0:00:02 > 0:00:04Hello and welcome to The A To Z Of TV Gardening.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06We're on a mission to dig up the best advice and guidance
0:00:06 > 0:00:09from all your favourite programmes and presenters.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13So join me as letter after letter, one by one,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17we explore everything from flowers and trees to fruit and veg.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Everything we're looking at today begins with the letter H.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43And we start with a flower that has a wide range of colours,
0:00:43 > 0:00:47a very distinctive scent and it can look great in a bouquet.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49This H is for hyacinths.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54'And we're off to Cambridge, home of the Hyacinth National Collection.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:07I think the thing that makes me a complete and utter hyacinth nut
0:01:07 > 0:01:10is the fact that every spring
0:01:10 > 0:01:12you see the first little coloured shoots
0:01:12 > 0:01:14appearing among the green
0:01:14 > 0:01:16and then two weeks later,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21the whole of the world round you seems blazing with colour.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35This is the little species hyacinth
0:01:35 > 0:01:39that grows in the wild in northern Iran and Iraq,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41brought over into Europe in 1573
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and all the varieties of hyacinths
0:01:44 > 0:01:46have been raised from this one species.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56My national collection at the moment comprises 170 varieties.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Some of them are fairly recent.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Some, in fact, are seedlings that I bred myself.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05But the most important ones are the very old varieties
0:02:05 > 0:02:10that were around in the catalogues perhaps 200 years ago
0:02:10 > 0:02:15that would otherwise, unless they were conserved, be lost for ever.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21Always the rarest category of hyacinths were the double yellows.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23I was under the impression
0:02:23 > 0:02:26that the last ones disappeared nearly 100 years ago,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29but lo and behold, when I got in touch with the lady in Lithuania,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32she'd got this beautiful sunflower
0:02:32 > 0:02:37and this itself dates from pre-1897.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41I think one of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen and extremely rare.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51This variety, Diana, is my own raising.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56It's taken me 12 years to get from one bulb to eight bulbs,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59so unfortunately, it will never go into production
0:02:59 > 0:03:01because it is very difficult to propagate.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Normally in the last weekend in March,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I open up the fields to the general public
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and they come along literally in their hundreds.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20And to move around amongst them, hearing the comments,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24the "ooohs" when they first smell the perfume,
0:03:24 > 0:03:29and to couple this with the fact that I'm saving things from extinction,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32is very, very rewarding.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Of course, to me, there is a great deal of irony in this
0:03:38 > 0:03:44because a number of years ago, I lost my sense of smell completely.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50But my memory does take me back to the days
0:03:50 > 0:03:52when I could smell them,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55particularly just before dusk
0:03:55 > 0:03:58on a lovely, warm day, working among the fields,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02completely immersed in this beautiful fragrance.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04It's an unforgettable memory
0:04:04 > 0:04:07that will live with me for the rest of my life.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13'So, for how to plant hyacinths, here's Monty Don.'
0:04:13 > 0:04:17The scent of hyacinths can be delicious but it also can be a little bit much,
0:04:17 > 0:04:21and I think one bowl in the room is enough and it's dead easy to do.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Get yourself a terracotta bulb pan.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Put a crock in the bottom to make sure the drainage is good.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Talking of drainage, it doesn't really matter what growing medium you use,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35because it's not providing nourishment for the hyacinth. That's all in the bulb.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38What it is providing is a rooting material
0:04:38 > 0:04:40and something that will retain moisture.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Now, this is Delft Blue.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46You can pack the bulbs in.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49I've got 12 and I'll get all 12 into this container.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51These have been prepared simply by chilling them,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54which tricks it that it's winter.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59If we just put a little bit of extra compost in between them
0:04:59 > 0:05:03and then water them lightly and put them into a cool, dark place.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05It doesn't have to be extra cold
0:05:05 > 0:05:09but it shouldn't be above ten degrees.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And just keep them lightly watered.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18And when you start to see the shoots appear...
0:05:19 > 0:05:23..about two or three inches long,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25then you can bring them into light.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29The bulb thinks it's spring, it puts on a spurt of growth,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31the flower bud develops quicker
0:05:31 > 0:05:33and then just at the point when it's ready to open,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36you bring it indoors and that extra heat
0:05:36 > 0:05:39will make the flower open faster and you'll pull out that lovely fragrance.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44Then when they've finished, put the whole pan outside and forget about it
0:05:44 > 0:05:47until the foliage has died down, then you can gather the bulbs,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50keep them for next year and plant them out into the garden.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Now we're looking at a feathered phenomenon
0:05:57 > 0:06:00that's hitting the world of gardening. This H is for hens.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03'And here's a man who couldn't be happier with his ones.'
0:06:03 > 0:06:06# I'm singing boom, chick-chick, cluck-cluck-clucking
0:06:06 > 0:06:08# All day long, don't you know?
0:06:08 > 0:06:11# Yeah, don't you know?
0:06:11 > 0:06:13# I'm singing boom, chick-chick, cluck-cluck-clucking
0:06:13 > 0:06:15# All day long, don't you know?
0:06:15 > 0:06:17# Yeah, don't you know?
0:06:17 > 0:06:21# Now, sometimes you give me loving and sometimes you give me dough #
0:06:25 > 0:06:27As far as chicken-keeping goes with me,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30it started as a hobby when I was ten years of age.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32It became an occupation,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35I'm not going to say a great living,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39when 14, 15 years ago, I took two heart attacks with cardiac arrest.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43They actually gave me three months to live at one stage.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47And I just had to have something to do to keep me going.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49And in honesty, the chickens have kept me going.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54I have a great saying. "You don't have to live in the country
0:06:54 > 0:06:58"to follow a cottage economy."
0:06:58 > 0:07:01You can have a small garden,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04you can grow your veg and you can keep your poultry.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07The food miles - nil.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11No matter what colour chicken you choose, they're all green.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I'm old enough to remember when everybody had a vegetable garden
0:07:15 > 0:07:20and a pen of hens in the garden. The knowledge was passed over the hedges.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Everybody... I'm not saying they were experts,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25but they were knowledgeable poultry keepers.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27And consequently,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30- it's a thing we're losing. - CHICKEN CLUCKS
0:07:30 > 0:07:33- Oh, Flash. - HE LAUGHS
0:07:33 > 0:07:36# Everybody's talking about chicken
0:07:36 > 0:07:38# Chicken's a popular word
0:07:38 > 0:07:41# Everywhere you go you're bound to find
0:07:41 > 0:07:44# Chicken ain't nothing but a bird #
0:07:44 > 0:07:48The only thing you really need to keep a chicken happy
0:07:48 > 0:07:51is, I would say, water before food,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54because if they are ranging, they'll find a fair bit of food.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59But it'd be water, food and a small amount of grit.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03One of the things that people ask, "Are they going to wreck my garden when I get them home?"
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Chickens will wreck your garden if you don't use a bit a common sense.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12I think when you've got small seedlings, yes, they'll be tasty, so protect those.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14They clear up all the slugs in the garden.
0:08:14 > 0:08:20We also have the droppings, which we use as an accelerator on the compost.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I wish something had happened when I was 30
0:08:23 > 0:08:26to kick me into touch and make me do this.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28I've never been so happy in my life.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31I'm so content here.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34And in an evening, when everybody's gone home
0:08:34 > 0:08:36and I can get a pint of shandy
0:08:36 > 0:08:41and just sit down here and listen to the birds and look at the chickens,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45I am so delighted. There's nobody happier on this earth.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd