Gardeners World S52e20 26-07-19
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Gardener's World. As you can imagine, since you were last here,
00:23the garden has really kicked on and I'm excited about spending the next hour and just showing
00:27you what's happened. Just editing a few of the poppies at the moment. I inherited them
00:32and have seeded all over the garden and know I love them. At times they can be a little
00:36bit overpowering, so what I do is I just pull them out where I don't want them, where I
00:40want to keep them, I'll let them seed. But even with those seed heads, look, against
00:44that Cotinus looks absolutely stunning. And as you can imagine with me, I do not sit down
00:51very much, so I'm planning to add new borders in the autumn. And this is a great way of
00:55helping you understand if you're going to do that in your own back garden. I've just
00:59left the grass to grow. That means that I can understand the balance between the larger
01:04border of the path and this and make that decision whether to make it any bigger or
01:08smaller before I commit to cutting it all out. But that's for another day. At the moment,
01:13I think it looks all right and the wildlife are loving it.
01:20In today's programme, Arik travels to Germany to discover an incredible project where a
01:25disused industrial site has become the centrepiece of a tranquil park. Looking around at this
01:34is absolutely breathtaking. Rachel visits Kiftsgate Court on the 100 year anniversary
01:42of this glorious garden. It is absolutely beautiful, rather like falling into a box
01:48of chocolates and finding something delicious in every corner. And I've got an idea for
01:56a dry, shady spot that I'm going to share with you. Plus, we've got a friend coming
01:59to help me plant up a new area of edible flowers and herbs.
02:15So Wisteria, this year has been absolutely fantastic. Mind you saying that, it's never
02:20let us down since we moved in. It's been great. It's started to flower again, which it's done
02:24every single year since we've lived here. So I'm not necessarily going to do all the
02:28pruning today, but when it comes to pruning, people worry a little bit too much. You pick
02:33up a book and you read it and it tells you if you don't prune something on the third
02:37Wednesday in March, the whole world is going to come to an end. And in reality, it doesn't.
02:44You might lose a season's flower. It's very rarely that you're going to kill something.
02:49I've got a little story that just bumbles around in my head when it comes to pruning
02:53Wisteria and it was an old boy that first taught me. He said, Adam, when it comes to
02:58Wisteria, seven and two boys, seven and two. Which is quite simple to remember. It means
03:03on the seventh month, you cut back to seven buds. And then in the second month, February,
03:08we cut back to two buds. But why do we do it? We're doing it this time of year to let
03:14more air in, to stop the plant going up through your gutters and surrounding the windows.
03:19But also letting that light and that air in will ripen buds that will form our flowers
03:25for next year. So all this growth has been put on in one year. All I'm doing is looking
03:31at that old stem from last year and just counting out. So I've got one, two, three, four, five,
03:37six, seven. And you're cutting just above that node. I'm doing it this way around so
03:43that the blade, my sharp bit, is nice and close to that bud, which means that you won't
03:49get dieback. It's just a general little pruning thing. There we go. Seven. Next bit's going
03:57to need a ladder. At this time of year as well, you might choose one or two beautiful
04:17stems that you think you could wire those across the back of the house. Like I say,
04:23this one, it's more about maintaining really. I really enjoy this job. I just enjoy spending
04:37time with the wisteria. I think they're a majestic plant. At the moment, the new growth
04:43has got a wonderful coppery tone to it. But even when they lose their leaves, I love the
04:48fact that they look architectural. A question I get a lot when you're on the road is people
04:53saying, well, wisteria, I've bought one and it's not flowering. But a tip with that is
04:57when you're buying one is to buy a grafted one. And what I mean by that is you're going
05:01to the garden centre and you look at the pot and about six inches up, you'll see the old
05:05stem going back down into that pot and then it's attached from there. That old stem is
05:11old stock, so it speeds up that flowering time, even maybe buy one in flower. These
05:18could take anything up to seven to 16 years to flower. So grafted is a good way to go.
05:35So there you go. It's a little bit of that done. It's not a bad job to knock off
05:40in sections. So if you want to buy one, remember to get a grafted one. But the pruning,
05:46just remember seven and two and you won't go far wrong. If there is another climber that does
05:52come with a certain fear factor when it comes to pruning, it has got to be clematis. And earlier
05:58on in the year, Nick looked at the spring flowering ones, which are group one, and now
06:02he's off enjoying the summer flowering clematis, which are the group two.
