Episode 19 The Beechgrove Garden

Well, hello, and welcome to Beechgrove

on a typical summer's day!

All is not gloom and doom, however.

This wee raised bed here is earning its corn somewhat

because most of these spaces have been filled for a second time.

We've got lettuces, turnips, beetroot,

the leeks have been here for a while, that's original crop,

some pak choi and more lettuce than we ken what to dae wi'.

But I'm here to look at some bush tomatoes growing under tunnels.

This is a crop that puzzles me because in my eyes,

it's an outdoor crop grown in the fields in the south,

and when you buy these young plants,

do you know what shape they'll be? Because we've quite a variety here,

eight different varieties in this tunnel

cos I think this is perhaps the way to grow them

but we picked the wrong summer to do so - got loads and loads of flowers,

but not a lot of ripe fruit as yet.

But this type of plant doesn't need any trimming.

It doesn't need any regular attention. You just let it grow.

This one here, Red Alert,

which you'll be familiar with, it's been around for a while,

is beginning to ripen up and give us some young fruits here

and here's another - Garden Pearl, the same, beginning to get some.

These taller ones here, not a lot of fruit as yet,

and I wonder when we will get the fruit.

It takes me back years and years ago,

when a chum of mine grew them outdoors, and he would wait

until about mid-August, then he'd strip all the leaves off,

take the canes out, lay them down on a bed of straw

and then cover them with cloches

and he would get a one-off pick,

but that was for chutney and for soups, because of course,

ripening outdoors in our climate, the skin gets very tough

so it doesn't become really a nice salad vegetable, in my eyes.

You might choose to grow them in baskets, like this indoors,

and for many, that's the only way they can, the only space they have.

Well, fine, that's great, and it will work

and I'm hoping to see these fruits, to be able to taste them.

At the end of the day, that's the important thing. I just need them to ripen!

Sun! Please! Now on the rest of the programme...

I'm in the Scottish Borders

to visit the garden that inspired this magnificent new book

all about the changing of the seasons.

So here's my problem corner.

What am I going to do to improve this little patch of land?

We're back here in the decking

and having a look at the Jubilee display.

This has given us a display for what? Three months?

It's worked really well. We did the diamonds in silver cineraria

and filled it with different coloured lettuces.

It's grown very well, with the wet weather.

So a lot of trimming back now?

The cineraria's actually getting really tall,

so we'll take these down. It just redefines the shape

-but it's lasted ever so well.

-I mean, it does work well

because look, we've redefined the two there

and you can see the shape now,

and it means cutting back the lettuce too, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-Just taking the tops off.

-Yeah, we've got a lot of salad here.

-That's true.

-I think that is a success story.

-I agree.

-I think it worked really well.

-But sadly, on the decking itself,

one or two vegetables haven't done particularly well, have they?

No, there's good news and bad news.

Are we going to do the bad news first?

-Will we?

-Get it out of the way?

-OK.

-Where do we start with the bad news?

-Behind you.

Yes, the carrots here.

'We grew these last year

'and the top was better than the bottom.'

'Yes, that's true again.'

It is true again. I think it's something to do with heat

but look, the rain, I think they've got waterlogged.

Nothing, nothing in the bottom.

These ones have damped off. They're really rotten.

-I'll just see if we've got anything, Leslie.

-OK.

-Gosh, nothing much.

-Nothing with the lettuce for a salad.

-Really disappointing.

We did the same with lettuces

and this is a sort of a top crop,

so the leafiness seems to be OK,

so we have enough lettuce to keep us going here.

-Not much difference between the heights there.

-I know.

-But the peas, they're super.

-Lovely!

That's a variety called Tom Thumb

and the pods are great,

and this raised bed as well, this has done quite well.

-You just dug these up earlier.

-Yeah, they were in a container.

-Aramis is the variety of turnip.

-Beautiful.

This is the thing, when you grow in containers -

-completely clean, pest-free, much easier...

-And keep sowing again.

-We've got radish, a second crop.

-Yeah.

OK, moment of truth. Every year we like to do this.

Your tatties - you tried a main crop variety this time.

This is Bounty. We have it in this stacking system.

It wasn't terribly successful last year

but we thought we'd have a look.

-Do you think you need a container this size?

-Thank you(!) We'll see!

We have got Rudolph.

-Ooh, wow!

-It's gorgeous!

This one is Bonnie, I think.

This is a new first early, Vales Emerald.

Blue belle.

-It's got a blue...

-Oh, I see.

-Look, very attractive.

So just to sort of sum that up, we've got three new second earlies.

I think the Blue belle is lovely, isn't it, with the blue eyes?

It's very pretty.

Bonnie is next, with sort of red eyes

-and Rudolph, isn't that a lovely colour?

-That is gorgeous.

Then we have your main crop, Bounty.

-Would you leave that?

-I'm going to leave it

as there were little potatoes coming up the stem, so I'll leave the others

-but interesting to see what we have now.

-Finally, Vales Emerald,

which is a first early, and that's a cross

-between Maris Peer and Charlotte.

-I'm interested... They LOOK nice.

-I'd now like to start cooking them.

-Yeah, we need to taste them.

Are they going to keep their colour?

-We'll do that later on.

-Will they be flaky or waxy?

We're going to taste them.

I'm in Kirkcaldy and the garden of Caroline Doig.

Now, her borders are looking absolutely fantastic

but she does have one little problem area that needs a bit of help.

So, Caroline, tell me a bit about the problem you've got here.

OK. We had an extension built three years ago

and that allowed us to put some nice decking in

and we had this area left... as a mini building site.

-It's kind of stuck between the two bits, isn't it?

-Yeah.

But that must be a nice place to sit.

It is, but this is a bit of an eyesore

and I started lifting slabs,

thinking I would make something fantastic,

and came across... well, the soil is really compacted.

I've been trying to get rid of the straight lines

-and so I started cutting the grass into a curve.

-Right.

-But I didn't know how to edge it off best for easy cutting.

-All right,

and what kind of look or feel would you require from this area?

-We're quite near the sea. You can probably hear the seagulls.

-Yes!

So I kind of thought a seasidey feel might be nice

and if we could try and keep it low-maintenance, that'd help.

So maybe some gravel, some seasidey-looking plants through it,

-that kind of thing, give it that sort of theme.

-OK. Let's do it.

-Are you pulling?

-I'm pulling on it!

-Pull harder!

-It's looking quite different already, isn't it?

-It's amazing!

-Just in the short time you've been here.

-I know.

We cleared all the rubbish that was here,

we've put black matting down to keep weeds down,

that will give you your kind of low-maintenance effect,

-so you've been out collecting driftwood, haven't you?

-I have, yep.

I came back with this one piece. Well, it was one piece this morning,

till you got your hands on it.

-I think it looks better like that, vertical.

-It does, yeah.

We've added some boulders as well,

just to create little features,

and then the planting - you've been out and got plants yourself.

I did. I was thinking along the blues and greys line,

so we've ended up with a bluebell creeper.

That's nice, isn't it? Good blue.

And a convolvulus, and some pink would be nice to jazz it up,

so we've come back with some sea thrift there.

Couldn't resist black-form sea thrift.

-I haven't seen that before.

-It's gorgeous! Really dark, isn't it?

Yeah, it ties in nicely with the phormium you brought. Thanks.

Grasses I think are always good. There's a nice grey festuca,

there's the blackgrass at the front here

and I couldn't resist sea holly as well,

so we have eryngium in the taller version,

and little Blue Hobbit, the mini one.

To cover the walls, we've got a Garrya elliptica.

You've got the bluebell creeper cos that's a great big expansive wall.

-And also, I thought, because it's such a sunny site...

-That's lovely.

A wisteria will look beautiful and keep with that colour theme,

and that will kind of grow up

and you can train it along the side of there and along here,

-and it'll frame the whole scene. That'll look nice, I think.

-It will.

So let's plant all the plants, then we'll put the gravel on top.

So we've left Alan finishing off all the planting there

but I wanted to have a look at your problem hedge.

We planted this in 2009

and it was growing great until we noticed,

periodically, some of the plants are dying off in very regular spacing.

So we replaced the dead ones

and they seem to be just dying off again,

so I don't quite understand why.

Well, I know you had the builders in about that time

and I suspect what's happened is,

when they've been building, there's been cement dumped into here

or just the run-off or the wash-off from cement boards,

so it's a big job, but what I think you have to do is to dig out,

like, a metre cubed round about all these plants that are unhappy,

dig that out, get rid of it, and put nice fresh new soil in.

Put a nice new plant in, and then I suspect everything will be fine.

-Your hedge will continue to grow as normal.

-Let's hope so. OK, thanks.

Well, Alan has been busy while we've been over at the hedge

and all the planting is now finished but we've lost the sun! Never mind.

We'll start putting all the boulders in.

I love it. I want this in my garden.

Well, I would certainly say

that is what you'd call a seaside garden, isn't it?

It has all the elements.

You've got your driftwood, your boulders, your pebbles,

gravel, your own personal beach.

-Absolutely.

-Your seasidey plants!

-It's amazing.

-You've exceeded my expectations. It's brilliant.

-Oh, good.

-Thanks very much.

-You're most welcome.

Here in the cutting garden,

we're been growing a range of dwarf sunflowers

and I arranged them in order of height

because I don't want the tall ones to be screening the shorter ones.

Florenza, here at the back, is supposed to get to five foot

whereas Ruby Sunset gets to three.

Can't always believe what you see on the seed packets, can you?

What we also did was,

this side of the bed were all started off in the greenhouse in pots

and then planted out.

This side were directly sown into the ground.

The ones that were started off earlier certainly are ahead,

they have flowers on them,

but I'm pretty pleased with the look of these.

Something like Choc Chip here and Irish Eyes

have still got time to flower. They look good, healthy, chunky plants.

An interesting year to choose

to grow sunflowers, that obviously like a lot of sunshine,

and when you see them in France,

they're all facing in the same direction. Here in Aberdeen,

they're all looking around to see if they can find the sun.

The other planting that we did, which was a lot of annuals,

was a black-and-white scheme, and both these beds contain these plants.

The central area were pyramids of sweet peas

and they have done really well.

The fragrance is wafting up before I even lift the vase.

It's just beautiful.

One of the mixes here was called Night and Day,

so it was a mix of purple and white,

and this is a very interesting one here.

This has also got flecking. This is called Wiltshire Ripple.

It goes really, really well, and as you pick these flowers -

we talk about dead-heading, this is live-heading,

because the more I pick, the more flowers I'm going to get.

Now, I've been a bit relaxed, so they've grown in a tangle.

I haven't taken off the tendrils, and they've been a bit windblown.

They still look gorgeous. When you're arranging flowers,

it's nice if you can choose a vase

with colours that compliment the flower, so I'm pleased with this one.

Another selection of plants which have grown really well

are the nasturtiums, and I seem to have gone nasturtium crazy this year.

I quite like to use a glass container,

so you can see when they're running out of water.

This again is called Night and Day, so we have a lemon for the sunshine

and a pretty sort of chocolatey purple

for the night-time of that, and that's come away nicely.

What has possibly been less successful is this selection.

This dahlia, dwarf dahlia, was called Black Velvet

and it has been a martyr to slugs.

We've managed to get a few flowers, and teamed that up

with this little aquilegia, which is called Origami White.

But some of the annuals have struggled with the weather,

whereas the perennials have done a lot better,

and we do have a whole bed where we have achillea

and eryngiums, and they're fine.

This is the achillea terra cotta.

I put it with the blue of the little catananche.

All these will also dry. And you can make quite a lot of a little,

if you don't want to pick a lot of flowers,

just three rose blooms,

this is Eglantine that I've got floating in here

with some tea lights.

That would make a lovely centrepiece for a dinner party.

And, finally, fragrance is also important. This is Munstead Wood.

We have had quite a lot of wind and rain.

This has been flattened so I had to pick it, honestly,

and then we can enjoy it inside.

Well, cut flower crops are not particularly interesting

until they actually start showing their flowers.

Here we have a nice collection of chrysanthemums,

a whole range of different varieties and different flower shapes.

Not of much interest at the moment, so we don't visit them very often

but every now and again, you have to be on the ball. Let me describe it.

Right at the top here, we've got what we call spray, single spray.

A spray means there are several heads at the top of the stem

and then they're single flowers,

like a big daisy with an open centre. Different colours here.

The next lot are double-centred, the same sort of thing again.

You begin to see in these plants there

where all the different stems are coming up

and they will produced the heads.

Then we go from double to anemone-centred

and Lucy gets the first prize

for being the first to flower.

There it is, that lovely, lovely pink there.

And you can see the shape of the head.

You'll have a cluster of these beautiful, beautiful,

anemone-centred. Then from here on,

these are varieties that have to be disbudded.

We want to reduce the number of flowers on the stem

to just one at the top, and because there's only one,

it's a socking great big thing, at least the size of a saucer.

Hopefully a dinner plate, but I think a saucer will do,

so here we go. These now require a bit of attention,

because they're starting to produce lots of side shoots

that will take the strength away from the actual bud we're after.

Take this one, for example.

There's the bud we want.

The longer we leave it before we take these guys out,

the less strength will go into that and the smaller it will be.

So we gradually remove these,

carefully remove these little competing buds there,

and we go right down the stem, like so.

Now, why do we start at the top and go down the way?

Well, if for any reason we knock the head off the top,

there's always a stem underneath to take over.

If we start at the bottom and come up the way,

and then we knock that head out, that's a stem wasted.

So there we go. Sadly,

on my way earlier,

looking round these,

I discovered a problem.

And it's not an easy one to solve. I've got a couple leaves here.

And there we are.

When you see that in a chrysanthemum,

that zonal sort of shape there,

here it is in a different variety, and it's a zonal shape like...

That might be chrysanthemum eelworm,

which affects the internals of the plant, and will affect its virility

and you wouldn't want to propagate from plants that have this eelworm,

so the only thing to do is destroy the stock at the end of the season.

It won't harm the buds that are on there now.

You CAN treat them with hot water, but it's a very specific technique

and you need the right equipment to do it. Probably finish up

chucking them out and buying in new cuttings next year.

But we've got a nice lot of flowers in prospect.

I'm here in the Scottish Borders between Jedburgh and Hawick

to visit Laura Blackwood, who as well as being a passionate gardener,

is also a professional illustrator and artist

and she's just finished producing this exquisite book

that she's painted and written

called A Celebration Of Nature Through The Seasons.

So, Laura, what inspired you to create this book, then?

Well, I first realised how lucky I am

to live in this beautiful part of Scotland in the Borders,

which is full of a great variety of trees and birds, flowers, insects,

and I wanted to draw attention and emphasise

why it's important to really value what we have here.

And also, to make the point

that in nature, everything is connected.

-Yeah.

-There is an interconnectedness with everything

and we are part of that.

And therefore, this is another reason

why it's so important to value what we have.

Obviously, the seasons are quite important to you, then, aren't they?

Well, yes, I think the seasons have become far less obvious

-in our daily lives.

-Yeah.

In terms of what we eat and so on,

and I think that we can learn a lot from the seasonal cycles

because everything has a cycle

and if we lose sight of that,

-this is something which governs a lot of our lives.

-Yeah.

Do all these flowers come from your garden, that you've painted?

Well, mostly, they are in this garden

but also from the surrounding area

and I would obviously have to wait till these flowers are in season

to be able to paint them from life

because each flower is different,

even though they may, on the face of it, all seem the same,

each one is an individual,

so I would collect the specimen and paint it.

And how do you feel when you're actually sitting there painting?

You could almost describe it as a meditative state.

You become completely absorbed in what...

You know, the specimens or the birds or whatever.

It's a fantastically rich experience.

It's taken you well over five years to create this book, I know.

What kind of materials did you use for the originals?

Well, the paper, I was lucky to get a batch of it from my family,

who made hand-made watercolour paper.

It's Whatman paper.

This paper, I saw from the watercolour mark,

-was made in 1911 and 1912.

-Gosh!

And this type of paper was used by people like Turner and Cotman,

-who painted on it.

-Wow!

The paints that I used...

-This was my father's travelling watercolour box.

-That's gorgeous!

-And the whole book came from this one box of paint.

-That's amazing!

It's amazing what you can do with something so small and so compact.

To create this wonderful book with all these pictures, really lovely.

So, Laura, a big chunk of your garden is on a very steep slope.

Do you find that a challenge?

Not really, because the effect of the terracing

enhances the light effects with the plants on each one,

being lit in the morning from below and in the afternoon from above,

so it creates quite a dramatic effect.

And what about mowing? You've quite a lot of grass as well!

Well, that's hard work.

The other thing I like about your garden is that you've got mown areas

but there's lots of wilder areas

and you've mown through, so there's always a little vista

that makes you want to walk around a corner or through into the woods.

It's a good way of doing it.

Well, I think it's a fantastic thing that one can do

to create a sense of mystery, that one might want to follow that path

-to find out what's hidden around the corner.

-The element of surprise.

That's right, and hopefully there's a nice view,

a seat to sit and enjoy it at the end of it.

And it must mean you've got a lot of wildlife

-that comes into your garden.

-We do.

We have a tremendous variety of birds, including migrating birds

and a woodpecker.

We have otters in the river...

-Lovely.

-..and deer, badgers,

but perhaps best of all is...

we have red squirrels here.

-Oh, marvellous!

-And this is a great privilege to have them.

We nearly lost them to the grey squirrels, which carry a virus.

However, a lot of work has been done

and the population has increased of the red squirrels.

-Oh, that's good.

-And we now have several that come to the bird table.

-It's such a joy to have them in your garden.

-It's a great privilege.

So, thank you for showing us around your garden.

It's absolutely beautiful, and been a real privilege to be here.

About a couple of weeks ago, I stood by this very birch tree,

explaining that there had been something happening.

Trees were losing leaves everywhere.

We were getting reports from all over

and I explained that I thought it was the warm March,

cold, wet April, May, the trees had been conned

and they were now going into leaf-fall.

But do you know, I hadn't actually convinced myself!

That was my theory, you see, so I spoke to one of the senior advisers

at the Royal Horticultural Society.

He says, "Go back, pick up a few of the dead leaves,

"and you'll see what the problem is."

There it is. It's a fungal leaf spore that has affected the birch,

brought about by these weather patterns that we've had earlier.

He says they'll recover, it's not a killer,

and as you can see, actually,

the trees, and I've had reports from others to say, the trees are fine

and they're leafing out again.

Well, now is the chance to taste the tatties, Lesley.

We've got five varieties. Will we start off with the first early,

-Vales Emerald?

-Yes, lovely.

We'll look at texture and see if they're floury or waxy.

And that's what it looks like when it's washed, so it's quite yellow.

I've got a huge bit.

Mmm.

That's got a very nice...

-Nice.

-..earthy flavour?

-Mmm.

-That's nice, it's got a good flavour.

That is good. Now, I love the colour of this one, Rudolph.

It's beautiful, and it keeps its colour a bit, hasn't it?

It has on the skin, hasn't it? These were all second earlies?

-These were second earlies.

-OK.

-That's more waxy.

-It is.

It's quite mild. There's not too much flavour to that.

-That one's better at the moment.

-It's just sort of potatoey.

-Got to keep track. Blue Belle.

-Gorgeous blue eye.

Do you not think that would look lovely on an exhibition table?

It's on the skin, even after it's been cooked. Nice yellowy potato.

-Ooh! Dropped it!

-For goodness' sake!

-I can't find my mouth!

Nice texture. Quite creamy.

-Mild.

-In between the two, I think.

-Still going for that one.

-Right, I quite like that Blue Belle.

-This is Bonnie.

-Bonnie, with the pink bits.

-It is bonny!

-It is.

They're all nice and waxy, I have to say,

which is the sort of potato I prefer.

Mmm-hmm.

-Not quite so much flavour.

-I think I've eaten too much potato.

-I know!

After a point, you think, "Help!" One more. This is your main crop, which I think was the best crop.

-Quite a lot, wasn't there? Yes, a very clean look.

-Very pale.

It's got very white flesh.

And... Mmm.

That's actually got a very earthy sort of flavour to it.

-Don't like the flavour so much of that one.

-OK.

I'm going to go Blue Belle, I think.

I like that one, so I like Bounty

and I like...Vale Emerald. Very good.

-Bit of butter, though, don't you think?

-Oh, definitely!

Well, Jim, we're waiting for flowers on the chrysanthemums

but aren't these lovely, the carnations?

Absolutely stunning.

They look beautiful, and the fragrance wafting over.

Oh, the perfume! I think this is a gorgeous colour, fuchsia pink,

that cerise rosey Barbara.

Bright magenta. What's the difference between the two bags?

Well, we're meant to have the spray and perpetual...

I'm a little concerned whether we have the right varieties there

-but they are gorgeous.

-So spray - lots of flowers, these one single...

-You can disbud them, can't you?

-Like with the chrysanthemums.

-We did a bit to get a bigger single flower but I like these bi-colours.

-They are nice.

-Absolutely stunning.

-That one's Xenia and that one's Spectro, I think.

-It's like a Spanish dress! Gorgeous.

-I think she's been rehearsing these names!

I've got a list in my back pocket!

This training system here, we'll get them right up.

Yeah, they will grow up, and it's a new system.

I'm pretty sure they should last for a couple of years.

-It works well, doesn't it?

-Yeah. They're looking good.

-The vegetables are looking good too. Fruit and veg.

-I know, as ever.

Well, absolutely super.

-Lovely, lovely harvest.

-Even though we had losses on the decking, this is brilliant, isn't it?

And I noticed that there are peaches present this week.

Does that lead me onto the factsheet while you eat a peach?

I won't do it all dribbly!

If you'd like any more information about this week's programme

it's in the factsheet

and the easiest way to access that is online. All that information,

maybe about your cut flowers or the chrysanthemums.

-Yes, of course.

-And don't forget,

we're also on Twitter and Facebook.

Now, next week, I'm going to be having a look at the results

of all the seeds which we saved last year and sowed in the trials bed.

Interesting results there, and a look at some of the annual climbers.

-Some surprises?

-Yes, there are, actually.

We look forward to that.

Well, if the weather behaves itself,

I'll be putting some autumn fertiliser on the big lawn,

-so until next time, goodbye.

-Bye-bye!

-Bye-bye.

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