Episode 8 The Beechgrove Garden

Gosh.

Wow, sunglasses, George?

Aye, absolutely.

-Absolutely stunning, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Jings.

Hello and welcome to Beechgrove, on a sunny day.

Yesterday, it was 18, I reckon it'll be more.

-I think so.

-Yeah.

So much for my weather forecast.

Last week, I was saying it'll be raining next week,

so I'm going to book myself a job in the greenhouse.

-You're going to roast.

-I'm going to... I'm going to suffer for that.

-But listen, this just gets better and better.

-Doesn't it?

So, we haven't seen, for example, that little white tulip flowering.

That's Calgary, with a hint of lemon.

Do you like that, with the red underneath it?

-I'm not so sure about it.

-Yeah, red and white, little bit of yellow.

-It's fine.

-I love that little tulip, it's a stunner.

-Mmm.

Yes. What about this fellow?

Well, this is a cracker. Not only the colour, but if you put your...

People normally think that tulips don't have a scent, but if you put

your nose into that and have a deep sniff, it smells of marmalade.

I was absolutely amazed.

A real citrus smell. And that one's Olympic Flame.

It is quite a stunner, isn't it?

Sure, and this one over here.

-I don't like yellow and white together.

-Do you not?

-No, I want something with a bit of...

-Oh, you want a bit

-of red or something.

-That's awfully peely-wally.

Angel's Wish, that one. I think it's just a bit subtle.

I don't like the doubles, when they come open.

That yellow one, Monte Carlo. Looks a bit messy now.

-Well, it's past it.

-Yes.

-Why are you saying you don't like things?

That yellow, I think, is brilliant from a distance when it's like that.

And so is that yellow daffodil, it's Stint.

-Well, it's gorgeous.

-Isn't it? Oh.

-Stint, I mean, I love blue

and yellow together. That's multi-headed,

and then the Myosotis has started to flower, at long last.

Well, it's getting a bit of warmth, for goodness' sake!

So, that's your Stint finished.

What are we doing the rest of the programme?

Well, Brian Cunningham, head gardener of Scone Palace,

is back with us.

He's revamping the Alpine Garden, and this time,

a bit of construction and some planting.

I tell you what, George, this has got to be the most exciting garden

visit we've ever been. And I had to get my passport renewed for it.

Just to come and see this big garden shed?

You've got it. We're in the Netherlands.

Well, I really am being penalised. It's pretty hot in here,

but it is the start of the tomato season, as it were.

We're getting ready to plant a whole range of varieties.

This is a new one on me, called Tourance.

Don't know what it will be like, but it'll be measured against

Shirley and Golden Sunrise, all our regular varieties.

We're trying them in different methods of growing again, this time.

So, let me start with the simplest one of the lot, which is

this - a simple, plain grow bag.

We have three plants in the grow bag.

It's all been puffed up like a bolster,

to try and make it nice and evenly loose all the way through,

but at best, that grow bag's not going to be any more than that deep.

And, as the season goes on and it gets wetted,

it gets down and compacted.

And there's a problem there in long-term management of the bag.

Poke holes in the sides if you like, but it doesn't matter,

it'll still go down.

So, to make it slightly better, we go to this system.

You buy these collars and pop them in the top of the bag.

You can water in the side, you can water into the top.

The important thing is, you fill them up to about an inch

from the top there, so you've got a much-increased distance,

for drainage, which makes a huge difference.

Then, I thought, "Why shouldn't we emulate where people can put

"the plants in the ground itself?"

So, we've got some of these bags. That bag costs about seven quid.

It takes four grow bags to fill it,

but it's marked out for just three plants in it.

You know, that's the way it arrives.

So, are we going to get four times the yield in there?

I don't think so, but we'll try it, anyway.

Then, we come to this side. Here is the tried and tested.

We know how to work with it

and we can grow a reasonable crop in that, no bother.

Last year, for the first time, we tried this one,

and we had a bit of a problem with it.

It's about management and, so, this year, we'll be better at it.

What happens, of course, is you burst the bottom of the bag

when you put it down on the top,

and that lacerates the bottom of the bag, you see?

And you press it down, and then the moisture is

taken from the reservoir, through the capillary matting, into the bag.

So that actually should work,

if we can just control it a wee bit better.

And then this one, which is just a piece of nonsense, honestly.

You remember some years ago,

I tried to overcome the problem of this depth of drainage,

which is so important, by propping the bags up on their side, you see?

Well here, I saw this in a catalogue, and I thought, "Maybe

"that's the very thing, it'll do it all for me, it'll be easy-peasy."

Don't think so! 20 quid apiece these, they're a piece of nonsense!

The only good thing I can see about it is that,

if you've got them, they support your plants with canes.

You've got a nice piece here, to stop it on.

But I think we'll stick to the more traditional method.

I don't think there's a future for that.

Anyway, I'm going outside for a breath of fresh air.

CHUCKLES

Last week,

we watched Chris turning our Heather Garden into an exposed mountain top.

Continuing this theme, and moving into the next-door garden,

we're moving into the alpines.

Back in snowy March,

myself and Callum started the job of rebuilding the Alpine Garden.

After dismantling the old one, we've then re-used the rocks,

stones and slabs, to create a new Alpine Garden,

featuring different growing environments.

Callum, I think

you've done an absolutely brilliant job of this wall.

You've done it exactly how I was looking for it to be done.

You've got loads of little pockets where we're going to be able

to plant the little alpine plants.

And a wee bonus that I noted, with the colour of the blue stone,

it now looks like a waterfall, if you're up on the mountain tops.

Yeah?

The one thing that you're going to be concentrating on is

the most important thing in any garden - the little patio area.

-Aye, the wee bit for sitting on.

-Yes.

Aye, so we've picked out a few of the older slabs that were in here,

and we're going to make a couple of, sort of, irregular

platforms for a couple of seats to sit on

and you can have your gravel spread round them however you fancy.

Ah, perfect. Because we could then maybe use different coloured

gravels, to represent the water running down the mountain

-stream, and then actually going past some of our new features.

-Yep.

Including our Crevice Garden, particularly this new one that

we've got here, which is going to be growing alpine plants and sands.

Yeah. Great.

-Better crack on, then.

-Yeah.

When I worked in the Alpine Department

at the Royal Botanics in Edinburgh, I was always fascinated how

the pots that were plunged in sand would flower and then seed,

and then, the following year,

you would see these seedlings germinating in the pure sand.

So, this led me to do a wee bit investigating and I found out that

there are ways that you can actually grow these alpine plants in sand.

So, what I'm trying to do here is to create a more modern

way of growing alpines.

Something that's going to look good all year round.

And this is something that you can do at home, too.

What we've used here is,

we've recycled some of the old stone sets that were

used in the old Alpine Garden, but you could also use bricks,

roof slates, and even broken-up concrete slabs.

So, we've created our crevice feature here.

We started off with the flat ground. We didn't do anything to it, we

just gave it a wee fork-over, so any moisture can penetrate the ground.

We then got about half a tonne of sand and we've laid it on top.

I created the rough shape, to give me a rough idea,

but we then went ahead and started positioning our rocks.

The first line of rock to go in is this line here.

You're looking for slabs that are roughly the same thickness

in width and they're going to run from east through to west.

And then, from then on,

every other one of your lines is going to be parallel to that.

This is then going to give us

some planting pockets on both the south side and the north side,

so that's going to help us grow some more warmer-loving plants

and also some shade-loving plants.

-Callum, what do you think of this fence now?

-I think it's had its day.

Now that we've taken out that far end, it's looking awful, eh?

-No, it doesn't look great, does it? Time to go.

-Oot?

-Yeah, think so.

Let's go.

However we've constructed our crevice feature,

whether it's this wall or it's our experimental sand one,

the principles are the same -

we've created suitable growing environments to encourage

the roots to take advantage and keep cool and go searching for water.

What we're wanting to do here, on this wall,

is to make it look like a waterfall,

so the theme that we're going for is all blues and silvers and whites.

We're going to use the likes of this Lithodora.

This'll get planted up at the top and come tumbling down.

The first plant we're going to put in is this Cerastium.

Snow in summer, which is perfect for the Scottish environment.

Because this is a newly-constructed wall,

we're just going to use our dibber here

and we're just going to make sure that the soil is all compacted.

Now, as you'll discover, our pot is just slightly too large for

the hole, so while nobody's looking, you should nip into the kitchen

and get a fork, and we'll gently tease off some of this compost.

And by doing so,

we should have just a small enough plant to fit into our hole.

There we go.

So here we've got some John Innes No 2 and we've got it mixed with grit.

And we're just going to use that just to pack in

and that'll keep the environment full of soil and no air pockets.

Now, to water in.

As you see, the water follows there and it's going in,

and it's going to give our plant a good drink.

Whilst Mairi's finishing the wall, this is going to give us

a chance to look at our final crevice feature.

This is the one where we're growing in sand.

The sand we're using is a builders' sand

and it's zero to eight millimetres.

That gives us enough drainage and allows the roots to go down,

searching for the moisture. If it was too fine a sand, then it

would be too compacted and the roots wouldn't be able to do their job.

On the sunny side, we're going to plant up with these Iris pumila.

Knick Knack, it's called.

And these have beautiful white flowers, with purple frills

sitting above the foliage.

Whilst on the shaded side,

we'll be able to use things like this gentian here.

We also have some beautiful Andross plants here,

and this is where we're going to do a little experiment.

For planting, what we need to do is take the plant out its pot

and wash off every piece of compost.

If you do leave the compost in, the compost and the plant is just

going to turn into a sludge and the plant won't grow.

Now, this is where the camps are split.

Some people say that what we need to do is then

mix in a bit of John Innes and this will help the plant establish...

..while the other camp say we should be washing off all the compost

and planting the roots directly into the sand.

So, first of all, we need to get all our compost off.

Now, the best way to do this is to wash it off under the tap.

What we're going to do is just give it a wee wash in this bucket.

Does seem rather cruel, but hopefully,

both ways are going to work.

So, that's us put in the finishing touches to the crevices.

Next week, I'll be back to construct a scree

and to put the final touches on the Alpine Garden revamp.

Brian's had you right at the top of the mountains, where he's

been looking at alpine plants, these little dwarf cushion plants.

I'm taking you now further down the mountain side.

We're in the Himalayas.

We're in the area where the litter accumulates in little gullies

and valleys and where we've got this humus-rich soil

and it's fed with the snow-melt underneath and, then, with

the monsoon winds, so the soil is wonderfully moist and rich.

And this is what we've had to create here.

We've got this soil which we've actually augmented with leaf litter.

We've got compost in here, we've got all sorts of things,

so that the soil retains moisture.

There's no point, you see, in trying to grow Meconopsis, which is

what we're talking about today.

There's no point in trying to grow them in full sun.

They just will not survive.

You know, you can grow them right across the length

and breadth of the British Isles. They grow well in Ireland,

there are some varieties named after nurseries in Ireland.

There are some which will grow in the South Coast,

and grow quite successfully, in Cornwall and areas like that,

but really the best ones are grown in Scotland,

in some of the gardens here.

Always in woodland gardens, where we've got half shade,

and we've got this wonderful rich soil.

Now, we have been growing this one here for two or three years and if

you remember back, we'll see these things growing as seedlings,

I sowed that in 2014.

I picked it out in 2015.

This is it now in 2016 and it's going to be 2019, perhaps,

before it flowers.

So this one is going to take a long, long time to flower,

because it's a seedling, and do you know what happens afterwards?

It dies, because it's monocarpic,

and that's what happens with some of the Meconopsis.

Some are seed-grown, some are propagated vegetatively.

Now, propagation vegetatively means that you end up with

cultivars which come through every time you divide them.

So, there is something, what's this one? This is Dalemain.

This is one which is called after a garden in Cumbria and that's

a fabulous-looking plant, with these lovely tinges on the leaves, there.

So, we're going to grow that.

We're also going to grow this fellow.

Look at that. Is that not just a joy? That is a thing called mophead.

Now, this starts flowering in April.

The rest of them will continue the season,

right on through, perhaps until July,

so we get an extended period of growth and flowering

and interest - and that's quite important.

Now, the thing to remember with Meconopsis, then,

is, where you're growing them, to make sure the soil is acid,

make sure the soil is moist, make sure the plants are kept in shade

and in semi-shade. And that way, they will be a great success.

We've even got a white one here, which came from Denmark,

and at the far end, we've got a little one called

the Pink Harebell, which is Meconopsis x cookei.

We'll see these as the season progresses, we will see how they do,

and we'll make an assessment as to whether it's been a success or not.

-Well, you've been busy, miss.

-Well, George, as well. While you

were in the greenhouse, we've been trying to get this prepared.

I was sweating away and you've been sweating here.

Now, let's describe this whole area as being

used for a number of different things over the years.

It's needing grassed down and have a rest.

Yes, so we're going to do a little bit of a masterclass on how to

sow your lawn and this is a good time, isn't it? May is a good time.

Well, it is, yes, because the ground's warming up,

it should germinate quickly.

-Hopefully.

-CAROLE LAUGHS

-Yes.

-So...

-Rotavator.

-Yeah, that's the first step.

The whole thing has been rotavated.

-So, this area here is the result of that.

-Quite so.

Now, we're doing a little bit of a rough-raking trying to get it level.

-Yep.

-Taking off the worst of the stones, Jim.

-Yep.

And it's amazing how many stones there are.

And the more you rake, the more you pull up, but you want to get them

down to nothing much bigger than grape size, really, in the top area.

I've heard of people who sift the soil. You don't need to do that.

Oh, no, a neighbour of mine did that in Leicester

and it set like a piece of cement!

You know, absolutely riddled every bit.

So, you take the worst of the stones off,

then, you do the rain dance, don't you?

-Put your heels in.

-Yeah.

-We go one way...

-..and then, go the other way.

-Oh, no, no, no.

-No, would you not do it twice?

-No, no! One's enough.

-Anyway...

-Ah, well, you see, I'm lighter than you.

THEY LAUGH

She never misses a trick.

-Then on with the fertiliser?

-Yep, general purpose fertiliser.

That gets raked in and guess who's already having a wee look?

There he goes. Old robin, there.

So, there's so much choice of seed. What do you go for?

Well, nothing very expensive, really,

because the grass around is not all that wonderful.

This is principally perennial rye-grass,

a bit of smooth stalk meadow grass and a bit of red...

-So, hard-wearing, isn't it?

-Yes.

-It's not the fine bowling green type.

-Doesn't need to be.

It'll mow down to an inch, an inch and a half,

-and it'll still look good.

-Yeah.

Now, what I like to do, to start off with, is measure out a square

metre, measure out the grass for that area, so that's 50g...

-50g per square metre.

-And then I like to sow that,

because it gives you an idea of what it's going to look like.

-Yes, yes, yes.

-And especially if you're not sure.

Now, do you go both ways, the same as you do your tramping?

When you go for the whole area, we've got the two buckets,

so we take one each and one would go that way and one would go that way.

You've got plenty there, you come round this side

-and do it across the way.

-Yep.

So, tell us, Jim, why you've got that packet in your hand.

Well, it's your fault.

CAROLE LAUGHS

You introduced us to the mix of annuals last year, didn't you?

And in a similar-type pack, how can I put this politely?

-It's for covering dog pee patches in the lawn.

-Yes, patches.

But the fact is that we're going to try it out, anyway.

-So, it's the same idea, like a watering can.

-Yes.

Well, this has got mixed with coir and so on.

-This is easier, you see.

-That is so easy to distribute.

It's a little bit windy today, but that's fine, isn't it?

Well, I can get quite low down.

And then, once we've sown this, again, we just lightly rake it in.

Yes, and because it's dry,

it's the only time I'd be tempted to roll it, gently.

Good idea.

And you can roll it with a lawnmower, you know,

with the blades lifted.

And then, I think we would need to water,

if it doesn't rain within 24 hours, because it's so, so dry.

I would agree, get the sprinkler on it.

Now, Jim, you and George have been on your travels again

and wait till you see this. It's something really different.

Yeah, yeah. It's wonderful.

See all these flowers that you see in the supermarket, Jim?

-Do you know where they come from?

-I know exactly where they come from.

Right here, Aalsmeer Flower Market in Holland.

The biggest flower market in the world.

It is said that, if you took all the floors and flattened them

out on one layer, it would be as big as the country of Monaco.

GEORGE LAUGHS

The flowers come in one day, they go out the next.

Tomorrow, these could be on your table.

Everything at Aalsmeer moves at breakneck speed.

Half the world's cut flowers are bought

and sold at auction here and, within hours, they're on planes

and trucks, destined for all corners of the world.

Jim and I visited the various parts of this massive operation

and my first stop is with Loes Hooijman, who auctions plants.

So, how does this system work?

Well, all the growers are members of the auction

and the growers will bring their plants,

all kinds of different colours we have, like perennials primulas,

and they bring the plants at night, and auctions start at 6.30,

and then I sell trolley by trolley.

So, you sell the whole trolley?

Yeah, but you can also take one box, but that's what I do.

Is that your decision?

My decision, so I say, if you have to take the whole,

or you want to have just one little one.

The quality of these roses is phenomenal.

At dawn, before the auction starts, Loes and the other auction masters

examine the quality of the plants and flowers they're about to sell.

-These are just spectacular, aren't they?

-These are beautiful.

-These are very big plants...

-Phenomenal.

..and you can put them in your front door

and then you have a real welcome by your home.

Now, can I buy these separately or do I have to buy the whole trolley?

-No, you have to buy the whole trolley.

-The whole trolley?

The whole trolley, but you could make happy your neighbours.

I could give them away, couldn't I? I could sell them on.

Yeah, you have a real present.

But that's fantastic. Thanks very much. You're off to sell things now?

-Yeah, I have to sell things.

-Make your wages.

-OK.

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.

Aalsmeer uses the Dutch auction system, which has existed since

flower-buying went from the local cafes to an organised industry.

The auction clock starts at the highest price,

and works its way down.

So, Loes is now in the hot seat.

She's one of four auction masters here

and she's in charge of one of the clocks. The buyers are on the floor.

She's in contact with the buyers and she's explaining to them

the quality of the goods which they're seeing going past them

on their trolleys.

Some of the assistants are showing them the goods

and what happens is that the clock starts ticking, from the top down.

So, what the buyers are trying to do is to get the clock

to run down as far as possible, so it's a bit of brinksmanship.

They press the button when they want to buy it,

and Loes will tell them whether they have to buy a whole trolley,

a single plant, or a tray of plants.

She's in control.

SHE SPEAKS IN DUTCH

Loes is in charge of the plant auction,

where buyers can see what they're paying for.

Nearby, at the flower auction,

flowers are no longer shown on the floor.

These days, they're kept in cold storage, to keep them fresher.

Well, if you want to know anything about cut flower roses

in this building, the man to talk to is Eric.

How long have you been auction master here?

-20 years, for roses.

-Oh, well, I've come to the right man OK.

Let's be clear about these customers who are sat

there in the auction hall - they don't see the material,

apart from a big picture on the screen?

But how do they know that they're confidently going

to buy from the right person or at the right price?

I am watching the system very carefully and very strongly,

so I know what the grower is, what kind of roses he auctions,

and I know the quality, from experience.

But, of course, the growers will work very hard to comply with

the rules, because they will lose money, as you say.

Yeah, and also they lose trust, trust with the buyers,

and the buyers will give you less money,

so he will always do his best and be trustful.

When you buy a bunch of flowers or a pot plant from the shop,

how do you know that you're getting value for money?

Well, here in the testing centre at the flower market in Aalsmeer,

they've got it sussed. What they do is,

they will take a bunch of flowers at random from the marketplace

and bring it into this room, which is held at domestic

temperatures and humidity, just like your front room.

So they bring the flowers in here

and they cut the ends off them, just the same way as you would do

when you're putting them in a vase, following the instructions,

putting in the plant food, and then sitting them out on a bench.

They sit on this bench and they are monitored daily, so that we can

tell exactly how long you can expect them to last in your house.

Well, it must be very obvious to you, from the activity behind me,

that we're in the distribution section.

And we're talking to the man himself who runs this part of it, Jurgen.

-Yeah.

-You're a happy man today!

-I'm a very happy man today.

Are all these flowers we see...

Surely they come from all around the world?

You don't grow them all in Holland.

-No, they come in from all around the world.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-South America, South Africa - where the sun is shining.

-Yeah.

I guess they'll be going to as many countries, as they leave here?

Yeah, they're going all around the world.

It's extraordinary. And is this a special time?

Do you have a big peak at, sort of, Christmas or...?

For Holland, this is a very special time. Mother's Day is coming.

Yeah, most of the flowers will stay in Holland.

-Yes, and the demand will go up, then?

-Yeah.

-By how much?

-Enormous.

-40%, 50%.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Well, what a day it's been.

-I'm absolutely flabbergasted.

How many of these are going out today?

Well, they reckon about 4,500 trolleys.

-Like this?

-Like this.

-And that's only one day.

It's mesmeric, I can tell you, and it's so complicated,

and yet, it's smooth as silk, the operation, isn't it?

They know exactly what they're doing.

These things will be on to lorries, away across the world,

-who knows where they'll end up?

-It's got so many facets to it.

-Yeah.

-Well, unfortunately we have to go.

-Yeah.

-We've got a plane to catch.

Bye.

This is our daffodils that have been naturalised in the grass

for the third year and they're still flowering absolutely superbly.

So, if you have got daffodils that are in the lawn,

the thing that you need to remember is,

once they've finished flowering, yes, maybe do a little bit

of deadheading, and then leave the foliage for about six weeks.

You will start to see it going yellow.

That is the time when you want to do the strimming.

And, if you have just got a lawn without any bulbs in,

why not think about doing this in October?

Well, it's been a funny old season and we got lots of reports from

people about things flowering early for a change or late for a change.

Rhododendron, Hummingbird is right on time,

and it's an absolute cracker.

It's fully grown, I wouldn't necessarily want to deadhead it,

but if it was a young plant, I would certainly deadhead

by snapping it out. Reason - being slightly delicate about it.

If a lady's having a baby, she puts all her energies into that baby.

When this rhododendron sets seeds,

it puts all its energies into the seeds.

We don't want seeds, we want the grow in the plant

and make it better.

So, contrary to what some people would say, we deadhead,

especially, narcissus.

Phygelius capensis is, as the name suggests, from the Cape.

It comes from the Cape of Good Hope, South African,

therefore, possibly a little bit tender.

So, you wait until the end of May,

beginning of June, before you prune it,

and then, when you're pruning it, just give it a light prune,

pruning back to where you see the young growth starting to sprout.

That way, it'll grow up to about this height, provided you feed it.

Well, that has been a cracker of a day,

but it's time for the last kick of the ball.

See what these two young scamps are up to.

THEY LAUGH

-Rhubarb crumble.

-Absolutely.

-Oh, ya beauty!

-Now, listen I've got a theory about this.

-Oh, no' again!

When we pick rhubarb from a clump like that, we should pick them all.

Oh, why? A bit like your...

-The asparagus?

-Asparagus, yes.

-Yeah?

Because the next time when they grow, next flush,

they're all the same age. If you leave some, pick some, you know.

That's right, because often we pick the wee succulent

ones in the middle and we leave the big coarse ones on the outside.

-So when would you stop the cropping?

-Well, late June or early July,

I would have thought. Time to recover for next year,

and by that time, as you said a wee while ago...

Aye, we've got gooseberries and strawberries

and all sorts of other soft fruit that we can use.

Right, what are we doing next week?

Next week, I've got winter squashes, cucumbers, and more tomatoes.

-Oh, really?

-I'm not here, but Brian's back,

and Brian's going to be building his scree.

-Yes, yes, yes, yes.

-Cracking.

-But, of course,

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

it's all in the factsheet

and the easiest way to access that is online.

Well, I'll be back in the vegetable garden - surprise, surprise.

-Until next time...

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.