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Hello and welcome. Here we are in Beechgrove in the middle of June. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:17 | |
I'm not going to mention the weather, | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
but the long-sleeved jumper tells it all. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
Now, we're looking at the chrysanthemums today. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
There's not a lot needing done with them at the moment, | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
but the way to success and grow a decent crop | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
is to keep an eye on things, so they don't get out of hand. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:32 | |
The chrysanthemums were planted from rooted cuttings in the early part of the year | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
and here we have a whole range. There's no flowers at the moment. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
They won't flower until August, September | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
and that was the whole idea, that we would be getting cut flowers then, | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
but we have single flower, just like big daisies, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
then we have doubled and anemone-centred, then spray types, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
where you expect, at the top of a stem, a whole range of flowers. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:54 | |
At the present moment, | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
what we want to do is to get plenty shoots growing. | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
Look at that, isn't that gorgeous? I've got five or six shoots growing. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
At the top of every one of these shoots, we will have lovely flowers, | 0:01:03 | 0:01:07 | |
whether they're single ones or doubles, it doesn't really matter. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
But that's the crucial first stage. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
The big problem is, if you have a dominant bud, | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
it tends to go on and on and it holds back the side shoots. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
So, as we've said so often, chop it out. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
There's another one there. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
Chop it out. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
And that will then release the energy | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
into these shoots here so that we keep them going. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
In the meantime, they're going well enough. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
They don't need fed at the moment, but they'll get top dressed later on | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
and then we keep a watchful eye for pests and diseases. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:41 | |
And the usual suspects are, of course, earwigs, | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
which destroy the buds and flowers, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
capsid, thrip and aphid, | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
but there's none of that here now, so, as I say, we give them | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
an occasional bit of attention, a wee bit of feeding later on | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
and then a new net perhaps up here to take them up through. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
Plenty to do, but it's all in hand. We'll see them all later. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
In the meantime, on the rest of the programme... | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
I'll be at a school in Glasgow, showing you how, | 0:02:11 | 0:02:13 | |
if you collect lots of these, you can have lots of these. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
How many Scottish gardens do you know of | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
that grow exotic orchids outside that smell of coconut? Stay tuned. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
We're always getting new plants arriving and this is quite unique. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:34 | |
This is a sweet pepper and it's a trailing variety | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
called Sweet Sunshine and where is that sunshine? | 0:02:37 | 0:02:40 | |
I really wish it would warm up. We had three plants arrive | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
and the basket | 0:02:43 | 0:02:44 | |
and what we need to do, really, is keep this, | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
I think, in this propagation house for a couple of weeks. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
Warmer temperatures, hopefully the plant will start growing | 0:02:50 | 0:02:54 | |
and then I'm going to put it into the Keder. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
And the plants in there, those tomato plants, the variety Shirley, | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
grafted and non-grafted, are looking superb at the moment. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
I maybe should add about this pepper | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
that they will eventually produce peppers that are yellowy orange | 0:03:07 | 0:03:12 | |
and they almost look chilli like. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
I think it is going to be quite an interesting plant. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
Now, speaking about the weather and warm temperatures, okra. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:21 | |
Now, I've tried to grow okra for several years. I've never succeeded. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
You might remember that we had a look at these plants a few weeks ago | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
and the leaves were looking really white | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
and you can still see one or two there that are particularly white. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:35 | |
But they are starting to green up | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
and the reason for that is we've brought them into this house | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
and we started to give them a bit more heat. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
Also, we're keeping them nice and humid. Remember, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
these are tropical plants and so a bit of gravel, the moisture there. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:50 | |
It's not sitting in the water, cos they don't like to be too wet. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
You never know, fingers crossed, | 0:03:54 | 0:03:55 | |
we might get one or two of those ladies fingers. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
Now, also, what I like to do at this time of year, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
you've got to remember that we've put out all the bedding plants | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
so one or two of our greenhouses are a bit empty, | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
so I want to fill them, this time with easy house plants from seed. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
And I've got celosias here. Now, we grew some of those last year | 0:04:11 | 0:04:16 | |
and they have those lovely feathery plumes. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
Hypoestes - I think that's a lovely little house plant. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
I know it as the polka dot plant | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
but another common name is freckle face and another one is measles. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:29 | |
You can tell why, because of all the spots on the foliage. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
And I've got a lovely collection of coleus as well. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
They're coming in all shapes and sizes | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
from quite sort of dwarf varieties to some with really huge leaves. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:42 | |
So all we've got to do is just sprinkle the seed over the compost. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:48 | |
Difficult to see these because they're black. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
And these need temperatures, like the okra, of around 18-21. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:57 | |
But once we've got them germinated, | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
then they're quite happy at around about 12 degrees centigrade. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
Then what I'll do is sprinkle a little bit of compost on that | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
and, once they germinate, hopefully we'll end up filling a greenhouse. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
I'm here at St Bernard's Primary School in Glasgow | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
to see an award-winning school gardening project. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
After cuts in free fruit for school children, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
the pupils here decided to start trying to grow their own. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
Miss Winters, you're the headmistress here. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
How did this whole gardening project come about? | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
It originally started when we no longer got free fruit, | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
so we thought we'd start out with a garden. It's fantastic, | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
parents support us, the community support us and we've had to expand | 0:05:37 | 0:05:41 | |
-down into other areas. -You're lucky you've got more space! | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
-What do you do with all the produce, then? -We harvest it, we eat it, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:49 | |
we involve our parents, our local community. | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
We have a grown-up gardening day | 0:05:52 | 0:05:54 | |
where we invite them to come in and buy our produce. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
We also show them a cookery lesson on using the produce. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
So kids see it, they sow it, grow it, harvest it, sell it, | 0:05:59 | 0:06:03 | |
-and they can buy more seeds for next year, so it keeps going. -Yes. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
-That's perfect. Do you want to show me around the garden? -Certainly. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
I'd like you to meet Callum and Alanna. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
Hi! So you're going to show me around the garden, then? | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
-Yeah. -Right. Come and tell me the things you've been up to. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
Here we have sunflowers | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
and over there are the courgettes | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
and the Jack O Lantern pumpkins. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
What are you going to do with them? | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
-Are you going to carve them into carved pumpkins? -Yeah. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:32 | |
This is a marvellous looking thing. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
That's the greenhouse. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
-It's made out of plastic bottles that we saved up. -Good for you. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:42 | |
So you recycled them? They've been used? Did you count them when you put them up? | 0:06:42 | 0:06:46 | |
-No. -Aw! I thought you were going to tell me 4,249! | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
And here we have our wormery | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
-which has red tiger worms in it. -Ooh! | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
-And what you put in here, then? -Any waste except for meat or fish. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:02 | |
All your vegetables, eggshells, all that kind of thing. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
But it looks like they're still hiding right now! | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
-SHE LAUGHS: -Camera shy worms! That's all we need, isn't it? | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
-In the greenhouse... -What's in here, then? | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
In the greenhouse, as you can see here, we have a grapevine. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
Which I'm sure we'll get a few snacks off those. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
I hope so! You like grapes, do you? | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
-And here's some tomatoes. -We do have growing bags, but, unfortunately, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
we don't have anything to put in them just now. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
Well, guess what? I might have something to put in your grow bags for you. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
-Ooh! -That'll be good. -Yeah! | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
Here we've, um, blackcurrants... CAROLYN LAUGHS | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
-..and raspberries. -They're kind of exploding out of here! | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
-Mm-hm. -They're getting a bit big. -A bit! -We may have to redo the net. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
-Well... -Or just trim them. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
Well, we don't want to trim off any of the fruit, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:52 | |
so I think maybe we could make a bigger cage. | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
The way you can tell it's a blackcurrant is rub the leaf, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
and smell it, and it smells of blackcurrants, doesn't it? Lovely! | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
-What's this over here, then? -Over here, we have some chives. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:09 | |
As you can see, these have been doing quite well. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:13 | |
Nice flowers on them, aren't they? | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
-The flowers attract a lot of bees, butterflies and insects. -OK. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:20 | |
If you would like, you could try a little bit of this chive here. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:25 | |
Make sure it is chives! | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
Definitely chives! What kind of things have you seen on the flowers? | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
-We've seen quite a few butterflies... -Butterflies. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
-..a lot of bees. -Mm-hm. Bees like these, don't they? | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
And a lot of wasps in the bins. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
Wasps in the bins as well! So they're doing a good job. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
They're bringing wildlife into your garden and that's good | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
-for pollination and it's nice to see them, as well, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
I think we've been wet all morning, so I think we should go | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
and have lunch and see if the rain goes off for this afternoon. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
-Does that sound like a plan? -Mm-hm. -Mm-hm. -OK. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
Right, so these are all the plants I brought you. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
Lots of different things. Who recognises some of these things? | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
-Tomatoes. -Courgettes. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
-Basil. -Chilli peppers. -Blueberries. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
So we've got lots and lots, haven't we? Masses of plants. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
What we'll do, some of us will go and plant in the greenhouse, | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
some of us will plant outside. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
These are two different varieties of blueberry bushes, | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
because they pollinate better if you've two different varieties. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
You can see already the flowers are there, | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
so all these flowers will give you beautiful, big, juicy blueberries. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
The thing about blueberries, they need an acidic compost, | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
so we've got some compost here that's on the acid side, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
and that'll make them fruit better. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
So what have we got in this bed so far? | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
Well, we've got pumpkins, | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
because our courgettes didn't really work. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
When they came out, they were all mushy inside them. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
-Well, it's lucky I brought you another two plants, isn't it? -Yes. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
I've got a green one across there | 0:10:09 | 0:10:10 | |
and a nice yellow one here, which looks lovely when you've cooked it | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
and you've got them mixed in a vegetable dish. It looks pretty. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:17 | |
Do you want to plant that one? Would you like to plant this one? | 0:10:17 | 0:10:21 | |
Your blackcurrants and raspberries will get too tall for this cage. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:30 | |
-So what do you think we should do? -We should make the cage taller. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:34 | |
That's a very good idea. And also, this bit here is sticking out. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:38 | |
Maybe afterwards, we could prune it, so there's not a bit sticking out. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:42 | |
But we might as well leave that. The birds can have those. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
We don't mind them getting a few as long as they leave some. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
So can you manage to take some of the netting off? | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
And then we'll take down the canes. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
So what's this area used for? | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
The classes have different beds and the teacher gives them a theme. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:17 | |
What kind of things have we got in here? | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
There's like buddleia and the, um... | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
the one behind us, well, the bed behind us | 0:11:23 | 0:11:27 | |
has got, um, like a butterfly tree in it. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:30 | |
What I thought we could maybe try is, er, | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
mixing flowers and vegetables together. So what I've brought | 0:11:33 | 0:11:38 | |
are different types of lettuce leaves, the salad leaves, | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
but they look quite pretty. They're cut-and-come again salad leaves. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
So you plant them, you can pick a few leaves off to eat them and then, | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
come back later and pick some more. They keep growing, so it's nice. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
They'll stay here, but you can pick leaves off as you need them. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:56 | |
So what I thought we'd do is make a design | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
with the lettuce leaves then leave you spaces in-between | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
-and you can plant flowers. Does that sound like a plan? -Yeah. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
The kids have been working really hard all day. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
This guy's been standing here doing absolutely nothing! | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
We've had a great day here, the garden's looking super. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
And there's so much more to do, but I know you're all so enthusiastic, | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
you'll go from strength to strength. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
So from all of us at St Bernard's Primary School in Glasgow... | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
ALL: Bye! | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
-Well, we made the deadline, but I can't prove it. -Why? | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
In other words, there was a fruit here at the end of May... | 0:12:37 | 0:12:43 | |
but I think we will have to introduce CCTV. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:46 | |
-Not guilty. -No, you weren't here. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:48 | |
-Oh, right! -You were on your travels, so to speak. -Somebody else. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
But the fact is, Sonata is doing the business for us again. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
This poor wee soul has got a touch of botrytis on it. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
-And imperfect shape due to imperfect pollination. -That's it. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
-That's what we've got. -But we chose Sonata, because it outcropped | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
-the other two last year... -Mm-hm. -..and that was the answer. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:10 | |
-And they're doing all right. -Right. Now. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
Under here are some strange looking things. Look at that! | 0:13:13 | 0:13:17 | |
-LAUGHTER -Good on you! -Aren't these weird? | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
Good on you, because the sequence is, these crop until early July. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
By that time, the ones outside will start to crop. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
They're looking great at the moment. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:27 | |
These are right out of the cold store now. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
-Runners. -So into this. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
-They are getting planted in there. -OK. -We'll have to trim the roots. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
Put them in a cold frame and when this lot come out of here, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:38 | |
these guys are ready to come in. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
It's amazing, because that bud in the top there has all the flowers, | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
all the leaves and all the energy to produce this crop in, what, 60 days? | 0:13:45 | 0:13:50 | |
60 days by the time it comes out. It is remarkable. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
-Anyway, will you take care of these? -I will, I'll take these away. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
-I'm about to have a wee look at the vine. -I'm going to massacre a fig. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
OK. Well, I put my secateurs here, cos I'm working along this row here. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
There's a fine bunch. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
And one leaf beyond the bunch, we've taken the top out | 0:14:06 | 0:14:11 | |
and, this little one here, we'll take that one out as well. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
Cos we want to channel the energy into the fruit. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:18 | |
And I'm just going along, systematically, taking out all the growth which is not necessary. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:23 | |
Look at the cherries whilst we're here. Aren't they doing well? | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
We're going to have to number them, I think, | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
because they are to die for when they start to ripen. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
We've got some that look as if they're ripening now. Look at that. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
That's what we'd call an apple's June drop. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
These have to come away. These are sadly infertile. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
They have not been properly pollinated. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
But enough of that. George, what are you fickering at with that fig? | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
A dilemma, a dilemma on the fig. If you look at the top, | 0:14:49 | 0:14:53 | |
there's hardly any decent stuff at the top there. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:55 | |
When you come down to the bottom, this is where the young growth is. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
Look, there's what we want - young growth coming out, and there's a fig. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
That will ripen during this summer and that will be splendid, so I... | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
I just have to bite the bullet. I've got to prune this. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
I'll have to prune it quite hard, so those with a nervous disposition | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
are going to have to look away for a little while, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
while I get stuck in about this with a saw and a pair of loppers. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
It might not be the right time, but it is the right time, | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
cos I'm here, the fig's here, and it needs done. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
So I'm going to cut it right down to the bottom | 0:15:24 | 0:15:26 | |
and let young growth come away and then, I'm afraid, it starts again. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
I'm in a National Trust for Scotland Garden in Perthshire. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
You know, I'm like a small boy in a sweetie shop | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
and I just don't know which one to eat first! | 0:16:00 | 0:16:02 | |
Steve McNamara, you're the head gardener here at Branklyn, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
a two-acre garden just on the outskirts of Perth. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
How did it happen to be here? | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
Well, the Rentons, Dorothy and John Renton came here in 1922. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
They built a house and then started a small garden for privacy. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
Eventually, expanded it to two acres, which it is today, | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
and crammed it full of loads of plants. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
Dorothy had always been a keen gardener from a young age. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
But John Renton was almost like a very keen designer. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
He was good at the layout and that sort of thing. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
He helped out, obviously, at weekends and things like that. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
-So he did the layout, she did the plants. -Yeah. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
But where did the plants come from? | 0:16:52 | 0:16:53 | |
A lot of the plants came from the plant hunters of the era. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
-Ah, right. -Ludlow and Sherriff... -Yeah. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
..George Forrest, Joseph Rock, all these people. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
But main collectors here were Ludlow and Sherriff | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
and sent hundreds of packets of seed here. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:08 | |
So they were collecting in the Himalayas and China, weren't they? | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
Yeah. George Sherriff was friendly with the royal family of Bhutan, | 0:17:11 | 0:17:16 | |
-so he had a great, you know, in there! -Yeah. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
And, of course, collected there and southeast Tibet, places like that, | 0:17:19 | 0:17:23 | |
and sent back these unusual plants. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
It must've been so exciting to get these packets of seed coming back | 0:17:25 | 0:17:29 | |
-and not know what would grow. -Yeah, and it's a testament to their skill, | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
really, that they were able to grow these rare plants. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
The garden is packed with things like that, | 0:17:36 | 0:17:38 | |
but there are so many little corners where things just grow perfectly. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
Yeah. I mean, they just tried to create | 0:17:42 | 0:17:44 | |
as many different environments for all the plants to grow | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
-and find the perfect home for the plant. -Well, it certainly worked. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:51 | |
-Yeah. Worked really well. -HE LAUGHS | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
Everywhere we go in here, there's this wonderful legacy of the Himalayas. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:09 | |
Yeah, you've got the meconopsis collection, the rhododendrons. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
These rhodies are fascinating, because, often, it's just | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
these blousy garden hybrids that everybody looks at. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
-Yes. -They are fantastic, but you get these delightful little species. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
-That's a cracker! -That's wardii, after Frank Kingdon-Ward, of course. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:29 | |
-He was a great collector in China. -Yeah. I mean, it's just | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
the whole thing is here, the garden's buzzing with all this history | 0:18:32 | 0:18:36 | |
and intrigue about what was going on in those days. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
Look at this. Just... Ha-ha! | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
We've got the candelabra primulas, we've got the chungensis here. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
And the pulverulenta and, of course, the hybrid, chunglenta, | 0:18:46 | 0:18:50 | |
-which is just using the two ends of the name. -That's an indication that | 0:18:50 | 0:18:54 | |
-they just love it here. -They love this moist soil. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
-Getting on well. -Take off well. -There's just so much to see here. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
Here we have the pear tree which is the one left out there. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:06 | |
There were quite a few originally. This was an orchard growing area. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
-Right. That's the original... -Original. -..from the site? | 0:19:10 | 0:19:15 | |
Original plants, yeah. And still going. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
It must wake up in the morning and wonder where it is, surrounded by all this Himalayan flora. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:23 | |
-"Am I in Perthshire? Am I in the Himalayas?" -Right! | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
Steve, one of the outstanding plants in Branklyn are the meconopsis. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
Yeah, we have the national collection of the big blue poppies. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
Everybody thinks about these big blue poppies, but there's a variation. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
Yeah, we have some white ones and some off-white. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
And quite often, hybrids. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
-And the intensity of colour always the same? -Not always. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
We speculate here. We added some manure last year | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
and it does change the colour, we believe, slightly. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
This one is particularly good. It's got this pink tinge to it. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:15 | |
This is Dorothy Renton. It's great, because it commemorates her as well. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
Absolutely. There's been other forms around here that I've seen. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
-There's a fantastic white one over there. -That's beamishii. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
That's a cross between integrifolia and grandis. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
It gets this lovely creamy colour. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
-A wee bit of promiscuity going on there. -Yeah! | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
Now, the other ones I've seen are tall creamy ones | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
and there's pink ones and there's yellow ones. What are they? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:43 | |
That's what we call the regia or napaulensis hybrid. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:46 | |
So they hybridise freely within each other | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
and, of course, you get the various colours. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:51 | |
But they're monocarpic. They grow up over four or five years, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
-flower, set loads of seed and then die. -I've got to sow the seed fresh. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
You've got to sow the seed, but if they're happy in your garden, | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
-they spread around, which is great. -OK. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
-So we've perennial forms, we've got sterile forms, monocarpic forms. -Yes. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:10 | |
-It's really quite complicated. -It is, actually. This one here is sterile. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:15 | |
Again, we speculate inbreeding depression has made them sterile. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:19 | |
-OK. -So we just divide them now and produce plants that way. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:24 | |
-That way, you get exactly what you see? -Yeah, it's a clone therefore. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
But there are also some little gems around here which spring out at you. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
There's one in the scree, which is absolutely charming. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
That's horridula, we call it, anyway. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
But it's aptly named, cos of the spines. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
You wouldn't want to grab it. In its native habitat, | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
-it's quite rocky, in the Himalayas. -Right. -So it's a good place for it. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:49 | |
Well, then, did you enjoy that wee trip to Branklyn? | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
-Absolutely fantastic! What a brilliant garden! -It is indeed. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
So many plants, so much to see | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
and, of course, it's open for, you know, seven days a week. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
Get down there and have a look at the poppies, cos they are just brilliant. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:20 | |
-Here we are in the fruit cage. -Look at this. -Good news. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
Absolutely, Jim, look! The growth on this is phenomenal. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
And since it was released from the polytunnel. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
It's gone, "I'm outside, I'm going to grow!" It's doing incredibly well. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:33 | |
Wee bit better than this. Mr River's Early Prolific plum. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
-It's not very prolific, is it? -It's not. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
But there's a lot of plants like this around the countryside. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
-Partly weather. -Partly weather. A lot of this too, I think, | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
maybe this plum curling aphid, or leaf curling aphid that's on there. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
-We need to get some growth into that. -OK. -Get some nitrogen into it, | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
-so we'll give it a feed with that. -Really? -Aye, straight nitrogen. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:58 | |
-Get the thing growing, because if I can get this to grow... -A handful? | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
A handful, around about the base, and then we get this thing growing. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
And if it grows, it's like you and I. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
We're challenged in the follicle area. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
If we get our hair to grow, then we can do something with it. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
I'm off to do something else with a better plum. There's one over here. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
Well, it's only a matter of about ten feet away from that other one. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
And if you look at it, it's clean as a whistle. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
This is the Victoria plum which last year was groaning with fruit. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:27 | |
This year, well, I think it's going to have a wee rest. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
I'm going to take the chance that, while it's resting like this, I'm going to take the young growth, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:35 | |
this stuff here, and train it out flat. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
We're going to try this as a fan in an espalier form | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
and, that way, we'll increase the fruit | 0:23:41 | 0:23:43 | |
by taking the shoots out at right angles to the main stem. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
So that's the idea behind this. I think Jim's got some other ideas, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
as far as, you know, sort of playing with his cordons are concerned. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
Well, what I was doing with the vines there a wee while ago, | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
I'm about to do with these cordoned redcurrants and gooseberries. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:03 | |
All of this growth is extraneous. It's not what's necessary. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:07 | |
So I'll cut these young shoots back to about, you know, a hand span. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
Every one of them. Apart from the fact that it might actually get rid | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
of some greenfly, if there is any, in the tips. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
But there you go. And what am I doing? | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
We've still got the same size of root system | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
taking in the same amount of moisture and food, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
and it's all going into these lovely, lovely fruits. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
In prospect. And the plants are wonderfully clean. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:32 | |
Same thing happens with gooseberries. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:34 | |
Here is another point about growing gooseberries as cordons. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:38 | |
You can get in to prune them. I'm going down here. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
I'm going to take that one off, and that one off, and so on. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
And doing that all the way up. You can do that | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
and you can get at the fruit without getting your hands scratched. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
These are the carrots that we sowed about six weeks ago. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:57 | |
They're little round carrots. We're at a stage where they need thinning. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:02 | |
What you want to do is select the seedling that you want to keep, | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
hold onto that, and then pull away the other seedlings. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:10 | |
And what you want to do is, as soon as you've done all this thinning, | 0:25:10 | 0:25:15 | |
dispose of those, because you don't want to attract the carrot root fly. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:19 | |
While we're here on the decking, | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
it's worth having a look at our Jubilee display. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
It really is looking absolutely superb and full of diamonds. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
I've devastated the fig, OK? | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
A wee bit more devastation for you before we go. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
This is thinning out of the fruits. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
The peach produces far, far too many. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
If you leave them, the fruits will be small, | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
really not very sweet, not very succulent at all. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:48 | |
So what I'm going to do is thin them out. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
Now, we want to make these about one hand span apart. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:54 | |
So, I'm going to have to take off quite a number of fruits. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
I can hear you shrieking at home again | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
about the devastation that this man is causing. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
But that's what we have to do. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
Take off these fruits, make sure that the ones that are left | 0:26:05 | 0:26:10 | |
are then going to swell and make decent fruit eventually. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
I seem to have had these secateurs in my hands all day, | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
so I'm going to finish off doing a bit of pruning of this comfrey. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:21 | |
One of our favourite wildflowers, of course. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
Very colourful, handsome plant. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
This, of course, is the cultivated form which goes under the name of | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
Bocking 14, which is exceptionally good for composting. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
Here, I'm saying what we can do now is to take a crop of this Bocking 14 | 0:26:31 | 0:26:36 | |
by cutting the stems back when they're all nice and clean. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
And that is chopped up, onto the compost heap. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
That's how we choose to use it. Some people | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
put it into a bath and press it and wait till the liquid comes out, | 0:26:46 | 0:26:50 | |
and they make liquid feed out of it. Ah, I cannot be bothered with that. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
But this makes a great ingredient to the compost heap. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
Well, I often think that people that have an alpine garden | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
are going to have a lot of colour in the springtime. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
-But this is looking colourful just now, isn't it? -Absolutely. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
-So, if you were to pick something, Jim? -The plant that you and Lesley have been trying to kill. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:12 | |
-LAUGHTER -That wonderful little cotoneaster | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
-that hugs the rocks. -Contain it! -It's in full flower at the moment. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:17 | |
-Wonderful the way it flows over. -Great for wildlife! | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
Absolutely. Then I would go for the helianthemums, these rock roses. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
That's a great yellow, but there's pinks and reds. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
Just absolutely brilliant in a dry scree-like place or a rock garden. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
I rather like this that's running a bit wild. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
-The fairy foxglove, or Erinus alpinus. -Easy for you to say! | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
-Lots of different colours we've got. -Aye! | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
-Quite precocious, isn't it? -It is, yeah! | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
And then what about the orchids we've got in flower? | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
-In our wildflower... putative wildflower meadow? -Yes! | 0:27:44 | 0:27:49 | |
-They've... -Dactylorhiza, by the way. -Yes, but they've just come up. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
Nobody thought about them. They didn't bother, they just came up through the grass. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:56 | |
-Absolutely stunning. -They like it. -They do. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
If you'd like any more information about this week's programme, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
perhaps all those fruity items that you two were doing? | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
It's all in the fact sheet. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
And the easiest way to access that is online. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
Don't forget as well, new for us this year, | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
we have Twitter and Facebook. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:12 | |
-We've been twittering for years! -For ages! | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
What does that autocue say? We'll see you on the 12th of... | 0:28:15 | 0:28:20 | |
-What?! -What? -12th of July? -Yeah? -Somebody's got their calendar wrong. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
-OK, if it has to be, until then. -We'll see you. -Bye-bye. -Bye! | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 |