Episode 3 The Beechgrove Garden

Hello there, and welcome to the third episode

in the Beechgrove Garden Odyssey 2013.

In the first programme, I was checking soil temperatures and I'm at it again now

hoping to get the potatoes in.

Because here we are, nearly at the end of April

and not ready to go. That temperature's not up yet.

It's only six.

Meanwhile the seed potatoes are not coming to any harm

so we'll leave it for another few days.

Remember in the first programme Chris was saying in the Cotswolds

they were having worse weather than we were.

We had a letter from a lady in Troon on the Ayrshire coast.

The Monte Carlo of the Ayrshire coast!

Saying that they were irrigating lawns!

Doesn't matter. It's cold here and we've got to go by the conditions.

But where do you go if you're feeling really cold?

You look for a hot bed, don't you?

And here it is!

We set it up last week. Look at the condensation on that plastic.

I can tell you we've started sowing early salads now.

And when you put your hand in there, you can feel the heat.

It's up to 15C in there

with the help of all that wonderful horse manure.

And we can get going here

because we can beat Mother Nature for a wee while.

Here, just the same as the outside bed, we covered it at the same time as this one.

But that's just the soil that's been there all winter and the temperature there is still just at 5C.

So I reckon I'm still looking for an inside job. Follow me.

One of the other consequences of this cold weather

is that I find people are buying their compost in the garden centre, garden shop, wherever,

they take it home, put it in pots, start sowing seeds,

putting out seedlings et cetera.

And it's freezing cold because it's probably been stored in an open shed

if not even outdoors.

So you have to allow the compost to warm up before you start to use it.

Here, in case, we have our citrus compost.

Now, you can buy citrus compost in little bags, but it's quite expensive.

But you can make up your own for half the price.

That's precisely what we're about to do.

What we have here is two parts John Innes number two,

two parts ericaceous multi-purpose

and one part of grit.

That's for the citrus. It will be mixed, stored indoors

until we're ready to actually use it.

So I'm going to spread this around.

Like so.

Quite coarse grit.

Big saucy plants they're going to be.

And the number of times I see people dive into this heap

to start turning it, when they should be doing it like this.

From the side, turn it over. From the side, turn it over.

From the side, turn it over.

And so on.

And every time you move it,

you're mixing it better, better, better.

Now, I'm going to have to turn my back on you.

So, in the rest of the programme...

You may think this is a beautiful and exotic plant.

But you ain't seen nothing yet!

And from exotic houseplants to some fairly common houseplants.

And also, a bit of spring cleaning.

I'm really pleased to say that we've got a lovely colourful border here

with dwarf bulbs, mainly crocus.

This is a variety called Cream Beauty.

But I think this one is absolutely stunning.

I thought it was a variety called Pickwick, with this beautiful veining.

But in fact, it's a variety called King of the Striped.

It's very similar to the variety Pickwick.

This one's a lot smaller, but I still think it's rather interesting.

A variety called Ladykiller.

A bi-colour between the white and that lovely deep purple.

And then slightly different - you have to like this one! -

Iris Reticulata, variety Harmony, in a beautiful deep blue.

I also want to have a look at our layered bulb pots.

Some of you may remember us planting this last year.

Four layers. We had tulips, hyacinths,

then the narcissus and then the smaller bulbs.

And I think what's interesting is that these are the ones I planted last year

and these are the ones that were planted the year before.

And we kept a record of the flowering from the year before.

And this year, we are five weeks behind with the flowering.

That's all to do with the weather conditions.

And the ones that are kept in a sunny location, the crocus are beginning to flower.

Whereas these in the shade, we're still waiting for a bit of colour.

But I'm hopeful now that now it's started

it will continue for a couple of months.

On our first programme, we showed how this juniper had been severely pruned.

I suggested that there were planting opportunities underneath.

On the same programme, George Anderson was visiting a garden

way down in Galloway, especially to see the snowdrops.

And he brought us back a wee gift of a snowdrop called Fred's Giant.

Isn't that nice of him?

Here it is in the green, about to be planted.

The funny story about that, well, funny peculiar,

Fred is Fred Sutherland who was head gardener

at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen

when I first came here in the early '70s and met Fred on a few occasions.

He was a real gardener, built up a wonderful reputation

as an authority on small bulbs especially Galanthus.

And here am I about to plant some of Fred's Giant, which were named in his honour

in this piece of ground which has been specially prepared.

I've been working in quite a lot of leaf mould into the ground.

It's in super nick.

This is what would be called planting in the green,

in other words, still growing.

They've just finished flowering

The purists would say you don't need to bother with that.

Just treat them like any other bulbs.

Lift them, store them, bring them out with the daffodils and tulips in the autumn and plant them.

But results can sometimes be variable.

If these bulbs had been kept too dry through the summer,

it will affect their performance.

The purists will say, "Move them now and it might affect their performance."

But it's proven. There are millions available at this present time.

You can buy snowdrops in the green. It's by far the most popular way of doing it.

And maybe, before the time is out,

we'll manage to get a few more.

Just to make this a decent-sized patch.

Aren't these gems? Wonderful orchids. One of the most popular pot plants of our time.

A great success story in horticulture.

They're propagated, micro propagation in Malaysia,

brought into Holland, grown in vast quantities

and then sold through many of our most popular outlets.

So, outstanding as these orchids are,

there are others which are far, far better.

I've come down to Midlothian on the outskirts of Edinburgh

to a garden where there are some absolute gems.

And the man responsible for growing them is Henry Marsh.

Henry, do you like these?

They're attractive in so far as they stimulate an interest in orchids.

That's fair enough. But there are far more interesting things to look at in the orchid world.

The seed is sown in sterile gel here.

That provides enough sugars for the seed to germinate.

And because these are mountain cloud forest plants that naturally grow in moss,

the little seedlings I've put in pure sphagnum.

-Is this sterile, too, then?

-It's more or less sterile.

They used to use it for wrapping wounds in the First World War.

-Must be.

-Then they're potted on.

I should say that's probably about six months.

Then they go, slightly larger plants,

maybe about six plants in a community pot like that.

They grow well in community pots.

I then put them singly in pots like this.

In recognisably ordinary orchid compost.

These are viable plants and they will flower in about 18 months. Something like that.

Provided you get the right conditions.

They grow very quickly.

-A lot of care?

-Given the right conditions,

they like to be moist but not wet.

They grow very quickly.

Gosh, there are some gems in here!

Look at this. This is an absolutely fantastic little plant.

That is superb! Look at it!

That grows in New Guinea in the mountain cloud forest.

It grows about 8,000 feet up.

It grows in about 90% humidity.

As you can see, it takes the form of an alpine.

Every one of these little flowers

is a perfect orchid flower.

And growing at 8,000 feet, it's doing what every other alpine does

-which is form a cushion.

-That's right.

-Now, is that an epiphyte?

-It is an epiphyte. It grows on trees in the moss.

Oh. Because here we've got some that are growing straight onto the bark.

How do you that? How do you get them from there to here?

They have to be carefully weaned to grow on bark.

You put a bit of moss or whatever they're growing on

but the thing is you must be prepared to water them daily.

If you're not prepared to water them daily, then think again.

-You're wasting your time.

-Yes. Just think about pots.

Where do these in nature get their nutrient from?

They get their nutrients from the water that runs down the bark of the trees.

It gathers nutrients from the detritus in the roots of the plants.

And they make every use of whatever poor nutrient is available.

-Is it a strong solution? A weak solution?

-It's a weak solution, I'd imagine.

So we don't need to feed orchids much?

You feed half-strength to whatever you would feed other plants, but sparingly.

-No strong fertiliser, then.

-No strong fertiliser. Fatal to the roots.

-They're dead.

-Yes.

-OK. So these are outstanding plants on that side.

But look at what's behind us. Look at what's behind us!

That is just phenomenal!

These are Phragmipediums. They grow in south-eastern faces of the Andes and Peru.

Again they're mountain cloud forest basically.

Some of them grown in limestone.

You go from that to this fellow up here. This red.

That's outstanding. Almost pillar box red.

That is Brasilia Esophrenites, related to the Cattleyas.

That can grow high up in the mountain cloud forest again

or in Brazil, it grows right up in the trees,

stunted trees growing up in the ridges of the mountains.

And in the winter, it's exposed almost to zero

and yet in the summer it's baking hot

so they have a huge range of tolerance

provided they can get the humidity at some time during the day.

Now, you said that was related to the Cattleyas.

This is a Cattleya here. This is what I understand by Cattleya.

-That's right.

-Wonderful big flower.

That is again Brazilian. Magnificent flowers, really.

And flowers regularly as clockwork. It's easy to look after, basically speaking.

You say easy, but in here we've got one greenhouse and you've mentioned three different continents

or geographical areas for orchid growing.

South America, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

And always you're talking about a little niche environment.

How do you get that in a greenhouse like this?

Well, it's precisely because it's a small greenhouse

that you can find all sorts of different niches.

You can have a plant growing low down, or one growing high up.

You can have it facing the sun or facing away from the sun.

And provided you provide the humidity

then the plants will grow.

The whole business is just looking at the plant very carefully,

observing it and deciding will I change it here, will I raise it up or put it down.

And just care, basically speaking.

So listen to your plants. Look at them and listen to them?

-Absolutely.

-We don't need to talk to them, just listen!

-Just listen to them.

They'll tell you what they require.

Those orchids were quite amazing,

but they're really exotic houseplants.

I just want to give you a bit of seasonal advice

and some tips on some fairly common houseplants.

At this time of year, it's April. What should we be doing?

We should be feeding our houseplants.

I know with those orchids, he said a fairly dilute fertiliser.

But as a general rule, most houseplants like to be fed every ten to 14 days.

There's a whole range of fertilisers that you can choose from.

If you're a real busy gardener, then you might be interested in these little granules.

These are what we call controlled release fertiliser

and they work by the fact that as the temperature warms up,

they gradually release that fertiliser.

And so you're feeding from April right through the growing season

right through until September / October time.

And this is the time of year as well that you need to pot on your house plants.

Take, for example, this lovely compact drusilla.

Nice and healthy. But when I take it out of the pot

you actually see that the roots are starting to go round and round the pot.

So I want to tease that out

and we'll pot it on maybe an inch, two to three centimetres larger.

Don't go too big.

A bit of compost into the bottom.

And then, like I say, we want to tease the roots out.

And that just helps them to spread

rather than going round and round.

If you have a plant that's in a huge pot already,

it's maybe not practical to pot that on.

So what I suggest then is you scrape off some of the old compost

and then just top-dress it with some fresh.

That's all we have to do.

As for some other houseplants,

this is one of my favourites, the peace lily.

And this one can flower for you twice in the year.

Flowering at the moment, these lovely white spades.

And it should flower again in the autumn.

However, it does like a nice humid atmosphere.

So what you can do is mist the leaves maybe once a week,

or I think it's a lot easier if you put it in a gravel tray

and you keep the gravel nice and moist.

But the actual plant itself isn't sitting in the water.

It's not being waterlogged.

And having said that, this is what can happen sometimes.

This is a houseplant called Bulgurgia.

And this actually came from one of my houseplants.

But look, absolutely soaking wet

and this is what happens when you've got a pot within a pot.

You go around maybe once a week and you put the water in

and you think, "A bit more water."

And this is filling up because this has a fairly shallow root system

and it really does like to be kept fairly dry

and just use your finger on the top of the compost

and if you feel that it's dry, then that's the time to water it.

And this likes a fairly sunny situation.

At the moment it's growing. I know the person that has this is disappointed

because it's not flowering.

But I think this year, now it's beginning to bulk up

as long as we keep it on the dry side, it will give lovely flowers.

If you're looking for something in a shady situation,

the rubber plant is perfect for that.

But this is a variegated form,

so the green ones will do well in deep shade

but any that are variegated, perhaps light shade is the answer for that.

And if you're looking for plants that do well in hanging baskets,

with cool conditions,

then you can't go wrong with a piggy-back plant or the mother of thousands.

First impressions in a garden are very important.

What you see when you come into the secret garden here

are two enormous hostas.

Hosta Frances Williams at this side

and Hosta sum and substance on the other side.

-These...

-You're just in time! I'm not going to get these out myself!

These are enormous plants.

They were planted a few years ago

and have more or less outgrown their position.

-We've got to do something about it.

-There's a few dead bits. The weather has got at some of it.

Yes. But all the best bits are round about the outside.

-Isn't that convenient!

-For us!

Now, we could split this by using the old system of back-to-back forks.

But we'd be here for hours.

Even if it was you and me that was back-to-back?

-What is it, then, the spade?

-Yes, go on.

There you go.

This could take a while, George!

It's like that begonia. I should have brought the axe!

Like lightning. Never strike in the same place twice!

-I'll take that!

-You take that!

See the roots coming out of that?

Surface roots. Got the wee root hairs on it already.

-You're pecking, dear boy!

-I am indeed pecking!

Let's take a wee break from that. There's quite a lot of work involved here.

Cos I do believe you want to commit murder!

I do. You're not very happy about this.

When you come in here, Jim, what you see is not the skeleton of a marvellous shrub

which this is. This is Coriolopsis Pauciflora.

and it is a fantastic late-spring flowering thing.

But the structure's rubbish.

Look, it's got crossing branches and there's dead bits in it.

There's broken bits in it.

I would like to get in about that with a surgical instrument.

The point I often say is in the winter when the leaves are off these deciduous things,

-you get a chance to see the skeleton.

-Yes.

You get a chance to see the outline.

And you can have permission to do something

so long as you do not spoil that elegant outline.

Have you got a whistle? Blow it when you want to tell me to stop!

-Let's have a quick look at what you want to do.

-I'll show you.

I'll show you what I want to take out, Jim, before I do it.

There's a big branch. If you look at it from over there,

this branch is actually crossing through the whole thing

-and it's damaged, too.

-OK.

-There's a branch at the far side...

-Before you go any further, take that one out.

-OK.

-Take that one out.

-I'll take the top off this first.

-Do you want to get your hands on that?

-I will.

It's too late, now!

You'll see the difference.

When you take that out.

-We've opened up that bit in there. Haven't we?

-We have indeed.

See, already you've got a space in there

which this whole plant now is starting... Take hold of that.

It's starting to look like a big dish.

And that's what the best shape for this is.

When you get long branches, you get the flowers hanging down.

-Do you want to take that off at that...

-I'll take that off there

as a compromise to you.

To me, that's a far better shape.

I can start to see it. This is congested at the bottom

-and we'll thin that out.

-Yes.

But we're starting to get a structure which is better, without a doubt.

Now, as long as you don't go any further, right?

-What do you want now?

-I'm away to the car!

-Aye, I'll finish up, then!

-Yes, OK!

There are two things you can do when you come to a new garden.

Either you leave it to grow for a year,

or you get in about it, clear it, and end up with a blank canvas.

I'm on the south side of Glasgow

and that's what's happened here. It's a blank canvas.

So the problem corner today is,

to plant some herbaceous, to plant a little alpine area,

to put some trees in, to give the garden some more structure.

But one of the things I'm not going to touch

is this hedge.

Jane McCahey, you don't like this hedge, do you?

No, it's so overgrown and I thought it was really ugly.

There's lots of brambles in there!

-You weren't going to take it out, were you?

-I was going to take it out.

Please, don't dig it out. Keep it because this hedge

would cost you a fortune to re-establish from scratch.

In here, there are about five or six different species of plant.

There's cotoneaster, brambles, cherries, rhododendrons.

Even ferns growing at the bottom.

We've got a whole range of plants, lots of food for insects,

lots of food then for the birds.

So this is going to be an absolute haven for wildlife.

I never thought about it like that.

-That's it. So don't take it out!

-Don't take it out. OK!

We've come up the hill from the wildlife hedge we had down there.

And this is an area that I think would be absolutely splendid for a little woodland garden.

Only trouble is, there's a bit of a draught comes through that hole there

where Callum is.

We'll plant one or two shrubs in there.

I've got three hollies, variegated hollies,

which will go in there and fill that up and make the whole thing more sheltered.

And then we'll plant a couple of trees and then let everything else grow.

-What about all these green bits?

-All these green bits, my dear!

Now these are bluebells. We've got crocus and two wee daffs coming up.

These will then naturalise in this space.

And it will just be like a wild wood.

You're never sure what you're going to find when you start digging holes!

But the soil's not bad.

What we'll do is put a bit of organic matter in with the soil.

And a bit of fertiliser to give them a wee boost.

-That's about right. Callum's good at digging holes!

-He is!

That birch has a brown stem at the moment.

But eventually it will become startlingly white.

-And the strap. Do you need to check if that's too tight?

-Yes.

Every Spring, go back and check it to make sure it's not strangling the stem.

-If it is, slacken it off.

-OK.

-Ideal.

And here we've got this wonderful sorbus, it's a rowan from Korea.

It's got great big black buds.

It's called raven's bill and indeed these buds look like crows' beaks.

Great big black crows' beaks!

Well, Mother, we've been joined by the bevy of beauties.

Who have we got here? What's your name?

-Eva.

-Eva.

-Christina.

-Christina. And you are?

-Ellie.

-Ellie. Right.

I'll possibly forget your names, so you'll need to remind me.

-Later. Did you see what we did at the top?

-Yeah.

-We planted trees and shrubs to make a little woodland area.

-Yes.

-Right.

We want to do the same sort of thing down here.

I want to create what looks like a dry riverbed.

And you're going to help me.

We're going to plant these plants into here

and plant lots of floral plants

which will look as though they've always been there

and they will grow so much there'll be no weeding.

-Do you like weeding?

-It's OK. It can be a bit boring, though.

Course it can, but with these plants there'll be no weeding.

That's a bit better.

I will knock this out of the pot and then you can plant it.

Wow, there's another juicy worm!

What's your favourite food?

-Worms!

-Worms!

You are almost getting expert at this, aren't you?

-Does that look good?

-Yes.

So there we are, girls. Job's finished. What do you think of it?

It's much better than it was before.

Oh, thank you!

That's better, then. Thank goodness we pleased her.

We've made a difference. A difference at the top with the woodland planting.

Made a difference here. The idea is you take those little ideas and recipes

and you plant things all the way along this banking.

So, down the garden centre, find the plants you like

and put them in along the banking

and just extend the plantings we've done already. Job done.

-Cos you know how to plant, now.

-Yeah.

-All of you.

-Yes.

One of my favourite shrub roses is Rosa Rugosa in all its varieties.

But it can be a bit of a blighter. If you turn your back on it for a wee while,

it wants to head for the hills. It would populate the garden.

Look at this one here. It starts in there, now it's moving out.

It's moving here, here it's moving, look.

It's through this cotoneaster.

All the way out to the path.

We might have to cut back the cotoneaster somewhat

to get rid of these, and I'm going to start right here.

Of course, what you've got to try and do is get these out,

chop it out.

That's one down.

More to go. I've heard it referred to as nature's answer to barbed wire!

Quite appropriate, I think.

If you grow mint in a pot, there's a tendency for the plant to grow right round the outside

and the runners stay there and you get a blank piece in the middle.

Nothing growing. All the growth's on the outside.

So what I'm going to do is lift this out.

This is what you should do. Look. There's where the runners are, on the outside like that.

So what I can do with this is I can split it up.

There you are - wring its neck!

That can go into the pot there.

That will grow on. And then those bits here,

these little bits - look at that -

they've all got roots on them.

These can go down the side of a little pot.

Some fresh compost into it.

Like that.

Three or four round the pot.

Onto the windowsill. These will then take three or four weeks to grow.

And they'll be absolutely splendid with your roast lamb!

If you fancy trying to grow a standard fuchsia,

you might want to follow us this year.

Because that's what we're going to try and grow.

Firstly, these need potting on because you want to encourage them to grow upright.

Then the first stage is nipping out all the side shoots.

Right the way up the plant.

So the whole idea is you just have this single stem.

Now, then, children, let's see who's going to win the money!

For the rhubarb. Oh, I think I win!

But that's disappointing.

That was forced since January.

Yes, but there's still a bit of crumble in that!

-Yes.

-A nice bit of crumble.

-Lovely, lovely.

With fresh yogurt. Absolutely brilliant.

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

it's all in the factsheet.

The easiest way to access that is online.

And don't forget as well you can find us on Facebook and Twitter.

-That's your lot for this week. Until next time, goodbye!

-Bye!

-Bye!

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