Browse content similar to Episode 21. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello, and welcome to Gardeners' World. | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
It's that time of year | 0:00:10 | 0:00:11 | |
when the tomatoes are ripening quicker than you can eat them. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
I've got three varieties in this greenhouse. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
This one is an Italian variety - Costoluto Fiorentino. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:22 | |
It's ribbed, beefsteak, very flat, absolutely delicious, it's a | 0:00:22 | 0:00:28 | |
really good salad tomato. On this side, you've got Gardeners' Delight. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:33 | |
Very different. Very reliable, I always grow it, | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
because it never let you down, and also grows well. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:41 | |
It seems to resist a lot of the problems that other tomatoes | 0:00:41 | 0:00:46 | |
might have. On this side, I've got a variety called Rose de Berne, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:52 | |
and its skin is much pinker. You can see if I cut this one here. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:56 | |
It's meaty and juicy. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
And...if I just taste it. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
Mmm. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
It's lovely, it's got a bit of acidity, juicy flesh. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
And the pleasure of eating your own tomatoes, that you've grown | 0:01:14 | 0:01:19 | |
yourself, is five times that of anything you can buy. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:26 | |
This is why we garden. It doesn't matter if it's raining outside, | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
when you're eating your own produce, the sun shines brightly. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:34 | |
On tonight's programme, Nick Bailey visits a village in Essex to | 0:01:37 | 0:01:41 | |
meet a community who have rediscovered some long lost roses. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
Arit Anderson meets a garden designer who revels | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
in recycling unlikely materials that would usually get thrown away. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:56 | |
John, it really does look like a building site. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
-We've got crushed toilets and sinks here. -Really? -Yeah, of course. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:04 | |
They have to do something with sinks and toilets. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
And Joe Swift explores a sloping garden in Sussex, designed to | 0:02:07 | 0:02:12 | |
make the most of its glorious view. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
And I will be taking cuttings from a climbing rose, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
as well as dividing plants to build up my stocks, ready for next year. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:26 | |
Come on. Come on. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
HE WHISTLES | 0:02:43 | 0:02:44 | |
Although it's still very much summer, and the garden is reaching | 0:02:46 | 0:02:50 | |
maximum harvest, I am now planning and thinking of the winter months. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:56 | |
And, of course, in winter you want earthy, warm vegetables, | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
very different from the more glamorous summer kinds, | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
but nonetheless delicious. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
So today, I'm going to plant some beetroot and sow some turnips | 0:03:04 | 0:03:09 | |
and swede. Good root crops. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
I've sowed the beetroot into plugs. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
This system works very well, | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
but what you don't want to do is handle them too much, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
so sow them directly into the plugs | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
and then plant the whole plug out, rather than transplanting | 0:03:23 | 0:03:27 | |
the seedlings, as you might do, say, with a lettuce. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
This variety of beetroot is one I haven't grown before, it's a | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
heritage variety called Crosby's Egyptian. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:37 | |
And it's important to try these unusual types of veg | 0:03:37 | 0:03:43 | |
because otherwise they disappear. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:45 | |
And if we want to keep that diversity, not just of taste, | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
but genetic diversity, too, it's important that we all grow them | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
in our gardens. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
So you can see each plug, if we extract it out, | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
has got a nice network of roots. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
It holds well together, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:00 | |
so I'm not in any way disturbing the roots by transplanting. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
I'll just pop them in the ground like that. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
And space them about three or four inches apart. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
You don't want enormous beetroot, but on the other hand, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
not so small that they're a fiddle. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
I think anything between golf | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
and cricket ball is about right for a beetroot. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:25 | |
And if the weather turns exceptionally cold, | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
don't dig them up, leave them in. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
And the fresh growth from the tops in spring is delicious in a salad. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:37 | |
Of course, beetroot is a member of the beet family, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
so it will grow alongside spinach and chard, and they'll | 0:04:44 | 0:04:50 | |
all like the same conditions, which is quite rich soil. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
But they also need fairly good drainage. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
Right, that's a batch of beetroot planted. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
I'll have to water them in at some point, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:04 | |
but it's been raining today and looks like it's going to | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
continue to be showery, so there's no urgency about that. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
But there is some urgency in sowing the rest of my roots | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
before that rain comes and the ground gets too wet. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
Just raking a fine tilth on this plot, where I'll put the turnips, | 0:05:31 | 0:05:36 | |
and then I'll have the swede on the other side. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:40 | |
Turnips you can sow in spring, you can harvest in summer, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
and certainly they're best eaten young and tender, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
whereas swede are really tough and withstand a lot of cold weather, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
and can be left in the ground and eaten right up until February, March. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:55 | |
I'm sowing a variety of turnip called Milan Purple Top. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:00 | |
I've grown them before, they're delicious. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
They have that sweetness that good turnips have. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
And they're not a glamorous vegetable, but they are delicious. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
Right, sprinkle them thinly. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
These are going to have to be thinned to | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
spacing of about two to three inches apart. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:19 | |
So you can see that there's a real risk of wasting seed. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:25 | |
Ideally they'd be spaced evenly. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
But basically the answer is, if in doubt, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
sow them thinner than you think you need, | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
because that's always better than sowing too thickly. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:37 | |
Right, I'll just cover up these lightly. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
The easiest way to do that is just | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
run your fingers down either side, and that closes the soil in over it. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:50 | |
Right, I won't let those dry out, | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
but I know that because the soil is warm, they will grow really fast. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
And I want to encourage the speed of that growth, so perhaps | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
cloche them if it gets really cold, maybe even cover them with fleece, | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
because turnips grown quickly are tender and delicious, | 0:07:11 | 0:07:16 | |
and should all be eaten up by about the end of November. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:20 | |
The swedes are grown in the same way, but will grow bigger | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
and slower and can be harvested right up until early next spring. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:28 | |
Now, these are two unfashionable, unglamorous vegetables, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
but I think they are delicious, and that's all that matters, really, | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
because here at Longmeadow, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:37 | |
we choose what we grow by the way that we choose what we eat. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
But a few weeks ago, we visited the chef Shaish Alam, | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
who not only has to cater for a wide variety of customers, | 0:07:45 | 0:07:50 | |
but also indulge in his real passion for growing superb veg. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:55 | |
And we went back to visit him | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
as he was gathering the best of his summer's harvest. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
Well, it's been three months | 0:08:10 | 0:08:11 | |
since I started planting all the little baby plants, | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
and three months on, I think today is the day, first time | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
I get an opportunity to see how they taste. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
I've got my family. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
My child Yusuf is two years old, so I'm going to cook up some | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
beautiful mixed veg and get him to try, really. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
I created this side for all the brassicas, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
put a bit of ground cover to stop the weed. That actually helped. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:45 | |
On this bed I've put purple sprouting broccolis | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
and the normal broccolis, and this time of the year, they're coming. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:52 | |
My dad, from a young age, planted the idea of great food | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
and produce into our family, and especially into me. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
When I was younger, they used to bring me | 0:09:02 | 0:09:04 | |
every week to all different fruits and veg. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
Over the years, these are the things that stayed with me. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
That real love and passion is from my dad. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
Over in this bed, I have aubergines. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:24 | |
And then halfway up, I've got peppers. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
And then at the end, I've got the sprouts, | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
the second bed is Savoy cabbages. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
I did realise that the beginning of the plants, all on both sides, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:38 | |
get attacked by slugs and bugs and things like that. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:42 | |
So next year, I will keep an extra border on each of the beds, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
-just for the animals to attack, so the rest of the veg -I -could attack. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
And over here is the courgettes. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
These are perfect eating, perfect size for mixed veg and everything. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:58 | |
But, of course, courgettes, they grow very, very fast, and you can turn... | 0:09:58 | 0:10:02 | |
They turn into marrows. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
So both of them will give a little bit of different texture, different taste. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
But the same plant. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:08 | |
I've created my own solution of feed. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
Comfrey, mix it with stinging nettles. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
I add it to water | 0:10:24 | 0:10:25 | |
and then I make a solution to sprinkle over the garden. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
Some of the vegetables that's coming out, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
they look like when I leave this field, they start body-building. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
OK, done, this is a bed that I've made for red spinach. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:42 | |
I think I planted too many, too much seeds, I got overexcited. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
The actual flavour of this is like, yeah, quite tarty, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
it's like light, bitter taste to it. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
Also, you cook it up with chillies and coriander and it's beautiful. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
I think plants as my childrens. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:04 | |
They really sustain my life. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
I'm making a bed for them, it's got to be nice and clean, | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
I put them in, they get the right amount of food, | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
it's not growing just, it's actually having a larger family. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
Larger, tasty family, that's how it is. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
Now these are my special little baby plants. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:26 | |
They are called Poi Saag. They're from Bangladesh. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
The leaves, I use them for spinach dishes, decorations, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:33 | |
to bring unique flavour. The texture of it is like... | 0:11:33 | 0:11:38 | |
I know it sounds funny, like a little slimy taste to it. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
I know it sounds weird, but believe me, it's beautiful. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
First, hot pan, it's piping hot. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
A little bit of oil, just to help brown the garlic. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
You don't want to make it too brown because it goes bitter. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
And then next goes the onion. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:12 | |
I'm going to put the potatoes in with the onions. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
This blend of spice has haldi, a bit of jeera, a bit of cumin. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:22 | |
And then it has bay leaf, elaichi and cardamom. But this is perfect. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:27 | |
Now goes the beans, the aubergines, they take a bit longer. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
So just adding a little bit of water... | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
..will stop the spices and everything burning. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
Now I'm going to add cucumbers. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
But you're thinking, "Why am I putting cucumber in a curry?" | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
The cucumber gives a slight sweet, | 0:12:46 | 0:12:48 | |
and then adding a couple of chillies to it, you get that natural balance. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:53 | |
I'm just going to use my plate to cover. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:59 | |
Sit, enjoy the view. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:01 | |
Broccoli, tomatoes. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
Again, trying to keep all the body of the veg, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
I don't want it to break down too much. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
This is the perfect timing for all our different spinach. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
It's nice and easy. The colour, the smell. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:21 | |
It's phenomenal. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:22 | |
And the plate, ready. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
Yusuf, look what Daddy got. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:33 | |
-Wow. -Yes. -Look, Yusuf. Mmm! | 0:13:33 | 0:13:38 | |
For a two-year-old boy to sit down, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
even look at the food what I've created, it's fantastic. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
I really do believe to everybody's heart is through food. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:49 | |
I get to cook it, serve it and feed people. Fantastic. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:54 | |
I would have it no other way. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:57 | |
Mmm! | 0:13:57 | 0:13:58 | |
Nice? | 0:14:00 | 0:14:01 | |
I couldn't agree with Shaish more. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
And I'm really looking forward to going to visit him | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
in a few weeks' time. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
Now, this is National Allotment Week, so maybe now is the time for | 0:14:18 | 0:14:23 | |
you to put your name down and start to think about taking an allotment. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
And if you have an allotment, or if you grow vegetables at home, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
you will know that that pleasure of cooking | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
and eating your home-grown vegetables is really precious. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:39 | |
Now, I've been growing my pumpkins and squashes vertically this year. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:45 | |
I've put in really strong supports, which, I have to admit, | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
felt a bit like overkill when I did it. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
But now they're growing strongly, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
they're going to need all the support they can get. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
But they can put too much growth on. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
And what you end up with is a mass of foliage | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
and a mass of very small fruit. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:02 | |
And you don't get a decent harvest come October. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
And you can affect that. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
The first thing to do is, especially if you're growing them vertically, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
is to keep tying them in, and that will help you see what you've got. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
And then you do need to prune a bit. And the pruning takes two forms. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
One, cutting off unnecessary shoots. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
And two, taking of what you might call unnecessary fruits. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:27 | |
Because no plant, however vigorous, is going to be able to | 0:15:27 | 0:15:33 | |
produce more than about half a dozen decent sized squashes or pumpkins. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:39 | |
As soon as you have enough fruit, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
take off the flowers as they appear, cut back any excess shoots, | 0:15:42 | 0:15:47 | |
water it really well, regularly, give it a good soak | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
and feed it once a week, either with liquid seaweed or a tomato feed. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:54 | |
These are hungry plants, you can't overfeed them. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
Do that, | 0:15:57 | 0:15:58 | |
and with any luck, come October, you'll be harvesting three or four | 0:15:58 | 0:16:03 | |
spanking good pumpkins or squashes. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:06 | |
This is the cricket pitch. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
Once upon a time it was a very well-kept lawn that we played cricket on. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
And, over the years, we've let the grass grow, | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
and I've planted in bulbs - crocus, wild narcissi | 0:16:25 | 0:16:29 | |
fritillaries, and then the grass comes up and it looks loose and free | 0:16:29 | 0:16:34 | |
and great for wildlife, but the big problem I have here is that the soil | 0:16:34 | 0:16:39 | |
is so fertile, it's really difficult to grow annual wild flowers. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:44 | |
You need low fertility for that to work. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
I have a cunning plan. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:47 | |
I'm going to grow some perennials. But that's to come. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
Now, Arit Anderson has been looking at the extraordinary | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
conditions in which people are creating beauty and, this week, | 0:16:57 | 0:17:01 | |
she's been to Basildon in Essex to see a garden that is growing out of | 0:17:01 | 0:17:06 | |
the most unlikely materials. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
As the population increases, there's going to be greater pressure put | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
on our land and our gardens | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
and we're going to have to really think about what matters | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
in every space. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
Now, there are some people out there who are coming up | 0:17:24 | 0:17:26 | |
with some very clever ideas about how we can garden in the future. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
Today, I've come to a garden near Basildon where designer John Little | 0:17:34 | 0:17:39 | |
has swapped compost for concrete, to create a garden | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
using materials most garden designers would run a mile from. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
-The garden looks absolutely stunning. -Thanks. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
Where did you get the inspiration from? | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
A lot of this stuff has come from our experience of brownfield sites. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:56 | |
Brownfield is an ex-industrial site | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
that has a mixture of different materials. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
I suppose the crucial thing is, they're all man-made. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:03 | |
It's our waste, really, that we leave behind. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:06 | |
It looks so vibrant. How have you achieved that? | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
Compost? Fertilisers? | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
Well, to create this kind of diversity, you need no compost. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
You need to think completely counterintuitively | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
as you would as a gardener. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
So take the nutrients out. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:20 | |
Use soils and substrates that are poor in nutrients. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
That's the key. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:24 | |
We're basically growing plants in construction waste. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
I'm intrigued. You need to show me some of this waste. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:30 | |
Yes, of course. Come on. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:31 | |
John, it really does look like a building site. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:42 | |
This is going to be our next brownfield garden, the next bit of | 0:18:42 | 0:18:45 | |
the garden that we're going to try to use brownfield materials for. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
So what exactly have we got here? | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
Well, we've got fresh concrete at the far side. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:54 | |
Very poor nutrient. Virtually nothing grows on that. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
-That's a good thing. -OK. -Then we've got crushed toilets and sinks, here. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
-Really? -Yeah, of course! | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
We have to do something with sinks in toilets! | 0:19:04 | 0:19:06 | |
So they bring them to the centres, they crush them up, | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
then they use them back into the construction industry, generally. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
-OK. -But we're growing plants on them, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
and it's fantastic for growing plants in. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
Are they safe? Do we know they're not contaminated? | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
Yeah. You wouldn't want to take them straight from a site, obviously. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
And they're sold by suppliers, | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
so you need to check that the material you're buying | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
is safe to use in the garden. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
In this garden we're going to mix the materials and see if we can't | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
get a recipe that works best for wild plants. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
That's really interesting. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
I noticed that you've laid it all out onto a sort of landscape fabric. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:39 | |
Yeah. This is a good way that just separates the rich topsoil | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
from underneath to these very nutrient-poor substrates. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
So you don't have to take all the topsoil away. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
So, you're good to go? | 0:19:47 | 0:19:48 | |
Just lay it down and it goes straight on top. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
John's designs, using recycled building materials, | 0:19:52 | 0:19:55 | |
have been used in public spaces, | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
gardens on London housing estates, | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
schools and even on roofs. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:02 | |
But his new ideas all start here. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:06 | |
It is incredible. I mean, you look at it and you think, the amount of | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
different plants that are going on. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:15 | |
We've got some wild marjoram. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
There's wild basil on here. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:21 | |
There's Lady's bedstraw. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
Really kind of classic chalk downland plants, I suppose, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
plants that love this kind of slight disturbance, very dry places. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
Also, there just seems to be an incredible amount of insects here, | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
and wildlife. What has this space brought in? | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
We had an entomologist come in and have a look at it, | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
and it turns out that | 0:20:41 | 0:20:42 | |
there's 600 species of invertebrates in this garden. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:46 | |
But most importantly, three times the amount that were on the rubble. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
So I like to think that we made it three times more important! | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
There's no reason why you can't miniaturise this idea. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
No reason why you can't pull it into a domestic space. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
It would be easy. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:03 | |
We built this in October last year, | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
and it was really an attempt to galvanise all the things we'd been | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
banging on about, and how important all this stuff is. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
We tried to make it much more of a designed space. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
And it certainly feels designed. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
But, obviously, you've got that naturalistic feel. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
I'm loving the wild carrot. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
Fennel, which is always one of my favourites. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:31 | |
Fennel's the best, yes. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
And it just goes to show, | 0:21:33 | 0:21:34 | |
it's not all about roses. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:35 | |
No, no! That's true. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
If you're designing, instead of raking everything level, | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
plant around it, | 0:21:41 | 0:21:42 | |
so you get pockets of damper soil, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
much drier soil on the top of these mounds, | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
so, use the topography much more. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
This could be part of your garden. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
So this could be your sort of dry, recycled little space | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
within maybe a more conventional garden. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
John, this garden's full of so many wonderful plants you've chosen, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
the biodiversity that I'm seeing, | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
and you've really embraced using some very innovative ideas. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
We've made the flowers work because of the way we've used the soil. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:18 | |
But you don't just need flowers, of course. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:19 | |
If you're going to get wildlife, | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
if you're going to get bees, especially, | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
you need somewhere for them to breed, so we've given them | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
bee posts to breed in and we have designed those | 0:22:25 | 0:22:29 | |
with different sized holes, from 3mm to 9mm, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
because solitary bees need a wide variety of holes. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
There's 250 species of these things. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
Some of them are tiny, tiny things, and some of them are quite big. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
But there's another big group of solitary bees that like nesting | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
in the ground. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
So we've tried, here, to create, basically, a pile of sand, | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
but we've obviously got to contain that, | 0:22:50 | 0:22:53 | |
so we've encased it in a perforated steel drum, in effect, | 0:22:53 | 0:22:57 | |
and that allows the bees to come in through the perforated steel | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
from the side and nest, and the ones that like to nest | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
on a horizontal surface, which some do, they can go in through the top. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:07 | |
So if I want to create that, can I use any sand? | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
Not any sand. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:11 | |
You need to use building sand. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
Definitely not sharp sand. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:15 | |
Sand that's got some sort of clay content | 0:23:15 | 0:23:17 | |
so that it doesn't fall to pieces when they try to make a hole in it. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
I think the real key is to this is that our waste can become | 0:23:20 | 0:23:26 | |
not only an aesthetic | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
but actually a really important place for biodiversity | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
and for plant growth. So thank you so much for that. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
No, thank you. Thanks for coming. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:36 | |
It is very inspiring to see what can be done | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
in the most unlikely of conditions. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
If you've got good, rich soil, then it's actually very difficult | 0:23:52 | 0:23:57 | |
to impoverish it, and you wouldn't want to, | 0:23:57 | 0:23:58 | |
unless you were making a wild flower meadow. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
But I want the cricket pitch to look full of colour, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:05 | |
from the first crocus right through to this time of year, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
and the way to do it is to plant herbaceous perennials | 0:24:08 | 0:24:13 | |
into the grass, | 0:24:13 | 0:24:14 | |
and not have a wild flower meadow - have maybe a tame flower meadow. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:18 | |
Now, a good, cheap way to achieve that end | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
is to propagate your own plants | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
and you can do that really easily at this time of year, | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
by buying large, herbaceous perennials | 0:24:26 | 0:24:30 | |
which will be discounted because they've finished flowering, | 0:24:30 | 0:24:33 | |
they're looking a bit sprawly. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:35 | |
We've got this geum here, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:36 | |
we've got this geranium, looking raggedy and not at its best, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:42 | |
but they're nice and big and they will provide lots of material | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
to make new plants for next year. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
But it really doesn't matter what the top looks like, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
as long as it's healthy, because all of that is going to be removed. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
It's what is happening underneath the surface of the potting compost | 0:24:55 | 0:25:00 | |
that is really significant. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
So the first thing to do is remove it. Remove everything. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
And then we can get down to the serious business | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
of dividing up the roots. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
Now, a plant like this in full flow | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
is likely to cost you about ten quid, | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
but this was discounted down to less than half that, | 0:25:18 | 0:25:23 | |
so if I can get ten plants from it | 0:25:23 | 0:25:27 | |
you're looking at about 50p per plant, | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
and each one will be as big as the parent by this time next year. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
This is a really good example... | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
..of what you're looking for. Masses of root. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
That tiny little growing point - actually, that's fabulous, | 0:25:45 | 0:25:50 | |
because it's the root that is the measure of the plant, | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
and if we have strong roots, | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
inevitably we'll have strong top growth. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
And then the critical thing is to use a weak compost. | 0:25:57 | 0:26:02 | |
If you use a normal potting compost or even try and enrich it, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
all you'll do is stimulate growth of the foliage much quicker | 0:26:06 | 0:26:11 | |
than the roots can sustain them, | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
whereas if you have a weak mix, it will grow more slowly | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
and that way the plant will build its strength | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
and then next spring, when you plant it out, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
it will be a good, strong, robust plant | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
and give you masses of colour. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
Now, these are going to stay in these pots until I plant them out. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:36 | |
They don't need any protection - | 0:26:36 | 0:26:38 | |
these are hardy herbaceous perennials. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
I just water these in, put them to one side | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
and let them get on with it. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
But sometimes gardens need a more dramatic intervention | 0:26:47 | 0:26:51 | |
where they're transformed, and Joe has been looking at gardens | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
where design has really reshaped them. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
This week, he's been to the Sussex Weald to see a garden | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
that has made the most of its dramatic situation. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:07 | |
Just a mile from the coast, | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
Fairlight End is an exposed and heavily sloping site, | 0:27:16 | 0:27:21 | |
and it poses a unique set of challenges for a garden. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
The owners of this garden, Chris and Robin Hutt, | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
started work on it back in 2005. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
But, as Chris found out, tackling the terrain proved quite a task. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
When I arrived here from a 40-year business career, | 0:27:40 | 0:27:45 | |
I was a straight line, geometric kind of guy | 0:27:45 | 0:27:49 | |
and this garden doesn't accept that kind of approach. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
I think that's very interesting. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
So did you find the size and the awkward site intimidating? | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
Oddly enough, I didn't. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
I mean, it is a very odd and wonky site, | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
it slopes all over the place and the slopes conflict with each other, | 0:28:04 | 0:28:09 | |
but I thought that I could tackle that just as a gardener. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
Yeah, why not? | 0:28:13 | 0:28:15 | |
When I first arrived here, all I'd ever done was manage | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
a little postage stamp of a garden behind a semidetached house. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:22 | |
What made you think that you had the skills | 0:28:22 | 0:28:25 | |
that were needed for the site? | 0:28:25 | 0:28:26 | |
Sheer bloody ignorance... | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 | |
JOE LAUGHS | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
..and over-optimism. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
And, anyway, I soldiered on for three or four years like that | 0:28:32 | 0:28:36 | |
and then I could tell it wasn't going to work. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
So, at what point did you think, | 0:28:39 | 0:28:40 | |
"I've got to do something about this"? | 0:28:40 | 0:28:42 | |
That's my study there. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
It's 40 foot below the house, and it was a grassy bank | 0:28:44 | 0:28:49 | |
between the two, and I'd overstay down there | 0:28:49 | 0:28:53 | |
and, without a torch, I'd be clambering up this wet bank, | 0:28:53 | 0:28:58 | |
slithery bank in November. I'd be falling over and swearing | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
and I realised I'd got to do something about it. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:06 | |
Chris called upon landscape architect Ian Kitson. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
I saw the sinuous, curvaceous way that Ian deals with his gardens | 0:29:09 | 0:29:17 | |
and instinctively, without being able to explain it, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:21 | |
I felt that that would be the way forward for us. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:24 | |
So when it comes to plants, how have you gone about choosing the palette? | 0:29:24 | 0:29:28 | |
Is it yours or is it Ian's or is there a bit of crossover? | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
One of the things that happened | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
when we did this garden that we're sitting in four years ago, | 0:29:34 | 0:29:40 | |
at that time the meadow was all on the far side of the hedge | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
over there and I felt sad about the fact that the meadow | 0:29:43 | 0:29:47 | |
didn't come into the garden, so we slashed a hole in the hedge | 0:29:47 | 0:29:51 | |
-and we allowed the wild flowers to invade. -Yeah. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:55 | |
The wilder it is, the happier I am. | 0:29:55 | 0:30:00 | |
Ian Kitson is the brains behind it all, and best known for creating | 0:30:08 | 0:30:11 | |
contemporary gardens inspired by their surrounding landscapes. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:16 | |
But how did you go about designing this space? | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
Well, the brief was a delight, because I'd known Chris on-and-off | 0:30:19 | 0:30:23 | |
for three years, designing bits around the garden, | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
and with this main space we'd got to the point where | 0:30:26 | 0:30:29 | |
the brief actually was, "Ian, just do what you do." | 0:30:29 | 0:30:34 | |
I could just be my creative self. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
And I remember standing on the grass slope, about this point, | 0:30:37 | 0:30:41 | |
and taking in these views and thinking at some point, | 0:30:41 | 0:30:44 | |
this is going to be a lovely place to be and sit and stop in, | 0:30:44 | 0:30:47 | |
the obvious solution here is to create some terrace areas, | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
either as a more level lawn or where we're sat now. | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
So, what was important when tackling this space? | 0:30:53 | 0:30:57 | |
The use of the Corten. | 0:30:57 | 0:30:59 | |
It's actually exclusively to do with not having a coping detail, | 0:30:59 | 0:31:04 | |
because when you look from the house at there on, | 0:31:04 | 0:31:07 | |
most of the upper garden, | 0:31:07 | 0:31:08 | |
all you have is this infinity edge of grass, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
and if that was a lumpy stone coping detail | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
or a lumpy brick detail, it would just be too clunky, | 0:31:14 | 0:31:17 | |
and it just felt like it wanted a hot knife slicing through the soil. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:23 | |
I mean, in a way, you're scaling down the trees and the hedges | 0:31:23 | 0:31:27 | |
on the landscape and bringing it down into a domestic level. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:30 | |
I think you have to be sometimes in quite an intimate space | 0:31:30 | 0:31:34 | |
to feel comfortable in a big landscape. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
So when you break it down, actually, there's not too many materials here. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:40 | |
We've got the deck, we've got the Corten retaining wall - | 0:31:40 | 0:31:44 | |
that's the structure of the garden | 0:31:44 | 0:31:46 | |
and the rest is pretty much planting. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
It is. I think some of the planting that I've put in, | 0:31:48 | 0:31:51 | |
like the topiary shapes - whilst they're not hard landscaping - | 0:31:51 | 0:31:54 | |
they're dealt as quite static objects. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
And the deck, you know, at the moment we're being invaded | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
with this meadow... | 0:31:59 | 0:32:00 | |
Hang on, you don't sound too comfortable about that! | 0:32:00 | 0:32:02 | |
This is Chris's meadow. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
No, no, this is part of the deal, that the garden changes | 0:32:04 | 0:32:06 | |
so much throughout the year. | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
You know, I'd like the meadow to ooze in to that point there | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
-and then... -No further. -No further. -No further! | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
Is this the point at which you said it could ooze in? | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
No, that's actually slightly further than I find comfortable. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:20 | |
-Back! -Yeah. -Get back, boy. -Exactly. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:22 | |
What struck me, wandering around the garden, | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
is it's a true collaboration, this garden, | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
between designer and client, and I don't think either of them | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
could have come up with this garden by themselves. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
But together they've reinvented and updated what sits between | 0:32:42 | 0:32:46 | |
an 18th-century house and a beautiful landscape beyond. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:51 | |
Now, as a garden designer, that's not only interesting, | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
but for me, I want to get out there and design more gardens. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:58 | |
It's inspirational, and that's why I like it so much. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
Come on. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:11 | |
Whenever you take on a new plot, there's always the inclination | 0:33:13 | 0:33:17 | |
to impose yourself on it, to make a garden. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
But sometimes it's best just to let the garden come to you. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:24 | |
Instead of making a garden, you receive a garden, | 0:33:24 | 0:33:29 | |
and certainly, that seems to have worked there. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
A lovely combination of landscape and garden coming together. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:37 | |
Now, having said all that, I've been trying to impose myself | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
on this site and make a herb garden, and it's coming along fine. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:45 | |
We planted peppermint, spearmint and apple mint | 0:33:45 | 0:33:49 | |
and it's doing what mint does best, | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
which is growing like mad horizontally. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:54 | |
You can see really clearly here these sideways shoots | 0:33:55 | 0:33:59 | |
spreading across the path, and if that was soil, | 0:33:59 | 0:34:02 | |
every one of that pair of leaves would have some roots down below it | 0:34:02 | 0:34:06 | |
and it would layer itself and it would be rampant. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:10 | |
So always plant mint either in a container or somewhere | 0:34:10 | 0:34:14 | |
where you can keep it contained, and I'm going to contain this | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
simply by cutting off all those side shoots. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
Now, coming up on tonight's programme... | 0:34:26 | 0:34:29 | |
Carol has been out and about, | 0:34:29 | 0:34:30 | |
visiting people in their own gardens, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
helping them to solve their plant problems. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
It's slightly higgledy-piggledy, isn't it? | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
Let's make a little recess into the middle of the bed. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:43 | |
But first, Nick Bailey has been to Essex, | 0:34:45 | 0:34:48 | |
where he's visited a community that's been working hard | 0:34:48 | 0:34:52 | |
to celebrate a very special kind of rose. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
There's no doubt that here in the UK we love roses. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:04 | |
We want glorious colours, beautiful scent, | 0:35:04 | 0:35:08 | |
and of course, never-ending blooms. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:11 | |
And this rose gives just that. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:15 | |
It's a Pemberton rose | 0:35:16 | 0:35:18 | |
with large clusters of delicately-coloured blooms, | 0:35:18 | 0:35:21 | |
with an exquisite scent and flowers that repeat throughout the year. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:26 | |
This unique collection of roses takes their name from creator | 0:35:28 | 0:35:32 | |
Rev Joseph Pemberton, | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
who was born here in the village of Havering-atte-Bower in 1852. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:38 | |
He was taught to propagate roses by his father at a young age | 0:35:40 | 0:35:44 | |
and for nearly half a century, he competed and exhibited every year. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:49 | |
But that wasn't enough for Joseph. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:50 | |
After becoming president of the National Rose Society in 1911, | 0:35:54 | 0:35:59 | |
Joseph set about breeding a special set of roses here on his land | 0:35:59 | 0:36:04 | |
which would flower all the way till Christmas | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
when other roses had faded. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
He had up to 10,000 seedlings annually growing under glass | 0:36:09 | 0:36:13 | |
and 4,000 of his own specimens. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:17 | |
Not bad for a man who had a day job as a reverend. | 0:36:17 | 0:36:20 | |
Sadly, from their heyday in the early 20th century, | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
the Pemberton roses fell into obscurity and many were lost. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:29 | |
But now, 100 years later, | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
the village is back blooming with them. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:38 | |
In fact, it holds the largest collection in the world. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
This is Saint Francis Hospice, Nick, | 0:36:42 | 0:36:45 | |
and it's got a very special connection to the Pemberton roses | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
because the Pemberton family once lived at the hall. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
Laura Hill, from the hospice, holds the key to this intriguing comeback. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:58 | |
-The pink one in the middle is Nur Mahal... -Oh, yeah. | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
..which was used by Pemberton to breed another one, | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
whose variety's called Fortuna. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
This one's Althea, which is really beautiful. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:13 | |
HE SNIFFS | 0:37:13 | 0:37:15 | |
Oh, the scent's distinctly fruity, isn't it? What about this...? | 0:37:15 | 0:37:18 | |
That's the beautiful Pink Fairy here. | 0:37:18 | 0:37:20 | |
Such a variety of colour, of scent. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:26 | |
Really amazing collection of roses. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:28 | |
How did you get the world's biggest collection | 0:37:35 | 0:37:37 | |
back here in the village? | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
Well, our gardener, Dave Collins, he had 35 years' experience | 0:37:39 | 0:37:43 | |
as a rosarian, and because of the hospice connection | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
with the Pemberton roses, he wanted to build up the collection. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:51 | |
There are 69 varieties in total | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
and Dave has managed to collect 49 of those varieties. | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
How big a challenge was it for Dave | 0:37:57 | 0:37:59 | |
to pull all these roses together again? | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
The majority of these roses, they are no longer available commercially, | 0:38:02 | 0:38:05 | |
so Dave had to contact a number of private collectors around the world. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:11 | |
Sadly, he was taken ill a couple of years back | 0:38:11 | 0:38:13 | |
and he's not been able to continue the work. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:16 | |
The roses Dave tracked down were propagated at a nursery in Lincoln. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:23 | |
1,600 plants were brought back here, not just for the hospice, but | 0:38:23 | 0:38:27 | |
for all the people in the village to plant in their own gardens. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
So many people in the village turned out to collect the roses | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
and it's created all these new rose enthusiasts, | 0:38:35 | 0:38:38 | |
and we're already talking about having amateur propagation days. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:42 | |
I'm so delighted. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
I think it's a tribute to the work that Dave has done. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:49 | |
People will be swapping propagation material between themselves | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
to help keep the collection going. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
Now, I understand that there's some roses still missing | 0:38:56 | 0:38:58 | |
from the collection. You're trying to track those down. | 0:38:58 | 0:39:01 | |
Yes, sadly there's 20 roses still missing, | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
but we managed to find Pearl in France | 0:39:04 | 0:39:07 | |
from a private collector there. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:09 | |
It starts as a very pink bud and then goes white | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
and we know it can grow into a large bush. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:15 | |
There's so many still that we need to find. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:18 | |
They could be in people's gardens, they could be in the local parks | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
or cemeteries and just haven't been discovered yet. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:24 | |
What's wonderful about this collection is knowing how much | 0:39:27 | 0:39:31 | |
the community has taken it to its heart. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:33 | |
And there's one local who has embraced | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
saving this horticultural heritage. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:37 | |
Aleksy Michalak is growing every single rose | 0:39:41 | 0:39:43 | |
in the revived collection. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
Wow, this is really quite a house, isn't it? | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
Welcome to The Round House. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
The Pemberton family lived here for quite a long time. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:55 | |
And so, why did you get involved with growing the Pemberton roses? | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
Well, I look after The Round House, and when I learnt about | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
the Pemberton roses, I fell in love with the story and this place. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:06 | |
How many have you got going now? | 0:40:06 | 0:40:08 | |
I think we've planted about 150 of them all around the farm, actually. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:13 | |
I notice there's one here looking absolutely beautiful. What is this? | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
This is a Havering Rambler. We have quite a lot of them. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
We planted those I think two years ago now, so they grow quite fast. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
And if you look closely, they are really, really delicate. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:26 | |
I think what's special to me about the Pembertons | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
is about their history and this land and this house | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
and the buildings around, the story of the village. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
And because the Pemberton family was much-loved in the neighbourhood, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:40 | |
and I think it's really nice to know that their roses are back | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
where they belong and where they were created. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
Of course, Pemberton roses are known to a lot of us as Hybrid Musk, | 0:40:59 | 0:41:04 | |
and I've got a few here at Longmeadow. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
I've grown them for years, actually. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:08 | |
This is called Felicia, I've got another called Cornelia. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
But Laura is still missing 20 of those Pemberton varieties, | 0:41:11 | 0:41:17 | |
so if perhaps you've got a rose in your garden | 0:41:17 | 0:41:19 | |
and you're not sure what it is but it does have these | 0:41:19 | 0:41:22 | |
clusters of fairly small flowers, is fragrant and goes on flowering | 0:41:22 | 0:41:27 | |
well into autumn, that might just be one of them. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:31 | |
And if you think that could be the case, go to our website | 0:41:31 | 0:41:34 | |
and you can get the details of how to contact Laura, and who knows? | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
You could add to the collection. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
I know that there is a certain mystique around rose propagation, | 0:41:45 | 0:41:50 | |
but you can take rose cuttings | 0:41:50 | 0:41:53 | |
and they are pretty reliable. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
There's a fairly low success rate, | 0:41:56 | 0:41:57 | |
but because they're so easy to do, you can take lots | 0:41:57 | 0:42:01 | |
and certainly make yourself quite a few roses for free. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
And because they're cuttings, they will flower true | 0:42:05 | 0:42:07 | |
and they should start flowering in a couple of years from taking them. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:11 | |
Now is the earliest that you would start to take hardwood cuttings | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
and you can go on doing it right through almost till Christmas. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
This rambler, really vigorous, growing up into the apple tree, | 0:42:18 | 0:42:22 | |
it's called Rosa multiflora Carnea. It's a species rose. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:27 | |
It's on its own root stock, so if I take a cutting from it, | 0:42:27 | 0:42:30 | |
it will not only have exactly the same flowers | 0:42:30 | 0:42:32 | |
but also the same growth pattern. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:34 | |
So a really good one for growing up into apple trees | 0:42:34 | 0:42:37 | |
or on a north wall. | 0:42:37 | 0:42:39 | |
This arching stem, this side shoot, is ideal for cut material, | 0:42:40 | 0:42:45 | |
because I'm looking for new growth | 0:42:45 | 0:42:48 | |
that's about the thickness of a pencil | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
and I've certainly got it here. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:51 | |
What I'll do is, rather than cutting off individual pieces, | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
I'm going to cut one long stem and then divide it up. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:57 | |
So I'm going to cut this off just below that bud there, like that. | 0:42:57 | 0:43:03 | |
And just so I don't get confused about which is the top | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
and which is the bottom, I'm going to cut the bottom straight | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
and the top at an angle. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:12 | |
So I'm just going to straighten that one up so I don't get confused, | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
and then we'll cut always just below a leaf. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:20 | |
Remove the foliage, except for perhaps the top one. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:28 | |
Cuttings cost nothing, and if you're prepared to be a little patient, | 0:43:29 | 0:43:33 | |
because these will take a year or two to get going, | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
well, you can have an awful lot of climbing roses | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
for absolutely nothing. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
Come on, Nigel, come on! | 0:43:43 | 0:43:45 | |
HE WHISTLES | 0:43:46 | 0:43:48 | |
Come on, Nige. | 0:43:50 | 0:43:51 | |
I've often taken rose cuttings in a container, using potting compost | 0:43:59 | 0:44:04 | |
mixed 50-50 with grit or perlite and that works perfectly well. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:09 | |
But you need a pot, you need the perlite, you need all the grit | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
and you need the compost and you need to put it somewhere. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
They will also take just as well outside, directly into the ground. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:19 | |
So, having made a very slim trench with one straight side | 0:44:25 | 0:44:29 | |
and one angled, I'm going to fill the bottom with grit, | 0:44:29 | 0:44:32 | |
and this is really important. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:33 | |
Grit, sharp sand, anything with really good drainage. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:38 | |
That means that the cutting will not sit in cold, wet soil, | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
because that is the kiss of death. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:51 | |
If it's got free drainage, it is much more likely to root. | 0:44:51 | 0:44:55 | |
And you take the cuttings, remember, | 0:44:55 | 0:44:57 | |
with the slanting end at the top, and just push them in | 0:44:57 | 0:45:01 | |
so that they are going to be buried... | 0:45:01 | 0:45:03 | |
..right up to their necks. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:07 | |
There we go. | 0:45:07 | 0:45:08 | |
Push the soil back around them. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:12 | |
Don't expect to see anything till at least next spring, | 0:45:14 | 0:45:18 | |
and you won't know if they've rooted until you see fresh new growth, | 0:45:18 | 0:45:21 | |
and that probably will be next summer. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:24 | |
Now, whilst we do do our best to cover as wide a range | 0:45:24 | 0:45:27 | |
of horticultural topics as we can here at Longmeadow, | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
we're never going to cover it all. | 0:45:30 | 0:45:32 | |
We visit other gardens, and some of them are grand and great | 0:45:32 | 0:45:35 | |
and some inspirational, and quite a few are downright quirky. | 0:45:35 | 0:45:39 | |
But Carol is on the road visiting your gardens | 0:45:39 | 0:45:44 | |
and she's going to be doing her best to solve your plant problems. | 0:45:44 | 0:45:48 | |
We've had an amazing response on social media | 0:45:58 | 0:46:01 | |
about all your planting problems, and it's clear - | 0:46:01 | 0:46:04 | |
whether your gardens are big or small, | 0:46:04 | 0:46:07 | |
a lot of you would appreciate some help. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:10 | |
Well, I've got my gardening boots on and I'm ready to go. | 0:46:10 | 0:46:14 | |
My port of call is Hampshire, | 0:46:19 | 0:46:20 | |
and this lovely home that belongs to Jill Meech and her family. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:24 | |
Keen gardener Jill has a problem | 0:46:25 | 0:46:27 | |
most of us will probably identify with - | 0:46:27 | 0:46:30 | |
she loves plants so much that her borders are chock-full of them. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:34 | |
Wow, lots and lots and lots of plants. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:40 | |
Do you think I'm a plantoholic? | 0:46:40 | 0:46:42 | |
I think you're inveterate, by the look of it. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
Oh, wow. And which is the bit you want help with? | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
-Mainly this bit here, Carol. -Right. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:52 | |
Because as you can see, I just love plants, | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
so I just buy a lot and then, where I see gap, I stick it in. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
It's slightly higgledy-piggledy, isn't it? | 0:46:59 | 0:47:02 | |
From hostas to hellebores, | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
everything is living on top of one another | 0:47:05 | 0:47:08 | |
and there's just no room for plants to shine. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:11 | |
But that's not Jill's only problem - | 0:47:11 | 0:47:13 | |
she has a degenerative eye condition | 0:47:13 | 0:47:16 | |
that means she will eventually go blind. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
I've got an eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:23 | |
It's a bit of a mouthful, so we call it RP for short. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:26 | |
But it means that my peripheral vision isn't too good. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:30 | |
It's progressive and it's hereditary. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:33 | |
Some of my family members who are older | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
and have it have lost their sight. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
The point is to try and maximise what you can see. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
It's clear that the garden is jam-packed, | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
so I want to show Jill a way of transforming | 0:47:45 | 0:47:47 | |
a section of the borders so she can replicate it in the future. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:52 | |
I think if we just choose one chunk. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:56 | |
-Maybe these lupins could be our goalposts, yeah? -Yes. | 0:47:56 | 0:47:59 | |
We'll see what we can save, | 0:47:59 | 0:48:01 | |
take out anything that's perhaps not suitable, | 0:48:01 | 0:48:04 | |
and then add some more things | 0:48:04 | 0:48:06 | |
which establish this sort of planting principle | 0:48:06 | 0:48:10 | |
that's going to help, you know. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:11 | |
-That's going to help me in the future. -Yeah. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
With limited time, it's really important that Jill | 0:48:14 | 0:48:18 | |
makes the most of her garden while she still has her sight. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:22 | |
We're going to make a start by taking everything out of this part | 0:48:22 | 0:48:25 | |
of the border, leaving us with a blank canvas. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
-Here we go, Carol. -Oh, great. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
I'm just making a nice crisp edge so we know where we're working to. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:37 | |
-Yeah. -Right the way along our allotted plot. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
You've got violets here, you've got primroses. | 0:48:40 | 0:48:44 | |
There's these little hellebores here. | 0:48:44 | 0:48:46 | |
-What gorgeous soil! -It's nice, isn't it? | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
-It's light, it's really sandy. It just... -Crumbles. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:55 | |
-It crumbles through your fingers. -Yes, it does. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:58 | |
There's a lovely hosta here. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
You've a hosta there? | 0:49:01 | 0:49:03 | |
There's a gorgeous one here | 0:49:03 | 0:49:04 | |
and I've seen a third one just down there. | 0:49:04 | 0:49:07 | |
So instead of having them dot, dot, dot, let's try putting them | 0:49:07 | 0:49:12 | |
all together and make a little recess into the middle of the bed. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:16 | |
-Yes, yes. -You know, so you can see through to the back. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:20 | |
By replanting in this way, it'll open up the border | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
and allow plants to fulfil their potential. | 0:49:23 | 0:49:27 | |
And plants not suitable for this spot can be relocated elsewhere. | 0:49:27 | 0:49:31 | |
We're certainly not going to waste anything here. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:33 | |
-Wonderful. -Here we go. | 0:49:33 | 0:49:36 | |
We've got a load of this. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:38 | |
Do you know what colour it is? | 0:49:38 | 0:49:39 | |
It's a lovely orangey, sort of peachy colour. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:42 | |
-Sounds delicious. -Yes. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:44 | |
-And I think it would be a great idea to plant that back in here. -Yes. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:48 | |
I think that Jill, and any gardener with failing or poor sight, | 0:49:53 | 0:49:58 | |
could learn lots of lessons | 0:49:58 | 0:50:00 | |
from the famous woman gardener Gertrude Jekyll. | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
Gertrude's sight got increasingly worse as she got older. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:09 | |
She planted in great big blocks of colour | 0:50:09 | 0:50:12 | |
and the kind of colours that she really went for were | 0:50:12 | 0:50:16 | |
brilliant colours, things like yellows, blues and whites. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:20 | |
They became more and more dominant in her designs. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:24 | |
In fact, all those bright, saturated colours are much easier | 0:50:25 | 0:50:29 | |
for people with visual handicaps to actually perceive. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:33 | |
There are other pointers too that you might like to follow. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
For a start, indulge your other senses. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:41 | |
It's important to include as many different textures | 0:50:41 | 0:50:45 | |
so you can feel your way round the garden. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:49 | |
Don't get confused with too many different kinds of perfumes, | 0:50:49 | 0:50:52 | |
you don't want scents confusing your nose, | 0:50:52 | 0:50:55 | |
but choose two or three which are really strong, | 0:50:55 | 0:50:59 | |
really powerful and which you love. | 0:50:59 | 0:51:01 | |
I've brought along just a few plants that I think exemplify | 0:51:03 | 0:51:07 | |
the kind of principles we're talking about. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
So, the first plant I have chosen for you is this achillea. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:14 | |
It's one called Moonshine. | 0:51:15 | 0:51:18 | |
So these big, solid heads, | 0:51:18 | 0:51:20 | |
plateaus of brilliant colour. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:22 | |
Shall we have that stachys next? | 0:51:24 | 0:51:26 | |
I think it's got to be one of the most tactile of plants. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:29 | |
-It has, like bunny ears. -Yeah. | 0:51:29 | 0:51:31 | |
-You just feel like rubbing it on your nose. -You do. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:37 | |
And the thing is, each of these stems will spread out, | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
-so you get this lovely soft line coming to the front. -Yes. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:44 | |
So how about this one here? | 0:51:46 | 0:51:48 | |
That's such a lovely grass. | 0:51:48 | 0:51:50 | |
-Is it an evergreen one? -Yeah, it is. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:52 | |
In the winter it will go quite sort of beige | 0:51:52 | 0:51:55 | |
-and really soft mellow colour. -Lovely. | 0:51:55 | 0:51:57 | |
-But it's the touch of it. -Yes. | 0:51:57 | 0:51:59 | |
-You know, this is what it brings to your border, isn't it? -It does. | 0:51:59 | 0:52:02 | |
Look at those seed heads, it's so lovely. | 0:52:02 | 0:52:04 | |
That looks fantastic, Carol. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:08 | |
This is the rule from now on, you know - | 0:52:08 | 0:52:10 | |
big blocks, bright colour, | 0:52:10 | 0:52:13 | |
soft touches, beautiful perfume. | 0:52:13 | 0:52:15 | |
-Follow the eye through. -Yeah. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:17 | |
I've had such a lovely day with Carol. | 0:52:18 | 0:52:20 | |
We've had such fun planting up this border. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:23 | |
I think going forward I've got to crack on | 0:52:23 | 0:52:25 | |
and really get on with finishing up this bed. | 0:52:25 | 0:52:28 | |
What Carol's done, and helped me with the yellow that goes through, | 0:52:28 | 0:52:31 | |
I've got to replicate that so that over the next few years, | 0:52:31 | 0:52:34 | |
that's what's going to catch my eyes as my eyesight fails. | 0:52:34 | 0:52:37 | |
If your garden's in a bit of a muddle, | 0:52:41 | 0:52:44 | |
why not try something similar? | 0:52:44 | 0:52:46 | |
Take out your plants and replant them using big blocks of colour. | 0:52:46 | 0:52:52 | |
You bring movement, you bring colour, you bring light | 0:52:52 | 0:52:55 | |
and you bring cohesion to your beds and borders that way. | 0:52:55 | 0:52:58 | |
I love the way that at this time of year in the borders | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
the yellows have such a range - from the bright yellow | 0:53:11 | 0:53:16 | |
that sings out even on a gloomy day like today | 0:53:16 | 0:53:20 | |
to the more subtle, slightly lemony tones, | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
and then they go into oranges and even browns and caramels. | 0:53:23 | 0:53:28 | |
It really is a feature of late summer | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
and if you want to keep them going, of course, deadhead. | 0:53:31 | 0:53:34 | |
Keep deadheading and the flowers will keep coming on back. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:39 | |
But don't think that deadheading is the only thing | 0:53:39 | 0:53:42 | |
you've got to do this weekend. | 0:53:42 | 0:53:43 | |
Here are some other jobs you can do. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:45 | |
The Alchemilla mollis has been really good at Longmeadow this year, | 0:53:53 | 0:53:57 | |
but its day is done, and rather than just leave it, | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
cut it back hard, removing all the foliage | 0:54:00 | 0:54:03 | |
as well as the spent flowers. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:05 | |
This will quickly regrow and look fresh for the rest of the summer. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
Ornamental carrots, like ammi or orlaya, | 0:54:17 | 0:54:20 | |
are much best sown now | 0:54:20 | 0:54:22 | |
and planted out in October so their taproots can get established. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:26 | |
Sprinkle the seed onto a seed tray or seed pan, | 0:54:26 | 0:54:30 | |
water them and put them somewhere warm to germinate, | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
and then they can be pricked out later to grow on. | 0:54:33 | 0:54:35 | |
At this time of year, stone or brick paths can get really slippery. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:48 | |
I've tried lots of ways of dealing with this | 0:54:48 | 0:54:50 | |
and have found that the most effective method is simply to | 0:54:50 | 0:54:53 | |
brush in sharp sand with a stiff broom. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:56 | |
Work it in well and it absorbs the moisture | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
and acts as a scourer to scrape away the algae. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:03 | |
I'm cutting back these hosta flower stems | 0:55:18 | 0:55:21 | |
because they don't look good once they've finished | 0:55:21 | 0:55:24 | |
and to a certain extent, they're taking energy from the roots. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:29 | |
What does the good is this canna growing in the pond. | 0:55:29 | 0:55:33 | |
This is Canna Erebus, and it's very happy | 0:55:33 | 0:55:36 | |
completely submerged beneath the water, | 0:55:36 | 0:55:39 | |
and it's produced these slightly surprising pink blooms. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:44 | |
It's doing its stuff and it's doing it proud. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:46 | |
Now, that's in water | 0:55:48 | 0:55:49 | |
and I've been dodging water for most of the day from the sky, | 0:55:49 | 0:55:52 | |
it's been really squally. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:54 | |
So let's see if that is going to continue for us gardeners | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
over the weekend. | 0:55:57 | 0:55:58 | |
Well, we've had the full range of English weather today. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:15 | |
We've had heavy rain, wind, some quite hot sunshine, | 0:57:15 | 0:57:19 | |
but not for very long. It's come at us from every quarter. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:23 | |
But the garden doesn't seem to mind, it's growing well. | 0:57:23 | 0:57:26 | |
The only major problem is things get bashed, | 0:57:26 | 0:57:28 | |
so I'm staking as much as I can. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:31 | |
But the canna is growing strong, and standing next to it | 0:57:31 | 0:57:34 | |
and looking at it like this, | 0:57:34 | 0:57:36 | |
I realise I do like my cannas to be rich. | 0:57:36 | 0:57:38 | |
The oranges and the lovely chocolate-coloured foliage | 0:57:38 | 0:57:43 | |
is really more canna-like for me | 0:57:43 | 0:57:45 | |
than the pink flowers of the canna in the pond. | 0:57:45 | 0:57:47 | |
But each to their own. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:49 | |
And that is it for today, we've run out of time, | 0:57:49 | 0:57:53 | |
but I'll be back here at Longmeadow at the same time next week, | 0:57:53 | 0:57:57 | |
so join me then. Bye-bye. | 0:57:57 | 0:57:59 |