Episode 1 The Beechgrove Garden

Well, hello and welcome back to Beechgrove Garden's spring 2014.

I thought it was appropriate that we should be starting

the programme near the water.

Not only is it coming down, but, you guys...you're so keen, eh?

-What a winter it's been. Chris, how've you been?

-It's just been...

Well, south-west, high on the Cotswolds where I am,

just so much rain.

Two to three times the amount of rain we'd normally expect in February.

Just phenomenal.

-Every low pressure system that came in hit you guys, didn't it?

-I know.

-You were the first to get it.

-We were on the front line

but it's not our fault that everyone else got it after us.

-No, no, I'm really sorry.

-The boot's on the other foot for a change,

because it's usually us that's complaining.

Well, yes, I think the answer is to move to Aberdeenshire.

We've really been quite lucky. Fairly dry up until Christmas time

and then January and February, yes, it did get a little bit wet.

And we've got some viewers here with some photographs.

James Munro, from Argyll, and that's not like a football pitch,

-it's like a swimming pool, isn't it?

-That's horrendous.

Don't let the weans out to play.

Ruth Ritchie, Lockerbie, I like her comment.

It's about how this really should be weather for ducks, not for hens.

And then you've got the other extreme,

Neil Murray, from Fife, he says, "We've missed the rain,

"it's been one of the mildest and driest winters ever."

Well, you see, Edinburgh was like that.

I can't say we had a huge amount of rain and I'm on a dry, sandy soil

and so mostly the water flows through it,

but this year, wherever there was a footmark on the top of the soil

where you'd walked in it, that's where the water gathered.

-Here we had twice as much rain as last year.

-Right.

But you wouldn't have thought so

because we thought we got off lightly.

But then again, you compare that with the west,

down at Logan for example,

-they had the same sort of pattern of rainfall you'd expect there.

-Well, yes.

It is the wet west, after all, but the big problem is for gardeners.

I mean, we are left with a legacy of problems,

-but it does depend on soil type, doesn't it?

-Oh, yes.

-It does.

Well, you see, we're on a heavy clay, and it's a very shallow soil,

but what we found is wet combined with wind

has meant that large trees have just been falling like dominoes,

-because they just lose the traction in the soil...

-Yes, yes.

-..so just massive specimens collapsing.

-It's incredible.

Yes, wind's been another problem, hasn't it, but back to the mild weather,

-have you had many frosts? We haven't.

-No, half a dozen.

Half a dozen in the entire winter.

And down to maybe minus three, minus four?

Well, I can say that A -

we've not had the snow shovels out the garage at all,

and B - no frost lasting beyond about 10 o'clock in the morning,

and I've seen it last for days,

and that is a conditioning thing for soils,

coming back to the basics for gardeners.

And if the water remains,

we've only got a certain period, haven't we, for that.

There are only two things that most concern,

one is fungal complaints if the water lingers in the soil for too long.

But the other thing, which I think is good news potentially,

is that most plants are able to survive under reasonable conditions

for about three weeks, even up to their necks in water.

But unfortunately, there are other things that have survived

the winter as well, because of the lack of frost.

-Well, there are pests and disease about...

-Oh, yes, aphids.

Exactly, aphids just waiting.

Normally, they're nobbled by hard frost. This year...

We could stand and talk here for ages, but with health and safety in mind,

and you guys are working over there, I've got some kit for you.

-Have you looked at it? There you go, if you get that sorted out.

-Just my size.

George, I'm told you're not a very good swimmer.

And you like to commune with dolphins.

-A pet, thank you very much.

-You're a bit anxious for us.

Now, in the meantime, in the rest of the programme...

Now, he looks grumpy.

Do I look grumpy?

Surely not in a garden like this.

It's clearly winter, there's no leaves on the trees.

It's actually the middle of February but I found a lot of colour.

We've got one or two figs coming, haven't we, there?

That's quite promising, isn't it? Just about the size of a pea forming.

I think we should have a decent crop, which is remarkable

given what's happening there with the trench, the old peach trench.

Yes, well, we've created our own swimming pool here, Chris.

I mean, OK, there's not too much water in it now,

but that was right up to here over the wintertime.

It's just unbelievable, isn't it?

But I think it's a good demonstration of, if you dig a hole in a garden,

and then have a winter like we've had, it's going to fill full of water.

But there's no downpipe and gutter on this glasshouse, it wasn't designed with it.

So I think we can help to reduce the amount of water by just simply

-fitting a downpipe, maybe putting in a water butt.

-Yeah, collect the water.

The other thing that you could do is actually have a soakaway as well,

and that's an obvious place there that you could dig a pit and take the water away.

Of course, it's amazing that our peach actually survived so long,

cos it didn't have a particularly good root system on it, did it?

Well, it didn't, but just think about the crops.

It was just producing amazing fruits

and no-one was really any the wiser

as to what was going on under the ground.

Although we had red spider mite and we did have scales,

-so that was the reason for getting rid of it.

-But apart from all that, the fruit was quite good.

-And we're just going to, what? Fill that back in then, and grow things in pots.

-I think so.

In normal circumstances, if that's what's happening in the ground,

you have to get rid of the water because of pest and disease problems,

but let's take the easy option - soil it over, gravel it, and then treat it as an orchid house.

Yes, it's a cold greenhouse, so there's no heat in here,

but look at these, they're really thriving.

I didn't know this variety before,

and I've never seen these blossoms before, absolutely gorgeous.

-It's a peach called Melred.

-Yeah, Melred peach, it's a real stunner,

and this has been grown in the Rivers' technique so we're keeping them in very tight pots,

pruning the roots, pruning the shoots as well.

And the whole point is trying to provoke as much flower as possible,

and of course as much fruit as possible,

but this is worth considering as an ornamental,

irrespective of if it produces any fruit, because of the blooms.

It's absolutely gorgeous and once these start to set,

-we then start to thin them down, don't we?

-Yes, exactly.

But you have to let them set and of course, the June drop,

wait until all of that's gone on, and then you'll start to thin them.

But I think in the short term, because this house, when it gets cool we're still closing the doors,

pollination is a concern in here for me, so I think

-we need to come in with the make-up brush or the paint brush...

-Oh, yeah, yeah, make-up brush for me.

..and just tickle the flowers and just get that transfer of pollen.

And then the cherry blossom as well is wonderful.

It's amazing, isn't it?

You're just filled with excitement when you see it,

so much promise in it.

Well, we've just come from the glasshouse there

and that wonderful cherry tree, full of blossom, full of promise.

The veg plots are full of promise as well,

despite the awful winter we've had. And I know full well that

lots of people are worried about the state of the soil.

Let me point out one thing for a start.

Look at the level of the path and the level of the ground

and I put that down to the fact that we use copious amounts of organic matter,

or farmyard manure, and our own compost

and so gradually it builds up to a fair height, but it also improves the drainage

and it also improves the quality, and look at the quality of that soil.

I can tell you it wasn't like that ten years ago, it's just getting better and better,

so you have to use the soil well, you have to treat the soil well.

People will talk about leaching of nutrients

because of the amount of rain there's been,

so when you do prepare the ground for planting your vegetables,

be sure that you add maybe just a wee touch

more of the general fertiliser before you plant.

How do you prevent it? Well, as I've said, plenty use of organic matter.

But there's two other things you can do. If you're going to leave the ground bare,

you can mulch it.

David Ferguson down at Greenbank mentioned this,

you can mulch it with a couple of inches of organic matter

and that will stop the destruction of these top levels of the soil.

And the alternative to that, which we've used here umpteen times,

is to put in a green manure crop.

That will protect the surface and the structure of the soil.

So I'm looking forward to getting a fairly early start.

The temperature there now is six degrees Celsius,

the temperature in that one is eight.

Now that's a woven fabric, that's a solid plastic,

and in the open ground, over the back, it's five. So we were getting up

to seven or eight to be able to start planting.

I reckon the tatties will be going in erelong.

But look at that, it's just wonderful.

Now then, in early February, Carole Baxter went off to Stirlingshire

and it was snowing,

but she was in search of a unique collection of early spring colour.

