Episode 5 The Big Allotment Challenge

Four months ago, nine amateur gardeners were given a plot of land

and a greenhouse in our Oxfordshire walled garden.

Oh, it's beautiful!

For 16 weeks, they've been raking, staking

and cultivating their patches.

That's the sound of someone else's peas being gobbled.

Last week, the competition got even harder.

I feel like David Bellamy. I'm in the undergrowth!

Former royal gardener Jim Buttress

awarded Jo Jo Best in Show for her tomatoes.

You've done it again, Jo Jo. You've got the hat trick.

In Make, Rob's rudbeckia and stacked pots

won over floral designer Jonathan.

Wonderful colour harmony. You are my Best in Show.

APPLAUSE

And in Eat, Alan's jams impressed preserves expert Thane.

Hooray! I've made something that tastes nice!

APPLAUSE

But Reka failed to shine...

You've got a wonderful palette of colour going on,

and then you threw in the spanner.

..and left the allotment for good.

This week, it's the semifinal,

and the experts are setting their toughest challenges yet, with okra.

I've never even heard of okra.

A table swag to include helichrysum.

I think I just garrotted my flowers.

And pickles and chutneys.

It's got quite a kick. Quite a lot of vinegar.

Who will bag a place in the final?

Three of them, mate, and we've got a contest.

And which two gardeners will be leaving the competition for good?

He made an absolutely rookie mistake in a semifinal.

Welcome back to the Big Allotment Challenge.

It's the semifinal and the pressure is really on

for our five remaining gardeners.

It's amazing to be here after all we've been through.

After the weeks and weeks of hard work.

I never thought I'd make it to the semifinals,

so I'm quite proud of myself. Well done, Lena.

At the moment, we're all thinking,

"Argh! Oh, God! What we are doing?"

-Good morning, gardeners.

-ALL: Morning.

And congratulations on being our semifinalists.

You should be very proud of yourselves.

Now, going into the final next week, we can only take three of you.

So we're losing not one of you this week, but two.

We're going to start with the first challenge,

which, of course, is Grow, always overseen by Jim.

And this week, Jim would like to see three perfect okra

that you have grown from seed.

Get picking.

Okra is more commonly known as ladies' fingers.

It's often used to thicken stews and soups

and is particularly popular in Indian and Cajun cuisine.

Okra is a demanding crop to grow.

That's why I've put it in the semifinals.

It is a tropical plant.

So they need to reproduce those conditions in their greenhouse.

Like most tropical plants, they grow very quickly.

They want to be a maximum of about four-inches long.

So the timing is absolutely vital

to produce what I want to see on the Show Bench today.

Here's Jim's guide to growing the perfect okra.

You've got to soak okra seeds before you even think about planting them.

They've got a rock-hard shell

which needs to be softened before it will grow.

Soak the seeds for 24 hours

before sowing into small pots and water well.

To reproduce the hot humid conditions they need to get started,

use a propagator.

So as soon as the roots fill the pot,

keep potting them on until you reach a 25-centimetre pot.

Make sure you use a fertile, well-drained compost

and maintain a constant temperature.

For best results, keep in the greenhouse

and make sure they're constantly moist.

Once the okra have started to flower,

feed with a liquid tomato feed

to encourage them to form pods.

Pods can grow from nothing to full size in two to three days.

So keep picking them and they'll produce fruit throughout the summer.

16 weeks ago, the gardeners discovered

that, when it comes to okra, they have something in common.

I don't know anything about okra.

I've only eaten it once.

I didn't actually like it, to be honest.

I've got some old gardening books at home

and I looked up okra and it's just not in them.

I haven't grown okra before because I don't have a greenhouse at home.

So this is a new one for me.

I've never even heard of okra, to be honest with you.

This one is the Heirloom.

This is a Cajun Delight.

The last is Baby Bubba.

Oh, and you can see growths coming on the peas.

They're my favourite, I think.

I have two varieties, one is the Burgundy

and the other one is Clemson's Spineless.

And I have just been soaking the okra seeds for 24 hours.

I've always wanted to grow okra. Always.

It will be quite interesting to see what they're like.

Three weeks later, and the tropical greenhouse conditions

have worked wonders.

I'm so excited! Seriously! Oh, my goodness!

Ah! My Baby Bubba's up!

SHE LAUGHS

All I have to do now is keep them alive.

They come up rapidly when they're in this heated greenhouse.

I've got one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

The recommended method for germinating okra

is to soak the seeds beforehand.

Rob was the only gardener not to do so.

In week one, I was rushing too much.

I put them in the soil and, the day after,

realised that I'd not soaked them first.

So I just stood the actual tray in water for just over a day

so that the soil was absolutely sodden, and then drained it off.

And it seems to have worked.

Well, my okra has now reached third-leaf stage.

So we've got the baby leaf, second leaf,

and we've got the third leaf coming up here.

Which, from what I've read, is the right time to stick your okra

into their final growing position.

So probably time to be a little bit more ruthless than normal.

If you're Manchester United, you want your best players, don't you?

And it's exactly the same in this competition.

I don't want this chap on my team. Look at him!

He's having a bad time.

But it's not long before Alan's discarded players

are spotted on the bench.

Somebody's rejected some okra already!

Look at them! A couple of them have got six leaves!

Look at the size of them!

They've got six leaves, for crying out loud!

-God, this is what ours are meant to look like, lovey.

-Look!

-They've just discarded them!

-I know!

With seven weeks to Show Day,

Sandra's running out of greenhouse space,

so she's taking a gamble, leaving her favourite Baby Bubbas inside,

and chancing some of her other

greenhouse-loving varieties outdoors.

I'm taking a big risk putting them outside.

At the end of the day, this is my backup plan.

I'm not really worried about my okra

because I know my Baby Bubbas are going to win the competition for me.

And I don't think anybody else has got Baby Bubba.

It's a month to Show Day and everyone's okra is bearing fruit.

With the plants producing pods every two or three days,

the gardeners constantly need to take the ripe okras off.

My okra are a little bit leggier than everyone else's.

Everyone else's seem to be a bit thicker, with a few more fruits on.

But as long as they keep producing okras like that,

I'm not worried at all.

These will take me through to the final.

Or better do!

But with a week to go, the gardeners are realising

that timing their fast-growing okras to produce

three of the same size for Show Day is tricky.

So, for the Show Bench, they have to be no more than 10cm.

I mean, that's way over already.

The thing about the okra is it seems to grow really quick.

You know, look at the size of that!

I mean, look, I mean, goodness, look at...!

I mean, these... You know, if I brought those to Jim,

he would say they're going to be too big,

they're going to be tough on the inside

and the seeds inside are going to be overdeveloped, or, you know...

SHE LAUGHS

Do they look like fingers? I don't know!

The snag is to be able to get three

from the same variety at the same size.

This is Clemson's Spineless, I think.

I wish I'd grown more of one variety now,

instead of having a few different varieties.

I thought they'd have loads of branches with loads of okra on.

And I've never grown these before,

so, you know, you live and you learn.

Gardening's all about living and learning.

Right.

God, it's, like, double in size!

He's got to come off. Doodle-doo-doo!

Right, so I've got to be brave.

This is a Cajun Delight.

So on here, I'm looking, I've got one, two, three, four.

That's why I've cut that big one off

to give these now the energy to go, "Whoo!"

Having picked off their oversized okra,

it's now a race to see if the new pods will grow in time for Show Day.

Two very nice ones there which are about right sizes.

But the third member of the band hasn't quite made it.

But actually, I don't think anybody's in a great position with okra.

Three lone okras.

One's wonky, one's got acne.

And the other one's about perfect.

After 16 weeks of nurturing their okra, it's Show Day.

Trying to get stuff that matches

has been a bit of a challenge for all of us.

I mean, that's perfect, 10cm, exactly straight.

But they look like a set of organ pipes. Look at that.

The gardeners must present three okra no more

than 10cm in length, well matched, fresh and slender

and free from blemishes, disease and pest damage.

Flip, flip, fl-i-i-i-p!

That's probably going to be the only one

that's going to be the right size.

And... Oh! He's over.

Uniformity is essential for the Show Bench as it demonstrates

the gardeners have been consistent with their growing methods.

I never thought I'd be outsmarted by an okra plant. Look at this!

-Okra outside!

-Yeah.

I mean, the thing is that normally, being a tropical plant,

you want to reproduce a tropical climate.

So obviously, the greenhouse is the right way to do it.

But fortunately, because we've had this very warm summer,

they've made a lot more growth than they would normally do outside.

That would have been lovely and straight, but I think that's over.

Yeah, look, he's well over.

Whoever polishes their veg?

Ta-da!

Gardeners, it's time to bring your okra to the Show Bench.

Jo Jo has won three Best in Shows for Grow,

and Rob, one.

But Alan, Lena and Sandra have never won in this category.

Gardeners, it's time to find out what Jim thinks of your okra.

Alan, would you like to step forward first?

-Hi, Jim.

-Hi, Alan.

And the variety you brought along?

Clemson's Spineless.

And the characteristics that you know that it is this variety -

pointed, about the right length

and slightly ribbed, which it is.

-But I think these are still quite immature.

-Mm.

The thing we're looking for is three identical fingers.

Well, these are not identical, are they?

Now, I know you grew a lot of varieties,

so, which one did you finally bring to the table?

These are the Clemson's Spineless.

-Right. And these, you grew outside?

-Yes, I did, yeah.

We're looking for that sort of length, about four inches.

It's looking good, until we pick up the baby.

What a shame! Because they are three very good okra,

but they need to be all identical.

You know, ladies' fingers.

I do have a small finger.

Now, don't you start! SHE LAUGHS

-Hi, Jo Jo.

-Hi.

I detected not the usual bounce as you came towards me.

-What's the variety you brought along?

-It's Burgundy.

And the characteristic of it is the ribbing and the red in it.

And it needs to be a fairly deep red, deep purple almost.

It is a slightly-longer variety than the others,

and we've got it here, haven't we?

In fact, we've got three different lengths, haven't we?

-Little baby Burgundy.

-I know!

But certainly, two of them have got me excited.

Cajun Delight. Were these grown inside, or outside?

They were grown inside, but at different parts of the greenhouse.

The two on the outside were on the floor by the door

and the one in the middle that looks a little bit more perfect

was up on a shelf in the corner in a constant temperature.

Three of them, mate, and we've got a contest.

Because you can see, just looking at it,

it looks old and it looks shrivelled.

-What are you looking at me for?

-Don't look at me!

THEY LAUGH

-Hello, Jim.

-Hi, Lena.

How many plants did you grow of this?

I had eight plants of that variety.

So, out of eight plants, you should be able to get three.

And I've got to say, girl, you have.

The length is perfect,

the point is perfect,

the colouring is perfect.

Everything about them is good.

-You're smiling.

-Yeah. Well done, me!

-Well done! Well done!

-Ah!

Jim, have you had time to decide

who's going to win your Best in Show?

-I have indeed.

-Was it me?

-Every time.

-Thank you.

First of all, I've got to say, it is the semifinal,

so let's make it difficult.

But credit to you, you've had a crack, all of you.

But at the end of the day, I've got to be honest.

I think you know where I'm going to go.

And what a time to pick up the Best in Show. Well done, Lena!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Yay!

-Thank you.

-Well done!

Woo-hoo! Fantastic! I can't believe it.

Best in Show for okra! I don't even like them!

But they done me good. They done me proud.

I have lost the crown this week, but to a very worthy competitor.

The competition's heating up now, isn't it?

Because everybody's got at least two Best in Show.

I've just got to relax, put your mind into flowers now.

So you got to think Jonathan, Jonathan. What would he want?

There are just two challenges to go before the experts decide

which two gardeners will be leaving today

and missing out on a place in the final.

In this next challenge, they will be judged on their ability

to both grow and arrange flowers.

Now, gardeners, we're on to your second challenge, which is Make.

As always, presided over by our floral expert, Jonathan.

This week, Jonathan would like you to present to him

three perfect stems of helichrysum.

And in the surprise Make challenge,

he wants you to use those helichrysum

and any other flowers from your plot in...a table swag.

Jonathan, would you like to tell them what you'd like?

Gardeners, for the specimen flower,

I'm wanting to see three stems of single flowers of a uniformed size,

and with visible centres.

All you need to make the table swag is,

your scissors,

some rope,

and, finally, some binding wire.

You have only 60 minutes to complete this challenge.

The clock will start as soon as

you're all gathered in the greenhouse.

Good luck, and get picking.

Thought you were going to produce a couple of doves then!

-And a white rabbit.

-Yes!

Helichrysums are very vulnerable to weather conditions.

Although they will grow successfully as an annual

in any British garden,

we do have to remember their native country is Australia,

which makes them sun-worshippers.

Here's Jonathan's guide to growing the perfect Show Bench helichrysum.

The helichrysum is often known as the everlasting flower,

as it's a favourite for drying and using indoors.

For the perfect helichrysum,

sow finely onto the surface of the compost,

but do not cover, as the seeds need light to germinate.

Label the tray and place in another seed tray of water

to let the compost absorb moisture.

They'll need heat to get going, so place in a propagator

at around 24-degrees Celsius.

Once the seedlings are big enough to handle,

pick them out, taking care not to bruise the plants.

Pot on individually into small pots

and continue growing in cooler conditions.

Once the risk of any frost has passed, harden them off

and plant them out at around 30cm apart.

Choosing a sunny spot in well-drained soil

and watering well.

Keep them watered and weed-free until they start to flower.

Perfect helichrysum will have a straight stem with an open centre.

The flower should retain their intensity of colour,

with the petals around the centre curving upwards.

16 weeks ago, the gardeners' thoughts

turned to growing their helichrysum.

I've got two different types of helichrysum.

Helichrysum Pastel

and then this is Helichrysum Bracteatum Monstrosum.

SHE LAUGHS

I have no idea what that's going to be like because I don't speak Latin.

This one here, which is the Monstrosum Double mix,

these are really tall flowers. 1.1-1.2 meters.

But they start off really small.

So we're just going to sow them really thinly across here.

I don't really like these dried flower looks and things, but...

it's really good because I'm being introduced

to lots of different varieties of things.

These ones are just called a Double Mixed variety,

so, obviously, they double because the flowers

don't just have the petals on the outside,

they have the crown in the middle, which makes them a bit bigger,

a bit punchier.

They like a bit of warmth to germinate,

so I'm going to try swapping them over with something

in the propagator that's started to sprout.

A few weeks later, the plants are big enough to be pricked out

and repotted.

When I was sowing them, cos the seeds are really small,

I ended up with two or three per module

and they'll all be competing for nutrients,

they're going to compete for water, everything.

Just going to be like fighting away in there, so I need to prick them out.

This is a delicate operation as root disturbance and breaking

can mean stunted flowers.

Look at that. Look at that.

I'm quite happy with that.

I started them off in this seed tray, not all of them come up.

I've only got a few, but a few is better than none.

So I'm just trying to nurture them a bit to bring them on.

You've got 11 weeks, guys, come on. Chop, chop.

It's taken five weeks to get this far.

This is why I don't grow flowers, they take too long.

It's late spring and, with no more frosts expected,

the gardeners are ready to plant out the sun-loving, Helichrysum.

I'm planting these about 40cm apart because

they're quite big plants when they get established, these ones.

So I need to make sure they've got room to get their roots spread

and branch out.

I'm giving them 12 inches apart and that should be enough.

Jo Jo's also working out the spacing for her plants.

I'm 5'4"... I'm 5'3½" and then, the plants are 2½ foot.

If they're like this tall, then they probably want

to be spaced that far apart, I would have thought.

OK, cool.

I don't really go for tape measures,

so this is roughly 40cm, it's just a lot easier.

After one of the hottest summers on record, the Helichrysum are

thriving and the gardeners are looking ahead to the Show Bench.

I'm just tying some string round these canes

so I can support my Helichrysum,

because it tends to get quite windy round here and this way, I think,

hopefully, we'll get some straight stems, as well, as they grow taller.

They're crusty, aren't they? Weird.

They do use them for dried flower arrangements.

Listen.

-It's like having a paper bag, isn't it?

-Yeah.

They've got to have open centres, apparently,

and are they allowed to have these little buds on the side?

No, I think it's just one bud.

There's one bud look.

That might be open in time.

But with just 24 hours to go, heavy rain and 45mph winds

are threatening the climate-sensitive Helichrysum.

The flowers have taken a real battering this week.

It's been really blustery, really wet.

Jonathan's looking for them with the open centre.

So that would be a good bloom, but they close up again,

as soon as the sun goes.

So whether he actually gets what he wants tomorrow will depend on the sun.

Whoa, look at this wind.

This is going to cause havoc, isn't it?

You can see where the water's got in and started rotting

the Helichrysum leaves as well.

God, here it comes.

Look at it.

It's just ruining the flowers.

Most of the flowers will survive,

but the Helichrysum are really vulnerable.

But because they're sort of a flat flower like that, the rain

seems to be sitting inside the bud and sort of making them

just go all soggy and rotten.

Oh, look at Rob running in the rain.

It's Show Day and the sun is shining again.

After 16 weeks of nurturing their Helichrysum,

it's time to pick their three best specimens.

Well, I think that storm's blown a few more over.

He wants the middles open, I ain't got very many middles open.

I haven't got a plan, or anything like that.

I mean, I'm just going to cut them first, think about it later.

The gardeners also need to choose other plant material

to make their table swag.

Aniseed, Scabies heads, Olea heads, greens,

or Rosemary, Helichrysum, Nigella.

Oh, I was going to have some of these, cos I thought,

if I cut the petals off, I thought that might look quite nice.

I'm going to throw the kitchen sink at this, though, because...

I'm going home if I don't get a decent result

in this challenge, I think.

It's so small with just five of us.

Jonathan, do you have any words of advice for our gardeners before they start?

I do, yes.

Gardeners, to make this table swag, I want you to make it flat backed,

so the swag hangs securely to the front of the benches.

I want all flowers and plant materials to be bound securely

onto the rope using the reel wire.

And, finally, I want every bit of that rope covered

with plant material.

You have 60 minutes, and your time starts...

now.

Before they tackle the table swag, the gardeners must select

their three best Helichrysum stems.

My specimen ones are just called Double Mixed.

It's a mixed one, so all these flowers, even though

they're all different colours, are all the same variety.

Lightning!

Right, greenery.

The first step in Jonathan's table swag challenge is to cover

the rope completely with foliage.

I'm just going to add all this dark green fernery first.

The basic foliage is going to be Eucalyptus,

Australian flower, Australian foliage.

Table swag, why have you set that for the semifinal?

Because it's such a tough design for our gardeners to make.

I've stripped it back to the raw basics of just plant material,

rope, and wire.

So they've no container, they've no vase,

it's their workmanship that I'm going to be looking at.

I've never done any kind of wiring before.

I just can't work out which direction the foliage

and the flowers should go,

cos, if it comes in the middle like that, then it has to be balanced

on both sides, which kind of makes my life a lot more difficult.

You're working towards the middle.

The middle becomes the focal point.

You want that a little bit heavier, more bountiful,

more sumptuous, because the eye focuses on the middle,

-then travels out to the extremes.

-Chains, of course.

-Absolutely.

I'm putting the foliage out. Want to create a central feature to it.

I'm sort of thinking mayoral chain, you know.

I don't know if I've got a vision yet!

My vision is to get these flowers on there, all hanging nice.

Gardeners, you're halfway already.

Never!

You've had 30 minutes, you have 30 minutes left.

With over half their time already gone, the gardeners start

adding their flowers.

These are Cosmos seed pods.

I've picked the petals off them,

cos I thought they might bring a bit of, erm,

a bit of summer.

I think my style is most likely romantic.

I'm not feeling very romantic at the moment, I just feel panicked.

Lovely choice of plant material there, look what we've got here.

-Yeah, it's an interesting selection.

-Yeah, is that the sea holly?

-Sea holly, yes.

-That's lovely, isn't it?

-Mmm.

I love what I've picked.

At the moment, I'm just sort of concentrating on trying to cover

the main gaps, I think, because I know that is just a big no, no.

There's going to be absolutely loads of colour on it.

I want to get as many of my pretty coloured flowers on as I can.

Essentially, I want to just pack it with Helichrysum,

because I want them to scream out, "Look at us, here we are."

What about Lena in the corner here?

It's like a kebab.

-Skipping rope, maybe.

-Yes.

LENA: I haven't got a clue..

This is why I'm a painter and decorator,

and not a flower expert, cos I ain't got a clue on this.

Oh!

It's a big task and the time just absolutely flies by.

It's like, ah...

Gardeners, you have ten minutes left. Just ten minutes.

The final stage is to create a focal point to draw the eye.

I'm just worried that, when that hangs up,

it's going to sag too much downwards.

I'm struggling a bit, if I'm honest.

I think I just garrotted my flowers.

Well, I thought I'm not going to leave it till the last second to

hang it, cos it's all top heavy.

I'm filling in all the little bits that are drooping

and showing the string.

Gardeners, you have five minutes left.

Oh, I've put it in the wrong place.

-What the centre of your thing?

-Yeah, it was there.

I mean the wire's not a pretty thing,

and I do have to try and do something about that.

Knew I should have brought my glasses.

Gardeners, your time is up.

Stop what you're doing, step away from the swags.

Jo Jo, Rob.

Phew.

Thank God that's over!

Jonathan's perfect table swag should have a focal point in the centre,

no visible rope, and feature helichrysum

as the predominant flower.

The helichrysum specimens should be three stems of the same

variety, equal in size, height, and maturity,

with a single flower head and a visible open centre.

First up is Jo Jo.

Three very uniform size flowers there, Jo Jo.

I am slightly disappointed that you've not presented longer stems.

But you've presented these unblemished,

there's no browning on the petals.

-Oh, thank you.

-Now the swag.

You have got a great eye for colour.

You really match and harmonise colours very creatively.

However, I can see an awful lot of rope,

and that is because your wiring's not tight enough.

One attractive feature about helichrysums is how

the petals just flick back and just enclose the centre of the flower.

And I'm looking to see those on all three specimens.

And they're slightly at different stages of maturity,

just very slightly, Rob.

Still a greeny tinge in the centre of that one.

Now the swag.

You put quite strong, stiff branches of yew into here,

and they've given it this slightly harsh feel.

I'd have cut them down into smaller units

and wired on in little bunches.

It all moves as two halves,

and that is those big thick branches of yew that's done that.

-Helichrysum Kingsize.

-Yes.

We're looking for big bold blooms.

These two are doing the job, definitely.

This one's really trying to do the job,

-but not quite pushing hard enough.

-OK, thank you very much.

And now the swag, it's like you, it's colourful, it's bold,

it's vibrant.

It's nice to see people have their own style,

and you've mixed all these fabulous colours together,

which is a real picture of a summer allotment.

However, a few of these rudbeckias are slightly wilted.

One way to overcome that is to sandwich them

between a little bit of foliage, so it supports those softer petals,

and it holds that neck upright, so they don't look quite so floppy.

I'm very impressed that you've got these three good,

strong stems, supporting these fabulous blooms.

And, as we peep just into there, it's full of gold, look.

All those little individual gold florettes.

Now, if you were a butterfly, you'd be straight in there.

It's irresistible.

But let's have a look at the swag.

It's got a good pronounced focal point,

and what a nice marriage of texture between that

almost velvety amaranthus there and these rough helichrysums.

One thing that I'm just slightly disappointed to see, Sandra, is

-you're not hanging level, are you?

-No, I'm slightly lopsided.

You're a little bit lopsided here,

and I feel like I want to give you an uplift to balance it out.

Three very classic helichrysums there. Monstrosum?

-They are, yeah.

-Which is one of the oldest varieties.

Good strong developed centres.

Nice even blooms, and you've picked nice sturdy stems for them

which I'm pleased to see.

Now the swag, you're obviously inspired by eucalyptus.

-Well, Aussie flower, Aussie foliage. Seemed right.

-Ah.

They look happy together to me.

Now, I mentioned with Sandra's that I'm looking for

a pronounced focal point, and then I'm drawn to this, Alan.

I feel like I want to check the damage under it.

It's like it's supporting something of an injury.

But I'm not going to focus too much on that ribbon.

I want to check that everything is firmly wired in,

and here I can easily draw out these helichrysums.

And that's a shame because the rest of it is really securely wired.

And we've seen you experiment with colour,

and sometimes be a little bit perplexed about what to choose.

This week, you've chosen perfectly.

In Make, Rob leads the way with two Best In Shows.

Alan and Sandra have one each.

Jonathan, have you decided who is your Best In Show?

Well, it boiled down to just two people impressing me.

Sandra, you presented three helichrysums, which look excellent,

and you used those helichrysums throughout the garland.

However, balance did become a bit of an issue.

And, Alan, you equally presented three good helichrysums,

with those helichrysums running throughout that swag.

That bow was a weakness.

As were those few that didn't quite get wired in tight enough.

And that's why, Sandra, you've won Best In Show.

Oh, thank you.

APPLAUSE Well done, you.

I can't believe it. I'm really, really happy!

I thought Alan had me for a minute!

Call the police! Sandra nicked the swag,

or call the police to arrest me for bow tie tying, I don't know.

It was another close, but no cigar.

There is only one challenge left now

and I'm going to have to really bust my gut to win something there.

Now, normally at this time of night, I'd say to you go home,

get a good night's sleep before Thane's Eat challenge tomorrow.

However, Thane wants you to make a chutney and a pickle

using your okra, and other ingredients from your allotments.

Now, some of these things may need brining,

and the best thing to do is to brine them overnight.

You have 30 minutes, and the clock starts now.

Brining is used in pickling to remove excess moisture

from the vegetables to avoid diluting the vinegar.

It's just going to drip through there overnight.

Just makes them crispier.

Two ways of brining. One you dry salt.

Now, you dry salt wet vegetables.

You cut it and you just sprinkle plain salt on,

and leave it overnight.

That's my bowl of eyeballs.

But if you've got something like an onion,

what you do is you make a brine solution,

and you put the vegetables into the brine, leave them overnight.

Take them out the next day, wash them, dry them, and carry on.

But Alan's using neither method.

Okra's quite a dry vegetable anyway, and I'm pickling it in a hot

brine bath, or a hot pickling bath, in water in the jars tomorrow.

At least I won't have any washing up.

That's it, gardeners, your time is up.

Brining all on the go, except for you, Alan.

All of you can now go home and get some sleep,

ready to take on Thane tomorrow.

Good night.

See you in the morning.

It's the second day of the semifinal, and our gardeners have

only the Eat challenge left to face before our experts have to

decide which two of them will be leaving the allotment for good.

It feels a little bit like we're in the final leg of the race,

and, you know, I'm just, like, racing to get to the end.

And I'm just trying to tell myself, "Don't trip up".

I'm so close now, I'm one challenge away from the final,

and I've got to get in that final.

Anything can happen when you're under pressure, with any of us.

So it's just impossible for me to tell.

After brining their vegetables overnight, the gardeners now have

to make a pickle and a chutney.

One of which must contain okra.

This is your last chance to shine.

You have an hour and 15 minutes.

Good luck, the clock starts now.

Pickles and chutneys are the bedrock of preserving,

and they're essential in my book. But you've got to get them right.

My perfect pickle will be crisp, crunchy, brightly coloured,

and really zinging with flavour.

I'm just preparing the vinegar for my pickle, which is

called Picked On The Patch.

It's just going to be some pickled shallots, and I'm going to put

a few little cucamelons in as well to add a bit of colour.

They just grow on a tiny little vine,

and they taste like tiny little cucumbers.

This is called Essential Pickles.

It's basically okra, shallots, and these are little courgettes,

and I just sort of made it into a little flower.

With pickles, you can see the whole thing,

so use good quality, good looking vegetables.

You want your handsome onions in there.

You want to use a vinegar that's 6%, cos it's all important.

The vinegar is your preservative.

I'm making a rainbow pickle, it has cucumber and baby corn in it.

I've just put some soy sauce and sesame oil into my vinegar.

This is more of a Chinese-style pickle.

My pickle is going to be called Pickle My Fingers.

Ladies' fingers, you know.

So it's going to be okras, the gherkins, the sturgeon seeds.

So they're sort of like the poor man's caper, I think they call them.

With their pickling solutions simmering, they turn their

attention to their chutney.

Jim says that okra is very difficult to grow,

how difficult is it to cook?

Very, because it's very mucilaginous. It's gelatinous.

-So when you chuck...

-Mucilaginous?!

-Slimy.

-Oh, OK.

So, gelatinous, so when you chop it up, that slime can come out.

I think my chutney is a little bit of a strange one,

because it's got rhubarb and okra, and onion, and chilli.

So I feel like, because it's such a deviation

from the chutney-making norms, I called it a Chut-anomaly.

So it's an anomaly of a chutney.

It's called Gluttony Chutney, just because, basically,

when you've got an allotment, or you grow your own veg,

you always have a glut of certain things.

I'm using some courgettes in there, I've got loads of onions

and shallots, I've put those in.

Alan is also taking advantage of a glut on his allotment.

I'm making a runner bean chutney.

Done a runner chutney, cos they always run away with you

in the summer. The chutney has got French and runner beans.

It's got a little bit of English mustard to give it a bit of life,

and a bit of apple as well, cos it just gives it that consistency.

Lena's chutney is called Wotto's Onion Surprise,

named after her dad Wotto.

My dad swears by onions to be a really good medicine.

It's a layer of onions, a layer of milk, layer of onions,

layer of milk. So the juice that you get off it used to cure colds.

My dad used to say it tastes really bad, but it's really good vitamins.

Lena here, she's got some lovely courgette

or marrow or something there.

That's got quite a tough skin, do you take the skin off?

It's really important that this is delicious.

That, when you eat it, you don't get a mouthful of skin.

-There is nothing worse than a mouthful of skin.

-No.

Gardeners, 30 minutes left. 30 minutes, everybody.

Quite a lot of liquid to boil off now gradually.

It's a slow recipe, so I knew I was probably pushing it a bit.

These are my spices and I've put them in a little muslin bag,

so that I don't have to try and fish them out a bit later on.

I don't want Thane to be biting into a pepper or anything like that.

I'm just using some dried goji berries instead of what you

normally would use in a chutney, I guess, which is raisins.

Goji berries have always been used in Chinese cooking.

So they were in my store cupboard, they went in the chutney.

While their chutneys reduce down, the gardeners start packing

their pickle jars.

I just want to make sure they all fit in nicely.

I'm just trying to get them in some kind of pattern.

Putting some lemon slices in.

I'm trying to get all the stuff immersed.

Alan is pickling okra, fennel and chilli.

but he was the only gardener not to brine his vegetables overnight.

He's going to water bath his pickles, which is

another way of sterilising them.

So what you do is you use a less acidic vinegar,

so you might get a better taste.

But you have to cook them for ten minutes in a simmering pan

completely covered to sterilize them in the old-fashioned way.

-Like boiling a baby's bottle.

-Oh.

Ooh, ooh, Alan.

-Exciting.

-Very good.

-It is, isn't it?

-Well done, you, for trying it.

I'm doing it this way, cos okra's a bit of a tricky vegetable.

Did you find a recipe for pickled okra or is this just your...?

No, I found several recipes for pickled okra, and then I sort of

looked to see what I could adapt to use the things that are on the plot.

And the chutney's looking good. Thickening up.

The okra doesn't really have any flavour, it's just like a booster.

That's why I've not used too many, I've only used five.

Just because it can go really gloopy,

and it almost turns into wallpaper paste.

Maybe I should taste it. Oh, God.

Yum.

SHE LAUGHS

What kind of chutney is that one?

This is actually a rhubarb and okra chutney.

Have you had rhubarb in a chutney?

I've never had rhubarb in a chutney.

Is it your own invention?

Yeah, I think it may have been a world first!

Gardeners, you have five minutes left.

Oh.

It looks like chutney, tastes like chutney.

Just hope it tastes like the chutney Thane's got in her head.

Think she's going to say it's a little bit crunchy, but...oh, well.

My dad would say, "Go on, girl, you've done your best."

That's all you can do.

Gardeners, time's up. Stop.

Stop, stop.

To win Best In Show, the pickles should be crunchy, bright in colour,

and well packed and attractively arranged in the jar.

The chutney should have an even chop, with well-balanced flavours,

and be reasonably firm with no large pieces, skin, or hard spices.

First up is Rob with his pickled shallots, chilli, and

cucamelons, and his okra-based Gluttony Chutney.

We're going to start with your pickle.

But before I open the jar, I can see one problem, which is

that, in order for a pickle to keep, everything has to be under

the level of the vinegar.

And the trouble with vegetables is they're pesky,

and they tend to float up.

So what you can do, you can either get

a couple of sticks of something like rosemary, thick woody rosemary,

and make a little cross on the top,

and push that down to hold your pickles down.

-Right.

-Or you can buy plastic pickle holders.

You may not have known they existed,

but, in picklers' world, they're very big!

-Crunchy.

-Mmm.

That works quite well.

I wonder if you might have put a few more spices in your vinegar,

just to round them out a little bit?

I just put some garlic and some black peppercorns

when I was heating it, yeah.

You could have perhaps left the black pepper in,

cos we're going to get a lot of heat from the chilli.

So I think another layer of flavour from the black pepper might

have been quite good.

-OK, thank you.

-That's good.

I'm going to try your chutney now.

A nice chutney consistency.

-Sadly, I think your okra is rather lost.

-OK.

I was hoping the okra would be the star of the show.

Well done for using a lot of vegetables.

I'm kind of looking for some okra.

Sandra has produced her Essential Pickles, featuring okra,

courgette, and shallots.

And a veggie glut chutney.

-You've got the same problem of floating pickles.

-Yeah.

The okra is crisp, I'd expect it to be.

The onions are also crisp, they're a good size.

-You've slightly shot yourself in the foot, though.

-How?

Putting in the courgette. Cos you dry salted it, didn't you?

-Yes, I did.

-And it's very, very salty.

Oh, is it?

Right, swaps over, and this is your chutney.

Looks very pleasant.

The chop is quite even.

-Interestingly enough this hasn't got enough salt in it.

-Hmm.

It's very sweet and, if you're using sweet vegetables, you can use

a recipe as a guide, and what I do is

I put half the amount of sugar in when I start cooking, because

it's much easier adding it than trying to take it out at the end.

Next, it's Lena's Pickle Me Fingers, featuring okra and gherkins,

and her Wotto's onion surprise chutney.

I love the names of your things. Pickle My Fingers.

Very, very lovely lemons on the top. They look very beautiful.

-Hold the things in.

-You were trying with the lemons, well done.

I was trying, I was trying.

Well done. And these, I believe, are prize-winning okra.

-They are.

-These are the okra that floated Jim's boat.

They are.

The okra is very good, nice and crisp.

Leaving the skin on your gherkins when they're that size has meant

that I've had rather more skin in my mouth than I like.

A good attempt.

Looking at the texture, the chop's very good, very even.

It's got quite a kick. Quite a lot of vinegar.

Just having a moment.

It's not cooked enough.

This is fresh and crispy in its own fashion, perfect valid.

But not what I probably would call a chutney.

Next, it's Jo Jo's rainbow pickle of cucumbers, chillies and corn,

and her Chut-anomaly featuring okra and rhubarb.

Beautifully presented, a lovely looking pickle.

And because of this type of pickle you've used, long thin pickles,

you've been able to shove them right down underneath the vinegar.

So they stay. Well done.

It's crunchy, the sweetcorn, it's really working very well.

With the slightly salty cucumber.

But because we've offset it,

and you're eating the two together, it's working well.

I'm a little bit worried about the sesame oil,

because sesame oil might make this keep slightly less long.

So I would suggest this probably should be kept in the fridge.

So onto your chutney, but look at the rain.

Now, we've got some cooked okra, and cooked rhubarb in here,

-and both of them can be quite slimy when they're cooked.

-Yes.

Yes, it's all right.

It's all right. Oh, yay.

It's a very different texture to anything I'm used to.

There is a glueyness about it.

But the flavours work very well together.

Finally, it's Alan with his "the crunch" pickled okra,

and Done A Runner chutney packed with runner beans.

I think you can probably hear the crunch.

So phew, one good thing.

The cooking process has made the okra very slightly slimy.

That gelatinous substance is much more present,

because it has been cooked.

Nice fine chop.

I think it's too sweet. It's too sweet.

It's a dark colour.

If I was making this, I might have put in some bright red pepper.

We need a bit of visual eye catching with it, and it doesn't have that.

So far in the Eat challenge, Alan, Lena, and Sandra

each have one Best In Show.

But Rob and Jo Jo have yet to win over Thane.

Well done. Semifinal quality pickles.

You really have raised your game.

The winner of my Best In Show goes to someone who brought me

two very good examples of what I asked for.

The winner of my Best In Show is Jo Jo.

APPLAUSE

Come on.

Very well done.

Well done.

Thank you!

Thank you, gardeners and well done,

you have completed all of this week's challenges.

Now, Jim and Jonathan

and Thane have to decide who is worthy of a place in the final.

I'm happy that I won, but with only five gardeners left in the allotment

it's really, really a tough decision for the judges to make.

It would be amazing to get through to the finals.

It would be brilliant, it would be scary.

It would be absolutely traumatising to go home now,

rather than make it to the final.

So this is the semifinals,

the moment that we lose two of our gardeners.

-Mmm.

-Thane, for you, who's on the danger list?

It has to be Alan.

I was very, very disappointed with his pickle and his chutney.

He won last week, but this week, his game just fell right off.

He's certainly never won a Grow with me,

and it's always, you know, could do better.

He was just pipped to the post by Sandra for me this week,

so he was quite close.

I know he can grow flowers, and he's tried

so hard to do something creative each week with what he's grown.

And he did that this week, but just not quite enough.

That bow.

Thane, anyone else who worries you?

-Lena.

-Lena?

-Now, Lena won my first Best In Show,

but since then she's never really got it together.

Really? Jonathan?

There's elements that are good,

but she never combines those elements into a prize-winning

exhibit, with flowers or the creation she produces.

-She won your Best In Show this week.

-She did indeed, and won it well.

But we're looking for more at this semifinal stage, aren't we?

It's not just three good okra.

And we're standing here by Rob's station.

Has Rob performed for you?

He did the second week with the cucumbers. That was good.

He's quite a good flower grower. He's won Make challenge twice.

With the flowers as well, he's thinking about

-how he's going to do it.

-There's a theme, there's a look.

-Exactly.

-He's done some really good things for me.

I mean, he messed up this week big time.

Beautiful pickle, but where was his okra?

Absolutely rookie mistake in a semifinal.

But on the other hand, he obviously enjoys cooking,

he's got a story to tell about everything he's doing.

And he has got a good allotment.

Yeah, I'll give you that.

Well, you have to decide who will be the finalists,

and who do we say goodbye to?

-It's in your hands.

-Tough one.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, we'll need it.

-Right.

-And we are looking for an all-rounder, aren't we?

-Absolutely.

-And it's growing it, it's using it,

it's making things from it,

-and that's what we've got to remember for the final.

-Absolutely.

Gardeners, well done. We all heartedly congratulate you.

However, we can only take three of you into the grand final.

This has made the experts' decision even tougher than usual.

But the two people we're bidding farewell to today are...

Alan...

..and...

Lena.

OK, cool, fantastic.

Well done, congratulations.

Well done. Well done, congratulations.

You all right?

It's been an amazing competition.

I am so proud of myself for getting to the semifinals.

I met some amazing people that are now going to be my friends

until forever cos we've got one thing in common -

we're all lovely passionate gardeners.

I have landed up on the compost heap.

Almost there, but a week too soon.

It's been a lot of fun, I've met some great people.

I've grown some interesting crops,

I've learnt a lot interesting things.

No regrets, I think the right three people have gone through

to the final.

Well, we've got our three finalists.

Congratulations, you've made it!

I think what we have here is three people who really,

really want to win.

But I want to win the most!

Despite us being friends

and wanting to get on with each other, I think it's going to get

really, really tough and might be a few gardening gloves coming off.

Now I've got to really showcase what I've grown and what I can make,

and what I can do with everything on that plot.

That entire plot, next week, is coming into that greenhouse.

Next time, it's the final.

Jim sets a double grow challenge where the gardeners will be

asked to present cauliflowers...

Look at that great big whopper.

..and cape gooseberries.

That is green, it's just not matured.

In Make, it's a super-sized task...

I've got no experience of a floral art whatsoever.

..and a triple Eat challenge featuring cocktails...

Whoa!

..canapes...

It's a little bland.

..and confectionary.

While they're very, very pretty, they're not quite big enough.

Who will be triumphant?

The winner of the Big Allotment Challenge is...