Letter G The A to Z of TV Gardening

Welcome to The A To Z Of TV Gardening.

We're on a mission to dig up the best advice and tips

from all your favourite TV garden programmes and presenters

so join me, as letter by letter, one by one,

we explore everything from flowers and trees to fruit and veg

on The A To Z Of TV Gardening.

Everything we're looking at today begins with the letter G.

Let's start with a flower that will flourish almost anywhere.

Carol Klein's been growing them for decades,

so get your notebooks ready - here's all you need to know.

Our first G is for geraniums.

I've been making the garden here at Glebe Cottage for more than 30 years

and during that time

there's one genus of plants that I've used constantly.

It's geraniums.

Within the garden there's all sorts of situations.

Some are hot and sun-baked and others are shady nooks.

You can find a geranium to suit every single situation.

Out here in the Brick Garden, amongst all these billowing plants,

Geranium pratense is in its element - it's in complete control.

Well, pratense means "of meadows"

and that's exactly the sort of place that this geranium loves to grow.

I suppose our beds and borders are really akin to an open meadow,

with lots of plants mingling together.

And this one can fend for itself.

It's always a big, vigorous sort of plant.

But within that vigour, there's such beautiful detail -

these lovely flowers, often with striations - little lines.

And on the back of it,

this beautiful star where the calyx has expanded

and now holds the petals.

And what wonderful mixtures it makes.

I don't know how it does it

because invariably it seems to seed itself in exactly the right place.

You get these associations you could never ever have dreamed of making yourself.

I love it with this brown blupleurum

and the colour is taken up within the geranium head

and then reflected again in this bronze fennel,

so you get this marriage of texture and colour and detail.

I couldn't have done it nearly as well.

Sometimes, though, I want to decide where my Geranium pratense are going

and the best way to do that is by growing it from seed.

Seed is produced from summer right through to the autumn.

Last year, I collected and stored some.

Now I'm sorting the seed from the chaff

and then sowing it thinly on gritty compost.

Covering it with grit and pressing it down firmly.

Then, after giving it a thorough watering,

popping the pot in a shady place.

And shade is exactly where Geranium nodosum wants to be.

It's a prolific self-seeder

but this time it puts itself about anywhere where there's shade -

underneath the trees and between shrubs,

that's where it's happiest.

And unlike most geraniums, it's evergreen,

so during the winter you've still got this glorious ground cover

and you get the benefit of rich autumn colour, too.

Well, out of the shade and into the sun.

This is Geranium sanguineum

and the species is a native plant and it occurs in really sunny places

and often in thin, chalky soils

and sometimes in pure sand.

And because it thrives on poverty, it makes it an excellent candidate

for growing in a pot.

And it has several sort of strategies to ensure its survival

in these really very inhospitable kind of places.

First of all, it's got these very finely divided leaves

which means it doesn't lose much moisture.

And it has two sorts of roots.

It has fine, fibrous roots like most geraniums

but it's also got these thick, chunky roots

which enable it to store water in times of drought

and, as gardeners, it also enables us to propagate it from root cuttings.

Whether your plant is in the ground or in a pot,

first, expose some chunky roots.

Break off several lengths.

You can feel the nodules where shoots will develop all along the roots.

Slice them into pieces a few centimetres long

and, crucially, lay them horizontally on the surface of gritty compost,

so they're in intimate contact with it.

Weight them down with grit.

Root cuttings will work for all forms of Geranium sanguineum.

Let me introduce you to what's possibly my favourite geranium.

It's Geranium psilostemon

and it's probably the most versatile of a multi-talented troupe of plants.

It'll grow practically anywhere. It loves full sun.

It will grow in a bit of shade. It's happy wherever you put it

and it's even happy in heavy clay soil,

which is just what it's growing in here.

Now, 15 or 16 months ago, I stripped these borders

and took everything out of here

and there were just three or four clumps of Geranium psilostemon.

I divided them up using back-to-back forks and made loads of plants

and replanted a lot of them.

And just look at them now.

They look as though they've been here forever

and how beautifully they combine with all these other plants in here.

They're happy neighbours.

And when you look at the plant itself,

with these dramatic palmate leaves,

lovely red stems and these gorgeous flowers,

sizzling magenta and set off with these very dramatic black eyes,

the whole thing is irresistible.