Wait until you see this. It's beautiful.

For my first visit of the year, I've come to Dunblane.

Now this gold postbox celebrates the achievements

of that famous tennis star, Andy Murray, who actually comes from Dunblane itself.

Now I'm here for something completely different.

I'm going to celebrate the achievements of the Scottish Rock Garden Club,

with their early bulb display.

Well, the club was founded by about nine enthusiastic people in 1933 in the Rutland Hotel in Edinburgh,

and we feel they should have a little blue plaque on the hotel from that.

We have about nine shows and displays throughout the year,

and about an equal number

of local groups in different parts of the country.

So one of the biggest gardening clubs in Scotland - or THE biggest?

In terms of membership, the Rock Garden Club is the biggest,

because the Rock Garden Club is a very friendly club,

it's as much about people as about plants.

Well, I get the feeling that it is such a social occasion

for everybody, which I think is wonderful.

Wow, Beryl, what a display you've got here.

-The iris, are they quite early?

-Yes, very early.

Been outside all winter in their pots.

So you haven't protected them at all?

No, not until this week, we put them in the tunnel...

-OK.

-..just to protect them, because the flowers get shredded if it's windy.

-Are you buying anything?

-I don't know, I'm curious.

-Oh, you must be tempted, I'm sure.

-I'm always tempted.

-What in particular do you get tempted by?

Well, I think I'm looking at some of Ian's snowdrops,

-but I'm trying not to be a galanthophile.

-That's too expensive, isn't it?

-It is.

I started hybridising about 20, 25 years ago.

-Wow, because it takes a long time to bulk up, doesn't it?

-It does.

Well, it takes from seed to flower, it's about four years,

and then you've still only got the one bulb, so then you've got

to multiply them up so that you can then offer them around to people.

So it is, it's a long-term business.

I love bulbs, I'm a fanatic, so it's good to be here.

We both like narcissi, we both grow a lot of the dwarf narcissi...

-Species of dwarf ones.

-Yeah.

-So you're bound to be tempted then.

Oh, yeah, I've been lifting things from Mrs Wright already.

All the good ones have gone then, you haven't left anything for me!

-Yeah.

-Oh, no, there's still good ones in there.

INAUDIBLE

There's a real buzz about the day,

with a couple of lectures going on, there's stands around the edge.

That's a chance for you to browse and buy some superb alpines,

but I think the highlight is the display of the plants.

Ian, you're well-known for loving your snowdrops

and this is your display that you've brought here.

They're not all mine, but I think the most important thing

that we see here are in fact the leaves to start with.

That's one of the main differences.

And then, in their markings, some of them are doubles.

Some of them have got a little bit of yellow in them.

And tall ones, short ones, something for everybody here.

Something for everybody, but maybe not one of them,

because you've spent a fortune, haven't you, on just one variety?

Well, this is a very special species of snowdrop,

which is a Galanthus woronowii,

and I think again you can see that it's a completely different leaf.

-And it's got yellow.

-Yes, it's got yellow, that's the special thing about it.

Most of these will hybridise with each other

and that's how there are so many different ones.

But here, we've got a unique one that will not hybridise

that I know of with anything else. It was £725.10.

That ten pence is really important (!)

The money was given to the person whose garden it was found in

and they employ a gardener because, you know, they're getting on a bit like me, maybe.

All of these crocuses are totally hardy,

and you can see the variations of colour,

but that one there is what they call stoloniferous,

which means it sends out little runners.

So you start off with one there

and then next year you'll get one over there and one over there

and gradually get a big clump of them, so it's really worthwhile buying that.

And this is a lovely collection, isn't it?

Well, all of these again are totally hardy in the garden

and you can see the variations in the colour.

This is Iris reticulata over here, and this particular one is a species.

This is Iris winogradowii

and this Iris histrioides.

The thing is that whatever we do, nature can get up to mischief

when we're not looking because if that one and that one get together,

they can produce that.

And that is stunning, absolutely gorgeous.

Now I know we've talked about them being hardy, but what about the kind of compost that you should use,

or the type of soil?

Well, I'm old-fashioned in the fact that I use sterilised loam,

which is John Innes No.3 and I mix that up with some sharp grit,

or maybe even a little bit of finer grit like that there

-and a little bit of leaf mould and that's it.

-Yeah.

-Good drainage, though, that's important.

-Yes, good drainage.

And how often would you divide those?

Well, depends on how many I want to sell.

Generally, we would leave them for two or three years in the ground,

and we would lift out the pot

and at that time we would remove the small bulbils

that look like rice grains, because we would replant those,

pot up the big ones and you end up with that.

And I mean, it's wonderful because they'll last about a month.

Well, you say that's one of the best, I think this is a superb show.

Middle of February, lots of colour, it's not competitive,

-but it's a great atmosphere. So thanks very much, Ian.

-Thank you.

So, end of February, lots of colour in Dunblane.

End of March, lots of colour here in Beechgrove.

We've got a wonderful cherry here,

Prunus incisa, which is one of these honest cherries.

It flowers about the same time every year,

but this year it's got lots of new companions.

There's a dactylorhiza over there, wonderful spotted foliage.

Never seen it out at this time of the year before.

And then down in front of us, look at that over there.

There's a trillium over there, a little thing called Trillium rivale.

That is exquisite when you look up inside the flower.

Forward of that,

we've got a three-lobed leaf on Hepatica triloba

and that is exquisite.

Again, the top of the flower when you look into it,

with these stamens and this wonderful deep purple

and sometimes pink, sometimes white. Great plant.

In front of me, look at that. Corydalis.

There's a white one, there's a pink one,

there's a mauve one somewhere over there

and they will possibly hybridise

and we'll get this sheet of corydalis in here, if the bees do their work properly.

And then right down in front of me, we've got this little pea.

Vernal means spring.

This is Lathyrus vernus, the spring pea. It's out early.

You wonder how it does it.

It's not just the understorey herbaceous plants and bulbs

that signify spring has arrived.

The shrubs also sing their springtime chorus.

And nothing denotes spring better

than a hazel with its beautiful male catkins.

The strange thing about this plant is that

it has male and female flowers on exactly the same plant.

The male distributing the pollen, this is wind pollinated,

and then the female, these tiny little red receptors,

usually emerge just a little later to avoid cross pollination.

This is a plant, the contorted version,

which was originally found in the hedgerows of Gloucestershire,

allegedly by a vicar who was cycling to church on a Sunday morning.

And the spiralling nature,

this rather macabre twist is caused by a genetic hiccup.

The cells expand faster on one side of the stem than on the other,

and so, you get this wonderful natural corkscrew.

It's slow growing but when it produces a specimen like that,

it's worth it.

And it's in flower exactly on time, just when we'd expect it.

But Corylopsis pauciflora, well, this I think, is about three weeks early.

And I have to say, you will not find a finer specimen.

This is exactly why you grow the shrub.

Very elegant, open habit, it's a member of the hamamelis family,

so it must have an acid soil and will also tolerate dappled shade.

But of course, we grow it for its blooms.

These wonderful pendant racemes, tightly packed flowers,

lime green in colour and it's a real feast for early insects

because they're around, as well as early flowers.

Well, it's time for a whistle-stop tour of the glass house because

by jingo, there's a lot of things going on at the present moment.

Many of you will have your seed potatoes chitting.

Sitting this way up, the rose end, where most of the eyes are

and producing beautiful little chits like that.

And they will be fine and they will give you a better crop,

if you take the time to do it.

Some people, unfortunately, might have chits, as it were, like that.

No, I don't think so, because, in fact,

the likelihood is they will be broken off when they're planted.

So, why not just take them off? Like so.

Because... Just look,

there's some lovely chits just coming along, lower down.

So, I would take these off

because they're not going to do any good at all.

Moving from a well-known crop to one that's not so well-known,

I would suggest, and that is oca, or the New Zealand yam.

There it is.

It's a tuber, same family as oxalis,

treated like a potato or it can be grated just raw into salads

and I'm told it's got a nice lemony flavour.

So there we are.

If you've got room, you might want to grow the oca or yam.

Next job, taking dahlia cuttings.

Look at these wonderful cuttings that are coming off the tubers,

which have been growing there nicely. So, here we go.

We take the cutting, we remove the lower leaves.

These are sonsy. Beautiful, big cuttings, aren't they?

And then, with a sharp knife, near the base, like so.

Nice clean cut, just under the joint.

Pop it in the rooting hormone

and then... The rooting compost

I use for all my cuttings is peat and sand. 50/50 peat and sand.

I've used it for about 50 years, I can tell you.

And it works and I don't see why I should change.

Once that has three or four cuttings in,

it goes into the propagating case here, which has bottom heat.

It has cables underneath, temperature in there is about 70

and these will root quite nicely in ten days to a fortnight.

But you won't need them for a while yet

because they won't be planted out until June.

Moving on swiftly, planting beans indoors.

The point being...we're talking all through this programme

about the soil and the weather conditions.

When will soil be ready for planting out seeds?

Could be late April, well into May for some people.

Well, in the meantime, if you plant your beans,

whether it be broad beans, runner beans, French beans,

green beans, yellow beans, whatever, pop them in here and by the time

that soil is in a condition for planting seeds outside,

you could be planting young plants with a top on them like that,

so you've extended the season, better crops.

It goes without saying. That's the way to do it.

I have done it for years and years.

Now then, the other big job is, of course,

keeping up with the so-called pricking off of seedlings,

giving them a bit of space.

Now, don't be afraid to catch them by the seed leaf.

That, in fact, is what you should do.

Look at that, beautifully rooted.

Then, straight into the compost and the next thing is to really push

them down so that these seed leaves are on the surface of the compost.

And then when you water, the soil itself is compacted and they

stand slightly proud, absolutely ideal to get fine, sturdy seedlings.

So they'll come on very nicely.

Now then, back in February,

George Anderson went to see Lady Ann Fraser, a galanthophile of note,

down there just south of Edinburgh

and what a stunning garden she's got.

I'm in East Lothian today, in the village of Inveresk,

just outside Edinburgh, to visit a garden which is full,

packed to the gunnels, with spring delights.

Come and meet Ann Fraser.

Well, Ann, isn't it a privilege to be able to come to a garden

in the very early spring or the end of winter, as this is,

and see awakening?

It's absolutely magic and I think that's one of the things

about a garden, there's always something of interest

and there's a lot of colour, even at this time of year.

Isn't it surprising?

Have you noticed things being much earlier this year?

Well, the snowdrops have been earlier and they've lasted longer so...

-Well, that's a bonus, isn't it?

-Yes.

Now, what was here when you came?

-Well, it was a wilderness.

-Because it wasn't like this?

No, we came in 1957, after we got married

and neither of us really knew anything about gardening.

-Everything evolves.

-Everything changes, yes.

And I do love this division of the apples. This is what?

Malus Red Sentinel.

Yes, so winter colour and the winter colour too

which we've got on these pillars of beech is just phenomenal.

Well, we put them in not so very long ago, about five years ago.

And I agree, the colour of the beech at this time of year

and you've got to have something in the winter to look at,

otherwise the garden can be very boring.

A garden's never boring, is it?

Let's have a look at some of this spring colour.

Lots of spring colour.

Lots of spring colour,

the hellebores are very good because I enjoy painting hellebores.

Ah.

Yes, this painting...

I hear that this was how you got into snowdrops.

That's right because a friend of mine asked me to paint some snowdrops.

I said I only had the common one, so she sent five different varieties

and she said plant them in the garden when you're finished.

And this is what I did and that was about eight, ten years ago.

And I've never looked back, so I've now got 70 different varieties.

My goodness.

It's an expensive hobby though.

-Yes, but rewarding this time of year.

-Rewarding, yes.

One or two bulbs and now look at it.

And that one over there?

That one is Desdemona and the white ticket is not for the snowdrops,

-it is a poem about snowdrops.

-Ah!

And it's surprising how many of the great poets wrote

poems about snowdrops.

For the literary, as well as the horticulturally inclined.

Absolutely, yes.

But aconites are looking splendid.

There's crocus coming through the aconites.

All these layers of colour and then the...

Cornus mas, which is lovely at this time of year and then

in the summer it creates deep shade under here, so everything dies back.

And in the autumn you get a bit of autumn colour.

Does this one colour up well in the autumn?

It can colour up quite well and last year we had a lot of fruit,

not that we ever try eating it. I'm not quite sure,

I haven't looked it up but I imagine it's probably edible.

-I think you can eat it, but like you, I'd be a little bit wary.

-Yes.

-Let's go and have a look at these hellebores.

-Right.

-I mean, look at those.

-You can see the hellebores.

That's just a cracker, just splendid.

Now, often they hang their heads down, don't they?

And we don't see the hellebores properly.

-Yes, because they have lovely markings inside.

-Yes.

-So, sometimes...

-You've got mirrors out.

We put mirrors out so people can see underneath.

-Ericsmithii, which is there.

-Yes, it's doing very well.

-That is splendid, looks straight at you.

-Looks straight at you, yes.

And then here, this is what? Ashwood Garden hybrids.

This is Ashwood Garden hybrids, they're old orientalis varieties.

The flower on those is fantastic.

They're very good this year and they last for several months,

so it's very good value.

Now, you're looking very clean.

You've got no old foliage on, have you?

Well, I always cut the foliage off in January,

as soon as I see the flower emerging.

And I think they look much better without the leaves

and the leaves are inclined to have disease.

There's a hint, then. Get in amongst them and get the old leaves off.

Get the old leaves off and then you can really see the flowers.

Right, what's this you've got here?

-Well, this is our new project, a shell house.

-Ah.

There were, historically in East Lothian,

there were about three different places of shell houses.

The nearest one being Newhailes, and so, we thought, well,

we'll make a modern one.

-Right and local shells?

-Local shells from mussels from Musselburgh.

-Now, flowers depicted on the back wall, these are what?

-Alliums.

They're meant to be alliums, yes.

-It's not just a spring garden, it's summer and autumn...

-Oh, yes.

Right up to the autumn, yes. There's always something to look at.

Look at the crocus.

I know, they've just sprung up suddenly and, of course,

the sun helps just to open them up.

-Just two or three days and all of a sudden, they're there.

-Yes.

Just magic.

But lots of snowdrops here. That's a good one, look at that.

-That's a double one, Nerissa.

-Right.

And one of the first ones I had and it's spread all round there.

-But look, there's an iris...

-Stinking iris.

-Yeah, with the seed heads on it.

-Yes.

So different from the ones that we've got out in flower now.

-Absolutely.

-Absolutely, the Katharine Hodgkin and...

-The tall bearded ones that like the sun.

-But the snowdrops are the thing.

I mean, this Percy Picton which is round there.

That, to me, that is what a snowdrop should be about.

Yes, it has spread enormously well.

The first time I've had enough to sell this year

and they've all sold out.

Right, well, that's good. That is good.

-Anyway, thank you very much.

-Not at all, not at all.

I'll tell you, this blanket weed here, is that early?

-Oh, is that early? About five weeks early, we reckon.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Never been killed off over the winter.

-Not quite, yeah.

-But the frog spawn's early, as well. Which is good news.

-It is indeed.

And what about these chaps here?

Well, these have done extremely well. That's sarracenia

and we just thought we'd keep them in a wee clump,

-but I think we should just let them run.

-Definitely.

-Great stuff.

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

programme, it's all in the factsheet

and the easiest way to access that is on our website.

-And for next week, something new for you, Chris?

-Yeah, very new.

Well, I'm unearthing, literally,

the debris that's left behind in a new-build garden,

when the developer leaves town.

And I'm trying to inspire gardeners to garden in these spaces.

It's tough, but we're getting there.

-How's the muscles?

-Yeah, well, I'm working on the muscles.

And what are you doing, George?

Next week, having a look at shallots and onions, things which we put in

the allotment and Carole's had here and see how they've over wintered.

And I'm consigned to the lawn to do something with it.

-Catching up with the season as well. Until next time, bye.

-Goodbye.