can go to a frost-free place like a cold frame

:54:20.:54:22.

I'm going to take a little bit of honey from my bees.

:54:23.:54:34.

they will certainly need reserves. In fact, if it's good over winter,

:54:35.:54:43.

they'll need reserves too, cos they'll be busy.

:54:44.:54:45.

what the weather will be like for the months coming,

:54:46.:54:49.

but we do know what it's going to be like this weekend.

:54:50.:55:01.

Good evening. There has been little significant rainfall for the gardens

:55:02.:55:07.

this week and there is very little to come into next. Through the

:55:08.:55:11.

weekend there will be a good deal of usable weather to get out there and

:55:12.:55:16.

tidy up the gardens. We will be chasing the cloud around. Where the

:55:17.:55:20.

cloud breaks and we get decent spells sunshine it will feel quite

:55:21.:55:26.

pleasant. Along the North Sea coasts of the easterly breeze driving in

:55:27.:55:29.

more cloud across Saturday and Sunday with a scattering of showers.

:55:30.:55:38.

With clearer skies, we could see the temperatures further north and west

:55:39.:55:41.

dipping away. So, yes, a chilly start but there will be some decent

:55:42.:55:46.

sunny spells in the story for the weekend. A scattering of showers

:55:47.:55:51.

coming in off the North Sea coasts. Temperatures are little subdued for

:55:52.:55:55.

this time And so they should have made

:55:56.:56:04.

a decent amount of honey. And if I take that off there -

:56:05.:56:13.

that's a spacer bar - and give a little puff of smoke

:56:14.:56:18.

in there... Now, this is the bar

:56:19.:56:26.

that I took before, and you can see they've made

:56:27.:56:30.

a complete new comb of honey. And I can just tap the bees off -

:56:31.:56:35.

there you go, off you get. Another little puff.

:56:36.:56:42.

I'm going to take two, because I've checked - there is

:56:43.:56:59.

masses of honey in there for them. So I'm very confident that

:57:00.:57:03.

whatever winter has to offer... ..they will have the resources

:57:04.:57:09.

to survive it. And I should stress that I don't do

:57:10.:57:13.

this alone. I have guidance. And I'm very much in the stages of

:57:14.:57:17.

learning - I'm a novice. And if you want to

:57:18.:57:22.

take up beekeeping then the first thing to do

:57:23.:57:24.

is join your local bee society leaving them relatively undisturbed

:57:25.:57:27.

and un-traumatised, I've got a reservoir there and this

:57:28.:57:40.

is a solution, a sugar solution, which they will only use if they

:57:41.:57:50.

need it to give them some reserves. Oh, it's dripping everywhere,

:57:51.:57:55.

how fabulous. And put the lid back on,

:57:56.:57:58.

and they can be left in peace. And I shan't look at them again,

:57:59.:58:02.

or touch them, There you are, and here I am,

:58:03.:58:06.

with my honey. There we are - look at that!

:58:07.:58:16.

That's honey! Well, I should get about five jars,

:58:17.:58:19.

from that, of honey made from the flowers

:58:20.:58:23.

in the garden, and I've left plenty for the bees to

:58:24.:58:27.

enjoy over the winter too. But I'll be back here

:58:28.:58:32.

same time next week.

:58:33.:58:39.

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