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00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:22This is homemade comfrey tea that I'm feeding to the citrus.
00:27These are plants that like lots of feed and water in summer and then starvation diet
00:33in winter.
00:35Comfrey tea smells pretty bad, it smelled a lot worse before I decanted it, but it's
00:40a small price to pay because it does really good stuff.
00:46And the paradise garden has exceeded all my expectations.
00:50It's giving a lot of pleasure.
00:53The grasses have trebled in size, they're lustrous and soft, and the verbena bernarensis
01:02has grown enormous and tall and is flowering with a tolbagia underneath, and the tolbagia
01:07will get better as it gets hotter, and we've added cornflowers into the mix, and all around
01:13the lilies are flowering magnificently.
01:17And as good as the flowers is the fragrance.
01:23In today's programme, Nick is at RHS Harlow Carr near Harrogate, luxuriating in the lushness
01:31of their bulk plants.
01:33Having moist soil creates a fantastic habitat that can allow you to support all sorts of
01:38beautiful plants.
01:40Frances is on the Isle of Man, visiting an allotment where plants that are used to make
01:45cosmetics take centre stage.
01:48It's antioxidant, antibacterial, antibacterial, anti-ageing, everything.
01:57And I shall be adding some new spires of colour to my cottage garden.
02:09About a month ago, this little bed was rich with colour, because they're all bearded irises,
02:18and this is really the only place here at Longmeadow where they can thrive, because
02:23it's south-facing, there's a wall behind it which bounces the heat back, and this little
02:29strip of bed is poor soil with really good drainage, and those are the key things.
02:35Heat and drainage is what you need to grow really good bearded irises.
02:40But to keep them looking good, they do need lifting and dividing every few years, and
02:45now is the time to do it.
02:47Now, the secret is just to tease them out of the ground, because you want to preserve
02:52as much root as possible.
02:55There we go.
03:02Now you can see that there's a really nice selection of roots, and this is feeding the
03:07plant, but the rhizome, which is this ginger-looking knobbly growth, that's storing the food that
03:15will produce next year's flowers.
03:18And the rhizomes must always be above the surface of the soil, because the more sun
03:23that that gets this summer, the better the flowers will be next summer, which is why
03:27they were so good this year.
03:29Now, if you want to make new plants, you can either break them with your hands or cut them
03:34with a knife, but the important thing is to keep a bit of leaf and bud with each section.
03:46Now, at this stage, just cut back the foliage by about two thirds.
03:53You only do this when you move the plants, and it's to stop them rocking, because when
04:00you replant them, there'll be almost no purchase in the soil at all, and you just want to make
04:08sure that if it's windy, they don't get jolted around.
04:13Right, let's put that back where the original plant was.
04:20Now, the rest are going to go in this end bit, which is pretty compacted.
04:25So, I'm just going to dig that over, and I'm just going to sprinkle some grit on there.
04:31And then I'm just going to put that back where it was, and then I'm just going to put the
04:38Now, put the roots down in the ground and leave the rhizomes on the surface.
05:08Those will get established very quickly, but always, even for plants like this that love
05:15hot sunshine and really good drainage, give them a soak.
05:19Not only will that give them moisture, it also pushes the soil around the roots.
05:27These now will be fine. They will need no more attention. They will get established,
05:31the rhizomes will bake, and I'm sure they will flower along with the rest of them next summer.
05:37And there is a magic about bearded irises because they manage to conjure up from extreme sunshine
05:45and sometimes parched, very poor soil, these incredibly rich voluptuous flowers.
05:53But Nick has been to RHS Harlow Carr in Yorkshire
05:57to look at a range of plants that are the exact opposite.
06:07Lush and luxuriant foliage.
06:10Unusual in shape.
06:12Big in size.
06:14A splash of vibrant colour.
06:18And great at supporting insects and small amphibians.
06:24Plants that like boggy conditions bring an extra dimension to your garden.
06:30The term bog or bog garden has potentially negative connotations.
06:35But actually, all a bog is, is an area of ground that's saturated with water but not stagnant.
06:41So if you've got that naturally occurring in your garden, or you can recreate it,
06:45it opens up an incredible opportunity to grow the most desirable group of plants.
06:59When you think about bog plants, it conjures up images of large leafed verdant species,
07:05which give a bog garden its bulky structure.
07:11This deliciously lush looking plant is a real favourite of mine.
07:15It's Darmera peltata, and this is just one of its phases.
07:19So it starts out the season by just producing blooms which emerge from the ground.
07:24Now it's in the saxifrage family and has these wonderful domes of pink flowers.
07:29It's a perfect bog plant.
07:31It will grow all the way down to the water's edge. So that's phase one.
07:35Phase two is the production of these glorious leaves.
07:38And it's a very specific adaptation.
07:40They've got huge leaves, so there are lots of stoma, in other words, holes on the back of the leaves.
07:45So the transpiration process can happen in an accelerated way, and they can dispel that excess water.
07:51And the final phase is into autumn, where these leaves take on delicious ruddy red tones and look absolutely spectacular.
08:01Verdancy in a bog garden needn't mean a lack of colour.
08:17Talk about a delicious confection of colour.
08:20Just look at these guys. They're the candelabra primulas, and particularly the hollow car form.
08:26Look at the incredible range of colours, purples, pinks, peaches and oranges.
08:31Now their parentage is quite confused.
08:33So there's thought to be beesiana in there and japonica, and possibly another two primula parents.
08:39But they've led to these spectacular plants.
08:41Now they come up to about 60 centimetres high, flower-wise, and have these beautiful whirls of blooms.
08:48Now in terms of propagation, they're fairly straightforward.
08:51You can split them after flowering, or you can collect fresh seeds.
08:55And that's the best way to get them to germinate and be healthiest.
08:58Now, as a plant, they're clearly very happy in these boggy conditions.
09:02What amazes me is just how tough and hardy they are.
09:06They last for absolutely years, and they can take extremely cold conditions, so down to minus 15 or minus 20,
09:13and keep producing these beautiful flowers.
09:17If you'd rather a more subtle primula, why not try primula succundiflora?
09:22It has deep magenta flowers and slender leaves.
09:27Like most other bog plants, it's evolved to cope with high water and low oxygen levels in its root zone,
09:34known as anaerobic conditions.
09:37Lots of us grow bearded iris in our gardens, and they're renowned for liking to be baked in the sunshine.
09:42But this iris is very different.
09:44It's a true bog plant.
09:46It's called Iris chrysographs, and it has these beautifully deep flowers.
09:51Now, they appear at first glance to be black, but in fact, they're the deepest, deepest of violet tones.
09:57And for that reason, it's really hard to tell them apart.
10:00Now, they appear at first glance to be black, but in fact, they're the deepest, deepest of violet tones.
10:06And for that reason, it's really important where you sight them in the garden.
10:09They need a pale background.
10:11Something like these ferns works brilliantly.
10:14It will flower through late spring and early summer, and then the flowers will die back.
10:19They can be cut off, get reasonable foliage into the autumn, which will then disappear, ready to re-emerge in spring.
10:25Now, what I think is particularly special about this is that the falls, in other words, these lower petals, are so distinct.
10:32That gives you this wonderful lax form that just creates these deep, delicious domes of velvet.
10:42Bog plants have adapted in all sorts of ways to deal with very, very damp conditions.
10:48However, there are some really special plants that can grow in all sorts of different environments, and this is one of them.
10:53It's Xanthodescia aethiopica, and it comes from South Africa.
10:56And there, I've seen it growing on cliff sides, yet here, it's growing directly in water as a marginal plant.
11:03It will also grow very, very happily in boggy conditions, and it will grow in the garden.
11:09So, if you've got an area in your garden that floods at certain times a year, becomes very wet, and then dries out again, this is the plant to go for.
11:16Now, it has this fantastic, lush foliage down at the base, which stays there for most of the herbaceous season, so April through to about October.
11:25And then you get this run of flowers through most of the year.
11:28Beautiful arum quality to them.
11:30For me, the special thing is that you can cut these, and they will last for at least two weeks in water in the house.
11:47I tend to think of mechanopsis as one of those sort of fantasy plants that lots of people try to grow, and sadly, so often fail.
11:56Of course, that is all down to the culture of the plant.
11:59They are, in essence, a form of bog plant.
12:01They need a very moist soil.
12:03So, if you look at their growing conditions in the wild, in the Himalaya, it will really give you a steer as to how to grow them at home.
12:10They like to be cool, and they like to have heavy rainfall.
12:13So, in the UK, they tend to do best in the northern parts of the country.
12:17Of course, the other key thing they need is either neutral or a slightly acidic soil.
12:22In the wild, of course, they get very cold over the winter.
12:25And so, if you can replicate that by putting the fresh seed in a fridge for three or four months, it's a process known as bernalization.
12:33Essentially, it means just creating an artificial winter, which will trigger them, ultimately, to germinate.
12:44Soil
12:50Lots of us have damp spots in our gardens.
12:53Sometimes, they're naturally occurring, or they might be as a result of a leaky pipe or an overflowing pond.
12:59They can even be seen as a disadvantage.
13:01In fact, having moist soil like that creates a fantastic habitat that can allow you to support all sorts of beautiful plants.
13:10Soil
13:22More than any other group of plants, when bog plants are happy, they show it.
13:29So, hostas and Lysimachia and Ligularia are all really growing and glowing.
13:38And I'm particularly happy to see that the iris in Sarta, that I planted a few weeks ago, is now flowering.
13:46So, that is obviously happy, too.
13:50Soil
14:00This is a variety of pea called Blauschokka.
14:04When they're like this, the purple pods can be eaten as a mange-tout pea.
14:08But if you leave them, the peas will swell out, and then you can pod them as normal, and the peas are delicious, too.
14:16But if you're starting a veg garden now, in the middle of July, and you can only afford a few seeds, you haven't got a lot of space, is it worth it?
14:25Well, the answer is a resounding yes.
14:35If you've got a patch of ground, or even a large container, and you want to grow some vegetables, there is still time.
14:44What I've found myself with is this raised bed.
14:47I've cleared away the broad beans, so I thought I could use this as a trial plot.
14:52It's small, but big enough to grow a number of different vegetables.
14:57And if I sow them now, let's see how they do by the end of summer.
15:01Now, the first thing to do is to rake into a fine tilth.
15:12The first thing that I will grow in any plot, of any size, is some lettuce.
15:17I've got little gem, which is a cos lettuce, but small.
15:21And because it's small, it grows quickly.
15:24And I just use the side of my hand, and run a drill down either side.
15:29And that's just a little indentation to sprinkle the seeds into.
15:35When we come to the final plants, we're looking to have them spaced about six inches to a foot apart.
15:42So, although we start with the seeds much closer, they are going to have to be thinned.
15:49Now, I just cover those over, simply by running my hand down.
15:53It turns the drill back over itself.
15:56So, that is little gem.
16:04Now, I've got another type of lettuce, called salad bowl.
16:09Salad bowl lettuces, you cut, and they regrow, and you can cut them again.
16:14You might even get three cuttings off them.
16:19Now, I want to sow something that could carry on into winter, and that's beetroot.
16:25And I've got a golden beetroot here.
16:28Lovely, yellow, sweet beetroot.
16:31And the seeds are much bigger.
16:34So, again, sprinkle the seeds fairly thinly.
16:40In an ideal world, about one to two inches apart.
16:44So, I'll cover these over.
16:50Now, I've got room for one more member of the beet family.
17:02I think some spinach would be really nice.
17:05So, spinach renegade.
17:08Beetroot, spinach, and chard, all the same family.
17:14Right, let's sprinkle them along.
17:18Cover them over.
17:23If you don't have a lot of room on a horizontal level, that doesn't stop you going up.
17:29And I want to grow some climbing beans.
17:31I won't get many in this space, but enough to make it worth doing.
17:35So, I've got a few sticks.
17:37And the idea is that you have one plant growing up each support.
17:44That there.
17:57This is a variety called Eva.
18:00I'm putting them inside the bean sticks.
18:03It's fast growing, which is important at this time of year.
18:07What I'm going to do is put one in the middle for luck.
18:12And what we have is a little miniature vegetable garden.
18:15But now, the really important thing to do is give it a good water.
18:28Now, the combination of moisture and warm soil means that these seeds will germinate very fast.
18:34We'll see them grow, and then they will need thinning.
18:36But I'll show you how to do that in a few weeks' time.
18:38And trust me, go and get some seed.
18:40Sow them in a little patch of ground.
18:42And you will be enjoying your home-grown veg in a month or two's time.
18:48It really is worth it.
18:51Now, Frances has a full-blown allotment in Kent.
18:54And I know, having talked to her, there's a lot to do.
18:57And she's very involved in that.
18:58But this week, she's actually off her allotment, looking for inspiration much further afield.
19:09Today, I'm a long way from my allotment in Kent.
19:12I've come to the beautiful Isle of Man to visit an allotment that's a lot more than just an edible pantry.
19:18It's a natural living beauty parlour, full of stuff that's good for you on the inside and on the outside.
19:28Tanya Anderson has been allotmenting for nearly ten years.
19:32Tanya Anderson has been allotmenting for nearly ten years.
19:35And her plot is overflowing with plants that heal, soothe, rejuvenate and beautify.
19:43This looks amazing.
19:45Thank you.
19:46And it smells amazing.
19:48I wish you could smell this. This is just, oh my goodness.
19:52These are soaps and bath products, salves, skin care, all made with herbs and weeds as well from here at the allotment.
20:01Is this just one plot that you've got here?
20:03I've got a smallish plot and I have different skin care plants interplanted with vegetables and perennial fruits.
20:10I grow peppermint, roses, lavender and basically create beautiful things for your skin from your allotment.
20:23So I can see all your normal allotment produce, but when did you start doing the extra bits?
20:28Well, I started getting interested in making beauty products when I lived in London and I experimented with making lip balms and really simple bath products and things like that.
20:38And then when I moved to the Isle of Man, I got this allotment.
20:42I took a beekeeping course, so I had honey and beeswax to use.
20:46And it was my opportunity to start growing botanicals that I could use in skin care.
20:51And there is this mystique in the beauty industry, this beautiful beauty counter with lots of pots of lotions and potions with all these botanical names.
21:01The reality is that you can grow a lot of them yourself and process them into your own skin care.
21:07That is so inspiring.
21:14Plants have been used in cosmetics and skin care for centuries.
21:18As far back as 10,000 BC, the ancient Egyptians were using oils and lotions scented with myrrh, thyme and rosemary to protect and soften their skin.
21:30And in 2019, it's brilliant to see those principles still being put to good use on a humble allotment.
21:40I'd like to show you my favourite skin care plant.
21:43It's just here. Calendula. It's the workhorse of the allotment.
21:48A lot of us already have it as a companion plant or for edible flowers.
21:53But it also has properties that make it really important for skin care.
21:57So it's a healing plant. There's resins and all different types of natural plant chemicals that can relieve inflammation, that can help soothe eczema, good for acne, chapped lips.
22:09It's just amazing.
22:10That is incredible. I mean, I know it's used for dyes as well, isn't it?
22:13It's like a real all-rounder.
22:16Are there particular varieties or cultivars that are better than others?
22:19I would say stick with the ones that are orange, so like Indian Prince.
22:23There's also varieties that are medicinally important.
22:27So the more orange the petal, the better it is?
22:30That's what they say. So the orange petals are much higher in resins, so they have those components for healing.
22:37Yellow is fine as well, but they say that orange is better.
22:41So antioxidant, antibacterial?
22:44Antibacterial.
22:45Anti-aging?
22:46Everything.
22:48And you can eat them?
22:49And you can eat them. And they're so cheerful. They can even bloom in the middle of winter.
22:56Calendula brings a happy pop of colour and grows easily in gardens, allotments, containers and even window boxes.
23:04It's an annual, but it will self-seed everywhere, so this really is a plant that anyone can grow.
23:10So we've got our calendula flowers. What lovely things are we going to make with it?
23:15So first of all, when we're making things like salves, which we're going to make just now,
23:20we need to completely dry the flowers to get all the moisture out.
23:25And then you put them in a jar, about two-thirds full, and then pour a light carrier oil over them.
23:32So sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil is a really good option.
23:36And then you let them infuse for at least three weeks, up to a couple of months, in a place that's warm, but out of direct sunlight.
23:46And then you can see this lovely golden infusion.
23:50So the next step after this is actually straining the flowers and the oil.
23:56So if you're thinking about using calendula for a particular skin issue,
24:01it's best to always speak with your doctor or dermatologist first, and then go from there.
24:08You're getting skin therapy just by doing this. Your hands are covered in it.
24:12Aromatherapy.
24:14Oh, it feels really satisfying just squeezing that last bit out.
24:20This hand salve recipe begins by melting beeswax.
24:24Then Tanya adds some of that infused calendula oil, along with comfrey oil and plantain oil,
24:32also made from the allotment and all known for their fantastic skincare properties.
24:37A slow stir, and then with the pan off the heat, geranium essential oil is added for more glorious fragrance.
24:44I just love the scent of it, but it's also said to be anti-aging and anti-inflammatory as well.
24:49Sounds good to me.
24:52It just smells amazing as soon as that goes in.
24:56It's just lovely.
24:59Once the mixture starts to thicken, it's poured into containers and allowed to set.
25:04You can use the spatula and just smear it on your skin afterwards.
25:09My hands are so oily already, you won't even notice.
25:15That's incredible.
25:18I took way too much, do you want some of mine?
25:22Just let it cool completely, get to room temperature, and then you can put lids on and they're good for a year.
25:28A year? That's my Christmas present sorted.
25:35There are hundreds of plants that can be used for cosmetics and skincare,
25:39and Tanya's allotment has a bounty of plants that not only look beautiful,
25:43but are all useful in their own right.
25:46Chamomile is often known as a miracle herb,
25:50again with great properties for soothing skin irritation, as well as stomach upsets and vomiting.
25:55It's even thought to ease anxiety and insomnia.
25:59But this living beauty parlour isn't just down to Tanya.
26:04She's had a little help from some little friends.
26:07These are your bees.
26:09These are my colonies, and there's Primrose and Bluebell.
26:12They love going into the allotment, pollinating veg, flowers.
26:16Do you use any of the stuff that you get from the hives in your cosmetics?
26:20So both beeswax and honey are amazing ingredients.
26:24We've used some of the beeswax today.
26:26So beeswax is really protective, so it leaves a nice coat on your skin.
26:30Honey, it draws moisture from the air to your skin, so it keeps it really moisturized.
26:35But it's also an exfoliant, so you can put it on your face as a mask and rub it in, and then, yeah.
26:41Oh, that sounds really sticky.
26:45There is plenty of information out there about the benefits of eating healthy food
26:49and being careful about what we put into our bodies.
26:53But equally important is what we're using on the outside.
26:57Tanya is using her allotment to grow multipurpose plants,
27:01from delicious edibles to healing herbs and beautiful botanicals.
27:06But I'm not one to pass up an opportunity to try something new.
27:11So when Tanya offered me a honey face pack and a cup of homemade herbal tea, how could I resist?
27:18Thank you.
27:20Who needs a spa when you have an allotment?
27:22Cheers.
27:23Cheers.
27:25You see, that is where I've been going wrong all these years.
27:28I'd be looking 20 years younger if I just flattered honey all over myself.
27:37There's just too much honey.
27:40This is the honey that I've been looking for all this time.
27:42This is so good.
27:43So good.
27:44It's so good.
27:45It's so good.
27:46It's just so good.
27:47if I just flattered honey all over myself.
27:59About six weeks ago, we dug up the stone paving
28:04of this lower terrace on the mound
28:06and replaced it with two new beds.
28:09And the colour scheme is pale yellows and pale blues.
28:15And by and large, it's shaping up very nicely.
28:19Some things are looking fantastic.
28:21This achillia, martina, along with the rose vanessa bell
28:25is a really good combination.
28:28And I like the way that the blues of the agapanthus
28:32and the lavender and even the purple of the thyme,
28:35which is really at its best and wonderful for bees,
28:38are picking up with the geranium, the nigella and the cornflowers.
28:43The one major drawback is because we had to bring in topsoil
28:47from elsewhere in the garden,
28:49we've also brought in a whole rash of weeds.
28:52And there's no solution except just to get down your hands and knees
28:56and hand-weed them.
29:03Now, still to come on today's show,
29:05Carol looks at the sublime planting combinations
29:09at Woolerton Hall in Shropshire.
29:12Most of us gardeners spend a lot of time pondering
29:15about what to plant with what.
29:18But this garden delivers a masterclass in plant association.
29:23But first, we're off to Huddersfield
29:26to see how one woman's passion for bees
29:29has helped to transform a school.
29:36Morning, ladies. How are we doing today?
29:39Looking lovely.
29:43My name's Yvonne Kilvington and I work here at Ashbrough School.
29:47But out of school, I'm the Yorkshire Bee Lady.
29:51I'm responsible for maintaining the vegetable beds, the gardens,
29:56looking after the bees, the hens and the duck,
30:00not forgetting Donald, with the children's help as well
30:03and bringing the children out into this fantastic environment.
30:07I've had a love of bees since I was a little girl.
30:10I'd run after bees, butterflies.
30:13That was my childhood and coming here,
30:16that's what I wanted the children to experience as well.
30:22When I first came here, it was builder's rubble,
30:25it was burnt-out cars, shopping trolleys,
30:28so we got the JCBs in and they cleared the area.
30:32I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like.
30:35Borders, wildflowers,
30:38nicely mown grass in areas, but a lot left wild.
30:42So you can see here we've got red campion,
30:46we've got aquilegias, we've got lots of perennials
30:49and most of the perennials are really good for bees.
30:59We've got this lovely borage here, which is one of my favourites.
31:02Slightly prickly feel to it,
31:05and we've got these fantastic blue starflowers,
31:08which are loved by bees,
31:11and they're great to liven up a salad as well,
31:14because they are edible and they've got a cucumbery taste to them.
31:17And then just poking through here is one of my favourite flowers,
31:20nigella, loving a mist, which looks so pretty,
31:23just poking through the fennel.
31:26These are great plants for putting in your borders,
31:29mixing around in your veg beds, and they're great for our pollinators.
31:36So I think we need to be a little bit braver when we come to our gardening,
31:39and letting some of these herbs and vegetables bolt,
31:42so they've got these fantastic flowers.
31:47Bees are having a tough time at the moment,
31:50so we need to teach our children the skills of beekeeping,
31:53because it's an ancient craft,
31:56and they're our next generation beekeepers.
31:59So we set Bee Club up about seven years ago,
32:02we currently have ten beehives in our apiary.
32:08After school they come in here,
32:11get dressed up in their bee suits.
32:16Inevitably they turn into spacemen.
32:19Where have the bees gone?
32:22They've gone down.
32:25They've gone down in between these gaps,
32:28down into the hive a little bit deeper.
32:31Is there a king bee?
32:34There isn't, the king bee's a bear.
32:37There are lots of drones,
32:40and the queen has lots of boyfriends.
32:43We've had all the great queens here,
32:46we've had Bee Elizabeth I, Bee Elizabeth II,
32:49Queen Beyonce,
32:52so these names do stick.
32:58They send out their oldest members to do the hardest job,
33:01and that would be the equivalent of us sending all our pensioners out
33:04to go dig up the motorway,
33:07and that's what we do.
33:10It is quite ruthless in there,
33:13but that's bees for you.
33:18The children's attitude and view
33:21towards looking after our pollinators has really increased.
33:24They know the importance of bees playing our survival,
33:27so they have a good understanding
33:30of the importance of looking after nature.
33:33So what we've got here is cornflour,
33:36and it's just got a little bud down there somewhere,
33:39but it's a lovely blue colour.
33:42A famous person said that if bees went,
33:45humans wouldn't be able to live,
33:48because bees pollinate a lot of our things.
33:51So I'd say we've got a lot of bees,
33:54and we've got a lot of cornflour,
33:57and we've got a lot of bees.
34:01So I'd say we've got a win-win situation here.
34:04We've got a win situation for the school
34:07in that we're growing our own vegetables,
34:10a win situation for the bees
34:13because we're providing vital forage for them,
34:16and it's teaching the kids about the importance
34:19of the role that they play.
34:22It doesn't get any better than that, does it?
34:25It's about planting from one side of the year
34:28right through to the other.
34:31So starting January, February,
34:34you're thinking about snowdrops, crocus,
34:37those early spring bulbs that provide
34:40a rich source of pollen,
34:43right through to the end of the year
34:46looking at things like ivy,
34:49allowing your ivy to flower
34:52because the flowers are really pretty.
34:56Our honey tastes very sweet,
34:59so there's a mixture of all the summer and the spring
35:02that you find around here.
35:05So it's sunshine in a jar, really.
35:08Is it me who's going to eat it all?
35:11Because I could eat it all.
35:14Do you think I'd turn into a bee if I did?
35:17Yeah. Hopefully.
35:20Hopefully?
35:25There's days when I've finished work
35:28and I often stand at the gate
35:31and just gaze up and down this area
35:34and I think, did we do this?
35:37It's a place to come and contemplate.
35:40They make me feel happy, and that's hard to describe
35:43because unless you put your hand on a beehive
35:46and you hear their hum
35:49and you can smell the smells of the honey,
35:52see the queen, see the brood,
35:55you can never feel what a beekeeper feels.
35:58You've got this overwhelming desire to protect her.
36:13It is incredible when you think about it,
36:16the closeness and intensity of the relationship
36:19between people and honeybees.
36:22And I've slowly been delving into that world
36:25as I learn about bees.
36:28I've been keeping them for a couple of years now
36:31under the guidance of Gareth, who is my mentor.
36:34He came here a few weeks ago and we opened up both hives
36:37and they both had honey.
36:40And Gareth took a few frames away with him
36:43and he bought back some honey for us to enjoy.
36:46It does smell distinctly floral.
36:55Yeah, I thought that would interest you.
36:58You'd like some, wouldn't you? I'm not going to give you any.
37:01You wouldn't like it. You saw a spoon.
37:04Absolutely lovely.
37:09There are moments when the garden all seems to come together
37:12in a kind of perfect unity.
37:15To make your garden as good as it possibly can be,
37:18actually one of the most important things you can do
37:21is to go and visit other gardens.
37:24And that's precisely what Adam has done.
37:27He's been to Cottesbrook Hall, which is not far from his own home.
37:40You know, this place is only 15 minutes from my house.
37:43It took me 15 years to get here. Why do we do that?
37:46If something's miles away, we'll go.
37:49If it's on your doorstep, you never quite get there.
37:52But I'm here now and I'm going to enjoy it.
38:01Cottesbrook Hall dates back to 1702
38:04and is owned by the Macdonald-Buchanan family.
38:07Since 2017, the garden has been nurtured
38:10by head gardener Craig Rudman.
38:13It's stunning, isn't it? Yeah.
38:19Craig, I've obviously chosen a wonderful day to come round.
38:22In the Northamptonshire sunshine. Exactly.
38:25How would you describe the garden?
38:28It's fairly complex.
38:31I would say the overriding feeling is one of intimacy.
38:34We've got lots of fairly small garden rooms, some cracking statuary,
38:37lots of brickwork that dates back to the beginning of the 18th century.
38:40How has the garden evolved since you've been here?
38:43We've worked on a couple of major projects, really.
38:46One was the entrance border, which is a really interesting planting
38:49of woodland shrubs and woodland understory.
38:52And we've recently replanted this herbaceous border as well.
38:55What we're trying to do is really push the plant collection
38:58and make it interesting for people like you and I to visit.
39:01What size is the actual ornamental garden?
39:04It's a fairly large garden, really.
39:07The entire garden is 14 or 15 acres.
39:10It's split more or less right down the middle by a road on the estate.
39:13This side of the garden is very formal,
39:16and then the other side is much more loose and wild.
39:19What do you really like about the garden?
39:22Well, having said I'm very plant-focused,
39:25I'm also a bit of a landscape detailing nerd as well.
39:28So when you have a look around, just take a look at the pergola,
39:31the way it's been cut and processed, it's just phenomenal.
39:34The terracotta tiling underneath.
39:37I mean, it's little details that are almost hidden,
39:40but when you take the time to have a look, it really brings the garden to life.
39:43It does. They're bits that I really love, so I'll look forward to that.
39:46Cool.
39:56Even in this rain, this smells absolutely wonderful.
39:59It's a white wisteria, which flowers that bit later,
40:02and it's holding on really well.
40:05But for me, what it does here is it makes a statement.
40:08It makes you pause as you're leaving one area to the other.
40:11And I know this is a big space,
40:14but you could use something like this over an archway,
40:17and it really just stops you.
40:20You can enjoy the space and then move on.
40:30When it comes to dealing with levels in gardens,
40:33they can be really complex and difficult to work out.
40:36This little bit of design is really well thought through.
40:39If you imagine, the most obvious thing to do
40:42would be to step straight down into the space,
40:45and that would start to swallow up that lower terrace.
40:48And then the steps use what would be wasted space.
40:51But they're quite shallow,
40:54so it's quite a relaxed movement down.
40:58I even love the little detail at the bottom
41:01that extends out into the lower courtyard.
41:04And for me in here, the final detail I think that works well
41:07is the brickwork on the walls and the house is picked up
41:10and the horizontals,
41:13and it really sort of brings a collision to the whole space.
41:23That tree is epic.
41:26That's what I love about the big gardens in this country.
41:29Somebody's gone out, collected these trees,
41:32planted them for us to enjoy.
41:35You can't get that in the average garden.
41:38It's a Lebanese cedar, and it is beautiful.
41:51It's really caught my eye.
41:55It's bringing it alive.
41:58It's really quite a simple but elegant piece of design.
42:01First of all, the pool works well
42:04as you come through the doorway,
42:07but also on top of that, what I like about this is the contrast.
42:10The gravel's very light.
42:13If you'd have gone for a dark color,
42:16you wouldn't have that contrast,
42:19so this central area really pings out.
42:23You've got this light over the top of it, so it reflects.
42:26You can use it on a terrace in a small space.
42:29But also for me, it's the connections here
42:32between the areas, and this dark color here
42:35is picked up in the purple beach in the distance there.
42:38But then that comes back here
42:41because here we've got our straight Fagus sylvatica,
42:44which is the straight beach.
42:47So the leaf shapes are the same, and that connects the space.
42:50You've got the green of the Fagus over there
42:53and the greys of the Achilles.
42:56It really sort of sits well together,
42:59so you're using that dark color at the back to plant against.
43:02Again, it's something you could do at home with shrubs,
43:05but maybe just using different varieties.
43:09This is incredible.
43:12I love Gunnera.
43:15Admittedly, some places in the southwest,
43:18they're looked upon now as being invasive,
43:21but for me, they're an upside-down umbrella.
43:24They catch the water, and then they take it down
43:27the spiky stem right into where the plant needs it.
43:30But also, I think they demonstrate
43:33that you can do a lot of different things
43:37I think they demonstrate that even our big gardens
43:40can give us ideas to use at home in our own gardens.
