Episode 13 The Beechgrove Garden

This is looking healthy, isn't it?

-It's very good, it needs a bit of a prune.

-Yes!

Hello and welcome to the Beechgrove Garden,

and what a difference two weeks make. I mean, everything has grown.

It's amazing. I think that extra warmth and the residual warmth,

longer days of course, and suddenly, all the plants burst into life.

There's real enthusiasm amongst the plants -

they want to be growing, they want to please you.

Yes, things are looking good, but there's an interesting contrast here,

because we have done an experiment

with peat-free and peat-based compost.

This is the peat-based one, so much better.

Every trial that we've done, and I think across all trials,

the peat-based composts always perform better, don't they?

Of course, we need to dig the potatoes out now

and see what the production is like, but on the basis of the plants,

it looks as though the peat-based composts are...

Yes, we'll go for that one. This pea called Bingo is a lovely plant.

I think that's great.

It's not producing much in the way of peas yet,

but taste the tendrils because I don't think you need the peas.

-I've never tried the tendrils before.

-It is absolutely delicious.

Very sweet.

It's a lovely coloured plant - a bluey tinge to it.

Plenty of tendrils too, so plenty to harvest.

-I mean, that tastes like a pea.

-It's like a concentrated pea, isn't it?

Like a jus, almost. A hit of flavour, it's fab.

It's amazing what you can grow in a small space.

It is, I think it is well worth it, and to not be sniffy about growing

the diversity and variety because clearly you can get the performance.

You may have noticed that it's only the under gardeners here today,

creating a little bit of mischief, I think.

The head gardeners, both of them, well, it's the holiday season,

they've headed to the seaside.

It is lovely to get a few minutes to do a bit of beachcombing

now and again.

Whether it's to collect shells or skimmers.

I'm told that that's exactly what Queen Elizabeth did as a wee lassie

when she stayed at her mother's ancestral family home at Glamis

20 or 30 miles that way.

I'm in a gorgeous bit of the Angus coastline

at the very aptly named little fishing community of East Haven.

East Haven is also home to some unique flora, and we will see

more about that, and the community garden, later in the programme.

East Haven is an ancient fishing community,

and indeed there are still some worthies at it yet,

but more importantly, they have got a big birthday this year.

They celebrate their octocentenary. 800 years to you and me.

The community mean to mark that with a real splash,

by creating a community garden.

Chris, we're still in the decking area, and this is all about

lettuce and the different types, and also it looks bonny.

It's fantastically decorative, and it's very easy for us to forget

just how diverse a range of lettuce is available, and they all

behave differently, with a different reason for growing them.

The crisp heads and icebergs, if you want that classic curled,

broad leaf, that is the form to go with.

They're lovely and firm and they are crispy,

they've got that nice crunch to them. Then you move on to the cos.

In the centre again, quite firm.

Yeah, if you like a crisp lettuce, generally quite sweet,

and also a space saver because the growth is upright, not spready.

Which is the opposite of this, really.

The loose-leaf, I particularly like because it's a cut and come again.

You don't have to cut the whole lettuce, and it lasts quite a while.

They are a fairly modern variety of lettuce.

That's the beauty, it's relaxed, as opposed to this,

which is the old school lettuce.

This is my granny's favourite.

These are the butter heads, the ones that form those softer heads.

That's a lovely one there, Sangria,

but look at the all year round variety. It's gone to seed.

We think that's related to temperature.

I think it's acting as a thermometer, effectively.

The green forms generally don't like higher temperatures.

Also, the butter heads and cos

don't like the higher temperatures, and they instantly go to seed.

Lettuce, of course, is a cool season crop.

Seven to 18 degrees is ideal for them.

Anything above that and there's a tendency that they will go to seed,

unless you're growing the red leafed forms.

-And that's because of the pigment in there.

-Yes.

-That's helping.

Exactly. The pigment in the leaf is reflecting the heat,

keeps the plant a bit cooler.

If you've got a hot and dry area of the garden,

the red leaf is the one to go for.

They will do in the shade as well, which is quite good.

Obviously, what's important is do they store, what do they taste like?

So, these have been in the fridge for four days,

and this is the two loose leaves. A little bit floppy.

Yes, this one is the green form loose-leaf,

it has gone a little bit lax, as you say it's all in the taste.

-Yes, we need to taste.

-Have it a nibble and see what you think.

-That's quite mild actually.

-Yes, it's quite subtle, quite creamy.

Yes, that's nice. What about the red? See what that's like.

I mean, in a way, you think the reds might be a little more bitter.

Oh, yes, that's definitely more bitter, isn't it? I don't like that.

There is a distinct difference.

If you do like a much sharper flavour,

if you like a vinaigrette with it, then go with the reds.

But if you like an olive oil-based dressing, then the greens.

That's more attractive to me than the green,

but I would go for the green.

It's quite nice to sit down and sample some food!

We're not allowed to do it when the boss is here!

A chance to relax.

I think Jim and George are on their holidays at the moment.

It's a lot quicker on a barrow!

I suppose I'd better slow down and wait for George!

Hey, man - I'm glad to see you.

It kind of proves that I'm on the right road for this community

-garden. Is this a pukka cycle route?

-Apparently so.

It comes all the way from the coast straight down to the south

of England and back up to Sweden!

-Well, this will be the garden, then.

-Absolutely, look at this.

A lot of activity, George.

Well, I am actually heading this way looking for Wendy.

-I'll park my bike.

-OK.

I found you, Wendy, and you are the one that's got all the strings

together, the puppet master that keeps this thing going.

Tell me the background to why we're building a community garden here.

Well, this year as you know is our 800th year

and when we talked to residents about how

they'd like to celebrate and commemorate that,

one thing people said was it'd be wonderful to do something

to transform our village square

and create a new gateway to the entrance to the village.

And of course this big railway here, you can't miss it.

-It has to be some reason why you're doing it, because it's a bit of a...

-That's right.

When the railway was constructed, in 1838,

it effectively split the village into two halves.

So we were really keen to develop a community garden that would

form a link between the two sides of the village.

So the design has decidedly seaside...

The boat, for example.

The design is really important, Jim, because we wanted to

bring our seafaring background over to this side of the bridge.

-The boat certainly makes that statement, doesn't it?

-It does.

And everything around it is working. What has this done for the village?

It's really brought everybody together.

People of all ages and all abilities have been getting involved

and it's really just been an amazing experience for everybody.

-Well, happy 800th!

-Thank you very much, Jim!

Karen Laing is the garden designer, it's her job to take the ideas

that the community had, put them onto paper

and then transfer that onto the ground.

So Karen, how did it all happen?

Well, when I first met with the community,

they had a wish list of things they wanted to include in the garden.

They'd planted a memorial tree,

they had a seating area that they wanted to include in it and

also they had a BOAT which they wanted to include in it!

So the boat itself

gave me the idea of how would I sit that into the ground

and I thought right, maybe into a wave.

And they wanted to unify the two sides of the village,

either side of the railway embankment,

so what about a great big splash coming through the bridge?

That gave me the idea of having all these waveforms

and so we have these lovely dry stone dykes

that are in sinuous waveforms

and we have beds that are all wave shaped

and then these wave mounds coming across and it just brings together

all the things, all the elements they wanted to have in the garden.

I hope very much with the planting,

when that comes in, there will be a lot of tall, wispy

things that will blow in the breeze and again, you have that waveform.

And that certainly makes a splash in the garden, doesn't it?!

Now then, Hugh - enough of this nonsense, before you get seasick!

This must have made a bit of a splash coming on here -

how did it get here?

Well, it got here from St Andrews, where it was found as a wreck

and we got a contractor to move it to a site near here where we

prepared it and then once the hole was dug,

the same haulage contractor came and put in the hole.

So you had quite a lot of restoration to do on it?

-Purely aesthetic!

-OK!

-Yes, it's not necessarily seaworthy!

-No!

-OK!

Ian, tell me,

is this the kind of boat you would have sailed out of East Haven?

No, not out of East Haven,

but out of Arbroath and along the East Coast.

We don't have a harbour, but there are fishermen that go out

locally from the beach, as did the lifeboat used to many years ago.

And what are the catches on this part of the...?

-Shellfish, crab, lobster and some people are cod fishing.

-OK.

Starting to make me feel hungry!

Thanks for that wee insight, boys.

It's time to go over to George now,

who's looking at plants for the site.

I'm in the plant holding area with Liz Stewart,

who's the development officer for the RHS for Scotland.

Liz, what's the involvement with this project?

Well, the RHS has been involved with Beechgrove this year with

the Community Garden projects and we're delighted to have been

able to support this one with the purchase of the plants.

Right! Because plant selection for an area like this, which is

near the coast, is very difficult, so what would you recommend?

It can be challenging. It's a good idea to see what's growing in your neighbourhood -

have a look over your neighbour's fences and see what they're doing

and if they can grow it, you can grow it too!

-So be a nosy neighbour.

-Absolutely. Make some new friends along the way.

If you're looking for a little more in-depth advice, you can

use tools like the RHS Plant Finder online,

where you can put in all sorts of different criteria

and come up with a list that will suit your plot and your climate.

-That's what we've done here?

-That's right.

We've come up with a range of plants which we know will do well

near the coast and on light, sandy soil, which is a challenge as well.

That's right.

So we got this one here,

aptly named Sea Holly, which is eryngium and the hebes

which are from New Zealand, but wonderful waxy coverings

on the leaves and hairs under these, which repel the salt.

-Absolutely brilliant for the situation.

-They're perfect.

And they give you a really nice architectural look, as well.

Some very dramatic plants,

absolutely beautiful. Touchy-feely! Yes!

There has already been a great deal of preparation to get

the garden shipshape and it's a real community crew effort.

Let's hear what they've got to say for themselves.

This is a wave bed in keeping with the sea theme that we have.

I'm planting doronicums.

They're "Little Leo", they come from my garden

and they are beautiful bright yellow daisy plants,

growing about this high and they come out at the very

beginning of spring and it's wonderful,

it's really cheery for the beginning of the flowering season.

This is santalina, which we've rescued

from the building site next door,

which is to be a heritage site

and it grows exceptionally well in this part of the world.

What we're doing is we've trimmed the upper part of it

and we're going to bury the roots deep and give them

a good chance of surviving in the soil again.

What a squad they are! They fairly cover the ground.

One of the dilemmas that the group faced was this

business of the hedge here, which is dead.

They've cut it back, it's not going to re-live, it's an old Leyland

hedge and the problem of course is that it's a most valuable windbreak.

We're looking out here to the east and north-east -

very cold, chilling winds which can damage a lot of plants

and would prevent people using the garden.

So they keep that here,

although it's a wee bit off, to get the wind-breaking effect.

But since I first came here about a month ago,

they've put in these poles and the ropes -

even that tends to distract from the bareness of this dead hedge,

but the plan is clematis up the poles and along here,

Portuguese laurel, elaeagnus, climbing rose here - this is

the Rambling Rector, and by jingo, he can ramble, I can tell you.

That'll set this garden up absolutely beautifully.

And now, it's back to Beechgrove to see

how them two landlubbers are getting on.

Whether your climbers are rampaging over dead conifers

and rope structures like at East Haven or

whether they're up fences and walls like this, now

is the time of year to grab a hold of them and really seize control,

because the tissue that they've put on, the growth is nice and compliant.

It's soft and malleable and you can twist and turn

and tie it in and make the plant behave where you want it to

rather then it just choosing its location.

You may remember this is part of an experiment to find tapestries

of planting for different aspects of vertical surface in the garden.

Here on the eastern aspect, we've got vitis vinifera "Purpurea",

clematis - this particular one is macropetala -

and then a woody schizophragma which is a little bit slower growing.

It's a case really here of trying to untangle them.

The clematis is rampant and occupying too much space

and is in danger of throttling the schizophragma

and the vitis needs tying in to make those branches nice and horizontal.

On the north-facing aspect, we've got an evergreen hydrangea, seemanii,

primarily for its white, late flowers.

The best of the roses for a northerly aspect,

Zephirine Drouhin and then Akebia quinata, the chocolate vine,

which started off doing pretty well and I've managed to twist it around

the cables here, but it is suffering with a bit of mildew,

so it's proof that despite the fact that you choose the right plants,

they don't always behave in the way we want them to.

Which is pretty much what's happening with your wildflowers.

Yes, this is all about scatter mixes.

I've got four different types and as Chris says, very different results.

This one I think is absolutely superb.

The packet said there was going to be 29 different hardy annuals

there and at the moment, there's quite a bit of colour.

We've got the mimulus, the lovely California poppy here,

really bright and cheerful. Even the toadflax.

So I'm really pleased with this one.

However, next door, not particularly great

and I think the plant that dominates

here is the poppy.

I want to maybe take you back a stage and look at the mixes.

The one that we were looking at here, that was a compost.

As well as the seed, it had compost and fertiliser.

The one next door that we were looking at also had compost

and fertiliser and yet the results are so different.

Then behind me, I've got two that actually have a carrier,

in other words it's just bulking up the mix with the seed.

This one is vermiculite

and I'm quite disappointed with this one as well.

We've got a lot of the charlock

which I don't think is particularly attractive.

However, we've got this flower, here, which is phacelia,

and we often use that as a green manure,

so in other words to add nutrients to the soil, so that's quite nice.

And over this side, this was bulked up with buckwheat.

20 different varieties and I can see there's a lot coming through there.

However, I think the sweet rocket is dominating at the moment.

The other thing I would like to mention is we struggled a bit

when we looked at the instructions on the packet as to the area -

how much we should actually sow.

On this packet here, I've got three different measurements -

7 square metres, 7 metres squared,

and also 3 x 1 metres.

Three beds - now that makes 9 m, so I really think

they need to make it a little bit clearer on the packet.

The South and West aspects are traditionally much easier

when it comes to choosing your climbers.

For instance, on this westerly aspect we've got another vine -

vitis coignetiae - incredibly rigorous,

you really need to grab these verticals

and lay them down horizontally.

Another clematis - this one "Jackmanii Superba"

and then "Early Sensation" for its wonderful sweet, spring flowers.

On the southerly aspect, two actinidias and a jasmine.

What this demonstrates is the importance of thinking

about your climbing mechanism.

For instance, there's plenty of space between this cord

and the vertical surface.

It allows the plants grow behind and then when it comes to tying,

I use string rather than wire, especially on these warmer aspects,

because wire gets too hot and burns the plant.

Tie your string to the horizontal first

and then tie it as a loose loop around the woody tissue.

There should be an opportunity for the plant to move around, holding

it relatively secure without lashing it so tight

that it throttles the plant.

While we carry on in the warmth here, I think

the boys back at East Haven are probably on the third ice cream.

The community have certainly been busy wavy turf laying

and adding splashes of colour here and there, but George has been

off looking for some seaside plants, a wee voyage on his own.

I've just climbed up of the foreshore at East Haven

and you might think we're now in what is just a wild meadow,

but actually we're standing on top of a sand dune.

This is one that's accumulated from all the blown sand off the beach.

We've got extremely fast drainage here, salt spray,

so we've got some unique plants here, things which have modified

specifically to grow in these sand dune conditions.

Look at that - this is a weed which you would normally

find in your lawn so you'll see this on the golf course when you go out.

This is a thing called birdsfoot trefoil...

properly adapted to these sorts of conditions,

but there are other ones - look at this over here.

We've got garden escapes, some of these oriental poppies,

but we've also got one which is a weed - look at that - Bishop weed.

But that looks good in this condition.

Next to that, look at this, here - we've got a bladder campion.

If you were watching the inserts from Chelsea Flower Show,

you would have seen this one -

the fimbriate one with the very cut petal

featured in a lot of the gardens.

Here it is, growing here. Around the back, look at this one.

Here is this wonderful blue meadow cranesbill.

That is one you'll find all the way along the dunes of Britain.

That is the wild relative of many of the blue geraniums

and herbaceous geraniums which we grow in our gardens.

But there's one absolutely unique plant which I want you to see -

come with me.

Now, look at this -

is that not brilliant?

This is the greater yellow rattle.

This is a hemiparasite.

This grows on grassland and it keeps the grassland short,

but this one is really quite a rare plant.

The one we normally find is the lesser yellow rattle

and that only grows to about three or four inches -

this one can get up to about two feet in height.

So it's a fantastic plant, really unusual to see it,

I'm quite happy to see this here

cos I've never seen it before. Unique to East Haven.

If the community had been looking for inspiration of what

to plant in their garden, these two here, which overlook the site,

would be good examples of what can be done in a seaside area.

Shrubs, trees, groundcover, herbaceous plants there

and then next door, what a contrast we have here.

Bedding plants, a beautiful bit of lawn, nice roses...

It's absolutely wonderful.

But here's the tops.

What are we celebrating this year? Commonwealth Games.

So the theme of all the tubs around this lovely garden,

Commonwealth Games theme.

But let's listen now to what the folks have got to say.

This particular rose is called a Commonwealth Glory.

It is very apt for us at this time

because the Queen's Baton Relay is coming through and it also

means they're going to come right into the garden and onto the boat and

the rose sort of symbolises something special for us this weekend.

We had something like 1,700 or something plants,

only they came as 1 cm plugs,

which I didn't know anything about

and all of them had to be potted on

into any container that we could possibly find.

So we've now bought these eight boats to decorate in front

of the houses for the Commonwealth baton coming through.

We're going to fill up the boats with bedding plants

to provide colour.

We're at this stage on the wavy wall which is

when we're doing the hearting, which is the main bit of the wall.

It supports everything. It's got to be well and truly packed in

so you get no movement of stone whatsoever.

This is a seating area, it's been quite a lot of work, like,

there's about three ton of stone in there,

plus the datestone we put in.

And now the turfer is coming in to put grass, turf on top,

which will get finished today.

I've never built a curvy wall and a wavy wall before!

Straight walls on top, in a line!

But it's worked out quite well

and the stone chippings have just set it right off.

It's making the wall look good, in fact, I would say.

This area here that we've just finished is all to represent

the waves and the seaside.

We have the little tunnel through there to represent the tunnel,

the railway tunnel and we have this lovely grass which is called

wavy hair grass, which obviously waves, makes a wave effect,

when the wind blows.

This was all made of local stone

and these are all local pebbles from Barry.

The designer has created these waves right across through

the whole garden and I've been asked to come and turf it.

We've piled up a load of topsoil,

everything seems to have been sourced locally

and we've created the dyke area, that was done by Ron.

We've just basically turfed it over to give it an organic flow.

The idea is for the grass to cascade over the top

and soften it a little bit, create a wave.

I thought it was creating a bunker, actually!

For the golf course, practising!

I don't think they want it to be that way!

From one beach, it's now back to the other "Beech"...grove garden.

If you've had bulbs growing in a naturalised area of grasslands,

the bulb foliage, things like daffodils will have

died down now, replenishing the bulb ready for growing next spring.

It's safe to go through and strim the whole lot and what you can

do is rake all of this up because it makes great compost.

Some of you may remember that I tried something different

with our hanging baskets this year.

There were three jumbo plugs

planted in here and with each plug,

there were three plants.

I was a little bit sceptical,

because it looked really sparse, but look at the results.

I think that is really beautiful!

Do you know, at this time of year we spend so much time

looking at our herbaceous borders

and our vegetable and fruit gardens,

sometimes we forget to admire the trees, especially the conifers.

But look at that - the Korean pine in full female cone.

Absolutely amazing, the weight of those cones.

Obviously the branch is hanging down with the weight and I think

-the needles are a beautiful colour as well.

-And as tough as you like.

It obviously enjoys it here in Aberdeenshire.

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

it's all in the fact sheet

and the easiest way to access that is the website and

there will be information too about the community garden at East Haven.

Now, what are you doing next time?

I'm back with my new-build families

and hopefully we'll have flowers AND fruits and veggies to pick.

Well, that's it from the garden here, but the last word from Jim and George.

Well, George, we've had a ball here in East Haven, have we not?

Absolutely splendid.

Wonderful community effort, not only did they pull together

well for the garden but also we've been well fed in the background!

Haven't we just?!

Two important ladies of course have been helping us a great deal.

First of all Karen on my right, here, who's the garden designer

and Wendy, who is the leader of the team here.

We've had a wonderful time, Jim. It's been absolutely great.

We're so thrilled that we have this beautiful garden

in time for the Queen's Relay Baton visiting on Saturday.

-How appropriate.

-You've been a beautiful group to work with

and I'm really looking forward to coming and seeing the garden on

the 23rd for your Heritage Festival of August.

And next week we'll be back in the garden in Aberdeenshire.

Meanwhile, we've got a wee splashing job to do with this boat -

-what's she going to be called?

-The Sisters.

-The Sisters.

Wonderful. Meanwhile, from East Haven, bye!

-ALL:

-Bye!