0:00:03 > 0:00:05Hello and welcome to The A To Z Of TV Gardening,
0:00:05 > 0:00:08where we sift through all your favourite garden programmes,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11and dig up a bumper crop of tips and advice
0:00:11 > 0:00:14from the best experts in the business.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Flowers, trees, fruit and veg - letter by letter,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21they're all coming up a treat on The A To Z Of TV Gardening.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41Everything we're looking at today begins with the letter W.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Here's what's coming up.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46We're looking at weeds and how to get rid of them.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49And that just kills all the annual weeds on the top. Yes, it does.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51And on a hot day like this, it's perfect.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Perfect, cos it dries up the roots.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Women gardeners, handing down knowledge through generations.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01I ring them up. They're my oracles. "It's died! What do I do about this?"
0:01:01 > 0:01:05And a close-up look at the wonderful world of worms.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10That's all to come, but first, a climber
0:01:10 > 0:01:13that leaves most of us amazed by its beauty.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Our first W is for wisteria,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19and here's Alan Titchmarsh with all the whats, whys and whens.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22You see, wisteria is a peculiar beauty,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26and in order to get these huge, grape-like bunches of flowers
0:01:26 > 0:01:30cascading from every bough, you need to prune it not once
0:01:30 > 0:01:32but twice a year -
0:01:32 > 0:01:35in July, and again in January or February.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40It doesn't matter where you start,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43but in order to show you the early results,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45I'll start back in February.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Ours was a huge, tangled mass of stems.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Hopefully yours won't look quite this bad.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55But if yours has never been pruned,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59or you've hacked at it rather tentatively and it's galloping for the gutters,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02then, this sight is probably all too familiar.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18All these long stems were behind that downpipe.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22If I'd left them there, they would have swollen over the years
0:02:22 > 0:02:24and pushed that thing completely off the wall.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26We don't need as many as this.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28I want to try and get the plant to go round the corner
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and furnish the other wall, but not with all these.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33We can reduce them by at least half.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37'Then, along the new main framework of stems,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41'shorten each of the side shoots to about three or four inches,
0:02:41 > 0:02:45'and it'll become a flowering spur.'
0:02:46 > 0:02:49That's what we're after. You see these little fat buds here?
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Those are the ones that are going to be flowers,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55and it's those that you can cut back. You've got a nice little finger there
0:02:55 > 0:02:59that's just going to cascade with fragrant blooms in May.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03'Those old spurs need to go back to about three or four buds
0:03:03 > 0:03:05'while you're at it.'
0:03:09 > 0:03:13And then, by shortening those side shoots to make more spurs
0:03:13 > 0:03:15and trimming back the existing ones,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19I reckon we got double the number of flowers, easily.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26But you can get even more if, come July,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28your wisteria gets another haircut.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Those long, whippy growths up there
0:03:35 > 0:03:38that we no longer need to extend the territory of the plant,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41because it's covering quite enough wall, can come off now,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43because if we leave them on, they'll just lash around
0:03:43 > 0:03:46all through autumn and winter, doing no good at all.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52'Cut them back to about a foot in length,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54'then you'll prevent them from extending further,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57'and persuade them to start producing flower buds.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59'These are the stems
0:03:59 > 0:04:02'you'll shorten to three or four inches come February.'
0:04:02 > 0:04:05There are lots of myths attached to wisteria.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10One is that they don't flower for seven years after you plant them.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Well, that might have been true in the old days
0:04:13 > 0:04:17when you were planting rather dubious flowering varieties of Chinese wisteria,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20but nowadays, if you want to make sure you can get flowers
0:04:20 > 0:04:23even from the first year onwards, look for a grafted plant.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Go into your garden centre, and you will see,
0:04:25 > 0:04:27at the very bottom of wisteria plants,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30a great sort of thumb thing of the root stock,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and then the grafted bit of a proven flowering variety
0:04:33 > 0:04:36growing out of the top of it. And with one of those,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40you know it'll flower - well, at least in its second year.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50It's one of those lovely jobs
0:04:50 > 0:04:53that you feel incredibly virtuous when you get to the end of.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56And the other thing is, you know it's money in the bank.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58It flowered pretty well last year.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Think what it's going to be like next year!
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Thanks, Alan. Now let's join Christine Walkden
0:05:15 > 0:05:19on a road trip uncovering lots of wisteria hysteria.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23So, you don't need a really posh house to have a beautiful wisteria.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Just look at that one!
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Oh, look! A white wisteria. Isn't that nice?
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Let's go and have a closer look at this pearly beauty.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40I just love seeing the purple and the blue wisteria,
0:05:40 > 0:05:45but there's an intrinsic charm with the pure white.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54'But now I'm off to find a wisteria of near-legendary status.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58'It's so famous, it's got its own postcard.'
0:05:58 > 0:06:00And here it is, looking glorious
0:06:00 > 0:06:04against that beautiful Cotswold stone.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13What's amazing about trees and shrubs
0:06:13 > 0:06:17is that the vast majority of this in the middle is dead.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22What keeps this plant alive is two millimetres of plumbing
0:06:22 > 0:06:25immediately beneath the bark.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28What a spectacular plant! What do you do to it?
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Well, we prune it once a year.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33My husband gets up the ladder, usually the end of September,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and we just keep it down to a level,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39cut all the long, trailing bits off, keep it off the roof,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41because it likes to go under the tiles, so, um...
0:06:41 > 0:06:43And how much do you take off?
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Well, we have about ten dustbin bags full. Ten?! Ten.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50What's its history? We believe it's about 150 years old.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53My husband's family have been in the cottage for 200 years, so...
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Wow! Now, you obviously love it,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59but what about the locals and what about visitors?
0:06:59 > 0:07:02The locals love it. It's quite a landmark, really. I'll say!
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And the visitors all take photographs every time they come.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Do you feed it or water it? We do nothing to it.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Apart from pruning it. We just prune it.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14At the wrong time of the year, according to the horticulturalists!
0:07:14 > 0:07:16SHE LAUGHS Well, it survives.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19It does more than survive. I mean, that's rather magnificent.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26What a fantastic sign of spring! Look at this beauty!
0:07:26 > 0:07:32And you don't need a vast garden to have a front-garden star like this.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Really stunning!
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Now, our next item is not about gardening
0:07:40 > 0:07:42but gardeners themselves,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and looks how, in one significant way,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48horticulture in Britain has changed over the years.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53Here's Carol Klein, on W for "women gardeners".
0:07:56 > 0:07:59For a woman like me, with my kind of social background,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01it would have been virtually impossible
0:08:01 > 0:08:04to have even attempted the sort of things I've done,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06let alone achieve them.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09You've only to look into the history of gardening
0:08:09 > 0:08:11to realise that the whole thing was totally governed
0:08:11 > 0:08:13and staffed by men.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Women just didn't get a look-in.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18'I know I owe the opportunities I've had
0:08:18 > 0:08:22'to a small group of women, who battled against the odds
0:08:22 > 0:08:25'to make gardening an acceptable career for a woman.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29'Many of them have gone largely unrecognised,
0:08:29 > 0:08:32'and yet it's thanks to them that women like me
0:08:32 > 0:08:35'have been able to follow their passion for horticulture.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41'Now, I've often been described as a maverick,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44'but I'm nothing compared to one woman
0:08:44 > 0:08:47'who dared to challenge Victorian convention.'
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Like me, Marianne North was a woman with an obsession about plants,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55but her social upbringing denied her the opportunity
0:08:55 > 0:08:58of a career in horticulture.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00But Marianne persevered.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Unable to endure the claustrophobia of Victorian society,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08in the 1840s she began to travel the world
0:09:08 > 0:09:11to paint the world's flora and fauna.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15I think it's remarkable what Marianne North actually achieved.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19She managed to go to some places more times than any explorer went,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21and she managed to do a lot of things
0:09:21 > 0:09:25that ladies in her time were not expected to do.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27She was really making a statement
0:09:27 > 0:09:30that women could do this kind of thing.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33She really did as much for women's independence
0:09:33 > 0:09:35as, say, the Pankhursts managed to do
0:09:35 > 0:09:38with their rights movements in England.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Women are now the fastest-growing group of allotment holders.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44In fact, at the Dale Allotments in Nottingham,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47not only are women taking up plots,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50the entire allotment committee is made up of women, too.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53I must admit, when I was thinking about it,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55you'd expect it to be a lot more men,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and so I was quite shocked that it was all women.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Now women are earning the money and having a lot more stress,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04so it's like that's why we're coming here.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07We need to get out of the house as well, you know! Yeah.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09It's not just a place for the men.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14I suppose the old allotmenters tend to have the way it's done.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17The way it's done, and that is set in stone.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19They have a whole plot that's been completely cleared,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and everything's planted in rows and done the way it's always been done.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25But going to most of the women's gardens here,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29you'll find they're decorated or there's something pretty about them.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Gingham curtains, yellow window frames and that sort of thing.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38Pink doors. And then the men's gardens are, like, shed, gardens.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47We're like a little family. It's just... You know, it's great.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50We're often ringing, going, "Are you up there? See you there in ten."
0:10:50 > 0:10:53"I'll bring the bacon sandwiches." It's a nice little community.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55The kind of social interaction up here
0:10:55 > 0:10:59is something you just wouldn't get anywhere else.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02I've just been sat up in one of the alleys between allotments,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05drinking coffee and eating plums straight off a tree,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07and just gassing, you know?
0:11:07 > 0:11:10It crosses, you know, international borders
0:11:10 > 0:11:12and age barriers, really, so if there's a party,
0:11:12 > 0:11:17then the old guys will turn up with their damson wine, things like that.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20THEY CHATTER AND LAUGH
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Why I've become a gardener is because of my mum,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26my sister and my granny, really.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29My mum and my nan both kept gardens and did the gardening.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31My mum's got a big veg garden,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34and my sister and I, as soon as we could hold things,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38were given spades, trowels, etc. I ring them up. They're my oracles.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41"It's died! What do I do about this?"
0:11:43 > 0:11:47'Today there are women in every field of professional horticulture -
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'businesswomen, designers, plant experts
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'and hands-on nurserywomen like me -
0:11:53 > 0:11:56'who are making a living from growing their own plants.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00'To me, they're as much pioneers as their historical predecessors,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03'and I wonder if they feel the same.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:07'I've come to meet my fellow- nurserywoman, Marina Christopher,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11'who runs her six-acre nursery in Hampshire singlehanded.'
0:12:11 > 0:12:13I have to say,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16I haven't really considered me being a woman in the business.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19I just get on with it. Yep.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22I've been working on a smallholding since I was 15,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26and we all picked up the bags of potatoes.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28We all picked up the vegetables. Yeah.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31And, um, it didn't make any difference
0:12:31 > 0:12:34whether I was male or female. I was expected to do it.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37So, um, no. I've always done it.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39And also I'm a much faster digger than most,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41cos I'm nearer the ground! THEY LAUGH
0:12:41 > 0:12:45Marina started her career as a botanist,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and that's determined the way she runs her nursery.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52In the early days, that approach put her right ahead of the field.
0:12:54 > 0:13:00I tend to look at plants with their aspects to insects,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04so, in fact, the naturalistic, um, gardening, um,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08thing that's been going through has been excellent for me,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10cos it's allowed me to use the wild flowers.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14I started off with a wildflower nursery for insects,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17and, um, having, um, naturalistic planting
0:13:17 > 0:13:20has allowed me to use plants that I used to be told,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22"Oh, that's just a weed."
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Cos you really do believe in going with the flow, don't you?
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Yes. Yes. No, I'm ahead of the flow. THEY LAUGH
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And it's not just been her passion for wild flowers
0:13:34 > 0:13:36that makes Marina a pioneer.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38She's used her scientific background
0:13:38 > 0:13:41to develop her own propagation techniques.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44'In some ways I think I'm liberated,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47'because I haven't done a horticultural course,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49'but what I do do is observe,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52'and I'm used to experimenting in the field,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55'so I actually do quite a lot of things that aren't in books,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57'and it works for me.'
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Marina and I both have our own techniques,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04but what we share is the same passion for plants.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06You nurture your plants, don't you? You love them.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10I'm not good at throwing things away that I should throw away, maybe.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12THEY LAUGH But, um, yes.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15No, it is. I mean, they're my little babies,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17and I want them to go to a good home. Yeah.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22Whereas I think maybe men are a little bit more hard and commercial about it. Yeah.
0:14:22 > 0:14:23Have you ever refused anybody a plant
0:14:23 > 0:14:26because you knew that they wouldn't look after it?
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Yes. Yeah. I have, too. THEY LAUGH
0:14:29 > 0:14:32Thanks, Carol. Still to come,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35wild flowers, winter gardens, and even worms.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40But first, we look at a subject that leaves even the experts confused.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Our next W is for weeds - but what is a weed?
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Chris Collins is in search of an answer.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Richard Mabey has been writing about wild plants and weeds
0:14:51 > 0:14:54for the last 30 years.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Well, there have been masses of definitions.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00In America, a weed is defined as any wild plant
0:15:00 > 0:15:03which grows six inches above the ground in anyone's garden,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and it's illegal. Somebody,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08an American writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10said a weed is simply a plant
0:15:10 > 0:15:13for which a use has not yet been discovered.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15THEY LAUGH
0:15:15 > 0:15:20The most popular one is that a weed is a plant in the wrong place,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24but that means somebody's got to decide what the right place is.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26'Keen to show me an example of the difference
0:15:26 > 0:15:28'between a right place and a wrong place,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31'Richard took me to the ruins of the 12th-century abbey
0:15:31 > 0:15:33'at Bury St Edmunds.'
0:15:33 > 0:15:36There's a very graphic illustration
0:15:36 > 0:15:39of the extent to which there are minute differences
0:15:39 > 0:15:42in what can be the right and wrong place for a plant.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Here we've got aubrietia, which for a start,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47is in the wrong place in two ways.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50It's a native wildflower of Southern Europe,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53brought into this country as a rockery plant,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55has escaped onto the walls of the abbey,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59where it's tolerated only if it's about five feet above the ground.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01And if you come down here,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05there the aubrietia has been the subject of weed-killer spray.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08It injects so much subjective opinion into it.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12I mean, some people, if they get bluebells in their garden, which...
