Episode 21 Gardeners' World


Episode 21

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Hello, and welcome to Gardeners' World.

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It's that time of year

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when the tomatoes are ripening quicker than you can eat them.

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I've got three varieties in this greenhouse.

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This one is an Italian variety - Costoluto Fiorentino.

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It's ribbed, beefsteak, very flat, absolutely delicious, it's a

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really good salad tomato. On this side, you've got Gardeners' Delight.

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Very different. Very reliable, I always grow it,

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because it never let you down, and also grows well.

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It seems to resist a lot of the problems that other tomatoes

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might have. On this side, I've got a variety called Rose de Berne,

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and its skin is much pinker. You can see if I cut this one here.

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It's meaty and juicy.

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And...if I just taste it.

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Mmm.

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It's lovely, it's got a bit of acidity, juicy flesh.

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And the pleasure of eating your own tomatoes, that you've grown

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yourself, is five times that of anything you can buy.

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This is why we garden. It doesn't matter if it's raining outside,

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when you're eating your own produce, the sun shines brightly.

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On tonight's programme, Nick Bailey visits a village in Essex to

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meet a community who have rediscovered some long lost roses.

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Arit Anderson meets a garden designer who revels

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in recycling unlikely materials that would usually get thrown away.

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John, it really does look like a building site.

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-We've got crushed toilets and sinks here.

-Really?

-Yeah, of course.

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They have to do something with sinks and toilets.

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And Joe Swift explores a sloping garden in Sussex, designed to

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make the most of its glorious view.

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And I will be taking cuttings from a climbing rose,

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as well as dividing plants to build up my stocks, ready for next year.

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Come on. Come on.

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HE WHISTLES

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Although it's still very much summer, and the garden is reaching

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maximum harvest, I am now planning and thinking of the winter months.

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And, of course, in winter you want earthy, warm vegetables,

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very different from the more glamorous summer kinds,

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but nonetheless delicious.

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So today, I'm going to plant some beetroot and sow some turnips

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and swede. Good root crops.

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I've sowed the beetroot into plugs.

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This system works very well,

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but what you don't want to do is handle them too much,

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so sow them directly into the plugs

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and then plant the whole plug out, rather than transplanting

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the seedlings, as you might do, say, with a lettuce.

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This variety of beetroot is one I haven't grown before, it's a

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heritage variety called Crosby's Egyptian.

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And it's important to try these unusual types of veg

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because otherwise they disappear.

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And if we want to keep that diversity, not just of taste,

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but genetic diversity, too, it's important that we all grow them

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in our gardens.

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So you can see each plug, if we extract it out,

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has got a nice network of roots.

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It holds well together,

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so I'm not in any way disturbing the roots by transplanting.

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I'll just pop them in the ground like that.

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And space them about three or four inches apart.

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You don't want enormous beetroot, but on the other hand,

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not so small that they're a fiddle.

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I think anything between golf

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and cricket ball is about right for a beetroot.

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And if the weather turns exceptionally cold,

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don't dig them up, leave them in.

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And the fresh growth from the tops in spring is delicious in a salad.

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Of course, beetroot is a member of the beet family,

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so it will grow alongside spinach and chard, and they'll

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all like the same conditions, which is quite rich soil.

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But they also need fairly good drainage.

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Right, that's a batch of beetroot planted.

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I'll have to water them in at some point,

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but it's been raining today and looks like it's going to

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continue to be showery, so there's no urgency about that.

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But there is some urgency in sowing the rest of my roots

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before that rain comes and the ground gets too wet.

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Just raking a fine tilth on this plot, where I'll put the turnips,

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and then I'll have the swede on the other side.

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Turnips you can sow in spring, you can harvest in summer,

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and certainly they're best eaten young and tender,

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whereas swede are really tough and withstand a lot of cold weather,

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and can be left in the ground and eaten right up until February, March.

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I'm sowing a variety of turnip called Milan Purple Top.

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I've grown them before, they're delicious.

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They have that sweetness that good turnips have.

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And they're not a glamorous vegetable, but they are delicious.

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Right, sprinkle them thinly.

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These are going to have to be thinned to

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spacing of about two to three inches apart.

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So you can see that there's a real risk of wasting seed.

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Ideally they'd be spaced evenly.

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But basically the answer is, if in doubt,

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sow them thinner than you think you need,

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because that's always better than sowing too thickly.

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Right, I'll just cover up these lightly.

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The easiest way to do that is just

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run your fingers down either side, and that closes the soil in over it.

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Right, I won't let those dry out,

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but I know that because the soil is warm, they will grow really fast.

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And I want to encourage the speed of that growth, so perhaps

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cloche them if it gets really cold, maybe even cover them with fleece,

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because turnips grown quickly are tender and delicious,

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and should all be eaten up by about the end of November.

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The swedes are grown in the same way, but will grow bigger

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and slower and can be harvested right up until early next spring.

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Now, these are two unfashionable, unglamorous vegetables,

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but I think they are delicious, and that's all that matters, really,

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because here at Longmeadow,

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we choose what we grow by the way that we choose what we eat.

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But a few weeks ago, we visited the chef Shaish Alam,

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who not only has to cater for a wide variety of customers,

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but also indulge in his real passion for growing superb veg.

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And we went back to visit him

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as he was gathering the best of his summer's harvest.

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Well, it's been three months

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since I started planting all the little baby plants,

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and three months on, I think today is the day, first time

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I get an opportunity to see how they taste.

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I've got my family.

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My child Yusuf is two years old, so I'm going to cook up some

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beautiful mixed veg and get him to try, really.

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I created this side for all the brassicas,

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put a bit of ground cover to stop the weed. That actually helped.

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On this bed I've put purple sprouting broccolis

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and the normal broccolis, and this time of the year, they're coming.

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My dad, from a young age, planted the idea of great food

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and produce into our family, and especially into me.

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When I was younger, they used to bring me

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every week to all different fruits and veg.

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Over the years, these are the things that stayed with me.

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That real love and passion is from my dad.

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Over in this bed, I have aubergines.

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And then halfway up, I've got peppers.

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And then at the end, I've got the sprouts,

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the second bed is Savoy cabbages.

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I did realise that the beginning of the plants, all on both sides,

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get attacked by slugs and bugs and things like that.

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So next year, I will keep an extra border on each of the beds,

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-just for the animals to attack, so the rest of the veg

-I

-could attack.

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And over here is the courgettes.

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These are perfect eating, perfect size for mixed veg and everything.

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But, of course, courgettes, they grow very, very fast, and you can turn...

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They turn into marrows.

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So both of them will give a little bit of different texture, different taste.

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But the same plant.

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I've created my own solution of feed.

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Comfrey, mix it with stinging nettles.

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I add it to water

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and then I make a solution to sprinkle over the garden.

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Some of the vegetables that's coming out,

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they look like when I leave this field, they start body-building.

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OK, done, this is a bed that I've made for red spinach.

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I think I planted too many, too much seeds, I got overexcited.

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The actual flavour of this is like, yeah, quite tarty,

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it's like light, bitter taste to it.

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Also, you cook it up with chillies and coriander and it's beautiful.

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I think plants as my childrens.

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They really sustain my life.

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I'm making a bed for them, it's got to be nice and clean,

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I put them in, they get the right amount of food,

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it's not growing just, it's actually having a larger family.

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Larger, tasty family, that's how it is.

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Now these are my special little baby plants.

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They are called Poi Saag. They're from Bangladesh.

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The leaves, I use them for spinach dishes, decorations,

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to bring unique flavour. The texture of it is like...

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I know it sounds funny, like a little slimy taste to it.

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I know it sounds weird, but believe me, it's beautiful.

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First, hot pan, it's piping hot.

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A little bit of oil, just to help brown the garlic.

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You don't want to make it too brown because it goes bitter.

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And then next goes the onion.

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I'm going to put the potatoes in with the onions.

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This blend of spice has haldi, a bit of jeera, a bit of cumin.

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And then it has bay leaf, elaichi and cardamom. But this is perfect.

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Now goes the beans, the aubergines, they take a bit longer.

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So just adding a little bit of water...

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..will stop the spices and everything burning.

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Now I'm going to add cucumbers.

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But you're thinking, "Why am I putting cucumber in a curry?"

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HE LAUGHS

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The cucumber gives a slight sweet,

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and then adding a couple of chillies to it, you get that natural balance.

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I'm just going to use my plate to cover.

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Sit, enjoy the view.

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Broccoli, tomatoes.

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Again, trying to keep all the body of the veg,

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I don't want it to break down too much.

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This is the perfect timing for all our different spinach.

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It's nice and easy. The colour, the smell.

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It's phenomenal.

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And the plate, ready.

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Yusuf, look what Daddy got.

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-Wow.

-Yes.

-Look, Yusuf. Mmm!

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For a two-year-old boy to sit down,

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even look at the food what I've created, it's fantastic.

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I really do believe to everybody's heart is through food.

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I get to cook it, serve it and feed people. Fantastic.

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I would have it no other way.

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Mmm!

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Nice?

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I couldn't agree with Shaish more.

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And I'm really looking forward to going to visit him

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in a few weeks' time.

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Now, this is National Allotment Week, so maybe now is the time for

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you to put your name down and start to think about taking an allotment.

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And if you have an allotment, or if you grow vegetables at home,

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you will know that that pleasure of cooking

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and eating your home-grown vegetables is really precious.

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Now, I've been growing my pumpkins and squashes vertically this year.

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I've put in really strong supports, which, I have to admit,

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felt a bit like overkill when I did it.

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But now they're growing strongly,

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they're going to need all the support they can get.

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But they can put too much growth on.

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And what you end up with is a mass of foliage

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and a mass of very small fruit.

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And you don't get a decent harvest come October.

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And you can affect that.

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The first thing to do is, especially if you're growing them vertically,

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is to keep tying them in, and that will help you see what you've got.

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And then you do need to prune a bit. And the pruning takes two forms.

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One, cutting off unnecessary shoots.

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And two, taking of what you might call unnecessary fruits.

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Because no plant, however vigorous, is going to be able to

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produce more than about half a dozen decent sized squashes or pumpkins.

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As soon as you have enough fruit,

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take off the flowers as they appear, cut back any excess shoots,

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water it really well, regularly, give it a good soak

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and feed it once a week, either with liquid seaweed or a tomato feed.

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These are hungry plants, you can't overfeed them.

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Do that,

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and with any luck, come October, you'll be harvesting three or four

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spanking good pumpkins or squashes.

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This is the cricket pitch.

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Once upon a time it was a very well-kept lawn that we played cricket on.

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And, over the years, we've let the grass grow,

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and I've planted in bulbs - crocus, wild narcissi

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fritillaries, and then the grass comes up and it looks loose and free

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and great for wildlife, but the big problem I have here is that the soil

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is so fertile, it's really difficult to grow annual wild flowers.

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You need low fertility for that to work.

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I have a cunning plan.

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I'm going to grow some perennials. But that's to come.

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Now, Arit Anderson has been looking at the extraordinary

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conditions in which people are creating beauty and, this week,

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she's been to Basildon in Essex to see a garden that is growing out of

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the most unlikely materials.

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As the population increases, there's going to be greater pressure put

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on our land and our gardens

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and we're going to have to really think about what matters

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in every space.

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Now, there are some people out there who are coming up

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with some very clever ideas about how we can garden in the future.

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Today, I've come to a garden near Basildon where designer John Little

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has swapped compost for concrete, to create a garden

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using materials most garden designers would run a mile from.

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-The garden looks absolutely stunning.

-Thanks.

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Where did you get the inspiration from?

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A lot of this stuff has come from our experience of brownfield sites.

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Brownfield is an ex-industrial site

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that has a mixture of different materials.

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I suppose the crucial thing is, they're all man-made.

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It's our waste, really, that we leave behind.

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It looks so vibrant. How have you achieved that?

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Compost? Fertilisers?

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Well, to create this kind of diversity, you need no compost.

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You need to think completely counterintuitively

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as you would as a gardener.

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So take the nutrients out.

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Use soils and substrates that are poor in nutrients.

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That's the key.

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We're basically growing plants in construction waste.

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I'm intrigued. You need to show me some of this waste.

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Yes, of course. Come on.

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John, it really does look like a building site.

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This is going to be our next brownfield garden, the next bit of

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the garden that we're going to try to use brownfield materials for.

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So what exactly have we got here?

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Well, we've got fresh concrete at the far side.

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Very poor nutrient. Virtually nothing grows on that.

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-That's a good thing.

-OK.

-Then we've got crushed toilets and sinks, here.

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-Really?

-Yeah, of course!

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We have to do something with sinks in toilets!

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So they bring them to the centres, they crush them up,

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then they use them back into the construction industry, generally.

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-OK.

-But we're growing plants on them,

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and it's fantastic for growing plants in.

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Are they safe? Do we know they're not contaminated?

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Yeah. You wouldn't want to take them straight from a site, obviously.

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And they're sold by suppliers,

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so you need to check that the material you're buying

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is safe to use in the garden.

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In this garden we're going to mix the materials and see if we can't

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get a recipe that works best for wild plants.

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That's really interesting.

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I noticed that you've laid it all out onto a sort of landscape fabric.

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Yeah. This is a good way that just separates the rich topsoil

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from underneath to these very nutrient-poor substrates.

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So you don't have to take all the topsoil away.

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So, you're good to go?

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Just lay it down and it goes straight on top.

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John's designs, using recycled building materials,

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have been used in public spaces,

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gardens on London housing estates,

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schools and even on roofs.

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But his new ideas all start here.

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It is incredible. I mean, you look at it and you think, the amount of

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different plants that are going on.

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We've got some wild marjoram.

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There's wild basil on here.

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There's Lady's bedstraw.

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Really kind of classic chalk downland plants, I suppose,

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plants that love this kind of slight disturbance, very dry places.

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Also, there just seems to be an incredible amount of insects here,

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and wildlife. What has this space brought in?

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We had an entomologist come in and have a look at it,

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and it turns out that

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there's 600 species of invertebrates in this garden.

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But most importantly, three times the amount that were on the rubble.

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So I like to think that we made it three times more important!

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There's no reason why you can't miniaturise this idea.

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No reason why you can't pull it into a domestic space.

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It would be easy.

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We built this in October last year,

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and it was really an attempt to galvanise all the things we'd been

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banging on about, and how important all this stuff is.

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We tried to make it much more of a designed space.

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And it certainly feels designed.

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But, obviously, you've got that naturalistic feel.

0:21:250:21:28

I'm loving the wild carrot.

0:21:280:21:30

Fennel, which is always one of my favourites.

0:21:300:21:31

Fennel's the best, yes.

0:21:310:21:33

And it just goes to show,

0:21:330:21:34

it's not all about roses.

0:21:340:21:35

No, no! That's true.

0:21:350:21:37

If you're designing, instead of raking everything level,

0:21:380:21:41

plant around it,

0:21:410:21:42

so you get pockets of damper soil,

0:21:420:21:45

much drier soil on the top of these mounds,

0:21:450:21:47

so, use the topography much more.

0:21:470:21:49

This could be part of your garden.

0:21:490:21:51

So this could be your sort of dry, recycled little space

0:21:510:21:53

within maybe a more conventional garden.

0:21:530:21:56

John, this garden's full of so many wonderful plants you've chosen,

0:22:040:22:07

the biodiversity that I'm seeing,

0:22:070:22:09

and you've really embraced using some very innovative ideas.

0:22:090:22:13

We've made the flowers work because of the way we've used the soil.

0:22:130:22:18

But you don't just need flowers, of course.

0:22:180:22:19

If you're going to get wildlife,

0:22:190:22:21

if you're going to get bees, especially,

0:22:210:22:23

you need somewhere for them to breed, so we've given them

0:22:230:22:25

bee posts to breed in and we have designed those

0:22:250:22:29

with different sized holes, from 3mm to 9mm,

0:22:290:22:32

because solitary bees need a wide variety of holes.

0:22:320:22:36

There's 250 species of these things.

0:22:370:22:39

Some of them are tiny, tiny things, and some of them are quite big.

0:22:390:22:43

But there's another big group of solitary bees that like nesting

0:22:430:22:45

in the ground.

0:22:450:22:47

So we've tried, here, to create, basically, a pile of sand,

0:22:470:22:50

but we've obviously got to contain that,

0:22:500:22:53

so we've encased it in a perforated steel drum, in effect,

0:22:530:22:57

and that allows the bees to come in through the perforated steel

0:22:570:23:00

from the side and nest, and the ones that like to nest

0:23:000:23:02

on a horizontal surface, which some do, they can go in through the top.

0:23:020:23:07

So if I want to create that, can I use any sand?

0:23:070:23:10

Not any sand.

0:23:100:23:11

You need to use building sand.

0:23:110:23:14

Definitely not sharp sand.

0:23:140:23:15

Sand that's got some sort of clay content

0:23:150:23:17

so that it doesn't fall to pieces when they try to make a hole in it.

0:23:170:23:20

I think the real key is to this is that our waste can become

0:23:200:23:26

not only an aesthetic

0:23:260:23:29

but actually a really important place for biodiversity

0:23:290:23:31

and for plant growth. So thank you so much for that.

0:23:310:23:35

No, thank you. Thanks for coming.

0:23:350:23:36

It is very inspiring to see what can be done

0:23:460:23:49

in the most unlikely of conditions.

0:23:490:23:52

If you've got good, rich soil, then it's actually very difficult

0:23:520:23:57

to impoverish it, and you wouldn't want to,

0:23:570:23:58

unless you were making a wild flower meadow.

0:23:580:24:01

But I want the cricket pitch to look full of colour,

0:24:010:24:05

from the first crocus right through to this time of year,

0:24:050:24:08

and the way to do it is to plant herbaceous perennials

0:24:080:24:13

into the grass,

0:24:130:24:14

and not have a wild flower meadow - have maybe a tame flower meadow.

0:24:140:24:18

Now, a good, cheap way to achieve that end

0:24:190:24:22

is to propagate your own plants

0:24:220:24:24

and you can do that really easily at this time of year,

0:24:240:24:26

by buying large, herbaceous perennials

0:24:260:24:30

which will be discounted because they've finished flowering,

0:24:300:24:33

they're looking a bit sprawly.

0:24:330:24:35

We've got this geum here,

0:24:350:24:36

we've got this geranium, looking raggedy and not at its best,

0:24:360:24:42

but they're nice and big and they will provide lots of material

0:24:420:24:45

to make new plants for next year.

0:24:450:24:47

But it really doesn't matter what the top looks like,

0:24:470:24:51

as long as it's healthy, because all of that is going to be removed.

0:24:510:24:55

It's what is happening underneath the surface of the potting compost

0:24:550:25:00

that is really significant.

0:25:000:25:02

So the first thing to do is remove it. Remove everything.

0:25:020:25:04

And then we can get down to the serious business

0:25:070:25:09

of dividing up the roots.

0:25:090:25:11

Now, a plant like this in full flow

0:25:120:25:15

is likely to cost you about ten quid,

0:25:150:25:18

but this was discounted down to less than half that,

0:25:180:25:23

so if I can get ten plants from it

0:25:230:25:27

you're looking at about 50p per plant,

0:25:270:25:29

and each one will be as big as the parent by this time next year.

0:25:290:25:33

This is a really good example...

0:25:380:25:40

..of what you're looking for. Masses of root.

0:25:420:25:45

That tiny little growing point - actually, that's fabulous,

0:25:450:25:50

because it's the root that is the measure of the plant,

0:25:500:25:53

and if we have strong roots,

0:25:530:25:55

inevitably we'll have strong top growth.

0:25:550:25:57

And then the critical thing is to use a weak compost.

0:25:570:26:02

If you use a normal potting compost or even try and enrich it,

0:26:020:26:06

all you'll do is stimulate growth of the foliage much quicker

0:26:060:26:11

than the roots can sustain them,

0:26:110:26:13

whereas if you have a weak mix, it will grow more slowly

0:26:130:26:16

and that way the plant will build its strength

0:26:160:26:19

and then next spring, when you plant it out,

0:26:190:26:22

it will be a good, strong, robust plant

0:26:220:26:25

and give you masses of colour.

0:26:250:26:27

Now, these are going to stay in these pots until I plant them out.

0:26:300:26:36

They don't need any protection -

0:26:360:26:38

these are hardy herbaceous perennials.

0:26:380:26:42

I just water these in, put them to one side

0:26:420:26:45

and let them get on with it.

0:26:450:26:47

But sometimes gardens need a more dramatic intervention

0:26:470:26:51

where they're transformed, and Joe has been looking at gardens

0:26:510:26:55

where design has really reshaped them.

0:26:550:26:59

This week, he's been to the Sussex Weald to see a garden

0:26:590:27:03

that has made the most of its dramatic situation.

0:27:030:27:07

Just a mile from the coast,

0:27:140:27:16

Fairlight End is an exposed and heavily sloping site,

0:27:160:27:21

and it poses a unique set of challenges for a garden.

0:27:210:27:25

The owners of this garden, Chris and Robin Hutt,

0:27:280:27:31

started work on it back in 2005.

0:27:310:27:33

But, as Chris found out, tackling the terrain proved quite a task.

0:27:330:27:37

When I arrived here from a 40-year business career,

0:27:400:27:45

I was a straight line, geometric kind of guy

0:27:450:27:49

and this garden doesn't accept that kind of approach.

0:27:490:27:53

I think that's very interesting.

0:27:530:27:55

So did you find the size and the awkward site intimidating?

0:27:550:27:59

Oddly enough, I didn't.

0:27:590:28:01

I mean, it is a very odd and wonky site,

0:28:010:28:04

it slopes all over the place and the slopes conflict with each other,

0:28:040:28:09

but I thought that I could tackle that just as a gardener.

0:28:090:28:13

Yeah, why not?

0:28:130:28:15

When I first arrived here, all I'd ever done was manage

0:28:150:28:18

a little postage stamp of a garden behind a semidetached house.

0:28:180:28:22

What made you think that you had the skills

0:28:220:28:25

that were needed for the site?

0:28:250:28:26

Sheer bloody ignorance...

0:28:260:28:28

JOE LAUGHS

0:28:280:28:30

..and over-optimism.

0:28:300:28:32

And, anyway, I soldiered on for three or four years like that

0:28:320:28:36

and then I could tell it wasn't going to work.

0:28:360:28:39

So, at what point did you think,

0:28:390:28:40

"I've got to do something about this"?

0:28:400:28:42

That's my study there.

0:28:420:28:44

It's 40 foot below the house, and it was a grassy bank

0:28:440:28:49

between the two, and I'd overstay down there

0:28:490:28:53

and, without a torch, I'd be clambering up this wet bank,

0:28:530:28:58

slithery bank in November. I'd be falling over and swearing

0:28:580:29:02

and I realised I'd got to do something about it.

0:29:020:29:06

Chris called upon landscape architect Ian Kitson.

0:29:060:29:09

I saw the sinuous, curvaceous way that Ian deals with his gardens

0:29:090:29:17

and instinctively, without being able to explain it,

0:29:170:29:21

I felt that that would be the way forward for us.

0:29:210:29:24

So when it comes to plants, how have you gone about choosing the palette?

0:29:240:29:28

Is it yours or is it Ian's or is there a bit of crossover?

0:29:280:29:32

One of the things that happened

0:29:320:29:34

when we did this garden that we're sitting in four years ago,

0:29:340:29:40

at that time the meadow was all on the far side of the hedge

0:29:400:29:43

over there and I felt sad about the fact that the meadow

0:29:430:29:47

didn't come into the garden, so we slashed a hole in the hedge

0:29:470:29:51

-and we allowed the wild flowers to invade.

-Yeah.

0:29:510:29:55

The wilder it is, the happier I am.

0:29:550:30:00

Ian Kitson is the brains behind it all, and best known for creating

0:30:080:30:11

contemporary gardens inspired by their surrounding landscapes.

0:30:110:30:16

But how did you go about designing this space?

0:30:160:30:19

Well, the brief was a delight, because I'd known Chris on-and-off

0:30:190:30:23

for three years, designing bits around the garden,

0:30:230:30:26

and with this main space we'd got to the point where

0:30:260:30:29

the brief actually was, "Ian, just do what you do."

0:30:290:30:34

I could just be my creative self.

0:30:340:30:37

And I remember standing on the grass slope, about this point,

0:30:370:30:41

and taking in these views and thinking at some point,

0:30:410:30:44

this is going to be a lovely place to be and sit and stop in,

0:30:440:30:47

the obvious solution here is to create some terrace areas,

0:30:470:30:51

either as a more level lawn or where we're sat now.

0:30:510:30:53

So, what was important when tackling this space?

0:30:530:30:57

The use of the Corten.

0:30:570:30:59

It's actually exclusively to do with not having a coping detail,

0:30:590:31:04

because when you look from the house at there on,

0:31:040:31:07

most of the upper garden,

0:31:070:31:08

all you have is this infinity edge of grass,

0:31:080:31:11

and if that was a lumpy stone coping detail

0:31:110:31:14

or a lumpy brick detail, it would just be too clunky,

0:31:140:31:17

and it just felt like it wanted a hot knife slicing through the soil.

0:31:170:31:23

I mean, in a way, you're scaling down the trees and the hedges

0:31:230:31:27

on the landscape and bringing it down into a domestic level.

0:31:270:31:30

I think you have to be sometimes in quite an intimate space

0:31:300:31:34

to feel comfortable in a big landscape.

0:31:340:31:36

So when you break it down, actually, there's not too many materials here.

0:31:360:31:40

We've got the deck, we've got the Corten retaining wall -

0:31:400:31:44

that's the structure of the garden

0:31:440:31:46

and the rest is pretty much planting.

0:31:460:31:48

It is. I think some of the planting that I've put in,

0:31:480:31:51

like the topiary shapes - whilst they're not hard landscaping -

0:31:510:31:54

they're dealt as quite static objects.

0:31:540:31:56

And the deck, you know, at the moment we're being invaded

0:31:560:31:59

with this meadow...

0:31:590:32:00

Hang on, you don't sound too comfortable about that!

0:32:000:32:02

This is Chris's meadow.

0:32:020:32:04

No, no, this is part of the deal, that the garden changes

0:32:040:32:06

so much throughout the year.

0:32:060:32:08

You know, I'd like the meadow to ooze in to that point there

0:32:080:32:11

-and then...

-No further.

-No further.

-No further!

0:32:110:32:14

Is this the point at which you said it could ooze in?

0:32:140:32:17

No, that's actually slightly further than I find comfortable.

0:32:170:32:20

-Back!

-Yeah.

-Get back, boy.

-Exactly.

0:32:200:32:22

What struck me, wandering around the garden,

0:32:280:32:31

is it's a true collaboration, this garden,

0:32:310:32:35

between designer and client, and I don't think either of them

0:32:350:32:39

could have come up with this garden by themselves.

0:32:390:32:42

But together they've reinvented and updated what sits between

0:32:420:32:46

an 18th-century house and a beautiful landscape beyond.

0:32:460:32:51

Now, as a garden designer, that's not only interesting,

0:32:510:32:54

but for me, I want to get out there and design more gardens.

0:32:540:32:58

It's inspirational, and that's why I like it so much.

0:32:580:33:01

Come on.

0:33:100:33:11

Whenever you take on a new plot, there's always the inclination

0:33:130:33:17

to impose yourself on it, to make a garden.

0:33:170:33:20

But sometimes it's best just to let the garden come to you.

0:33:200:33:24

Instead of making a garden, you receive a garden,

0:33:240:33:29

and certainly, that seems to have worked there.

0:33:290:33:31

A lovely combination of landscape and garden coming together.

0:33:310:33:37

Now, having said all that, I've been trying to impose myself

0:33:370:33:40

on this site and make a herb garden, and it's coming along fine.

0:33:400:33:45

We planted peppermint, spearmint and apple mint

0:33:450:33:49

and it's doing what mint does best,

0:33:490:33:52

which is growing like mad horizontally.

0:33:520:33:54

You can see really clearly here these sideways shoots

0:33:550:33:59

spreading across the path, and if that was soil,

0:33:590:34:02

every one of that pair of leaves would have some roots down below it

0:34:020:34:06

and it would layer itself and it would be rampant.

0:34:060:34:10

So always plant mint either in a container or somewhere

0:34:100:34:14

where you can keep it contained, and I'm going to contain this

0:34:140:34:16

simply by cutting off all those side shoots.

0:34:160:34:19

Now, coming up on tonight's programme...

0:34:260:34:29

Carol has been out and about,

0:34:290:34:30

visiting people in their own gardens,

0:34:300:34:33

helping them to solve their plant problems.

0:34:330:34:36

It's slightly higgledy-piggledy, isn't it?

0:34:360:34:39

Let's make a little recess into the middle of the bed.

0:34:400:34:43

But first, Nick Bailey has been to Essex,

0:34:450:34:48

where he's visited a community that's been working hard

0:34:480:34:52

to celebrate a very special kind of rose.

0:34:520:34:55

There's no doubt that here in the UK we love roses.

0:35:010:35:04

We want glorious colours, beautiful scent,

0:35:040:35:08

and of course, never-ending blooms.

0:35:080:35:11

And this rose gives just that.

0:35:130:35:15

It's a Pemberton rose

0:35:160:35:18

with large clusters of delicately-coloured blooms,

0:35:180:35:21

with an exquisite scent and flowers that repeat throughout the year.

0:35:210:35:26

This unique collection of roses takes their name from creator

0:35:280:35:32

Rev Joseph Pemberton,

0:35:320:35:34

who was born here in the village of Havering-atte-Bower in 1852.

0:35:340:35:38

He was taught to propagate roses by his father at a young age

0:35:400:35:44

and for nearly half a century, he competed and exhibited every year.

0:35:440:35:49

But that wasn't enough for Joseph.

0:35:490:35:50

After becoming president of the National Rose Society in 1911,

0:35:540:35:59

Joseph set about breeding a special set of roses here on his land

0:35:590:36:04

which would flower all the way till Christmas

0:36:040:36:06

when other roses had faded.

0:36:060:36:09

He had up to 10,000 seedlings annually growing under glass

0:36:090:36:13

and 4,000 of his own specimens.

0:36:130:36:17

Not bad for a man who had a day job as a reverend.

0:36:170:36:20

Sadly, from their heyday in the early 20th century,

0:36:220:36:25

the Pemberton roses fell into obscurity and many were lost.

0:36:250:36:29

But now, 100 years later,

0:36:330:36:35

the village is back blooming with them.

0:36:350:36:38

In fact, it holds the largest collection in the world.

0:36:380:36:40

This is Saint Francis Hospice, Nick,

0:36:420:36:45

and it's got a very special connection to the Pemberton roses

0:36:450:36:49

because the Pemberton family once lived at the hall.

0:36:490:36:51

Laura Hill, from the hospice, holds the key to this intriguing comeback.

0:36:540:36:58

-The pink one in the middle is Nur Mahal...

-Oh, yeah.

0:37:000:37:03

..which was used by Pemberton to breed another one,

0:37:030:37:06

whose variety's called Fortuna.

0:37:060:37:08

This one's Althea, which is really beautiful.

0:37:110:37:13

HE SNIFFS

0:37:130:37:15

Oh, the scent's distinctly fruity, isn't it? What about this...?

0:37:150:37:18

That's the beautiful Pink Fairy here.

0:37:180:37:20

Such a variety of colour, of scent.

0:37:220:37:26

Really amazing collection of roses.

0:37:260:37:28

How did you get the world's biggest collection

0:37:350:37:37

back here in the village?

0:37:370:37:39

Well, our gardener, Dave Collins, he had 35 years' experience

0:37:390:37:43

as a rosarian, and because of the hospice connection

0:37:430:37:46

with the Pemberton roses, he wanted to build up the collection.

0:37:460:37:51

There are 69 varieties in total

0:37:510:37:54

and Dave has managed to collect 49 of those varieties.

0:37:540:37:57

How big a challenge was it for Dave

0:37:570:37:59

to pull all these roses together again?

0:37:590:38:02

The majority of these roses, they are no longer available commercially,

0:38:020:38:05

so Dave had to contact a number of private collectors around the world.

0:38:050:38:11

Sadly, he was taken ill a couple of years back

0:38:110:38:13

and he's not been able to continue the work.

0:38:130:38:16

The roses Dave tracked down were propagated at a nursery in Lincoln.

0:38:180:38:23

1,600 plants were brought back here, not just for the hospice, but

0:38:230:38:27

for all the people in the village to plant in their own gardens.

0:38:270:38:30

So many people in the village turned out to collect the roses

0:38:320:38:35

and it's created all these new rose enthusiasts,

0:38:350:38:38

and we're already talking about having amateur propagation days.

0:38:380:38:42

I'm so delighted.

0:38:430:38:45

I think it's a tribute to the work that Dave has done.

0:38:450:38:49

People will be swapping propagation material between themselves

0:38:490:38:52

to help keep the collection going.

0:38:520:38:54

Now, I understand that there's some roses still missing

0:38:560:38:58

from the collection. You're trying to track those down.

0:38:580:39:01

Yes, sadly there's 20 roses still missing,

0:39:010:39:04

but we managed to find Pearl in France

0:39:040:39:07

from a private collector there.

0:39:070:39:09

It starts as a very pink bud and then goes white

0:39:090:39:12

and we know it can grow into a large bush.

0:39:120:39:15

There's so many still that we need to find.

0:39:150:39:18

They could be in people's gardens, they could be in the local parks

0:39:180:39:21

or cemeteries and just haven't been discovered yet.

0:39:210:39:24

What's wonderful about this collection is knowing how much

0:39:270:39:31

the community has taken it to its heart.

0:39:310:39:33

And there's one local who has embraced

0:39:330:39:35

saving this horticultural heritage.

0:39:350:39:37

Aleksy Michalak is growing every single rose

0:39:410:39:43

in the revived collection.

0:39:430:39:45

Wow, this is really quite a house, isn't it?

0:39:470:39:50

Welcome to The Round House.

0:39:500:39:52

The Pemberton family lived here for quite a long time.

0:39:520:39:55

And so, why did you get involved with growing the Pemberton roses?

0:39:560:39:59

Well, I look after The Round House, and when I learnt about

0:39:590:40:02

the Pemberton roses, I fell in love with the story and this place.

0:40:020:40:06

How many have you got going now?

0:40:060:40:08

I think we've planted about 150 of them all around the farm, actually.

0:40:080:40:13

I notice there's one here looking absolutely beautiful. What is this?

0:40:130:40:16

This is a Havering Rambler. We have quite a lot of them.

0:40:160:40:19

We planted those I think two years ago now, so they grow quite fast.

0:40:190:40:23

And if you look closely, they are really, really delicate.

0:40:230:40:26

I think what's special to me about the Pembertons

0:40:260:40:30

is about their history and this land and this house

0:40:300:40:33

and the buildings around, the story of the village.

0:40:330:40:36

And because the Pemberton family was much-loved in the neighbourhood,

0:40:360:40:40

and I think it's really nice to know that their roses are back

0:40:400:40:43

where they belong and where they were created.

0:40:430:40:46

Of course, Pemberton roses are known to a lot of us as Hybrid Musk,

0:40:590:41:04

and I've got a few here at Longmeadow.

0:41:040:41:06

I've grown them for years, actually.

0:41:060:41:08

This is called Felicia, I've got another called Cornelia.

0:41:080:41:11

But Laura is still missing 20 of those Pemberton varieties,

0:41:110:41:17

so if perhaps you've got a rose in your garden

0:41:170:41:19

and you're not sure what it is but it does have these

0:41:190:41:22

clusters of fairly small flowers, is fragrant and goes on flowering

0:41:220:41:27

well into autumn, that might just be one of them.

0:41:270:41:31

And if you think that could be the case, go to our website

0:41:310:41:34

and you can get the details of how to contact Laura, and who knows?

0:41:340:41:37

You could add to the collection.

0:41:370:41:39

I know that there is a certain mystique around rose propagation,

0:41:450:41:50

but you can take rose cuttings

0:41:500:41:53

and they are pretty reliable.

0:41:530:41:56

There's a fairly low success rate,

0:41:560:41:57

but because they're so easy to do, you can take lots

0:41:570:42:01

and certainly make yourself quite a few roses for free.

0:42:010:42:05

And because they're cuttings, they will flower true

0:42:050:42:07

and they should start flowering in a couple of years from taking them.

0:42:070:42:11

Now is the earliest that you would start to take hardwood cuttings

0:42:110:42:15

and you can go on doing it right through almost till Christmas.

0:42:150:42:18

This rambler, really vigorous, growing up into the apple tree,

0:42:180:42:22

it's called Rosa multiflora Carnea. It's a species rose.

0:42:220:42:27

It's on its own root stock, so if I take a cutting from it,

0:42:270:42:30

it will not only have exactly the same flowers

0:42:300:42:32

but also the same growth pattern.

0:42:320:42:34

So a really good one for growing up into apple trees

0:42:340:42:37

or on a north wall.

0:42:370:42:39

This arching stem, this side shoot, is ideal for cut material,

0:42:400:42:45

because I'm looking for new growth

0:42:450:42:48

that's about the thickness of a pencil

0:42:480:42:50

and I've certainly got it here.

0:42:500:42:51

What I'll do is, rather than cutting off individual pieces,

0:42:510:42:54

I'm going to cut one long stem and then divide it up.

0:42:540:42:57

So I'm going to cut this off just below that bud there, like that.

0:42:570:43:03

And just so I don't get confused about which is the top

0:43:030:43:06

and which is the bottom, I'm going to cut the bottom straight

0:43:060:43:10

and the top at an angle.

0:43:100:43:12

So I'm just going to straighten that one up so I don't get confused,

0:43:120:43:16

and then we'll cut always just below a leaf.

0:43:160:43:20

Remove the foliage, except for perhaps the top one.

0:43:230:43:28

Cuttings cost nothing, and if you're prepared to be a little patient,

0:43:290:43:33

because these will take a year or two to get going,

0:43:330:43:36

well, you can have an awful lot of climbing roses

0:43:360:43:39

for absolutely nothing.

0:43:390:43:41

Come on, Nigel, come on!

0:43:430:43:45

HE WHISTLES

0:43:460:43:48

Come on, Nige.

0:43:500:43:51

I've often taken rose cuttings in a container, using potting compost

0:43:590:44:04

mixed 50-50 with grit or perlite and that works perfectly well.

0:44:040:44:09

But you need a pot, you need the perlite, you need all the grit

0:44:090:44:12

and you need the compost and you need to put it somewhere.

0:44:120:44:15

They will also take just as well outside, directly into the ground.

0:44:150:44:19

So, having made a very slim trench with one straight side

0:44:250:44:29

and one angled, I'm going to fill the bottom with grit,

0:44:290:44:32

and this is really important.

0:44:320:44:33

Grit, sharp sand, anything with really good drainage.

0:44:330:44:38

That means that the cutting will not sit in cold, wet soil,

0:44:450:44:49

because that is the kiss of death.

0:44:490:44:51

If it's got free drainage, it is much more likely to root.

0:44:510:44:55

And you take the cuttings, remember,

0:44:550:44:57

with the slanting end at the top, and just push them in

0:44:570:45:01

so that they are going to be buried...

0:45:010:45:03

..right up to their necks.

0:45:050:45:07

There we go.

0:45:070:45:08

Push the soil back around them.

0:45:100:45:12

Don't expect to see anything till at least next spring,

0:45:140:45:18

and you won't know if they've rooted until you see fresh new growth,

0:45:180:45:21

and that probably will be next summer.

0:45:210:45:24

Now, whilst we do do our best to cover as wide a range

0:45:240:45:27

of horticultural topics as we can here at Longmeadow,

0:45:270:45:30

we're never going to cover it all.

0:45:300:45:32

We visit other gardens, and some of them are grand and great

0:45:320:45:35

and some inspirational, and quite a few are downright quirky.

0:45:350:45:39

But Carol is on the road visiting your gardens

0:45:390:45:44

and she's going to be doing her best to solve your plant problems.

0:45:440:45:48

We've had an amazing response on social media

0:45:580:46:01

about all your planting problems, and it's clear -

0:46:010:46:04

whether your gardens are big or small,

0:46:040:46:07

a lot of you would appreciate some help.

0:46:070:46:10

Well, I've got my gardening boots on and I'm ready to go.

0:46:100:46:14

My port of call is Hampshire,

0:46:190:46:20

and this lovely home that belongs to Jill Meech and her family.

0:46:200:46:24

Keen gardener Jill has a problem

0:46:250:46:27

most of us will probably identify with -

0:46:270:46:30

she loves plants so much that her borders are chock-full of them.

0:46:300:46:34

Wow, lots and lots and lots of plants.

0:46:370:46:40

Do you think I'm a plantoholic?

0:46:400:46:42

I think you're inveterate, by the look of it.

0:46:430:46:46

Oh, wow. And which is the bit you want help with?

0:46:460:46:49

-Mainly this bit here, Carol.

-Right.

0:46:490:46:52

Because as you can see, I just love plants,

0:46:520:46:55

so I just buy a lot and then, where I see gap, I stick it in.

0:46:550:46:59

It's slightly higgledy-piggledy, isn't it?

0:46:590:47:02

From hostas to hellebores,

0:47:030:47:05

everything is living on top of one another

0:47:050:47:08

and there's just no room for plants to shine.

0:47:080:47:11

But that's not Jill's only problem -

0:47:110:47:13

she has a degenerative eye condition

0:47:130:47:16

that means she will eventually go blind.

0:47:160:47:19

I've got an eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa.

0:47:190:47:23

It's a bit of a mouthful, so we call it RP for short.

0:47:230:47:26

But it means that my peripheral vision isn't too good.

0:47:260:47:30

It's progressive and it's hereditary.

0:47:300:47:33

Some of my family members who are older

0:47:330:47:36

and have it have lost their sight.

0:47:360:47:38

The point is to try and maximise what you can see.

0:47:390:47:42

It's clear that the garden is jam-packed,

0:47:420:47:45

so I want to show Jill a way of transforming

0:47:450:47:47

a section of the borders so she can replicate it in the future.

0:47:470:47:52

I think if we just choose one chunk.

0:47:520:47:56

-Maybe these lupins could be our goalposts, yeah?

-Yes.

0:47:560:47:59

We'll see what we can save,

0:47:590:48:01

take out anything that's perhaps not suitable,

0:48:010:48:04

and then add some more things

0:48:040:48:06

which establish this sort of planting principle

0:48:060:48:10

that's going to help, you know.

0:48:100:48:11

-That's going to help me in the future.

-Yeah.

0:48:110:48:14

With limited time, it's really important that Jill

0:48:140:48:18

makes the most of her garden while she still has her sight.

0:48:180:48:22

We're going to make a start by taking everything out of this part

0:48:220:48:25

of the border, leaving us with a blank canvas.

0:48:250:48:29

-Here we go, Carol.

-Oh, great.

0:48:290:48:32

I'm just making a nice crisp edge so we know where we're working to.

0:48:320:48:37

-Yeah.

-Right the way along our allotted plot.

0:48:370:48:40

You've got violets here, you've got primroses.

0:48:400:48:44

There's these little hellebores here.

0:48:440:48:46

-What gorgeous soil!

-It's nice, isn't it?

0:48:480:48:51

-It's light, it's really sandy. It just...

-Crumbles.

0:48:510:48:55

-It crumbles through your fingers.

-Yes, it does.

0:48:550:48:58

There's a lovely hosta here.

0:48:580:49:01

You've a hosta there?

0:49:010:49:03

There's a gorgeous one here

0:49:030:49:04

and I've seen a third one just down there.

0:49:040:49:07

So instead of having them dot, dot, dot, let's try putting them

0:49:070:49:12

all together and make a little recess into the middle of the bed.

0:49:120:49:16

-Yes, yes.

-You know, so you can see through to the back.

0:49:160:49:20

By replanting in this way, it'll open up the border

0:49:200:49:23

and allow plants to fulfil their potential.

0:49:230:49:27

And plants not suitable for this spot can be relocated elsewhere.

0:49:270:49:31

We're certainly not going to waste anything here.

0:49:310:49:33

-Wonderful.

-Here we go.

0:49:330:49:36

We've got a load of this.

0:49:360:49:38

Do you know what colour it is?

0:49:380:49:39

It's a lovely orangey, sort of peachy colour.

0:49:390:49:42

-Sounds delicious.

-Yes.

0:49:420:49:44

-And I think it would be a great idea to plant that back in here.

-Yes.

0:49:440:49:48

I think that Jill, and any gardener with failing or poor sight,

0:49:530:49:58

could learn lots of lessons

0:49:580:50:00

from the famous woman gardener Gertrude Jekyll.

0:50:000:50:03

Gertrude's sight got increasingly worse as she got older.

0:50:040:50:09

She planted in great big blocks of colour

0:50:090:50:12

and the kind of colours that she really went for were

0:50:120:50:16

brilliant colours, things like yellows, blues and whites.

0:50:160:50:20

They became more and more dominant in her designs.

0:50:200:50:24

In fact, all those bright, saturated colours are much easier

0:50:250:50:29

for people with visual handicaps to actually perceive.

0:50:290:50:33

There are other pointers too that you might like to follow.

0:50:350:50:38

For a start, indulge your other senses.

0:50:380:50:41

It's important to include as many different textures

0:50:410:50:45

so you can feel your way round the garden.

0:50:450:50:49

Don't get confused with too many different kinds of perfumes,

0:50:490:50:52

you don't want scents confusing your nose,

0:50:520:50:55

but choose two or three which are really strong,

0:50:550:50:59

really powerful and which you love.

0:50:590:51:01

I've brought along just a few plants that I think exemplify

0:51:030:51:07

the kind of principles we're talking about.

0:51:070:51:10

So, the first plant I have chosen for you is this achillea.

0:51:100:51:14

It's one called Moonshine.

0:51:150:51:18

So these big, solid heads,

0:51:180:51:20

plateaus of brilliant colour.

0:51:200:51:22

Shall we have that stachys next?

0:51:240:51:26

I think it's got to be one of the most tactile of plants.

0:51:260:51:29

-It has, like bunny ears.

-Yeah.

0:51:290:51:31

-You just feel like rubbing it on your nose.

-You do.

0:51:330:51:37

And the thing is, each of these stems will spread out,

0:51:370:51:40

-so you get this lovely soft line coming to the front.

-Yes.

0:51:400:51:44

So how about this one here?

0:51:460:51:48

That's such a lovely grass.

0:51:480:51:50

-Is it an evergreen one?

-Yeah, it is.

0:51:500:51:52

In the winter it will go quite sort of beige

0:51:520:51:55

-and really soft mellow colour.

-Lovely.

0:51:550:51:57

-But it's the touch of it.

-Yes.

0:51:570:51:59

-You know, this is what it brings to your border, isn't it?

-It does.

0:51:590:52:02

Look at those seed heads, it's so lovely.

0:52:020:52:04

That looks fantastic, Carol.

0:52:060:52:08

This is the rule from now on, you know -

0:52:080:52:10

big blocks, bright colour,

0:52:100:52:13

soft touches, beautiful perfume.

0:52:130:52:15

-Follow the eye through.

-Yeah.

0:52:150:52:17

I've had such a lovely day with Carol.

0:52:180:52:20

We've had such fun planting up this border.

0:52:200:52:23

I think going forward I've got to crack on

0:52:230:52:25

and really get on with finishing up this bed.

0:52:250:52:28

What Carol's done, and helped me with the yellow that goes through,

0:52:280:52:31

I've got to replicate that so that over the next few years,

0:52:310:52:34

that's what's going to catch my eyes as my eyesight fails.

0:52:340:52:37

If your garden's in a bit of a muddle,

0:52:410:52:44

why not try something similar?

0:52:440:52:46

Take out your plants and replant them using big blocks of colour.

0:52:460:52:52

You bring movement, you bring colour, you bring light

0:52:520:52:55

and you bring cohesion to your beds and borders that way.

0:52:550:52:58

I love the way that at this time of year in the borders

0:53:080:53:11

the yellows have such a range - from the bright yellow

0:53:110:53:16

that sings out even on a gloomy day like today

0:53:160:53:20

to the more subtle, slightly lemony tones,

0:53:200:53:23

and then they go into oranges and even browns and caramels.

0:53:230:53:28

It really is a feature of late summer

0:53:280:53:31

and if you want to keep them going, of course, deadhead.

0:53:310:53:34

Keep deadheading and the flowers will keep coming on back.

0:53:340:53:39

But don't think that deadheading is the only thing

0:53:390:53:42

you've got to do this weekend.

0:53:420:53:43

Here are some other jobs you can do.

0:53:430:53:45

The Alchemilla mollis has been really good at Longmeadow this year,

0:53:530:53:57

but its day is done, and rather than just leave it,

0:53:570:54:00

cut it back hard, removing all the foliage

0:54:000:54:03

as well as the spent flowers.

0:54:030:54:05

This will quickly regrow and look fresh for the rest of the summer.

0:54:050:54:09

Ornamental carrots, like ammi or orlaya,

0:54:170:54:20

are much best sown now

0:54:200:54:22

and planted out in October so their taproots can get established.

0:54:220:54:26

Sprinkle the seed onto a seed tray or seed pan,

0:54:260:54:30

water them and put them somewhere warm to germinate,

0:54:300:54:33

and then they can be pricked out later to grow on.

0:54:330:54:35

At this time of year, stone or brick paths can get really slippery.

0:54:430:54:48

I've tried lots of ways of dealing with this

0:54:480:54:50

and have found that the most effective method is simply to

0:54:500:54:53

brush in sharp sand with a stiff broom.

0:54:530:54:56

Work it in well and it absorbs the moisture

0:54:570:55:00

and acts as a scourer to scrape away the algae.

0:55:000:55:03

I'm cutting back these hosta flower stems

0:55:180:55:21

because they don't look good once they've finished

0:55:210:55:24

and to a certain extent, they're taking energy from the roots.

0:55:240:55:29

What does the good is this canna growing in the pond.

0:55:290:55:33

This is Canna Erebus, and it's very happy

0:55:330:55:36

completely submerged beneath the water,

0:55:360:55:39

and it's produced these slightly surprising pink blooms.

0:55:390:55:44

It's doing its stuff and it's doing it proud.

0:55:440:55:46

Now, that's in water

0:55:480:55:49

and I've been dodging water for most of the day from the sky,

0:55:490:55:52

it's been really squally.

0:55:520:55:54

So let's see if that is going to continue for us gardeners

0:55:540:55:57

over the weekend.

0:55:570:55:58

Well, we've had the full range of English weather today.

0:57:120:57:15

We've had heavy rain, wind, some quite hot sunshine,

0:57:150:57:19

but not for very long. It's come at us from every quarter.

0:57:190:57:23

But the garden doesn't seem to mind, it's growing well.

0:57:230:57:26

The only major problem is things get bashed,

0:57:260:57:28

so I'm staking as much as I can.

0:57:280:57:31

But the canna is growing strong, and standing next to it

0:57:310:57:34

and looking at it like this,

0:57:340:57:36

I realise I do like my cannas to be rich.

0:57:360:57:38

The oranges and the lovely chocolate-coloured foliage

0:57:380:57:43

is really more canna-like for me

0:57:430:57:45

than the pink flowers of the canna in the pond.

0:57:450:57:47

But each to their own.

0:57:470:57:49

And that is it for today, we've run out of time,

0:57:490:57:53

but I'll be back here at Longmeadow at the same time next week,

0:57:530:57:57

so join me then. Bye-bye.

0:57:570:57:59

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