Episode 11 The Beechgrove Garden

-Have you got the factor on?

-I have a little bit, yes.

It's quite hot, isn't it? Hello and welcome to Beechgrove.

I should say welcome to the fruit cage!

My colleagues are here to help me solve a wee problem.

First of all, George, an old problem in these rasps.

We were worried about the growth that was in this,

we thought it was drainage, so we lifted a clump either end

and put it in a big bottomless pot

to see if that was going to help the things to grow.

-So slightly higher than the ground?

-Yes, better drainage we thought.

-Conclusive result?

-Didnae work!

They've all decided to grow well now, so...

That wasn't the problem at the time, but they're coming away now.

Here we've got the conventional summer-fruiting raspberry.

This is Glen Fyne - a new variety. Ticks all the boxes.

And the bonus is that the stems are thornless.

I think that's brilliant, Jim. You're holding on to the cane.

That was the cane from last year, producing the fruit for this year.

-Correct.

-While on the autumn-flowering ones,

we have the flowers right on the end of the new cane

which has grown right from ground level.

And the question is, are there too many canes?

Should we thin them out?

Because we're not going to be picking fruit until September,

October. Days are shortening, the light is poor.

I find so many of the fruits get affected by botrytis...

-So you need good ventilation, don't you?

-Exactly. And more light.

-So how many will you take out?

-About a third.

-Sounds good to me.

-Fine.

I shall take the blame if it all goes wrong!

Meanwhile, in the rest of the programme...

It's my second visit to the kitchen garden at Scone Palace

and, you know, it's not just about the vegetables.

And I'm also in a garden

where the bees are in charge.

Well, this is going to prove to be a fruity programme

because I've moved over from the rasps

where there's a job to be done there

to these gooseberries and redcurrants

where there's a job to be done as well.

Interestingly, we had a letter from someone on the Moray Coast,

well north of here, saying how big the gooseberries were

at this time of the year. I'd say they're just about normal,

ours are looking pretty good. Ripening nicely.

What I'm concerned about is the summer pruning.

Normally we would suggest to people

that you don't start to summer prune these little shoots

until they start to ripen a little bit at the base, and become woody.

I'm more concerned with the fact that the energy being expended

by all this growth is going to be wasted

because we're going to cut it off.

I want the energy to go into developing the actual fruits,

so I'm going to start summer pruning now.

I'm not just taking the tip off, I'm coming out about a hand-span

from the wood and I'll go over the whole bush.

That energy goes into better fruit

and the bonus is it lets the light in

and so helps the ripening process.

The same thing goes with redcurrants.

Look at the growth on these guys!

They're enormous - look at that!

And a wonderful crop coming along,

so I'm going to start with this

and it's going to get a real haircut.

At the moment, I want to expose that fruit and make it really good stuff.

Just over there we've got some blueberries doing the same thing.

With us, they tend to do better outdoors than they do indoors.

Talking of indoors, Mr A has gone down to the fruit house.

He'll be ogling the cherries down there.

Look at these - are these not just splendid? Absolutely super crop.

The bees have been in here, done their business pretty well.

However, if you shake it, what will happen is

you get one or two red cherries

coming off and you think, "What's happened here?"

Well, I'll show you what's happened.

This cherry here...

When we split it open, the kernel inside the stone

is a little bit wizened

and the reason is that it's not been fertilised.

So the plant has no reason to grow that on to maturity

because nothing will happen - it will never make a new plant,

so the plant discards it.

We get what's called June drop in many plants -

apples, plums, cherries, pears.

However, here at Beechgrove, the June drop outside normally occurs

somewhere in July, so we're a wee bit later up here.

The vine is doing marvellously well at the moment.

This is the main plant in the fruit house and if you look,

we've got this wonderful little bunch of fruit there.

I've got to get as much energy into that as I possibly can.

So I'll prune this right up there

to make sure that there is one leaf past the bunch

and that allows me

to get the sun into the bunch, gets the energy in.

What will happen now is when I've pruned that back, the side shoots,

which will inevitably develop between the leaf stalk and stem,

these will grow furiously and take the feeding away from the fruit.

So I've got to come back later

and make sure that I pinch the tops out of those to one leaf as well.

So one leaf past and then the side shoots, one leaf only.

That way, we'll get a good crop, we put the energy into the fruit,

get the sunshine into the fruit.

We've got enough leaves to make the sugar to put into the fruit...

Gosh, it should be good!

What we've got to do is make sure we come out every day,

because if you don't - look! They'll be out the ventilator!

It's nearly happened already.

Don't go on holiday when you've got a vine in the glasshouse.

Round this side,

we have a fig which I gave...

Well, I gave it a terrible haircut about two years ago,

but look what's happened! Look at the growth on that.

That, now, the young shoots which were produced

produced the figs last year.

These figs came through the winter and they are now starting to grow.

What I've got to do with this is make sure I tie back these shoots,

make sure they're in the right place

so the sunshine can get into the fruits themselves.

This breastwood - which is this stuff

coming straight out from the main plant -

what I do is just spur that back to about two leaves.

Again, the energy goes into the fruit. There's a cracker, look.

I wouldn't want to cut that off - I'll tie that one in.

There's another one there.

It's going to look a bit messy to begin with,

but I'll make sure it's tidied up

because everything we grow should look smart.

However, it's not all well.

See that there?

These fruits here are a pale yellow.

They should be this dark, lustrous green.

These ones, like the cherries, have not been properly fertilised,

so the pollination has gone wrong somewhere.

These we will just take off, let the energy go into the proper fruits.

Then we'll be OK.

About a month ago, back in May,

Carole was on her second visit to the walled garden at Scone.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

I'm back in Perthshire for my second visit to the kitchen garden

at Scone Palace.

Brian Cunningham, the head gardener, is in charge of supplying

a range of vegetables, fruit and ornamentals for the palace.

Brian, the cut flowers are looking great

and you use those in the palace.

Are there any you'd say, "I'm not going to grow this again?"

I wouldn't grow Orange Favourite again -

it didn't really keep its shape very well, they'd all fall open and loose.

Whereas Mickey Mouse has just been wonderful.

That's a stunning one with the yellow and red.

I notice with the daffodils you've got a white theme.

I've always had a thing for the white daffodils and in particular

Sir Winston Churchill.

Multi-headed, and cracking scent, as well.

I think value for money with that one.

We never had a chance the last time to speak about the deep beds.

Yeah - I love them.

They're nice, they're clean, they're practical,

you can have one person working either side

and easily reach into the middle of the bed.

So you don't stand on the soil, you've mulched it to keep down

the weeds and this will be good for the children for planting.

Just perfect.

This year, local schoolchildren are visiting Scone through

the whole season, learning how to grow crops from seed to plate.

Can the spring onion planters head over to this bed over here?

The beetroot planters, you're staying here.

OK, the first job we're going to do is take out any of these big lumps

with your hands and make it nice and soft and level.

We'll use these sticks as the space in between each plant.

Get a wee hole with our finger, about 2 or 3cm deep...

Get a plug, pop it in the hole,

some soil around it

and a gentle firm, and there we go.

Over to you, Connor.

-Do you like beetroot?

-Mm-hm. I like planting it!

I'll hold this up again.

-Hold the leaves.

-Pop!

And you've got a perfect hole there, haven't you?

-That's brilliant.

-There you go.

-Hey, look at these potatoes, aren't they brilliant?

-Yeah!

-Who was planting that side?

-Me.

-It was you?

-Look, that looks the furthest on, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

They're looking very healthy, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-Have you planted potatoes in pots?

Yes, we tried to show the kids two different methods of doing them,

so we have this method, under plastic -

and this is as much to keep the maintenance down for us

as anything else - and we've also got them in pots,

so in a few weeks' time when they come back, I'm sure the potatoes

will have grown and we'll put some more compost in

and keep building them up.

-Hopefully, they'll have a pot full of potatoes to take home.

-Yay!

Which will be brilliant. I've noticed the hawk over there.

Why do you think that's in the garden?

Oh, everybody wants to answer!

Cara?

-It's so the birds don't eat all the plants.

-What birds?

The crows and stuff.

-What else you think maybe would come into the garden?

-Pigeons.

Pigeons! That's the one.

Keep the pigeons off.

I think we were here, weren't we, last time?

Girls, you were planting these lettuce, weren't you?

Boys, you were doing these.

Lindsay, what's happened in the corner there?

These little six lettuce, they got munched by mice,

so they're still struggling to grow back.

That's why they're smaller than the rest.

Brian, it looks like you've been doing a bit of harvesting.

Basically, all the hard work from the children has been harvested

and taken down to the palace kitchens and all the visitors we've had over

the Easter holidays have been enjoying your hard work.

That's brilliant, isn't it?

I think there's a bit of planting and a bit of sowing,

so we'll pick up some trowels.

Obviously, a herb garden.

Who recognises some of these plants?

That's rosemary.

-With the lovely light blue flowers?

-Yes.

-What else do you recognise?

-Lavender.

-Mm! And what about this one here?

-Parsley.

Mm! Really nice, but I think

we should get cracking and do some work,

so the three of us, we'll do some planting

and you're going to do some sowing.

Put it in your left hand, like that...

That's it, you're doing fine.

Right, I think you're experts at planting now, aren't you?

You know what to do.

That's where the plant's got to go,

so that's where you've got to dig your hole. Yeah?

Cor, you're quicker than me!

I'm doing too much chatting here!

So we'll go and water these in and give them a wee drink,

then when you come back in a month, we'll see how they're doing.

It's not just the schoolchildren that are helping out today.

There are a group of volunteers that have been coming here - I think

-I'm right in saying this is your second season, Mary?

-Yes, it is.

-What do you get out of this?

-Oh, lots of fun and energy.

It's lovely - you plant the bulb and see it sprouting up and flourishing.

Look at the display we've got.

And Alison, not only do you come here, you also bring the Brownies.

Yes, Brian very kindly let us bring them round last year

and we planted some bulbs, some grape hyacinths, in little pots.

Wonderful.

It's great to see so many people involved. And Lindsay,

-this is your first season in the garden.

-That's right.

It's my first job out of training,

so really delighted to have a job here.

I'm loving it too and the great thing is I'm going to be

coming back in a couple of months' time and I hope then that we'll

be having a bit of a harvest and tasting some of the crops.

Lovely, look forward to that!

Right then, Georgie boy.

This used to be the dry riverbed - how's your gentian river doing?

Looks super, doesn't it? They're starting to grow.

Believe it or not, they look small now, but they're actually

possibly twice the size they were when we planted them.

-They're obviously loving it.

-I would say so. Where do you want this lot?

Well, up the top. Follow me?

I shall follow, yes. I'm not that decrepit yet!

-Is it part of a bigger project?

-Yes.

We brought the river valley up to here

and that's going to be a big rock - that's a pretend big rock.

We'll take out that grass eventually

and maybe put a wee path through here.

If you come round here with the mower, you get trapped,

so you've got to come out somewhere.

And this will be the top... (PANTS) of the hill!

Almost the top of the mountain.

Well, now. Top of the mountain, says you.

-Yes.

-Ice plants!

Ice plants! Glacier, got it in one.

What a man.

But as you go, dear boy, Celmisia,

from New Zealand - does that live on the top of the mountain?

Yes, just below the glaciers you get the ice melt...

Believe me!

-A wee bit of poetic licence...

-Salesman!

But you told me a story about the flower...

Let's have it again.

Normally when we get daisies opening,

the petals are completely formed and closed over the top then open out.

With Celmisia, it's different.

What we get with Celmisia is that, that, and...

Where's a good one?

There's a bud, there's the flower half open,

petals are still quite small, and then when it gets to be

the full, open flower, the petals just expand out like that.

And will it finish off like this one, then?

Absolutely. Look at that.

So they're always growing.

That will be a plant of interest for about three or four weeks.

We saw it a fortnight ago at Gardening Scotland.

Anyway, these are the sedums that you had,

testing out the different varieties.

And I've brought up some there. Or you have.

These are things which I think are the best of the ones that were there.

Are you going...?

-You hang onto it?

-I will indeed.

They are a bit of a mix and match there, George.

Well, they are. I don't think it really matters, Jim.

I just want to have a pile of sedums

up here which will represent

this glacier effect.

-OK.

-I don't really like variegated plants,

but this Frosty Morn is a reasonable one.

-Yes.

-Yes. I was almost throwing it out.

When you're planting at this time of year,

it's going to be obvious that these root systems are quite dry.

So this will need a real soaking.

Can I drop that in?

Straight in, go on. See the dust coming off? Made to measure.

Other thing which was interesting about these was

-when I lifted them... You've got a root ball in there?

-Yes.

Let me see, just a second.

When I lifted these, all the fibrous root... See that?

-All the fibrous root is up near the top.

-Yes.

Just the top inch and a half, two inches.

But they're away!

Yes, there's a bit of depth underneath which

-we need to keep moist. I wonder if it was not getting enough water.

-OK.

It is after all, a raised bed.

-Yes.

-Where they've been.

-Aye.

But...

I'll try to keep them separate.

That's fine, I'll put this one back in.

Make it look as if it's all one plant.

I bet you haven't costed this per square metre, boy!

It's as well...

-There's two more to come.

-That's fine, I've got space for them.

-A biggie in the middle?

-Yes.

-In you go.

What did you put in this preparation?

This was some old compost and some leaf mould.

These things like a lot of moisture.

They really like to be wet.

What about getting frozen at the top of the mountain?!

Will they be all right with that?!

Don't you worry!

Well, this is all about new plantings going on

in this poly tunnel, and I'm growing a range of pumpkins.

I've got four varieties and each of them bears quite small fruits.

They weigh between 2-4lbs.

I know that sounds quite a bit, but for pumpkins,

actually that is quite a low weight.

We've got things like Baby Bear and Jack Be Little.

They are growth feeders, so lots of organic matter

has gone into the bottom of the planting hole.

They like to be well-watered as well.

And because they're small fruits,

we'll leave quite a few flowers on the plants,

but if you want to grow gigantic pumpkins,

you only really need to leave one or two flowers on the plant.

This is the asparagus tunnel and this is the third year.

We've finally done a bit of cropping and I'm really quite impressed.

We only let these crop for eight weeks

and then you have to let the asparagus grow,

so this turns into a beautiful frond about three or four feet in height.

The whole idea is that will then put the goodness back into the crown

and hopefully next year, we'll have an even better crop.

Outside here, this is something I was encouraging you to have a go at.

It's all about growing baby salad leaves and on the packet

it was saying you'd get baby leaves within 21 days.

Well, this is 21 days to the day,

and well, the lettuce I'd say is more like micro leaves,

but one or two things, like this spicy mix here...

Well, I think that's a baby leaf.

Even the mustard up the top there.

21 days, we've just about made it.

KID BLEATS

I've come north from Inverness to the beautiful Black Isle.

I'm just near Munlochy and I'm going to be meeting up with

JJ Gladwin who has spent the last 18 years creating a haven for wildlife.

When we came here 18 years ago, there was nothing here at all.

There was, there were three old apple trees and some lawn.

And, er...

it needed something a little formal because the house is quite formal.

It had saltires on the doors,

so I just dropped them into the garden

and split them again and this is the structure.

What I like about it is the fact you've got very formal structure

-and then the planting itself is very informal.

-Yes.

A lot of it is haphazard, it's happened itself.

If things want to be here, it's nice that they're here.

The Honesty I was given by a great old friend

and it didn't take immediately, but now it's almost a weed.

It's wonderful at the beginning of the year for the bees.

I let it stay and about now, I start hoiking it out.

-Myosotis, another good one.

-Forget-me-nots, they absolutely love.

There's lots of alliums coming through, which they love.

-The bistort, they like.

-Also, looking back to the structure,

I really like the way you've shaped the weeping pears.

Well, when they first went in,

I didn't shape them.

And they looked straggly and awful.

So I clipped them like that

and they now need three or four clips a year because it gives enough

of a clipping to allow me to get away

with the not-so-good planting!

Oh, I think it's lovely planting, it's really natural.

But I'd also like to mention that we're fairly north,

but the Black Isle has a bit of its own microclimate.

You've got a grape growing outside,

the wisteria, a fig...

-Yes.

-So you get away with quite a few plants that might be

-on the tender side.

-We're very lucky.

We are 60 feet above sea level only and we're a mile or so

from the coast, and I suppose the Black Isle itself

is in the middle of the Moray Firth so it really is quite mild here -

but windy.

We're very lucky today, there's not a breath of wind.

Absolutely superb.

JJ, this is really amazing.

Such mass planting!

Well, the mass planting did itself,

because all this was here.

All we've done is help it along by splitting it.

On the alkanet...

What's amazing are the bees on it.

Then the bronze fennel...

I think that's a gorgeous plant.

It's very pretty, isn't it?

The idea was to have this diaphanous mist

moving against the rigidity of the yew hedge.

It is a very soft foliage, I think it's gorgeous.

Then you have the thistle-like flowers, the cirsium.

Yes, there were just five plants that I got

and they were just taking over

in the front, so I put them here.

I'm letting them take over.

Well, you've got so much land,

so it's good to have plants that naturally spread.

Yes.

There was a survey done here when we first moved on yew trees

and the age of these yew trees are between 600 and 2,000 years old.

These yew trees are very important for the birds and bees,

but a full-grown sycamore

is the equivalent in flower of about six acres of wildflower meadow.

What's your philosophy with the vegetable growing?

We grow everything organically.

We grow as much for ourselves as we do for the bees.

-And it's not just yourself, JJ, that helps in the garden.

-No, it's not.

We have the help of people like Nicole here who is

a WWOOFer - that stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

-They come and help.

-So you provide the accommodation and food?

Absolutely. They spend a lot of time rootling in the garden.

I really like the way you've got the slates here

with lots of information.

Yes, it looks nice,

but also it does give information.

So the people who have planted the seed might not necessarily be

coming along to weed it.

It gives them some chronological history.

-A bit of education.

-And education, yes!

So the mound is the third part of a three-part story.

There's a cobble circle as you come in the gate

and a holly hedge which is in a circle which is two-dimensional

and the mound itself which is three-dimensional.

It's meant to represent the Holy Trinity,

so there's a prayer constantly in the garden.

-So you've even got an orchard!

-Yes!

The hives are next to the orchard

because their presence increases pollination by 75%.

The flowers replenish their nectar at different rates

and so you have for example birdsfoot trefoil, where each floret

replenishes itself after 24 hours,

and borage, after every two minutes.

That's incredible!

What I've noticed is you've got such variety from the formal planting,

informal planting, edible,

ornamental and all that wildlife -

and just listen to the birds!

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

Four weeks ago, we sowed poppies in pots

and also on a piece of land which we'd roughly cultivated and raked.

They had to take their chance.

What's happened is that there's plenty of things taking their chance!

There's weeds growing all over the place.

Normally, when we sow hardy annuals, we would sow them in rows

so we can see where they are. Here, it's pot luck.

They've got to take that chance. But poppies are hardy, they're survivors.

We'll see them later on.

When we normally think about a bedding display,

it's usually the ornamentals or flowers, but how about this?

This is our lettuce lattice. I'm so pleased with it.

I'm going to pick out one variety - this one here -

a looseleaf called Bijou.

Look at the colour of that!

It reminds me of beetroot.

We'll take a closer look in a couple of weeks' time.

Well, it's laburnum time in this part of the world.

I thought you'd like to see this Laburnum vossii

I trained as an espalier -

it might give some of you an idea.

Alchemilla mollis underneath is quite nice, isn't it?

Here's a wee colour combination for the corner of your garden.

This is in the Silver Garden here at Beechgrove.

Starting with the silver willow in the foreground,

these wonderful balls of the allium flowers through onto a slight

smokiness which you get in this very dark purple Sambucus.

And it's all set off just on a simple green background. Easy.

Some other flowers that are looking really good at the moment

are these chives in the herb garden.

I have three different types of chives.

We've got the straightforward species with the mauve flowers,

then right in front is a variety called Pink Perfection,

and behind me - I think this one is really unusual -

it's called Black Isle Blush.

Now, we know we can eat the stems, but you can also eat the flowers.

You can put them into salads and make it really decorative,

but also it's a really great bee plant.

Now then, troops.

This side of the steps we planted a number of herbaceous plants

and the idea was to see how quickly they would cover a square metre,

from the point of view of weed control and all the rest.

I think the geranium macrorrhizum is the winner, this side.

It's a fantastic plant - I've got it at home in the shade

and it spreads and spreads.

The scent when you cut it is just magical.

-That was only put in last year?

-Yes, indeed.

-Ingwersen's variety.

And the lamium comes second - it's a wee bit spotty,

-but by jingo, it's covering the ground, isn't it?

-Lovely.

-Beacon Silver, that one.

-The other side, some shrubs

across there and I reckon the vinca

and the little thyme at the far end...

are the two best.

Called Red Carpet - quite appropriate, isn't it?

It's done a lovely carpet there.

Very dense - nothing going to grow through that, is there?

Isn't it strange - we would have had preconceived ideas

before we planted them of what was going to be the winner.

-You can't tell.

-Are we leaving them in for a little while longer?

I think the end of season

because there are other things we want to do and we're short of space.

There's always something we want to do,

but if you'd like any information about this week's programme

it's all in the fact sheet.

The easiest way to access that is on the website.

Do you wish to add anything, Mr Anderson?

-No, it's a very interesting week next week, as you know.

-It is indeed.

The programme is sometimes called A Gardener's Question Time.

Believe it or not, next week we're delighted to be playing host

to the real Gardeners' Question Time.

The whole team from Radio 4 are coming up here

and we're going to have a jamboree of questions.

-Right?

-We are.

-Mm!

-Until then, Bye.

-Bye!

-Bye.