Episode 21 The Beechgrove Garden

Well, George, here we are on Loch Laide.

-Idyllic.

-Aye.

-But the locals call it "Latch-ay".

-Oh, right.

It's part of the Abriachan Forest wetland area,

and it's a stunning little Highland loch.

And it's a wee puddle compared with over the hill

-here in the Great Glen, Loch Ness.

-Nessie. Monster country.

But this is a very important habitat, isn't it?

It's wonderful in itself, but it has the attendant wetlands

all round and a wonderful selection of plants.

-Well, all ready I've seen sneezewort.

-Yes.

And I've seen the blue scabious, Devil's-bit scabious.

-Absolutely splendid plants.

-Very, very diverse.

It's just a most delightful place. It almost makes you feel poetic.

Can I just read you some lines of poetry?

"Light, heather bells may tremble then, but they are far away,

"Woodlark may sing from sandy fern, - the Sun may hear this lay,

"Runnels may kiss the grass on shelves and shallows clear..."

-Now...

-Isn't that gorgeous?

-Isn't that good?

-Who did write that?

That was Keats. Now, Keats wrote that after having visited Burns country

-and, of course, Burns is your wee favourite!

-Yes, indeed.

-And, surprisingly, he had words to say as well.

-Right.

In Lines on the Fall of Fyers, near Loch Ness, he wrote,

"As deep recoiling surges foam below,

"Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends,

"Still thro' the gap the struggling river toils,

"And still, below, the horrid cauldron boils."

God, that's... It's quite spooky and inspirational, isn't it?

-It's one of these atmospheric stuff.

-That's why we're here!

We're heading over to Moniack Mhor to the Writers' Centre,

where they come and are inspired by the land and the countryside

and, no doubt, the people they meet,

for a little garden that will just add to the facility.

I don't see how anybody seeing countryside like this, Jim,

would not release the lines that are in their soul.

I mean, it's so inspirational, isn't it?

-Just give us a wee bit of fishing.

-All right.

This is probably one of the most recognisable locations in Scotland

and definitely one of the most picturesque.

Artists of all disciplines make the pilgrimage here

to Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness to find a muse,

even if she is lurking deep beneath the waters of the loch.

What was that?!

Well, a good few hundred feet up from Loch Ness and, wow,

what an amazing view we have here, is the wonderful,

ancient woodland and this rambling pathway.

This is what I was heading for.

It's called a shieling.

Isn't it absolutely amazing, with this heather roof?

It's an ancient, usually seasonal dwelling

and a stopping place for the local women

and the children cos they used to bring the cattle up here to graze.

It's a perfect place for them to gather together, take shelter

and to tell and listen to stories.

People have been inspired to write and tell stories here too,

but for a little less long.

The hills to the south-west is Strathfarrar

and the north is Ben Wyvis.

It's a stunning sight

and you can well imagine why this landscape inspires and motivates,

and this is the entrance to the new community garden at Moniack Mhor.

It's nearly 1,000 feet above sea level, which makes it

the highest community garden that we've been involved with.

And it will have huge climate and exposure challenges,

but the community here are keen to create an inspirational garden

and we're here to help and to tell that story.

Since coming on site here, I have heard a whole range

of different voices from all over the world,

but I've found Sandra McCrae who is a local.

Tell us all about this site, Sandra.

Well, my grandfather took over farming here in 1908

and then my father after that,

so, really, they farmed here for over 60 years.

-Yes.

-And it was a very happy childhood. We farmed here.

We grew potatoes, turnips and hay.

Now, what about the gardening?

What was able to be grown in the garden?

At the back of the cottage here there was a lovely garden. Lots of fruit.

Gooseberries, blackcurrants, apple trees and also caraway seed.

-Really?!

-Which we used to use for baking.

-We should remind ourselves...

Well, I need reminding - we are nearly 1,000 feet above sea level.

-That's right.

-Severe winters, but it shows what can be done.

-Yes, it does.

-Brilliant, thanks for that.

Kit Fraser is a co-founder of the centre. Now, Kit, why here?

Well, we certainly didn't choose here for the buildings

because that used to be a cow barn.

We chose it for the landscape.

The Highlands is all about beauty.

It's beauty that inspires words and what's great about this garden is,

yes, we had the background, but now we've got the foreground.

And Rachel Humphries is the centre director and project manager.

Rachel, what do you do here?

We run residential creative writing courses

and we can welcome up to 2,000 writers through our doors

every year and these people could come from all over the world.

We also work with school groups

and other local charitable organisations.

What do you want the garden to do?

Well, we're in a really lucky position

because we have two very distinct communities that we're involved in.

We've got the writing community

and the local geographical community

and what we want to do is create a really inspiring garden

that we can bring these two groups together

and connect them and use the space for events and as a meeting space.

Now, Alistair initially came on a writing course here

and then was asked to come up with a concept for the garden.

-So, what were your thoughts?

-I found it a very inspirational place.

You're way up in the mountains, here, and a part of the Highlands,

but you're only 15 miles from the centre of Inverness.

It's also a centre of creativity and learning,

so I wanted to bring the two concepts together,

bringing people into the landscape in a sort of outdoor learning space.

OK. And Kirsty is the designer,

so how did you put that thought process

into an actual physical garden?

Well, Alistair and I got together and hatched up a plan.

So, we're here.

So we've got various design elements.

We've got the wonderful story-telling circle

we can see behind us.

You've got the steps that lead you into the landscape.

You've got the traditional cottage garden with herbaceous borders

and fruit and vegetables.

You've got the pond area with various marginal plants.

And you've got the wonderful patio entrance way.

-It'll be a great welcome to the site.

-It's great, yeah.

My job is to look at the connectivity,

look at it holistically

and look at the connectivity and flow of the garden.

Very much like the landscape - you've got all these amazing features

but if they didn't connect and flow

you wouldn't have all these beautiful shapes.

And what about the planting,

-cos it's quite an exposed site here, isn't it?

-Absolutely, yeah.

We've got lots of little personalities.

We've got alpine planting, herbaceous planting,

we've got sunny, sheltered areas

and we've got some real roughie-toughies

for the more exposed areas.

You're 1,000 feet up here,

so we'll see what will survive in the Highland winter.

I think it's just trial and error, really.

Now, someone who'll know exactly what will grow in this garden

is Don Davidson, who's been gardening his nursery at Abriachan

for over 30 years, and Carole has been to take a view.

Well, what a view you have here, Don. It's amazing.

But you have to be a bit of a mountain goat.

Yes, well, the loch down there is at 50 feet above sea level.

Our back gate is at 300 feet,

so there's quite a difference in between.

You know it when you've walked up and down a few times.

Yes, make sure you take your gardening tools with you.

-Don't forget anything.

-Indeed, yes.

But this is a slightly different climate, really,

than the community garden, so some plants here wouldn't survive there.

No. The dahlia here, for instance, and the gazanias.

I mean, we're sort of considered in the banana belt of Abriachan,

whereas Moniack Mhor is up in the tundra.

Yes.

Now, I love the big thistles here,

cos they make such a focal point to this view here.

They are hardy, but would they do OK?

They would do all right temperature-wise,

but the wind would batter them around a bit.

I mean, even down here we stake them

and I think even with staking there they'd get battered around.

Now, you are supplying most of the plants for the garden.

Yes, we are.

Let's go and have a look at some of them further up the garden.

Plenty of choice herbaceous plants here

and they're a bit more compact, aren't they, Don?

Yes, they are. There are several hostas going up to Moniack.

-Also, some crocosmias.

-That's a lovely variety. What is it?

That's one called 'Okavango'.

There are several in this African series,

but they're a little bit too tender for going up to Moniack.

But we have a lot of different crocosmias

and we're putting up some of the hardier ones.

Well, it gives a nice bit of late colour, just like this, too.

That is a beauty. Which one is it?

That's Anemone 'Pamina' and is one of the shorter varieties,

which, again, will hopefully withstand the wind.

And what about colour for the springtime?

Things like the pulmonarias, maybe?

Yes, that's a rather nice pulmonaria there.

It's called 'Blake's Silver' and it also contrasts with the shiny,

silver leaves of Brunnera 'Looking Glass'.

Well, Don, we're going even smaller here with the alpines

and this persicaria, that's good ground cover, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

It's Persicaria vacciniifolia and it's got these lovely candles

of pink flowers, which come out at this time of year, which is good.

-They last for quite a long time, don't they?

-They do, yes.

What else are we going to take up there?

Well, we've got the encrusted saxifrages,

which form nice, low mounds.

They're nice and firm, aren't they?

And they don't mind being covered by the snow.

Is that little sea holly going?

Yes, that's Eryngium bourgatii 'Graham Stuart Thomas'.

I think that is really stunning.

So, the way to go seems to be small, compact, sturdy and hardy.

Hopefully, that will work up there, yes.

So, Malcolm, I believe it's down to you that we're actually even here.

Yes, indeed.

It's a wonderful place to come for lighting, but the whole garden

was pretty dull so we thought the Beechgrove might improve it,

-give us some ideas.

-So what was this bit like before, then?

It was dull gravel. Grass came down to it.

You don't get a nice edge on anything,

-so it was OK but not particularly welcoming.

-No, not as an entrance.

-Not as an entrance.

-I love this wall that now curves round the building.

-That's gorgeous.

-Yes, it really enhances...

Originally, the wall was just going over the beginning, there,

but those students who were actually on the dry-stone dyking course

actually extended it further.

-Did they get carried away?

-They got carried away.

-We put a curve in. It just made it all the better.

-It does.

Of course, you've got planting round the edge now,

so that's going to sort of clothe the building a bit, isn't it?

Yeah, it's going to take away the plainness of the building.

-They're busy putting up the trellises.

-Some plants...

Some plants. We have honeysuckle, we have clematis at that side.

That's going to be nice, cos you've got colour and perfume.

Yes, we certainly have.

And as Don was saying earlier about the planting - short, compact

and these alpines in this little planting pocket are just perfect.

-Everything about it will just make it so welcoming.

-I think so!

Now, then, Kelsey, this building looks as if

it's been for a long time. What was it?

It was a steading before it was redone,

so this was where the cattle stayed.

OK. I'm very conscious that we've also actually moved round

to the south side of the building, which means shelter.

Ideal for this job.

Absolutely. It's also a suntrap so it's perfect for growing herbs.

-Yes, and quite a nice range.

-Yes, we've got sage and mint, fennel.

-Very big fennel this year.

-This is a Writers' Centre?

-That's right.

-Why?

Well, we also have the writers cook their own food,

so this is a fantastic way to teach them how to use fresh herbs

in their cooking but also a bit about sustainability.

Yes, so you're actually feeding the brain and feeding the tum-tum.

-That's right.

-Excellent!

I've found some real willing helpers here.

They're on a creative writing course

and they're all the way from Canada and, well,

it must be nice to be outside, I think.

And we've got these plants that are going to be

going around the pond.

And busy working here we've got Kathy and Fiona.

They're planting up some of the marginal plants

and they actually came from Beechgrove, those plants there.

Now, Brian, it's pretty obvious to me you're taking photographs.

-You're actually keeping a record.

-I am, yes.

-And you've been documenting this from when?

-The end of May.

So you must have seen a big, big change.

-I've seen a huge difference, yes.

-Absolutely brilliant.

Now, this pond is going to be a major feature

and it has been a major task.

I've got to thank our James and Callum,

because they've worked really hard on this,

just to actually shape it. They've even hit a bit of bedrock.

-And, Charlie, you're local to the area.

-Yes.

-You have a pond yourself.

-That's right.

-And what have you got for us here?

Well, I brought along a few plants

because I wasn't sure what you might need.

So I brought along some specimens and I'll bring more tomorrow.

Right, this is bogbean and that would be great.

We could certainly use that in the pond.

This is a thing I call creeping jenny.

Yes, Lysimachia nummularia is the Latin name

and that is wonderful too. That is good.

You can sometimes plant that in the border as well as in a moist area.

Well, it tends to grow up the side of the pond quite nicely.

It'll be perfect. A perfect foil.

I've come round to the back of the Writers' Centre

and looking at what is one of the most spectacular views.

But, of course, it's exposed round here and plants hate that.

We've created a rock garden and between the rocks we've planted

things which are going to really enjoy the shelter of the rocks.

Little rock garden plants.

Things like rock roses, gentians, heathers,

little dwarf rhododendrons, things of that sort.

But us humans don't like exposure either,

so come and have a look at this.

George, tell me about this. This is a fantastic structure.

This is a circular seated area for people to read or recite

and you've got a bit of shelter from the wind because of the

dry-stone wall and there'll be a seat right the way round here.

-We'd be down about this level?

-Yes.

You sit down there and a nice fire pit

in the middle for a bit of warmth.

The wall will continue all the way around here

and it'll give protection from the north-west.

But this is being done not just by you.

I mean, you're a master craftsman. You've got this band of volunteers!

Fantastic volunteers.

They've been here for six sessions of two days,

working on the circle and other walls here

and they've been doing a fantastic job.

Now, they have to take their time

cos this is going to last for a long time, isn't it?

I think it'll be here long after we've gone and, hopefully,

the centre will still be here for a long, long time

and people will be appreciating the wall and the shelter it brings.

They will sit here and they will look over this magnificent view.

-It's a fantastic view, isn't it? Absolutely.

-And watch the sunset.

Well, from the established herb garden to a new one.

But I assure you this is only a temporary measure,

because on this site

is to be built a polytunnel and, by jingo,

it's going to have to be well battened down,

because you can see there's very little shelter,

but it does mean they will be able to extend their season.

Well, is it possible in this part of the world?

Carole went to see Ellis McFadzean. Just wait till you see this.

So, Ellis, do you find the polytunnel really useful?

It is, aye. We were trying to extend the growing season

and keep plants in slightly warmer and out of the wind.

My goodness! I didn't expect this.

It's only half a polytunnel. How did that happen?

Well, this half faces to the south.

There was a commercial polytunnel here

and the heavy snows of winter 2010 collapsed it,

so we built a rigid structure, storage for garden bits and pieces

and a polytunnel onto the south side.

Now, you say "we",

but I mean you do have a slight advantage cos you're very handy.

You are a bit of a sort of builder to trade, aren't you?

Well, not a builder but in the country

you have to turn your hand to various bits and pieces so, yeah.

So it works well for you. What about the temperature and ventilation?

Well, we've got a door at either end,

which works very well with ventilation.

And then the plants themselves, I mean you've got so many courgettes.

What do you do with them?

Well, Fiona makes a lot of jam.

Marrow and apple jam and we use the largest courgettes for that.

-Marrow and apple?

-It tastes like honey, for all the world like honey.

Sounds really interesting to me. And then it's great with your onions.

I mean, have you just lifted those for drying off?

-Yeah, they've just been lifted.

-Well, you've got a good crop.

Are you thinking about growing things over the wintertime?

That would be the ideal, because it's a big space to sit doing nothing.

OK, well, I've got one or two ideas for you.

I've noticed as well that you've got some strawberries.

I have brought a few more strawberry plants for you.

-Jim loves the variety sonata.

-Right.

That is good for an early crop, you know, in the springtime,

because, obviously, it's getting warmer here.

But for sowing crops at the moment,

although this is spring onions, they are quite hardy

and you could sow these now and get a much earlier crop.

What about some of the Japanese stir-fry vegetables? Mizuna?

I haven't tried those, no.

It's a bit like a lettuce,

but if you do stir-fry it it's really crispy.

Tatsoi is another one that you could try. And broad beans.

Oh, right, yeah.

So start these off now and then you'll get an early crop.

Well, you've obviously been really successful

and I'm sure this will extend the season for you.

Excellent. That'll be lovely.

So, Steve, you're the designer of this fantastic building.

Tell me a wee bit about the construction of it.

Well, the main consideration is to maximise the use of local materials

like this larch that came from a local community woodland.

This rock came from a local quarry.

Straw came from just south of Inverness.

And the other thing was to use what's sometimes called sacred geometry,

-which is the form, to enhance creativity using growth.

-OK.

Because something like this lovely cauliflower

has what are called Fibonacci spirals in them

and these are actually the same as designed in the shape

of the building and the spirals are reflected in the roof, here.

So we have a polarity between two opposing spirals,

hopefully creating energy which will enhance creativity.

Well, that sounds...

Story-telling and everything else this building will get used for.

That sounds brilliant. Well, it's definitely a very fitting place

for Jim, Carole and George to hear what's the story

in some of the local plants.

Well, now, Kathy, you've been buzzing away there, busy.

Let's just stop and answer a question.

What's the problem you've got?

We've got a really big problem with docken leaves in our garden,

just like the ones down here.

-Now, you know, of course, that they are perennials.

-Yes.

And they've got roots that go very, very deep.

And one way to do it is to use a chemical called glyphosate,

which will kill them on the spot and right down to the bottom.

If you don't want to use a chemical,

then I'm afraid you're in for a lot of hard work.

You just have to keep digging them out.

You know, one of the ways that some people do it in a vegetable plot

is they will agree to sort of fallow a piece

and cover it with very thick, black polythene or an old carpet

and actually starve it out, because if the leaves can't get light,

the plant will die.

Well, I'm a bit worried about my cucumber plants.

I've had a really good harvest from them, but on the stem,

at the point from which the fruit comes,

I'm finding white, hairy mould.

-Are they still cropping OK for you?

-Still cropping, still flowering.

It's probably a sort of mildew that's coming in.

What about the moisture with the plant itself?

Where are you keeping them?

They're in a conservatory and the moisture does vary.

Simply because sometimes, if we're away at a weekend,

-they don't get watered.

-Yeah, so...

But generally they're quite well looked after.

OK, but if they do get a bit dry,

and I think this is quite interesting,

if you get mildews and fungal problems,

-very often it's to do with dryness rather than getting too wet.

-OK.

So make sure you keep them well watered.

Well, we have a serious problem with our damson tree.

Each year it comes into full leaf

and then the leaves just all curl up and we can't find what's doing it.

You've got a plum aphid.

They feed on the back of the leaf,

so what you have to do is get a number of bird feeders,

and put them into the tree and what will happen is

that the blue tits in particular

will come and feed on the bird feeders

but they'll go and sit on the damson tree.

And what they do is they'll run about in the tree,

or hop about, and they'll find the eggs of the aphids.

It's amazing the difference that a few miles, a bit of shelter

and a few hundred feet down can make.

Dougie and Sue Paterson's garden is packed with colour,

including many shades of green.

-So foliage is really quite important to you.

-Yes, it is.

I find that as much as I love flowers

and all the perfumes that you get off them,

-they can be short-lived.

-Mmm.

Whereas foliage you have all the time and this area here I've got

the golden metasequoia and the golden foliage against the purple cotinus.

-It's a nice combination, isn't it?

-It is. It's lovely.

The cotinus is almost opaque when the sun shines

and then on front of it here, I've got the prunus "Marbled White".

-I don't know that form.

-It's a laurel. It makes a super hedge.

It does. And you've got it all packed together,

-so it's fairly low maintenance.

-Very low maintenance.

Yes, yes, I can actually scoot round the garden in about a day.

-Well, that's really brilliant cos it's quite a size.

-Yes.

Talking about keeping down the maintenance,

the conifers are great for that, aren't they?

Yes, the conifers are really good. You can pack them so tight together

and you don't need to weed in amongst them.

And, again, you've got that contrast of foliage cover, haven't you?

Yes, again, you've got your yellows, greens, purples.

This is quite a contrast, though.

Yes, a traditional herb wheel.

Somebody had a load of old bricks and I thought,

"Right, let's try a herb wheel with bricks",

and it's actually worked quite well.

And the runner beans are doing really well.

-It's a good year, isn't it?

-A good year, yes.

Actually, this year I've even managed some basil outside.

-Which is amazing, isn't it?

-Amazing up here, yes.

And then that perfume from the lily.

Yes, I like pots of lilies about the garden.

They don't need the same watering as bedding

and they look after themselves a lot more.

We've come right up to the house now and I can hear water

and I think that's great.

Yes, I love to hear water in the garden,

especially while we're sitting here on the terrace

and we can look down on the water lilies.

And they're looking good at the moment with the flowers,

-aren't they?

-They've done well this year.

I think this is a great combination of potted plants, here.

Yes, I think the blue agapanthus and the limelight hydrangea,

lovely combination.

I have to keep the agapanthus in a pot,

cos it doesn't like being outside in my garden.

-OK, so you bring that in in the wintertime?

-Yes.

Whereas the hydrangea limelight, it's hardy, isn't it?

Yes, it's fine.

It stays in a pot all year round and when you're sitting on the deck

here on a dusky evening you'd almost think there was light shining on it.

Yeah, I think it is a brilliant plant to have in your garden.

And then the terracing, is this a fairly recent introduction?

Yes, it's just an idea I had. I've done this one a few years ago,

with just flower planting for when we're sitting here

and then the bottom one is hostas and gravel and it just took me

a day to build it.

-You make it sound easy. You obviously love it.

-I love my garden.

Brilliant.

Meanwhile, back in the garden, things are really coming on.

This little cottage has been crying out for a border

and now it's got one. I love this yellow centaury. It's gorgeous.

Very natural-style planting. A real cottage garden.

This lovely little astilbe here, fluffy, pink flowers.

Round the back are all the edibles.

There's redcurrants, gooseberries and some strawberries.

Now, then, when we arrived, Malcolm, you were drilling these holes

for the trees with a compressor and a big drill.

-Are we on the bedrock, here?

-Just about, here.

-But it's the right place for the trees.

-We hope so!

-Yes, yeah.

Well, we've got double stakes for strength

and we've got them well secured.

And as long as this base and the root ball is secured as well,

they should be OK. But I'll tell you something,

it's a mixed blessing the soil is really quite dry,

because it makes it easy to work with.

But these trees are going to need a real soaking,

because the root ball's beginning to dry out as well.

We'll do a bit of praying for rain for the weekend.

JIM LAUGHS

As you come down from the main road you come through wild countryside

until, all of a sudden, you hit the calm of the cultivated,

only, on a day like this, it's not very calm.

We've had to cultivate this soil.

We've had to add organic matter and really loosen it up.

We've planted the plants and thank goodness for all these volunteers.

Now we're going to water it.

Keep our fingers crossed.

What a major transformation we have to this area.

We've got the dry riverbed,

the pond and all the planting going in and, well,

that water level, it's still got to go up about three inches

so you won't see those baskets at the end of the day.

And I have no doubt that this is going to be

one of the main focal points of the garden here.

Well, this has been a fantastic community project.

They've transformed an open space into something that is

-full of many, many destinations.

-I think it's truly inspirational.

The amount of plants that have gone in, the range of plants and I think

it's one of highest community gardens that we've been to.

-It is.

-Might well be.

Means it's really exposed, very windy,

so I'm going to say to you all,

please, please water in those plants for a long time.

The ground is very dry. I'd pick up on the same thing.

Apart from one or two of the borders where the plants in there

have had a little bit of farmyard manure in them,

absolutely wonderful,

there's quite a lot of these plants have had no fertiliser.

Come the spring, they'll need a bit of encouragement

so as well as the water, they need some fertiliser.

I know, but what a fantastic community.

You've been brilliant to work with.

We have had a lovely time, haven't we?

And the catering and the home baking, which has...

-Yes, it has.

-Mmm!

-Quite right.

We're taking over! It's been brilliant.

And it's their 20th anniversary this year,

so a great way to celebrate, isn't it? It's super.

So next week, we're back in the garden,

but until then, from all of us here at Moniack Mhor Writers' Centre...

ALL CHEER

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