Episode 11 The Beechgrove Garden

A rather nice specimen of Pieris Little Heath.

Hello. Welcome to Beechgrove Garden on a lovely summer's day.

Mild with a bit of cloud cover.

Back in the garden, of course, after our sortie at Gardening Scotland,

which always is a bit hectic.

And, Carole, we've got rather a nice day. What are you doing?

What I'm doing is this beautiful spirea here. It's a golden form.

But, look, we've got one or two green shoots, a bit of reversion,

and now's the time to take that out.

You need to try and get it right back

with the heel on the end there.

-Rip it off, yes. It's prone to that, isn't it?

-It is.

-Almost everywhere it's grown.

-Very much so.

-But look at this lovely little tree.

-The pea tree.

And I love it because it is a small, standard weeping tree,

so it suits small gardens.

And it's very hardy, cos the common name is the Siberian pea tree.

-A caragana.

-Arborescens, yes.

-Lovely little yellow flowers.

-It is good.

-But let's see what his nibs is up to.

-Spot of weeding, isn't it?

Mr Anderson, what's gone on here?

Well, this was the area underneath the conifer,

which hadn't seen the light of day for a long time.

We mulched this with our own compost and a mixture of leaf mould,

and it's absolutely fascinating what's coming up.

Look at this. There's some and you think, "What's that?"

I think that that is osteospermum seedlings.

Funny, cos I wondered if it might be candytuft.

Well, we'll wait and see. It could be.

And then we've got this one. That's a hellebore.

We've got lots of things coming up here.

I'm just going to have to pull out the weeds I recognise!

Anyway, there's a lot in this programme,

so let's see what it's all about.

I'm visiting a gorgeous garden on a family farm in Fife,

surrounded by this wonderful landscape.

And what a sight, these wonderful Ochil Hills,

and we're right at the bottom, in an allotment setting.

This is the first time we've had a chance to have a look in our Keder,

and it's all planted up now, so I thought we'd just have a look

and see what we're going to grow this year.

And, well, most years I tend to grow cucumbers.

I've got three different varieties.

This one here, I think the name gives away about the variety.

It's called Baby, and those cucumbers,

then you crop them when they're really quite small,

between three to six inches.

As for the system, we like to use these strings,

and what happens is that goes right underneath the plant,

and that's the end of the string.

So as the roots start to grow, that holds that string in.

It means then you can twine the plant around,

and if it gets too tight, you can loosen it off at the top.

Also, I love the fact that we use these pots for watering,

because cucumbers don't like wet necks - they very often rot.

If you water through the pot, it's getting down to the root system

and it's avoiding splashing onto the plant itself.

So that one's called Baby.

This one's called Anbar. Never grown it before.

And what's interesting about this variety is it is self-pollinating.

It doesn't need the bees, any of the insects.

It will be assured that we will get fruit from it - larger fruits.

And that's the same for Greenfit.

Larger fruits, but this time,

it's really quite happy in a cold greenhouse.

And that one's quite good for exhibition.

Very long, straight fruits.

On the other side,

I've got three different types of winter squashes.

Little Gem, so like the baby cucumber,

that is a small winter squash.

We then move on to Honey Boat, a heritage variety.

Goes way back into the late 1800s.

And then finally, Festival.

Also, the growing system for them,

we decided that these can either trail

or they can actually scramble up.

We're going to try the pea netting and have it scrambling up there,

and it'll give it plenty of room to grow.

Of course, I like to grow tomatoes as well.

This is a small one, a variety called Cherry Falls.

Ideal for a hanging basket.

And then, again, small tomato fruits with these two here.

They're cherry-sized tomatoes.

We've got Sungold,

and most people think this is one of the sweetest cherry tomatoes

that you can grow.

Having looked in the catalogues,

we found a red one called Sweet Aperitif,

which is also meant to be very sweet.

So what we're going to do is, the crew and the presenters,

we're going to do a bit of a taste test at the end of the season

and we'll come back with the results.

Well, hello there,

and look at these magnificent Ochil Hills behind us.

I'm in the Hillfoots town of Tillicoultry,

and look at the garden here.

Golden hop and aquilegias and hedges and magnolias.

It's an allotment site, would you believe?

Absolutely stunning. I've never seen anything like it.

It gives it the feel of being a whole series of back gardens.

Stay with us to learn a little bit more.

Now, then, Bill McMurray,

how long have you been involved in the Tillicoultry allotments?

-I've been down here about 24 years, Jim.

-Yes.

-And when did they start?

-They started in 1978.

-Uh-huh.

-They kept on quite well for a good few years.

-Yes.

A thriving community.

And then in the late '80s, people moved on, moved away,

and the site became run-down.

You could hardly call it run-down.

It's moved on millions of miles since then.

But I have to say to you,

it is the most amazing allotment I've ever been in,

because it doesn't look like an allotment site.

It looks like a whole series of back gardens.

And that's due to the nice paths and the wonderful hedges.

There's quite a few buildings - sheds, greenhouses.

Some allotment places don't allow them.

Anybody who wants to put a structure up on their plot,

it has to be passed by the committee.

-We don't want to get too many commercial buildings up.

-Yes, quite.

-Or a building sited where it's maybe annoying your neighbour.

-Yes.

Where are you going to site it, what size is it going to be,

and what colour it's going to be, so it blends in.

If a newcomer comes along,

how do they approach you and what do you say?

-We've got a system where we've got three small starter plots.

-Yeah.

We can put them onto a starter plot

and we weigh them up to see if they like doing allotment gardening,

and we weigh them up to see if they're able to do it.

And if they show promise,

presumably they've got to go on a waiting list to get a bigger one.

-That's right.

-And I suppose the system works the other way round.

As you get a bit older and bent, like me,

-I might want a smaller size.

-That's right, Jim.

We can see some progression, some movement in the site.

A lot of common sense in that.

-I'm off to meet some of them. See you later.

-OK.

Well, hello, then, Jim Graham.

-You're putting up the flycatchers, are you?

-Yes, yes.

This is a bit of a home from home for me.

Describe these two systems of growing these tomatoes.

I've been using the green pots for four years.

Your plants are looking well. How long have they been in?

These ones have been in two weeks. In the grow bag, two weeks.

I don't know what you're feeding them, but they're doing awful well.

Now, then...!

-You're treating the peppers in the same sort of way.

-Yeah.

-But with a different...

-It's the same idea.

-Yes.

You fill the reservoir and it seeps through into the grow bag.

There's holes in it, isn't there?

Now, on the other side of this particular part of the greenhouse,

a nifty way of watering the plants when you're not here.

A piece of pipe, fill it with water.

-Off the builders' merchants, nae bother.

-Yeah, yeah.

Capillary matting.

-It sits in the water, draws it up.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Covers the whole tray.

You put a lot of effort in, and it shows, James.

-It's a credit to you.

-Thank you.

Amazing, the things you see just en passant, as it were.

This is a cloche. Each of these panes of glass is tapered.

They've been in a door or something.

So I would say...posh cloche.

-Hello there.

-Hello.

Ah! Now I realise why it's Pauline's Garden.

-We're old pals, aren't we?

-Yes, yes.

-You're usually in fiddling gear.

-That's right, yes.

A bit of an expert at that.

This is not a true allotment.

-But it's what you want it to be.

-It's my garden.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Cos we've always lived in flats.

-OK. Quite close by?

-One of these flats.

-This, in fact, is your back garden?

-Mm-hm.

-And how long have you been gardening here?

-Since 1978.

-That's the year it started.

-Yes.

I see a little sort of bird feeder-type thing here.

-Do you get plenty of birds?

-Oh, yes.

-Sparrows and blackbirds.

-Aye.

-They eat the snails.

-Of course!

-And you've still got your enthusiasm for gardening?

-Oh, yes.

And you get as much enjoyment out of it as you do your music?

-Oh, yes.

-Because you make brilliant music.

-Thank you very much.

-Keeping going. Nice to see you again.

Seeing schoolchildren on this site

is further proof it's gone from strength to strength.

Two local schools come out here to get their hands dirty

and learn a thing or two about gardening.

Turn it upside down.

Now, can you balance...? Whoop! Can you balance it?

Well, see, hit the side of the pot. The bottom.

That's it. You beauty!

Now, then. Pop it in.

Perfect. You're a champ!

-Balance it, now. Don't let it drop.

-I know.

Don't worry. I've done this before.

OK, I stand corrected! Don't mess about!

Now, then...

Now, then, Judy, can I interrupt your labours?

-How are you doing?

-If you wish. Fine, thanks.

When I was talking to Bill,

we talked about people who start with a small plot,

get to a big plot, and then go to a small plot,

and you are one of the said people - you used to have a big plot.

I used to have a big plot, and then I downsized to a medium.

-And now I'm down to raised beds.

-And you can manage that?

-Two.

-Well, this is my first year, so I'm hoping.

-OK.

But I'm only growing, you know, wee things,

cos I've got to eat it, you see.

What do you choose to grow? I mean...

-Well...

-This is a new fad, this business of buying little seedlings.

Yes. I've never been able to grow carrots cos of the carrot fly thing.

-So I saw those and I thought I'll try sticking them in...

-Yeah.

-These are little pots. You might want to split them.

-Yes.

-And try separating out and replanting.

-Yeah.

Of the theory is, of course, if you try to split carrot seedlings,

you may break the taproot.

-Yes.

-And if that happens, it'll just bolt.

-Yes.

-But you try it.

-Yeah.

-Why not do the same with the parsnips?

-Yeah.

-Well, thank you, Judy.

-Thank you very much.

-I must move on.

-I'd shake your hand, but it's a bit mucky.

-Oh...

Goodbye.

I suppose, Billy,

you have actually accounted for every square inch in the place.

-Every square inch apart from this area we're in just now.

-Ah!

I wondered about that.

You can see, apart from the lovely comfrey plants,

it's covered in the weeds.

It's been, historically, a problem area for us.

We managed to win a competition from Kew Gardens and Grow Wild.

-We've got 100 packets of seeds of Scottish wild flowers.

-So...

We want to get this place dug up and sown.

We'll be coming back to see you in August, September,

see how everything is progressing.

This place will change in character completely.

It'll be plumptiousness.

In the meantime, today, we've had an absolutely brilliant time.

Thank you so much.

George, what a place that was, the allotments.

-Fabulous allotments. So neat and tidy.

-I know.

-Looking forward to the next part, when Jim goes back.

-Absolutely.

Doing a little bit of summer bedding here.

I love this time of year, quite honestly.

-Was this a gap?

-Yes. I want to show you this.

-Uh-huh.

Which might remind us of the fact

that we had hippophae in here, the Sea Buckthorn.

Went everywhere, and digging over, we're still finding roots.

So I think we're better to keep this as a temporary area

and maybe revamp the site next year.

You've themed this with blue and yellow.

-Blue, yellows and whites are my theme in the seaside garden.

-Right.

And what have we got?

We've got the lupin, which is called Sunrise, which is blue and yellow.

-The little linum at the front, Blue Dress.

-Uh-huh.

And this cosmos. What's that one?

That's Xanthos, and it's the first yellow cosmos.

-That's this really new one.

-Yeah. This is going to look really bonny.

But we're going to have to give it a good water-in, aren't we?

-It's still quite dry, so it should be watered in.

-Yeah.

So, now we can have a look at some of our containers,

and the hanging baskets, of course, we did those several weeks ago.

-Yeah. Do you like that?

-Not particularly.

It's a new strain of petunia, Night Sky.

Almost as though somebody's taken a white paint brush...!

-Exactly.

-It's blotchy, isn't it?

-What about the bidens, though?

-I don't mind that.

-That's our new colour break, isn't it?

-It is, yes.

Usually yellow. But that...

If I had that and then hung it against a red brick wall,

-you'd never see it.

-You've got to have a contrast.

It's not going to stay in the seaside garden -

it's the wrong colour.

-But this one... Is that staying here?

-I think so.

-That's Cloud Nine.

-Oh!

-Rather nice, I think.

-Yeah.

And it just shows you, if you plant them earlier,

you've got that colour at this time of year.

Bring them on a little bit inside, get them ready, established,

then get them out once the weather perks up.

You can't always do that, so we're planting up the containers.

These are quite small containers.

-The feeding will last for the whole season?

-Should do.

And water granules in here?

There are some moisture-retention granules as well.

-I'm going to put in some of these osteospermums.

-Right.

We're keeping to the same...

You know, the blues and the whites and the yellows

for the seaside garden.

-And what are you putting in?

-I've got an ageratum here.

It's called Golden Sun, so I can't think it will be a blue one.

-It'll be a nice yellow one.

-I'm going to put that round the outside.

And then what I'm going to put in the inside

is this salvia, which is here.

That'll go into the centre.

There'll be the yellow fringe

and this wonderful blue dome on the outside.

Back in May, Carole went off to see a garden in Fife.

And I have to tell you, it's an absolute cracker.

Just wait till you see.

Many people nowadays have full-time jobs,

which often means finding time to do a bit of gardening

isn't necessarily a priority.

Well, it's the complete opposite for Barbara Pickard.

She works on the family farm here in Fife,

and in her spare time, she just loves to garden.

Barbara, I bet this is a busy time of year for you on the farm.

It's incredibly busy in March, April and May.

I'm very much involved with calving the cows,

but then also, we've got a lot of sheep to lamb,

and there are all the crops to go in and carrots to sow,

and so we're just beginning to ease off now.

Does that mean, because you're slightly easing off,

we can get a chance to have a look at your garden?

-Yes, that'd be lovely.

-OK, come on. Let's go.

So this is where I can come at the end of the day,

or when I get a break,

and this is where I can get my sanity back.

This is where you want to relax? You absolutely enjoy it as therapy?

Yes, yes. There's still quite a lot of hard work, but I really love it.

And what was it like, then, Barbara, when you first came?

This garden was sloping from that bed there,

right down to the greenhouse.

My husband liked croquet then, so we decided to make a croquet lawn,

and we cut the soil from this side

and put it over there to make it flat.

It's now got a nice border around it

that took a while to gradually develop.

It's a lovely border. Full of plants.

Libertia in flower. I mean, that is gorgeous, Barbara.

I've got one in my own garden. It's still in bud.

So I'm assuming with the walled garden here, you get the heat.

Yes. Yes, you do.

And often, it's quite dry, but they do seem to manage.

And what about the alliums?

I just planted those recently,

but some other guests came along which I didn't know about.

The bluebells have obviously come from a wood somewhere here.

The combination works fine. I think you just leave it alone.

Choisya ternata, this is the cut-leaf one called Aztec Pearl.

-Full of blossom.

-Yes. Yes, it really likes it here.

And the rhododendron was a gift in a small pot,

and obviously likes it here.

I didn't think I could grow rhododendrons, but it's glamorous.

And I put a small cistus in next to it

and was advised that, probably, the cistus would only last a few years,

cos they're not very long-lived,

but it's still here and it's quite big.

-And in the corner...

-The tree peony.

It was probably by accident that I planted it up there,

and I didn't realise that its flowers hang down so much

that if you're up level with it, you actually don't see them,

but when you're down here, you do get to appreciate them,

cos they're very, very dark.

Aren't they? Extremely dark. Let's see what else we can find.

More gems, I'm sure.

Here we've got another tree peony, the lutea,

with lovely yellow flowers, and it's quite prolific.

-It tends to seed all over the place.

-And the magnolia.

Yes, the Magnolia stellata is lovely,

because it always flowers on my birthday, on 20th April.

Because we're so busy then, there isn't time to do anything else,

but I can always come out here and appreciate that.

-And it flowers for weeks, doesn't it?

-It does.

Barbara, this is quite a contrast to the formal walled garden.

A rather informal setting.

Yes, this was intended to be part wild garden.

There's quite a few trees that were here,

and some of the shrubs were here when we came.

But, obviously, it's a big area to look after,

and so I've inter-planted with things that come back or reseed,

and so I get maybe splashes of colour.

To keep down the maintenance with the weeds,

you've used a lot of bark.

Yes, and the bark came from what was the leylandii hedge across there,

which we took down in 2012.

The one thing about taking the hedge down

was that the grandchildren were in tears

when they came home from school

because they'd had a den underneath it.

And so we decided to retain the big yellow conifer

at the bottom of the garden,

and Jen's made her wee wildlife project round the back of it.

Hopefully I can find Jen and find out about her project.

So, Jen, tell me a bit about your garden.

What's the inspiration behind it?

Well, it was a school project,

and we had to try and create as many homes for wildlife as we could.

So I decided to put a pond, some wild flowers in,

and create a little bird hotel, and some sticks and leaves.

And I presume there's some wild flowers in here,

and I think that's something coming through already.

Have you seen any wildlife coming into the garden?

Yeah, I've seen several bumblebees, butterflies,

and I had a regular robin visit.

That's brilliant. Robins are really friendly.

I'm going to leave you to it, though,

and I'd better find your grandma again. Thanks.

Barbara, your roses, they are so healthy.

They look really lush. It must be the farmyard manure.

Yes, we had to put a lot in when we planted them.

Decided, because I couldn't go on a certain holiday,

because I'd had a hip replacement, I decided I'd have a new project

and spend the holiday money on roses.

-We're speaking about, what, quite a few varieties here?

-Yes.

There's 27 varieties of fragrant shrub roses.

About 96 plants in all.

-I like the way you've inter-planted it with other plants as well.

-Yes.

And some things, like the crinodendron, was already there,

and we were able to keep that.

Then I've put other things in

to try and give a bit of interest before the roses get going.

This is definitely my kind of rose garden.

Shrub roses and so much perfume.

I've had a fantastic day going round your garden,

but we've kept it very quiet

the fact that you are opening for the first time

under Scotland's Gardens.

Yes, on 19th June and 2nd July,

and I was encouraged to do so through the Scotland Gardens scheme,

and Terrill kindly invited me to participate.

-Terrill, you're the national organiser.

-That's right.

-A very special year?

-It's a very special year for us.

We're celebrating our 85th birthday.

So 85 years of helping gardens like Barbara's open

and raise money for charity.

And how much money have you raised over that time?

We have raised just under £9 million.

The whole thing is wonderful

and, presumably, you're always looking for more gardens to open?

We are always looking for more gardens,

but we're also looking for new visitors to come and find us,

and even volunteers to come and help us with the charity.

It is a great scheme. It's done so much good.

And I wish you a really fantastic day,

and let's hope the sunshine's like today.

-Yes, hope so.

-Thank you so much.

Now, then, George, there's something to see.

I think we've got to explain again the no-dig, dig plots.

So, what we have on this side, this is the no-dig plot.

What we've done here is, the compost has been spread on the top,

the whole thing has not been dug at all,

and then we sow directly into the compost.

-And on that one...

-Yes.

-..we bury the compost...

-Just traditional digging, really, Jim.

-Yes.

Bury the compost underneath

and then we work the soil on the top just in the traditional way.

Exactly. Interestingly enough...

I mean, there's a distinct difference in colour.

That's the basic soil, and this is, in fact, the compost...

This might heat up quicker, because it's black soil,

it absorbs the heat better.

Don't try and make too strong a case about it!

Once that's been cleared of the crop at the end of the growing season...

What we do then is, we just take off the detritus from the crop,

put that on the compost heap,

and then we put new compost over the top of that.

-But we dig it into that one.

-Yes, yes.

-So, that's it.

-That's the hard work.

-That's the hard work.

There's a couple of seasonal jobs needing done now.

-What we've sown and planted has really come through.

-Yes.

I actually still remain sceptical,

because I do think it depends on the soil type.

If you're on a light sandy loam,

you can grow anything with very little cultivation.

-Absolutely.

-But if you're on a heavy clay, which needs area aerating,

-I feel that this is...

-Much better to be stirring the soil.

The only real saving, as far as I can see, is the physical work.

-Your back'll be better, because you've got the no-dig one.

-Right.

-We're about to thin some veggies, aren't we?

-What are you up to there?

You've got the ones that are actually space sown.

Two rows of beetroot. There's one row there and one row there.

And they've been space sown.

But because the beetroot comes up

several seedlings from this little seed packet,

we want to take them out and make them singles.

-Yeah.

-And you're actually on...

-I'm on turnips here.

What I'm going to do here is...

I'm going to give this a wee bit of a hoe

either side of the row before I start thinning.

-You'll want to hoe that again, won't you?

-Well...

Yes. You know, hoeing is such a wonderful wee job.

-It's not difficult, and it kills an awful lot of weeds.

-Yes.

-When you can't see them.

-And that is a traditional Dutch hoe.

-That's it.

-I've got a modern equivalent of...

Well, we used to have one with a swan's neck called an onion hoe.

That's right.

And that's quite nifty for, you know, just scraping off

and getting rid of the weeds in the middle of the row.

And in this kind of weather...

-I mean, they burn up in no time at all.

-Yeah.

And then when we start to single, the one I want to keep,

I just protect it with one finger and pull the other two out.

Should add, George,

that each of the two plots has the crops in the same order.

So you've got potatoes,

carrots under here, protected for carrot fly,

brassicas under here, protected from the pigeons.

And then you've got the legumes.

Turnips, broad beans, peas, and onions at the end.

-Yes, yes, just the same.

-Yeah.

-So, keep on going by.

Something else for my 8x6 greenhouse -

or why not try and grow these on the windowsill? -

is a tomato variety called Sweet 'n' Neat.

So, very compact.

And at the moment, just look at these roots.

That is a perfect time to pot them on.

Regular viewers will remember that last autumn...

September, in fact, we planted a range of brassicas

and other vegetables like pak choi and rocket and so on

in the tunnels and out of doors.

Included in that list were some onions.

They were young plants, not seed,

but it was young plants that were planted out

both in the tunnel and here.

I'm always sceptical about overwintering onions,

because they are so prone to damage from the winter weather.

What's happened here is our crop has started to run to seed.

It's bolted, as we would say.

And once they start making seed,

forget about putting on a bit of weight at the other end,

which is what we're looking for.

So it has probably stopped swelling, the base.

And I would have said, in normal conditions,

that that was caused by cold weather in the winter

that's triggered the bolting.

But there might be another reason,

because the brown tips there could be caused by drought.

And we've had quite long periods of dry weather earlier in the spring,

and that may be a combination of the two.

In any case, you've got a decent bit of onion there. Just use it.

I will continue to make a better job of my own big onions

in the main veg plot, because they can be kept right through

to this time of the year anyway.

Isn't that marvellous? Meconopsis. This is a white one.

We've got blue ones, we've got pink ones, just as I promised you.

And they're starting to flower.

In order to keep them flowering for next year and the year after,

what we got to do is remove the seedhead.

If you let them seed, they have a tendency to die out.

Don't let them seed.

It's been a funny old day.

We started in cloud, although it was quite warm.

Then we had some brilliant sunshine. Everybody was peeling off layers.

-Now we're back to the cloud again. But it's quite pleasant.

-Isn't it?

-And I think it shows off the lovely tree.

-Yes.

I think that's one of the original trees

from the nursery that was here before us.

-My goodness.

-One or two mature ones. We just picked them and left them.

So, more than 20 years old.

-That'll be about 25, 30 years old.

-Oh, easy.

-Easy, George.

This time of year, it's absolutely brilliant, that white foliage.

And this centaurea, with the white on that, that's good as well.

-Really nice.

-What about our friend here?

-Ravenswings. Mm...

-Do you like it?

I like it, but you've got to be a little bit careful.

It self-seeds everywhere.

-It's across the other side...

-Mm!

-It's walking out!

-What about the produce?

-Well, this is your onions.

I think we could have a few stir-fries out of that.

-Yeah, sure.

-We'll get one or two. Might need a few, though.

I think you might. What have you been up to?

This is the start of my little mushroom kits on the windowsill.

-Oh, yes.

-I know there's not much there yet.

That's taken a couple of months.

-There's something...

-That's an oyster mushroom there.

In theory, we should be able to get three crops. So we'll wait and see.

-How long has it taken to get to this stage?

-Two months.

-Roughly two months, Jim.

-And you reckon you'll get three crops?

-Yeah.

-You think it's worthwhile?

-Absolutely!

So speaks a cynic.

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

especially all about the open garden,

it's all in the fact sheet,

and the easiest way to access that is online.

-What are you doing next week, George?

-I'm in the fruit house.

-And Carole?

-Saving money again, gardening on a budget.

And I'm in the fruit cage!

-Until then, bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Goodbye.