0:00:02 > 0:00:04Hello and welcome to The A To Z Of TV Gardening
0:00:04 > 0:00:06where we sift through all your favourite garden programmes
0:00:06 > 0:00:11and dig up a bumper crop of tips and advice from the best experts in the business.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Flowers, trees, fruit and veg,
0:00:14 > 0:00:19letter by letter, they are all coming up a treat on The A To Z Of TV Gardening.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Everything we're looking at today begins with the letter...
0:00:39 > 0:00:40Here's what's coming up...
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Joe Swift looks up at a vertical garden in Paris.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46No-one just walks straight past here.
0:00:46 > 0:00:52Everyone look up at it, stops, takes photos, cars almost crash into each other out here,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55it's a really major talking point of the city.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Kate Humble is on the spice trail for vanilla.
0:00:58 > 0:00:59Oh, my goodness!
0:00:59 > 0:01:03I just had no idea it was going to look like that.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07It looks like a mad, primeval vine.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11And Alys Fowler meets the queen of vegetable growing.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15If you have a patch of red lettuce and then a patch of green lettuce, you get that quilted effect,
0:01:15 > 0:01:18I love it, I'm just a sucker for making a vegetable garden look pretty.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Just some of the treats we have in store,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25but first we look at a flower that drove the Victorians wild.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29They would pin them to coats and dresses, make perfume
0:01:29 > 0:01:30and even cook with them.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Our first V is of course for Violets.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Devon's famed for its rolling moorland,
0:01:45 > 0:01:46its romantic fishing villages
0:01:46 > 0:01:49and of course its cream teas.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And gardeners have long flocked here to take advantage of the mild climate
0:01:52 > 0:01:55in the lush, wooded valleys.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58And if there's one plant that's particularly associated with Devon
0:01:58 > 0:02:01it must surely be the humble violet.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04It's hard to believe that at the turn of the 1900s
0:02:04 > 0:02:07there was a train that travelled daily from the Southwest
0:02:07 > 0:02:10up to the fashionable markets of London,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13carrying its valuable cargo of violets.
0:02:16 > 0:02:23At the Devon Violet Nursery, Joan Yardley tends the National Collection of Viola odorata.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Tell me about how the collection got started.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Well, we came down here about seven years ago.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33With a name like Devon Violet Nursery,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35I kept saying, "Well, where are all the violets?"
0:02:35 > 0:02:38And there was quite a bit of arm-waving going on,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40sort of down the garden, down the field,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42and we never did find them.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45But one Sunday morning, I was clearing out behind the greenhouse
0:02:45 > 0:02:48and found about half a dozen quite old-looking, wizened plants,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51and I thought, "I bet these are the violets!"
0:02:51 > 0:02:54But they didn't have any perfume at all.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58And I thought, "Well, I want violets that smell like violets!"
0:03:08 > 0:03:12You've got a wide range of violets here. How many different cultivars do you have?
0:03:13 > 0:03:19About...130...something.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22- You're not quite sure? - Not quite sure, no. - Expanding all the time?
0:03:22 > 0:03:26No, no, they...I've just brought about 12 back from Italy,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30so, I mean, you're collecting the whole time. It's amazing where you find them.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Which ones would you particularly recommend as being very floriferous and very fragrant?
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Well, mainly the odoratas are fragrant.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Pamela Zambra is a very good grower.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45This was named after the daughter of the Zambra family
0:03:45 > 0:03:49who used to have the violet nursery over at Windward at Holcombe.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53But, you know, violets do possess this substance called ionine
0:03:53 > 0:03:59which anaesthetises your ability to smell,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02it somehow affects your power to smell them,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05so you can smell them once and then the perfume will disappear,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08only to come back and you smell them again.
0:04:08 > 0:04:14And, of course, it isn't the violet that changes, it's your nose that loses the ability to smell them.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33Well, of course, the violet heyday was really in the sort of 1920s, 1930s,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37when it was popular with the Queen, for instance,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Queen Mary, Queen Victoria, both of those Queens it was said to be their favourite flower.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47And they were present at the funerals, at the weddings,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51they were a very important flower in those days.
0:04:56 > 0:05:02They were associated with death, they were associated with romance, all sorts of things.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06The old ladies send me letters saying, "I can remember when I was a young bride in the war,
0:05:06 > 0:05:12"the war years, and I only had two nights with my husband before he went off to war," sort of thing,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15and I have a bunch of violets that I have preserved all this time.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19There have always been violets in our history,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21whether it's our country, whether it's in Europe,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25whether... It's just such an important flower.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29And so it's very, very sad that it's sort of had its heyday
0:05:29 > 0:05:33and really not come through again, so we're hoping to alter that.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Which form in particular do you think is going to start the violet revolution?
0:05:39 > 0:05:44Oh, gosh! That's a difficult question, isn't it, with over 100 to choose from!
0:05:44 > 0:05:49I guess I'd come back to the sort of Devon violet, you know, the purple violet.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Of all the orders that I get in, you can bet your bottom dollar,
0:05:52 > 0:05:58it's always got an odorata, just the sweet violet, as we call it, the sweet violet.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03People that used to come down here on holiday always used to go home with a little scent bottle
0:06:03 > 0:06:07smelling of Devon violets and their little purple plants.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09I mean, that is Devon violets, isn't it?
0:06:16 > 0:06:22Violets belong to the family of flowers called Viola, along with fellow family member the pansy.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27They are both easy to plant and propagate as Toby Buckland explains.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30By a country mile the best bedding plants
0:06:30 > 0:06:33for this time of year are violas and pansies.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38You can tell the difference because the violas have small flowers, and the pansies large,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43but, in truth, so many species have gone into breeding these new varieties
0:06:43 > 0:06:45that the genetics is a real old hotchpotch.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49At this time of year, you can pick up a pack of these for about £2.50,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51which is, I think, a reasonable price for six plants.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53But you can propagate from them too.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57You might think, "Why would I want to propagate these?"
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Well, for starters, propagating plants at home is a good habit to have,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03because you never know when you might need an extra plant or two.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06And with winter-flowering pansies and violas
0:07:06 > 0:07:09that could be because one of them fails in a pot,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14but also because the garden centres tend to buy them in different ranges,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17so you can go in there one week, pick up one type,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20then go in the next, and they're no longer there!
0:07:20 > 0:07:23And having a back-up plan is always a good thing.
0:07:23 > 0:07:29When it comes to taking cuttings of violas, look for non-flowering shoots.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32That's easier said than done on a plant as floriferous as this,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36so what I'm going to do is snip out the shoot from near the base,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38just below a bud...
0:07:39 > 0:07:43..and then pinch off the flowers to give me a non-flowering shoot.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49And you want your cuttings to be two to three inches long.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52So we move all the leaves up from the stem,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56and then any little tassely bits that stick out from the side...
0:07:56 > 0:07:58because these attract rots.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03Then, using a pencil dibber, make a hole in some cuttings compost
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and just pop the cutting in
0:08:05 > 0:08:08so its leaves sit proud of the surface.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The edge is always the best place to pop a cutting, because it's more free-draining, there's more air.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17And it's not just moisture and compost that the cuttings need to root, air is essential.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Once they're in the pot, water them in...
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Just a quick drink to make the compost nice and moist.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43Then what I do is put in a stick and that keeps the sides of my mini polytunnel,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46or plastic bag, off the foliage.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Put this under your potting bench or somewhere warm and shady
0:08:49 > 0:08:51and the leaves will start to grow away.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55At which point you can pot them on and they'll be ready for planting out early in the new year.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01We haven't always used bedding plants in our gardens.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04It was a fashion started in an era we've already mentioned today.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Our next V is for Victorian gardens.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11So many of our gardening practices were started then.
0:09:11 > 0:09:18Here's Alan Titchmarsh showing just how much our ancestors liked to put on a show.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21The Victorians were masters of display.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26And what they wanted in their conservatories was impact.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28They wanted you to walk in,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32escape the worries of the world and be faced with a display
0:09:32 > 0:09:35that would quite simple in Victorian terms "knock your socks off".
0:09:35 > 0:09:38You know, we're quite staid nowadays in what we do.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41We have staging in our greenhouses like this,
0:09:41 > 0:09:46and we arrange our plants on them, generally tallest at the back, shortest at the front,
0:09:46 > 0:09:51and, although it's pretty, it's a mere shadow of what the Victorians did.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57And the way they did it was incredibly simple but hugely effective.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07I just think in a modern home, when there's precious little foliage,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11how nice it is to have a bank of colour to look at.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13It is ridiculously simple.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Flowerpots upended, supporting these boards.
0:10:18 > 0:10:25But suddenly, from being quite flat, this will lift the display and give it much more impact.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Geraniums, or pelargoniums as they're properly known,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37were absolute stalwarts of the Victorian conservatory.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43Both the zonal kind and these regals here.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48And they loved their colourful foliage.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53This is irisene with its bloodstained leaves.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55And a lot of these would have been temporary,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58a dailier in the pot that could go in while it was doing well
0:10:58 > 0:11:00and before it got too big.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04Fuchsias, they absolutely adored.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10What they hadn't got were lovely things like the Cape figwort, Phygelius,
0:11:10 > 0:11:17which has got much more popular in a much greater variety recently.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Along the front, things like Begonia rex
0:11:22 > 0:11:25enjoying the shadows down the front.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28The trick of this kind of staging
0:11:28 > 0:11:34is to make sure that each row masks the pots of the row behind it,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38and that way, in this day and age, it doesn't matter if you've got plastic pots,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41even if they're black because they sink into the shadows,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45as long as the ones along the front here that you do see are terracotta.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51And that really rather flat display that was has suddenly become...
0:11:51 > 0:11:53a bank of colour!
0:11:53 > 0:11:58And if your guests when they walk round the corner and see that, don't go, "Wow!"...
0:11:58 > 0:12:00I'm a Dutchman.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08On to our next pick now, and we're dealing with displays that defy gravity.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11This V is for Vertical gardens.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Let's join Joe Swift in Paris.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27All over Paris, strange botanical growths have been climbing up
0:12:27 > 0:12:31concrete surfaces, turning architecture green
0:12:31 > 0:12:33in the most unlikely places.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01These stunning spectacles
0:13:01 > 0:13:02are "mur vegetal",
0:13:02 > 0:13:08created by Europe's extraordinary pioneer in vertical gardening, Patrick Blanc,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13who may be getting as close as anyone to a modern-day hanging garden of Babylon!
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Patrick Blanc is leading the fashion in greening architecture,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21creating what he calls mur vegetal or living walls.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26I'm here at the Musee du Quai Branly on the banks of the River Seine in central Paris.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29It's in sight of Paris's most famous landmark,
0:13:29 > 0:13:34and, in fact, it's becoming quite a famous landmark itself, and quite rightly so!
0:13:36 > 0:13:41Patrick Blanc was commissioned to create this vertical garden on the street side of the museum
0:13:41 > 0:13:43in 2004.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48So it's really pretty established now and what strikes me immediately
0:13:48 > 0:13:52is it's taken on a life of its own. It dangles right out over your head
0:13:52 > 0:13:55as if you really are in a tropical rainforest or something.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59With the irrigation system dripping down on you, it feels more like that.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04It's a natural habitat now, and I've seen birds nesting in there, you know,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07bringing in little twigs to make a nest with.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10But no-one seems to mind, it's great... Look, there's one just going in there now!
0:14:10 > 0:14:16It's wonderful, there are buddleias, valerians, you've got heuchera,
0:14:16 > 0:14:22and then you get these windows, cut around these windows, so you get this nice clean bit of architecture,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26and also the reaction of everybody that walks past. No-one just walks straight pass here.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31Everyone look up at it, stops, takes photos, cars almost crash into each other out here,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35it's a really major talking point of the city.
0:14:36 > 0:14:42Patrick Blanc's first inspiration was the large tropical aquarium he saw in his doctor's surgery
0:14:42 > 0:14:44when he was just a little boy.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48And so my bedroom was invaded by aquariums
0:14:48 > 0:14:52and later by plants outside.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55First it was like a aquarium, but there were only plants inside,
0:14:55 > 0:15:00and later more and more plants, even at the ceiling,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03I had ferns coming from the ceiling,
0:15:03 > 0:15:08and also very quickly I had, when I was maybe 15, something like that, some lizards
0:15:08 > 0:15:11living inside the plants,
0:15:11 > 0:15:17and after there were also some frogs, living, hidden in the leaves of the plants,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20so, you see, it was a kind of little jungle very quickly.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38This is Patrick's latest work.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42I'm at the Euro Alsace which is a mixed tenure development,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44there's businesses here and there's apartments here too,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and it's all set within the old railway HQ
0:15:47 > 0:15:49at the Gare de L'Este.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Now, the clever thing is that this was out in six months ago.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56The building site's still going on, as you can see, it's not finished at all,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58but the green wall is.
0:16:00 > 0:16:07So when the residents finally move in, the green wall will already be beautifully mature.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Euro Alsace is a very, very interesting project.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16First, it is the biggest I have done up to now in the world.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21It's very interesting, why? Because it's in the heart of old Paris,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24between the two railway stations, east and north railway stations.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28So it's totally urban, you have no gardens, you have nothing,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and it's a very small, very narrow street,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and I cover all the walls along this small street that's shaded...
0:16:35 > 0:16:40it's not a suitable place, but I try to prove that, no, for the plant it's OK,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42and they will thrive here.
0:16:42 > 0:16:48For me Euro Alsace is the most symbolic work you can do in the heart of old towns
0:16:48 > 0:16:52where you think it's impossible, impossible to have any piece of nature.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57This isn't just any old sort of bit of gardening, this is quite a serious construction here
0:16:57 > 0:17:02and engineering. This is a whole metal frame all along the wall,
0:17:02 > 0:17:07segments of frames that are separated away from the wall on these metal rods that are set into it
0:17:07 > 0:17:11to let air circulate behind it so that the wall itself doesn't get damp,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15and then on top of the frame are two layers of felt,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19and each individual plant is planted by hand into a little planting pocket,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23so you cut a split, put a plant in, and it just holds itself there,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27until it establishes its root system and clings on by itself.
0:17:28 > 0:17:29Thanks, Joe!
0:17:29 > 0:17:33And he'll be showing us how to create our own vertical garden later in the show.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38We also meet a vegetable-growing master and discover the birthplace of vanilla.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44But before all that, a flower that according to old folklore could turn your hair blond
0:17:44 > 0:17:48and whose seeds could get fish drunk, making them easier for poachers to catch.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51This V is for verbascums
0:17:51 > 0:17:57and here we're visiting Vic Johnstone and Claire Wilson who are on a quest to grow the very best.
0:18:03 > 0:18:09We first got involved when we saw wild hybrids
0:18:09 > 0:18:11growing in Kent,
0:18:11 > 0:18:17and we thought that it would be quite interesting to do some of our own hybridisation.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20It got us wondering,
0:18:20 > 0:18:26if you could get wonderful hybrids like that from the few British species that we've got,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31what could you do if you collected all the foreign ones together
0:18:31 > 0:18:35that might very well never meet in nature?
0:18:42 > 0:18:46The most important thing is to ensure that the plant is perennial.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49If it isn't perennial, we drop it,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53because the general public wants a plant
0:18:53 > 0:18:56that's going to survive longer than one year.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01And then we're obviously always looking for new and exciting colour breaks,
0:19:01 > 0:19:07because I think the standard hybrid verbascum until now
0:19:07 > 0:19:12has often been just perhaps slightly dreary.
0:19:20 > 0:19:28We are very interested in breeding more and more of the red terracotta, orangey tones,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31because this simply has not been done before.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Almost all of the wild verbascums are yellow flowered,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42but the idea of having red in a verbascum was intriguing.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Although we'd produced lots and lots of hybrids,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51they were mainly up until recently pastel colours.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54We tried an awful lot of different parents,
0:19:54 > 0:20:01and then quite by accident one day we spotted one coming into flower
0:20:01 > 0:20:03that was blood-red.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08We've called it Firedance,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and we're propagating large numbers of them here now.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15It's not on the market yet, but we hope that it will be.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Merlin is one of our favourites,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and it's got these lovely large
0:20:22 > 0:20:24pale purple flowers.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It is also very, very tough.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30We leave it out all winter and it survives pretty well.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39By far the most important pest of verbascums is the mullein moth.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43The moth comes along and lays its eggs in April,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and the caterpillars hatch in May,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and you have to catch them when they're very small,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55because if you let them get big they will defoliate a plant overnight.
0:20:55 > 0:21:01We spend an awful lot of time picking caterpillars off the plants.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15It certainly began as a hobby,
0:21:15 > 0:21:20but it quickly outgrew the back garden and we had to find a piece of land.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Now we've got about as many plants
0:21:23 > 0:21:25as we can possibly look after at one time.
0:21:30 > 0:21:36Now a spice that is so common these days that most of us have forgotten where it comes from,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38and even what it looks like in the wild.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Our next V is for Vanilla,
0:21:41 > 0:21:42and we're going abroad again,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46joining Kate Humble in Mexico as she enfolds the story
0:21:46 > 0:21:48of the very first vanilla growers.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53The Totanac farmed and cured vanilla
0:21:53 > 0:21:56as a medicine and a perfume for their temples.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02And Totanac cities like this were spread along the coast of Veracruz.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08One of the biggest was here in the very heart of the vanilla-growing area.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15This city El Tajin was once a major Totanac centre
0:22:15 > 0:22:18where vanilla would have been used as a currency.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21It had enormous value even back then
0:22:21 > 0:22:25largely because the Totanac believed it was sacred, and here's why...
0:22:25 > 0:22:29there once lived a princess called Morning Star,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32and she was so beautiful and pure of spirit,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36it was decreed that she should never be possessed by a mortal man.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Now, unfortunately, a young man named Running Deer ignored that decree,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45fell madly in love with her, and she clearly did with him, because they ran away together.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50The high priests were furious.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56They set off in hot pursuit and when they found them, they put them to death immediately.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00And on the spot where their blood was spilled, a plant grew up...
0:23:00 > 0:23:02you guessed it! A vanilla vine.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06And when the beans ripened, the scent was deemed to be so exquisite
0:23:06 > 0:23:11it could only be the embodiment of the pure spirit of the princess.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Don't forget that next time you're having a bowl of ice cream.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Just a few miles outside Papantla lie the lush tropical forests
0:23:25 > 0:23:27where vanilla still grows today.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29THEY SPEAK SPANISH
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Jose Luiz Hernandez has been growing vanilla all his life,
0:23:35 > 0:23:40and he's an enthusiast for the original Totanac ways of cultivating the spice.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47Oh, my goodness!
0:23:54 > 0:23:58I just had no idea it was going to look like that.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03It looks like a mad, primeval vine.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05It's amazing!
0:24:09 > 0:24:11These are the beans?
0:24:11 > 0:24:13HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And this is what it looks like...
0:24:17 > 0:24:20For hundreds of years, up until the 19th century,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24vanilla could only grow in this region, and here's the reason...
0:24:24 > 0:24:29one tiny little insect, unique to this part of the world.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35It's called the Melipona bee and it's the sole pollinator of the vanilla flower.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53So when the flower comes out,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58the little bee pollinates the flower and then the flower dies
0:24:58 > 0:25:00and the fruit begins to grow.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH Wow!
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Vanilla takes a very long time to grow.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11From the appearance of the first flower,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15to the harvest of the vanilla pod takes nine months.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I've arrived after the flowering season,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23so I'm not expecting to be able to see a vanilla flower.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Is that a flower about to come?
0:25:34 > 0:25:36HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:25:36 > 0:25:38But this is completely out of season.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48You Mexicans! You're so jolly!
0:25:48 > 0:25:50HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:25:57 > 0:25:59And you think it could flower tomorrow?
0:25:59 > 0:26:02HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH Will you call me?
0:26:02 > 0:26:05HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH Perfect, perfect!
0:26:05 > 0:26:08We might see a vanilla orchid! That would be amazing!
0:26:14 > 0:26:18I feel like I've had a morning of complete revelation.
0:26:19 > 0:26:26Who'd have guessed that it has to be pollinated by one particular tiny species of bee
0:26:26 > 0:26:28and only then can those beans grow?
0:26:28 > 0:26:31What is without doubt
0:26:31 > 0:26:35is that vanilla is definitely Mexican.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38In fact, it's definitely Totanac.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40It comes from this region,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43it is absolutely rooted here,
0:26:43 > 0:26:49and I feel that I have actually come to the very birthplace of vanilla.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Jose Luiz?
0:27:02 > 0:27:05THEY SPEAK SPANISH
0:27:09 > 0:27:12THEY SPEAK SPANISH
0:27:12 > 0:27:14It happened?
0:27:15 > 0:27:16This is so exciting!
0:27:17 > 0:27:20HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:27:20 > 0:27:22Oh, it's beautiful!
0:27:27 > 0:27:29It's just such an astonishing colour.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH It's like fresh!
0:27:33 > 0:27:34HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:27:34 > 0:27:40It's an extraordinary piece of luck to see a vanilla orchid bloom out of season.
0:27:41 > 0:27:47But if the secret to the success of growing vanilla lies with the little Melipona bee that only exists here,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50how did vanilla ever grow outside Mexico?
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Well, this chap is the reason.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57His name was Edmund Albius,
0:27:57 > 0:28:03and in 1841 he was a 12-year-old slave boy, living on an estate in Reunion,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07then a French colony in the Indian Ocean just off the coast of Madagascar.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Now at that time, his master, like so many others,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13was desperately trying to cultivate vanilla.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17The vines would grow beautifully in hot tropical climates like that,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22but what they couldn't get to happen was for them to flower on any regular basis.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Well, one day Edmund was wandering around his master's estate
0:28:25 > 0:28:28when he happened across a vanilla flower,
0:28:28 > 0:28:34and he discovered somehow that if he fiddled with it in a certain way, he could pollinate it.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37And it worked, it produced a bean.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40He managed to work out how to pollinate it.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44And this is how he did it.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48So are you going to pollinate this now? HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:28:48 > 0:28:53Jose Luiz uses a sliver of wood, just as Edmund Albius did
0:28:53 > 0:28:58to move a membrane aside before pollinating the plant.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Jose Luis brushes the pollen on the tip of the stick
0:29:04 > 0:29:07across the stigma to fertilise the flower.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26So what Jose has done is basically the work of the bee,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30and brought the male and female parts of the plant together,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32so it's now fertilised.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34I can't believe how lucky we've been.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36What a day!
0:29:36 > 0:29:38You're amazing!
0:29:38 > 0:29:40HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Discovering how to hand-pollinate vanilla was a major breakthrough,
0:29:45 > 0:29:50but it was the beginning of the end for Mexico's monopoly on the world supply of the spice.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58And we leap back to a slightly colder Britain,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02going from exotic vanilla to things that are still edible,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05but slightly more familiar and home-grown.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08Because V is for vegetables.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13Here's a star-struck Alys Fowler meeting her gardening heroine, Joy Larkcom.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18Meeting Joy Larkcom is the pinnacle of my career to date,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21because she is the best vegetable grower,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24and the idea that she's going to come and have a look at our vegetables
0:30:24 > 0:30:28and give us a master class on how to grow some of the things that she's introduced
0:30:28 > 0:30:30is just really very exciting.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33It's like being given a present, because this is one of the people
0:30:33 > 0:30:36that you most want to be able to say, "Why do you think this is happening?"
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and, "Do you think that's too close?" and "Have you ever done this?" and "What do you think of that?"
0:30:39 > 0:30:42and "Is this your best variety or do you think there's a better one?"
0:30:42 > 0:30:45So I get a whole day to pick her brain! It seems like heaven!
0:30:47 > 0:30:52I suppose one of my burning questions is how did you get into vegetables?
0:30:52 > 0:30:57Where does it start? Where does this lifelong, 40-year passion start?
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Well, I was a wartime baby,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04and I suppose it started with my dad coming back on leave during the war,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07and digging up the garden, as everybody did, digging for victory,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10and he used to give me the wireworms to take to the hens.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12I suppose that was my introduction.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16I have always grown things and I did horticulture at university,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20and really it wasn't until I got married and settled in the country and we had kids,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24that I really started growing again in earnest.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29One thing I really love about your books is that they're filled with this wonderful really good detail,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32but they really buck the trend. They seem to constantly say
0:31:32 > 0:31:35you don't have to do this unless, you know...kind of question things,
0:31:35 > 0:31:41and they seem so different from that very old-fashioned idea of straight rows and things like that,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44and I wondered was it easy to come in and do that
0:31:44 > 0:31:48or was there a lot of people going, "This isn't how you grow veg!"
0:31:48 > 0:31:50I think it was the ten-year gap that really helped,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54because, you know, you're indoctrinated at college and it was a very scientific course that I did,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58and you were just taught that you grow things in rows with a big space in between,
0:31:58 > 0:32:03and when you start growing, you think, why? You do start challenging things.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07I mean, there are cases for growing in straight lines, mainly onions and leeks, I think,
0:32:07 > 0:32:14- but I do love the idea of something just looser and more informal.- Yeah, I completely feel the same way.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18If you have a patch of red lettuce and then a patch of green lettuce, you get that quilted effect,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22I love it, I'm just a sucker for making a vegetable garden look pretty.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27And something like pumpkins which are one of those notoriously big things,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31I mean, is there any sort of way to kind of keep them in together?
0:32:31 > 0:32:33I've always trained my round and round in a tight circle,
0:32:33 > 0:32:37because so many people want to grow pumpkins, but of course it is a big, sprawly vegetable.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Well, I tried it last year, but I don't think I did it enough,
0:32:40 > 0:32:42and they all sort of spiralled off.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46You kind of always have to be doing it...nip out every morning...
0:32:46 > 0:32:47Right, I think that was maybe my...
0:32:47 > 0:32:51People think of pumpkin as being a huge wild sprawling thing, which it can be,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54but you can actually make them go into a very small circle.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58- Do you think we can rescue this one? - Yeah, I'm sure we can, yeah.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02- I mean, they could even go round the sweetcorn.- Yes, around the corn.
0:33:02 > 0:33:03Yeah. I mean, I would...
0:33:04 > 0:33:07So just take a tent peg
0:33:07 > 0:33:11- and just push it really right just over the stem like that.- OK.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14And it's always worth putting a stick in the middle,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18so that if it comes to watering, you actually know where the middle is.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22- That's my problem with my melons. I just can't find it...- You can't find the middle?- Chasing through it.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27- Good tip.- But the great thing about this also, if you get secondary roots coming out from the stem...
0:33:27 > 0:33:31- Oh, OK.- ..Taking more moisture and nutrition.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36- How tight can you go? Can you just sort of...? Within reason? - I do it as tight as I can.- Right.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40I must admit the only one I grow now is the Crown Prince.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Do you know that one, with the grey skin? It's not a huge one,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47- but it's...- Is it a good flavour? - Fantastic. It's so solid
0:33:47 > 0:33:52- and we roast them and make puddings and everything, but it keeps right through till June.- Right.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Yeah, I've just got Baby Bear here.
0:33:54 > 0:34:00Well, that's lovely, because it's a neat little one, you just put it in the oven and roast it quickly.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04- So June is a really good time, so you finish one and then practically start the next.- Exactly.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07- It's fantastic.- Good. I might try that, then.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10It's a good combination, isn't it?
0:34:10 > 0:34:14It's a fantastic combination, pumpkins and sweetcorn, it works so well.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17- So we need to pick some stuff for lunch.- OK.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21- But I also wanted to pick your brains about crop rotation.- Right.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24Because I suppose I feel...
0:34:24 > 0:34:26like...
0:34:26 > 0:34:30that... I don't know... I feel really frustrated about crop rotation,
0:34:30 > 0:34:33because I feel like I get myself tied up in knots,
0:34:33 > 0:34:37and I was wondering, I guess, how relevant you feel crop rotation is.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42I think it's one of those things that, if you can, it makes a lot of sense,
0:34:42 > 0:34:47because you do get a build-up of pests in the soil,
0:34:47 > 0:34:52so if you can avoid growing the same thing in the same place, it does make good sense.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54On the other hand, in a small garden, it's so impractical,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58because, you know, most pests will move from one bed to the next,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02so maybe mixing things up is a better way around it,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06- because then you don't get a build-up and so on.- Little bits here, there and everywhere.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11- I think, do it if you can, but don't be a slave to it, is what I would say.- Right.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15Great advice from a true gardening legend.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20And as we reach the end of today's programme we come back to vertical gardens.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23They're becoming more familiar sights in our towns and cities,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28and if you fancy building your own, just watch Joe Swift and Mark Gregory
0:35:28 > 0:35:31as they help Ben Mason make the most of his balcony.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33This is actually a communal space
0:35:33 > 0:35:37and each floor has its own communal sun deck like this.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40- So anybody from this floor...? - Anybody from this floor has a key, comes out here...
0:35:40 > 0:35:43on days unlike this, enjoys the sunshine...
0:35:43 > 0:35:45yeah, it's lovely.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47So it's very important to everybody?
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Yeah, I mean, it's really important for these blocks,
0:35:49 > 0:35:51right in the middle of town,
0:35:51 > 0:35:55there's no real outside space, you know, apart from this,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57- so it gets used a lot.- And you've got quite a lot of edibles here.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01- You've got herbs and your tomatoes...- This is where it all started for me, really.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03I kind of got into gardening through food.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Where do you go from here? What's the next stage?
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Well, that's quite a difficult one. Who knows?
0:36:08 > 0:36:13- So what about using some of this vertical space a bit more cleverly? - I think that would be a great idea.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17- Yeah?- Great.- When you can't go out any more, you go up!- Indeed! Good plan.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21So to challenge Ben to think vertically,
0:36:21 > 0:36:25I'm introducing him to a friend of mine who won a coveted RHS gold medal
0:36:25 > 0:36:27at this year's Chelsea Flower Show
0:36:27 > 0:36:29for demonstrating how the vertical approach
0:36:29 > 0:36:33can even relate to a small family garden.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35- Happiest Yorkshireman around.- Yeah?
0:36:35 > 0:36:37It's going to be a good day today.
0:36:37 > 0:36:43In fact, vertical gardening was generally all the rage at this year's show.
0:36:44 > 0:36:45This is Mark Gregory's vision
0:36:45 > 0:36:49on behalf of the Children's Society and it's incredibly practical,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52and, as you'd expect, environmentally tactful.
0:36:52 > 0:36:57There's somewhere to keep the bicycles and also, of course, somewhere to put the recycling bin.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59But it's that that catches my eye.
0:36:59 > 0:37:05It's a real theme this year, why simply grow along the ground when you can plant up the wall as well?
0:37:06 > 0:37:11So I thought he'd be the ideal gardener to come with a way of creating a vertical garden
0:37:11 > 0:37:13on a budget.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17- I'll give you hand.- It's great. It's a beautiful object in its own right, I think.- Yeah, it's lovely.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22And it isn't even planted yet. To explain how it works, run us through it.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24Well, my bookshelf system,
0:37:24 > 0:37:26basically I just wanted to do something
0:37:26 > 0:37:29that people can emulate and it's a kind of DIY...
0:37:29 > 0:37:31planting wall.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34Really, what I've used, I've just used this softwood deck boards,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37just standard deck boards you can get anywhere,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40- and we stained them just to make it last longer.- Yeah.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43It's got a ply back,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45and really it's just a series of compartments.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49And in fact they're louvered to hold the compost in,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52- so when it goes upright it won't all just fall out.- Exactly.
0:37:52 > 0:37:53Well, I'll leave you lot to it!
0:38:01 > 0:38:04So before we can plant up or even fill up with compost,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Mark has to drill holes for the irrigation pipes to pass through.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13He's chosen a simple drip-line system that can be found in any good garden centre.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Well, Mark, we've got an interesting intestinal system here.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22This is your irrigation. It's a bit Heath Robinson, isn't it? But will it work?
0:38:22 > 0:38:27The thing is with this kind of system, it does need water, it needs irrigation.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30And really what we've used is just this standard drip line,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34and the idea is that every pocket gets water.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Basically, underneath that comes out,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41- push your hosepipe on there...- And that fills it up from the bottom?
0:38:41 > 0:38:44It fills it up through this main pipe, and even the main pipe has got drippers.
0:38:44 > 0:38:50Basically the water kind of comes through and trickles down each section.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53But if you don't plug it into the hosepipe,
0:38:53 > 0:38:59you can use a watering can as well. A trickle-down effect, I think they call it in America.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03This is a belt-and-braces job, this. It's got everything.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07- This has got a hopper at the top where you can water it and put your feed in as well.- Of course.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09You've really got to treat it like a hanging basket.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11If you don't water your hanging basket daily, it'll just dry out.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16- So it's ready to go, yeah?- Ready to go.- We're going to put the compost in and plant it up.- Yeah. Great.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Oh, don't faff about doing that! This is the way to do it.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25I've played my joker definitely on this one.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31And like a hanging basket, we're using a good quality, moisture-retaining compost.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33So what's next, then, Mark?
0:39:33 > 0:39:36We're going to cover it with a geotextile which is this material.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38It seems a shame to cover it up, it's so beautiful!
0:39:38 > 0:39:43This basically will keep everything in and allow the water to come through it,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45but it won't allow the separation of the soil,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48so if you leave the water on, it's not going to collapse on you.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51- Straight forward to my finger.- Yeah.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Right, now we get creative with it, OK?
0:40:03 > 0:40:08- So I'm just going to draw a band through here...- Yeah.
0:40:09 > 0:40:15'Well, we did film a section where I revealed my fantastic Patrick Blanc inspired planting plan to the team,
0:40:15 > 0:40:22'but since I'd brought along a black pen to sketch it out on a piece of black geotextile...'
0:40:22 > 0:40:25- Are you going to give us a key to what goes where?- Yeah.
0:40:25 > 0:40:31'And since no-one paid any attention anyway, let's just move on to the bit where we start planting.'
0:40:32 > 0:40:35If it's tight, I can make a little cross in it.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40- That it?- Yeah, that's good, because all the roots are going to just knit together.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42And another one in there while you're at it.
0:40:47 > 0:40:53In essence, the secret of vertical gardening is to put your most drought-resistant, sun-loving plants
0:40:53 > 0:40:55up near the top,
0:40:55 > 0:41:00and your damply shade-tolerant lovers near the bottom where more of the water will collect.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06- Are you happy with the overall oomph?- I think the creative swathes are excellent.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09- You're a good director.- Excellent.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12We've got, like, the mints up here together,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15- and the strawberries coming through the middle.- Yeah.- It's looking good.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19- So are we going to put it in its final position?- I think we ought to.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22- What do you think, Mark?- Absolutely. Yeah, let's go for it.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24Let's have a little bit of a tidy-up and then we'll put it in.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33Patrick Blanc, eat your heart out, eh!
0:41:33 > 0:41:40We've included a variegated oregano, purple basil and thyme,
0:41:40 > 0:41:42to name just a few of the herbs.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Oh, and as I'm sure you all know,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47you can eat nasturtium leaves and the flowers.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51- OK, straight up.- Standing that up.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56Oh, trapped Joe behind!
0:41:57 > 0:42:00Put it down and then I'll get out and we'll walk it back.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03To me, to you, to me.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08How many gardeners does it take to make a herb garden?
0:42:09 > 0:42:11- Well, let's just take a look at it. - That's cool.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Right, stand back, have a look. Pat ourselves on the back.
0:42:23 > 0:42:24That's really cool, isn't it?
0:42:27 > 0:42:30- What do you think? - It's fantastic, isn't it?
0:42:30 > 0:42:33- Just amazing.- Look at that! It's beautiful.- It's cool.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35It is really, really cool.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39It's going to knit together really well. In the next two or three weeks, it's going to look fantastic.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41It just fits so well with all the stuff I had already,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45- you know, it's kind of like a carpet going up into a wall. - Yeah. I want one!
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Stay away from this one!
0:42:47 > 0:42:52But there's like 15, roughly, different varieties of herbs and stuff in there,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55without using any ground space at all. It's pretty clever.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00It's amazing, and so much for the residents here of the whole floor who can come out and enjoy it.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02- I think it's fantastic. - Yeah. Well done, Mark.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06- Good use of space.- It's worked. - It has worked.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10And with that bit of DIY, it's time to bring things to a close.
0:43:10 > 0:43:16Do join us for more planting tips on the next A To Z Of TV Gardening, but until then, goodbye.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd