Gardeners World 2025 episode 6
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World, and it's moments like this that justify all the work of
00:19gardening. This is what we garden for, to be able to just take stock on a beautiful spring day
00:25and really enjoy the way that the blossom is appearing daily, and the daffodils are looking
00:33really good. And I'm very happy with the yellow at this time of year, particularly from the daffodil
00:40Avalon, which has got exactly that paleness that I want in this border. There's a Forsythia too,
00:47Forsythia nymans, which is very late, but it's worth waiting for, because again it's got that
00:53soft tone to the yellow. And the colour scheme here on the mound is pale yellow and pale blue.
01:01And I certainly have got the yellow right, but probably not enough blue. One way of getting
01:07more blue in at the same time with the daffodils is to have muscari. So what I've done is brought
01:11a pot of muscari out, and I'll leave them here to seed. And muscari do spread by seed very readily,
01:18and in future weeks I will be adding more blue too, but for the moment I'm just letting
01:24the yellow wash over me.
01:26On today's programme, Carol will be sharing her tips and inspiration to guarantee colour
01:36and interest in all your beds and borders and containers right throughout the seasons.
01:42And I hope that I'm going to inspire you to try all sorts of things in exciting ways.
01:50We'll be heading to West Wales to discover more about the Welsh national flower, the daffodil.
01:56Some people just think daffodils are all yellow, but there's a big range of whites and yellows
02:02and pinks and oranges, and this time of the year the daffodils are fabulous.
02:09And I'll be showing you behind the scenes on my journey to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show,
02:16where I'm creating my first show garden, with helpful lead of course.
02:20I would be a liar if I said I wasn't nervous.
02:26I really like the idea of making a garden the way that a dog sees a garden rather than a human.
02:32This is the writing garden.
02:51And essentially it's a white garden, but like all white gardens it's predominantly green,
02:55but at this time of year there is a lot of white.
02:58The Lycogium are dominating, these are the snowflake.
03:01And then of course the tulips underneath that, we've got the white pulmonaryia.
03:05We have a tulip called Lady Jane, which is actually pink on the outside and white on the inside,
03:11which I planted to mimic apple blossom.
03:14One slight problem is that by the time the apple blossom is out,
03:17Lady Jane the tulip is finished, but never mind, it's the right idea.
03:21Now one of the plants that features early in the year is this.
03:24This is winter flowering honeysuckle Lonisra fragrantissima,
03:28and it flowers on wood that is produced in the previous season.
03:33So if you want to prune it, you need to do so now, immediately after flowering,
03:38and that applies to all really early flowering woody shrubs.
03:43You can probably see that there's new growth already coming there,
03:46and that's what will carry next year's flowers.
03:49So this arching stem here, I could take that right back, say to there, that can come out.
03:56Sorry Ned.
04:00Really old growth that you feel is not very productive, go right down to the base.
04:03But never take out more than a third of the old growth in any one year,
04:07because that weakens it too much.
04:09Otherwise, just cut back so you've got a bit of a framework.
04:12And what I want here is a sort of curving backdrop,
04:16and then all this growth underneath, getting some sunlight.
04:22Let's stand back and have a look.
04:25There's always that thing when you're pruning,
04:26you're busy pruning away and going well,
04:29and suddenly it's not like when you're cutting someone's hair,
04:31you think, ooh, that's gone a bit far.
04:34So it's a good idea to stand back, have a look.
04:36And in fact, I've got a nice curve on that.
04:38But this is very much a plant of winter.
04:42To get the best from your garden at all times of year,
04:45then sometimes you need a bit of expert advice.
04:48And who better, both for expertise and inspiration, than Carol.
04:54The thing I love most about gardening in a temperate climate
05:06is the way that everything changes.
05:09Day by day, everything's different.
05:11And gradually, gradually, one season changes into another.
05:16And each one of those seasons has its very own character,
05:21its own personality.
05:22Defined, of course, by the plants that grow then.
05:28This year, I want you to come with me
05:31and see how my garden changes through the seasons.
05:35And I hope that I'm going to inspire you
05:38to try all sorts of things.
05:41New plants, old favourites, putting them together in exciting ways.
05:46I'm showing you how, with some clever planting and combinations,
05:55it's possible to have beautiful borders and containers full of colour and interest all through the seasons.
06:02Of all the plants you could think of, probably the primrose epitomises spring more than any other.
06:14Now, they're in their element.
06:16This is a straightforward, our native primula, primula vulgaris.
06:22Vulgaris means common.
06:24And it is fairly widespread, up and down the country.
06:27And just look at them here.
06:29I've got Euphorbia amygdaloides, our wood spurge.
06:32And this is a variety called Robii.
06:35It's a brilliant ground cover.
06:37But here, it's making this sort of curtain.
06:41And through its stems, you can glimpse even more primroses.
06:46I just think it's beautiful.
06:48I think this is one of the loveliest combinations in the whole garden.
07:02And it's very much of this time, of this moment.
07:07So the centerpiece here is this trillium.
07:09It's Trillium chloropitalum.
07:11I love everything about it.
07:13Everything is in threes.
07:15It's got three big brats around here.
07:18The petals are in threes too.
07:20It's even got these extra bits.
07:22And if you look into the center of the flower,
07:24that's all in triplicate as well.
07:27Now, although it's a woodland plant,
07:30it grows deep down in between the roots of plants,
07:33which is why it'll come up year after year after year.
07:37And in the background,
07:38Aerometallicum, Marmoratum pictum.
07:42Pictum just means painted.
07:44And that's exactly what those leaves look like.
07:47But taken together, what a glorious combination they are.
07:54While there's plenty going on in the garden,
07:56there's always an extra opportunity to get early spring color,
08:01shape and texture into our garden,
08:04however big or small,
08:06even in the container.
08:08If you haven't got a garden or you just want some sort of movable feast,
08:15then it's a great idea to celebrate early spring in this kind of way.
08:20Now, the centerpiece here is this lovely daffodil.
08:25And I think it goes brilliantly well with these gold lace.
08:29This is a primula too, a sort of polyanth.
08:32A lovely old fashioned one with these dark velvety petals and golden centers.
08:37And I think that picks up the yellow in here.
08:40But to add even more pizzazz,
08:43I'm going to use this little anemone called Ranunculoides.
08:48And it's related to wood anemones.
08:50Wood anemone is one of its parents.
08:52And I'm just going to squeeze thin in between.
08:57Doesn't it go well?
08:59It really looks just the part.
09:02Now, the whole point about something like this is you can enjoy it for the moment.
09:07You can move it where you want to.
09:09And you can enjoy that perfume, enjoy looking down on it.
09:13But then when it's all faded down and your polyanthus could do with dividing
09:18and your anemone is just about going to sleep,
09:22you can put everything out into the garden and enjoy them year after year after year.
09:46I love this time of year, especially on this side of the garden.
09:51The canopy hasn't filled in overhead yet.
09:53And that means that all what I call Cinderella plants,
09:58all these lovely woodland treasures, are really making the most of the low light
10:05and the fact that the sun can actually get through.
10:09So we've got Leukogenes.
10:11We've got Epimediums.
10:13We've got Chinodoxa.
10:15It's absolutely glorious.
10:16And I've chosen this little bed to kind of put a bit of new life into.
10:24And I was prompted to do that because I've taken out this Ankyanthus.
10:29It was absolutely bone dead, completely gone.
10:35And I've dug this ground over, I've taken out any sort of perennial weeds that are here,
10:42and I've added masses and masses of good compost.
10:47So this Ophiopogon, this lovely evergreen, I've got a clump down there and these clumps up here.
10:56But what I want to do is to kind of join the two together and make a sort of little rhythm through the bed.
11:06With a bit of leverage.
11:07Look at that, completely separate, two brand new beautiful big plants.
11:15And if I put them in here, and you just want to spread these roots out,
11:23gently tease this soil in amongst them and shake as I'm going,
11:31just to make sure that it's right in between all those fibrous roots.
11:36So this can act as a backdrop for all these lovely sparkling treasures we're going to plant in between.
11:44Well, the first thing I want to start with is one of my favourites.
11:48It's an anemone nemorosa, it's our own wood anemone.
11:52This is one called Robinsoniana, and it's this pale sort of misty blue.
11:58It's absolutely beautiful.
12:00And it moves, so although they're going to look like clumps right now,
12:05eventually they'll spread right the way through this bed and make this beautiful sort of carpet.
12:12Because every single one of these leaves and the flowers comes from a little rhizome.
12:18See those there?
12:18And those rhizomes live just under the ground and just move around under the fallen leaves,
12:26just a couple of inches below the surface of the soil.
12:30Another dainty addition to our shady scene is anemonella phthalic troides,
12:39so called because of the similarity of its leaves to the foliage of phthalictrums.
12:45They're both members of the Buttercup family, Manunculaceae.
12:51Erythroniums are some of the most exquisite of spring woodlanders,
12:56with their reflex petals and marbled leaves.
13:01They're bulbous, and their roots penetrate deeply into the spaces in between tree roots.
13:07Most of the things I'm adding to this bed are spring cinderellas, and will go to sleep during the summer.
13:23My Ophiopogon mihalibors are evergreen, and I want to add these beguenias too for another evergreen element.
13:31This is a beguenia called flirt.
13:34They're incredibly versatile plants.
13:37They'll cope with sun, dry shade like this.
13:43It's going to flourish perfectly in this sort of position,
13:47and it's a huge advantage, quite apart from the shape of its leaves,
13:52which are a lovely contrast, is their colour.
13:55Just look at that.
13:56It's like somebody's been round with a red boot polish.
13:59There's a bit of shine to it as well.
14:05So this bed's undergone quite a transformation.
14:08Of course there are still spaces between the plants,
14:12but by next spring the whole thing will be wall-to-wall foliage and flowers.
14:27We'll be joining Carol throughout the year and learning from somebody who probably knows better than
14:37anybody alive, of how to make those plant combinations, so there is something special right throughout the year.
14:42The Taihaku cherry has been at its very best over the last few days.
14:54The leaves are beginning to come now, which means that in the next 48 hours all those petals will gently come wafting down.
15:08But what's been fantastic this year is that there's been no rain and very little wind.
15:22So that means that the blossom has stayed longer than I've ever known it.
15:26And Taihaku is famous for being very brief. Most years it's two days if you're lucky.
15:30This year we've had a full week of what I think is the best cherry blossom in the world.
15:36The reason I've come here to the damp garden is to collect a hosta.
15:43Now is a really good time when you can see the new growth to divide, plant, move hostas of any kind.
15:52But also I want to try something else because I suppose I get more questions than anything else about slugs eating hostas.
16:01And nearly always that's to do with hostas in pots because my hostas here barely get touched by slugs or snails.
16:08And I want to take a couple so I can do this experiment to see how they grow in pots compared to the ground.
16:15So all you have to do is just get the spade and dig round it and hosta roots are quite deep.
16:23This area floods so these get a really good soak in the winter.
16:28And I find that as long as hostas get a good winter soak they can take a surprising amount of summer dryness.
16:42Now you can see that is a really substantial plant.
16:47So what I'm going to do now is just divide this, just lean the spade on it and apply pressure.
16:54And hopefully it'll be enough just to force it apart like that.
16:59This that's cut through quite nicely.
17:01Very satisfying sharp sound there.
17:04There we go.
17:06So I have the smaller segment there, still a nice size hosta and you can see the really woody roots
17:15and that should grow with more vigour having been divided.
17:18So I'm going to put this back in the hole like that and I'll fill around it.
17:24I will give that a really good soak and this bigger chunk
17:39I'm going to take back up
17:40and split it and pot it up so we can see how that grows compared to the one in the ground.
17:57I'm going to subdivide this division and plant each half in a pot.
18:11Same idea, rest it on and get a good push.
18:17There we go.
18:17So this is quite a large hosta so it needs a large pot and then give it a good rich compost
18:30so that it can access plenty of moisture and nutrition because it needs that to be healthy
18:36and unless it's healthy it'll become stressed and if it's stressed that's when it'll get eaten.
18:41So that's about the right height.
18:42I've got a mix here I'll pack around it.
18:50This is one-third peat-free compost, one-third leaf mould and one-third sieved garden compost
18:56and I would expect this to be here in this pot for about another two, three years.
19:07Right, that's one and now I've got the other.
19:12I've got the other pots here.
19:19Never fill right to the brim, leave at least an inch so that when you water it,
19:25you can flood it and it will soak gradually in.
19:33I will put these with the other pots that I've got over there and what I've done is pot it up a whole
19:38range of hostas just to see if my hostas can survive really well in containers as well as the ground
19:45and don't get eaten by slugs and snails.
19:48Right, I'll leave those there for the moment, I've got another job I need to get on with.
19:58I've got the grass borders on this side which at this time of year are only just beginning to show
20:13new green and grow and the jewel garden on the other side of the path has had big changes this year.
20:21We still wanted it to be the jewel garden as it's always been but we needed to just rethink the
20:27planting. Given all that we've learned, given that we've got climate change, given that we're getting
20:33older and therefore we want to reduce maintenance a little bit, how would we plant it? And one of the
20:39things I've decided to do is add more grasses. I did add a few Miscanthus sacchariflorus last year,
20:46they're down at the end and I didn't cut them back because I wanted to see how they looked and I've
20:50decided to add more. Miscanthus is one of those grasses that is very forgiving, it's very adaptable,
20:57it will grow in most soils and most situations, so a great place to start if you're not used to growing
21:04grasses. And sacchariflorus is huge, it's the biggest of the lot, it grows 14, 15, 16 foot tall,
21:13so I want these to go in the middle of the borders where they can compete with the vigour
21:18of all the growth around them. Grasses are best planted when the soil warms up,
21:32now that will vary from garden to garden and place to place. Right, see if I can get out the pot.
21:38There we go. Right, don't plant it too deep. When you're planting any grasses, if in doubt,
21:50put it on a slight mound. That is actually perfect.
21:57Right, we're going to visit one of your gods now. It takes us to Scotland, it belongs to Jess Goddard,
22:04and although it's small, it's full of lovely things.
22:10Hi gardeners world, my name's Jess and welcome to my balcony garden in Glasgow.
22:16When I first moved to Scotland, I was delighted to find that my flat had a balcony,
22:20and so I started to create a garden. My balcony is small, but it doesn't stop me from filling it
22:26with as many plants as I can. I have two microclimates, one on each side, a dry side and a damp side.
22:34I learnt this because all the plants on one side kept dying because they were getting too wet,
22:39so I switched it up and started growing hostas and ferns on the damp side,
22:43and moved everything else to the dry side. And since I've done that, it's worked really well.
22:48The conditions on my balcony can be quite unpredictable, but the plants adapt really
22:53well to the conditions as long as I put them in the right place and protect them from getting too wet.
22:58My favourite thing in my garden is my Devon Green Hoster, because I really like the leaf shape and
23:06the colour. Most of the hostas in my garden were given to me by my dad, who divided the ones from
23:12his own garden. I love that even eight hours apart, we can chat about the same plants and their progress,
23:18just like I used to when I lived back at home. It makes it feel extra special. This is my first garden,
23:25and I'm really proud of what I've created, and I hope that you've enjoyed it too.
23:41I love the enthusiasm, and of course you can get that from any space. You don't need a big garden or
23:51a garden at all to really get the pleasure from plants. And funnily enough, I could really relate
23:57to Jesse's balcony, because that thing of having one area quite close to another with very different
24:02growing conditions, we've got exactly here in the herb garden. On this side of the path, the bigger side,
24:10it gets full sun in summer and at least half a day in winter, and we grow Mediterranean herbs
24:16in there without too much trouble. But once you get back into this space, the shadow is quite deep,
24:24and no herb thrives in deep shade. However, some will cope with shade much better than others.
24:33I've got here some chives, which are really good. Chives are probably the easiest herb of all to grow,
24:39easy to grow from seed, and when you cut them, they regrow really fast. And as long as they get three
24:44or four hours of sunlight, they're good for shade. I've also got mint. Now, listen carefully. Do not plant
24:53mint into any kind of border, because they are very, very invasive. However, they're brilliant in a pot,
25:02or a container of any kind. And I've got three types of mint here. I've got apple mint, which is the best
25:07mint to add to new potatoes. I've got spearmint, which as an all-round mint is probably the best for
25:13cooking, and peppermint, which I think makes the best mint for drinking. And I'm going to put them in
25:19pots, but not the same pot, because they muddy each other's taste. Now, this is a particular favorite
25:28of mine. I'm not sure you could technically call it a herb, but I'm going to. It's red-veined sorrel.
25:34It's got a distinct tangy taste, and I think it's a really good plant to add to all kinds of things.
25:40You can cook with it. You can add it to salads. It's just an unusual and beautiful plant.
25:45You all right, Ned? You okay? Do you want to come and help me? No.
25:53Now, I'm going to start with the sorrel. The sorrel, of course, is a perennial,
25:58and so it does come back year on year.
26:08When you're preparing the soil for any herbs, always air on the side of too much drainage,
26:14rather than too little. And just remember that herbs and sun go together. If you've got shade,
26:23cut your cloth accordingly, reduce the options, and just enjoy what will grow successfully.
26:32Come on. Good boy.
26:34I have taken on this year another garden away from Longmeadow, and its deadline for completion is
26:42approaching fast. I've lived with dogs all my life, so it's natural for me to be always accompanied
26:49by a dog or two, especially in the garden. My wife always says that I understand dogs better than I do
26:55people. I've never in my life had a garden without dogs. They are as much part of the garden as plants.
27:05So, last year, when I got a call from the RHS and Radio 2, asking if I would consider designing a
27:12garden that celebrated dogs and gardening at Chelsea, I was up for the challenge.
27:18And could depend on Ned to give me a helping hand.
27:25To have Monty and Ned designing the RHS garden, I mean, I think it's a dream come true for us.
27:31We're very conscious that right now it's really difficult times, and so we thought,
27:36why not actually celebrate some of the things that people in this country love the most? Gardens and
27:42dogs, bringing them together with Monty and Ned in one great big package, I think would just bring joy
27:49to the nation. I knew that if I was going to be able to do this, I would need the help of the very best
27:56team available. So, I enlisted the nurseryman Jamie Butterworth, who has established himself with a
28:02gold medal pedigree from RHS Chelsea. When I got the call from Monty the first time,
28:09I couldn't quite believe it. Actually, not only is it RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which is the biggest
28:14flower show in the world, but it's Monty Don. He's the reason I got into gardening in the first place.
28:19As excitement about the garden began to grow, over on Radio 2, DJ, RHS ambassador,
28:26gardening enthusiast and dog lover Joe Wiley has been on hand, offering us support.
28:32The garden is all about reflecting the special place that dogs hold in our hearts and our gardens.
28:36Ned has had a formal invitation, so I think everybody involved should bring their dogs
28:41and let chaos reign. Monty, stop. You are so mischievous.
28:49This is Monty's design. It's his vision. It's his garden at Chelsea. But my job is to bring it
28:56into reality and actually create what's in Monty's head.
29:02I would be a liar if I said I wasn't nervous.
29:07I really like the idea of making a garden or having a part of a garden that really catered
29:14for the way that a dog sees a garden rather than a human. I wanted it to be a place where dogs would
29:20feel happy and at home and that the human element would enjoy it as a garden and just where those
29:26two things met. Today, Jamie has brought some sample bricks for the Chelsea Garden Pass,
29:33which we hope will give it just a little nod to Longmeadow. But like everything else,
29:38the devil is in the detail. How are you?
29:41Really good to see you again. What have you got here?
29:44God, you've got a lot. I've got a load of bricks. This type, which is very like what we call a
29:50lampspin, which is really heavy and solid, makes brilliant paths. Yes. Absolutely brilliant.
29:56But these, which are old bricks, are much nicer colour. In addition to the brick paths,
30:02my garden design includes an area for dogs to explore in their own mazy way. A selection of trees,
30:10a flower meadow, a stream to wallow in, a lawn, and a building which is a combination of a summer
30:19house and enormous kennel. Oh, and there'll obviously be a couple of chewed balls.
30:26It's more than just a jokey dog garden, although there's an element of that. It's somewhere where
30:32dogs are part of a family. And that family may be one person and two dogs. It might be,
30:37you know, it could be any combination, but it's part of a life. And yeah, I think that's,
30:43that's the core of it. If we can achieve that, I'll be happy.
30:51For the planting, I've chosen very familiar trees and shrubs, like hazel,
30:57field maple and crab apple, along with a ball theme, including circular flowers and topiary.
31:04And of course, there'll be dogwood in there too. I'm assuming that everything's going swimming
31:10in the polytons. How are the plants? The plants are growing, which is a good start. Yeah.
31:16We can't second guess or know what it's going to do is the weather. And obviously,
31:20it's incredible today. And if we have this between now and Chelsea, we'll mostly be looking at a palette
31:26that would in normal years be in flower in June. So we'll have to say goodbye to the tulips and some
31:31of the bulbs that we wanted to use. Whereas we could still get snow next week. It's that time of
31:37year where we just don't know what's going to happen. On the one hand, you know, we're not being
31:40judged. So therefore, no one's going to take points off if something is not perfect. On the other hand,
31:45it's got to be perfect. It will. It has to be perfect. I do want people to like it. I want people to love it.
31:52And if I equip myself, well, few. And if I don't, well, it'll be embarrassing and it will be a pity,
32:01but it won't be for one to try.
32:06With just weeks left until Chelsea, the biggest decisions are still to be made. So I've come to the
32:13nursery where they've marked out the garden to scale. Now I can really start to understand the
32:19space and place the trees and shrubs and discuss the structural bones of the design with Jamie and his
32:25team. Very nice. This is your garden. It's glorious. Let's just leave this like this. Oh, hi. How are you?
32:38Nice to see you. Nice to see you again. Yeah, you too. How are you? I'm all right. I'm okay. I'm...
32:43I'm sort of scratching your head. Yeah, I'm somewhere between excitement and just pure cold panic.
32:53One of the crucial features to get right is the garden summer house,
32:57including my own love of reclaimed material for garden buildings. But at the moment,
33:02we have a small problem interpreting the idea into reality. As if it's too derelict,
33:09it cuts out everybody who has no access to a derelict building and then becomes a stage set.
33:13Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I want to avoid that. The arm checker on that side, sofa on that side.
33:19But I don't think we want a great big window. Dogs are exactly where the seats are going to be.
33:25I think that's a doggy seal of approval.
33:27There is almost nothing that you can think of that doesn't have to have a decision made about it.
33:33And lots of things you haven't thought of that have to have a decision made about it.
33:37One thing that we just have to decide today is the exact placement of the trees.
33:42OK, you're good. You're good.
33:45What that means is we don't need... No, something like that in there.
33:49And that takes a lot of fine tuning. So Jo's arrival is a welcome relief. And she's here
33:55to get a dog garden update for her listeners. It's all about detail for me. Inches will make a
34:02difference. You know, the difference between being dead right and OK is small but critical.
34:11Having finished our radio interview, we've still got a lot of trees to place. So Jo lends us a hand.
34:17So we're trying to create a foreground of trees where you look through the stems.
34:27Yeah, that's much more like it. Much more like it. That's gorgeous. That's great.
34:32The height is right. Yeah. And the width.
34:35They're just working things out at the moment. That's exactly what's happening. It's like,
34:38does this look right here? No, it's not quite right. Just moving stuff around. It's actually
34:41quite frantic and quite manic. I quite like the idea of you having the gate in the corner. That's nice.
34:47So that's exactly where Jo is now. Jo, you are the gate. I am the gate. Slightly over.
34:52That's it. Perfect. You're gate-tastic. I'm the gate.
34:56Is this garden going to be judged? Not by judges, no, but by people. It's going to be so scrutinised.
35:02Everybody, everybody is going to have a view about this garden. He's a very brave man, Monty Don.
35:07We started this journey last July. We're committed. Can't get out of it. Got to go ahead. We are two,
35:16three steps closer to what we're trying to achieve.
35:19From the outset, I wanted to be sure that the finished garden was somewhere that was good for
35:28both people and dogs, which is where my co-designer, Ned, comes in. That's your bit there, okay?
35:36You're going to design that, okay? Got that? Good boy.
35:40So last week, Ned and I went to Jamie's nursery together to decide, from a dog's point of view,
35:48where the pathway should go. Hello, Ned. How are you? This is the garden plan, and we had made some
35:56sort of tenuous nods as to where the dog paths might go, but obviously it was always going to be
36:00designed by Ned. And so I've got a blank corner here that as we watch Ned wander through the garden,
36:07we can actually map it out, and that is what we will build at Chelsea.
36:11To make it easier for ourselves and Ned, we've made the planting area twice the size that it's
36:17actually going to be at Chelsea. So now, all we have to do is watch Ned's progress as he maps out our paths.
36:37There was a distinct sense of that, wasn't there? Yeah.
36:50Actually, watching Ned go through it was quite interesting. It was quite instructive.
36:55We did genuinely learn how Ned behaved within the space, and we will
37:00genuinely use that. Yes, exactly. It's the Chelsea conundrum. It's trying to be as authentic
37:08as possible whilst putting it on the world stage, and it's a battle every year.
37:13I sort of feel like someone who's dived into a deep pool, and you're nearing the bottom part of the
37:19dive, and therefore the only way is to get out, you've got to go up. We're sort of out of the worst
37:25bit now because it's only going to get more exciting. And it's going to happen. It's real.
37:30And we're surrounded by it, and it's quite lovely. And I hope it's this calm at Chelsea. I really do.
37:34It won't be. It really won't be.
37:36I'm very aware that that's the story so far. There's another month to go, an awful lot to do,
37:58an awful lot that can go wrong. But let's be positive, an awful lot that hopefully will go
38:02right. And we'll share all that with you when we get to Chelsea. And of course, you'll be able to see
38:07the finished garden. So fingers crossed. Now, Chelsea coverage starts on the 18th of May,
38:12and we'll have more coverage of this journey towards completing the dog garden. And if you
38:18want more news about it, then Radio 2 is really involved. And Joe Wiley has been a great partner
38:24from the very beginning.
38:37So, these four raised beds last year had cut flowers in them. And this year, we've got bulbs
38:58that I'm trialing. These are all bulbs that I've never grown before, types of tulip, types of daffodil.
39:03In fact, they're coming through really nicely. We've got hardy annuals in that bed, dahlias,
39:09which have overwintered in that bed. And this bed I cleared. And actually, I'm not going to use it
39:14for cut flowers because it makes a really good seed bed. Now, a seed bed saves a whole load of money.
39:20You don't need seed trays. You don't need to buy compost. You don't need a greenhouse.
39:25All you need is a spare patch of ground. And it can be just a metre square. And some plants react
39:32really well to growing in soil as opposed to growing in compost. And it tends to be
39:36the brassica family. Now, we all think of brassicas as vegetables, but actually, it's quite a wide
39:42family. So, it includes rocket, it includes radish, it includes swedes and turnips, and also wallflowers.
39:49So, I'm going to sow my wallflowers in here and grow them on with the idea next spring,
39:55because they're a biannual of having a really good crop. If you're growing biannuals, now is a really
40:02good time to grow them. You do need to prepare the seed bed well. It needs to have not too many lumps
40:06and bumps. So, rake it and take out any obvious big stones or clumpy soil.
40:14And I'm going to use a spacer that's quite narrow, because they're not going to grow very big before
40:19I transplant them. So, this will do fine. And that fits in there. Now, I'm going to start with a
40:27variety called blood red. And wallflowers are a fantastic companion to tulips. And, of course,
40:35the other thing about wallflowers is they have some of the best fragrance of any flower you can grow.
40:39They have a really honey fragrance. All you need to do is, with your hand, just draw a little drill,
40:46like that. And down the other side. And sprinkle the seeds thinly. Now,
40:53this is the tricky bit. Ideally, you want each seed to be about an inch apart. Now, that's,
40:59in practice, impossible. But try and just space them out the best you can, so that you don't waste seed.
41:10Having done that, just lightly cover them over. And the easiest way to do it is just run
41:15a thumb and a finger down either side of the furrow. And that just pulls the soil across it.
41:25I will grow these on. And then, when they're large enough to handle, I will move them so they
41:31can develop into nice, strong, bushy plants. And then, in autumn, transplant them. And hopefully,
41:37next year, I'll have a really good display of wallflowers.
41:51I have to overwinter all my salvias. But in the greenhouse, they do have an inclination to keep
41:57growing, sometimes even flowering quite well. And they get leggy, because the light levels are low.
42:02So it's a good idea to cut them back so the new growth that comes through is nice and strong and
42:06robust. However, what you cut back very often provides really good cutting materials. And,
42:12of course, cuttings is one of the most rewarding ways of making new plants. There is a genuine magic
42:19about it. And I have to say, it's a really economical way of producing new plants, too.
42:25These salvias, the salvia garanitica here, salvia fulgens, might cost between 10 and 30 pounds.
42:31In a garden center, might create up to a dozen cuttings. Now, you can see here on the fulgens,
42:39this soft new growth. And these are softwood cuttings. And if you can bend it over without breaking it,
42:46then it's a softwood cutting. So, first things first, have your material mixed up. And this is a very,
42:53very free draining material. It's about two thirds perlite, one third compost. You can do it in pure
42:58perlite. Have your pots you're going to put them into ready. So, we're going to take it from the end.
43:03If I just take that, that, and having taken the cuttings, I'm then going to cut excess foliage,
43:18because there's water released by foliage. And water loss is what's going to kill it. So, that's one.
43:26Got another one here. Cut it beneath the node. The node, by the way,
43:30is just the point at which leaves or side shoots emerge on the stem.
43:38Perfectly good. And another. Now, this one, that is not a node. So, that length there
43:46is less likely to produce roots than that point there. So, we'll cut it off.
43:49Like that. So, now I have my cuttings. Make a hole and go into the corner of the pot,
44:03burying it about half its length.
44:05Now, this is where you have to be quick.
44:20And then, and this is critical, you will need a bag. But these locking bags, they're a game changer,
44:27because all you do is just put them over, pull the zip tight, and that now is sealed around it.
44:34And what it does is it stops evaporation. That will keep it alive long enough to produce new roots.
44:40Put it somewhere sunny, pot them on in about two, three weeks' time, grow them on and then plant them
44:47out later in summer. And as for the parent plant, harden it off for at least a week in a sheltered place
44:53outside if it's been indoors before planting out in mid-May.
45:02Now, there are still daffodils, thankfully, looking glorious.
45:06But I suspect that they were at their best a couple of weeks ago, which was when we went to West
45:11Wales to visit the smallholding of Julian Wormald, where he had thousands of daffodils in glorious display.
45:23Some people just think daffodils are all yellow, but there's a big range of whites and yellows and pinks
45:33and oranges. And this time of the year, the daffodils are fabulous. We're about 800 feet up here in North
45:40Carmelinshire. And in the landscape, still at the end of March, in a year like this, there's almost no wild
45:47flowers, just a few celandines. And daffodils obviously give us that burst of spring colour.
45:54So they get us through the long grey days that we often experience here in the heavy rainfall.
46:04I'm Julian Wormald. And over the last probably 10 years, I've started to acquire more named types of
46:12daffodils. And we've maybe got 240, 250, something like that now. We bought this property and 11 acres
46:21as a derelict smallholding that hadn't been lived in for 30 years. And there was no garden and no
46:29landscaping. And gradually we started to work on the garden, but never with any plan. You just do a
46:36little bit at a time and you keep chipping away. The only garden flower that was here at that time
46:43was a very, very old daffodil growing on the access track bank that actually dates back to at least 1620.
46:53I started with snowdrops and gradually built up a big collection of maybe 150 different cultivars,
47:00and then started to look at daffodils. But with both snowdrops and daffodils, the thing that interests
47:07me most in a way is the social history and the human stories behind these flowers.
47:13This is the Tembe daffodil, which is native to this particular part of southwest Wales. And it's a
47:29species daffodil, Narcissus ovularis. And because it usually comes into flare on March the 1st, which is
47:37St. David's Day, and it's a classic all yellow daffodil, it's a great emblem for the Welsh national flower.
47:51Daffodils became popular in the 1800s and the Tembe daff was part of a major hybridisation industry
47:58where some flowers were highly prized.
48:00And this lovely daffodil is one called Brunswick. And it's one of our favourites because it flowers
48:11really early. It's tall. The flowers are probably the longest lasting of any daffodil that we have.
48:18And I really like the combination of the flower with the bluey green leaves. And when it was first
48:25launched in the late 1930s, early 1930s maybe, the people who first bought the bulbs had to pay
48:34about 450 quid in today's money to buy a single bulb. And they wouldn't have known whether it would
48:39be a good daff, but it's a great daff.
48:46Historic daffodils are often more subtle in colour and form than newer hybrids, and many have proven
48:52hardiness. Although modern hybrids have stretched a range of flower types.
49:00So there are 13 different divisions, classifications, if you like, for daffodils.
49:04And this one, which we really like, is a daffodil called Orange Comet, which is quite a recent hybrid
49:10that was created over in America. But it's division six cyclaminius, and all the cyclaminius have
49:17swept back petals. And they all tend to thrive in very wet conditions. So we thought this would be
49:23a good one to try growing different sorts of here. And most of them do pretty well. And these are just
49:29going over. But then they've been in flower since the beginning of March, and we're now 30th of March.
49:34So that's not bad going.
49:36Due to the hybridisation process, many daffodils don't set seed, but some do.
49:48These are Narcissus, Pseudo-Narcissus, which is the other native daffodil in the UK. And it's the
49:56daffodil that inspired Wordsworth in the Lake District to write his very famous poem about daffodils.
50:03It sets seed, even though it flowers early. And it probably produces more seed in a seed capsule
50:09than any of the other daffodils. All the daffodils that you can see in this part of the field have got
50:14here just as a result of saving the seed and scattering it onto the surface of the meadow,
50:20and then waiting. And it takes maybe five, six years for a daffodil seed to produce a bulb that's
50:27a flowering size. But actually that's a lot easier and a lot cheaper than planting lots and lots of bulbs.
50:33The meadow's grazed in the autumn and the daffodil seed is scattered at this time.
50:47The seed's pushed into the soil by a specially named sheep.
50:50Every year we get a new crop of lambs and we decided to give them daffodil names. So we've
50:58got a lovely ewe lamb, the first one to be born this year, which we've called Lalique,
51:03after a gorgeous daffodil actually that flowers later on. I've got a ewe called Jetfire from two
51:11years ago that's particularly friendly and she will come and have nuts out of the bucket and she'll
51:16have a chin tickled. And Jetfire the daffodil is a lovely, reliable, orange and yellow,
51:28cyclamineous daffodil with swept back petals that flowers fairly early. It's a very good doer.
51:38Renovating the house and creating the garden has been a long journey but each spring when the daffodils
51:44begin to flower again we're so pleased we persevered.
52:04I like the idea of spreading seed just directly onto meadows for daffodils. It's a lot easier than
52:10planting bulbs and five years goes quickly enough. Now some daffodils are becoming extremely rare
52:18and the RHS would like your help in discovering three in particular. They are Mrs. R. O. Backhouse,
52:24Mrs. William Copeland and Sussex Bonfire. And if you either have those growing in your garden or you've
52:31seen them, if you go to our website you'll get instructions on what to do and how to contact the
52:36RHS. And if we do just get one or two of those and can collect the seed then that keeps them for
52:43posterity. Come on. Easter has always been the traditional time when people planted their potatoes.
52:56Now is the time to get them in the ground. There are lots of ways of doing it. Potatoes actually are
53:01quite easy to grow but to get the best from them really you want to have them well covered have
53:06them fairly deep and also you need to make sure that they're not exposed to late frost. The best way
53:12to do that is to dig a sort of mini trench. Pull out the soil along a line or a board like I've got here.
53:23Pull that out.
53:24I've got them growing here next to strawberries and strawberries and potatoes share pretty much
53:32the same growing conditions. They're like rich soil, plenty of moisture and plenty of sunshine.
53:43If your soil is very thin it doesn't hurt to put a layer of compost along the bottom.
53:50Now this is a variety called Charlotte which is a second early. First earlies are the traditional new
54:00potato. Second earlies like Charlotte they have the sweetness of new potatoes but they store better.
54:08And Charlotte are one of my favourites. Now when you're planting the basic rule is that the closer
54:15together they are the smaller the potatoes will be. Now so with new potatoes you don't want great big ones.
54:21By and large I would say about a foot or so apart is fine. And these have chitted well. You can see that
54:30they've got a nice firm purpley green little bud on them. You can rub off any side ones and that will put
54:39all the energy into that chute and so they will grow away faster. So we can pop that in there like that.
54:52All right. Got one more in there.
54:54There's my friend the robin.
55:04Of course if you're really short of space and you don't even have a garden you can still grow potatoes.
55:11Because they go very successfully in a large container or a sack. You need to puncture it to make
55:18sure they drain. Keep them well watered and they work perfectly well.
55:32When you're covering them over you do not want any light to touch the tubers as they grow otherwise
55:50they turn green and that can be poisonous. I've left enough space between the rows for earthing up.
55:58Now earthing up is when you draw up soil over the emerging foliage.
56:10Right now you've been watching me work it's your turn. Here are your jobs of the weekend.
56:14If you're growing any of the late flowering clematis you'll notice that they're now putting on
56:29masses of new growth and this needs supporting. Use soft twine and never plastic or wire as this new
56:38growth is very tender. And you may have to repeat this two or three more times until they develop
56:44their own tendrils that will support the weight.
56:47If you're growing tender annuals like these cosmos they will be starting to grow strongly and even
57:01developing some flower buds. But it's too early in the year for this. So be bold and be prepared to cut
57:09them back by up to half and this will encourage lots of side shoots and strong bushy plants that will flower better and longer.
57:18If you're growing tomatoes it's important to keep them growing so you have nice strong plants when
57:32you put them out either outdoors or in a greenhouse. But it's a bit early for both those. So making sure
57:39they don't get root bound, pop them on either from a plug into a pot or from a small pot to a big one.
57:45And this will ensure that they continue their healthy growth and buy you some time.
58:07I always think that this is above all time of blossom. And the great thing about blossom is you don't need
58:13big trees. You can have a socking great peri-peri like the one behind me. But also blossom works just as well
58:20whether it's on the step over apples or cordons. And of course you can grow those in any size garden.
58:26So this Easter just take time to relish the blossom and maybe a bit of time to get stuck into the garden too.
58:35And I'll see you back here at Longmeadow next Friday at eight o'clock. So until then,
58:39happy Easter and bye-bye.
58:52Wonderful.
58:54Happy Easter and'm pure.
59:05mtv
59:06Starship
59:07Connected
59:08Mixed
59:09Think
59:09Start
59:09Wrecked
59:10Try
59:11F siè
59:11프