02/08/2012 The Beechgrove Garden

Doesn't a blink of sun like this just lift the spirits?

It's helped when you're in a heavenly setting like this.

Isn't it gorgeous?

A beautiful stretch of water that is teeming with fish,

I know it is.

Green hills, rolling hills with cattle and sheep on them.

In the valleys, in the fertile ground,

you'll find these wonderful dairy cattle.

Further south, early potatoes are being dug as I speak.

Do you know where I am? Robert Burns?

Yes of course, I'm in Ayrshire and just down the road,

he spent six months learning flax dressing.

I've just passed a flax retting pond - that's not easy to say!

So here we are in Ayrshire and we're looking for a little hamlet,

a wee clachan of people who have a wonderful community spirit

and they're about to create a community garden.

We're going to be part of that.

Let's go down the road here to Barrmill.

The Barrmill area includes the villages of Greenhills and Burnhouse

as well as the surrounding countryside.

It has a current population of about 520

and it is affectionately known locally as The Barr.

The history of Barrmill village is tied up with the establishment

of a thriving thread mill in 1836

which produced mainly rope and sails for ships,

employing around 300 people from the local area.

Prior to this, the clachan consisted of only a few homes for farm labourers

in what was the rural backdrop to Beith, the nearest town.

Despite its tiny size, this community has big ideas

and has already been involved in community projects

throughout the extended area.

At the heart of village life is the community hall

which is much loved and very well used,

serving the social and recreational requirements of the community.

One of the many reasons Beechgrove came to Barrmill

was the warmth of the welcome we received

and the good ladies of Barrmill are feeding everybody

that comes to help in the community garden

with their wonderful home baking.

Oh, don't mind if I do, thank you.

This is the site for the new garden, just behind the community hall,

extending right along this stretch of the Vale Burn.

The new garden will be called the Vale View Garden.

Only a few months ago, this entire area was dense woodland,

full of brambles and rubbish that no-one could get into.

Now, thanks to the community,

everyone can have access to what is turning out to be a lovely site

and soon-to-be garden.

There is still much work to be done and all the gardens this year

are being supported by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland

and Greenbelt Group, and both these groups

are supporting community initiatives like this throughout Scotland.

Well, we're at the start of this wonderful woodland walk

that the local folks are making here.

It's quite open here but if you want to know more about a thing,

the best person to find is the boss.

Jean, you're the boss?

-Yes, I'm Jean Gilbert, I've been chairperson for 18 years.

-Really?

So where does the motivation come from for this?

The motivation came from the action plan

and this was one of the main projects.

Have you got plenty of people involved?

We could always do with more, we always need more!

-But they've done a fantastic job so far.

-Oh, absolutely.

I'm in the middle section and this is slightly more enclosed

with lovely trees, it's like a woodland glade.

It's a first for us that our project managers are husband and wife.

It's Paul and Joyce. What made you get involved?

We're actually quite local, just over there, looking into the park.

We saw a bit of activity one Saturday so we went over to the hall

to find out what it was and we got roped in by Jean Gilbert.

Once you met Jean, that was it!

What do you hope to get out of the project?

Paul and I have a couple of dogs and we spend a lot of time over here,

it's a lovely peaceful area and we hope to open it up

so the rest of the community can enjoy it.

There's quite a bit of seating further along

so people can sit and enjoy the burn.

You hope a lot of the people from the community will use it?

Hopefully more people can enjoy it and love it as much as we do.

We're now at the lowest part of the garden

and I'm with Jeremy Needham, the garden designer of this project.

This is the first time you've done a community garden for Beechgrove,

so, quite a challenge?

It was, it was very overgrown, virtually inaccessible.

The site was very badly drained.

You have a plan behind your back there and this helps us

because what did the community ask you to do, what was your brief?

It's a very long and narrow strip of land

so what I thought was best to do was to try and design a garden

that related to what was already here.

The area that we're standing on at the moment is the boggy area

right at the bottom of the garden

so we have created a bog garden and we have put this deck down,

this boardwalk, to make it accessible to everybody.

You've got a lovely nice curvy path there, really attractive.

That is at the upper end of the garden

and this is where we come into the garden

and the idea is that the path follows the meander of the stream as do the borders.

The planting here, the emphasis is on baceous perennials

and we also have lots of fruiting trees and fruiting shrubs

which is again something that the community really wanted to include.

It looks smashing.

Most of the hard landscaping is completed here in the garden.

A lot of materials have come from the local quarry.

Carole is off to see the garden of the ex-manager of the quarry,

Billy Edmonds.

Carole, I moved here in 1948.

It was just a bare field here.

So, absolutely nothing, you started this from scratch?

Over the years I have built fences, wee walls, done everything.

-Put in the trees?

-All the trees here were planted years ago.

You're obviously very handy?

I'm a cabinet maker and joiner to trade.

Over the years I have shown all the work

I have done in here is through my joinery work and different things.

Does that mean the community have been using you as well?

In Barrmill I made the benches, the walks and different things, the boardwalk.

We always try to do things to a very high standard.

I can tell that because I think everything is absolutely immaculate.

A garden is shown off by really neat edges to the lawn.

Bedding plants look really colourful

but a little bit disappointing this year?

Yes, the wet weather hasn't helped things

but things are looking better today since the rain has gone off.

You've got the formality that side, this is a little bit more informal.

Yes, this is just from seed this year.

I can see one or two slug pellets there!

I like the rings, where have they come from?

That is from the quarry, rings that were used for the crushers.

Lots of lovely features and apart from the ornamental side,

you've got the veg, too?

Yes, I like the garden, I like doing my veg and my tatties.

Let's go and have a look at the tatties.

Which variety of tatty do you grow?

I always grow epicures.

And they do well for you?

Yes, I get them up early

and then you have no slugs or anything with them at that time.

It is quite a good potato, one of my favourites.

You've got your grate ready.

This grate is 100 years old.

I have a new one but I never use it but this is a very handy grate

and I've got used to it.

You feel comfortable with it.

If I hold on to it here, let's see what we're going to get.

Look at the foliage, it's nice and healthy.

There's no sign of blight, is there?

Wow, look at this.

I'm a bit surprised here because with the trees,

with the shelter, I thought blight might come in.

-Are you pleased with that?

-I'm very pleased with that.

If I get that out of my garden...

Well, you're going to have a lot of tatties to eat, aren't you?!

Absolutely wonderful.

-I'm very pleased with that.

-Is that your favourite veg?

-Yes.

I like to eat plenty of potatoes.

I think we need to go back to Vale View Garden to see how it's getting on

and I bet we'll spot one or two of Billy's benches on the way.

This is one of Billy's seats.

Across here come I can hear tinkling water into a lovely pool.

You'll recognise it, that used to be a barrow when it had a wheel.

Carole is off to see the Archdeacon of recycling himself, Andy Lenny.

Andy, I am fascinated to find out,

what kind of things do you recycle in your garden?

-Everything.

-You mean everything?

Everything - trees, fences, slabs.

Cobblestones, wood, slates.

So where do you find the trees, for example?

The trees have been discarded from nurseries.

They throw them into a dump.

Out walking my dog and I picked these wee trees up.

I thought, "I could use that," and it grows good.

So the likes of this conifer behind you, is that a rescue plant?

That's all rescued plants, even the biggest trees.

What about the railings here?

-That's the bottom of a bunk bed.

-Really?

And the wood is laminate flooring.

It lasts longer than wood, cos it's not wood.

So if you ever see anything that's been thrown out, you say,

-"I've got a use for that."

-Everything.

Well, let's have a wander round your garden.

Andy, this is a real colourful corner.

The rose in flower and that acer,

I mean you've found a nice sheltered pocket for it, haven't you?

-Yes, aye.

-Really, really thrives.

I expect you're going to tell me that that shed is totally recycled?

-It is totally recycled.

-So, where have the things come from?

Well when I was working, there was corrugated sheeting extra,

the wrong size, going to get dumped, and that's where it came from.

Obviously, you're good at painting too.

What I say is this garden is obviously a little bit of paradise, isn't it?

-Oh, aye.

-Is that meant to be Hawaii?

Well, I would say Hawaii,

but if you want to say Dunoon, it's Dunoon!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, as they say,

everybody's beavering about. Lots of things to be done.

Margaret here is giving me a hand to stake some fruit trees

because we're at the top of the walk, it's nice and open here

and the fruit trees will be really at home in this bit.

What kind of tree is this, John?

This is an apple. It's called 'Katy'.

It's an eater, a regular cropper, so it's the very thing.

Of course, because they're kind of small

and vulnerable at the moment, you've got to stake them.

Why have you staked it like that?

Well, if I drove the stake all the way down the side of the stem,

if these were in pots,

I would be driving it straight through and damaging the roots.

Because there's a bank here,

it makes it quite handy to put them in like that.

Just finishing off, if you just tie that as tight as you can,

that buckle, then this will stretch,

and it'll stretch round here as the tree grows.

Plenty of fruit - apples, pair, plum, cherry,

damson and we've even put in blackcurrants.

Pies galore, I hope!

I am with Roger here from the ranger service.

This is the middle section

and it's far more of a woodlandy feel, isn't it?

-This is a delightful area, isn't it?

-Wonderful.

And you know this quite well.

What's going on here with the dyke?

We're lucky we've a dry stone dyke in the group,

and this stone comes from local quarries.

This area's famous for limestone, plus they're full of fossils too.

Fascinating, isn't it?

Back to the plants, because I love ferns and over on this side,

by the burn, we've got some lovely ferns that like the moisture.

The royal fern is a good one, isn't it?

Yes, particularly like them because they have this strange, almost a flowering spike to them.

The other leaves are different than most ferns are.

Then the shuttlecock fern,

that will spread by underground rhizomes,

and that's going to hold back the bank.

We will need that, because this stream floods.

And some unusual ones here?

Yes, we've got some sports here,

a sport being a type of plant that's different from its normal plants.

We have this highly divided pinner.

The leaf is divided up into bunches

that makes it look quite different from your normal fern.

Really pretty, that one. And that one?

This one's a golden scale fern.

It's a bit like the male ferns that are all around us.

It's got a lot more scales. It stands out. You can see sunlight on it.

Brilliant. We need some sun, don't we?

You obviously want to attract the children

into these areas as well, don't you?

Yes, we've got Dingly Dell here and up at the top,

we've got an ent, as in Lord Of The Rings.

Or perhaps a green man.

I like the idea of the green man.

-I'm not so sure about the ears, though!

-They won't last long.

I think nature's going to recycle those quite quickly!

At the bottom here we've got the Elfhame, the door to the Elfhame.

That's the fairy kingdom, known to this area.

Over at Cleeves Cove, a few miles away,

there's lots of legends about the elves in there.

If you go through there, you come out at Cleeves Cove.

-I'm not sure if I'm going to fit!

-I'm sure you will.

If you come down to the far end of the garden down the path,

you come out of the trees and into the brightness.

It's a lovely area down here,

but because it's the lower end of the garden,

it is very wet and boggy.

This boardwalk is a great way to get through the garden but also,

because this area's really soggy underfoot,

they've built an area here so you can get out into the brightness.

You can see the stream, you can hear the stream.

Lovely and bright, birds tweeting and it's a great use of the space,

-isn't it, Lesley?

-It's fantastic.

Fiona, you're one of the villagers who's been here from the beginning.

This looks really in control. What was it like a few months ago?

Before we started, it was just,

the surrounding weeds and wildflowers,

it was just completely covered in those.

You really had to fight your way through it.

If you wanted to get down to the burn,

you had to fight through to get there.

And now, it's just completely transformed it

and opened up the access.

We're going to put in some plants

that really like these boggy conditions.

To give them a bit of a fighting chance

and get them established, pits have been dug

and we've got it lined in this root barrier and hopefully,

these will get away, get established before all the wildflowers come back.

Let's have a look at what plants we've got here.

These all like being really, really soggy.

Let's have a look at this one. This is a Rodgersia.

It looks like a horse chestnut,

but it's not going to get into a huge tree.

It's going to be a nice clump here. Very pretty.

We've got a primula here. This is florindae. Can you smell that?

It smells really, really sweet. We've got Cornus - dogwoods.

They love wet feet. This is interesting, this is cypress.

We are assured it's going to be hardy here.

I tell you, I wouldn't try that in Aberdeen, but fingers crossed!

We're off now to visit the garden of Julie Murray,

who along with her sister Linda, are hoping that our Carole

will be able to help solve a few gardening problems.

Well I have to say, it's rather boggy here as well.

We have had so much rain and I think I'd be right in saying to you

that it's rather clay, the soil, isn't it?

Yes, it's just complete clay under there.

Tell us a little bit about the problem with these trees.

They were put in by the people that had the house previous to me,

six years ago at least, and they're just not flourishing at all.

They're not, are they? They're really unhappy.

This is one of the Prunus, the cherry family.

I think clay for a start, it's not happy,

because it likes to be well-drained,

so you've really got to put in lots of conditioner into the soil.

-Will gravel help?

-Gravel would help a little bit, that would be good.

The other thing I'm really concerned about is this tree tie here,

the actual staking.

If you can imagine, look at that round there -

that's actually choking the tree.

Mike, we need to take this off, because this tree is on its way out.

We really need to take this one away and replace it.

Let's have a look behind here

which I hope...

Look, straightaway, there's a lot of damage here.

You can see the bark being damaged.

What happens then is you get canker into the tree.

That combination, with the fact that you've got all this moisture,

we need to remove it.

Another little tip when it comes to taking out a tree this size

is cut it at that level

and then when you're digging around, you can use that as a lever.

Ah, right.

Let's go and have a look at the birch over there,

because that's not too bad, is it?

No, it's actually one of the better trees.

You'll be pleased to hear that this one's definitely worth keeping.

-Nothing wrong with it at all.

-It looks quite healthy.

Nice and sturdy. So this, we want to get this off straight away.

Luckily, that's loose on there, so it's not causing a problem.

It's not done any damage.

I would also suggest that you take the grass away around here.

-How much?

-About a metre.

That's better for the mower and also,

it is a competitor for fertiliser.

I want to say moisture as well, but you haven't that problem here!

-Plenty of that!

-What about these, what about the branches?

They're overhanging over this side and into the driveway,

so how could I maintain this?

What you want to do is cut those off as well, all right?

This is a good time to be cutting them off. Not a problem at all.

Go in as close to the trunk as possible,

but what I would say is, cut off here to start off with

because you've got the weight,

then you take it off there, so it's not ripping it.

-What do you think? A new tree already.

-It's absolutely beautiful.

It's a Norway maple, one of the varieties, Drummondii.

What Mike has also done is a little bit of mound planting.

When he removed one of the trees, it was really, really wet there.

By mound planting,

it does mean that the roots aren't totally soaked in the water.

Look at the way we've put the stake in, at an angle.

Is that because of the wind?

Bit of the wind, yeah. It is windy here.

But also, it means with the tree tie there,

you can release that every year, all right?

So we've started you off.

Now you're going to have to remove some of these other trees and replace them.

-We will do.

-You certainly left us a bit of work!

Well, from problem corners to best kept corners.

Our designer Jeremy Needham

has the onerous task of judging the best kept gardens in Barrmill.

There are three categories in the competition.

Best Kept Garden in Barrmill.

Best Kept Garden outwith the village.

And Best Containers.

No pressure there, Jeremy! Rather you than me!

There's a lot to choose from.

A long, thin garden here with this...

-Particularly thin, isn't it? It's colourful and fully planted.

-Yeah.

This is some very nice persicaria.

I called these Easter ledges. They made puddings out of them at Easter.

It's a wildflower, isn't it? It's nice to see that in the garden.

Bit of wood statuette there.

Oh look, this is interesting. We've got a kind of habitat area.

Quite an unusual setting for this sort of garden scenery.

A suburban area.

Oh, this looks nice, Roger!

-Beautiful, isn't it?

-Nice mixed herbaceous border.

-There are roses climbing up there.

-Yeah.

-I don't know whether they are scented varieties.

-Could be. Yeah.

-Nice.

-Yeah.

-Lots of solar lighting.

-Oh yeah! Looks very neat and tidy, doesn't it?

-The font looks very nice.

-Oh yeah.

-Is that a Bottlebrush plant in there, is it?

-It could be.

-Wow! Look at this, Roger.

-Look at the size of it.

-Gunnera, it's enormous!

And spiky leaves underside.

You could sell them as umbrellas this year, couldn't you?

All this rain. Could've done with that earlier.

You know, on the odd occasion, a garden can't be judged

because it doesn't fit into the criteria.

Douglas Biggar's is one of those

and I think it's one of the most unusual gardens I've ever seen.

Douglas, I'm totally intrigued with your garden,

I've never seen anything like it before.

How did it all start? What did you have when you first came here?

When we first came here,

I had a lawn on either side of the pathway

and that was it.

Then, from somewhere or other, I was given or found a tree

and I put that close to the pavement,

and on the grass.

It went from there, with getting another tree, another shrub,

another whatever, through time,

the grass was pretty well covered by trees and then more trees went in

and it turned into what I've got now.

Yes, and it's so different though,

because it's the way you've manicured them

and you've done lots of pruning.

Yes, but I haven't tried doing topiary

or anything. It's just anything that the shears come against.

So, you kind of see a natural shape, and that's the way it goes?

If something starts to look a bit bushy, I trim it a bit.

There's no plan to it.

It's a happen chance garden.

Well, I absolutely love it and just looking out here,

I have never seen a rowan like that before!

You've obviously got a sense of humour. What do you call that one?

-The boot tree.

-How did you put the boot on there?

-I'm not telling!

-It's an absolute secret.

-It's a trade secret.

Are you going to tell me how you prune it? Look at the height of it.

Go to it with a clothes pole and a piece of rope with a noose around it.

I take the clothes pole and push the rope up and shear a bit.

With it being wobbly, the noose will stay on the tree and I pull it down.

-It doesn't break? You've never broken one of the trees?

-Absolutely not!

You obviously let go and then it just pings up into the air?

I find this garden totally intriguing,

so, is it possible for me to just have a look round,

-and a wander on my own? See what I can find?

-Yes!

Any weeds you find, you can keep!

This is a garden where you have to look up.

These four trees here,

you've got the blue cedar, a birch,

a conifer and an acer.

They're all planted within about two square metres.

It's absolutely incredible.

It works, because the lower limbs have been pruned away

so, we're still letting light in.

It really is amazing and I love the conifer.

It's kind of a tiered effect, a bit like a cake.

Then, you've got go down as well.

This is a superb ground cover plant, and I'm not being rude,

the common name is called Mind Your Own Business.

A conifer trained as a car port, it has to be a first for me.

These sculptures are quite amazing.

Douglas tells me that he needs to trim these once or twice a year,

depending on the weather conditions.

They really are strange works of art.

And, talking about the strange, how about this?

A novel way of using a saucepan lid.

I just wonder if they're meant to be flying saucers!

Well, so much to see but I better get back to Vale View Garden

and see how they're getting on.

Since I've been away I can't believe how the garden has come on

and I've found another one of Billy's seats.

This is a great place to relax and enjoy ourselves.

I've even got my little helper here, Erin, again.

I think this is probably my favourite spot.

It's with the ferns and I can still hear the water.

It's so relaxing.

Do you know what I love about this garden?

It's the fact it's turned into the most beautiful woodland walk.

Trees around you, a babbling brook, it's just gorgeous,

but remember, this area was up to here in weeds, it was a big area

and all these little bits here have been cleared for planting,

a big amount of work in that. Also along the way,

there's lots of lovely artefacts. Nestled in among this planting here,

there's some standing stones that will soften that area. At the top,

there's a bug habitat for the bugs to enter in.

This is my favourite one though,

this is a wishing log.

Apparently, you get a wish for a penny, so I've got two pence here,

so I hope to get two wishes and you just hammer that in like that.

If you get a penny a wish, what will I get if I put that in?

And finally, at the top of the garden, which is the entrance,

there are these four droplet-shaped beds

and the banking at the side is going to be planted with wildflowers and spring bulbs.

Now, these beds have been quite tightly packed with plants

and this is to help to reduce the weeds.

They're in lovely shades of pink and blue

and what is really attractive here, instead of having blocks of plants

like the geranium or the astrantia,

it's all been dotty so it weaves together like a tapestry.

We've got Iris sibirica which has got a nice strappy leaf coming through.

Then the knautia which is melted pastels,

it's nice and light and airy and it'll knit it all altogether.

Almost at the end of another cracking project

and the one thing I will really remember

has been the range of people

and the enthusiasm of them, from the oldest

to the youngest and that augurs well for the future.

I'm going to have a little bit of a timely reminder,

because the community have got this land back from nature

and they need to make sure that nature doesn't reclaim it.

They're going to really have to keep their eye on those weeds.

I'm going to go back to the people, because there's been such hospitality

and I have to mention those wonderful home bakes!

Well, I'll second that!

Next week, we're back in the garden,

but until then, from the new Vale View Garden in Barrmill!

ALL: Bye!

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