Episode 11 The Beechgrove Garden

Hello there and welcome to Beechgrove,

and what a relief it is to have some settled weather

to get a wee stroll through our wildflower/wild plant area.

This has been very colourful over the last month or two.

And over here, I'd like to draw your attention to a problem.

I think when people do the wildflower bit, they say,

"That's it, I don't need to look after it, it's fine."

But the dominant species will sometimes cause a problem.

And in this case, it's lady's mantle. Just look at it.

It's going take over. So it has to be dealt with severely fairly soon.

But I want to talk about compost today.

When I used the word compost, I wasn't meaning growing medium,

I was meaning recycled waste from the garden,

because this is the time of year when it's beginning to mount up

and it's coming from all sources.

-And this is what we call compost city.

-HE LAUGHS

Cos there are so many different bins of different types that you'll see in a moment.

But the one that we major on is this huge capacity bin,

which we find is excellent.

And here we have a row of compost bins here.

This one has just been finally filled up.

This is older and that's even older still.

And some people use this bit of kit here.

I've never used one in the past. I'll tell you why in a minute.

And, of course, what you're meant to do is to plunge it in there,

push it down, and then when you heave it up, the lugs come out

and it helps to mix it, and that's, of course, quite important.

What we've tended to do, of course, is create an empty one

and then we'll tip this one out into there, because it reduces in bulk,

and then we might even have room for that one,

and that's how we are able to mix it and actually aerate it,

and if there are any dry bits, we can wet it.

And that's how the compost moves on quite swiftly.

So what can you put in and what mustn't you put in?

Well, let's start with that one. What you mustn't put in is dandelions,

deep-rooted things, they will stay alive for a long time.

We've got some horsetail here just to remind me, we've got horsetail in the garden.

I wouldn't put any of that stuff.

I don't put in old tubers, either. I get rid of them elsewhere.

The thing that most people have most of, of course,

are grass clippings.

And of course you can use grass clippings, no problem at all.

But not too much all at the one time.

So sit it to one side, every time you add in a bit more,

put some grass clippings in with it. It is soft, it is moist,

and it helps to mix the whole thing and helps it to rot down.

But the usual things you've got, of course, are weeds out of the garden,

you've got clippings from the veggies and the dead veg and the ones you haven't managed to use,

the old stems of flowers, et cetera.

Then we get to the more particular, out of caddy in the kitchen, all sorts of peelings,

then we've got teabags.

Some people will complain that they don't break down.

Well, you can break them that way if you can take the time to do it.

Eggs. Some people actually crush them and claim that they do all sorts of wonderful things.

I just scrunch them up and they're fine.

Coffee grounds, yes, not a problem. Some people are lucky enough to get a bit of old straw bedding.

That's fine. But that might want chopping up a bit.

This is paper shreddings and it's used for bedding chickens,

so there's a bit of Hen Pen in there, as well.

Wonderful stuff. Adds to the way the thing breaks down, it's absolutely super.

Cardboard, shred it. And then woody stuff.

If it's branches like this that have broken off and you want to chop them up,

of course you can chop them. Use the old secateurs. Not too big.

Some people spend money on additives to help it break down.

I've never used them at all and I've always made reasonably good compost.

Bit of soil chucked in on the top,

that has all the bacteria and the beasties that will help it all to break down.

The most important thing is, it is a valuable asset for feeding the soil.

Don't forget that. Now, in the rest of the programme...

I'm on a mission to fill this basket with hardy perennial herbs

for our new herb garden at Beechgrove.

And this week, I'm in Linlithgow.

Ancient palace, ancient loch and ancient garden.

-I think we're privileged because we're looking at Jim's strawberries.

-They're looking OK.

There's plenty of fruit on them, of all different sizes, as well, so plenty of succession coming through.

It's just one variety called Sonata. They were grown last year,

put in here in June as plants, and they fruited right through to September, October time.

-So the same plants just kept in the same compost.

-Started fruiting on 1st June

and it's three years now since we've had strawberries on 1st June,

-which is quite amazing.

-To revitalise them, all that's happened is they've been given tomato food?

That's right. Nothing else. They haven't had fresh compost.

-It just shows you, it's worth keeping.

-Isn't the peach looking good?

I know. It's absolutely laden in fruit.

In fact, it's already been thinned once, but it needs thinning again.

You carry on chatting, I'll eat the strawberry. The problem is the red spider mite

and brown scale is a problem with that,

so I think this is the last year it's going to fruit.

I think you're being harsh. However, as a precaution,

I think it's worth trying a different way of growing a peach

in a much more compact situation.

So in theory, getting round about 12 to 15 fruits

-in a single pot that big.

-So it's like bonsai, isn't it?

So very small plants in a small space but bigger fruits?

Bigger fruits, better quality fruits,

and you're right with bonsai, the idea is that you use...

This is a terracotta pot that's been slightly modified with a grinder,

cutting a hole in the bottom to allow the roots to come through the base.

And you grow it either on gravel or soil

and about every week in the growing season,

you turn the pot to rip the roots out of the bottom.

Oh, that's an interesting idea. OK, so what have you got to do to the plant itself?

Well, we follow an old technique that was devised in 1850

by a nurseryman called Rivers.

And he said you should count up 11 buds.

So we've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11.

We'll give it one for luck. Now, this looks a bit harsh.

-I'm just going to take that off altogether.

-OK.

Take all that off and then any side shoots,

if there's no buds on side shoots, you take them off altogether,

-if there are buds on side shoots...

-Healthy ones?

-..you take them back to about nine inches.

-Right, I'll take that one.

-I'll take that one.

-This seems really harsh.

-It does.

But the idea is to try and generate plenty of wood this season

because, of course, a peach will fruit, on wood that it develops this season, it will fruit next season.

-How many do we hope to get?

-Well, on a plant like this,

Rivers maintained you should get three dozen thinned to one dozen good quality ones.

-That seems pretty good to me.

-You can then do nothing with the root,

but in your pot, crocks in the bottom to stop the compost falling straight through.

And what he suggested is a mix of two parts loam,

John Innes number two is fine, not too fertile, of course,

then putting in one part of horse manure, well rotted.

-And then the gritty sand.

-A good helping of sharp sand.

You ram it down in the pot, give yourself a layer so that you can water on the surface,

and then when you're ready, pop it back in the glass house to get all those shoots to start to grow.

I'm going to try a more modern technique, slightly different, using the air pot.

And so, obviously, there's still the holes in the bottom, so we can turn it,

but I won't prune the edges. If anything comes through, I'll prune it from the outside.

You try the modern one, I'll see how accurate Rivers was with the original terracotta.

Sounds like fun.

Today I'm in the ancient borough of Linlithgow,

one of Scotland's oldest towns,

dates right back to the 1400s and before.

That's when the palace was built.

High street gardens in Linlithgow have a fantastic history at the back.

They have these long, narrow rig gardens

which go right up the hill.

Often they have springs in them and this one is no exception.

There's a well here and we can hear the water trickling down the hill.

1729. Some age. But I want to take you further back.

What I want to do today is to look at a problem corner for a small boy.

I'm going to create a dinosaur.

Rebecca, this is our problem corner for today.

Now, it wasn't always like this. When I saw this, it was full of creeping buttercups. What have you done?

Yes. The creeping buttercup covered everything

and I sprayed it twice with glyphosate, about two weeks gap in between each spraying,

-trying to avoid some of the obvious plants.

-Well, you've managed.

And a wee bit of bishop's weed there, but we'll soon dig that up, and it's been weakened.

So there are one or two of the herbaceous things which we'll be able to save, bring them down here,

make a herbaceous area down here, and then we'll dig this over,

-prepare it for planting, and this is where we're going to do a dinosaur, crocodile or whatever...

-Brilliant!

-..for young Angus.

-That would be perfect. That would be cool.

Well, Angus, we have got a piece of log,

but I think we could call that a stickosaurus.

You see it all the way back there? See its eye?

And this is its nose and that's its long body.

And then what could we use for its hair? That one?

Would you like that one for its hair?

-Yes.

-And then we could have some scaly ones for its body.

And then we've got some really dark ones up there which would be part of the legs.

-Would that be good?

-Angus, would you like a dinosaur?

-Are you sure?

-Yeah?

-Thank goodness.

-What could we call it?

-What would you call it?

-Stegosaurus.

Stegosaurus or stickosaurus. I think stickosaurus is a good name.

-Looks good!

-Now, once we get all of those planted,

it will ease out again and it will...

But along the back there,

that one at the back, if we do the plant walk round, that's pulmonaria.

-OK.

-A thing called Sissinghurst White.

Now, the name pulmonaria, that's to do with lungs,

so it comes from a period in botany which was the doctrine of signatures,

-when they named plants after the part of the body that they could cure.

-OK.

And they thought that that would have an effect on congested lungs.

So they'd make tincture out of that and drink them or rub it on your chest.

-Clinical trials?

-No, just chuck it and chance it.

So that's there. And then in front of that, we've got the black grass,

this ophiopogon planiscapus Nigrescens,

and that is a good thing for dinosaurs.

It's just so dark and it looks as though it belongs.

Then the other side of it, a golden grass, this lighter, airier one.

So the play of light and shade I thought was reasonable in there.

-I think it works well.

-So for the legs, we've got euphorbia myrsinites.

Now, you have to watch with these because they have an irritant sap,

-so just watch when you touch them that maybe you wash your hands or something like that.

-OK.

Behind that, we've got a tail of chives.

Now, I'm really happy about that.

I had some chives further down in the garden

-but the mint overtook them.

-Well, replacement, so that's good.

And then the whole of the ground, the base work of this,

is made up with this saxifraga.

-This is the saxifraga umbrosa.

-It's really pretty.

-Common name is Nancy Pretty, or London Pride.

-This is a variegated one so it looks like the scales on a dinosaur.

-Yeah.

So a little bit of illusion. And at the front, right at the front,

-we've got some ferns.

-Yeah.

So, once that's all planted and bedded down, we'll see the dinosaur a bit better

and it should really look quite good, I hope.

-I think it looks great.

-And I've got an egg there, as well.

SHE LAUGHS

-Angus has put his seal of approval on it.

-He has.

-He's put an eye on it.

-Yeah. He came in, he gave it the thumbs up, he made his mark.

And he's off. He's off doing his own thing.

But now we've got something which is this wonderful

bit of his imagination with the dinosaur there,

but for us, we've got the groundcover planting.

Hopefully, this will be a pleasant corner for a number of years.

Well, I'm really pleased with it. Thank you, George.

-It's been brill.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you.

Alongside the stream, the herbaceous border

is doing what every good herbaceous border should be doing at this time,

it's becoming increasingly boisterous,

bountiful and full of a tapestry of blooms and foliage.

But inevitably, there are a few gaps that just need filling.

And rather than go for the common garden plants,

what I'd like to try here is a selection of plants

that are recently introduced to the gardening market.

The genus may be familiar but the species and cultivars very often are slightly alternative.

Now, I'm always very sceptical of introducing new plants for the sake of them being new.

Very often they're not terribly garden-worthy.

So the idea of this section of the herbaceous garden

is to just test them out, very informally, cheek by jowl,

see how they perform. Are they really worth having

and giving a space in your patch?

Well, this is a good place to start.

This is actaea simplex. It's a good plant generally.

It's a North American species from the plains,

but this is black negligee,

a very deep form, dark stems, very filigreed leaf.

And then during the summer months, well, a wonderful plume

of white flowers coming up,

around about 90 centimetres to a metre or more.

So good clump-forming plant.

And the reason I've clustered some here is that

inevitably when the oriental poppy has flowered and faded,

you need something to sweep into the space.

So I'm hoping that the actaea will perform exactly that role.

And another plant that is used to mingling amongst others

is the cirsium here.

This is a plant related to one that hit the headlines at Chelsea ten years or more ago.

It was the straight red form that was really growing amongst grasses

and it became, well, really rather ubiquitous.

This, however, is Mount Etna, found on the slopes of Mount Etna.

Instead of being that blood red colour,

well, this is a little bit more feminine.

It's a very soft pink, very thistly head,

standing about 90 centimetres in height.

And it's great for just sending up around other plants, like the aquilegias, for instance.

Right on the edge of the bark path here

is a plant that perhaps would be a little unusual this close to the edge of a border.

It's a eupatorium, a Joe-Pye weed, from the plains of North America.

We're used to positioning plants of this genus way back in the distance.

Two metres or more in height, they are the back of the border.

However, this form is called red dwarf.

It's got a very deep stem, it's got the usual eupatorium-like flower,

a sort of umbel, very flat-topped,

and bees and butterflies can get their tongues into those fluted blooms.

It's quite late flowering in the summer.

A little bit further back in the border is another good clump-forming plant,

and one that gardeners have become a little bit exasperated with

over recent summers. The monardas, the bee balms.

Well, they've all been suffering mildew so there's barely a garden

that hasn't been hit and devastated by mildew.

But this is the result of a series of trials in the US

that have been looking specifically at mildew-resistant forms.

This one is called Marshall's Delight,

and as you can see from the very dark edge to the leaf here,

it suggests that there's going to be a dark pigment to the flower.

In fact, it is absolutely true, this is very, very dark violet, almost purple colour,

a shade that bumblebees seem to get extraordinarily excited about.

They migrate towards this because of the shape and the colour

more than just about anything else in the herbaceous border.

And it's a good clump-forming plant, it will do its job right here

at the edge of this larger section of planting towards the back.

Now, this is filipendula, the meadowsweet,

but this is the Japanese form.

So filipendula purpurea.

It's a good thicket forming plant, it's going to spread underneath the conifers,

it's great at dealing with slight shade and also out into more open area.

Damp soil's definitely a must for this one.

And its real delight is its promise of producing very delicate, almost baby pink blooms

that are so animated in the slightest of summer breezes

that it just warms your heart

as you sit on one side of the garden looking down across, through the pine

to the lake beyond.

Well, we are in our silver garden

for celebrating our silver anniversary, and that was ten years ago.

And a couple of jobs going on at the moment.

Chris, you've got a nice job there taking out the blanket weed from the pond.

It's one of the most relaxing jobs in the garden

and it's important to do it slowly and gently, which only aids the relaxation,

because there's so much wildlife in the pond at this time of year.

It's easy to get them ensnared, which is why I'm putting the debris on the side here.

Yes, so they can crawl back into the pond, can't they?

And put that on the compost heap the next day?

-Yeah.

-Come and help me because I'm having a look at the acer

which I'm afraid has got a huge amount of reversion on it,

and I just think, well, one more chance,

maybe pick off some of this fresh growth and see what happens.

Well, do you know, I think you're being a little bit generous.

Cos this is a plant which, maybe just a succession of winters,

wet summers, environmentally it's just challenged

and it's panicked and it's gone back to the straight green form.

I'm not sure that it will ever go back to its full glory.

Well, give it a few more months and if it doesn't then an opportunity for something else.

Right. I'm going to get my saw out straight away.

Now, really this is about giving it a sense of place, the garden,

because the viewers like to have an idea about the way the garden is planned.

And the silver garden, well, silver plants

and a little bit of a contrast with purple.

You're right. You've got to have those contrasts.

They're the full stops, the bullet points, they hold your attention, punctuate the garden.

-Nice tilia behind, as well.

-It's beautiful, the pleached line.

And then we move into our trials area

where we have a bit of fun here trying different things every year.

So the sweet peas, I'm just letting these scramble up the different structures.

So you're just letting them find their own way? There's no guidance?

Do you know, if I was a sweet pea, this would be my least favourite.

Constantly moving in the wind, I think you'd be nervous about hanging on.

-Prefer that one.

-That's what I'd be going for.

Bedding schemes, I think you might need your sunglasses for this one, it's all about oranges and lemons.

It's going to be a real reminder of the Victorian bedding schemes.

Just full chroma, maximum hue,

and, yeah, shocking when it comes into flower.

If we have weather like this, it will be shocking.

I can't believe what's happened here with Jim's groundcover.

-Four weeks, and that lamium has really taken off.

-It's great value as well, isn't it?

And great for insects, a good bee plant. There's a lovely sense of contrast there, too.

Lamium just injects that little bit of light underneath the darkness of the hedge.

-Totally agree, but that's the number one so far.

-Yeah.

Ah, there you are. Welcome to the glasshouse village, except we are in a poly tunnel.

It's not an ordinary poly and it's not bubble polythene, either.

But it's a great house. It's been here for ten years or more.

And in here Carol's got some trials with cucumbers,

grafted versus non-grafted.

But I'll draw your attention to these bags. I find them really very, very useful indeed.

Handles and everything else. Nice depth of compost.

Plenty of space in them. This is their third year at least.

And they're doing very well. Now then, to the tomatoes.

And, er, this is about tasting tomatoes this time.

We've got nine different varieties.

We're really stretching ourselves.

Some I've never heard of, never seen.

And we've got three plants of each variety per growbag.

And we've got one of each in pots

on the other side of the glass house.

We're going to be looking and concentrating on flavour.

But in the meantime, these guys need a bit of attention,

because now we're growing them as single cordons,

they've started to produce side shoots.

So what I'm doing now is twisting string round the plant. Not the plant round the string.

And you'll notice when I came round there, I came above the truss of flower.

Come below it and it slips, it could strangle that truss of flowers.

I start to take the side shoots out,

and I much prefer to snap them out, cos that comes out at a natural joint.

Then I go down the stem to the next one,

take another one out, and so on,

so that we're channelling the growth into this main stem that will carry the fruit.

Now, why do I start at the top and go to the bottom?

If you start at the bottom and come up to the last one at the top

and knock the head off the plant, you're snookered. So, remember that.

I've come to the Black Isle to meet up with Duncan Ross

who runs the most northerly herb nursery in the UK.

Gosh, Duncan, what a lovely setting for a herb nursery.

How did this all come about?

Well, the herb nursery and the garden itself started in 1857.

-And we arrived in '76, that's 1976.

-Yes.

And cleared out the fairly wild and unkempt garden,

which was full of rabbits and self-sown trees.

And why did you go for herbs?

We went for herbs because we wanted to help people

to lead healthier lives by growing and using herbs.

And you're specialising in a wide range.

The whole range of herbs. We grow about 450 varieties of herbs. Culinary, aromatic and medicinal.

We also specialise in Scots native herbs,

which not a lot of people know about,

but there's over 100 varieties which are native and naturalised in Scotland,

-which we want to educate people about.

-That's a huge amount.

It's a huge amount but they're out there waiting to be discovered

and used in a beneficial sort of way.

And here, for example, we have Scots lovage.

Now, this is a lovely plant, Duncan, cos it is really compact, isn't it?

Yes, it only grows about three feet high when it's mature.

Try a leaf and see what you think.

It's got a lovely reddish tinge to the stems.

And it's got creamy white flowers.

-I'm getting a hint of celery there.

-Mm.

Jim wouldn't like that, he hates celery.

But I think that's lovely!

It goes well in soups and salads, whatever.

Excellent native Scots herb.

And over here we've got sweet cicely.

Now, I know this one tastes of, like, an aniseed flavour.

Try that. It's delicious at this time of year. Again, in salads.

So if you're wanting to spice up your salads, why not try some sweet cicely leaf?

So, what do you think of the flavour of this one?

-Well, liquorice I get, really, actually. It's lovely.

-Mm.

I would use that in a sweet as well as savoury.

Well, Duncan, as you know, I'm here because I want to choose some plants

for a new herb garden at Beechgrove.

So these two would be perfectly OK, but what else could I grow?

Oh, you're spoilt for choice here. Let's have a look down this way.

This one here, for example,

it's got a very exotic name, it's called baldmoney.

-I'll remember that name, baldmoney.

-It's got a celery-like flavour.

OK, so that's more like celery. What about something a little bit different?

Down here we've got a plant that grows in the wild

in the north of Scotland called oyster plant, or mertensia maritima.

And it's a beautiful colour, isn't it?

It's a beautiful colour, it's got these greeny-blue succulent leaves,

-followed by pinky-blue flowers. Try this.

-OK.

Now, is this perfectly hardy?

This is totally hardy anywhere, provided the soil is well-drained.

If it's not well-drained, then grow it in a rock garden

-where it can cluster over the rocks themselves.

-That's a real taste of the sea.

It's a taste of the seaside, it's a taste of seafood.

And we're very lucky that today my wife, Yuriko, is going to prepare some lunch for us.

And so we're going to try some more herbs that way and taste them.

-In a wee while we'll be tasting them.

-Sounds good to me.

Yuriko, what a lovely looking spread. It's so unusual.

-Oh, good!

-So, what are we going to do? Am I going to try something?

Yes, please. You've tried so many herbs.

But maybe you haven't tried those Japanese ones.

-So what's this one here?

-This is wasabi. Wasabi leaf.

-OK, so that's a horseradish, isn't it?

-Yes, Japanese horseradish.

A little bit peppery, not so hot as root.

-Mm! Oh, it's lovely. I like that.

-Good.

And then this is shiso.

It has a very strong, distinctive taste.

-What's the Latin name for this?

-Perilla frutescens.

Oh, so we often use a perilla as a bedding plant.

-This is an edible bedding plant.

-Oh, I'm not sure about that one.

-Yes!

-Oh, that's really strong.

-Because you eat quite a lot at once.

I chopped it up and then put it in a salad dressing.

And together with the Japanese plum paste,

a little bit of vinegar, sugar and olive oil.

-So we can put that onto the lettuce.

-Yes, chopped up and put it in.

-What have we got here, Duncan?

-This is Scottish herring.

And organic dill.

-Come on, tuck in. Let's all tuck in.

-OK!

Duncan, what can I say? I've been in heaven today

because I've tasted some wonderful herbs,

you've given me a beautiful herby lunch,

and look at these plants that I'm going to take back to Beechgrove.

So thank you so much. It's been a great day.

I'm off, then! I hope I can get them in the car.

Well, it's nice to relax in the seaside garden.

Well, yeah, it's a bit of sunshine, a bit of seaside, very good.

-But you've a reason for it.

-We do, because the colours behind us here, the two clematis, what do you think?

I think they look fantastic.

They're such light climbers, aren't they? They're ideal for a light trellis like that.

And they're such bright colours, very fresh, very exciting.

Blue and white. The white one is alpina, called White Columbine.

And the blue one is a macropetala called Lagoon. Nice names.

-Yeah. I guess Lesley will be chuffed when she sees that.

-Well, favourite plant.

So, what are you doing next week?

-I'm creating a new herb garden in the garden.

-Here in the garden?

-Yes, with Carolyn.

-And Chris?

-I'm on foreign shores, I'm afraid.

-Well, I hope you get weather like this.

-Thank you very much.

Well, I'm going to be looking after the newbies next week.

-OK, that's plants?

-Yeah, that's all you're getting.

It's about the quickest half-hour of the week, I'd say.

-Until next time, goodbye.

-Bye.

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