Episode 16 The Beechgrove Garden

Well, hello there,

welcome to Beechgrove on a day which is a little bit iffy.

Started off bright sunshine. We're clouding over at the moment.

But I've had to change what I was going to say

about our little bedding scheme here...

because the garden has been hammered with heavy rain

in the last several days.

And it has changed the picture somewhat.

Plants have suffered.

Notably, of course, the hanging baskets - they've gone RIGHT off.

But some things have actually done rather well.

Now, in my early career,

I learned very quickly not to be too dogmatic about gardening plants.

And here, we have a good example of it because when these coleus ...

There's three varieties - one there, one there and one over here.

..were planted, I'm saying "no chance".

BUT it was followed by the most wonderful weather,

they've done extremely well

and so too have little things like this dianthus oscar pink -

absolutely superb.

Did I tell you that the garden

was meant to be emerald, jade and coral?

Well, I'm stretching a wee bit to find that out.

I'll pick out the goodies, though.

I've talked about the coleus and the dianthus,

the iberis - the candytuft - is stunning.

I'm not a great fan of these dahlias, I have to say.

But the little, non-stop coral pink begonias have done extremely well.

I'm worried about weeds and we've got pearlwort here.

It's golden pearlwort and it looks very nice.

So, as long as it's properly cleared away, I won't be too unhappy.

But the star of the show, for me - not because of its contribution,

but because in itself it's rather interesting -

is this little thing. It's duranta - never seen it before.

It's kind of elaeagnus, euonymus-type thing.

Well, I reckon we're going to try some cuttings of that.

Well, you know, I have to agree with Jim -

it has been a great year for the summer bedding,

even though we've had some rain in the last few days.

And while some of our hanging baskets are doing really well...

In particular, a new plant, and this is a trailing sunflower.

So quite small flowers but they are pretty, daisy-like flowers

and it's a variety called "Inca Gold".

The bidens always do well, loads of flowers on that.

And then this little daisy-like flower - sanvitalia.

I think that's gorgeous.

And then the bedding scheme itself, it's all about oranges and lemons,

so it's really bright and vibrant.

While I can't pick everything out, but I would like to mention

the zinnia - because it's been a good summer,

it has done really well.

And the variety there is zinnia "Pop Art" gold and red.

It's not a particular favourite of mine but it does look good.

And then, rudbeckias. I think they're fantastic flowers.

And there's a small one at the front there called "Toto".

A sturdy plant, it's withstood all those heavy rains.

And, of course, there are taller varieties

which make great cut flowers.

Then finally, a favourite - the pot marigold.

This variety, "Touch of red" - the bees love it, I love it.

But meanwhile, on the rest of the programme...

'Chris is having a go at explaining

'the new RHS Hardiness Index For Plants - rather him than me!'

And I'm using a bit of cashmere to solve a problem this week.

Only the best for me!

Well, Alec Innes, things have surely moved on since we were last here?

We've got some honey to see.

-Aye, three different types of honey.

-Explain what they are, then.

Well, this is oilseed rape.

-It's more like that colour for a start.

-Uh-huh.

-Then it turns pure white.

-Yes, yes, and this one?

This one is...blossom.

-Just dark blossom.

-But this is a gorgeous colour.

-That is lovely, that's lime.

-Yes, from lime trees?

-Lime trees.

So, you would expect them to change with the season?

-That's right.

-Let's put that aside and prepare to have a look in.

-What are you going to be doing today?

-Well, take off this.

-Which should be full of honey.

-Will I take this one away?

-Aye, OK.

Now, that, I put on a...

board on here yesterday to let the bees down.

So, hopefully, I've no bees in here.

In other words, what you put it on for is so they can go out,

but they can't get back in, because you want this one to be empty.

-Exactly, Jim.

-OK.

-That's it.

-Cross your fingers we've no bees.

-OK.

There we are.

That's perfect.

Now, we just lift this off.

Oh, it's a fair weight. Set that down here just now.

There could be quite a bit of comb in that, then?

There's quite a bit of comb.

They're fairly stuck - they stick it with propolis.

-Yes.

-You see?

-Bring it over here, just let's have a look at it.

You can tell that's not little grubs that's in there, it's...

-You can tell the difference.

-That's the real stuff.

That is completely-sealed honey.

-And here's...a different one.

-You've got one that's bulging.

Different steps here, it's bulging,

but they've only used this middle one, they haven't used the whole lot.

But they'll work away systematically, won't they?

Aye, that's right.

I can't wait to taste some of that honey.

I've headed 30 miles west of Aberdeen this week to Tarland,

where Donna Speed and Michael Budd

are starting out with their very first garden.

So, we moved in two years ago, the garden was quite plain then.

And we've been adding some features and borders just as we go along.

It's a beautiful location - sadly it's a bit misty today.

It is, yeah, it's a shame.

There's a mountain right there called Morven

and you can also see Lochnagar so it's so it's a really nice spot.

-I should add that it's rather exposed.

-It is exposed.

In the winter, we get a lot of snow and temperatures down to minus 17.

-So, pretty cold.

-Yeah, difficult to deal with.

-It is, yeah.

This is quite a feature, Michael, so tell us a little bit about it.

Well, Carole, that raised area, that used to be the old horse-walker.

A horse would walk round the circumference of it.

You drive a gear that goes through the central pit and into the house.

-That's how the house got its name, The Horse Mill.

-Really nice that you've kept that.

So, why am I here? I mean, the grass looks immaculate.

Yeah, the grass is doing well just now.

We've got some fruit trees - none have had fruit so far.

So, if you could just help us out with that, give us some tips,

and one of them's also gone quite black.

Well, this is pretty obvious,

I can see what you mean with this apple tree.

Lot of dieback here.

-And it's not doing any good at all, is it?

-No, it's not.

If we follow it down, it's really dark.

You did say to me that rabbits and deer are a problem.

-Do you think maybe they did a bit of damage?

-I don't think so.

-No.

No, they've eaten some of the leaves round about

but they haven't really touched the trunk at all.

OK, well it could possibly be canker.

-Not doing any good to the tree at all.

-No.

I'm going to go in with the loppers, you'll probably look horrified.

And let's just see what we find.

So, I'm just going to go above to this good side shoot.

Right, that's not too bad.

-I was worried in case it was going to be pretty brown.

-OK.

All right, and if it was, I was going to go down a little bit lower.

Sadly, we haven't got...

-good shoots this side, so I want to cut these off.

-That's OK.

All right, because that looks dead.

And this one's dead.

So, now we're left with a kind of one-sided tree, aren't we?

Have you done any pruning to it?

-No.

-No, never.

I suppose it's pretty obvious, really.

You know, so many people buy their trees and they want them to fruit

and the whole idea to start off with is about pruning and shaping it

-and to get the fruit later.

-OK.

Most people want to get the fruit straight away.

Normally what you do is, every year you should

-take off about a third of the growth in the dormant season.

-OK.

These have got really leggy.

And so, what I want to do is actually cut back,

-even cutting back into some of the older wood.

-OK.

-OK.

-All right?

And I'm going to take off maybe about a third again.

It's all about shaping.

This is another one because you can see, actually,

if you follow this - that's one year's growth.

That's another year's growth.

That's another year's growth and I'm going into the older wood.

Just above the side shoot and I'm hoping, by doing this...

I know you're going to say, "Oh, my goodness, what has she done?"

-I'm hoping maybe you'll get some side shoots coming out.

-OK.

Now, what I've noticed with all of your fruit trees

is that you've got the grass growing right up to the trunk.

-That's right.

-Is that not difficult to cut the grass?

-It's tricky but it's manageable.

-I mean, you've made a good job of it.

But I think you might be interested to know there's been

some research done that grass is a huge competitor

-for the nutrients and moisture.

-OK.

-Over 50%.

-That's a lot.

So they will be suffering.

So, I feel what we've got to do

-is clear a metre away of the grass.

-OK.

-And we've got three options.

-Mm-hm.

The first option would be that we could go in with the spade

-and try and dig away a bit of the turf.

-OK.

But I'd be really worried about that because we might damage the roots.

-Yeah.

-Second option...

-weedkiller.

-OK.

You know, a systemic weedkiller, what do you think of that?

-BOTH:

-Not so keen to use that.

OK, then, what we have...

-as another option are mulch mats.

-OK.

That is made of hessian, jute and a bit of cashmere.

Which is quite interesting.

-Now, I don't particularly like this square.

-OK.

I think it'll be so much easier if we have a circle, do you agree?

-Yes, it would be.

-For cutting the grass.

So you've still got that as a metre...in size.

That will degrade over a few years

-and it will add a bit of nitrogen to the ground.

-OK.

It's going to just smother out the weeds.

You're going to have to cut this...

-so you can wrap it round the tree.

-OK.

-And then across.

-OK.

-So that goes round the trunk.

-So I think we've got a bit of work there.

-OK.

-Great.

-OK, sounds good.

Now, you might be wondering why I've brought along another tree for you.

-Mm-hm.

-And this is an ornamental crab apple

and the reason for that is you've got...

One of your apples is the braeburn, which I pruned back,

and that's good at pollinating.

The other one is a bramley and I'm afraid that's a triploid.

-It's not very good at pollinating other apple trees.

-OK.

So you could go for another apple,

or the crab apples are good for pollinating.

-OK.

-And I think this is going to look really nice.

-It's a nice tree, yeah.

-So, we've got to get the stake in now.

It's going to go in at an angle

so it doesn't actually go through the root ball itself.

So, if I hold the stake, you pull back the tree a little bit.

I'm going here because... You know, the wind.

-The main wind goes at this angle?

-Yeah, up this way.

So you put the stake there, so that when it gets windy,

the tree goes that way and so it's not rubbing against the stake.

So, Mike, you've got the mallet, you're going to knock that in.

-So, what do you think of the alpine troughs?

-They're lovely, yeah.

Nice colours and smells, yeah.

They look as if they're meant to be here, don't they?

-They do, they look part of it.

-They blend in.

Maybe you'll get rid of some of the plastic pots?

-I think so.

-I think it's time.

I'm trying to give you a bit of a sensory experience

because you did say scent's quite important.

That's a lovely plant there when you brush against it -

the Corsican mint, really strong.

You've got lemon balm, you've got the lavender.

Bringing a bit of the wildlife in as well.

Some of them are even touchy-feely because they're quite soft.

-Quite velvety.

-And you know what's great for me?

-Mm-hm.

I'm finally seeing your wonderful view.

-Is that Morven?

-BOTH:

-It is.

I could sit here all day.

George, here we are again, looking at a range of vegetables.

We have one variety that has the AGM,

which is an award of garden merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.

And the other one...doesn't have that.

Now, the AGM means that they are readily available in the trade.

They are varieties which are consistent

in their production flavour, taste, that sort of thing.

Also, they are things which are generally disease-free.

So they've been suggested to be the ones

which are the best ones to grow if you're worried.

And we're growing them here and we're also growing them

-in your allotment.

-Sure.

-Here we've got examples.

-On this side, that's the allotment and this is from here.

-That's right.

It's interesting, isn't it?

They're interesting because those ones from the allotment

down in Edinburgh are just that little bit further on.

-It's just a seasonal thing.

-But what do you think?

Do you think the boltardy, the AGM, is slightly better?

I would select that,

much better consistency in the size of the globes on the beetroot.

That one has got a woody one. See when it goes pointed like that?

-I'm always worried about that.

-And slight bolting.

-And it's shot.

Lettuce, they've already been cropped.

That's right, I've done the same. Mine are at the point of cropping.

They got this rain and they just really exploded

and it's just been too much for them.

Again, we think the AGM was slightly better?

Better, darker green.

Much better flavour too when you cut it.

Carrots. Again, your carrots are well on, aren't they?

What a name for a carrot - "Trevor".

But that is the non-AGM variety there and that's...

That's good, I've never had carrots like that before.

Doesn't look to be a lot of difference.

-Not at the moment but they've got time yet.

-Mm-hm.

It might be something you want to taste at the end

-and see what the final crop is.

-A taste test.

Finally, the peas. So this is the non-AGM variety.

It's quite interesting, isn't it? The way it grows, that one.

That's "Boogie" and it's got three pods at each node,

or each flowering set.

So that's interesting because it's more than the other ones.

It's also self-supporting. It's got huge tendrils.

-Leafless, isn't it?

-Yeah, that's the one you see in the fields.

It's one of the commercial crops.

And the other main crop is "Onward", so just two pods together.

That will be a heavier crop.

When I have been cropping them at home, and I've cropped

all of "Boogie", and I've started and half-cropped the "Onward"...

And they're going to be much about the same.

-So, at the moment, we think the AGMs are ahead?

-Just ahead.

It's all in the finish.

What better treat can there possibly be for a gardener

than wandering around,

enjoying the bounty and beauty of the garden in high summer?

But, you know, it's very easy to forget that just a few months ago,

this entire plot, like much of the UK, was under inches

and sometimes feet of snow.

And, as gardeners, we were concerned about...

Well, how much of this material would survive?

How much would come through?

Not just one savage winter but also a really challenging

range of environments prior to that - winter, autumn and summer.

The fact that so much of our plant material has thrived,

and, in fact, that we lost so little,

demonstrates that we have much to learn

about the hardiness of the plants that we grow.

And to help us learn more, the RHS have developed a new hardiness system

based entirely on temperature,

where they investigated the properties of each plant

and then scored it one to seven.

Perhaps not surprisingly,

given that the Beechgrove Garden is just outside Aberdeen,

we have a wonderful collection of plants, trees, shrubs

and herbaceous perennials,

which are at the most hardy end of the new RHS system.

These are the last three categories.

From those in H7, which tolerate temperatures much lower

than minus 20 degrees C in winter,

like sorbus and Iris sibirica here,

to those that are slightly more tender

and thrive in the dizzy heights of minus ten degrees C in winter.

Hosta fortunei, the potentillas, the pines and, of course, acers.

And even the variegated weigela Florida variegata,

who occurs at that slightly warmer end of the spectrum,

simply because the foliage is variegated, which always means

that the plant is more tender than the straight species.

At the opposite end of the horticultural hardiness spectrum

are these plants.

They require permanent, or almost permanent, protection from glass.

And even these are divided into different categories.

So, at one end you have plants from the tropics,

typical of those exotic holidays.

Things like anthurium, the hibiscus, the dumb cane.

They are plants that require permanent glass protection

and a temperature above 15 degrees C all year round.

And slightly more cool-tolerant are the plants at the opposite end.

Things like kaners and pelargoniums - more typical of holidays

in South Africa, North Africa, around the Mediterranean regions.

If you're growing them in the UK,

they can just be popped outside in the mildest of British summers

before then being secreted back under the protection of glass

as soon as the temperatures drop off at the end of summer.

In a way, the hardiest plants and this collection of plants -

the more tender plants -

are relatively easy for us to spot and understand.

And it's that whole group of plants, a great range in the centre,

that gardeners really struggle with.

In the Beechgrove Garden,

it's this range of plants which are potentially the most troublesome.

They're right on the edge of hardiness,

at least here in Aberdeenshire.

Maybe not a little bit further south,

but really they shouldn't be growing so healthily in THESE conditions.

Plants like eucalyptus and artemsias, eryngiums -

they're teetering on the edge,

tempting and teasing us to give them a spot in the garden.

But there's always that threat that the frost may just kill them off.

In terms of the mid-range of RHS plants,

they're epitomised by, at one end, the citrus...

Minimum temperature - five degrees C.

..and lavender, minimum temperature - minus ten degrees C.

But the fact that all of these plants do really rather well -

OK, the citrus has just popped outside for the summer months -

is not an accident.

It's very much down to the design and skill of the gardener.

And that skill-base starts...

with this - soil.

Or more precisely, organic matter.

Because, if you dig organic matter into the soil,

then it breaks the soil particles open.

It aids drainage and the water is able to escape very quickly.

When you bear in mind water holds on to cold and cools very quickly...

If you've got a lot of water content in the soil,

it means that your plants are challenged in the winter months.

The organic matter, however, means free draining conditions,

warmer soil and much happier, tender plants.

The natural slope of this garden also has a fundamental effect

on how hardy your plants are likely to be.

Now, if you haven't got a natural slope, you can engineer a slope.

Even if it's with a small bed or border.

The reason for doing it is if you can tilt the land southwards,

towards the angle of the sun,

it means the sun will warm the ground much faster,

not just in the winter, but also throughout the summer months too.

As a consequence, your plants are more likely to flourish.

You'll also notice that there's an entrance

at the top end of this garden and an exit down at the bottom.

Which means the cold air in winter is able to spill

straight through the middle of the garden.

There's no fence, wall or evergreen hedge here

to hold that cold air up and create a frost pocket.

Again, these slightly-more-tender plants benefit hugely

from that cold air exiting site as fast as possible.

And this garden also has a generous shelter belt,

provided by ligustrum, rosa rugosa and hippophae,

themselves all really hardy.

Their role - to slow the wind down.

If you can slow the wind's speed coming into your garden,

then you're reducing the effect

of wind-chill on those most-tender specimens.

What the RHS catalogue is now able to do

is to demonstrate the theoretical temperature range for each plant.

But don't be a slave to it - you can modify your garden subtly.

Get to know your garden and by doing that,

you really then open the chocolate box of horticultural specimens.

Right, I'm back in the secret garden

and there's some wonderful bits in here with foliage now.

That's an area which has been done for some time and the juniper

has more or less taken over but we can resurrect that.

In here, we've got pachysandra

and we've got monbretia and we've got stachys.

It just looks superb.

These differences in texture of foliage is something which

I'm quite interested in and it's quite good.

It takes a bit of planning and this takes a bit of planning as well.

What I'm going to do here is I'm going

to sow some seeds of Meconopsis regia.

It's a biennial and therefore it needs to grow for one year

to make a large rosette

and then it's going to grow a second year and flower.

The seeds of this are in these capsules here

and if I open those,

you'll find that they're just starting to go brown.

Now, what I want, really, is for them

to be really brown before I sow them.

I brought some up from home, from Edinburgh,

and just like in the AGM vegetables, they're a bit further on.

So, here we have some brown seed - now look at that.

Isn't that just splendid?

There's a whole quantity of seed in there.

Now, I'm not going to sow that directly onto open compost,

I'm going to sow it onto a layer of gravel.

Fine gravel, or coarse grit, onto the top of the pot,

just on some seed compost.

And then I'm going to spread that over the top.

So the seed's quite dry and it just goes onto the top there.

Now, don't worry

if that seed seems to be falling onto the top of all that gravel,

because you're going to water that.

The seeds will get pushed down in-between the little crevices

and cracks in the gravel,

and they will then be in good contact with the compost underneath.

We're going to put a sheet of glass over that,

put it somewhere in the shade and we'll pick them out next spring.

Well, this is the time of the year

when gardeners start planning for their flower displays next year.

By propagating their half-hardy perennials that are not going

to stand out in the winter because they can't stand the weather.

For example - fuschias.

We're talking about penstemons, coleus that we saw earlier, verbena.

There things, of course you can wait

until they're finished flowering and throw them out.

Then you have to lay out the money next year, and start all over again.

Accept the challenge, propagate them now

and they will root in three to four weeks.

And then, successful rooting, plenty young plants -

you could throw the old ones out.

You don't even need to find room to keep them over the winter.

It's as easy as that.

Now, first of all, we collect some of the growth

and we just used to be told, "Go out and find non-flowering shoots."

Well, at this time of the year, it's very difficult to find

non-flowering shoots, so, in fact, you just takes the flowers off.

It's as simple as that.

Here we have pentstemon - a little bit of the stem.

All we want is a cutting, about that length.

Take off the little leaves at the bottom, like so.

And, in fact...

we take the growing tip out as well.

That's something that I never did as an apprentice

but you do it now because when that roots, all...

the little shoots will come out

and you've got a much better-balanced plant.

So, then... What have I done with me knife? There it is.

With a sharp knife - cutting across just at a node - or below it...

Nice clean cut.

Then...

a bit of rooting hormone.

And then finally, into...

..50/50 peat and sand, which is still legal, thank goodness.

I've used this for about 40 years and it works a treat.

Now, that has no roots - how's it going to take in moisture?

The one thing you must not allow it to is to flag.

What we would do is, of course,

put it into a little propagating box like this.

Pop it in. Needless to say, it will be absolutely full - chock-a-block.

Get that on the top, make sure that ventilation is closed.

Closed environment - it's got nothing to do but sit there

and wait for magic to work and the roots to come on there.

There is an alternative

and that's this little pot here, which comes dehydrated.

Put it in water, and this is what comes up.

And we use it for our geraniums.

Here I've got some geraniums.

And ready to...

..take a cutting.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Now, the difference here is that these things have got a hairy leaf.

And if you put that in there, it'll start to rot.

Almost straightaway, it'll start to rot.

So, I'm taking off all the wee bits, like so.

Then, once again...

gripping it firmly with a sharp knife -

cut through there...

This one's actually quite tough, but make sure that it's not ragged.

Now, do I put it in there?

No.

It'll start to rot. It does not need hormone powder.

So, all we do is make a hole in that.

Pop it in.

And stand it, without going into the frame, like so.

We have them on the window ledge, just like that.

And you can see the roots coming through the edge of it.

As soon as you do that, into a pot, keep them on the window ledge.

As long as they're over 5C all winter,

that's fine - they'll come through beautifully.

Get to it.

-So, six weeks and this is the result.

-Turnips galore!

We've 12 varieties, starting with the purple and white ones.

Well, the best one there, I think, is thing called "Primera F1".

It looks like an improvement of the purple top Milan,

-which is the standard variety...

-It's rubbish, isn't it?

-Absolute rubbish.

-Really tiny.

Of the white ones, I really like the Oasis - I think they look sweet.

Right, I'd go for the Tokyo Cross,

because I think it maybe would have cropped even earlier.

OK, and then the golden ones...

Well, not as good as these coloured ones,

but Golden Ball I think is better than the heritage variety.

This Petrowski is not doing very well, but look at that.

-Is it not unusual...?

-It is unusual.

-Scarlet Queen - to me it looks like a radish.

-It does.

-It'll all be in the taste.

-Mm.

-Of course, what do we do with them?

We have them grated on salads raw.

-Steam them.

-Stem them, have them with white sauce.

There's plenty here. Have we got enough time for another sowing?

-Six weeks, I think so.

-Just about.

Is this our first visit to the cutting garden this season?

-It is, Jim.

-Because I've never seen this before.

-And I think it's divine.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

"Ammi" is the name. Ammi - A-M-M-I.

-All right.

-I think it's a little bit like the dill, actually.

-It looks lovely.

-That's super, that acid green.

But it's over there as well.

There's an ammi over there as well, a thing called "Casablanca".

And that's in amongst this... Oh, that's a fantastic cosmos.

It's beautiful! Double cranberries, that's really stunning.

Little cranberry trumpets, Jim.

Have a look at it, it's absolutely splendid.

And...look at the harvest.

Exactly. Not a cranberry in sight, but, by jingo, quite a lot of stuff.

-Yes.

-Lot of good fruit.

-So, if you'd like any more information

about this week's programme, of course it's all in the factsheet.

Well, we're not in the garden next week, are we?

We're going "o'er the hill to Ardentinny,

"just to see our bonnie Jeannie."

-See you there.

-Yeah, bye. Goodbye.

Have I got to sing that?

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd