Episode 17 The Beechgrove Garden

Our community garden this week is in the West of Scotland,

renowned for its mild climate and its summer rainfall.

But it's these two things that have sustained

these magnificent redwoods for the last 150 years.

I'm in the Benmore Botanic Garden in the Kyle Peninsula,

one of the great gardens of Argyll.

Because of the climate, it's full of the most wonderful exotic species.

It is absolutely stunning, even on a wet day, I can assure you.

Now, we go o'er the hill to Ardentinny.

# O'er the hill to Ardentinny

# Just to see ma bonnie Jeannie... #

Sir Harry Lauder famously sang O'er The Hills To Ardentinny,

and that's certainly one way to get to Ardentinny.

This is the other way, on the regular ferry from Gourock

over to the capital of the Kyle Peninsula, Dunoon.

We're doing what many Glaswegians have done over the years,

we're going "doon the water".

# O'er the hill to Ardentinny

# Just to see ma bonnie Jeannie... #

Just a few miles around the coast of Argyll from Dunoon,

you come to the quiet coastal village of Ardentinny,

which is home to about 200 folk.

And this stunning scenery of land and loch

make this whole area a natural tourist destination.

'The village is framed by the Argyll Forest that provided

'work for locals for many years, almost a century.

'In 1926, this whole area was sold to the Forestry Commission

and became Britain's first forest park.'

'Glenfinart House was the big estate house for the area.

'But sadly all that's left is the tower over there

'due to a tragic fire in 1968.

'And since then, well, the old estate walled garden was basically

'forgotten about and really neglected.

However, over the last few years,

the Ardentinny community has set up a programme of restoration.

For example, this lovely bridge which goes over the River Finart.

And if you follow the water down that way,

you'll come to a much bigger project, the garden.

I'm in the woodland just outside the walled garden,

and I thought you'd be fascinated to see this. This is a curved wall.

This is the sort of thing which would have been a unique feature

when this was first built in the 1800s.

They'd possibly have grown roses up this when it was originally built.

Behind those curved walls is an amazing garden

or about-to-be amazing garden.

The Glen Finart walled garden is roughly three and a half acres,

but because it's been behind closed doors for decades,

not many people were even aware it was there at all.

Well, we're here to see that become a secret no more.

-OK, Bill, what's your role in the garden?

-I am the trust convenor.

-And Meryl, what's your role?

-I'm the secretary.

-Right, we've got the right two people.

-We have.

So, Meryl, a little bit about the recent history of the garden.

The Forestry Commission owned this garden,

put it up for sale.

The community council decided to set up a working party,

see whether the community could buy the garden

and regenerate the village,

and the outcome was we bought the garden a year last March.

And Bill, is it going to be a sort of unifying thing for the village?

We hope so. We've lost so many of our facilities recently,

such as the pub and the school,

that we hope this will be the heart of the village.

-I think we could guarantee it will be.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Lynn Harris is the designer for this garden.

So, Lynn, how do you go about

creating a new heart for a community?

Well, one of the first things that the community mentioned to me

that they wanted was to reinstate the original paths in the garden.

So that actually very neatly divided the area up

into four main sections, giving you

a productive area, lawn area, the orchard

-and a sensory garden.

-All right.

And of course, it's very sheltered

cos there's a huge wall round the whole garden.

It's quite an unusual wall.

We've got the nice curve here and it's pretty high,

so it means that we can actually grow quite a lot of things

in the garden that even just outside the walls you couldn't.

You've not got the salt spray,

but you're nice and mild cos you're on the coast.

-We're only 50 metres from the beach.

-It's perfect, isn't it?

And what about the main elements within the garden, then?

One of the main things the community wanted was a space where people

could come and relax and sit in the garden and that's the sensory garden.

We've based it on a Mandala shape, which is a circle with four

sort of arms or legs, which I've interpreted as paths.

And each of the four planting areas here I've dedicated to

a different sense, so we've got sight, smell, touch and sound.

-Well, it sounds perfect.

-It is!

'Janice and John Hampson garden on a fierce slope

'in the neighbouring village of Blairmore.

'This third of an acre garden has a collection of plants

'that are uniquely suited to these west coast conditions.'

-This is just a superabundance of growth in here, isn't it.

-Mm-hm.

Well, this is quite an interesting plant,

-this is the first year that it's flowered.

-Isn't that fascinating?

-Mm-hm.

-Superb thing.

-And it seems to attract wasps rather than bees.

-Oh, really?

-I've noticed that, yeah.

Now that's yellow bottlebrush, is it, there? Salignus?

-Salignus, that's right.

-That is, what, Australian?

-Mm-hm.

-And this is...

-Well, this is...

These are fascinating little plants. Look at them.

The form inside the flower like that, yeah.

Eucryphia lucida ballerina.

That's superb, yeah. Like a little tutu!

And, aw, for goodness sake, where did you get that?

-You're making me stagger here.

-I painted them all last night.

-Did you? You've polished them. Look at those.

-Fantastic.

They're fantastic. Wonderful waxy flowers on them.

Desfontainia spinosa, what else would it be? Typical west coast, isn't it?

And look at this.

Primula vialii, that's the best it's ever grown.

I don't have much fun with this on the east coast,

I can't keep it for very long.

Very soft leaves, that makes me feel

that it won't take a lot of water.

-Your other interest is wildlife, isn't it?

-Yeah, that's right.

-Right, can we go round and have a wee look at the pond?

-Yep, will do.

It's a fantastic thing to do in a garden, isn't it?

-A wee stretch of water.

-Not much of this I've planted.

This has all just come itself.

And it gives plenty cover for the, you know,

once the tadpoles are coming out as frogs,

they've got plenty cover and they've got a good chance of survival.

We also have newts that breed in the pond as well.

Er, frogs that stay in all year, actually.

-You can hear them in the summer doing their croaking.

-Croaky bit.

Toads, and we also have slowworms,

-but they tend to stay over near the wall.

-Are they quite common here?

-Yeah, they seem to be.

-That must be another west coast thing.

-Yeah, yeah.

But you can certainly grow dochans as well.

-That's right, well, we call these the Blairmore Bananas.

-Oh!

HE LAUGHS

-They started life there.

-Aye.

-And they've decided that they prefer it at the water.

-I'm not surprised.

-Does it have another name?

-Rumex hydrolapathum.

Bought a very expensive plant and I thought,

-"Oh, that's a real, you know..."

-Real find.

-"..find,"

and I got home and found it's a native wild plant.

HE LAUGHS We can all get duped, can't we?

Meanwhile, back in the garden,

I'm joined by two gentlemen that have been involved with this project

for over three and a half years, right from the beginning.

We've got Dennis and Jimmy.

Now Jimmy, you're called Jimmy the Digger, why's that?

It's basically because I learned to use a digger whilst moving

all this earth over to make the tump.

OK, you call it a tump. What does that actually mean?

I think basically it means a circle of earth.

Almost like half a doughnut, with entrances,

and just a circle covered with soil and weed.

-OK, so a fancy name for a grass mound maybe.

-Yes.

And lots of weed came in and you've covered that over.

Covered it with a membrane round about to kill the weed,

and then put topsoil on the top of that, which you see now.

And then the grass.

Dennis, you literally barrelled in a lot of that earth, didn't you?

Me and a lot of other people, yep.

We've had a growing army of volunteers,

otherwise we'd never have reached this kind of stage.

I think it's absolutely beautiful.

And the tump itself, it gives that feel of sort of seclusion,

it's a great idea.

Yes, it cuts off this quarter of the garden,

which is a very special part of the garden.

-Very special.

-Very.

Well, as Lynn said earlier, this is a sensory garden,

and each of the parts of the garden will be planted

to represent four of the senses.

And also, there's seating in each of the areas.

Behind me, you can see a lovely stone bench

being very beautifully demonstrated

by the ladies who've made a lovely lunch

and lots of home baking, and we hope you'll do it again tomorrow!

And this part of the garden is sound,

so we've got things like bamboo which is going to rustle in the wind,

grasses down here again which will make a lovely sound

when the wind goes through them, and Verbena bonariensis,

tall with these lovely purple flowers. So that's sound. Carole?

Yeah, that's sound, and I love that Verbena.

But I've got the touchy plants, and this is a wonderful plant to touch.

It is Lamb's Lug. It's really soft.

We've got the willows which are soft to touch.

Then we go onto some spiky plants. Things like this, the Echinops.

We've got the Olearia, and then smooth leaves with Elephant's Ears.

And then we must speak about the seat here because in the touch area

we've got a wooden seat which is lovely to touch.

And Robert is making that and making a really good job of it.

And over here we've got smell.

Now the seat in this one, look at that, it's a turf sofa.

The youth group are finishing that off.

I guess, are they going to trim it with scissors while they sit on it?

I don't know, I wouldn't like the job, though.

Planting-wise, we've got things like Philadelphus, the mock orange.

Lilacs, lavenders, of course. For the winter, Viburnum.

Couldn't have a smelly area without rosemary, which is gorgeous,

and lots of lovely herbs down here as well, including sage.

-And you've got sight.

-Yep, a real splash of colour.

That's so important, isn't it? So, Colquhounias.

They flower at this time of year, so a bit of late interest.

-Do you like this?

-This is really stunning.

OK, Scottish-bred, it's a new variety of Photinia called Louise.

-I think that is beautiful.

-It's really nice.

And there's lots of variegated plants in here,

and this lovely dark Cotinus.

Yes, Elaeagnus for winter interest, and then another seat,

and I can't believe this one. Dare I say it? So far, so good?

Oh, you're funny, very funny.

Well, this seat was actually created

by a local artist and sculptor, Andy McClintock.

And George has been to have a look at his garden.

'Andy's garden in Kilmun is one of the most extraordinary gardens

'I've ever had the pleasure of visiting.

'This garden makes me smile, it makes me laugh,

'but it's also a thoughtful garden.'

This is just fabulous, so where did your inspiration come from for it?

Well, it starts with my mother's cottage garden style.

A mixture of English cottage garden and Scottish croft garden.

Then we have my deceased friend Dr Jim Holden who was a physicist

but also became a potter.

Lived in an architect-designed house outside East Kilbride

surrounded by wild garden and full of sculpture.

And that links through to Ian Hamilton Finlay,

with his wonderful Little Sparta garden in Lanarkshire.

So, the artist's eye, the palette of plants

and this great mixture of sculpture.

It's quite difficult to bring that together, surely?

Well, in the winter you've got to watch

because it can be a bit bare, so I've got a lot of foliage

in the winter because otherwise the sculpture will not work.

Now, you've stopped us here, Andy. Is this your favourite bit?

Yeah, it's one of my favourites cos there's quite a lot going on here.

I mean, what's the...like, arrowheads coming up through the vegetation?

Funnily enough, William Williamson,

who is involved in the garden at Ardentinny,

is a sculptor in ceramics, and he did the small pieces down here.

-Oh, yes?

-He gives me things he throws out.

He says, "Do something with them different."

So I said one day, "Well, let's make them big.

"I work in concrete, let's make them big." So I made his figures big.

So is it always concrete that you work in, cos these are...?

These are wire mesh plastered with cement.

But this is plumbing, coils of plumbing copper wrapped in cloth

and then cement, so it's concrete as well.

It also moves in the wind, and bits of glass and whatever, you know.

You must be a danger when you go to the dump?

Oh, yeah, I'm always sneaking out with stuff.

But you've also got the traditionals, haven't you?

Local chainsaw artist Andy McLachlan up the road, he's a natural,

-and I commission a lot of work. I just love what he does.

-Right, OK.

So, more to see.

Well, what an amazing palette of plants you've got here,

and in particular I think the roses are fantastic this year, aren't they?

Yeah, I love roses but not in serried ranks.

They need to be mixed up with other things.

Again, and I love ramblers, cos they take over.

-Now you seem to like thugs.

-Oh, yeah, of course.

I love thugs, I love invasive.

If you've got invasive plants, folks, send them to me.

I let them grow into each other,

and they crunch out anything you don't want.

I've not really, until now, noticed any weeds,

but now that you mention that, you start to notice them.

But they're all hidden, the weeds. I mean, there we are, look.

There's a Polygonum and there's some bind weed,

and then we've got cow parsley up there. But they all seem to fit.

Oh, yeah, I mean, there's no such thing as weeds.

Weeds are just something where you don't want it, you know.

I love every sort of flower, you know.

But this pulling the heads off is...?

Yeah, this is my control, so, it's not got any root, just pull it out.

But it flowers, long flowering, it's a wonderful thing.

-And it controls...

-That's what you want, isn't it?

-Ground cover.

-That's what you want, long flowering.

-But I don't have to grub down,

I just walk about like this.

Gardening while walking about.

That's the idea. Look at this, I've just noticed it.

A pair of secateurs and a spade. Now how did that happen? It's a heron.

Yeah, it's local artist Lucy Clough.

In her late 60s she took up welding with her daughter,

and they'd just collect things like shovels and secateurs

-and what more natural thing?

-Absolutely.

Now, that's next to water, obviously, a heron.

But you've also got fish and you've got flowers round here.

Are you expecting rain or something?

Well, Claire, who's doing the children's garden at Glen Finart,

wanted fish and flowers, so I've done fish and flowers for her.

So they'll be going to Glen Finart to be installed.

-We'll see them there.

-Yeah.

Meanwhile, back in the garden,

we're dealing with another weed problem

in a more conventional fashion.

Now, ladies, before we start, Anna, Linda and Lynn, I've got it right.

-And here's the problem here in the veg plot.

-Yeah, the horsetail.

And you've been working at it, doing really well.

But it's a weed that's very difficult.

-It just comes back and back.

-The thing is,

this one has obviously not had any kind of treatment at all,

but here we go, I can't believe that it's free of it,

-but has that been recently weeded.

-Yes, just the last few days.

Well, I think you've cracked the problem

because you're doing a sort of strip cropping idea.

Between the beds, you've got this landscape fabric.

Now, I don't know whether this was done on purpose,

but it suits me absolutely ideal,

because there used to be one down there.

-Can you see any horsetail?

-Horsetail.

-Plenty.

-Just when it looks as if it's dying off.

-Wee bits here and there.

-The point is, you don't want to use chemical.

-No.

-No, definitely not.

So you've got to starve it.

Starve it out, and if you starve it of light, it disnae come up.

It doesn't mean to say it won't come back.

But it reduces the area that you have to deal with.

You're into strips.

-So, strip cropping, what are you going to do next?

-Next year...

-Plant there.

-That's dug.

-Polythene this.

-You've cracked it.

-Yeah.

-Hopefully.

-And keep at it, because you can't leave it.

-Turn your back on it and it'll be back.

-It's been a nightmare.

Wonderful, now, Anna, your dad had an allotment here somewhere?

Just about right here,

just where we're standing was my father's allotment.

-All the forestry workers had a piece of land...

-Yes.

..free to grow produce to feed their families, and my father grew a lot.

-Also tobacco.

-Oh, really? Yes.

-Dried it over the pulley in the kitchen.

-Smoked it and said it kept away the midgies.

-Well, exactly!

Absolutely, but where did you stay?

We stayed in the camp houses, before the forestry broke it up the way

it worked, and then we all moved over to where the Swedish houses are.

Good cue that is, because we're actually now going to have a look

at some of the gardens in the so-called Swedish houses.

You know, I'm always happy

to have a look at one or two of the local gardens.

And in fact, this time, I'm going to take a bit of a sneaky look.

But to be fair, the owners do know that I'm going to have a look round.

Number Five is clearly an artist's garden.

Behind me here, the window, it looks like a picture.

It's framed by the clematis.

And there's clearly a colour theme going on

with the hard landscaping and the plants.

We've got the yellow, the white and the blue.

I mean, that Hosta,

that Golden Hosta looks absolutely gorgeous with the raindrops on it.

And then I love these pots, the dark, black pots.

And you've got that beautiful Nicotiana.

The white petunias are doing quite well in the weather conditions.

And then the way plants have naturalised

around the bottom of the pots.

And then the blue, well, that's picked out by the geranium,

and that flowers for months, it's a real value for money plant.

This garden is really manicured, but isn't this clever?

Because here we have a wildflower meadow,

and it really blends in with the cut lawn.

And I like the idea that there's the house,

you can view the garden from the house, isn't that clever too?

Cos I think that wheel rim looks like a porthole,

but you can also view the garden from the road.

And then, further down there you can see that is the shoreline,

so the back garden won't be quite as sheltered as the front here.

And right next door we have another stunning garden,

but it's completely different.

Now, one of the main features in this front garden is the pond.

And I think it's so peaceful because there's so many shades of green.

And the water itself is surrounded by bog-loving plants,

and in particular you've got the huge Gunnera there -

Gunnera manicata.

And then you've the other variety of Gunnera.

This is a tiny one, it's a good ground cover plant,

and that is Gunnera magellanica.

Now have a look at some of the pots.

Yes, I've actually found some giant clam shells here,

I think they are wonderful.

And then we've got a real range here of succulents,

some that we think are really hardy, like the Saxifrages there

and the houseleeks.

But this one is Aeonium, I can't imagine us

actually growing this one outside at Beechgrove,

but it's beautiful with the purple and the green.

And then you know at the moment

we're celebrating our 35th anniversary at Beechgrove

and the colours for that are coral and jade,

so this Echeveria will be wonderful at Beechgrove.

And then I spoke a little bit about the shelter here,

there's a pot behind me and that's got a beefsteak plant,

or Iresine, now, we grow that as a houseplant.

And then behind that there is a wonderful purple Acer,

and the leaves are so perfect.

And then, well, these two gardens that I've had a look at,

they're very ornamental, but I've noticed, just up the road,

there's a couple there that are really productive.

Again, they're using the front, because of the shelter,

and I think there's going to be a wonderful crop of tatties.

Well, George, forestry houses,

and you've got a forestry connection with this lot here.

Now, this is interesting, Jim, because I think this was

a row of beech seedlings that were put in here

and then the garden was shut.

They were shucked in for a job somewhere and never used.

I was speaking to somebody yesterday who said,

"When they came in, they were like this one at the end here."

-Aye.

-This copper one. He felled the other ones,

but didn't have the heart to fell that.

I'm glad because strategically that's actually quite nice there.

-Fabulous tree.

-It's left a problem, what are we going to do with that?

-We could grind them down, but it'll cost us money.

-Yes.

We could take us some out, it'll cost us money.

I think we just maybe weave a path in and out.

-I would be thinking maybe of a hedge to disguise it.

-Oh, OK.

-That's another possibility.

-Or... a trellis for some fruit trees.

Now that would work because we've got the orchard over here.

-That's what they call a good link.

-That is a good link.

Absolutely. And a nice little bit of orchard here.

You've been busy, what's all this palaver?

Well, I'll tell you what.

I was a wee bit anxious about all this, Jim,

there's an awful lot of weed round the top of these.

-So what I will do is I will take all the weeds out like that.

-Good, good.

-And I found some magic stuff to go over the top.

-Oh, right.

-Here we are. They have bonfires in here.

-So what's the story...?

Oh, this is ash.

-Look at that. Is that not good?

-Yes.

And we'll just put that on top.

Because there's potash on this, which of course fruit trees love.

And it's been burnt, so there will be nae weeds.

There's no weed seeds in that at all, so that's it.

-Slightly more picturesque than landscape fabric.

-Absolutely.

-Now, what about here?

-Bird feeders.

We've got some posts about the area here.

Hang the bird feeders on them, the birds will go there,

they'll go into the trees to have a wee look as well

and pick the caterpillars off, and that's the game sorted.

That's the theory.

So, Clare, this area is dedicated to the kids.

Tell me about the elements in it.

We have a hide for watching the birds.

They're just turfing the roof, that's going to be great.

-Yeah. Can watch out into the bird station.

-Yeah.

And then we've got a bug mansion which the kids are filling up now,

so we can attract lots of beasties.

-Have you got any bugs or beasties yet?

-Yeah, we've got four.

Four already, fantastic!

-They work really well those as well, don't they?

-They do.

Here we've got a circular, story-telling classroom area

for people to...

The teacher can come and have a lesson out here.

-We've got the wishing tree as well.

-I know, I saw some lovely wishes.

"I wish I could sing. I wish I was a bird. I wish I could fly.

"I wish I could see the Easter Bunny" is my favourite.

Oh, it's super.

-And this is the more productive bit, isn't it?

-Yes.

This is going to be the children's vegetable area

that we're going to be growing as much vegetables and fruit.

You're recycled a lot of elements in here. The tyres are great.

The tyres are all recycled and the bicycle wheels are.

I think this is one of my favourite elements in the garden.

You've recycled the wheels,

but you can plant beans or peas underneath here.

Yes. It's going to be used as a trellis going up.

Carolyn, don't you think this sensory area

-has really come on now?

-It's great.

And I love the way you walk through the trees to come into it.

And then the tump, it's been covered in the turf,

-I think that looks wonderful.

-It's great.

My favourite bit to sit is that little stone bench there

looking through this haze of purple verbena across the garden.

That's a lovely plant,

and I think at the moment this is the sense I really like,

-and, of course, that is sound.

-It is.

One of the crucial things in a garden this size

is to recycle waste,

so we need compost bins. And Samuel is making a wonderful job.

-Yep. Nearly finished.

-Good man.

And actually using recycled timber because these are old pallets.

Absolutely spot-on.

Any walled garden worth its salt

deserves an avenue of trees as an entrance,

and this one has its avenue of trees - Sorbus aria.

Not big just now, but one day they will be as magnificent

as the ones that Jim saw, the giant redwoods at Benmore.

Round the corner we've got Steve finishing off the pointing

at the wishing well.

And Ian's about to put up the sign. And we wish them well.

Now then, chums, it's time for final comments. George, start with you.

Well, I think the thing that really impressed me

about this was the smiles on the faces

when we went to Andy McClintock's garden.

That was one, but the other one was

the banter and the good-natured humour

in the bowling club when we went for sandwiches and soup.

I thought that was fantastic.

You're nothing if not predictable.

-Carole.

-I just want to say a bit more about the community.

Cos what a crowd, all ages.

It's been a real team effort and you've made us feel so welcome,

-so thank you very much.

-Carolyn.

Well, I just love the fact the garden is...

It feels enclosed, cosy - you just want to sit here

-and just soak it all up.

-Yes, indeed.

I don't want to put a dampener on it at all, but we have been planting

all these gorgeous plants under less than ideal conditions,

so they're going to need a lot of TLC.

Do you know, that's OK because behind us are the Green Knights

-and they have pledged...

-APPLAUSE

They have pledged to look after the garden and take care of it all.

So we'll be fine.

-Absolutely.

-Nae bother.

Well, that's it for this week.

Next week we're back in the garden, but until then from all of us here

at the new Glenfinart Walled Garden in Ardentinny.

ALL: Bye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd