Episode 19 The Beechgrove Garden

Hello and welcome to Beechgrove on a beautiful summer's morning.

In fact, temperature's 25 this afternoon. Ooh, that'll be nice!

Now, the last time we looked at that it was very, very brief.

What do you think of the variety of plants that are here?

New varieties for the main. My first choice would be these gazanias.

They are lovely.

They enjoy the sunshine and, of the two varieties,

I'd pick the one in the corner there. That's Daybreak Tiger. Mm-hm.

Cos I think it's got lovely stripes on it.

Mm, it's a very deep colour, isn't it? Rich. Mmm.

And, as you say, once it's fully open, it looks amazing. Yeah.

Now, Jim, you were looking at osteospermums before...

I got a very brief look at them.

Apart from these delightful colour combinations,

what I do like is the size.

They're very compact and they make an absolutely perfect bedding plant

and a good range of colours. This one is something Ice, isn't it?

Violet Ice. Right. I mean, this is a mixture of doubles.

Yes. Look at the cutting material because these are half-hardy perennials. Yeah.

Look at the cuttings, as you say! And we can keep them over winter.

Mm. We could take cuttings now or maybe just lift a plant... Yes.

Keep it over winter and then take cuttings.

The same goes for these argyranthemums, the geraniums, pelargoniums...

All of these are half-hardy perennials. They are.

And the challenge is to grow your own next time. Yeah.

And you get a much better plant, actually, if you are able to,

over winter. It's more vigorous, it's more boisterous,

comes into flower earlier, so, you know, you're quids in, really.

Flowers, look at that one.

The calendula or Pot Marigold. The dandelion. Dandelion, isn't it?

It's a bit of a break because it's called Sunny

and it doesn't set seed.

Sprawling down a bank amongst rocks. Mm-hm. It could be quite interesting,

instead of mesembryanthemum, that type of thing.

Listen, we've got a lot to do on this programme,

there's a lot more. What have you got to do now?

I'm in... Well, I'm up to here in water again.

Up to my oxters in water - waders, pond.

Now you know what's coming.

JIM CHUCKLES

And they gave me a grape and said,

"Go and turn that compost heap."

Did I do it, or did I not?

Wait and see.

It's been quite a while since we've been in the 8x6 greenhouse,

so some things have gone over

but other things are looking really quite good,

and this is a calla lily,

and they are really quite popular at the moment.

The variety is called Picasso, beautiful blooms on that,

a really attractive colour,

and what you can do with this is we can overwinter it,

a bit like begonia tubers, somewhere frost-free,

no warmer than around about ten degrees centigrade.

Something else that I think looks really nice at the moment

and this is just grown from seed, just treated as an annual,

it's an amaranthus and this one is called Joseph's Coat,

and you can see why, because look at all those lovely colours on the

foliage, from greens to yellows to the sort of scarlets,

and so easy to grow and just cheap as well.

Then we've got the tomato here.

You might remember me showing these plants

when we talked about windowsill gardening.

The varieties are called Sweet 'n' Neat and we've got the

yellow one and the red one.

Sadly, not so much good news about the Eucomis,

or the pineapple flower.

We've got wonderful foliage but no flowers.

Grown from a bulb, so what we'll do is we'll keep it.

I doubt if it will flower for this season, but hopefully for next year.

And, finally, I just want to look at a couple of things outside.

We've got this balsam - again, that was grown from seed.

The variety is called Tom Thumb,

so it was meant to be eight inches in height.

Well, there's no way - that's about three feet in height.

So I think perhaps we had the wrong seeds in the packet.

But as I can tell now, they are starting to go over.

And then a couple of climbers - again, these are annual climbers.

We've got the Cobaea scandens

and the common name is the cup and saucer plant,

and you can see why, because the flower - that's the cup -

and then round the edge, that is the saucer.

That is a white variety called Alba.

And also, Black-Eyed Susan,

Thunbergia Superstar Orange...

I mean, they are brilliant flowers, but sadly

I would have expected more flowers here.

It's a compost that is based on bark and I really feel that we are going

to have to throw on the fertiliser there because, if you look at the

foliage, it really is rather chlorotic.

It's hard to think that just two months ago

we were planting the bog garden here,

revising the entire planting scheme.

We cleared it all out and put a new planting scheme in.

But the planting in here is predominantly water-loving

or moisture-loving plants.

Those that like to have their feet just in damp soil.

Whereas, on this side of the bridge,

it's much more about the true aquatics,

those that like to really integrate with the water.

The pond was completely cleared last winter,

and, as a consequence of any major clearing process,

there's always that sense of unsettling the balance.

And, remarkably, this pond has stayed pretty good.

There's a little bit of weed in here,

there's a little bit of murky water, but generally we're OK.

So, at this time of the year,

before we descend into autumn,

it's a good idea to just clean out anything which is

becoming a little bit too rampant.

There's a couple of specimens which are particularly noticeable.

This duckweed, which you can see,

is a collection of very small leaves

and it can become a real blanket, stifling the water.

So, try and take as much of it out as possible.

The other is...

..a submerged oxygenator, which used to be regularly sold.

In fact, in some places, still is sold.

This is Elodea and it is a good oxygenator, however,

it is incredibly invasive.

So the advice now is to remove that as much as possible

and stop that congesting the pond too.

What's most important if you have any water and pond in the garden

is the general health of the water itself,

and if you've gone to the trouble of taking out

something like the Elodea,

which is invasive, it does form the oxygenating role,

and so you are in danger of the whole pond

becoming slightly stagnant.

You need to replace the Elodea.

Now, one of the ways of doing that

is to use a British native.

This is the spiked milfoil,

which grows in watercourses around the UK.

It's a really tough and vigorous plant

and will tolerate depths of around

about two feet down, sometimes even deeper in very clear water.

And you buy this from aquatic suppliers

and invariably it is sold with a little lead clip

on the bottom there.

Remove the clip.

Get small pots of aquatic compost

and just pot

your oxygenating plants into it.

To stop them floating away,

if you can find yourself a small rock...

The beauty of these is that they root incredibly quickly,

but they do need to be introduced relatively slowly into the pond,

so it's a good idea just to start them off in the relative shallows.

Just dropping down so that the tips of the foliage

are beneath the surface of the water.

And then, as that starts to grow and blossom,

it can be moved into deeper regions.

To be honest, you can't overplant them,

as long as they're not congesting everything else.

Remember, they're putting oxygen into the water,

so it's all for the benefit of the pond.

Of course, another way of doing it is to have something

like a waterfall in the background.

The water tumbling down and splashing on rocks,

all of that allows the oxygen to dissolve in the water

and a fountain will do exactly the same job in a smaller pool,

but you do need to keep them running.

Now, the reason for playing with all this relocation of plants and

planting at this time of the year is that what we're trying to do is to

relocate some of the early Nymphaeas,

the waterlilies that we were propagating earlier in the season.

There's one there.

A little rhizome that we planted in springtime.

You can see that it's rooted very well and it's produced

a rather handsome series of lily pads on there.

We started it in the shallows,

so it can now be moved into slightly deeper water.

And... So what Mairi's been trying to do

is to create a kind of general lily pad in the centre here.

And as far as positioning this is concerned,

it's the length of the petiole which will dictate the depth.

So you can keep it going down

until that pad is just floating on the surface.

Any deeper and the lily will just rot off.

So you must keep those leaves on the surface

and the same for the flowers, too.

Callum is building some stone walls over here

for a very good reason.

We wanted to create, on this side of the pond,

an opportunity for a completely different collection of plants,

not those that like to be in the depths,

but those that like to be in the shallows, the true marginal plants.

What we need is compost

about ten centimetres below

the surface of the water level.

So he's building a series of stone walls in here which will

continue all the way across and then we can backfill with soil

and start the planting process.

The idea is to create an elevated body

of really sort of boggy ground,

which is exactly replicating the conditions

that the sarracenias live in in North America.

This one is one of the most hardy of the so-called pitcher plants,

and you can see on the inside of these modified leaves

there's all the downward-pointing hairs and, of course,

the flies on here, attracted by the fragrance,

slip in and then a whole

digestion process takes place,

deep in the bowels of the plant.

They're remarkably hardy, these things,

and we've certainly overwintered them.

George lifted them, in fact,

and rescued them from the bog garden before we started

reworking that and you get an idea in there...

Look how wet that ground is in there.

But the crown of the plant needs to be out of all that damp.

This is an ericaceous compost...

It likes being in full sun and acid conditions.

Really quite spectacular on this end of the garden,

and a surprising contribution to an aquatic garden too.

We tend to think of them as being far too exotic,

but they'll overwinter, no problem.

The felt liner at the bottom of the planting bed

will protect the liner of the pond

and stop rocks and plant roots puncturing it.

And then a temporary polythene liner on the inside face of the stone wall

will help to stop the spillage of soil out into the main pond.

That's only in place whilst we're constructing.

As soon as it's time for planting, we can whip it out.

I think one of the best plants for the margins of pools,

especially where you're trying to create a bit of drama,

vertical drama to contrast with the horizontal of the water itself,

is a group of irises,

the water irises.

And there are plenty to choose from.

Generally flowering in about May, June time,

sometimes a little later.

This one is Iris laevigata,

which is the true Japanese water iris.

Very big, open blooms.

A very glamorous-looking plant.

But you can also turn to North America too.

This one is Versicolor,

one of the main species in the States and,

in fact, one of the parents of many of the hybrids.

The beauty of doing a bed like this

is that the plants are contained,

so they won't invade the rest of the pond,

but they are allowed within the confines to run riot,

to mingle and be very mercurial in the way that they flow.

So, with a few additions that Mairi's putting in over there -

a bit of water mint, a bit of caltha -

this is ready to go. We'll settle in for the rest of the season

and, from next spring, it will really start to look fabulous.

Welcome to tomato land!

And I tell you, it's up to 25 already!

This has been a very difficult season for tomatoes.

We chose to use a whole range of varieties and, more importantly,

a whole range of growing systems,

and there's one or two lessons to be learned.

If we look at this system here, that's your plain,

ordinary grow bag

and the growth shows that it's been a difficult time to

try and keep these plants healthy.

Now, if you move behind there,

same variety, just look at that,

this is a new variety called Tourance.

Look at the crop that's still to come.

The foliage is healthy, but to grow these three plants,

it took four grow bags to fill that.

Nonetheless, it's a better environment for plant growth.

The same applies this side because we come to the area where we are

growing with an automated watering system.

Look at good old Shirley,

a bit late, but some really nice fruit on.

This one, we're still getting to know, but generally speaking,

the foliage is better, the crop is better.

I must get out of here!

It's getting too hot.

Let's have a look at the varieties themselves, make a few comments,

because it's much cooler, much more civilised out here.

Start with this one here.

This is a new variety which we've never grown before, Tourance.

Two different ways of growing but it makes no difference to the fruit or

the flavour. The interesting thing is that it has an opaque skin,

it doesn't have a shiny skin, so that is Tourance.

I wonder what it'll be like.

I'm not awful sure. I should perhaps have started with this one, Shirley,

cos this is the one where I would measure all others by

of the large-fruited ones.

Looking good, that's the one that's going to be late.

This one, don't know it at all.

Ferline.

But I wonder how it will compare with that.

Golden Sunrise, we know that, fine.

We know that little one, Strillo.

We know that... And this is very glossy,

this is actually quite a nice thing, but what I'm heading for, really,

are these three at the front.

This is the one we grew last year.

This is Rosella - I've got it at home.

It's not something that you would pick up on the supermarket shelf

because it doesn't jump out at you.

It's a very odd colour and it's green on the top and it's not ready.

You bet it's ready.

As soon as you bite into it... Mmm!

Its flavour, absolutely wonderful.

Now, I think the other seed companies have had a wee shotty with

the same set of genes. These are new on the market this year.

Haven't tasted them.

So we'll start with this one, the funny name, Suncho-co-co-cola,

or something, whatever it is.

Mm-hm.

Yeah. Maybe not so much zing, not so much of a tang about it,

but it's actually quite pleasant.

Rosella's still winning but I'm going to try this one now.

This... Um...

Not so crisp. It doesn't burst.

I suppose I'm biased, but Rosella is still the one for me.

Up here, at the head of the stream, on the high ground,

where the garden meets the woodland behind,

is the perfect place to grow heathers. It mimics, of course,

exactly where they grow in the wild and that's always a good recipe for

success with any plant you're trying to grow in the garden.

If it grows in those conditions in the wild,

it'll probably succeed in your garden too.

But before we delve into the world of these rather unpopular and

unfashionable plants,

which, incidentally, create great ground cover,

it's worth just thinking about the conditions you've got and how the

plants respond to them.

So, for instance, Calluna vulgaris, this one on the end here,

this is the common heather, or ling, some people call it.

This is the plant that grows out in the hillsides in the wild.

This is one of those plants that's super for ground cover, for grouse,

grazing rabbits and deer, and those sorts of things.

It's a really tough, small, shrubby candidate,

but it does need acid conditions.

It's also a wonderful summer flowering plant.

If you want something that's a bit broader foliage,

then how about the Daboecia?

This is the Irish bell heather, the Dabeoc heather.

You can see the super-enlarged Ericaceae bloom there and a much

more glossy, broad leaf.

This is William Buchanan, which is a smaller spreading,

somewhat sort of sprawling habit, great for a small rock garden.

And then you're into the Ericas.

Erica carnea - this particular one is Springwood White -

and then Erica darleyensis, one of the hybrid forms.

We've got summer flowering heathers

and then we've got the winter flowering.

And the thing to remember is that, if it flowers in the summer,

it absolutely needs acid soils.

If it flowers in the winter, however, well,

they tend to be fairly amiable.

They don't mind acid.

Equally, they don't mind calcareous or limey soils.

So, if you're in any doubt and you want to dabble with heathers,

try the Ericas first before venturing into the true Callunas.

Now, when it comes to planting them,

what I wanted to try and achieve up here is a kind of drifting scenario,

really, avoiding that slightly dotty effect that you saw in the 1960s

heather gardens. You can see the Daboecia behind where this fir has

been lifted, so we want to continue through with Atropurpurea here,

spilling down the bank towards the water.

And the white form - this is just the Alba form -

is a great candidate.

These grow about 60 centimetres in height and form really thick,

dense thickets, so you want to plant them about

three to five per metre squared, and then, within a few seasons,

that will help them knit together and obliterate the weeds.

And then when it comes to looking after them, well,

they're quite simple.

A brief feed in spring with something like a bone meal or a

general purpose fertiliser, just a light sprinkling,

and then pruning is the key to keeping them nice and compact and to

keep them flowering and keep them coming back.

Once they've finished flowering, like this little Erica here,

just pinch out, or, on a large clump,

shear over those faded flower heads

and then you'll find that new growth will come from the base

and you'll get more flowers and a much more compact habit.

Apart from that,

once you've got your heathers painted across the landscape,

you can pretty much leave them to it.

The allotment trail today brings us back to Tillicoultry,

nestling under these magnificent hills in the background there.

I was here in May and, since then, I want to find out just what kind of

season they've had because ours has been really peculiar.

Now, the last time I was here, Bill, did I call you managing director

or something? What's your actual title? I'm chairman, Jim.

You're chairman.

The thing that intrigued me the first time I came here,

was the fact that there was nae corrugated iron and old doors

separating the plots. You've got a wonderful set-up here

with natural hedges and grass paths. Who looks after them?

We all do. Each member is allocated tasks at the start of the year.

We all do a minimum of six hours' work a year.

If every member does six hours a year,

we find that the site can be maintained, the grass is cut,

the hedges are cut and that's where we keep the site looking as good.

But so, some guy comes along and really doesn't fancy that sort of thing,

so he says, "Oh, well, I don't know how to work a strimmer."

Or, "No, I couldn't handle a strimmer."

What do you do? We have a training course every spring of the year...

Yes. We get folk in, Saturday morning, say,

"Come along, and we'll show you how to use the strimmers

"or hedge cutters or mowers,"

show them what fuel goes in...

Yes. The other way is, if somebody can't do their six hours a year,

we actually charge them a fee... Right. ..which helps to run the...

For costs of petrol and stuff like that.

Yes, yes. Community is a very strong thing because not only are you doing

these training courses, you've got a wee shed for a cup of tea and so on,

and you've got a machinery shed.

What do you do with all the cuttings and the clippings and all that sort

of thing? Do you have communal composting?

Yep, we've got a large compost base up near the main gate,

ranging from accepting fresh compost, fresh material,

through to cooked compost.

Yes. And is that compost, when it's made and ready,

is it available for anybody and everybody?

I put out in our newsletters that bay five is cooked and ready to use

and you can dive in and use the compost.

It's just magic.

Good morning, Christine. Oh, good morning, Jim.

How are you? I'm very well, thank you.

I'm enjoying my second visit here and I'm concentrating on this idea

of the communal facilities.

And this is a communal greenhouse.

You've got a specific space here in which to grow your tomatoes, so...

Yes, I go from here to there.

Oh, right. And you've chosen to use beefsteak tomato.

That's cos they were free seeds!

A real Scot, there you go! Um, and how do you find them?

There's a nice ripe one there. Well, they've been doing a huge...

I've had a huge crop of them, but I'm finding them a bit tasteless -

they're not as good as the plum tomatoes.

Oh, no, that's true, that's very true.

And I think I've got the explanation for you.

They don't do so well here because they don't get enough heat,

they don't get enough sun.

They need lots of sunshine and lots of heat.

I think that's the wrong crop to grow.

Grow your plum ones.

Good idea. That's by far and away the most productive.

The last time I visited,

the students from Alloa Academy were planting their tatties.

Now they've arrived in force to harvest them.

So, which part of the mound do we dig in? (In between.)

Right in there? (In between.)

In between! Just beside it.

Right on the edge, right on the edge, OK?

Between, between. So when you get digging in...

Oh! Wahey!

Let's do this half, anyway.

Oh! We've done them?!

I've done a load! I've done a bucket-load.

Right, take them out and put them in... Here comes the money!

Argh! Look! Catch it.

Catch it. It's a wee one. Catch it. Keep it.

Oh! I got a banana one. That's a banana one.

I had a banana...

Oh! Are there any more?

Well, I have an assignation here with Wilson,

who was planting runner beans when we came here in May and I was sure

that you were planting them far too early, but by jingo,

you've got a fair crop. I had to plant them a bit early because I was

going off on holiday. But the great thing here is that we are a

community... Aye, quite. ..and while I was away,

somebody just looked after them and put a little bit of water on them.

That's the community at work again, isn't it? It is indeed.

And there's far more than you'll ever use here.

Yeah, yeah. So what do you do with the excess?

Well, I've a few ladies that... Yes, a few ladies, who are very,

very grateful to receive a small offering of beans,

and occasionally we take them along to a coffee morning and we put them

on the table and people help themselves. There's no waste, in other words.

You may remember our visit last time, I was very enamoured with

James's greenhouse and all the systems that he was using,

and just look at these tomatoes. That's Golden Sunrise.

Absolutely cracking plants.

And you remember, that's a self-watering tray, a grow bag,

and then the green collar on top.

I think I'm going to go that way next year. These are terrific.

Hello there, Len. Good to see you again.

Ah, hello there, how are you? You've been winning prizes since I saw you

last, eh? Yes, aye, guilty. 12 years running.

12 years. The best allotment in the county.

Yes, it's my hobby. Aye, quite. It's not a chore.

No, no. I do it because I enjoy it. You enjoy every minute of it.

Yes. And brilliant dahlias here - they're very clean.

Yes. I see you've got the wee traps there,

the pot's upside down to trap the earwigs.

Aye, aye. This has been a bad year for earwigs.

I've never had a great deal of problems, to be honest.

You don't have a problem? We have. Nice apples. What's the variety?

Discovery. They're looking splendid.

Nice crop. Onions are getting to that stage of the year when you need

to start preparing them for storage. That's right.

You've got a good crop here.

They're doing well. So, what's your treatment of these from now on?

I'll lift them and dry them.

I usually dry them in the greenhouse.

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Which takes us on to the leeks.

They're all nicely wrapped up.

It's actually an insulation, a type of insulation.

Aye, aye. Just kind of came to hand, like? Aye.

No... Well, aye... Are you showing them?

If I can get them blanched enough. The trouble is, we get a wee...

I suppose everybody gets... Well, everybody will not get it.

A wee bit rust. A wee bit rust here and there.

And one of the interesting questions that we get from viewers, in fact,

is, "My leeks have shot." Shot, aye.

Just a bit of dry weather, I suppose, is that what it is?

Well, we've had a lot of that here this year.

Aye, aye. There's been extremes of temperatures.

I mean, we've had Mediterranean sunshine.

I know, I know. A couple of days later, it's like this.

You're definitely due that award then, because by Jove,

you put in the hours.

Oh, I put the hours in. And the results show.

Let me shake your hand again. Well done.

So, here endeth the second visit to the Tillicoultry Allotments.

When we come back in a month's time, there's going to be some harvest,

I reckon, if that thing there's got anything to go by.

At this time of the year, as subshrubs like this Anthemis finish

their flowering flush, it's a good idea to trim them back

to almost the base of the green growth,

and that means that you get plenty of compact growth next season.

I'm told that if you see this mentioned on a menu

in an expensive restaurant, it'll cost a fortune.

So, I thought, "Maybe we should try and grow it ourselves."

Agretti is the name. Or saltwort.

And frankly, I don't know what all the fuss is about,

it just tastes like grass.

At this time of year, I like to have a wander around the garden

and find one or two plants that look really good and this one

I really think hits the mark.

It's an Agapanthus or African lily, and the variety

is called Silver Moon.

It particularly suits a seaside garden because of the blue flowers

and the variegated foliage, I think, is absolutely stunning.

Well, you know that old saying, "All good things must come to an end."

We could say that about today's programme because it's been happy,

we've had the sun shining, but the old friend I'm talking about

is this tree behind. It's got to come out, hasn't it?

It's looking rather sad, isn't it?

Well, it's had its last chance and another last chance

and another last chance, and it's not getting any better, is it?

Well, I've got a date here on this cutting.

Yes. It was early May last year that we talked about it.

"Will it stay, will it not?" And at least we've got some rooted cuttings.

Cryptomeria Japonica Elegans, goodbye.

Yeah. Yes, and you're going to put something else in its place.

I have some plans.

But I've got to get it out first - that's going to be a challenge!

So, 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 online.

Next week, as we know, Chris is going to be out with the chainsaw,

I'm going to be planting bulbs, and...Jim?

Well, I'm making a visit to the Borders, to Peebles,

to the garden at Portmore at 1,000 feet above sea level.

It's an absolute cracker.

Look forward to seeing you next time. Goodbye.

Goodbye. Bye.