0:16:12 > 0:16:15you know, wild bluebells coming in from the outside,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18regard them as a weed, because they should stay in the woods
0:16:18 > 0:16:20where they belong,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and conservationists regard the Spanish bluebell,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26a bigger, more aggressive sort that people grow in their gardens -
0:16:26 > 0:16:28when that gets out, gets into woods
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and hybridises with the English bluebell, that's a weed,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36so there's enormous kinds of social and convention,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39and even fashion, which come into this definition.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Thanks for that. Now let's hook up with Joe Swift,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46who's found a fellow allotmenteer
0:16:46 > 0:16:48with some good weed-clearing techniques.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Now, if you want to know about getting rid of weeds,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54the thing to do is look for a plot where there aren't any -
0:16:54 > 0:16:56like this one.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Andrew? Hello. Hoeing away beautifully.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Look at that! You've got a great little hoeing technique going there.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06And that just kills all the annual weeds on the top, doesn't it?
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Yes, it does. And on a hot day like this, it's perfect.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Perfect, cos it dries up the roots of the weed and they just die.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16And if they don't, I come along and hoe 'em again.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18THEY LAUGH
0:17:18 > 0:17:20But you've laid the whole bed out
0:17:20 > 0:17:24with the intention of getting a hoe between the rows. That's right, yes.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28Imagine six inches. The hoe's four inches,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30and it'll go through it easy,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34without touching the onions or whatever that's growing there.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36So you've measured them out exactly. Yeah.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Never let them seed. No. Never let them grow too big
0:17:40 > 0:17:45that they are uncontrollable, ie, if you understand what I mean
0:17:45 > 0:17:48by the next-door neighbour's allotment.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Well, I didn't want to say anything.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Does it cause any antagonism on the site itself?
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Um... BOTH: Yes.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58THEY LAUGH Nice to meet you!
0:17:58 > 0:17:59THEY LAUGH
0:17:59 > 0:18:01You've missed one over there, though!
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Andrew's trick is simple and effective
0:18:06 > 0:18:09for areas where you're growing crops, but for uncultivated areas,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13cover with black plastic to smother any developing weeds.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Nettles and brambles are the usual suspects you have to confront
0:18:19 > 0:18:23when you take on a new plot. It's the same approach to both.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Cut them back with a brush-cutter,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and then dig out the roots with a fork.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32You've got a lovely plot here, Carol, I have to say. Beautiful!
0:18:32 > 0:18:36A few weeds. Dandelions are your problem here, aren't they?
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Yeah. We, um, get rid of them, really.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42We put a plastic bag over the top. Oh, suffocate 'em?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Well, not suffocate them,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47but stop the seeds from flying all over your plot
0:18:47 > 0:18:50and sprinkling all over. They come up like little babies.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53And then dig 'em up? Now we just get the fork...
0:18:53 > 0:18:58and we go in. Got to go deep. CRACKLING
0:18:58 > 0:19:01And you hear that cracking? Yeah, you can hear it,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03really hear the roots of that.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05You can never really get all the roots out,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and as you can see... You've broken a bit off, yeah.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12So that will come back next year as a big dandelion.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16The only way of really, really keeping on top of it
0:19:16 > 0:19:19is to dig it out. Next year you're going to come and dig it out again.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Yeah. And it's just a never-ending process.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Just like weeds, our next pick is not everyone's favourite,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37but they're absolutely essential in all gardens,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41because W is for worms. They're only small,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44but they're hugely important. Let's find out why.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Most of us wouldn't give earthworms a second glance.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52But not Emma Sherlock! Earthworms are her passion.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55You see, Emma is curator of worms
0:19:55 > 0:19:58at the Natural History Museum in London.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Not only that, she's president of the Earthworm Society of Britain.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07As Emma is about to reveal, there's far more to the humble earthworm
0:20:07 > 0:20:10than first meets the eye.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Most people think we've only got one species of earthworm in the UK,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18but that's really not true.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21We actually have about 27 different species.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25We've got stumpy green ones, and they're bright green,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28stripy ones... These ones, when they stretch out,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31you'll really see the stripes on them.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33We call them tiger worms, because of the stripes.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36We've got pink ones, we've got grey ones,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40we've got ones with black heads. We've got deep-red ones.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Some are really large, sort of 30 centimetres in length,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47right down to some adults being just a few centimetres.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49So massive diversity.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Surprisingly, scientists like Emma know very little
0:20:52 > 0:20:55about the distribution of these different earthworm species.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00Sampling the worms in your garden can help fill in these gaps.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The best way to sample earthworms, really,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05is just to dig a hole in the ground.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08So I generally dig around a plot,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12pull out the square I've dug, and then just go through it
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and try and see how many earthworms are in here.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19'And in a plot this size, potentially it could be 50, 100,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22'maybe even, if it was a really, really rich patch,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24'maybe even up to 200 earthworms.'
0:21:24 > 0:21:27So, in an area the size of a football field,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31you could get maybe as many as two million earthworms.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38All gardeners know that earthworms are really good for the soil,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40but the reason that is
0:21:40 > 0:21:43is because they are burrowing down into the soil.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46They're letting air in, letting carbon dioxide out.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Earthworms are the recyclers of the planet.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52They are breaking down all the organic rubbish
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and releasing all those nutrients back into the soil
0:21:55 > 0:21:57to be used again by the plants.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02Without earthworms in our soils, life would pretty quickly dry up.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Earthworms aren't just good for the soil.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Their juicy, muscular bodies are perfect food
0:22:09 > 0:22:12for lots of other wildlife. CHICKS CHIRRUP HUNGRILY
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Birds just can't resist them.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Badgers gorge on them.
0:22:19 > 0:22:2360 percent of their diet is made up of worms.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28And moles? Well, they can eat 50 grams of worms a day.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32It does seem they get rather picked on by other animals.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38One neat little trick I'm going to share with you
0:22:38 > 0:22:41is something to actually get the deep-burrowing earthworms
0:22:41 > 0:22:44to the surface without the heavy digging.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And that's this.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50What I've done here is mix mustard powder with water,
0:22:50 > 0:22:55maybe around two tablespoons per litre-and-a-half bottle.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57And then pour it on the ground.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02What this technique does is, it just irritates the worms slightly
0:23:02 > 0:23:05so they come up to the surface.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Earthworm behaviour is also fascinating,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10not least the way they reproduce.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13I'll let Emma explain.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15Earthworms are hermaphrodites,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17so that means they have male and female parts,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21but they still sexually reproduce. So they find another earthworm,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25kind of glue themselves together, pass each other sperm,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and then, when they've broken off, they then each produce a cocoon
0:23:29 > 0:23:32which then sits in the soil until the conditions are right,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and then the babies emerge.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41'I love earthworms because they're so amazingly important
0:23:41 > 0:23:44'for our soils, they're such fascinating animals,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46'and when you actually start to look at them,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49'it's amazing, the diversity and variety of them -
0:23:49 > 0:23:53'the sizes, the colours, the different jobs that they all do.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57'And yet no-one's out there looking at them.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59'And they're working so hard under our feet.'
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I hope you see them in a different light now.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12And almost with the same enthusiasm as Emma
0:24:12 > 0:24:15are two competitors who have only 30 minutes
0:24:15 > 0:24:18to make what is our next pick.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20This W is for "window boxes",
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and here's Toby Buckland and Joe Swift.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Bring it on, eh? A 30-minute fix.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28The idea behind it is to spend a little time this weekend
0:24:28 > 0:24:31to create something for your garden that will last for a season or two,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33bring it to life. And the challenge facing me and Joe
0:24:33 > 0:24:37is to create two window boxes that will survive without water
0:24:37 > 0:24:40while you're away on holiday. So, I've got my timer.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43There's an honest gentleman in the audience there.
0:24:43 > 0:24:4530 minutes on the clock, please, sir.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Have we started? Yeah. We're underway. We're off!
0:24:48 > 0:24:52My whole window box is called "A Month in Provence".
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Pretentious, eh? All right, then, you know - "Two Weeks in Bognor".
0:24:55 > 0:24:57THEY LAUGH
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Mine is called "A Trip to the Curry House".
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Last night I went out and I got myself a Tindaloo and a Vindaloo
0:25:02 > 0:25:04in these boxes, and these are going to form a sump
0:25:04 > 0:25:09in the bottom of a wooden window box that'll hold moisture, and...
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Oh, it's going to be brilliant, and the planting will be gorgeous.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Now, what you really need is a little bit of preparation, Toby!
0:25:15 > 0:25:18A bit of a template. Ah!
0:25:18 > 0:25:20BOTH: Ah!
0:25:20 > 0:25:23You've learnt your lesson, then, Joe. A bit of a template.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Right. I feel like my kit is coming together now.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I'm going to start assembling my window box.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47So, that's looking all right. That's looking OK.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Nice and solid, and reasonably square.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54But the clever bit of my planter is, as I say, these curry tubs.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Now, to make these into a sump for the plants,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01what I'm going to do is just use a craft knife...
0:26:01 > 0:26:03You got to be careful with these, of course.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06But just to cut a little circle out of the centre...
0:26:07 > 0:26:11..like that. Don't have to be too fussy. It just wants to be the size
0:26:11 > 0:26:14of a little bit of pipe like that, cos that's what you're going to use
0:26:14 > 0:26:17to get your water down into the sump.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Now, what I'm doing to make my self-watering system
0:26:20 > 0:26:23is to stuff a bit of this cleaning cloth,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27a nice, soft, water-absorbent cloth, down in beside my tube.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30And that means when the Tupperware tub's filled with water,
0:26:30 > 0:26:32this cleaning cloth will act like a wick,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35taking moisture back up to the roots of the plant
0:26:35 > 0:26:37so they don't dry out.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45I've gone for all succulent plants, right,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47cos these literally will need very little watering.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50This is a beautiful succulent, Duddleya.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54It's from round here, Dudley! This is one of my favourites, Echeveria,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58or as someone who used to work for me called it, "Etchy-veria".
0:26:58 > 0:27:03And this has got fantastic flowers, as well, orange and pink.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Not normally a colour combination I like,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08but actually looks amazing and works beautifully.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11I've gone for a bit of taste, a bit of colour coordination.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14I've got trailing pink mini pelargoniums,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18and then this beautiful flower, Pelargonium sidoides.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Dark purple. How sumptuous and how rich,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22and lovely against the silver foliage
0:27:22 > 0:27:26that it's got on its own leaves and against the grasses at the back.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30BELL RINGING Oh, there goes the bell, Joe!
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Yep. I'm done. Step away from the planters.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Let's tidy the bench. ALL LAUGH
0:27:35 > 0:27:37APPLAUSE
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Thank you very much.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43The big thing is, who out of me and Swiftie
0:27:43 > 0:27:45has won this plant-tastic competition?
0:27:45 > 0:27:48You got Joe Swift's... Well, explain it yourself. Sell it.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51This will not need any watering at all.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54You go away, you come back, it will be absolutely beautiful.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Toby, explain your way. Apart from the curry,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59which cost a tenner, my window box came for free.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02It's got lots of plants you can take cuttings of.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05It's going to last and last. Put your picture of the person
0:28:05 > 0:28:08you think who deserves to win this competition in the air.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12Oh! Oh, my God!
0:28:12 > 0:28:14How many were there? 50? Yeah.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17There were 50, thrifty Swiftie. TOBY LAUGHS
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Joe, I'll leave you to tidy up. That's what the loser has to do.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Nice one. Take care, mate.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Now we're finding pleasure at an unexpected time of year.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Everyone's familiar with the delights that gardens provide
0:28:30 > 0:28:34in spring and summer, but let's join Carol Klein,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38because she's looking at W for "winter gardens".
0:28:48 > 0:28:51This can be a really gloomy time of the year.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Sometimes you don't even feel like venturing outside.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58But in actual fact, there are some plants which excel
0:28:58 > 0:29:02at just this time of year. They really come into their own.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05And Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire
0:29:05 > 0:29:08boasts one of the finest winter gardens in the country.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14'The winter garden is long and narrow,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18'but snaking through it is this winding path,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21'and at every twist and turn,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24'there's something new and exciting to see -
0:29:24 > 0:29:27'beautiful coloured stems and glorious bark.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32'The garden has only been created for 13 years,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36'but already it's been a resounding success.'
0:29:38 > 0:29:42The winter garden relies for its dramatic effect
0:29:42 > 0:29:45on the impact of these big blocks of plants,
0:29:45 > 0:29:49lots of them, and wonderful combinations between the blocks.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54But the point is that anybody could steal any of those ideas,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58scale them down and take them home to their own gardens,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00whatever their size.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09When you think of winter colour,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13you usually associate it with something sort of macho,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16dramatic, stark.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19But you come round here and the opposite is true!
0:30:19 > 0:30:23The whole place is fluffy and feminine.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27It's absolutely lovely, all this blossom burgeoning,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29and it's very, very soft,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32and that softness is taken up
0:30:32 > 0:30:35by these gorgeous mounds of this Euonymus.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37And whoever planted this lot
0:30:37 > 0:30:40is definitely in touch with their feminine side.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Richard Todd's been head gardener here
0:30:46 > 0:30:52for the last 11 years, and is pivotal to the garden's development.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55That looks like a really satisfying job, Richard.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57It certainly is. Can I give you a hand?
0:30:57 > 0:30:59Do you want some secateurs? Here we go.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03This is a Salix alba vitellina.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Vitellina? They call it the egg-yolk willow...
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Yeah. Very aptly named, too. ..cos it's a lovely yellow.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12How often do you do this? Because those two over there
0:31:12 > 0:31:15are much, much more vivid than these. Yeah. They were done last year,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18and you always get the best colour on year-one growth
0:31:18 > 0:31:21with anything like salix and cornus. Right.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24These are two year olds, so you can see they're slightly duller.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26Yeah. So, anything you're growing for its stems,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29that colour's brighter and much more vivid
0:31:29 > 0:31:31if you keep on top of it.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34In the first year, much brighter. That's what we're looking for now.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37We want to aim for next year, bright colours in the winter,
0:31:37 > 0:31:39but you got to do it now.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00This birch grove has to be one of the most iconic pieces
0:32:00 > 0:32:02of this whole winter garden, isn't it?
0:32:02 > 0:32:07It definitely is. For everybody, it's the climax of a fantastic walk.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11Yeah. It is just so... It's so magical
0:32:11 > 0:32:13when you come round that corner and see it for the first time.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16It's out of this world. And you just gasp and have to say,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19"Wow, what have I come to? Is it Narnia?"
0:32:19 > 0:32:22THEY LAUGH I mean, they look incredibly natural.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24I love the way they're swaying in the wind.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27In the summer, we want shafts of light coming through here.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29It's very important to pick out the stems,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31and so there's a bit of tweaking from time to time.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33So the odd one or two will come out,
0:32:33 > 0:32:35and that's how you carry on with the garden.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38You keep saying, "What's the effect we're looking for?"
