Episode 1 RHS Show Tatton Park


Episode 1

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Hello and welcome to the first of two programmes

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from the Royal Horticultural Society's Flower Show,

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Tatton Park in Cheshire. As usual, the show is set in the

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middle of the glory is grounds of Tatton Park in Cheshire. And as

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ever, this is one big garden party. And this year, there is a real

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feeling of carnival, not just from the exhibits joining in, but also an

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actual marching parade as well. Look at these butterflies. They are so

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beautiful and you can see absolutely everything from this vantage point,

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including all of the pavilions. And the one I am going to be heading for

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is the RHS Summer Fruit and Vegetable Competition Pavilion.

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Meanwhile, enjoy the music and the view. And as well as a full marquee,

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which is full of late flowering summer plans, which are such a

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distinctive feature of Tatton, there are 25 show gardens, 11th in the

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Large Garden category and 14 small ones. Toby Buckland joined me to

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take a look -- 11. We are starting with a bang. This is

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a garden designed by Pete Probert, called the Narrows because it is a

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space that most of us can recognise, your average back garden. People, a

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seasoned show garden person, has put together a tapestry of vivid colours

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and has been clever with the design, linking it with a chinking

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pad. There is something that everybody, even the wildlife. Upon

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the dipping, children's area with the lawn and some equipment, and

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over here is a cosy, contemplative zone for entertaining and kicking

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back in the summer. What I like about this is it has the feeling of

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privacy thanks to this oak fence. But cos there are gaps in it, that

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lets the light through, it makes it a good place to grow lots of plans.

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-- plan tos. This garden is called The Threatened

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Islands Of Southeast Asia, by Chester zoo, and these things

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peeking out to represent us and our voyage of discovery as we learn

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about this part of the world, moving towards a ruined Buddhist temple

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representing the missing flora and fauna, and it relates to an exhibit

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Chester zoo will put our next year. The planting exists to promote the

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feel of a lost jungle. It works wonderfully.

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This is Vogue. It is a proper show garden, by which I mean a garden

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built for show. It is based around a stage, or a theatre. You are just in

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front of the cheap seats and I am walking billboards, or more

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specifically, over crisply cut York stone paving. There are even wings

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to sit in, should you want a bit of privacy. It is surrounded by a

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tranquil will and backed by an incredibly expensive sculpture. I

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could see this in a swanky restaurant behind the homes of the

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well-heeled, because the planting in these box tears is very fashionable.

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This season's colours are coastal, there is frothing stackers and

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topped off with a blue sky of agapanthus. This is a garden

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designed to wow. It says, look at me, aren't I stylish? If you had a

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garden like this, you would be. Every year at Tatton Park, the

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Tatton Park team itself put on a show garden and this year, it is

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based upon the centenary of the beginning of the First World War.

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There is one letter to the gardener's chronicle from a

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lieutenant and he notes that in a completely blitzed out Belgian

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village with scarcely a wall standing, and -- an extraordinary

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number of garden plants were grown coming through the potholes up the

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charred ruins. So this has the imagined Belgian garden as it might

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have been before the war and then the German trenches come in and the

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war takes hold and devastated. And then, based on the letter, the

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plants that are growing back despite the bombardment, despite the

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devastation. And the final section is the garden as it is today, lost,

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disappeared, but the ghosts of the past lie beneath the ground.

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A Taste of Wythenshawe by Reaseheath College is a contemporary kitchen

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garden with pillars for love edibles. Its design is rooted in

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history, because Wythenshawe was a garden city and, as such, it was

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built around the tenants of the Garden City movement which is what

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is best for the countryside is best for the city, and that in turn is

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best but the people. So it is a design with heart. It is also a

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design with some natty features. I love this hydroponic salad table.

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Take a few, have a bite. And steel reinforced trees, these rods that

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are normally put into concrete dripping with runner beans. One

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final thing, these lines represent a proposed tramway or Metro link

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between Wythenshawe and Manchester City centre. So not only does this

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design offer a taste of the now, it offers a Taste of Wythenshawe's

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future as well. Here in the floral marquee, it is

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evident that this has been a bumper year, perhaps one of the best I have

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ever seen. Tatton is one of the last great shows of the season and it is

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almost as though all of these plants have been saving themselves up for

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this very moment. Everything is looking at its beautiful best.

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Aren't they magnificent? Normally, when you see hanging baskets, it is

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all about how those plans are combined. But on this stand, they

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have taken a truly original approach. Every basket contains just

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one planned, so you can see it at its best, in the round. -- one

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plant. Just look at this blend differs begonia, these lovely

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voluptuous flowers in gorgeous shades of yellow and orange.

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voluptuous flowers in gorgeous shades of yellow and And I haven't

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chosen it just because it goes with my dress, either!

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Hanging baskets go on looking great for months on end, but some of the

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rest of the garden is beginning to wind down, even maybe looking a bit

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tatty. And just when you think it is all over, along comes this gang of

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firecrackers, reds, oranges and yellows, setting the place alight.

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But which of these sumptuous shades do you go for? I love these vivid

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yellows and those deep, sumptuous reds. But if you can't make your

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mind up, how about this one? It combines them both. In amongst all

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of those fiery razzmatazz, what is needed is a breathing space, and

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grass is a breathing space, and grasses give you just that.

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Beautiful form and texture. And this one, you have this elegance, with

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the beautiful, soft, fluffy heads. It is almost like a feather boa. I

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feel like throwing it over my shoulder, but at least I can run my

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fingers through it. Hydrangea is a hydrangea is hydrangea. Or is it?

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They are such familiar plants, and yet during the last few years, they

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have had a real renaissance, and they seem to have reached the height

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of their flower power and popularity at this year's Tatton show.

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Those wishy-washy old-fashioned pinks and blues have been replaced

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by a plethora of brilliant colours. This purple, rich and luxurious

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crimson and almost shocking pink. Far from reaching the end of their

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performance, you feel as though they are just building up to a final

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crescendo. Hydrangeas are planned that I am

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learning to love. Of course, plants on their own, they can be

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beautifully attractive, but it is the combination of plants that makes

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aboard a interesting. So hydrangea, gentle pink and mauve, create a

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gentle environment, but if you put an energetic planned together, it

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transforms. This Echinacea creates more energy with the yellow. Perhaps

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not entirely comfortable, but it ramps things up. So how do you use

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plants in combination and how will it influence how your garden

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appears? Increasingly at shows like Tatton,

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plant stalls are increasing their wares in combination and this caught

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my eye. It is the grass across -- mixed with the cosmos. You have the

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delicacy of the grass with the purity and intensity of the cosmos

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flowers and the way they hold themselves. But the two together and

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you have a really dramatic, elegant mixture. -- put. Violent contrasts

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can actually have a harmony of their own, so this Echinacea tomato soup

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with the salvia, complete opposites, but sitting comfortably.

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But you can be more subtle. Look at the way that the colours of the

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Salvia and the claim at his art almost identical but very different

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habits -- Clematis. You are using a combination that is very subtle

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indeed. And it is not just flowers that you

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have to think how they work together. Sometimes as they fade and

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fall their seed heads, that can make interesting combinations. So these

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grasses and the clovers beneath them on a rough piece of ground have a

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beauty as well. Whatever plants you choose, however much you love them,

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they are only as good as their neighbours.

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The gardens here at Tatton are packed with clever design ideas that

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you can adapt for your own back garden, and ever garden needs a

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seat. This is a seed that has it all. It is comfortable, as all

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garden furniture should be, but it is a focal point, it draws you in

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and invite you into a space. is a focal point, it draws you in

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and invite you into a This is obviously made of steel and is the

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spoke and expensive, but seats do not have to be like that. A simple

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swing is just as effective. And in the same way, you save space at

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ground level for shading the plans. Every garden needs are packed and if

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you have a lot of timber and stone behind your shed, you can build one

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like this. Shuttered sides with angular gravel held between. Into

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the gravel, stones and pieces of wood have been set. Because of the

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pointy edges, it is locked in place with no concrete necessary. Talking

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of concrete, it is not a material that has to be as dull and drab as a

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motorway bridge. If you are clever, you can make it sparkle. When this

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was drying, terracotta pots was pushed into the surface and when it

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was dry, it has been polished and, like Italian marble. -- it has come

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up like Italian marble. I like that peephole. They are very fashionable

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at the moment, a great way of framing the view and giving a

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different perspective on a garden. It is also a way of adding another

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dimensional and that is what these raised beds are doing. Usually, soil

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filled boxes are about function but here they are bad form, defining the

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entrance and exit to the garden, as well as giving this space a good,

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strong character that stays with it even when the flowers in the Borders

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have gone to ground. What about these fluttering silk screens? They

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hang like washing on a line. I can see this is an idea that could catch

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on. It is so simple to create. Like pop-up restaurants and pop-up shops,

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this is a pop-up garden boundary. There giving privacy for parties as

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and when you need it. It is fun and useful.

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Raised beds are of course a way of squeezing space, even from tiny

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gardens and this design, which is based on one of those difficult to

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plant corner plots does just that. The beds are not square, they are

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tapered and set out in a fashion, running north-to-south. That is

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important. It means as the sun passes over the tops during the day

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t vegetables in the rows get plenty of light on both sides.

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We Brits love growing our own fruit and veg. We don't just like growing

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it. Some of us love showing it too. Now, here at Tatton, under the roof

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of this marquee, amateur growers have gathered together from all over

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the country to show their very best produce at the RHS Summer Fruit and

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Vegetable Competition. It is nail-biting stuff! .

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So, Jim, you are a seasoned competitor. How long have you been

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doing it? Well, I first started when I was about eight. Not so long then!

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No, no, no. It is 76 years ago. Are you getting better at it, do you

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think? You get better if you have more time. I've got that. Yes. What

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inspires you to grow stuff like this? The Lord's creation. The fact

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that such a small seed can do what it does and produce such beautiful

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flowers, lovely vegetables. I look after nature. I feed all the birds

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and everything. I think they are brilliant!

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Nobody knows more about exhibiting fruit than Jim from whichesly. This

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is a -- from Wisley. This is a magnificent display. Show us what

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you have been doing? I have put all the strigs in one direction. They

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are what the redcurrants hang off. They are full of berries. No empty

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ones on your plate! No. This is a typical ripe colour. This is

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magnificent. You are busy. I will let you get on with it. But thank

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you. That's OK! Years ago, I used to enter all

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fruits and vegetables. I have brought some of my own redcurrants

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from my garden. I am longing to know how they get on over here, so I will

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sneak them in and see how I get on. They don't really compare, you know,

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but I hope my redcurrants don't leave me red-faced!

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Well, we will see how Carol does later on in the show. Without bees,

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there would be no fruit here on the show. There'd be no fruit for us to

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eat at all. Manchester City Council have a campaign to encourage as many

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bees as possible into the city's parks and gardens.

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The bee is Manchester's symbol and has been since the beginning of the

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Industrial Revolution, which Manchester was very key in. It

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symbolises the work ethic of the people of Manchester.

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It's a symbol that you can see all around the city, particularly in the

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Town Hall itself, where there are the bee mo saybacks. But -- mosaics.

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Also in Manchester's coat of arms itself. There are actually real bees

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in Manchester now, which people may not realise. There are beehives in

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unexpected places, such as on top of art galleries and on top of

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Manchester's Arndale Centre and the Cathedral. The planting surrounding

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the cathedral now is being changed to maximise the foraging

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possibilities for the bees. There is quite a team here that

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looks after the bees. The entire cathedral team is involved. Our

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volunteers and the one thing about buildings like this is that we've

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got very, very high roofs. The bees are pretty safe up there. They are

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pretty comfortable and things can flourish, even in an urban

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environment. One of the great stories I do love about this, was

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the Queen came to Manchester last November. I understand on her way

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back to London on the Royal train, they opened a jar of this and had it

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with their afternoon tea. We had a lovely letter afterwards, saying how

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much she enjoyed the honey. We are here at Frog Lane Park, with the

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Friends of Fromming Lane park. They will plant some seeds and it is to

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transform them into wild meadows. We want educate and inform people about

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the natural environment in the city. Not only does it look amazing and

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wonderful, but it is fantastic for insects, invertebrates and other di

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yo diversity. The outcomes are much more positive.

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It is this change in approach to planting that has really sort of

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inspired this year's Tatton's flowerbed entry. Hence it is called

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"the bee roads to Manchester." The main strand is a road, running

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through with the city centre, depicted with beehives. The

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flowerbed itself is a bedding competition. To demonstrate

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naturalised planting using bedding plants is quite difficult, but it is

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giving that impact and feel of more naturalised planting, but still

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fitting within the confines of what the flowerbed competition is

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actually about. Sarah, how did you do? We got

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silver-gilt. We are so excited. You have displayed a complicated idea of

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how bees see colour. Talk me through this. This shows the colours as we

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see them. The other flower boxes to demonstrate how bees see these

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colours in a different way. They see in ultraviolet. I know you had quite

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a lot of conflict between the concept and a formal bedding

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competition? Yes. The formal bedding competition is about using bedding

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plants. It is about demonstrating that change that we are trying to

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effect. There's a lot of herbs in here, which you can mix in with more

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traditional annual bedding to use as companion planting and still have

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the impact, but it still provides nectar-rich fields and pastures. I

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am sure the public will not only enjoy the way it looks, but learn

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something. I hope so. Thank you. These flowerbed displays by Park

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Departments have become famous here. As well as two from Manchester there

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are nine other designs. The reason they are so loved is because bedding

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plants are unique. They can be grown from seed in the spring and planted

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out to tell stories which are mediate to -- immediate to get.

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Birmingham City Council, 100 years on commemorates the First World War.

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Here is a soldier pushing his trolley of ammunition up through the

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mud. Interestingly, the mud is created from a perennial plant. A

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lovely plant for shade that one. A lovely meed co-from Cosmos and mill

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let. There are the -- created from Cosmso and millet.

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This shows a pathway of plants leading to a better, happier future.

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There are not only flowers that look fabulous right now, they will keep

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going right through to the first frosts of autumn.

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This though is the height of floral flowerbed design. The judges gave it

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the award for best in the show. Look at the density of the planting

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- there's not an inch of soil in sight sight. It is from St Helier.

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It even has Stars and Stripes. That's what I think. Let's see what

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the visitors make of this floral feast. I like the grasses and the

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ferns together. I wouldn't think to do that usually. I have been told

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they like dark conditions with moisture. With the right fern that

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is really effective. We like them because if you look at them closely,

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they are spiky and pretty. You can take bits away that you could - I

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suppose if you only have a small garden like mine. It is

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extraordinary, the creativity and the energy - just brilliant! Looks

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beautiful! I can't bear the suspense. Any

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second now this will be cut and I will see how I have done. We are all

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ready for you now! Thank you very much!

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I've got highly commended! I don't believe it! Fantastic! I thought

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they might have chucked them out and said they were not good enough!

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Hello, congratulations. Thank you very much. It is a wonderful

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exhibit. Really? It was well worth its prize. You were unlucky in a way

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because this exhibit here... That won first prize. That won first

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prize, also won the award for the best dish of fruit in the

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single-dish classes. So, it was the best around here. Can I also make

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your day a little bit better by presenting you with this? It is a

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certificate to mark your achievement. Congratulations! Oh,

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look at this! Look! I will tell you what, if I had a mantelpiece it

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would go straight on there! Just look at what I have won!

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That is really good and brave of you to go, because I tell you what, they

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know a thing or two about growing fruit and veg in this part of the

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world. That is it for tonight. We will be back tomorrow night at 7.

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30pm on BBC Two. I will look at the smaller show gardens along with Toby

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and Adam Frost, the Gold Medal winning Chelsea designer is looking

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at the young garden designers. I will be in the floral marquee,

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looking at plants that rely on earth, air, fire and water. It is

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really exciting. See you tomorrow night. Until then, goodbye. Goodbye.

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