43:43One of these, I have grown in a container
43:46in a courtyard garden
43:49and just lifted it in and out of water.
43:52It's amazed me today
43:55because I wasn't quite sure what to expect,
43:58but it's been put together in such an understated and elegant way.
44:01And I tell you, I am not going to leave it 10 years
44:04before I come back again.
44:23Well, that garden is certainly now on my list too.
44:26Never too late to go, even if it's close by.
44:29But I hope when I go, the weather is a little bit better,
44:32because it's a bit too hot for poor Adam there.
44:35And we did have a terribly wet June
44:38and the roses here in the cottage garden hated it.
44:41But now we've had a bit of sunshine,
44:44they've perked up, and they're still going strong.
44:56There is usually a stage at this part of summer,
44:59where the garden is at different points,
45:02when suddenly the borders that have looked so full of colour
45:05and vibrancy and substance, empty.
45:08The forget-me-nots go, the tulips go,
45:11the early perennials are past.
45:14You cut them back and you realise there's not enough left behind.
45:17And what I really like at this time of year is height.
45:20Spires and towers of colour.
45:23Delphiniums, of course, do that job beautifully,
45:26but a lot of people find that they get eaten by slugs
45:29or they're just not growing well for them.
45:32But there are plenty of other alternatives.
45:35Now, Veronicastrum are wonderful, wonderful plants,
45:38but they need a little bit of room.
45:41I've got fascination.
45:44Tall, almost bottle-brush flowers ending in slender minarets.
45:47It's a really statuesque plant.
45:50And the beauty of this is it will flower from now right through into autumn.
45:53And like all Veronicastrums,
45:56they absolutely are full of pollen and nectar
45:59and they are a magnet for all insects.
46:02They like a fertile, rich soil with good drainage
46:05and they don't like drying out.
46:15It's got a nice root system.
46:18I'll just do the thing of gently teasing it.
46:23There we go.
46:37This Veronicastrum fascination is, I think,
46:40already looking as though it belongs here.
46:43And whilst it's really important to consider these things
46:46and choose your plants carefully,
46:49I confess that in the cottage garden, certainly, it's a bit haphazard.
46:52If they work, hooray, and if they don't, I just move.
46:55But Carol has been to Woolerton Hall
46:58where the planting and the plant combinations
47:01are exquisitely thought out and refined.
47:12Most of us gardeners spend a lot of time
47:15pondering about what to plant with what,
47:19but this exhibition delivers a masterclass in plant association.
47:22At every twist and turn,
47:25you're presented with beautiful plants
47:28exquisitely arranged in the most painterly fashion.
47:31In fact, the whole place is a gallery,
47:34an exhibition of picture-perfect plant combinations.
47:49This is a perfect example
47:52of how cleverly plants are combined in this garden.
47:55Here, you go through a series of pinks,
47:58starting off in the foreground
48:01with these big round flowers of this lovely rose,
48:04Olivia Rose Austin.
48:07Behind this is a deeper rose, Gertrude Jekyll.
48:10And then that same colour is picked up
48:13right at the back here with this peony.
48:17I love peony bowl of beauty.
48:20Pink outer petals and then these petaloid white bits
48:23making this sort of powderpuff centre.
48:26And then the whole thing is punctuated by foxgloves,
48:29again, pink and white.
48:32And across the path, too, there are more foxgloves.
48:35And in the background, growing along the hedge,
48:38is a white rose, Rambling Rector.
48:41So all these plants establish a rhythm through the bed.
48:44They take your eye through,
48:47so you're constantly looking backwards and forwards
48:50and enjoying every plant in here.
48:53But what happens when the foxgloves have dropped their flowers
48:56and the Rambling Rector is no longer rambling?
48:59It won't matter because taking over from them
49:02are a wealth of other plants.
49:05There are asters, big blocks of phlox.
49:08They'll use the same kind of colours
49:11all the way through until October or so.
49:14And what's more, the whole thing has been executed perfectly.
49:29This has to be one of the most romantic
49:32and intimate corners of the garden.
49:35It's utterly beautiful.
49:38This is one of the most iconic hot roses, Lady Emma Hamilton.
49:41It opens from almost red-stained buds.
49:44It's got bronzy foliage, too.
49:47And that's repeated in the centre of this white mullein.
49:50This is Verbascombe Shakespeare album.
49:53So not only is there a tiny repeat of the colour within it,
49:56but also it adds these tall vertical spikes.
49:59And then, in the background,
50:02this railing, covered with this dainty clematis.
50:05This is Clematis Anita.
50:08And in the foreground, a seat.
50:11It's white, but it hasn't been painted recently.
50:14And that's deliberate, too, because that lovely rusty colour
50:17just picks up the colour of the rose.
50:20The whole thing is... it's symphonic.
50:24People usually treat this Astealia nervosa
50:27as a plant for hot, dry, sunny places.
50:30But this is where it really belongs.
50:33Look how it's thriving here,
50:36in a bit of shade, in lovely, damp, moist soil.
50:39It's a beautiful contrast to this clematis.
50:42This is Clematis romantica.
50:45It's a beautiful rose.
50:48It's a beautiful rose.
50:52This is Clematis romantica.
50:55And if you look carefully,
50:58these beautiful, silvery buds
51:01really pick up the silver from the Astealia's blades.
51:04And then you've got the soft, felty,
51:07but still silvery leaves of this Plectranthus.
51:10It's argentative, meaning very silver.
51:13And here, at my feet,
51:16Wollaton white, a little salvia, very dainty.
51:19And it's the kind of thing
51:22that anybody could emulate in their own garden.
51:37This has to be
51:40one of the most peaceful corners of the garden,
51:43as the centrepiece is a rose aptly named Tranquility.
51:46And to set it off is this little salvia
51:49called Schneehügel, Snow Hill.
51:52These feathery white spikes
51:55are soft and gentle,
51:58and the green almost merges with the white
52:01and takes you through to an Artemisia.
52:04Artemisia ludoviciana, Valerie Finis.
52:07And then a combination of those greys, greens and whites
52:10is this Miscanthus.
52:13It's the organlicht, morning light,
52:16and it really does complete this perfect little cameo.
52:22There are other mouth-watering vignettes within the borders.
52:25Niphothia nancis red
52:28picks up the glowing hues of Alstroemeria orange glory.
52:31And if you look carefully,
52:34Tropiolum siliatum has been allowed
52:37to hoist itself up the Alstroemeria stems.
52:43Sometimes one plant on its own makes a dramatic picture.
52:46Here, Ligularia the rocket
52:49zooms up behind the back of a rustic seat.
52:52The fact that it hasn't yet opened
52:55its bright yellow flowers means all the emphasis
52:58is on its black stems and toothed green leaves.
53:06In complete contrast to all the soft,
53:09pastel shades in lots of the garden,
53:12this garden is dramatic.
53:15It's hot.
53:18It's got wonderful reds, oranges and yellows throughout it,
53:21all combined with brilliant green.
53:24But whereas in most gardens
53:27you'd attain structure and form
53:30using shrubs and trees,
53:33here it's all obtained by using perennial plants.
53:36Here's an Achillea.
53:39Here's another one, Gold Plate.
53:42And that kind of theme
53:45is employed everywhere through these beds
53:48so you get this lovely sort of rhythm
53:51and movement within them.
53:54It all serves to give these beds cohesion
53:57and at the same time to increase their impact.
54:00In the background, a brick wall,
54:03which is the perfect kind of setting for this.
54:06Here's one of my favourite photos,
54:09Park Director Riggers.
54:12Taken together, the whole thing is cohesive.
54:15It all forms an impactful ensemble.
54:30How inspirational.
54:33I hope you've enjoyed this garden.
54:36Although it's full of ideas you want to steal or borrow,
54:39what it does above all else
54:42is teach you the importance of experiment,
54:45of adventure,
54:48and above all, to make your plants paint your pictures.
55:04The truth is that even the loveliest selection of plants,
55:07the most carefully looked after,
55:10the best organic system,
55:13sooner or later has some problems.
55:16And if they grow Solomon's seal,
55:19the chances are the Solomon's seal sawfly will be at its work.
55:22These little grey caterpillar-like grubs
55:25are slowly munching their way
55:28through this Solomon's seal plant.
55:31The sawfly will lay its eggs on the stems
55:34and then as they hatch out, they rise up
55:37and they can strip a plant.
55:40The extraordinary thing is that although it looks devastating,
55:43next year I can guarantee this will grow back just as well.
55:46And I think the reason why this particular Solomon's seal
55:49has been affected like this
55:52is because although it's in shade, which it likes,
55:55it's quite close to the hedge, which is sucking up all the moisture.
55:58It's weakened because I've got other Solomon's seal in the garden
56:01which has got no sawfly on at all.
56:04Perhaps they're all here.
56:07Well, there's not much that I can do about this now.
56:10It's too late for this year.
56:13But here are some jobs you can do right now.
56:17Whether you grow your tomatoes
56:20in a greenhouse or outside,
56:23they do need to have their side shoots
56:26regularly pinched out.
56:29This is the growth between the main stem and the leaves.
56:32And as you're doing so,
56:35make sure they're properly secured
56:38so they can carry the weight of the ripening fruit.
56:47Although foxgloves have almost finished flowering,
56:50they are setting seed like mad
56:53and little seedlings are growing all around the parent plant.
56:56So it's a good idea to dig up some
56:59and then pot them on individually
57:02so these can then be planted out either in autumn or next spring
57:05where you want them to flower rather than in just one cluster.
57:09It is important at this stage of summer
57:12to make sure that everything is supported.
57:15So tie in climbers like sweet peas
57:18and vigorous annual plants like sunflowers
57:21should be firmly staked and regularly tied in.
57:39These are tayberries
57:42and they're a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry.
57:45And many people think that they have the best qualities of both.
57:48They tend not to be grown commercially
57:51so a brilliant plant to grow in the garden
57:54or the allotment.
57:57And the same with the loganberries
58:00and they make wonderful jam or you can stew them.
58:03And I think soft fruit is one of the least glamorous parts of gardening
58:07but it's actually one of the best.
58:10So let's all celebrate what we've got and grow more the next year.
58:13I'm afraid there's no more today.
58:16We've run out of time.
58:19And I'm away filming in America next week
58:22so Adam will be holding the reins
58:25on Friday next week at 8 o'clock.
58:28And then I'll be back here at Longmeadow in two weeks' time.
58:31So until then, bye-bye.
58:36¶.