06:06This garden is packed with over 230 clematis from across all three groups.
06:21But I'm here today to look at the summer flowering group two clematis.
06:28Compared to their spring flowering counterparts, group two clematis tend to have larger flowers.
06:34They're usually more compact and they'll often repeat flower
06:38twice in the season. They really are the show-offs of the clematis world.
06:46While group one clematis flower from February to May,
06:49group two produce their main flush of flowers in May and June. And again, with a little help,
06:55later in summer. Clematis are well known for having quite specific cultural requirements.
07:01They generally like to have their tops up in the light, but the key bit is that their roots
07:06are cool and damp and shady. That might suggest to you that you can't grow them in pots,
07:11but actually, if you get a large enough pot, you can easily get away with it. So something of this
07:15scale works really well. Of course, you need to make sure it stays very damp and keep it really
07:21well fed. Now, this is a particularly beautiful clematis. It's called Viva Polonia. It's got that
07:28lovely quality to it. Very, very pale centre, which really makes it pop. If you look further
07:33down the plant, it's doing something quite interesting here. On this outer structure,
07:38it's starting to turn green, almost leaf-like. Let me explain why that is. So if you take a
07:44typical flower, say a rose, you've got very distinct floral structures. Around the outside
07:49here, you've got the sepals, which form the bud or hold the petals up, and the petals in the centre.
07:54When botanists can't differentiate floral parts between being a sepal or a petal, they call it a
08:01tepal. And so what you see on clematis are a series of tepals. They're not petals at all.
08:07They're quite different, and that's why they can revert and take on these green tones.
08:13They really are fascinating plants.
08:28This beauty is Clematis Bees Jubilee, and it really takes me back to when I was 16. I used
08:34to grow it in the nursery there, and hundreds of them I remember having to prise apart.
08:38So it's a really vigorous plant. It first appeared in 1958, and it's got an Award of
08:44Garden Merit. So that means it's tried, tested, and a good, healthy plant. What's lovely about
08:50it is that you've got this beautiful, deeper tone through the centre of the tepal, which makes it
08:55very, very distinct. Now, it flowers for about six weeks in mid-summer, and then it will repeat
09:02again in the autumn and around September time, so it gives you really good value.
09:18Just noticed a lovely idea in this garden tucked away behind me,
09:22and it's one of the best ways to make the most of the qualities of Group II Clematis.
09:27So there's a Rosa Grand Thomas at the back there. It's quite a large rose,
09:31and it's almost taken on climber qualities. And what happens with so many of the big
09:35climbing roses is they tend to have bare bases, stems with no foliage and no flowers.
09:40But by using a Group II under there, it's come up to about two metres,
09:45totally covered those ugly stems, and it's got the added bonus that those beautiful
09:49flowers of the Clematis associate fantastically with the rose. So it's a real double win.
10:09For all their glamour, Group II Clematis can occasionally suffer a problem known as
10:14Clematis wilt. What it essentially is is a fungus which attacks the base of the stems,
10:20and it effectively knocks out their capacity to transport water through their xylem vessels.
10:26And that starts to manifest itself as these sort of darkened areas right next to the leaf petiole,
10:32or the leaf stem. All you need to do is to cut the stems back hard right down to ground level,
10:37or even lower if you can see there's fungal problems there. And what that should do is
10:42trigger the plant back into bigger, produce decent growth and return to good health.
10:51The classic approach to pruning Group II Clematis comes in two stages. So in late winter it's all
10:59about removing dead, diseased and damaged stems back down to fat, healthy, juicy buds. But it's
11:06important that you leave that structure from last year, because of course Group II Clematis,
11:10their first flush of flowers appears on last year's wood. Now this plant beside me has had
11:16its first flush and it's stopped flowering, so it's now time for the second prune which will
11:21trigger another flowering which will go on through August and into September. The key way to do that
11:27is to remove about a third of the top older growth, and you can see all of this has finished
11:31flowering now. But what's making its way up are these stems, and they are going to be the ones
11:36that will flower later in the year. So just with a simple removal of this older growth,
11:41tying these back in, it will ensure great health and vigour and make sure these Group II Clematis
11:47look fantastic.
