0:00:02 > 0:00:06Welcome to The A To Z Of TV Gardening, where we sift through your favourite gardening programmes
0:00:06 > 0:00:08and dig up a bumper crop of tips and advice
0:00:08 > 0:00:11from the best experts in the business.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Flowers, trees, fruit and veg.
0:00:14 > 0:00:15Letter by letter,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19they're all coming up a treat on The A To Z Of TV Gardening.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Everything we're looking at today begins with the letter... J.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45We start today with a journey into the wild.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47Get your safari suits ready.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Because J is for jungle gardening.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54Let's meet our guides Rob and Dave, aka The J Team.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03We're at Desert Jungle HQ in Taunton.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Which is our little exotic plant centre that Rob and I have created here over the last three years.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14We lived beside each other and we didn't speak to each other
0:01:14 > 0:01:17for the first four years after I moved in.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Cos I was a milkman and worked unsocial hours.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23And then suddenly noticed our gardens were beginning to merge.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25- I had bananas, he had bananas. - Yeah.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30One night there was a power cut and our neighbours had an Aga and it was the only place anyone could eat.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33- And erm... - So we all met up over stew and...
0:01:33 > 0:01:36And our lives have never been the same since!
0:01:36 > 0:01:39- And our wives rue the day we ever met, I think.- Definitely!
0:01:41 > 0:01:45You can have an exotic garden with totally hardy plants.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48You can put down a membrane, you can bark over the top.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51There's no weeding. Or you can use the really difficult stuff
0:01:51 > 0:01:53which gives a different dimension to your exotic garden.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56But does incorporate a bit more work.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59You've got to be prepared to be sitting at work on a December evening.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Weather forecast comes out there's a frost. Thinking, I've got to get home really fast!
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Get the fleece out, cover up the tree fern, the banana or whatever.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10That's just you. Most normal people don't!
0:02:13 > 0:02:16We've got a huge range of plants, far more than we thought we would.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20We specialise in bamboos, tree ferns, palm trees.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Cannas and aroids.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24We do a lot of cacti and succulents.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29We've probably got the best part of 1,000 different things, I suppose.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36One of my loves is bamboo. I think they're fabulous plants.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Evergreen, and the colour range on them is just fabulous.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42You get this delicious yellow colour on some of them.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46There's a bamboo for every garden. Some of them can be quite thuggish.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49This one here for example is beautiful but it's big.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52They work great in a jungle garden as a really good foil.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54It just gives you that evergreen structure.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58So in the winter there's always interest in the garden with bamboos.
0:02:58 > 0:02:59It's just the ultimate plant.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05This is my tree fern house.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It's my favourite place on the entire nursery.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11This is possibly the most special of all of them.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Certainly my favourite one. It's Cyathea medularris from New Zealand.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Or it's called the mamaku.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And it's immense, it'll grow 60 feet tall.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23What I think is incredible, you've got this frond coming up here
0:03:23 > 0:03:25that over a period of weeks just grows and grows.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27It's going to get this huge frond at the end of it.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30And it's just an incredible marvel of engineering
0:03:30 > 0:03:33how something, this little fist of frond,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35can turn into this great big thing above my head here.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40If you can get hold of a small medularris and love it, look after it,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43it'll be possibly the best plant in the garden.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Certainly the best plant in mine.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Now, we all know the majority of plants love a bit of warmth.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53But there are a few who can't wait to get a bit of fresh air.
0:03:53 > 0:03:59So let's get our gear ready because up next we're abseil planting.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02J is for juniper, a tree that loves a bit of altitude
0:04:02 > 0:04:05as Juliet Morris finds out.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09These hardy folk are part of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust project.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Around 3,000 juniper seedlings have been planted already,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and today the team will be looking to plant about 100.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19But getting to the site is a bit of a hike.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25This is Long Crag on the lower reaches of Helvellyn.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Even on a rather lovely day like today, this is hard terrain.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33But for these guys, whatever the weather, they've got no choice but to be out here planting
0:04:33 > 0:04:37because they've got to get the juniper seedlings in before the end of April.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48The common juniper is one of only three conifers native to the UK.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51In the old days, it was grown for its berries,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53which were used to flavour gin.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54But cheaper berries from abroad
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and changing agricultural practices here in Britain
0:04:57 > 0:05:00meant its numbers went into decline.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Since the 1970s, nearly half of all juniper has gone.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06And the species is now mostly found
0:05:06 > 0:05:10in remote upland areas of northern England and Scotland.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16So, Dave, these are obviously the junipers here.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18How old are these?
0:05:18 > 0:05:20These will probably be about three years old.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23That's how long it takes to take them from the seed at the nursery
0:05:23 > 0:05:27up to the stage where they're ready to plant out.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30So why is it important to try and preserve juniper,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34to try and re-establish the species in the way you're doing?
0:05:34 > 0:05:37I think any species is worth conserving in its own right.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42But obviously conservationists like to have a nice diverse range of species and habitat.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Bio diversity is what we're about trying to achieve.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The juniper has a real niche in the habitat here.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50It's very good for supporting various birds.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54The fruit, the seeds, provide food for passage migrants
0:05:54 > 0:05:56in the autumn/winter.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Things like red wing and fieldfare.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01In the breeding season it provides good breeding habitat
0:06:01 > 0:06:05for song thrushes, stonechats, windchats, that kind of thing.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Right, well, these guys
0:06:08 > 0:06:12have clearly got their work cut out so I'm going to give them a hand.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13All for the love of a juniper tree.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Andy, I have never abseiled before in my life.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20- And you're assuring me it's all right?- Absolutely, yeah.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Let's get the harness on you first.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Grab hold of that. Take your gloves off.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27These juniper trees had better know how much people care.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29So that goes round your waist.
0:06:29 > 0:06:30Before you do the buckle up,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32reach down between your knees and pull that.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35That was very polite! Between your knees.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37That is absolutely safe.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Am I going in the right direction?
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Now don't get your ropes mixed up.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Oh! Don't look down.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Never look down.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Yes!
0:07:10 > 0:07:11I've made it.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13- LAUGHS:- Oh!
0:07:15 > 0:07:17That's the practice run over.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Now it's time to do my bit for the juniper.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24So, what sort of a spot, Dave?
0:07:24 > 0:07:27I can see a ledge further down below.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29We can probably get on to that.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32We should be able to get some plants into there.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Oh! I'm not a great expert at this, I'm afraid.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38You're doing well for a beginner. You're doing OK.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41I'm amazed that they can grow on something like this, to be honest.
0:07:41 > 0:07:48- It is amazing but the roots will go down into the rock cracks.- Right.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51And then they get their moisture from there.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53And, hopefully, they'll survive.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58We probably only get two or three out of about ten that we plant.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Oh, really? So...
0:08:01 > 0:08:02Two or three is better than none
0:08:02 > 0:08:06and I challenge any sheep to try and get round here!
0:08:06 > 0:08:08That's it.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11So, spots that have got heather presumably are a good find?
0:08:11 > 0:08:15That means there's education there, and some soil and things like that.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20- So, I reckon I can fit one in this...- One more plant.
0:08:20 > 0:08:21In this little crag.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Little crevice, even.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27- What do you reckon, will he be all right in there?- That'll be OK.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Put the soil back again.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32- You did very well. - Grow, junipers, grow!
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Though not all of these seedlings will reach maturity,
0:08:36 > 0:08:41enough of them should survive to ensure that this ancient and important plant
0:08:41 > 0:08:45is part of the British landscape for centuries to come.