Episode 22 The Beechgrove Garden

These late hydrangeas have been good this year, haven't they?

I'll tell you, this one's gorgeous, Jim.

Raspberry ripple ice cream.

Vanille Fraise is the variety.

That's the one. Absolutely stunning.

And we've got the sunshine.

Yes, we have. Hello, and welcome to Beechgrove

on a beautiful summer/autumn day. Mm-hm.

I'll tell you what, we haven't looked at the veggie for a while,

so let's get through here.

And the rhubarb shards, so healthy-looking.

Yes, that will keep us going for a while.

The courgettes and marrows, I think we've got, haven't we?

Yes, they're all cucumbers, I suppose. Yes, same family.

It's been good weather for them, as it has for the beans.

And we've got different flower colours. Mm-hm.

Now, potatoes.

Yes. I want to draw a line under this blight story.

OK, Jim. That's a left-handed fork, so that'll suit you.

It'll suit both of us, won't it?

OK, so what variety are we lifting here?

This is a new variety called Carolus.

Which is said to be... It's said to be blight-resistant.

Yeah? But eventually, it did show a bit of blight.

But, do you know... These look good. Look at them, Jim.

..if you feel you've got a decent crop, so what?

That is a fantastic crop off of one shaw.

Yeah. That's good.

Now, what about the other crops?

Well, yes. Let's let that be, let's go along...

Nice beetroot. Yes, indeed.

Funnily enough, because of the weather,

the leaves are a wee bit scabby looking, but it doesn't matter.

There's a fine crop of beetroot underneath it.

I mean, it has been quite dry, hasn't it?

I think that's what causes it.

Carrots? Yes. Very healthy foliage.

Well, of course. Early August, there's another carrot fly,

so we keep them covered up at that time.

You do. Let's have a look at the varieties.

Now, what have I got here? Yellow bunch. Yes.

That's rather nice. If you like that sort of thing.

And that one, that is Sweet Candle.

This is one that gets used by the guys in the show. I'll take those.

And this one is Scarlet Horn.

Well, this is as old as I am, at least!

Great! Cracking little carrots.

And they're well protected.

But what's happened here, Jim?

Well, this variety is meant to be resistant to carrot fly,

so it wasn't covered. It's not resistant to rabbits!

SHE LAUGHS

You can't win, can you?

Meanwhile, in the rest of the programme...

How about this for a hosta?

I just wonder how many plants I can get out of it.

Yes, it's gardening on a budget.

And more money-saving tips with my garden visit,

and one of them is seaweed.

Conscious of the fact that many new gardens are quite small,

and that people still want to grow, perhaps, a range of fruit,

we've set ourselves a wee challenge here.

In an area which is about a metre and a half deep

and five metres long,

we've got alpine strawberries, we've got blueberries,

we've got raspberries, we've got two pear trees and an apple tree.

How can we manage them?

Well, the success in gardening is, first of all,

knowing the conditions of the ground and the climate and everything.

The second is knowing the plants.

And some of these plants are new to us.

We haven't grown them before. So the tendency is, actually,

leave them for a full year to see what they do

and then you know how to manage them. The strawberries are fine.

There's not a problem there.

The blueberries are fine, there's not a problem there.

The big one that we can see already is there's a significant difference

between that raspberry, and this one here.

This raspberry over here is an autumn-fruiting variety.

You can see there. So I wonder, will we get ripe fruits,

because here we are, end of September,

nights are getting colder - will they ripen up?

I don't know. We will give it a chance.

This one here is nothing but fresh growth.

So it tends to suggest to me that this is one that will fruit

in the middle of the summer, so it's a bit of an experiment for us.

Once the leaves are off, we'll get a better chance

to see what it's all about.

The two little dwarf pears are a complete mystery to us.

Here they are. If it's going to be as dwarf as that,

I don't know how many pears will be on it.

And the other one there, along there, the little Joy of Kent,

it wasn't very joyous when it came,

but it's looking better now.

So we've got to encourage them with a bit of mulching and feeding

in the late winter and early spring,

and see how they come into their second year.

The stepover apple is a well-known method of growing them.

It's just basically a single-tier espalier,

taking it along there, nice height.

Doesn't take any space at all.

The only pruning at this time, of course,

is to remove these side shoots,

cutting them back because we want to encourage spurs along here.

This is how you do it,

by keeping the side growth to an absolute minimum.

In the winter, when all the leaves are off, we can then take this back,

because as soon as you take the top out a shoot, a leading shoot,

the ones behind it will start to sprout

and that's what we really want.

Looking forward to more success with this next year.

Autumn is definitely in the air.

The leaves on the trees are starting to go over,

there's the beautiful rowan berries

and the farmers have been busy bailing.

It's been quite a while since I've been to see Mika

in rural Aberdeenshire.

I think you might guess what I'm going to say next.

It's time again for gardening on a budget.

Throughout this series, I've been showing you how to garden

without spending a fortune.

I've been helping Mika,

who's recently moved to Kinnethmont in rural Aberdeenshire.

As a keen cook,

she wants her new garden to have a range of edible plants.

Mika and I have taken a little trip to Beechgrove Garden

to get our hands on some herbs.

So, Mika, here we are in the herb garden.

And this is something that you've always wanted at home, isn't it?

Yes. And I brought you here

because I feel this is like coming to somebody else's garden,

so going to a friend's garden, a neighbour's garden,

so you can maybe get one or two plants for free.

Yeah, share them.

OK. Well, let's start straightaway,

because I think this is a fun plant.

Tree onion. Have you ever seen this before?

No, never. Can you see why we call it a tree onion, though?

Because it grows on the tops of the stalks.

Yes. It looks absolutely amazing.

As that starts to die, do you see how the furry edge bends over...

Yes. ..and then that clump of onions naturally starts to root

into the ground? Look at this one.

That is just perfect for you.

Wow! I'm going to lift that, and you can take that one home.

Look, a beautiful root system on it.

That looks really good. That is absolutely perfect for you.

So that's a good start.

Thank you. Let's go here next. Yeah.

A nice variegated marjoram.

I don't think you've got this one, have you?

Not that one, no.

What we need to do, cos it roots as it goes along,

so I think if you could take a wee corner off that one,

it won't look like you've taken much of the plant away.

We're not going to miss it.

Quite a lovely smell.

It's lovely. It's nice in a butter, as well.

Mmm!

Chives. I know that you've got the common one, haven't you?

That one there. This is a named variety called Pink Perfection.

Oh! Isn't it pretty?

It's very pretty.

Oh, I can smell that. Yeah!

Real wafts of lemon.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

And then a couple of days later, I joined Mika in her garden.

Well, Mika, you've been busy

potting up the herbs that we lifted, which is a great idea.

You've been nurturing them.

And this is the spot for the herb garden?

Yeah. It's close to the house.

So when I'm cooking, just nip out,

get my stuff and get cooking again, so...

Absolutely perfect. Also, it's a raised bed.

It's going to be nice and sunny.

Good drainage. Yes.

And a lot of herbs like that.

But look at your hostas and ligularia -

I think they're suffering a bit, actually.

They're a bit dry. Yeah.

So what we should do is maybe put those somewhere

where it's more moist. OK.

Sort of a bog garden, really. OK. Something else for you to create.

Yeah. And then lift the canopy of the conifer a little bit.

It's quite dark. Yeah. Just to get a bit more sun in.

So a lot of clearing there and I think Calum can get on with that.

But you've got one or two herbs, things like the marjoram.

Yeah, this one. I started to give it away, for free.

So we're going to do the same principle

as what we did at Beechgrove, lifting some of those.

So shall we go and get some tools?

Yeah, we'll do that, cool.

Lovely smell. It's amazing, really.

I used it in chocolate biscuits.

Mmm!

Well, Calum's made a good job of the bed.

It looks amazing.

So much lighter. I know, and then you've lots of hostas

and ligularia to put elsewhere in the garden.

Look at the range of herbs, though.

That's all the Beechgrove ones and what we found in your garden.

We did really well.

I've also some more, though, for you, because, you know,

you can buy perennial herbs in small pots.

They'll soon multiply up.

And not too expensive.

Only ?12.

OK. Not bad. Pretty good. Not bad.

And another freebie,

this was a beautiful garden I went to in North Kessock,

and Penny gave me this.

It's an everlasting onion, or a Welsh onion.

OK. So what it does is it multiplies.

Oh! It's perennial.

You can just take away one or two of the bulbs

or just pick a bit of the foliage. Uh-huh.

So, I think we start to place the plans.

I'm going to give you the lovage and the fennel.

Both of these are quite tall,

so I think they want to go to the back of the border. OK.

You get the lovely perfume, don't you, as we're planting?

It's amazing.

It's so nice.

You can imagine on a hot day, this is going to smell.

We have to imagine, don't we?

Yeah! THEY LAUGH

And these are so cute.

The tree onion. Oh, aren't they?

They're lovely. Hopefully you'll end up with some more of them.

Mika, just a bit of a handy hint when you're planting mint,

I think it's great to recycle your plastic pots.

Cut off the bottom.

It acts like a container, but the roots can go down. OK.

Because when you look at mint, this is a ginger mint,

look at the roots and how they spread.

Then you can just plunge it in there and if it fills it,

you can just lift it and divide it again.

Finally, when it comes to the herbs,

a very cheap way is you could sow some of the annual herbs,

things like dill and coriander.

You could, you know, sow these here in the summertime.

And parsley. And parsley.

Or even on the windowsill, little and often.

Anyway, there's one more job just to talk about for next time.

OK.

I've been very busy with my mum.

Lots of chopping back! Oh, crikey, a lot of work!

So much more space and just look at the view.

And I think it really ties in nicely,

cos I thought next time maybe you could lift

a bit of the canopy, as well, of the woodland.

We've got the branches from the conifer there

where the herb garden is now. Yeah.

And we're going to look at shredders...

OK. ..so that we can see about recycling wood,

putting it down for bark.

And a final review for the end of the series!

It went way too fast. I know, it has, hasn't it?

But it's been good fun. It was really good fun. Really.

Today's money-saving tips are...

I sense one of these blinking taste tests again!

Absolutely. And we're going to do it blind, Jim,

because I've got two tomatoes here -

Sungold which is really a yellow one. Uh-huh.

In the catalogues, they say it is the sweetest ever. Mm-hm.

Then we've got Sweet Aperitif,

a red one, again, saying it's rather sweet.

So I thought it would be a good idea if we decide,

do we think that Sweet Aperitif is sweeter than Sungold?

So are you happy just to put your hand in there, close your eyes...?

Oh, you're going to do that one. It's the nearest.

I'll do this one. I'll close my eyes.

I think you've got B and I've got A.

Now we do the other one.

What do you think? We need something in between.

Do you think? We need a digestive biscuit or something in between.

I nearly looked then.

I've got to look at that one.

I haven't finished this one.

I'll get accused of staring into your eyes, madam.

And I'll try this one.

That one. That's what I think.

A is the sweetest.

Now, the crew and all the production team have tasted it, as well.

So A had nine

and B, only one.

And it's Sungold. So that's the sweetest, still,

which is fantastic. Really, really good.

Now, more tasting - sweetcorn. Mm-hm.

Two varieties.

George and myself picked out Lark last year,

and I'm trying another one, Honeydew.

The tootsie one, was it? Yes, it was really nice.

And we've got Honeydew, as well. Again, we don't know what they are.

Where are you starting? That side? Mm-hm.

Yeah, yeah. I'll try this.

I love sweetcorn, especially if you pick it straightaway and cook it.

Dip it in butter. Mmm!

Oh! That is delicious.

Mmmm! Now I'm going to try the other one.

What do you think? This is cheating.

You really need something to...

get rid of that. Well, that one was really sweet. That's good.

We could do more of this, you know? Mmm!

We could just go on and on!

Not a lot between them, I don't think.

I'm going to go...

that one.

Right, you're going that one. The interesting thing is, you see,

that's the first one that you tasted.

And you said that's the first with you.

I didn't think there was a lot of difference.

This is Lark. And that's the first one I did.

That's what I mean, you see?

You are then predisposed -

the second one is always going to come second.

That wasn't the case with the Sungold, though, Jim.

Was it not? No. So it doesn't always go like that.

Anyway. I'm quite good at talking rubbish, you know?

Both of these are lovely, aren't they?

Absolutely. They're just lacking, as I say, a bit of butter.

It's not about what they look like. It's about the flavour. Of course.

Well, it's that time again. It's time for clipping hedges.

And I thought it was time for us also to look

at our evergreen hedges here. We've got little samples of each one.

We've started off with this guy here, this is a Thuja Holmstrup.

It's very, very upright.

It's very columnar and it's not generally classified

as a hedging conifer because, for one thing,

it's quite an expensive plant to buy

and if you had 150 of them to get, that would be your pension gone.

But look at the effect it has -

practically no clipping at all and you've got that lovely rippled look,

so if you can afford it, remember, Thuja Holmstrup is a cracker.

We had a Lawson cypress in here,

which didn't do well at all, it's been replanted,

the ground was remade, it's been replanted with this golden Lawson

which takes to the clipping and does perfectly well

and is not too expensive.

Then the classic of all time, of course, is the yew.

Makes a very tight hedge, beautiful finish to it, almost like a face,

really, but quite slow-growing.

And since I came to the north-east I keep seeing this one -

this is a forest conifer, this is Tsuga heterophylla,

the western hemlock,

and it can be made to look just like yew a lot more quickly,

so it's time to start to clip this one.

Right at the end, another failure, I would say.

This is a plant that doesn't look well.

It's a Thuja and the one that was here before

almost mouldered and died out.

We made the ground up again, put a new drain in here -

it still doesn't like the situation.

In many a place it would make a good hedge.

Here, it's not looking too good at all, but it's time, as I say,

to start clipping this one.

I no longer have a licence for these motorised kinds,

so it's back to the old clipper

and you want to clip back to where it was cut before

so that you've got a face.

You build up a face, so that it's almost smooth and it's...

I lose a few pounds at this game.

Now, then, earlier in the programme,

we saw Carole visiting Mika in her gardening on a budget.

Well, she's now going to have a look at a lady in Ardersier

who practices what Carole's been preaching.

This is Ardersier near Inverness,

where you might be lucky enough to spot dolphins in the Moray Firth.

Today, I'm really looking forward to my garden visit,

because Mari Reid is a big fan of value-for-money gardening

and she'll be sharing some of those tips with us.

This is my terracotta pot that I recycled.

It got broken and I didn't want to put it in the bin

so I used it for my succulents.

It's good drainage and, as you can see, they are quite happy.

They're absolutely thriving.

I love this bit of sort of vertical gardening.

I know, my drain pipes, they are great.

Again, they were recycled and I put some succulents in them

and, yeah, they're nice.

And do you do a little bit of collecting on the beach?

I know, I love my driftwood.

It's nice, every time I go for a walk on the beach,

I come home with something. Get lovely shapes, don't you?

Yes, they're nice.

OK, well, this is the front, but can we have a look round the back?

Yes, you can come, come along and see.

As you can see, Carole, there is no space wasted in my garden.

That's amazing, a perfect way to use the space.

Definitely.

Look at your shed, more vertical gardening!

It's like a living picture.

It is. It's just a seed tray, believe it or not, Carole.

Or, you know, the plant trays. Yeah?

Yeah, I can show you how I do it.

So, as you can see, here are the cells.

I just fill it with compost

and take cuttings of the succulents and then I put them

in the position I want them to be in the picture and then I leave them

like this for up to two months until they are well rooted,

and when they are well rooted, I hang them up on the wall.

So it's important to keep them flat to start off with?

Yes, cos otherwise they fall off.

And how long do you leave it vertically?

Until about November and then I take them down again

and redo them if they need redone and then start again next year.

That is a great idea - I want to try that at Beechgrove.

Great. Making wreaths?

Now, I recognise the birch, but what else have you used there?

I use broom. Ah!

Or anything else that bends.

Nice and flexible, isn't it? Yes, flexible wood.

And birch for staking the plants?

And other tricks I can find around!

This year I made a nice frame for my sweet peas.

That looks great, that frame, really nice. Yeah.

Now, what else do you recycle in the garden?

I recycle bottles and pots.

I go to recycling centres and get them from there.

They're nice for colour in the winter.

There's a lovely blue one through there.

Thank you, yes, I've got some green ones as well.

I also recycle hard disks from laptops and computers.

My husband works with computers

and he brings me home some hard disks

and I just like the way they catch the light

and the way they dangle in the wind. They look beautiful.

Thank you. I love them.

The plants themselves, I mean, they look so healthy,

so I want to know a little bit about your feeding regime.

Well, I go to the beach and collect lots of seaweed,

I wash the seaweed first so I get all the salt off

and then mulch the borders before the plants start coming in.

So March time and then they can grow through

and it just slowly releases into the ground.

It's good, because you have got all those minor nutrients, as well,

so seaweed is brilliant for that.

What a collection of plants, as well.

Where have they come from?

Some of them, the cloud pruning ones,

they were actually here in the garden, so I just cloud pruned them.

I love that euonymus, it's so bright and cheerful.

I know, it is. In the winter it stays the same colour,

so it's lovely. I grow things from cuttings,

I grow lots of things from seed.

That tree over there is a Abutilon vitifolium I grew from seed.

It looks great, how old is that?

That's about seven years old and I can show you how I do my propagation

round the back. Brilliant! Let's have a look at that. Great.

This is a cutting of my dahlia.

I just buy one tuber and just take cuttings

and this is just two months old and it's already flowering.

You keep multiplying it?

Yeah, definitely. I've got a monkey puzzle tree I grew from seed,

this is about five years old. So a lot of patience there.

A lot of patience there. This is a bit faster.

Yeah, grasses are quite easy, aren't they?

Yes. This is from this year, it's already flowering.

Lots more cuttings and what have you got in here?

In here, I've got bulbs from this tiger lily.

Takes about three years from this size to flowering size.

So you see the roots are starting to form already.

I know, it's amazing.

What about any sort of plant exchange?

I do a bit of plant exchange with friends and neighbours.

If I pass somebody's garden and I see a plant I like,

I usually ask for a cutting and they're quite happy to give me a bit

or I offer them a swap and they're quite happy to do that, as well.

And where else do you get seeds from?

Hardy Plant Society is a great place to buy seeds.

You get a lot of packets of seeds for a very few pennies.

?8 for 40 packets I think is quite cheap.

That's brilliant, that is really cheap.

So, yes, if you have lots of room,

you can grow a lot of plants for next to nothing.

I think you need to keep going up the way.

I think I do. You've got so many plants!

Shelves. Yeah, definitely. Great.

Also, you found a bit of space for the productive side of gardening.

Definitely, yes. I have my strawberries

and blueberries, hazelnut, raspberries.

Come and taste my raspberry jam. Oh, I'd love to try that.

What a lovely spread. I can't wait to try this jam,

it looks wonderful. Thank you.

I just use a bit of lemon to help it set

and I also make raspberry cordial

from raspberries and I make elderflower cordial

I pick up from the hedgerows. I must try it.

Go for it.

Really refreshing.

It's nice on a day like this.

It's absolutely delicious.

Lemon verbena, what are you going to do with that?

You can make a lovely tea -

just put the leaves into the pot and pour boiling water.

So how many leaves?

About ten for two people and then boiling water over it.

Cos it tastes like lemon sherbet, doesn't it? Yes, it's so lovely.

Everybody should grow a little bit of lemon verbena.

While we wait for that to cool down, I just want to mention

the mirror that you have got in the shed.

It's great, isn't it? Well, the garden just goes on and on.

Yes, that was a friend, she was throwing it away and I said,

"What are you doing with those mirrors,

"are they going to the skip?"

I said, "No, I'm having them, I have the right place for them."

Thank you so much, Mari, you've given us so much inspiration,

so many ideas where people can take them home,

it doesn't cost a fortune, it's been brilliant.

Thank you so much, it was a pleasure to have you here.

Is it time to pour out the tea? Definitely. Can't wait to try it.

Well, it's that time of year again

when we start to think about bringing in

our half-hardy perennials,

herbaceous perennials and woody perennials

to protect them from the winter.

I wanted to show you this plant, this lantana,

which we created as a standard to be used in bedding schemes.

It comes in different varieties and different colours.

It's quite staggering, isn't it?

But it's a Mediterranean and it needs protection during the winter.

So we'll take it indoors and have it for next year.

And, of course, all standards don't need to be a metre high.

Look at this little beauty.

Quarter standard, if you like.

A fuchsia, also just at its best.

I don't want it spoiled by the weather,

so it's coming indoors, as well.

This is Paula Jane - isn't she looking good?

And I want to protect this one, as well.

I'm back again taking a look at our pineapple lilies,

because a few weeks ago I mentioned the fact that they hadn't flowered.

We've had a great response -

quite a few viewers have written in, sent us photographs.

To start off with, Carole Baxter, my namesake,

has sent this lovely photograph of her pineapple lily

outside in a pot.

Loads of lovely flowers.

And then, also, Linda Johnson from Shetland,

she's growing hers indoors

and the nice thing that Linda said

was it took her three years before she got flowers,

so whether I grow them inside or outside,

it definitely is a bit of patience!

Well, it's undoubtedly bramble-picking time,

or blackberry, if you like.

And I can just imagine the bramble and apple jelly,

and the bramble and apple crumbles and all the rest of it.

If you're thinking of buying a plant for the garden,

we can offer you a choice.

First and foremost, Fantasia,

which is a very heavy cropper,

but all the branches have really vicious thorns.

Or we can offer you a slightly more delicate version -

here we have Loch Maree.

This was bred at the James Hutton Institute down at Dundee.

Cropping slightly later than Fantasia, but just look at that.

No thorns on these stems at all.

And the wee bonus is that, whilst ordinary brambles

have white flowers,

this one has a lovely, delicate pink flower.

The choice is yours.

Well, Jim, what do you think of the gravel garden?

It's fine. I think we possibly need a combine harvester.

I know, it's only been in a few years,

and look how the grasses have grown.

I think maybe we need to lift and divide one or two of them. Mm-hm.

It's not a one-off job.

You'd have to work at it gradually,

because each one of them will be quite a task.

Yeah, not do it all in one year, I don't think.

Yes. But it's stunning. It really is stunning.

Lovely with the crocosmias. Yes.

And the butterflies.

They love it, don't they, at the moment?

Aye, there's no shortage of them here today, that's for sure.

Not on a lovely sunny day like this.

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

of course, it's all in the fact sheet

and the easiest way to access that is online.

Next week, would you believe it,

I'm going to be planting bulbs and spring bedding. What a thought!

What about you? Well, I'll have made my last visit

to the Tillicoultry Allotments.

I'm looking forward to that.

And then, of course,

I'll carry on the theme of protecting plants against the winter

by bringing them indoors. Some of the camellias, for example.

Winter, I don't want to think about that yet.

Put it out of your mind for the time being.

In the meantime, bye-bye.

Goodbye.

'I want him to live,

SHE SIGHS DEEPLY

The shooting was fully justified.

So he's the Belfast strangler?

DOCTOR SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS

'I want him to live,