11:59Wonderful plants aren't they? I think climbers are just going to become more and more important
12:05to our gardens. What do I mean by that? Our gardens are getting smaller, that means that
12:09boundary around the edge of your space is going to become more important. Climbers are vertical,
12:15they don't take up too much space, or even over an arbour or an archway. But I've not just been
12:21playing with the flowering plants, I've been playing with the edible climbers as well.
12:26Here I've got a thornless blackberry, look at the stems, I can run my hands up and down. I've worked
12:32it against the wall, but this idea was born of something I saw my Nan doing years ago, outside
12:39the back of their house, they had this rough bit of ground, and on the edge of that rough bit of
12:42ground blackberries grew. Instead of just leaving them, she got Grandad to bang in these posts and
12:48wire between them, and then she just tidied them in. I can still remember her blackberry and apple
12:53pie, it was wonderful. But these growths are starting to take over the border a little bit,
12:58and if you imagine, I don't want them in the border, but at the same time
13:03I don't want to lose them. These will become next year's fruit. So the old gardeners just used to
13:10put a cane up the middle and just tie them in. It's a little bit fiddly, make sure you don't
13:17miss any. This is when you realise how wonderful they are, being thornless. And all I'm going to
13:24do is bunch that in to start with, tie it off, there we go. So when you've tied them in all
13:31right, they don't look wonderful at the moment, but the leaves will turn, so it'll look fine. But
13:36what you can see is I can get to the rest of the blackberries. So when they're gone, we will cut
13:40that all away, and then we'll tie these in as a fan, and hopefully we'll be enjoying blackberry
13:46and apple pie next year. Come here then. Come on then.
14:08Where are you going? It's this way. Come on. Darn creature.
14:17Come on. The woodland area is coming along really well, but I don't think I'm the only person in the
14:26country with a spot in your garden that nothing will grow. And mine's there. It's a dry, shady
14:32area, and what makes it worse is the roots are near to the surface. But I've got a plan.
14:39So far, what I've done is just taken the soil away, not damaging the roots, but just to give
14:43myself a space that I can create a mini planter. And the inspiration from that was born from that
14:50over there that's now covered in moss, and I just thought, wonder if I can recreate that all the
14:56way through the woodlands. I've got these old logs, and the center is really rotted. So I've come up
15:02with this plan here that if I can fill them with soil, that's then going to give me a real depth
15:07of soil to get the ferns going, and then I'll repeat that through the rest of the space.
15:13So all I'm going to do is sprinkle the soil back around the edges.
15:23So I'm firming this back up, and then I'm going to put a little bit of soil in there.
15:28So I'm firming this back round. It's just regular soil from the woodland that I dug out to start
15:33with. Because my soil is so limey, and quite a lot of woodlanders do like a slightly more acid soil,
15:41I could, you know, introduce slightly more acid-loving plants. That will stop any of my
15:49compost escaping, and these are really setting well. What's lovely though, straight away, the
15:55tiny crevices that are left, you know that they're going to create fantastic habitat, not just for
16:01the plants, but for the animals as well. So the next thing is I get my mixer and get those plants
16:05in. Is that right? Yes, come on. So what I've done here is create myself a mix that is some of the
16:15woodland soil that's come straight out of that hole. I've added some composted bark and some
16:21peat-free compost, and the ferns, which I'm going to grab from there, will absolutely love it.
16:35So, really simple now. All I'm going to do is put my mix
16:41into my log container. I'm not over-firming it, but I'm just making sure that it's gone
16:48into some of those sort of hollows inside. And now,
16:55these are Dryopteris, which are a lovely, quite hard-working fern, really. I've got other varieties
17:00right across this area. So if you just loosen some of those roots up and simply plant them
17:09in. Work that in. There we go. Just firm those in. I know these ferns have been chosen because
17:17they'll deal with the drier conditions. They'll grow to about a metre-plus in time, but what I
17:23have done is I've improved those conditions, and I know that actually that will keep amazing
17:28amount of moisture in there, because not only will the soil contain it, but also those logs will.
17:32And the plants can draw on it. And I think that, repeated through the space, will work really well.
17:41Just give that a water in, and that will settle composting around the roots, and away that plant
17:47will go. I think that all of us want to improve our gardens and the landscape around us. And
17:54Harriet has been to Germany to visit me, and she's been to Germany to visit me, and she's
17:59the landscape around us. And Harriet has been to Germany to visit a park that does it on a huge scale.
18:08In the UK, we're used to seeing abandoned and industrial buildings and factories in our cities
18:13and countryside no longer relevant and left to decay. With green spaces more precious than ever,
18:20I was excited to hear about a revolutionary idea that is embracing these remnants of our past,
18:27placing them centre stage once more, and crucially,
18:31developing new parks and gardens around them, bringing nature closer to us.
18:39I've come to Germany to find a place that has inspired designers around the world, and has
18:45become a benchmark for regeneration, and how we can create spaces that allow nature to merge
18:52into our built environments.
18:58This is Landschaftpark Duisburg Nord in Germany's industrial heartland, the Ruhr Valley.
19:07Opened 25 years ago, it's a public park that was built on the old decaying ironworks.
19:14With its woodland and gardens stretching across 400 acres of land,
19:23it's home to over 700 species of plants.
19:29And over a million visitors come here every year to walk, cycle, rock climb, and enjoy cultural
19:38events. I cannot believe the scale of it. Wow. Looking around at this park is absolutely
19:54breathtaking. Everywhere you look, there are trees and greenery, but sprinkled in amongst that,
20:01there's walking paths and the canal and bike routes, but rising up right in the middle
20:08are these blast furnaces. They absolutely dominate this space.
20:15The Thiesen Ironworks operated between 1901 and 1985,
20:22providing employment for 2,300 workers at any one time.
20:31You've got to remember, this place was purely about function, the purpose of creating iron ore.
20:37Looking at it from this perspective, I can start to see a real design aesthetic here,
20:41because one of the principles of design is simplicity, and that's shown in the materials.
20:46There's brick, there's concrete, there's the metalwork of the structures, and that in itself
20:52gives a really, really strong sense of place. These used to be old bunkers that would store
20:58raw materials such as limestone and iron ore, but now they've been repurposed for the public
21:03to come and enjoy, so they've become playgrounds and even gardens. This whole site has been
21:10repurposed with people and nature in mind. Now, these smaller bunkers have been put to
21:27such good use, I feel, because they're actually like mini-walled gardens, and I really love how
21:35because they're south-facing, they've been given this Mediterranean planting feel, so
21:40things like the Santolina, smiling at me, and the lavender and the gaur in the breeze. I mean,
21:46from this platform, it's a beautiful viewing station because you can't actually get into
21:50these ones, but I do know that the volunteers come up here and really enjoy working through
21:56these spaces, and why wouldn't you? Because they're absolutely lovely. These are actually
22:01quite small in amongst the madness and the chaotic size of this place.
22:18So, this is one that you can come in and enter, and it's actually the closest to what we'd know
22:30as a traditional garden, with its yew hedging and the layout of the hydrangeas. It's very much like
22:36a parterre garden. It's got a strong form which sits well within the landscape, but it has a seat,
22:43and I think that it enables you to come in, sit down, and just contemplate the whole space.
22:58The man who had the vision to transform this industrial wasteland into a green oasis is
23:05landscape architect Peter Latz. Where did your vision come from to retain the history of this
23:12site? There's one official story of the Ruhr region, but if you look more closely, there are
23:22actually thousands of stories which are all very, very different. I think this is similar in the
23:28industrial areas of England. This place gives these stories from the past room to be told.
23:37We created this garden with former workmen from the plant and with their wives and children,
23:44and that was the most important thing. We gathered all the materials that were here on the site
23:53and collected them into these raised beds.
23:59So, all the parts were visible, and the families were very happy to be involved.
24:0525 years on, is this park now the real vision that was in your head and heart?
24:12Yes, absolutely.
24:18Whether it's a blessing or a curse,
24:23in this profession, you have to wait 25 years for the plans to come to fruition.
24:28It was worth the wait. Peter has taken an old industrial relic,
24:36which holds the memories of the past, and created something new for future generations.
24:44I love it around here. Sound of birdsong, all of this nature that's crept in and smashed itself
24:52right up against a man-made environment, just how it should be.
24:58I can't wait to see how much more this place has to offer.
25:18It really is a mind-blowing park, but we'll be going back to Arrett
25:23a little bit later to see exactly how Mother Nature is reclaiming that industrial site.
25:30Anyway, you might be wondering who these two are.
25:33We had some sad news more or less a week after we last filmed here, as we lost Tom.
25:37She sadly passed away, and very quickly the house seemed like a strange place without a cat.
25:42So Mrs Frost and her kids decided to go and get their hands on these two monkeys.
25:47This is Ash, and this is Willow. I just hope they enjoy the garden as much as they do.
25:54Anyway, still to come on today's programme.
25:58Rachel explores the magnificent Kiftsgate Garden in Gloucestershire.
26:04It is spectacular when it's in flower like this, sort of a waterfall of white heads.
26:08It's just a sort of glorious monster.
26:13But first we catch up with Frances, our allotment in Kent, to see how she's getting on.
26:23Over the last few months, I have been lucky enough to visit some incredible allotments
26:27all over the country, but now I'm back on my home turf to show you how things are coming along.
26:37And a lot has changed since the last time you were here.
26:40As spring bloomed into summer, the allotment started to flourish.
26:46The shed has had a lick of paint.
26:47Even with the very cold start we had, not to mention the storms,
26:51the plants and flowers bloomed into life.
26:57My greenhouse is slowly filling up, but I'll show you that later,
27:00and the cut flower bed is coming on really nicely.
27:06The rest of the allotment is looking much more lush than it was,
27:09and there's loads of lovely red currants, black currants, good looking flowers.
27:14There's loads of lovely red currants, black currants, gooseberries and a huge rhubarb as well.
27:20But I've also planted some other bits of my own.
27:21There's sunflowers, got potatoes, sweet corn, beans, courgettes, leeks, lots of things.
27:30But the one thing that just keeps on growing that I do not want is the weeds.
27:35Now when I first got here, I had two major weeds that I found, horsetail and coochgrass,
27:40and I found the coochgrass fairly easy to control.
27:42Just dig it all up, and where it comes back now, it's just again another dig,
27:46and you can see the rhizomes. It's fairly simple.
27:48The horsetail just keeps coming back.
27:51But what I did do was rotifate in the end.
27:55I started digging the whole thing, it took absolutely ages,
27:57and then the growing season was fast approaching,
27:59and I had to start digging again.
28:02It took absolutely ages, and then the growing season was fast approaching,
28:04and I was running out of time, so I rotivated the bits I hadn't already dug.
28:08And actually, there's not too big a difference in the bits that were hand dug
28:12and the bits that were rotivated.
28:14But what I'm doing now, this is my herb bed, which I'm really pleased with actually.
28:17It just needs a regular weed.
28:18This will be the fourth time I've dug out the horsetail.
28:21It's just trying to get out as much of the roots as possible
28:26every time I dig it up from around the plants and hope that will weaken things.
28:30And as these plants get bigger, hopefully they'll then out-compete the horsetail.
28:33But I think I'll be here for some years.
28:36And what I have found is that where my manure pile was,
28:39there's much less horsetail growing through.
28:41So I think next year, I'm going to do no dig,
28:43mulch it with compost and manure and hope that helps as well.
28:50The path to a beautiful allotment never does run smooth.
28:53And a few weeks ago, I discovered another problem.
28:57Another windy day on the allotment.
28:59And I've arrived this morning to my herb bed,
29:02my medicinal herb bed this one is,
29:04to find the rabbits have been munching.
29:08They've not eaten any of the lavender,
29:11but they've just chopped it all off.
29:14And they've completely eaten my chamomile.
29:17So I think some rabbit-proof fencing is required.
29:22I have to admit, I did shed a tear when the rabbits got to all my lovely grass.
29:27And all my lovely herbs.
29:29But within a few days, I got my plot fenced and safe from hungry bunnies.
29:35Now, last time around, there was one thing that got everyone very excited.
29:39The most important thing about the allotment.
29:41How do you make a windmill bird scarer?
29:45Actually, I do need to do this because my strawberries are ripening.
29:48My blueberries are about to ripen.
29:50And my next door neighbor, Ian, has shown me how to do it
29:51because he has them all over his plot.
29:54A plastic bottle, recycled.
29:56And I've just cut some lines down it.
29:59And then, with a piece of thick wire,
30:02you thread it through a hole in the bottom.
30:04Keep the lid on.
30:06A hole in the lid.
30:08And then, bend that top bit over.
30:14And you just push the bottom up.
30:18And bend.
30:19Bottom it.
30:22And then, just a bit of tape to keep that in the right position.
30:30There you can see the shapes sort of beginning to form.
30:33Once they're all taped on, you just cut that wire down.
30:40And stick it in the top of a bamboo cane.
30:44Put that in the windmill.
30:45And then, you just put the wire through.
30:49And the ground.
30:50And there.
30:52A little windmill made out of an old bottle.
30:54And hopefully, that will keep the birds off my fruits.
31:05But it's the herbs that are one of my favorite things about the allotment.
31:08And I have them growing all over the place.
31:11Not just edible herbs, but ones that have multiple uses.
31:15Very much inspired by visiting the amazing cosmetic allotment on the Isle of Man.
31:21And here, I've got things like bergamot,
31:24which is said to reduce fever and aid digestion.
31:27Feverfew, which can help headaches.
31:30And rose, which is a bit of a wonder plant.
31:32It's thought to be anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and good for anxiety.
31:38I'm also putting in these calendula that Tanya gave me
31:41when I was in the Isle of Man visiting her cosmetic allotment.
31:44So there's plenty here.
31:46But what I'm really excited about is this.
31:48This is African bulbine.
31:50Now, it's not hardy, so this will have to come in in the winter.
31:53But it's an amazing medicinal herb.
31:55It's a bit like an aloe.
31:56Very fleshy leaves.
31:58And the gel inside that is really, really good for skincare and burns and things like that.
32:03Hopefully, this will be very happy here, because it's a really sandy soil,
32:06so it doesn't get waterlogged.
32:08And it will bake really hot in the sun here, because there's no shade for it.
32:12So I'm hoping that as the summer goes on, the roots for that will get really big.
32:17And then when I dig it up in the autumn or the winter,
32:19I can put it in a really big, lovely pot.
32:33My old salvaged greenhouse has been working hard since I first installed it.
32:38And now it's full of lovely edible produce.
32:44It's a really nice shelter from the wind for the plants, but also for me sometimes.
32:48But it's lovely to have the chance to grow some more exotic things.
32:52So I have some Vietnamese coriander, kefir lime, sweet potatoes.
32:57And I have found that my nasturtiums, for some reason, don't like it outside here.
33:01So they're all growing in here as well.
33:06I've still got more allotments to visit over the coming months,
33:09and I can't wait to meet yet more inspirational growers.
33:14It's just a case of finding the time to try all these ideas out on my own plot.
33:18But in the meantime, I have plenty here to keep me busy.
33:32Growing on your own can keep you really busy.
33:34So I'm delighted Francis has found some time to stop by
33:37and give me a hand with a new project.
33:42It's lovely to have you here.
33:43It's lovely being here. It's gorgeous, isn't it?
33:45I know. See, I keep telling you when it's work in progress, you know.
33:48This is incredible, what you've done.
33:50Best, you know, what I...
33:51What about the allotment? You enjoying that? It looks really good.
33:53Yeah, it's going well. I mean, we had quite a lot of rain,
33:55but now it's incredibly dry.
33:56So I'm down there watering as much as I can,
33:58and the sands are nice and dry.
34:00I'm down there watering as much as I can,
34:01and the sand obviously leeches away,
34:03but I'm beginning to harvest stuff now.
34:04So it's getting really exciting.
34:06I've got some courgettes coming.
34:08I harvested my first cucumber yesterday
34:10and ate it as I was watering.
34:11It's just magical.
34:12Yeah, I love the experimenting and just accepting
34:15some things go well, some things don't.
34:17Yeah, quite a lot of things don't when you're in that much wind.
34:20But you know, I had my nephew down there yesterday
34:22harvesting our first potatoes.