And whether it's Geranium psilostemon

or any of the other members of this marvellous family,

it's a real privilege to grow them.

What an amazing garden.

But there's barely time to draw breath now

because up next is a fruit that comes with the advice

"treat them mean, keep them keen."

This G is for gooseberries

and Monty Don is showing some tough love.

Now is the perfect time to plant gooseberries, redcurrants,

blackcurrants, white currants.

And I've got here some cordon gooseberries.

I love gooseberries

but I know a lot of people feel you need a lot of space to grow them

but if you grow them as cordons, you can grow them in a foot-wide strip

against a fence and they're perfect.

And a cordon is simply a bush that has been trained onto just one stem

and all the side shoots are cut off.

And you keep it pruned so it can grow as high as it likes

but never gets any wider,

so it's perfect for growing in a small space.

And I'm going to put a line of gooseberries along the back here.

And gooseberries are tough plants. You just chuck them in the ground.

In fact, I remember one old boy years ago

when I said that I was having trouble with gooseberries,

that they were getting mould and sawfly,

and he said, "The secret is give them a hard time.

"Treat 'em rough, boy," he said, "treat 'em rough."

And it works, you know? So there's no extra manure in here.

Just pop them in the ground

and if you've got a fire, particularly a wood fire,

put the ashes on them in April or a potash feed, perhaps, in spring

and that's all they need.

And the spacing for cordons is about one foot apart,

so really quite close together.

And just dig it out.

You notice I've got them in a bucket of water.

Really important with all bare-root plants

never to let them dry out, not even for half a minute.

You can see that's a really good root system on this plant.

It's only a small shoot coming off it but powerful roots

and in the end, that's what you're buying.

Good roots and you'll always have a good plant.

And the whole point about gooseberries is that you can eat them like grapes,

you can make jam with them, you can make pies with them,

you can stew them - there's lots of different ways

and also they will fruit at different times,

so that they're very, very versatile.

A lovely fruit to grow and not enough people do.

And I will mulch these to keep the weeds down but not to feed them.

The bamboo cane has to stay on.

In fact, these are too short. I want a longer cane, which I will attach.

And also they will need some kind of prop as they grow,

just some wire to stop them flapping around in the wind.

But all that can be done later.

What matters at this time of year is to get them in the ground

and then once you've planted them, just give them a little prune.

And the great thing about gooseberries is they're tough -

if you can grow a bramble, you can grow a gooseberry.

And anyway, we'll be revisiting these regularly throughout the season.

Thanks, Monty. Now, a gooseberry is of course a berry -

the clue's in the name -

and we're staying with a berry for this next topic,

although you may not realise it is one.

This letter G is for grape and grapevines.

Now, one thing about grapes is, they need plenty of sunshine.

Get enough of that and a wonderful wine is perfectly possible,

as Julia Bradbury's been finding out.

With vineyards stretching as far as the eye can see,

you could be forgiven for thinking

I'm on the slopes of the Champagne region in France.

Mais non, mon ami!

I'm actually in Surrey, just over the way from Matt on Box Hill,

exploring an English vineyard.

Now, there was a time when English wine struggled to make its mark,

with a less than sparkling reputation,

but that is no longer the case.

Right now, I'm told, our home-grown grapes can challenge

some of the best of our Continental cousins',

at least when it comes to fizz.

And this isn't the first time our vineyards have wowed the world.

I'm at Painshill Park, where a restoration project has brought back to life

one of the most successful vineyards of the 18th century.

You don't expect to come across this off a roundabout on the A3.

It was one of the best in the country in its heyday.

The vineyard and the gardens around it were the vision

of Charles Hamilton,

a chap who, like many young aristocrats, spent time in his youth

on a Grand Tour of Europe.

And like many, he sampled his fair share of grape and grain on his travels.

On his return, he created this rather grand, meandering garden

with the feature vineyard, inspired by his times abroad.

It must have been one heck of a gap year.

Now English vineyards are producing wines that are recognised worldwide.

That's my cue to leave one of England's oldest vineyards

and go to one of our largest.

Just a few weeks ago, an English rose beat wine rivals from across the globe

to become the only pink wine to win a gold medal

in the International Wine Challenge

and the grapes came from here.

The English wine revival is in full swing

but why have we got it so right now?

Vineyard manager Sue Osgood spills the secrets.

-Sue, hello.

-Hello.

So tell me, what is the secret of your great grapes?

-Award-winning grapes!

-Award-winning grapes!

I think picking them at the right time,

enough sunshine to make them sweet enough to make good wine

and a very good winemaker, as well.

If you had to define the difference between English sparkling wine and champagne,

what would you say?

I think the difference for us

I think there's more fruit flavours in our wine.

There's less in champagne.

They're more... They're very dry, usually,

slightly more acidic, I would say, than ours.

And it seems the French are developing a taste for our sparkling wine, too.

With land in the Champagne region becoming increasingly scarce,

they're looking to vineyards like this one in Surrey as an alternative.

So what is it about this part of the country

that lends itself to such a fruity drop of fizz?

I'm off to meet a man for whom wine is a way of life

and there's nothing he doesn't know about posh plonk.

We're just like Champagne, here.

You know, Champagne vineyards, northern France,

-king of sparklers, let's be honest.

-Mm.

What you've got here, everything's very, very similar.

We've got the same climate - look around us, chilly, northerly, OK?

The soil's just the same.

The famous chalk soils in Champagne dip under the channel,

emerge in the south of England and here we are,

White Cliffs of Dover.

And then the grapes are the same -

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier.

Bingo. Same winemaking method, so, yeah.

For me, English sparkling wine is - I don't know - it's the ultimate champagne lookalike.

We've had flowers, edibles and drinkables

but there's something missing.

In fact, some would argue a great British garden isn't complete

without one or two lying around.

We're ending today with G for gnomes.

And let's meet a man whose off-duty mission

is to provide a haven for the gnome who is homeless.

I'm Robert Chambers, chairman of Essex Police Authority,

and I have the only gnome sanctuary in the world.

I can't take this seriously!

A gnome sanctuary is a place for poor and distressed gnomes.

It is here for people who, if for one reason or another,

they can't keep their gnomes or their gnomes are in poor repair

and need a good home, then they seem to send them here.

The most important gnome is the welcoming gnome,

so that when you open the gate and you walk up the drive,

you have nice gnome looking at you with a big smile on his face

saying, "Hi, Robert, nice to see you home.

"I hope you have a good evening."

# I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do

# About you... #

It's that sort of attitude that gnomes have.

Well, of course, gnomes go back centuries

and they were there originally to keep off evil spirits and witches

and I hope now there aren't too many evil spirits or witches about but...

Well done, Kate, well done, Kate. I'm getting cold sitting here now.

No, I can't have a cup of coffee because...

You can. It's cold out here.

Kate, my wife, is not really a gnome lover

but I think over the years she's grown to become very fond of them.

When a new gnome arrives

then obviously I have to look to see where I'm going to put it

because it's very important that with the gnome sanctuary

that they all get on with one another.

And occasionally you do find that they have a slight fight.

They've knocked one another over overnight

and so perhaps you have to reposition them then

so they're in with a gnome that's more friendly,

although they do tend to live together quite well.

HE LAUGHS

Compose yourself, Chambers!

Well, very often they are in a poor state of repair.

They do need to be painted,

they do need more of the tender, loving care that is necessary

to look after them.

And obviously during the winter, they go through harsh times just like we do,

so they need to be constantly maintained

to ensure that they are looked after well.

My colleagues at work probably look at me and think,

"I wonder why he's got the position that he has

"and has a gnome sanctuary as well?"

But life - and life is quite short, anyway...

I'm a great believer in that you should have a serious side to life,

where you have to make difficult decisions

but you need to have a light-hearted side, too,

so they look at it on the light-hearted side

and are too polite to tell me

even if they think I'm completely off my head.

# Sitting in a garden In a little Noddy suit

# With a sparrow on me fishing rod... #

I don't think I've got any grumpy gnomes.

I think perhaps their expression changes

from when they leave some of their owners and come here.

Some of their owners that don't like gnomes, they've thrown them out

or decide that they'll send them here

and by the time they get here, they have a nice smiley face.

They do tend to come in waves

and if there is anybody who's watching this programme

who wants to send their gnome to a gnome sanctuary

for whatever reason - moving house or whether you're getting elderly

and can't look after those gnomes -

and then, of course, I would be delighted to entertain them.

What a great way to end today's programme.

I hope you can join us next time for another A To Z Of TV Gardening.

Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd