Episode 18 The Beechgrove Garden

Well, hello and welcome to Beechgrove.

And just as I come into the greenhouse, the sun comes out,

so it gets nice and warm...

and sticky.

Remember, we planted a whole lot of tomatoes in here.

The same variety - Shirley.

We took eight different kinds of grow-bags.

We tipped the stuff out of the grow-bags and put them into pots,

so there's a row of each grow-bag compost all the way through.

And the idea is to compare the grow-bag compost.

We've been overtaken by conditions which have led to the plants

doing less than well, I could say.

Although, we've got a decent crop.

The funny thing is, the ones that were slowest and thinnest

from day one are the first to start producing ripe tomatoes.

And I would suggest that it's because they're at the end,

they've got plenty space -

in other words, they're getting a lot more light

than the body of the kirk here, which started off well.

They were absolutely superb.

It was like a lawn in here, but they've just gone backwards.

And, of course, we've got the scourge of this sort of situation

all over the plants,

and we've left them so that you could see, just to be in no doubt,

because I know that there's a lot of this about in the countryside.

We've got this botrytis, and you've just got to keep going

and keep cleaning and keep ventilating and so on.

But the fact of the matter is,

the plants are actually coming out of it and are still producing

decent trusses, so we will still have a crop.

But it's not a pretty sight at the moment, I'm afraid,

and it's repeated all over the place.

In the other house over there,

the plastic house, where Carole is

trying out the grafted and non-grafted,

a different atmosphere altogether in there.

And the crops are looking well.

And, in fact, they're growing in a much bigger volume of compost.

Was that the idea? I'm not so sure if it was, because look at that.

They're absolutely white roots all right through,

having knocked this one out. There's nothing wrong with the roots.

It's been the environment, I think, in general, that has caused this.

Maybe these houses don't have as much ventilation as they should,

not as much air circulation as they should, so you get the botrytis.

The plans have gone off, but, as I say,

they're coming away again quite well.

Now, in the rest of the programme...

Ten years ago,

this garden was just full of trees and rosebay willowherb.

What an amazing transformation.

And my problem corner this week

is all about somebody taking on their first garden

and they'd like a little bit of help redesigning it.

Well, it's time for a spot of seasonal propagation,

and I'm going to be looking at semi-ripe cuttings of pelargoniums.

Now, semi-ripe is a sort of in-between stage. In other words,

you get the soft woods early on in the season, the early growth.

Later on, you get the hard woods.

Semi-ripe, it's in-between, and they root quite easily,

but they retain some of the moisture as well.

Now, were looking for cuttings about

two to three inches in length.

And I'm going to be taking off about half of the leaves.

And also, you want to make sure that they're nice and healthy,

no sign of pests and diseases.

Very often, you want to look for a cutting

that doesn't have any flowers on it,

but with pelargoniums, it's very difficult.

So here I've got a little bud - you can just take that off.

And then I always like to cut against glass.

I know Jim uses a knife towards his thumb, but I don't trust myself.

And just cut underneath the node. Get a nice, clean cut with that.

And then I'm going to be putting it into compost

with a bit of perlite, about 50% perlite,

and that'll give it good drainage.

And with pelargoniums,

you don't need to use any rooting hormone powder at all.

And that'll then get watered in, and we will put it on to bottom heat.

And hopefully, they will root within a few weeks,

and that means, then, you can get rid of the stock plants.

Carrying on this vegetative propagation theme,

plants do it in the wild, so to speak.

Think of strawberries -

wild strawberries, ordinary strawberries -

this is how they propagate themselves.

They send out runners and then they produce a little plant.

That roots into the ground,

and then that tip keeps on going into the ground and so on.

We make use of that if we want to increase our stock

or replace our stock.

Get the little runners at this time of the year.

Pop them into a pot with a bit of compost.

Make sure they're nicely watered.

That will root in.

When it's rooted, it'll start to sprout some new leaves.

That's the indication.

Then you can cut the umbilical cord, and it's on its own.

Lift that, and you can plant them out wherever you will.

It's called layering. Well, one stage further...

come and have a look at this.

I wonder how many times, when you've been picking brambles,

that you've been tripped up by loops of stems, because the bramble,

and this is a cultivated bramble,

has an ability to dip down into the ground

and it gets covered over with trash and leaves and so on,

and it will root all by itself.

It's called tip layering,

and we make use of it if we wish to propagate.

Here is a cultivated bramble.

I've opened up a wee trench here, flat on the one side,

sloping on the other,

and I simply take this round like so...wearing gloves!

Bury the top in the ground

and then cover it over.

And cover it in, like so.

And leave it, forget it.

One of these days, in a month or two's time, you'll come along

and you'll notice some new shoots coming out of the ground.

Then, once again, cut the umbilical

and you have a brand-new bramble, blackberry,

whatever you like to call it.

'This week, I've not ventured far from Beechgrove.

'I'm problem-solving in Westhill near Aberdeen,

'helping Rachel Rennie with her first-ever garden.'

Tell us why you wrote in to us.

I've been in this house a year now

and I love being out in the garden, especially in the summer days,

and I think the garden could just be improved.

For one, it's the chucky path.

That must be a nightmare to cut the grass.

Yeah, it's not very practical.

And then there's also the edging around the grass as well.

And just generally, the layout of the garden, I think, could be improved.

Straightaway, when I came into the garden, I thought,

"Too many pink chuckies!"

Yes, I agree. The sooner we get rid of them, the better.

This is not a makeover,

so we can't do everything for you,

but a little bit of redesign to help you on your way.

'First things first, let's get this whirly out of the way

'and lift the chuckies.'

'And draught in some help

'from Rachel's Auntie Gladys and Uncle Ian.'

'Next, we need to reposition the whirly,

'as it's right in the middle of the lawn.

'And whether you're sitting on the decking

or in the opposite corner, it dominates the view.'

-Pretty much in line.

-OK. No, I think you're right, right where you are.

-I don't think you want to go too far that way.

-OK.

-Yeah.

-Happy with that? That marks the spot.

LAUGHTER

OK.

Now, are you sure that's the right place, Rachel?

-Now I want it over there(!)

-Did you see that look on Mike's face?

'We're replacing the gravel path on the lawn with stepping stones,

'to give a more informal look

'and to create a route to both the shed and the whirly.'

Now, I think that's too far apart.

I know you're an athlete, but that's quite a lot...

I've got quite long legs as well, but look! Come in a bit.

No giant steps!

Would you rather have more of a straight line?

Are you one of these people that like very formal...

I do like straight lines,

-but I'm quite OK with having a slight curve.

-Little curve.

I think it's nicer, having a bit of a curve,

-but, you know, it's your garden.

-Yeah.

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

It's like shopping, isn't it?

You know, you go to the first shop, see a nice dress,

go round the rest of the shops and then you go back to the first shop.

-That's what I do.

-No, I agree with what you did the first time,

so can we go back...?

LAUGHTER

-I'm happy with that.

-Phew!

Sorry! I'm sorry!

I never knew it was so complicated!

Whoops!

'To make sure you can mow, you have to sink the stepping stones

'slightly below the level of the grass.

'We're bedding these on a base of sharp sand.'

'And we're using the grass we've lifted to fill in the gaps

'where the old gravel path used to be.

'There isn't enough grass to fill in all the gaps,

'but we have a cunning plan.'

Now, do you ever sit in this corner?

No, I don't sit in this corner as much as what I'd like to.

It's normally over on the decking.

It's a space I'd like to use, to be honest.

Cos it will get quite a bit of sun here.

It's lovely in the evening over in this corner.

OK, what I don't like about it is it's very high up and,

in a way, I feel you're seen by the neighbours.

So if we took this further down,

I think you'd feel like you're a little bit more secluded.

This cunning plan gives us a bit more turf

to fill in the gaps between the stepping stones.

-I like your thinking.

-The other thing is

you say you want to get rid of the wooden edging.

-Yeah.

-So what I think we'll do is, we'll shape this round, like this.

OK.

And then that means we can take out that wood

and just create a border for you.

To help the replaced turf knit together,

we're filling in any gaps with some top soil.

-What a difference clearing this border.

-A bit of hard work.

-OK, we're going to be recycling these slabs.

-OK.

That's got to go lower down, but we'll stick them on the lawn,

cos Mike's going to lay the slabs for us

and then we can prep the border.

Because this is a seated area, we're planting this bed

with a variety of scented plants, such as the Mexican orange blossom

and Osmanthus, both of which give you perfume in the late spring.

And they're evergreen,

so it will eventually provide Rachel with some privacy.

For fragrance in the summer, we have some lavender and cottage pinks.

The moment of truth. Let's hope this fits.

-I'm sure it will.

-And I think we should go right back.

-OK.

Cos then our feet can be on the paving slabs

-and not wear out the grass.

-OK.

So, that's great. We can relax now and, you know,

I think it's amazing, just a few little things

with the design of the garden's made a big difference.

The first thing that I noticed was

the position of the whirly.

Just moving it that little bit further back,

it's made such a difference

and then also, just the path is no longer dominant in the garden.

I like the fact we've got rid of the edging and, you know,

now you can see the soil, but if you want to keep down the weeds,

I would suggest you put some bark there instead.

All right.

The stepping stones and the grass,

if it does eventually go dry this summer,

you might have to water that in.

-Right.

-Keep an eye on that.

-OK.

But otherwise, has it inspired you to carry on

and get rid of the rest of the edging and more of these pink chuckies?

Yeah, it has inspired me and I can't wait to get started.

Well, what a difference to that garden

and I really love that perfumed sitting area.

Here at Beechgrove, we have our own little bit of the garden

which is dedicated to including fragrant plants.

It was started quite a few years ago and I replanted it this April.

And included here is one of my all-time favourite smellies,

and that's honeysuckle.

My other favourite fragrant plant is dianthus, or the border pinks,

that have really good, blue glaucus foliage.

That one's called Gran's Favourite.

I have two grandchildren and they call me Gran,

so I try and include that in every garden where I plant.

And it has a lovely clove smell.

It's quite important, when you decide that you are going

to have a lot of fragrant plants, to site them in the right place.

Behind the conservatory here at Beechgrove, it's really sunny.

It's south-facing and that is critical,

because these flowers need to warm up and then the oils are released

and you get the fragrance.

The other significant thing is it must be sheltered, as we are here.

Because if it's really windy and it's blowing a gale,

all the smell is just wafted past your nose too quickly.

The other good thing about fragrant plants

is that smell wasn't put there just to delight us.

It's, in actual fact,

there to attract wildlife and pollinating insects.

And so these plants are also good for wildlife.

Got golden marjoram, the Erysimum Bowles' Mauve.

Now, I wonder, what are Jim's favourite fragrances?

Every time the subject of scent in the garden comes up,

I think of two plants in particular.

Roses and sweet peas.

Now, this rose is a sample from a shrub rose

we have in the garden here called Munstead Wood,

cushion centred and has a delightful perfume.

Now, all cushion centred roses don't have perfume, but many of them do.

The same applies to sweet peas,

but you get to choose your varieties every year, don't you?

And I wouldn't grow any that didn't have perfume.

They have delightful colours.

Just look at Gwendoline, absolutely stunning.

Look at it on the plant, wonderful and great perfume, they have.

But getting away from that, just a wee quick piece of advice in garden planning.

There are one or two lovely shrubs that flower in the winter

and they have a delightful perfume.

But it's, a sort, of light perfume, it's not heavy,

so you're better to have them near the house,

near the path to the front gate.

I'm thinking of hamamelis, for example.

I'm thinking of sarcococca. I'm thinking of viburnum.

Beautiful perfume, but in a sheltered space

and where you're actually moving about in the garden,

not way at the bottom.

Well-made compost smells wonderful.

It's actually almost got a scent, but raw compost really stinks.

It's really, really pungent. And that, of course, attracts the flies.

Now, flies are quite important to plants as well, so anything

which has a fetid smell,

smells like dead meat or smells like fresh compost

is going to attract the flies

and that's quite important for pollination.

This one is helleborus foetidus,

the stinking hellebore flowers in early spring,

very few bees around, the flies are important.

This one here is iris foetidissima.

Some people would say that when you crush the foliage

it smells like roast beef, but, well, I wouldn't eat it.

I'll leave you to make up your own mind about it.

And then there's this fella. This is the one that reminds me of spring.

This is the skunk cabbage. Lysochiton americanus.

Horrible, skunk-like smell, it's not a scent.

Flies think it's a scent, they're attracted

to the big, big flowers and they just love it.

And, of course, they pollinate it.

Well, if I was to pick a scent that brings back happy memories,

I would go for the sweet William, a great cut flower.

But this was grown in my garden at home when I was a child,

big patches of it, and, well, we used to,

sort of, bunch it together and sell it at the garden gate.

Anyway, it's not just about flowers for scent, it's also about foliage

and there's a wonderful range of foliage plants,

some maybe are rather smelly that you don't like

and some are really attractive.

And I think things like the eucalyptus,

very strong oils come out of that,

and I think that's there to deter pests.

But, otherwise, you've got herbs and things like the thyme.

This is a great example of how you can plant it in the paving.

And then, when you brush it with your foot, the smells come up.

And then if you want something indoors,

which I think I should be indoors at the moment with all this rain,

the scented Pelargoniums,

lovely ones that smell of lemon, others chocolate, peppermint.

And then, finally, slightly different, the Cercidophyllum.

In the autumn time, or if we get a touch of frost in the spring,

you get this wonderful smell of candyfloss.

It really is delightful.

SHE LAUGHS

Well, welcome to wildflower heaven. Just look at this.

When we sowed these plots back in the spring,

we had no idea that this was what we were going to get.

We selected a number of wild seed flower mixtures

from a lot of different companies and we sowed them out.

We hoped we would have got a lot difference, but we haven't, really.

We've got things which are the same and repeating all the way through.

We've got poppies, different stages and different levels of flowering.

These are up above, others are down below.

We've got the yellow chrysanthemum, we've got the white anthemis

and the blue of the cornflower.

Looks absolutely sparkling when it's like this,

especially in this bright sunlight after rain.

Wonderful, wonderful thing to see.

Eye candy just now.

The proof of the pudding is going to be next year

when we see what grows up as a perennial.

There's plots down there which have more perennial nature in them,

they've got lots of self-heal, they've got heartsease in them,

the little pansy which you find in fields.

And those are going to come away next year as well.

There's bits of chicory in here, too.

So, large things to come up next year.

Now, nature doesn't like vacuums at all.

If you take out all the material from here and throw it away,

something else will grow.

So it has to be a crop that grows well

that you plant in an empty space. And from here on up,

what we decided to do earlier was to put in green manure crops.

The green manure crop is anything which will cover the ground quickly

and rots down well,

something that will add nutrition to the soil,

something which will add fibres to the soil,

something which will intercept rainfall,

because you don't want the soil being washed away,

and will trap all the nutrients that are existing in the soil.

So we've put down lupins, we've put down mustard,

we've put down phacelia, which is the Californian shrimp plant.

Lots of top growth on these and I'd be inclined to cut a lot of that down

and put it on the compost heap.

Because what we're really interested in, as well as the top growth

and the protection of the soil, is the fibre that's in underneath.

And the root systems that you get, particularly on mustard.

But also the root systems which we get on the likes of the lupin

are so important.

They burst up the soil.

They capture nutrients and keep them in the soil.

The lupin, for example, goes down to great depth

and will burst up clay soils.

That's quite important, cos you then get deep roots

on your vegetables when you plant them thereafter.

That's what I wanted when I planted the vegetables

in the deep containers in the polytunnel.

I'm going off to see what they're like now. Just stay with me.

What's going on here?

I'm just having a look.

-Take away the fleece.

-Don't look too bad, do they?

-That's Purple Haze. They look fantastic.

-There's Sweet Candle in there.

There's carrots. Is this to stop the carrot root fly?

If it gets in this year, there's a problem,

cos it's fleeced on the door as well.

Beetroot, which is just about ready to go on the show bench.

It's about the size of a tennis ball,

and that's what you want - look at that.

Anything that's too big,

we can actually just eat, so that would be quite good.

Wow, look at this!

If these go right to the bottom, Lesley, we are doing well.

That's the long black beat.

This is the parsnip - Picador or something.

We expect that to be really long. Same with the carrots.

Right down to the bottom, OK?

So when are we going to reveal

how long they are?

Well, September.

They've got about a month to grow, right?

OK.

Don't put the stew pot on yet.

These have a wee while to go. Don't rubbish them yet.

They should be OK. We'll get some length out of them, I think.

Well, maybe.

HE LAUGHS

Inverness - that way, Aviemore is that way.

This is a spectacular garden that survives against the elements.

Caroline Smith, I have actually been to your garden before.

because I've judged it.

I know you absolutely adore colour in the garden.

Yes, I do. I like to have colour all the year round.

Well, as much as I can. You can't obviously have it in the winter

when you have extreme snow, four foot, six foot on the ground -

you can't see anything.

We lost the polytunnel. The steel snapped.

It was six foot of frozen snow

and it froze as soon as it landed, so it's very difficult to get it off.

What about the wind and the frosts?

There was a frosty wind in May this year that finally killed the sequoia,

which had endured two severe winters.

But it couldn't cope any more.

That's hardy things, in part of my garden that's not so cold.

-They just didn't last.

-Where do you get your plants from?

I go to the car boot sale and fetes and fairs and things,

and look for cuttings from other people's gardens,

who have maybe endured similar weather conditions.

So you want to make sure they are hardy plants?

We have to have hardy here.

You can waste so much money buying things

that you think are hardy but they're not.

You spoke about car boot sales.

You're always on the eye for a bargain, aren't you?

-It's a big garden to fill.

-I love a bargain.

And you're lucky that Donald, your husband,

he's very handy, so he built the bridge.

He built the bridge.

We just had to buy one knob. Everything else was from scraps that were kicking about

somewhere over there.

-We just put everything to good use.

-It really attracts the eye, I think.

You have such a variety of habitats.

Water is lovely to have in the garden, isn't it?

So you've made this pond.

Yes, it's lovely. It has the fish in it, as well.

They've actually survived

the last couple of winters. They've got bigger, as well.

I think they've produced more,

so it's good to have something like that.

What was it like when you first came here?

Full of trees.

Trees that are needing cut down,

and some of them are already fallen down.

You couldn't get your footing or anything on the ground.

-It really was...

-There must have been a hug amount of work.

Presumably, you had to take out the roots?

Yep, all from scratch. Once we got rid of the roots, the soil was really poor,

cos the trees had taken it all.

So it was building that up and getting the plants that would adjust.

How long have you been here now?

We started this, doing the garden, about then years ago.

That's incredible - the size of the garden

and what you've managed to do within that time,

and here we are in an area that you're revamping already.

Yeah - it had become slightly overgrown,

and we had some trees came down in the winter last year.

The plants have adjusted quite well to more sunlight coming through,

but we have planted more trees, as well.

We're trying to make do with what we have now

and get them accustomed to a little bit more light.

There's a little bit more light but it's still a difficult environment.

We're speaking really about some dry shade

and finding plants that are adapted to that.

You've obviously found loads here.

Yep, it's amazing what you can grow.

Even the hostas like it.

Obviously, one or two. You have a slightly raised bed there.

Alchemilla mollis is lovely on the boundary.

It loves it too much. We'll invade the garden if we don't keep it under control.

I think one of the best ways is, as soon as those flowers start to go a little brown,

if you cut those off, you'll stop it from setting seed.

Your geraniums are very happy.

The Johnson's Blue is doing particularly well over there,

which we didn't expect it to - it's coming along.

And then the lupins - you've obviously done a bit of cutting back there

to get a second flush of flowers.

I do believe that if you cut back before the longest day, you will get a second flush in the summer.

I think I left this one a little bit late.

But hopefully, we'll get colour in September.

I think that's good as a ground cover - the persicaria.

That grows all down the bank really easily,

so you can leave it unattended.

I know you obviously love all kinds of plants.

Are there any particular groups you love?

Yes, I like primulas.

A very dear friend of mine gave me a beautiful red primula

-with a little yellow bit in the middle.

-Gorgeous.

Beautiful.

Here we are in the old dog pen

that you saw the last time you were here.

It was full of dog poo and bay Willowherb.

Weeds and weeds and more weeds.

How did you control the Rosebay Willowherb -

did you use weed killers?

No, not at all. I just wait till it gets slightly bigger

and then pull it out by the roots.

It's easier to do the bigger the plant is.

OK. So you're totally organic?

That is a lot of work.

-But it works for you?

-It does. I don't put any weedkiller in the garden - not even on the paths.

Did you have to condition the soil at all?

I just took bits from other parts of the garden

and also, if any friends had free topsoil on the go,

but you have to be really careful you don't get their weeds as well.

Obviously you've got an artistic eye, cos you've used a lot of boulders to create the beds.

I can't believe how quickly you've packed it full of plants

and that's going to keep down the weeds.

That's what I attempted here.

SHE LAUGHS

I can't get over the hellebores. How healthy they are.

They were just tiny little cuttings two years ago

that I got from another garden.

They've just come on in leaps and bounds. They love it here.

They do, and I think that elder - that's one of my favourite plants -

Black Lace. That looks like a fairly recent addition.

It was a tiny, wee one, and it does like it here.

If people want to come round the garden...

I know you've just had an open day for Scotland's Gardens,

but you do the occasional appointment, too?

Yes, anyone who can't come on that date is more than welcome

to come whenever it suits them.

We'll put the details in the fact sheet.

It's a real joy to have a look round. Thanks very much.

I'll tell you what, guys.

Despite the weather this summer, these lavenders have done well.

You have scent with the flowers and the foliage, haven't you?

That's beautiful - that's Papillon in front of us.

The product of the vegetable garden is quite good as well.

This is the main veg plot, isn't it?

A small sample.

And here's the mini veg. These look absolutely splendid. I love the turnips.

-But where do the beans come in?

-What about the beans, George? Not from Beechgrove?

A wee problem about them, apparently.

I think they've done marvellously.

But just shows you the advantage of fleece.

Yes, but you were supposed to do it in exactly the same conditions, so you've cheated.

-I'm saying nothing.

-You've made her very cross.

Some would say I cheated.

THEY LAUGH

Aim behind your back.

If you'd like more information - maybe about George's beans -

it'll all be in the fact sheet.

The easiest way to access that is on line.

Don't forget you can find us on Twitter and Facebook as well.

That's your lot for this week. Until we see you again next time,

bye-bye.

ALL: Bye!

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