Episode 16 The Beechgrove Garden

Hello there, welcome to Beechgrove on a reasonable sort of day,

unlike the last four or five weeks. CAROLE LAUGHS

-It's been absolutely horrendous, hasn't it?

-Hasn't it just.

But, listen, this has blossomed since we saw it last.

Well, some of the weeds have,

but anyway, first of all, let's just explain ourselves

because last year this was a riot of colour. That is the control.

In other words, we used a scatter mix right across the bed

-over different weeks of sowing.

-Sure.

-It was wonderful.

-So, we challenged ourselves.

-We did.

Each of us would choose our own scatter mix.

-Yes, so, we've got the control there.

-Yes.

And then that's my mix, that's your mix,

and, you know, as I said, weeds.

-Well...

-The weed has come out.

There's been a whole host of spurry seeds in this soil,

and all of a sudden, the conditions are right, and they've grown faster

-than some of the annuals, especially mine.

-Yeah, I mean, that's nice, Jim, the blue that you've chosen.

Well, it's kind of a Scottish theme to it, isn't it?

Yeah, but when I look at mine, I'm going, "I never picked any pink."

Mine was meant to be the whites and the yellows and the red,

like the ladybird,

but we've got the Silene, which has come up,

so that had obviously set seed from last year.

But it's a wee while since we've seen the garden. There's a lot to do

and I just can't wait to see what Mr Beardshaw's up to in the bog.

THEY LAUGH

Blue skies, a palm tree -

you would have thought Beechgrove has headed south.

Maybe even somewhere like Madeira.

But no, for our garden visit, we've headed north to the Black Isle.

Well, these peas are just coming up to harvest time now.

The pods are pretty full.

And look at them, just look at that,

aren't these just wonderful?

These'll be fabulous.

Either steamed or whatever.

There's one or two beans ready here.

That pea is a variety called Avola,

and this bean is then called Robin Hood

and it's a nice dwarf one for growing in what is this area,

which is the gardening in a small space.

Now, we've also got things like lettuce,

which are starting to mature now.

And really through this summer period,

we've had quite a bit of success here.

Look at that. That's the variety known as little gem,

and that is a wonderful, compact lettuce.

If you cut that up through the middle,

you'll see just exactly how beautiful that is inside.

There's plenty eating in that.

So, that's there.

I can harvest that.

I can also harvest one or two beetroot.

There's a beetroot here.

Now, that is one which we've maybe eaten some of the leaves off

and things like that, we can steam those along with bean tops.

But watch this when we cut it through. Look at that.

Look at that, isn't that just wonderful?

That colour in there.

Now, because it's bigger, it can now be grated and put into the salads

and that will make a wonderful, colourful addition to the salad.

These peas there, we've had the tops off them already.

There, they're starting to regrow.

We'll leave those and they'll produce peas like that up there,

so we get two crops off the one space.

The pond has been something of an ordeal this year.

Clearing it all out during the winter,

reworking it,

doing the banking,

putting a beach in.

And on the other side of the pond is another of the original inclusions

of the garden - it's not Callum, it's this bit, the bog garden.

And it's hard to believe that this entire run -

right from the stream at the top, through the waterfall, the pond,

down to the bog garden here -

this was originally the centrepiece of the Beechgrove Garden

20 or so years ago.

And the idea is that the next step is to plant all of this.

One of the things I want to do

is to bring a new stepping stone path in here,

using some of these log rounds.

These are from the conifers which have been started to fell

on that side of the garden. Use them as a series of stepping stones.

And I thought it would be really lovely because of the exuberance

of the bog garden plants,

you know, the sheer size, and how verdant they are,

to be able to sit amongst them looking back down the stream

across into the depths of the garden.

A stepping stone path to here, which we'll do in bark and bark mulch.

But before we get too carried away,

the reason that Callum is,

well, seemingly dismantling the bridge here

is because of one or two nasties which are lurking beneath.

Notably this, it's the Equisetum, the horsetail.

It's a really pernicious weed.

Anybody who's got it in their garden or on the allotment will know

just how difficult it is to get rid of.

It's been cleared from this area of the garden

and cleared from the beach on that side,

but it is venturing in underneath what will be a continuation

of the beach on the site.

So, it's really important before you do anything

in this very fertile and verdant ground

to get rid of the perennial weeds,

which, unfortunately, means taking the bridge slats out

and then excavating all this soil.

It's something of an archaeological excavation,

going through a job like this, because what we're trying to do

is to protect the liner. There's the edge of it

and it dips down very, very steeply to create the bog garden section.

But in a way, it's the liner itself which is helping the horsetail

to really succeed, because it's stopping the roots

from going further down into the ground

and creating a sort of plate on which it's growing.

So we only ever really see the top growth,

and that's just a short section of it,

but what's happening beneath ground is you have these very dark,

very brittle roots.

It's so brittle, when it breaks just the smallest section,

a few millimetres,

as long as it's got a leaf node on it,

it will start to grow and then infest the garden.

And to give you an idea of just how long these things have been around,

most coal deposits from the Carboniferous Period

are made of this.

So, it's been around a while

and it's going to be around for quite a while more, I suspect.

The Equisetum is such a pernicious weed,

it's well worth excavating as much soil

as you think that the roots have penetrated,

and then just take a little bit more, too.

Backfill with fresh soil,

and then what we have done is to lay a geotextile

to stop any of those fragments pushing through again,

and then finally a continuation of the beach

from the pond side of the bridge.

The stepping stones are made of conifer trimmings.

It's the log sliced into three to four-inch thick sections.

And although it's softwood and it rots pretty quickly

it'll give us a three, four, maybe even five years

of a temporary tiptoe path through the middle of the bog garden.

In the farthest corner of the bog garden,

there's a wonderful opportunity for a perch seat.

So with a little bit of soil excavated,

geotextile laid to stop the weeds coming through,

and an edging of recently felled logs to keep the soil back,

we can then just tip in some recently chipped timber

and that will give us the perfect bedding on which we can sit a seat.

There really are some wonderful bog garden plants

that you can lay your hands on that add such a splash of vibrancy

and energy to the garden.

It's really a treat to deal with them.

But it's worth making the distinction between

those plants that need to be right on the water's edge,

like, for instance, the iris here,

this one is butter and sugar, a Sibirica type -

it likes having its rhizomes right in the water,

just above the water line, really -

or Lobelia cardinalis,

with the fabulous sort of beetrooty-coloured foliage,

they need to be distributed

immediately alongside the streambed here.

But then, once you get to about that sort of point,

because of the grading on the soil,

everything else in the bog garden

is just a moisture-loving herbaceous plant,

so you can really go to town on whatever takes your fancy

to create that lavish and luxuriant feel

that bog gardens inevitably have.

It's also worth bearing in mind the soil.

And the reason I'm walking along the watercourse

is to try and protect the soil as much as possible.

This is just the ordinary topsoil from the garden.

Now, remember, we're dealing with a great bowl of butyl liner here,

on top of which the soil is sitting,

and it's very wet, so if we were to traffic across this and walk on it,

what we're going to do is to squash it into a really hard pudding,

which, of course, won't help the plants at all.

So, as far as possible, keep off of the soil

and stick to the watercourse.

Geranium rivulare Album,

great, ground covering, sprawling, mat-forming aquatic.

You can see that as soon as you put green around the Lobelia,

it bounces the Lobelia out

and elevates its importance within the garden.

And as with any planting scheme, when you're trying to make it

look natural, which is roughly what we're trying to do here, isn't it?

Trying to make it look as informal as possible, not too structured.

Try and get them in groups of threes

so you get a bounce, a bounce and a bounce,

the eyes moving through the garden. Always working in threes.

Either groups of threes or clumps of threes.

-And we've got the water forget-me-not...

-Yes.

..which is a real beauty.

I think because that's so delicate we'll have that right underneath

-the Lobelia here.

-OK.

-And I think that's the mermaid one, the blue one.

-OK.

This is a white one in flower, as well.

Again, it's about trying to get that green lightness

underneath the Lobelia.

That's a great start with the aquatics.

I think we'll get planting those and then we'll deal with the next batch.

OK.

This second layer of planting in the bog garden

is all about exploiting herbaceous perennials that enjoy wet ground,

so they're not the marginals,

they're not the ones that have to have their feet in the water,

they just like a slightly more moist ground.

So you may ordinarily see them deep in a normal herbaceous border.

One of those is Lythrum.

How about that. A drop more purple.

With a colour like that,

it really demonstrates what these structural plants can do.

They're clump formers and they're really dramatic,

they catch the eye

and create the kind of building blocks, if you like,

of the garden itself.

So, a good clump of them by the bridge

will give us a good full-stop.

And there's more than enough to choose from,

but some of my favourites...

How about this?

This is Ligularia, "The Rocket", named for fairly obvious reasons

with this wonderful golden spike going skyward.

It's already got bees on it, too.

And the dark stems of this against the golden flowers

really are absolutely stunning.

Wonderful, broad foliage, as well, a great mat is produced,

through which these spikes emerge.

And how about something like this Eupatorium over here?

A really dramatic plant, a sultry purple, almost blue in this light.

This is a really good full-stop plant,

which is why I've put it at the end of the stream here.

It draws the eye in

and creates a great big wodge of purple planting at the end.

Very generous.

Now, don't worry about holes like this.

In a normal herbaceous border,

you might be picking the slugs and snails off

and getting hugely frustrated.

And, in fact, these have been lifted from elsewhere in the garden.

But, knowing the army of frogs and toads which reside in this pool

during the spring months, and how much they chomp through,

I don't think the slugs and snails

are really going to have much of a chance.

So, I'm hopeful that once we've got this assembled,

the whole of nature will come together

and celebrate the new bog garden.

It's wonderful when you get to the stage in a planting scheme

where you really are just sprinkling that fairy dust

amongst the planting. And it's those finishing touches

that make all the difference, the little holes that you can find.

And there are some gems for the more moist soils.

For instance, the Hemerocallis, this one is called bumblebee.

They are incredibly hardy,

but also don't forget the candelabra primulas.

This one is Bulleyana.

It's just coming to the end of its flowering phase.

It's been in flower since about the beginning of April.

Certainly April, May, June, fantastic months for the candelabra.

And then you've got Beesia, look at that,

and you can see these whirls which come out in sequence.

You can see exactly why you have such a long flowering period.

And then, how about that little Primula down there?

Inverewe, the most incredible, tropical colour,

and adds that sense of what we're trying to achieve

here in the garden, that it's lavish, it's lush, it's abundant,

and it's just a riot of foliage and flowers

from the moment that spring kicks in right the way through into autumn.

This will knit together this season and look fantastic.

Well, as I said earlier, we're playing catch-up this week,

really because we've been away for a wee while,

so here we are in the veg plot.

Four-course rotation.

Start in this corner here, broad beans looking good.

And what I'm in doing at the moment is taking that top out,

because it has two purposes.

That can go in a veg basket, that becomes part of the menu,

these are very tasty.

Really lovely. Don't need much cooking.

But in doing that it helps to fill out the pods.

And there's quite a nice looking crop coming along here

with these broad beans. That fills it out.

Instead of the energy going up that way, it's going out into the pods,

so that's one thing you could be doing. I can't say the same

for the runner beans.

They like heat.

They like plenty warmth

and they really are struggling.

Whether we'll get a crop off them this year or not is very doubtful.

Then we can go across the path to potatoes.

As you might recall,

we're actually growing some light-resistant varieties.

We've got some earlies there,

then we've got Carolus, Athlete, Mayan Gold

and the white-flowered one is one of the sharper varieties, that's Kifli.

We hadn't grown that before, so we'll see how we get on.

But be warned, if you've got light-susceptible varieties,

you've got to be careful.

You might have to knock the tops off them cos there ain't no cure now.

Moving over to the next plot,

the carrots have been covered up with fleece

because we're now about to get a second generation

of carrot fly

and the grubs will eat into the maturing roots and make a real mess,

so we protect them there.

And then over to the brassicas.

Now, if anybody ever needed convincing

that brassicas love water, just look at them.

They're looking stunning. They're very even.

The different varieties are doing well.

We're cropping Calabrese and broccoli.

Looking good.

The chards are doing well.

Not the courgettes - they don't like this kind of weather.

But look at these onions, started early, as sets,

these ones in the middle are going to make cracking onions.

And just note that they are actually under the cornstarch,

which keeps the weeds away.

But, you know, also on this programme,

we're doing a lot of cropping,

and under cover here, we have a real success story with our cucumbers.

For a start, the plants are really healthy, no sign of powdery mildew.

And we've got three varieties.

So, the one behind me is called greenfit.

Now, that was recommended for cold greenhouses,

and really I'm quite disappointed

because we've only had 13 cucumbers from three plants.

However, the two varieties here, they are absolutely wonderful.

Anbar is great because the good news there

is that it doesn't need a pollinator,

so you're assured of getting a good crop,

and we have had 35 cucumbers.

And baby describes the cucumber cos you cut them really small

and we've had 29.

Both of these cropping from early July.

And of course the important thing is to have a bit of a taste test.

And of these two,

baby, I would describe as crunchy and quite a bit of flavour,

and Anbar is quite watery but really refreshing.

And of the two I would go for baby, but it depends what you like.

And then, also another success story is with the winter squashes.

Again, we've got three varieties,

and they're all very different shapes and colours.

We've got Festival.

And if we look in here, it's described as a large grapefruit,

and I suppose it looks like the colour of grapefruit.

This one is our heritage variety, Honey Boat,

and I suppose that tends to look more marrow-like.

I'm really pleased, as well, with the support system,

because we've used the pea-netting.

And you can imagine if you get a good crop like these,

they can be quite heavy,

so it's a good way to support them

cos you know, you can either have them trailing or climbing.

And then finally we've got little gem,

so you can crop this one when it's tiny.

Lovely dark fruits to those.

And, of course, the great thing with all of these,

you can roast them in the oven,

just serve them with a bit of butter and some black pepper

and they will taste delicious.

Earlier in the season, Jim and I set up a little experiment.

We were going to compare the conventional dig with the no dig.

And in the conventional dig, what we did was

we buried the compost in to about three, four inches under the soil,

and on the no-dig situation,

what we did there was we just spread the compost on the top.

Now, we felt there would be no great difference in the first year.

Such is our wisdom and knowledge of gardening.

But after seeing...

The gardening gods have conspired against us somewhat, look at that.

That's just in the beetroot, right?

This one is the no dig, that one is the dig.

So, what's the difference? What's happened?

This has been a peculiar season, remember.

In the dig situation, what we've got is water falling on the soil,

dragging all the nutrients right down through

and leaving it slightly impoverished, so the crops suffer.

On the no-dig situation,

the water is hitting compost,

the nutrients are being held in that compost,

and they are therefore accessible readily to the plant

and we get bigger crops.

Look at that.

The beetroot is a classic example of it.

Now, the cabbage are the same,

but look at the potatoes,

the crop there is much heavier than the crop in the conventional dig.

So, there has been an obvious difference this year.

But we're going to continue this for the next one, two, three years,

and we'll see if there's a long-term difference in the results.

What a stunning location.

This is Kilmuir on the Black Isle.

It's right next to the Moray Firth and across the water is Inverness.

Now, I think this is a really pretty cottage-style front garden,

but it totally belies what's in the back.

Penny and David Veitch moved into the aptly-named Lookout in 1984.

I have judged this garden several times and know it well.

But I'm always surprised by the challenging site.

This is one of the more difficult paths, Carole.

Well, this just shows you a bit about the site.

It wasn't a bit like this when we moved in.

We had grass that was way down there covering everything

to the top of the garden.

We didn't know we had any rock.

And when we started peeling it back, we found bicycle frames,

glass bottles.

It's wonderful, I think, to have a rock face like this,

but not particularly easy to establish plants.

Well, a lot of them have established themselves.

There's a small Gunnera down there, which has seeded this year.

-The Primulas love it, which I'm surprised about.

-Yes.

So, there must be little moist pockets.

Well, you can see we've got a little waterfall

goes down there when the rain's heavy.

There's water going down at various parts all the time,

so it's coming under you.

Do you have a favourite part to the garden?

We love all of it, really.

We've got parts where we have morning coffee,

we've got another part where we have our lunch.

-Well, shall we go for the next coffee stop?

-Yes, come on, let's.

I love this part of the garden, Carole.

This is where we have our morning coffee.

-Right by the pond.

-Right by the pond.

You obviously like cottage-style planting.

I adore it, I really do.

I've got no themes.

If there's a space, I put a plant in.

I just love plants.

-Lots of colour.

-Yes.

Perfume, I mean, that rose?

Oh, that's gorgeous, that's called Jacques Cartier.

-The perfume, well, actually, I can smell it from here.

-Mmm.

It's absolutely beautiful.

And you'll see through there,

there's some lovely ladybird poppies.

-I adore poppies.

-Well, ladybird, I think, is one of my favourite

-and comes true from seed, doesn't it?

-Yes, it does, it's lovely.

And then, this natural rock garden.

Well, yes, all of this used to be lawn, the whole lot.

I used to have to do the cutting,

David wasn't here usually,

and with the Flymo, I used to hit a rock just up there

and I decided one day I was going to try and get that little rock out

and started digging,

and this is what we uncovered.

We just sort of went on and on and on.

It was like an archaeological dig, it really was.

We were bagging the soil, that was going somewhere else.

It's lovely to have that variety of habitats.

Well, some of them, you see, were put in before we actually realised

what we had underneath.

So, the trees have been in so long up at the top,

but I like them there, so we left them there.

-They suit it.

-It's a lovely backdrop, isn't it?

-It is.

And it's nice to have that sort of evergreen interest,

-you know, for 12 months of the year.

-Yes.

And then another seat, is that some of David's work?

Yes, isn't that lovely?

We were at an exhibition and David saw one

and decided he could do one, too.

So, that was fine.

It's Taradale sandstone

and he designed it.

It's lovely to sit up there and have the view over the Moray Firth

and over the cottage garden.

Well, it's beautiful, he's obviously a handyman.

So, am I right in saying that maybe the next stop,

-find David and it's lunchtime?

-That's right, it is.

-THEY LAUGH

-That way.

-You'll find him along the path there.

-OK.

Well, David, we're climbing up the garden.

I'd probably say we are about halfway up.

-SHE LAUGHS

-And you're an engineer to trade,

so tell us a little bit about the construction of the pond.

This water feature was constructed about three, four years ago.

And the interesting thing is

that the liner there in the bottom of the pond

is made from an oil tank, which was cut in half,

provided by a friend of mine.

And then, what I've done is

I've lined the inside of the tank with stone,

so you can't see the line at all.

Perfectly natural, I think, it's really effective.

Yes.

-And you're right to recycle as much as you can.

-Yeah.

What about these posts?

Well, they were telegraph poles

which were purchased not far from here.

Unfortunately, my chainsaw wasn't working at the time

so I had to cut them all with handsaw.

Oh, my goodness.

The hardest part was bringing them up the garden,

because some of them, you can see,

are quite large in diameter and they're heavy.

-Because you can't use a wheelbarrow, you've got steps everywhere.

-Yeah.

Everything has and was brought over in sacks or on your back,

there's no way of getting any other materials up here

apart from in sacks.

But it looks great.

Are you a bit of a plants person, as well?

To a degree. Not very much.

But this is what we call the hot bed

and I like Heucheras.

You'll see Heucheras all over the garden.

But we have tried to make this blend in with the Taradale stone,

with the reds and all the shades that go with it.

And, I mean, the lily, a gorgeous colour, and the Ligularia, as well,

with the foliage. Now, I know that we've got a bit of shade, as well,

we can wander through the woodland?

Yes, OK.

This is an area where we've lifted the canopy to allow more light in

and planted all of these rhododendrons.

And you obviously like encouraging the wildlife.

Yes, we put these up a couple of years ago,

it's really for my grandson,

to encourage the birds

and teach him all the different birds that we've got around here.

And we get the red squirrels down, as well.

Oh, they're beautiful creatures.

-Oh, yep.

-Onwards and upwards.

SHE LAUGHS

Well, Penny and David, we've made it to the top, we've had our lunch,

-what do you do in this area?

-PENNY LAUGHS

This is the recovery corner. THEY LAUGH

You bring your drink up and you sit and you relax.

It's the end of the day and you don't have to do anything else.

And what a beautiful place to relax.

So, David, can we have a few facts and figures?

For example, you know, the angle of the garden?

Yeah, the garden's probably on around about a 40, 45 degree slope.

The height from the bottom up to here is about 20, 25 metres.

It's absolutely incredible.

The wonderful thing is it's open to the public under Scotland's Gardens?

That's correct, we open every Sunday 12-4,

teas in the back if it's possible.

And I can recommend the scones, freshly-made.

Thank you.

I mean, I have been around the garden several times,

to me it's an absolute delight coming round here,

and what you've done to the site, cos it is a difficult site.

And not only the garden is beautiful,

but the view is to die for.

It is, isn't it? Yes.

So, thank you very much, I've had a fantastic day.

Thank you very much, too.

Thank you, we've enjoyed it.

Many gardeners across the land

will be persuaded to use water-retention granules

in their baskets and tubs out of doors.

Recent trials have shown that it doesn't make any difference.

So we've chosen Begonia Illumination,

the variety's apricots shades, looking stunning and very popular.

This lot have granules in the boxes, this lot haven't.

Well, as we say in Scotland,

the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley.

Blame the weather.

Aren't these stunning?

This is the foxtail lily.

It's a variety of Cleopatra.

And when these things come in the spring and you plant them,

they're like a big dead spider and you think, "What's going to come

"from this?" Put them in the ground and then they rut

through the ground, these great rockets of growth. Look at that.

Absolutely outstanding.

Now, here's a happy accident.

At the beginning of the year,

we saw these little seedlings here appear in the border

and we thought, "Well, shall we leave them?"

I actually thought they were candytuft

and that's exactly what they are.

And they make such a pretty display.

-Well, that's been a bit of a race round, hasn't it?

-It has, yeah.

But this heralds the start of our fruit-picking season.

Well, I think Chris was at the cherries, as well,

but isn't it a fantastic crop?

-Indoor grown, of course. What's the variety?

-Sweetheart.

-Absolutely is.

-They are stunning. SHE LAUGHS

-These are great.

-And you like the Bidens.

Well, yes, we looked at that earlier and I was very sure about it.

-It depends on the background, but that is a classic.

-Yeah.

-That is really, really good.

-Beedance painted red.

-Amazing.

-That's good.

So, if you'd like any more information about this programme,

whether it's the cherries or perhaps the Bidens,

it's all in the fact sheet,

and the easiest way to access that is online.

Well, that's it for this week.

And believe it or not we're away for two weeks.

There's some kind of Highland Games going on in Rio, or something,

so until three weeks' time, bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Goodbye.