0:32:38 > 0:32:42"What do I change?" So not just a gardener, but an artist.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Absolutely. I'll tell you what, it's really paid off.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Definitely. It's a pleasure to me every day.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I suppose you tend to think of garden visiting
0:33:12 > 0:33:15as being a sort of summertime occupation.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20But visiting this garden has just been such an experience.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24There's so much to see, all these wonderful twigs and barks,
0:33:24 > 0:33:29and the whole place pervaded by this glorious perfume.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33I really think it's inspirational.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Thanks, Carol! Now we're joining Toby Buckland again
0:33:44 > 0:33:47because we're starting a particular type of garden space from scratch.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51This W is for "woodland glade".
0:33:51 > 0:33:54The little area I'm working on has quite a woodland feel.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58It's quite romantic. When you're trying to bring out that romanticism,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02you need natural materials. You can't get much more natural than this -
0:34:02 > 0:34:05timbers cut from trees, sourced from the tree surgeon
0:34:05 > 0:34:07and from the hedges here at Berryfields.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I'm going to use this timber to mark out paths and beds,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13putting the paths where the worst of the soil is,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16and then using the timber to make a little raised bed,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19to make the soil deeper for the plants' roots.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22No woodland glade is complete without plants,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25and I've got some fantastic beauties that will bring this area to life
0:34:25 > 0:34:28for every season.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41I love setting out the plants. It brings the whole area to life.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43Just moving them round, trying to match them
0:34:43 > 0:34:46according to their colour and their foliage texture,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49make them stand out. I could take hours over this.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53When it comes to setting out your plants,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57there's no right or wrong way. I tend to set out the evergreens first.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00These are the ones that are going to define the shape
0:35:00 > 0:35:03of the beds and borders in the winter as well as in the summer.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06One of my favourites is this, the old foam flower.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10I can't understand why more people don't grow this in their gardens.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12It's such a little trooper.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14It survives in the most inclement conditions,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17in sun and partial shade, spreading gently
0:35:17 > 0:35:19so there's plenty to propagate, and looking good
0:35:19 > 0:35:22even just as a green carpet through the autumn, into the winter,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25and then again in spring.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Another easy evergreen is this, the heuchera.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31This is a classic variety called Plum Pudding,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33with leaves the colour of crushed berries.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Delicious-looking thing.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40Now to set them in the soil.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43I'm starting with Dicentra formosa.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45It's a lovely little woodland plant, this.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50Well-watered pot, as you can see. And the reason why I like this plant
0:35:50 > 0:35:53is that it dies down at an odd time of year,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55right at the height of summer.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58So the leaves come up beautiful silver in the spring,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01followed by these dainty pink flowers,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04and then the whole thing disappears, goes to ground,
0:36:04 > 0:36:06until the following winter.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09And that gives the whole of your garden a kind of dynamism
0:36:09 > 0:36:12that it wouldn't otherwise have - things coming and going,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14a succession, as we gardeners call it.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17It's what woodland gardening's all about.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20And to succeed from this, I've got this plant, Astrantia major.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24You wouldn't believe it, looking at it, but that's in the carrot family,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28an umbellifer. And it's as tough as those hedgerow carrot cousins,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30the cow parsleys.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34Flowers from midsummer right through to the autumn,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36a real long-flowering stalwart of your borders.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Another cracking combination...
0:36:40 > 0:36:43You got the lovely stipa foliage, bronzy and green,
0:36:43 > 0:36:47and that looks beautiful next to this sultry dark purple
0:36:47 > 0:36:52of actaea Pink Spike. It's called bugbane, this one.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54I've also got some shrubs here -
0:36:54 > 0:36:58Hydrangea quercifolia for autumn colour against the conifer,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02and climbers, as well, that are going to provide autumn interest.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04Clematis, lovely flowers,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07and also a lovely honeysuckle.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Don't feel you have to plant in threes and fives.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14I don't. What I do for a sophisticated look,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18whether it's in the long borders or in a woodland glade like this,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21is echo the planting scheme either side of paths.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25It just seems to give the planting more impact.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Another combination I'm delighted with
0:37:27 > 0:37:30is the heuchera, Plum Pudding, and this little epimedium.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33It's called "x versicolor Sulphureum",
0:37:33 > 0:37:36but don't let that put you off. It's a delicious plant.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40I fell in love with it when I was the supervisor of the woodland section
0:37:40 > 0:37:42at the University of Cambridge botanic garden.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46There it forms sheets, down in their woodland garden,
0:37:46 > 0:37:49with camassias and summer bulbs pushing through the foliage in summer
0:37:49 > 0:37:53and then, in spring, daffodils and bluebells.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56And despite its delicate looks, it is an easy woodland plant,
0:37:56 > 0:38:00and slug resistant, too. Well, that's the planting done.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Now for the final flourish.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Doesn't the woodchip look nice? I got this from a tree surgeon.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36The type to always go for is the composted stuff,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38because it doesn't rob your soil of nutrients,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42and it beds down and also looks more natural more quickly.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45My final job is watering the plants in,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48but I'm delighted with this little garden.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51It can happily fit in one of those difficult-to-plant places,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55in a town or a city. But here at Berryfields,
0:38:55 > 0:39:00it chimes in quite nicely with the naturalistic planting of this area.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05It's the start of something new, something good.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12And we're almost at the end of today's programme,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14but not without a show of flowers,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18because this W is for "the wonderful world of wild flowers".
0:39:20 > 0:39:22Brian Herrick has been developing the gardens
0:39:22 > 0:39:25and sustainable farmland at Barcroft Hall in Somerset
0:39:25 > 0:39:28for the last ten years.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32And in 2010, an opportunity arose to diversify his range of crops
0:39:32 > 0:39:34even further.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37This was an area of land that we'd recently acquired,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40which was in a bit of a state,
0:39:40 > 0:39:42and then after we cultivated it,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45we were just about to put in some normal arable crops,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47but it demanded more than that.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49And what we then decided to do, my wife and I,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52was to put it down to wild flowers.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55The plan was to create a wildflower meadow
0:39:55 > 0:39:58that people could come and visit,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00so a variety of annuals from all around the world
0:40:00 > 0:40:03were planted in huge swathes.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07It was never our intention to just have indigenous flowers.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10We wanted to show diversity.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13I worked very closely with a butterfly expert,
0:40:13 > 0:40:17and together we chose the right species of plants to put in,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20not only to give the right colour and the right attraction
0:40:20 > 0:40:23to insect life, but also for the longevity of the plants
0:40:23 > 0:40:27and to make sure we had the right plants coming up at the right time.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29A couple of weeks into the flowering,
0:40:29 > 0:40:31it just looked like an Impressionist painting,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34and now it's gone into a different phase entirely.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37We're seeing more yellows, we're seeing more whites
0:40:37 > 0:40:39and splatterings of blues coming through,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41and it's an annual wildflower,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44so we're seeing its birth and its death.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53I suppose, if you're a purist gardener,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55you'd think, "I'd never put that colour with that colour,"
0:40:55 > 0:40:58but it really does work, and everybody's really enjoyed it.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00There's some favourites of different people here.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03There's some favourites of the children, of course,
0:41:03 > 0:41:05and they're looking at a much lower level,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07looking at the sort of rose mallows here.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11And of course they love all the corncockles, the chamomile,
0:41:11 > 0:41:13and they certainly love the cornflowers.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16But the adults have got a different taste altogether.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20They're more into the poppies and the little red scarlet flax here,
0:41:20 > 0:41:22which is actually my favourite,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25and the Cape daisy which we've got here.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28It's not just flowers in here. We really wanted that connection
0:41:28 > 0:41:30between farming and what we've done here.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32We didn't want to be seen just as the flower farmer,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35so whilst all this was going on and we were sowing all this,
0:41:35 > 0:41:37we also came out with our bags of barley,
0:41:37 > 0:41:42our bags of wheat, and we sway the wheat and the barley around here.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44And it really does work well, because there's just barley here,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and it's looking lovely within the flowers.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Loads of people have asked us, "How do we do it on a smaller scale?"
0:41:53 > 0:41:56And you can easily do it. The first thing is,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59you're either going to sow it in an area which is already grassed,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02or you're going to sow it on an area which is already cultivated.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Either way, it's got to be clean. Either clear the grass away
0:42:05 > 0:42:09or clear the weeds away, and there's several methods for doing that.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11The first and easiest method, obviously,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15would be to use a proprietary herbicide with a sprayer,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18or you can use black plastic to cover the grass,
0:42:18 > 0:42:20or, indeed, newspaper with a mulch on top.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23When the light doesn't get to the grass, the grass will die,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25and then you can cultivate it later on.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31If you don't want to cover in black plastic or in newspaper,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33and you don't want to spray it, there is only one method,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37and that's to use good old elbow grease and dig off the turf.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41So, it's March, April time,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44and we're going to cultivate the soil as best we can
0:42:44 > 0:42:46and get it down to a lovely fine tilth
0:42:46 > 0:42:49ready for the broadcasting and distribution of the seed.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51We're going to broadcast it in a density
0:42:51 > 0:42:54of about three, maybe four grams per square metre.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57And after we've done all that, we're going to roller it in hard,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00or we're going to stamp it down with our feet,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04and then we just wait for the flowers to appear.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13I think next year we'll fundamentally do it the same
0:43:13 > 0:43:16if we can. We've learnt a lot. Everybody likes particular flowers,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19and they've said, "Oh, we'd like some more poppies."
0:43:19 > 0:43:23What we're trying to do is what our visitors have asked us to do,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26and, er, I think more poppies, certainly.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Really beautiful! And with that,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37we've reached the end of today's programme.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41Do join us next time on The A To Z Of TV Gardening. Goodbye!
0:43:47 > 0:43:51Subtitles by Ericsson