Gardeners' World S58E08
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00:00We've got a very special garden as well for you today because Joe and I have come to the edge of
00:11the North Wessex Downs to visit a garden called Morbelies. It's a very traditional garden but
00:17with a modern twist. In just 14 years this garden has been transformed from a hodgepodge
00:22of fields and football pitches into one of the UK's most exciting and beautiful gardens and at
00:30the moment it's in all its spring beauty and this garden is rarely open to the public so we've got
00:37a bit of an exclusive here Rachel. We've got special access today and we're very excited because we're
00:42going to be working with the team getting our hands dirty and exploring how they managed to keep this
00:48garden looking so incredible all year round. Also coming up on tonight's programme. We meet a
00:55gardener who's gone back to his roots and has transformed a blank canvas into a horticultural
01:01hideaway. As I pushed the gate open for the first time and walked in and saw this space I was just
01:09blown away by it. Arendt is in Manchester to find out why two garden designers are using a city park
01:16as inspiration for their show garden and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and how AI technology is helping.
01:25The thing that we've developed is an app that you can log into so you scan a QR code and then you can
01:31actually see all the trees on the garden you can click on a tree and you can have a conversation
01:35with that tree so you can say what do you need how are you faring it will be tested at Chelsea and
01:40then come to Mayfield for a longer-term real-world pilot. And we meet a couple ripping up the rulebook
01:47on veg growing and wow does it work. A nice size yeah nice and white. Curds are tight bit like a
01:56judge's wig really isn't it? Yeah and you can smell it it smells beautiful.
01:59In rural Hampshire set across 10 acres the gardens have been split into individual rooms inspired by
02:18prominent English flower gardeners each one skillfully designed and planted to create its own distinct
02:24atmosphere. So I come here to the white garden and everywhere around us just this sea of beautiful
02:33bulbs the tulips pristine and white and then you've just got the cool blue of the camasias just popping
02:39up in between them it's lovely and this is filled you can see all herbaceous plants waiting to come up
02:45it's absolutely packed in here so the genius of it is that it looks beautiful now in spring it's going
02:51to look great through the summer and onwards through the whole year well that white garden is gorgeous
03:12but look at this this is the stumpery and you couldn't get more different when the light comes
03:20through it's absolutely gorgeous using all the stumps from the side here to create this incredible
03:26space so atmospheric nothing in this garden is accidental it's been beautifully put together
03:33and of course there's someone behind it and that'll be the very clever head gardener
03:38Matt Rees moved lock stock and watering can to Mulvillies 14 years ago with his wife Jess after accepting the challenge of transforming a complete blank canvas into the garden it is today
03:56it's quite a big space so we just split it up into smaller gardening rooms using new hedging Matt has worked at some of the most prestigious gardens in the country and has scoured the
04:08the world for inspiration before developing and designing Malvillies when we designed this garden we wanted to create quite an intimate garden a garden that you could get lost in that revolves around atmosphere and we also wanted to make it look intellectually interesting you know we wanted to grow rare plants not just beautiful plants so that when you're wandering around the garden you know if you're interested you'll find these quite special things
04:31Matt lives on site with his wife Jess and their kids Claude and Lorelei who all get involved in the gardens upkeep working alongside a young hard-working team I want the garden to be physically demanding I quite like getting stuck in we want to constantly push the garden forward to try new things and we want it to be beautiful as well
04:55Matt's attention to every single minute detail is what contributes to making this garden special hi Matt okay to walk along this board yeah just watch out because you've got those big boots on I know I insist the uh the guys wear trainers when they're working in the border so they don't stand on all the annuals and things I didn't get the train
05:23I didn't get the remit I didn't get the memo so you're cutting that back harder so you're pollarding so this is a populous albus it kind of would make a huge tree in the garden but it's very useful as a pollard for having this lovely fresh foliage at the height that we wanted at it will take being cut back year after year for a baby 10-15 years it's the sort of thing you can use in very small gardens instead of getting that small spring flush of new growth you get the
05:53these long lovely ones of foliage and growth that are produced right the way up until the end of summer into early autumn it's just a lovely way of kind of presenting woody plants in the mixed border
06:05this garden is beautiful we call this the cool garden is it the cool gone because only cool people are allowed in here very cool people very common you might have to get out
06:15we work with a kind of a cooler palette of plants but this is tulip merlot and obviously it's a merlot colour
06:22gotta say the tulips look absolutely glorious and it's one of the lily flower tulips and they've done really well this year they've enjoyed the dry spring that we've had
06:30i'd better go on planting the poppies mind your staff as you will oh yeah i'll mind my step in my clumpy boots
06:35yeah don't worry
06:37so these poppies are going to flower later in the year but there's so much going on in this garden there's
06:53fantastic succession planting there's loads of perennials the tulips are doing their thing now
06:58and then these poppies are going to come on flower later in the year but this whole garden is so
07:04cleverly designed for a start it's not square at all it's a really odd shape but because they've imposed
07:11this symmetry with the water feature in the middle and this cruciform layout you lose the boundaries so
07:18you lose the strange shape of it and the planting just disappears so it's a good tip for a small garden
07:24and then plenty of height as well so we've got trees things like the magnolias the dogwoods but not all
07:31stuck around the edges some of them encroaching into the center space and that has interest it keeps
07:36keeps the eye moving and even at this time of year there's a lot going on
07:48so i've come to the stream garden i'm just adding here to the mulch they mulch here every year so i'm just putting on another layer on the top
08:17the planting here is fantastic you've got these majestic deciduous trees and at this time of year
08:27the sun can still filter through those tiny leaves and reach the ground here and what i love is the
08:34kind of plants that you can grow there are lots of these lovely aces everywhere and also this the
08:40stachiorus now that's got those wonderful flowers there they sort of dangle down like they're dripping
08:45from the stems and this is just a baby and when it gets bigger you see there are masses of them it's
08:50like it's covered in curtains so beautiful
08:59i guess hello rachel this is your domain isn't it yes the glass house the queen of all you survey
09:16it's absolutely amazing isn't it what was it for you that sort of brought you into into horticulture
09:21that uh i've i've been working in horticulture for the best part of 25 years now there's something
09:28quite magical about you know starting a pot of seed and then suddenly it's germinated or you know taking
09:35cuttings and suddenly they rooted or just coming in here each morning and there's something about to
09:40flower or has just opened and it's it never gets boring how did you come to be here i began my
09:47horticultural career in america in connecticut and they brought matt over to help install the border
09:53and i do remember very clearly one day running past the long border seeing matt and just being
09:58completely smitten straight away and now fast forward quite a few years and we're married and have two
10:04children so um what are we doing uh the cymbidium orchids have just finished flowering mostly so now is a
10:11really good time to report and split them most cymbidium orchids originate from the forests of the
10:16himalayas so unlike their more common cousin the moth orchid they thrive in cool and shady conditions
10:25right i was thinking just maybe this one can just be potted up but this one we can divide so out of the
10:32pot that can sometimes be the tricky bit tricky bit there oh that wasn't too bad look at their roots on
10:38that is incredible isn't it quite thick fleshy roots so are we just going to chop it up we are going to
10:45chop it down the middle so it's just a bread knife isn't it just sawing through and you can actually be
10:52pretty rough with them everyone thinks that orchids are very very delicate of course they're very very
10:56beautiful but they are very robust plants there we go like a big slice of cake if you peel off a lot
11:11of the dead leaf sheath it helps prevent scale insects from taking hold is that one of the main
11:19pests for them yes and mealy bugs love them as well just i think i might actually divide this again it
11:24feels to me like that could go into more pieces here
11:31right there we go okay so that will now put up nicely i think fantastic now tell me about this
11:39potting mixture we're going to make here the multi-purpose will help hold in the moisture the
11:43pyro light will help make sure it doesn't stay too wet and the bark will just help keep everything
11:48draining through this is like baking i like this bit feels like it might need an egg yes
11:53not tried that before no that would be a novel approach we start just putting a bit in the base okay
12:06and i'm just going to do a very light sprinkling of slow release fertilizer um because they are
12:12slightly heavier feeders they're quite greedy aren't they checking a load more compass and kind of pack it
12:18down around the roots if we go yes it's making sure there are no air pockets so what's the best
12:27position for them inside the house ideally um they like sort of a bit of dappled light i think probably
12:34the most important thing to avoid is sort of very strong scorching afternoon sun they can take morning
12:39sun because it is much gentler lovely there we go we're gonna have three plants where we had one
12:53all looking good nice oh yes mind the orchids well don't dribble it on my shoes
13:16what a wonderful greenhouse and you can see all the plants at different stages yeah this is the beating
13:22heart of the garden if you like supplies the garden with plants right the way through the year
13:26it gives us the edge on the vegetable garden so we start things early also we grow lots of
13:31annuals in here that support the garden through the year and we use things in quantity so you know
13:35economically it's just more viable to grow things yourself so run us through your way of
13:41sowing sea everyone's got their own way the basic rule is the finer smaller seeds tend to need
13:47surface sowing they don't have the energy to push up through compost whereas the larger
13:52seeds they do so they tend to go further down but for most seeds we use a seed sowing compost
13:58it's a compost that has a little bit of nutrition but not too much if it has too much fertilizer in
14:05it it'll burn those young roots they won't like it okay and then you want to firm it in but when you
14:11firm as well make sure you use your fingers fingertips not your thumbs you don't want to be getting your
14:15shoulders into it i was always told off when i was a student you want to keep some air in it
14:20exactly but when it's watered it's not going to sink too much yeah and you don't want big lumps of
14:26compost on this last layer and what happens is you see these seedlings so they germinated in there
14:31and then you've got to pull them apart you'll start snapping roots so and i'll sieve the compost in
14:37just so it's nice and fine okay lovely sieving action i'd like to just yeah i'm a bit of an expert
14:43yeah you've done this before haven't you for sowing these small seeds you want to make a nice flat
14:53surface on which to sow them you can use the bottom of a pot just to level it off a little
14:57just level it off and then we would sow the seed evenly over the top this stock here mateola and carna
15:05it's a great thing we grow as a cut flower these are small seeds but they're not ultra fine i like
15:10to put them on my hand so i can kind of see what's going on and the thing is to remember with a pot as
15:15well so right to the edge where the soil meets the pot is very good drainage there it's probably the
15:20best drainage in the whole pot but sow them evenly so when they germinate each seed has enough room
15:25to grow when you prick them out the roots aren't all growing into each other the stocks they do like
15:32a little bit of coverage but only just enough to shut out the light just a tiny smattering there yeah
15:38like icing a cake and i would kind of just firm them again and when we found them we keep this
15:46nice and level if it's at an angle the seed will run to one side now we would label this are using a
15:52pencil there yeah so we always use again uh 2b uh we find that hey it has to be a 2b yeah yeah yeah
16:013b is a little bit too soft uh 1b is a little bit too hard this is the ultimate for writing on plastic wow
16:13and then we stick it over somewhere flat and this is really important for watering because if
16:18it's on an uneven surface when you water it the water will run to one side and wash all the seeds
16:23into the corner of the pot the other thing to remember as well when watering is to start the
16:29watering away from the pots because often you get this kind of rush of water so you get a nice even
16:34spray then bring it across and then bring it back you know maybe do it a couple of times until you've
16:41got decent saturation you see the way it drips off the end yeah you don't want that on your fine
16:46seeds because again it will disturb the compost but all these details are so interesting to get your
16:52approach a real master class no it's a pleasure thank you matt well soon these plants will be going out
16:57into the border to give them a real boost through the summer and another gardener who's transformed
17:03a blank canvas is will thompson from sheffield and last year he showed us how he realized his dreams
17:11i was lucky enough to grow up in the countryside always surrounded by wildlife and nature and as my
17:30dad lost his job and we ended up moving to the town and then for years after that i lived in cities so to
17:36come back here i'm kind of refining my roots and going to create this wildlife around me again which
17:41is really nice i bought the house at auction people tell me that they've walked past on the footpath
17:52for 30 years they didn't even know that this site existed you would never know it was here
17:57it's just really tucked out of the way
17:58as i pushed the gate open for the first time and walked in and saw this space i was just
18:06blown away by it it was basically a blank canvas
18:09the garden itself was just long grass and there's lots of ground elder in the old 100 year old house
18:16so for me it looked like the perfect opportunity to do something creative and build my own house
18:22eventually and of course the main thing was to be able to create a garden
18:31so when i first designed the garden i basically created one big long border and started to put in
18:38some plants that were given to me plants that i'd had previously on an allotment so there wasn't many
18:43and now the really beautiful thing that's happening is that the plants are starting to self-seed
18:47these fox gloves over here i started with one or two and then they've all just ended up finding
18:52their own way around the garden this beautiful white one here has just landed exactly next to
18:56the diving board which couldn't be more perfect i think when a garden starts to really come into
19:04its own is when nature's starting to make the decisions for you which i think is a really nice thing
19:12the best time to come out in the garden is either start of the day when the sun's coming up
19:16all the fox gloves at this time of year are getting lit up and you see the reflections
19:20on the pond as well the pond acts like a big sky mirror so you basically get these beautiful
19:25reflections of clouds and the surrounding trees first of all it was just going to be a decent
19:30sized wildlife pond and then i started to read about natural swimming pools got a book and i made the
19:36decision then to dig a hole for the pool and at first it felt like i'd completely vandalized my garden
19:41because it was all just mud and earth and not very pretty but there's nothing better than swimming
19:46in the pool and having dragonflies buzzing around your head or seeing a taphole swim by watching the
19:51birds land and having a drink it's a sanctuary it's a sanctuary for me and a sanctuary for wildlife as well
19:57my gardening style is definitely naturalistic i'm really inspired by looking at plant communities
20:08in nature and seeing how plants grow together and as a designer i like to grow different things and
20:13learn about them and learn about the way that they grow
20:15this is the vegetable garden and i wanted a area for growing my own food it's ended up being a place
20:23where things self-seed like this beautiful angelica it's great for wildlife it's always full of flies
20:28and pollinators so i let these grow i'm planting the squash beneath it they'll wrap around the angelica
20:34and use it as a climbing frame which is a something a little bit different so the main routes through
20:49the garden i've cut the grass short and then left longer areas of grass where i want to create more
20:56of a habitat for wildlife this is yorkshire fog which is a native grass i didn't sow that this has just
21:01come as a result of leaving the grass long we think about plants for pollinators which is obviously
21:06really important but grasses are super important as well for the caterpillars to feed on and then
21:10out of the long grass have allowed some things to grow like the shrub which is calliopsis piccata
21:15and this is a really great scent so i put this on the main thoroughfares so you can enjoy that as
21:20you walk to the front door
21:31i built this additional cabin in the garden as a place to come and work and record music
21:39and before you enter the door i put in a couple of special plants that really show off the beauty
21:45at close quarters this is an aquilegia called yellow queen which has these lovely long tails
21:50in this slightly shady area the yellow really helps to lift the light and on the other side here we
21:57have lamprocapnos spectables alba formerly known as dicentra alba and or dutchman's breaches is a
22:04common name and this is another great plant to show off the detail right next to the step where you
22:08get to push past it and admire it every day
22:10finding this place at auction was really just so unexpected and to create it and make it my own
22:21has been incredibly fortunate but i also feel like i'm a custodian of the land here it is mine on paper
22:28but really it's for me and for other people to enjoy as well and for wildlife and to try and keep
22:33spaces like this from being overly developed into something where nature isn't really having a home
22:39anymore it's being pushed out because we do have a biodiversity crisis and i think that everyone
22:43needs to do what they can and having a garden and making it a sanctuary is really crucial
23:00i completely agree with will that nature always does it best but we humans can be pretty ingenious
23:12too just look at this magnificent laburnum arch and even now and it's just the structure before the
23:19leaves are in before the dangling flowers it's a thing of beauty
23:42it's really lovely to be working in this vegetable garden i've got to say
23:45and matt's given me some specific instructions i'm spacing these cut and come again salad leaves
23:53with a stick to get exactly the right spacing because he's very precise about things like that
23:57he's got ahead of the game by planting into these plugs and uh and so they're really easy to plant out
24:05now you can buy them as plugs or you could sew direct and then just thin them out a little bit later
24:12and then when they start growing you just start cutting them and they come again cut and come
24:17again and you'll get loads of crops out of these and there's lots of other stuff you can buy as plugs
24:22or so direct now
24:26it's a lovely place to work this it's got a really nice feel about it this vegetable garden beautiful
24:32sharing his horticultural knowledge matt employs apprentices as part of his team
24:46ty what a beautiful structure you're making here thank you very much it's really lovely i mean look
24:50how it's woven along the top and it's sturdy too so is this for legumes what what are you planning to grow
24:56up here um so i think a couple peas all the way along yep first and foremost trying to make it look
25:01lovely and uh protect from all the crows the pheasants that we have around here okay what's it
25:08about working here that you really enjoy um i think the variation um the freedom to be outside i think not
25:16many people my age would say this is ideal but for me you know yeah it's a good place to be yeah
25:22and what is it like working with matt his knowledge it's just second to none really and uh all the
25:30time that i'm here i just wanted to suck as much as much knowledge out of matt as i can okay before
25:35you take over as head gardener in 10 years right one day that's the one day what a place to take over it
25:40so ashton you are one of the people responsible for making this look so good yeah absolutely it's
25:58brilliantly done can i ask how old you are i'm 16 you're 16 yeah and you're able to do this this is
26:04phenomenal and what's it like being here working here it's amazing you learn so much you learn a
26:10lot from matt i couldn't name the amount of things because there's so much i've learned from him over
26:15the past six months is it fun working here yeah it's very fun we all have a laugh but still get the
26:20job done at the same time that's the best you can hope for really isn't it absolutely well i really
26:25take my hat off to you it's such a good job thank you right those salad leaves are in okay oh nice
26:37nice bit of hoeing action you got there it's unusual to be hoeing this time of year nice sharp
26:42one is there this is about 30 40 years old this hoe but it's just very light and it's just at the
26:47right angle yeah everyone's got their favorite tools haven't they well this is it and when you
26:51find a good one you don't want to let it go what would you use this for then this is a bamboo rake
26:56that i brought back from japan many years ago it's a really handy rake for just getting in there and
27:01just you know taking out the wood and it's very delicate so it can kind of just skate across the
27:06top without damaging them yeah it's nicely done this is a nice spade this is um it's called a rabbiting
27:12spade and we don't use it for rabbiting but it's very very strong it's a good all-round spade
27:16i like the fact that it's narrow so you can use it to plant annuals you can get in amongst the
27:20perennials dig a small hole so are you passing all this knowledge on well you obviously are
27:25to all your your guys here yeah yeah we've got a really good team here and they're very very keen
27:31hungry to learn oh it's brilliant i mean these are the gardeners of the future
27:34yeah well it keeps it alive doesn't it if you pass it on
27:44here the trees are incredibly happy because they've got ideal growing conditions
27:50and a great team looking after them but in urban areas often the trees face all sorts of issues
27:56because those conditions aren't hospitable it's a problem that two designers heading to the rhs
28:03chelsea flower show this year have been considering with the design of their urban forest garden
28:09and aric went to manchester a few weeks ago to find out more
28:18it's no secret that green spaces in our towns and cities are vitally important not only for our
28:25well-being but also for the environment but to create a park that over time will flourish
28:32that is challenging opened in 2022 this six and a half acre public park is home to 150 trees
28:41120 000 shrubs and plants and even has space for a kids play park
28:49this is mayfield park manchester's first new park in over a hundred years but it's a park for
28:56the future and i am so excited to see what it has to offer i'm here to meet duncan the landscape
29:07architect who created mayfield park to find out more about how he approached turning this space
29:14into an oasis in the heart of the city duncan it's amazing to think the park is actually only a couple of
29:20years old what was here before it had print works dye works it even had its own railway station so
29:28there's a really kind of rich industrial heritage that manchester as a city has and this site was
29:34really sort of at the epicenter of that and what we wanted to do from more of an environmental
29:39perspective was we had a river we wanted to create a huge amount of planting and nature and we thought that
29:45that combination of the two things could be really beautiful yeah and what did you have to think about
29:50in terms of bringing the plants and palettes together the tree choices we're really keen to
29:56create a huge amount of diversity in terms of the planting so the trees i think really capture
30:00that you get a real sense of being in kind of an urban arboretum so we purposely picked lots of
30:06different forms lots of different species we really wanted to sort of move away from just native
30:11species and sort of test species that tend to do well in warmer conditions mayfield park is an
30:18incredible example of how inner city disused industrial spaces can be redesigned into thriving green
30:26spaces and it's this park's transformation that has inspired garden designers tom massey and jayann to
30:33bring their own urban forest to the chelsea flower show what is it about parks like this in in the middle of
30:41a city that you both find so important you know you see it's quite early in the morning but this park
30:46is already full kids running around and families having picnics already this is part of the breathing
30:52lung of the city yeah and i think parks like this aren't just about people it's also about nature i mean
30:57you can hear all the birds song there's been kingfish are spotted in the river brown trout you know these
31:02kinds of parks also give a a wildlife corridor so all sorts of pollinators really biodiverse array of
31:08planting all the different kinds of trees um i guess adding into this is some of the challenge of
31:16the climate obviously changing and keeping these parklands going yeah this has been the hottest
31:22driest march ever i think in in this country so the changing climate is another struggle that these kinds
31:29of urban spaces are facing one of the key thoughts when tom and jay were designing their chelsea garden
31:35was its legacy and mayfield park was front and city center of their future plans this is the
31:42relocation i mean really yeah this is pigeon triangles so what we really liked about this is this is the
31:50harsh urban environment that we're talking about at chelsea correct you harshest i mean really this is
31:56is in your face isn't it tom yeah i mean it's exposed it's polluted it you know standing here as a
32:02human you feel quite uncomfortable imagine a guy yeah imagine a tree trying to survive here have you
32:08got the plans with you yeah yeah so like in mayfield park we've got all sorts of reclaimed materials we've
32:15created this quite dynamic quite topographical landscape so we'll definitely bring some of that
32:20character to this space here and as you can see it's full of trees and we really want this place to be
32:25somewhere that you can find at that moment of the sanctuary before you can actually go off to
32:28somewhere else that's the first thing that you see as soon as you come out of the station we want to
32:33make a best impression of ourselves pollution extreme temperatures and poor soil quality are what
32:40trees are up against in city parks and survival rates of trees can be challenged to give them a better
32:46chance tom and jay are planning to showcase ai technology for a longer term solution mayfield park is an
32:54urban park for the future and what we're doing here is we're giving the trees you know more of a
33:00chance to survive by using sensors and monitoring to really understand what they're encountering
33:07have you had any criticism because obviously bringing ai artificial intelligence into a nature
33:13space i know some people are nervous about that ai is quite an interesting term because general
33:18understanding of ai so broad but what we're using it's a very pattern recognition almost like uh
33:25going through hundreds of spreadsheets and trying to find a pattern which we really don't want to do
33:29that by ourselves right so it's ai is a helping tool it's not replacing what we do as a human should
33:34we go back to the park i'll demonstrate a sensor and show you how it works yeah brilliant okay i'll give
33:38your plans back small and discreet it only takes tom a minute to install one on one of the trees in the
33:48park this is it yeah this is it wow a sensor so what this is doing is is it's measuring growth in
33:54microns which is 0.01 of a millimeter so you know giving you a really precise measure of how much that
34:00tree is growing it's measuring rock and lean so if the tree is moving too much in the wind if it's unstable
34:06it would alert you to that humidity temperature you know it's giving you all this data in a really
34:12really precise way giving you real-time feeds that is just giving you such a good picture of
34:18the conditions that tree is experiencing and what it's facing in this environment when i'm at chelsea
34:23how will that data feed through is it on an app or screens or how will you show that the thing that
34:28we've developed with a big team of developers is an app that you can log into so you scan a qr code and
34:35then you can actually see all the trees on the garden you can click on a tree and you can have
34:39a conversation with that tree so you can say what do you need how are you faring it will be tested at
34:44chelsea and then come to mayfield for a longer term real world pilot so it's a really exciting way to
34:51explore ai to provide a tool that can genuinely be useful a cutting-edge legacy for manchester's newest
34:58park that could provide the blueprint for how all of our future green spaces are managed parks of the
35:05future have got so many demands on them they have to be able to offer wildlife corridors they have to
35:12be able to be here for our health and well-being and they have to be here for the future i'm really
35:19intrigued to see how tom and jay are going to highlight all these issues in the chelsea show garden
35:37well you'll be able to see tom and jay's garden on the coverage from the bbc of the chelsea flower show
35:43when it starts on the 18th of may and we'll learn all about the garden and the ai technology that went
35:49into it and i for one can't wait
35:57oh look what i found i was told there were tulips here they're absolutely beautiful
36:05and this isn't even part of the ornamental garden this is right at the back where matt does a lot of
36:11his testing and just sort of trialing different cultivars so he's looking at things like flowering
36:17time the heights how sturdy and strong is the stem not only for cutting for a vase but also can it
36:25withstand the weather and there are some favorites of mine in here already i can see there's lovely
36:29princess irene and it's brilliant because it's compact so it's ever so good at the front of a border
36:35also in a pot we've got some lily flowered ones this one is healthcare i've spotted one of my favorites
36:42actually just here and this is black hero it opens this lovely sort of burgundy really full flower
36:50absolutely gorgeous i'm in seventh heaven here but actually i've come here to do a bit of pruning so
36:57i better tear myself away
37:10right so matt has asked me to have a look at this vine it's an edible grape growing outside
37:18and i think it might be a while since it was done so i'm just going to
37:21have a look because there's quite a lot of dead in here so i'm just going to try and take all of
37:26that off so i can actually see what remains and uh someone if you can just sort of scratch away at
37:32the bark you can use your secateurs just to check but that is definitely no longer with us
37:40but we have got the living bit here so i'm going to keep these two bars there's one little bud here
37:44the other bud here so i'm just going to take this back just above that bud normally you would do this
37:51a little bit earlier in the season because the sap is already rising but that's fine it'll be okay
38:01it's not the speediest job because you're stopping and assessing looking at each piece and deciding
38:07what to do with it but actually it's very it's very enjoyable very nice to do so i'm quite happy
38:37it's very good to see every corner you turn there's something new to see and i love this
38:52bit behind me because it's just so playful as a design idea it creates this sort of imaginative
39:01playground made from topiary living architecture and they're all different
39:06they're all individual and at the top of them they're developing different shapes i'm not quite
39:11sure what's happening here it could be a squirrel there could be some birds and i think right at the
39:17back there i can see rachel detain as a ballerina what do you think it's really impactful and i like
39:25this hedge as well this is euonymus allatus compactus i always put this plant in a garden because
39:32it's brilliant for bees but also it turns the most incredible autumn color scarlet red and imagine
39:40that scarlet red hedge with these topiary pieces it's surreal
39:48i could wander around these rooms all day but it's time for a bit of graft in the pond garden wow look
39:54at this it's enormous it fills the space beautifully and the reflective qualities
39:59qualities are just fantastic on a hot summer's day this would be the place to be but this time of
40:06year it's time for a little bit of spring maintenance but you want to go easy in a pond
40:10because there'll be lots of wildlife in here that you don't really want to disturb but you know some
40:15of these plants need thinning out a little bit so it doesn't get too full of plants and they're all
40:19doing a job so over there in that corner you can see there's water lilies and they're just starting to
40:25through and they help cover the water surface and stop the light hitting the water which in
40:31turn reduces the algae and in here we've got lots of this this is water solder it's a it's a type of
40:38aloe and it's doing a really important job of oxygenating the water but just a little bit of
40:45maintenance taking some of these out because they grow so quickly these water plants that they can
40:50quickly sort of take over and it's very easy to fish out these are just individual plants they don't
40:56root in the bottom at all they're just aquatics so they they just float around and then when you're
41:02taking out pond plants the key is to leave them on the side of the pond because there'll be loads of
41:12little critters in there in fact you can see some of them already there's this sort of little water
41:17snails on the side and if you leave them for a few you know hours ideally overnight they'll just crawl
41:24back in to where they came this water soldier it's not native so you got to be careful you can only use
41:32it in a pond in a garden because if it gets into the water course it could spread everywhere and be
41:39really bad news so if you're going to use it make sure it's contained in a pond like this it's quite
41:46good fun actually
41:50and also once uh once i've left these for a bit they can go onto the compost heap
41:58but yeah planting a pond you want to get a really good balance of oxygenators aquatics and marginal
42:10plants around the outside yes it's a bit about trial and error as is all gardening seeing what works
42:16seeing what doesn't and that's exactly what a couple have done on their allotment when they're growing
42:22their veg
42:30i'm maggie i'm a retired nurse and we're here in the derbyshire peak district on our allotment
42:36and we've been here for four years and this is um my beautiful wife mom i'm a chef
42:42um we've been married for 17 years we haven't got a very big garden have we so we wanted to really
42:51grow vegetables where we could come out and socialize yeah get exercise i've got parkinson's
42:59and um for me to have this is crucial
43:06yeah i don't think there's a cauliflower ready here okay oh well it's heavy what do you think is
43:12going to be the best thing today for us to look at well i'm anchoring on a cauliflower yeah i'm kind
43:17of i'm hoping uh because we've strung them onions will be good to look at onions will be good and
43:23beetroot will be good to look at and potatoes won't be bad springies as well you're sounding confident
43:29we are confident we're happy this year i mean we're happy every year we are happy every year it's a nice
43:35size yeah nice and white curds are tight bit like a judge's wig really isn't it yeah and you can smell it
43:41it absolutely smells like a cauliflower it smells beautiful we organically feed we've given it some
43:48liquid seaweed which we do with all the produce on the plot we found the secret to making it white
43:55is stringing up the um the leaves when the cauliflower is getting all the leaves all around
44:00first of all we will fold the leaves over you'll get some string and gently tie the string around a bit
44:07like having a sun hat on really it protects the curd of the cauliflower so yeah it stops them getting
44:12scorched we struggled the first couple of years growing cauliflowers but we've changed the variety
44:18this year as well this andromeda is a good variety really nice really pleased with it
44:32ah there we go that'll do yes you can look at the beard favorite vegetable that's a nice one man
44:40that's a nice size so covering them up is definitely the way forward netting them first time we've ever
44:48left them covered for so long and the other thing is you can thin them out but why it's just pushed
44:56everything out of the way anyway and the others when we've pulled this will carry on growing so
45:01we don't waste time thinning out we just let it do what it wants to do and that's about it if you're in a
45:07crowd you put your elbows out and you grow don't you well it's the same with a vegetable it's going
45:11to find its way oh yes there's some carrots there it's like the carrots people say oh put your carrots
45:21in and then thin them out we've just thrown them in the bed and we've not thinned them out they're the
45:26best i've ever been it's absolutely amazing hey look look at this one here might come out like an alien
45:33but it doesn't matter hey look not ready two three four-legged carrot if they come out looking like
45:41a body a spaceship you know you know or an alien with six legs it doesn't matter it doesn't matter
45:46carrot has grown a couple of legs and it's usually an indication of stony ground but it looks all right
45:53it's quite nice with two legs and if it can't be chopped it'll be published
45:56there's lots of things that you can do with parts of the carrot as well you know the top when it's
46:05feathery you can use that in place of parsley nice that yeah you can make stock with the pea pods
46:11you know there's there's so much you can do with stuff you would just chuck in your compost bin
46:16can you use leek leaves no you could use somebody i suppose because then you could use them to floss your
46:21teeth when you've got them in you could uh beetroot you can use the tops of the uh you can whistle them
46:28like a a piece of a blade of grass you can use the courgette leaves as an umbrella when it's raining
46:40you clown people are going to walk around with leek leaves going
46:44behave now
46:55we'll have this one then mags yeah yeah it's a nice one hey look at that squeeze lovely onion
47:03it's solid yeah brilliant oh have a smell yeah gosh it's strong it's even got its own hairstyle
47:11at you we grow them from sets we fertilize it with onion fertilizer dig it in pop the onion in water
47:21them cover them and and then leave them that's it and we hang them like that this all dries off
47:30we trim the tops off and then you can plait them and store them
47:34we spend very little if possible we use recycled materials there's a local firm that makes coffins
47:46and they have a lot of old wood that they don't use and most of the raised beds it's coffin wood
47:52but there's nothing in there there's only vegetables in the soil nothing else it's it's all right
48:02i'm glad we've done these pentland javelins they've done really well this year no scabs
48:09and they went in when march april here we go there's a nice jacket for you how nice is that
48:16yeah it's like panning for gold isn't it the feeling that that's something that they've cared for
48:22is giving back to you and that's an amazing feeling we've had to buy a new freezer feel proud don't
48:29yeah feel proud it's not just us working it's the plant we work together
48:33who was the last word
48:44what a great plot max and mom there's nothing like gardening together back here at the cloister
49:04garden at morville's i've come to find irina she moved to the uk from ukraine three years ago and
49:11has worked here for most of that time i'm going to help cut some flowers to create a display is this
49:17one of your favorite parts of the garden here one of them i like all parts of the garden this but this
49:23is really nice place just to stop and relax and think about everything just is a very calming place
49:33yeah these cherries are absolutely stunning the multi-stem form you know it's just they're just so
49:39graceful and they add volume at eye level this is a cherry for genzo yeah very beautiful and this is
49:46the right time for this cherry yeah that one needs a snip look it's a bit stubby anyway yeah but you can
49:54seal yourself yeah you can tie the others yeah yeah i can see that i can see that's perfect for flower
50:01arranging actually beautiful petal yeah this has got a japanese feel really yeah on the whole how
50:09different british gardens to ukrainian gardens our ukrainian gardens they more like showy show off
50:15gardens because we are like and everything bright everything you know sharp everything should be
50:21perfect looking but the english garden very naturalistic your garden is so charming you know and you use
50:29different texture different colors okay so you're just sort of taking some of the lower branches where
50:34it's a little bit congested that one's growing inwards yeah i would say exactly
50:42yeah that's lovely i think that's plenty
50:48it's a good idea to cut flowers early in the morning when they're fully hydrated
50:52and to choose flowers that are still in bud so we'll have plenty of vase life
50:59these honestly look really nice let's have some of these
51:03so uh how is it working with matt then he seems the sort of guy you'd learn a lot of stuff from
51:09one of the biggest things what i learned from him is just to enjoy your work because in ukraine i work
51:14so fast you know always just done done done and here he always say irina slowly just just relax enjoy
51:24enjoy the water you're doing yeah well i don't know many bosses who've told no i've never told
51:28anyone to slow down i'm the likeest person in the world how lovely i think we should deliver it to the
51:36florists yes i will carry it you got it yep
51:49look at those gorgeous
52:17yes we've selected well there yeah that looks like an arrangement actually ready made
52:23we did our best nicely curated i think they say yeah thank you enjoy thank you very much move
52:29that so you can have a look what's in there yeah what are you thinking making something quite
52:34architectural yeah yeah so i'm going to concentrate on the cherries i think it's nice to bring a bit
52:40of the garden into the house we've got a bit of honesty here as well lovely pale liner that's a
52:46gorgeous color it's a really good one i mean this is the annual one uh lunaria anua that most people
52:51are used to and it's a kind of good self-serve people often know it as the money plan because it
52:55has those kind of the lovely seed herds exactly yes and then you've got this one which is um a
53:00perennial and it's called lunaria redeviva and it's got a scent it's gorgeous isn't it
53:05uh quite honeyed people don't grow it enough and it will self-serve as well
53:10one of the things we do here is uh you know just oh yes breaking up the the ends of the woody plants
53:19just so they've got a bit more chance of taking in in the water taking up the water
53:24and sometimes what you'll do is you'll bring in plants from the garden and make combinations
53:29in the vase and then you think actually this is something i can do in the garden yeah so it's
53:34quite you know uh inspired you know you'll take that combination and try it next year so you're
53:39learning from the the floristry as well as yeah i think it goes in both directions
53:45these are lovely they've got these straight stems yeah because they've just been cut
53:49i love the contrast between the uh the cherry blossom and the sparrow the smaller flowers it's
53:58quite a nice foil for the larger kind of fluffy pink flowers i love doing this yeah yeah i really
54:05enjoy making arrangements from the garden um and the kids enjoy doing it as well yes making poses and
54:12it gets them out exactly right i feel like i'm pretty much done here actually i don't really
54:19want to do too much more no i don't think you need to i mean this is so beautiful because it's got
54:23all that movement in it yeah they picked well with the flowers didn't they they did yeah fantastic job
54:49now they love their dahlias in this garden and matt's got an ingenious way of overwintering them
55:06because often people dig them up and dry them and then pot them up at this time of year and some
55:11people leave them in the ground and if you leave them in the ground you know they are susceptible to
55:15slugs and snails and you might get a really wet winter they might rot off but what he does is
55:20lift them in the autumn divide them up pop them up dry with compost and now they're just ready to go
55:28so that's all been done nicely labeled up they go into the cold frame
55:34in here now remember this compost is bone dry
55:38and now literally it's a case of just add water so you start watering and you give them a good soak
55:52at first and then you don't water too much keep them just moist until they show signs of growth when
55:59you see those shoots and then you start watering a little bit more so here we go just add water oh i
56:05better use the technique as well slide it over here and then go
56:13there you go give them a really good drink
56:17and then close the lid warm it up in there and get them cooking nicely ah it's a really busy time of year
56:26as the young shoots of a peony burst through it's a good idea to put in supports before the blooms appear
56:46you can buy a ready-made structure or make your own from bamboo canes but here they use hazel pushed
56:53firmly into the ground and woven into a dome that the leaves can grow through and it's all then tied
56:58securely with string
57:06as seeds continue to germinate it's important to keep on top of pricking out
57:11as with these padron peppers use a pencil or a stick to ease out the roots holding leaves and not the
57:17stem and then carefully planting into a peat-free multi-purpose compost label put somewhere warm
57:24to grow on and keep them well watered
57:35now's the time to cover brassicas use a fine mesh held above the crop and secured firmly at the base
57:42this will protect against hungry birds and cabbage white butterflies looking for somewhere to lay
57:48their eggs and this netting can remain in place for the rest of the season
58:01i'm afraid our time at morville is with matt and his family has nearly come to an end but there's a
58:08lovely surprise after a busy day from lorelei and claude matt and jesse's children oh my goodness
58:17that is the most beautiful bouquet i've ever had thank you i'll take that home sweet well the whole
58:25experience here has been gorgeous it's just been fantastic i mean the most beautiful garden
58:29but it's the team it's the people here yeah i've learned so much here yeah i can't wait to get home
58:35to try some new ideas out in my garden well next week adam and sue will be at the rhs malvern spring
58:42festival so join them then but from us it's goodbye bye
59:05so
59:12you
59:14you
59:16you