34:24And everyone that came up, he was going,
34:25oh, it's magic, isn't it?
34:27We're heroes.
34:28It is. It is like magic seeing them all come up.
34:31Talking about the veg garden, though.
34:32Yeah.
34:33Can I show you?
34:33Absolutely, yes, please do.
34:41This is it.
34:41It's beautiful. Look at this.
34:43I'm a bit nervous showing you, actually.
34:46I'm learning about veg as well.
34:48It's not my natural thing, so I'm quite envious.
34:52But that is part of it, isn't it? Experimenting.
34:55And even when I was designing it,
34:56I wanted to sort of experiment with size of beds and things like that.
34:59Because that's beautiful, those metre square.
35:01It's a really practical use of veg, you know.
35:04And it could be a roof garden.
35:09So this is today's little project.
35:11It's lovely back here.
35:13It's quite interesting because we've ended up using it a lot
35:16to come and be and cook.
35:19Right.
35:19And enjoy it.
35:20So the idea is that we play with these six beds long term
35:24and make it more into sort of edible flowers, meats, herbs.
35:28So this is what you're sort of planting?
35:30Yeah, got a whole mix, really.
35:31So bits that we'll seed, like the borages.
35:33I've got perennial borage and just the annual.
35:36But then a mix of alliums and different leaf types.
35:38You know, we've got a lime mint there.
35:41And again, I'm not worried about that if it overtakes one container.
35:44So that doesn't matter.
35:45Even the lemon verbena.
35:47Good in cocktails.
35:48Both of these.
35:49Exactly.
35:49Yeah, you said cocktails.
35:50See, I was being...
35:51I make tea out of this.
35:52You want tea?
35:53I'll have a cocktail.
35:54You can have a cup of tea.
35:55Look, I brought you something as well.
35:56Have you?
35:57Which is from the allotment.
35:59So it's a little bit wind battered.
36:01This is Vietnamese coriander.
36:03So hopefully it will fit in here.
36:05But right, so I've grown that before.
36:07But I've never really used it in the kitchen
36:09because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
36:11Well, actually, it's nice in a salad because as you chew it,
36:14it starts off a bit, dare I say, soapy.
36:17Go for it.
36:18It's yours.
36:20And the more you chew it, it gets a heat that builds and builds and builds.
36:23And although it's a little bit leggy, this one,
36:25because I've been...
36:25Yeah, has it hit you?
36:27A little bit spicy, a little bit hot.
36:28If you cut that back to where it's more bushy,
36:31stick all these in water,
36:32and then they'll root in a couple of weeks.
36:34So you'll have loads and loads more.
36:35So it's quite good to fill up a space quickly.
36:37And then I can take them and give them away.
36:39Exactly.
36:41So just grab some and start playing.
36:45You're going to have to move them around
36:46if you're not happy with where I put them.
36:48That's quite a lovely thing to do, really.
36:49You get to bounce off somebody and take someone else's opinion.
36:53It's true.
36:54This is a little perennial borage.
36:57That's beautiful, that.
36:58Yeah.
36:58And you can eat the flowers from that just like with a normal borage.
37:01It's beautiful, isn't it?
37:03So this is lime mint.
37:04Yeah, lime mint.
37:06Again, makes great tea.
37:07And you've got the lemon verbena there.
37:09Do you think that will survive the winter?
37:10Yeah, I've got two at the front of the house.
37:12Absolutely fine.
37:12Do you know when you just smell them,
37:14it releases all kinds of endorphins.
37:16They make you actually happy.
37:18There you go.
37:19I could probably do with that.
37:21Do you know the nice thing I found about the Vietnamese coriander
37:23on the allotment?
37:24Because I love coriander.
37:26It's one of my favourite herbs.
37:27Yeah.
37:27And every time I sow it, the slugs eat it before I can every time.
37:32Do they?
37:32And they leave this one alone.
37:34That's why I've got quite dependent on it.
37:36Yeah.
37:37So this is a plant I really love, telbagia.
37:40And I use it a lot in the kitchen.
37:43Right.
37:44But we use the leaves and the flowers.
37:47It's called society garlic.
37:48Do you know why it's called society garlic?
37:50No.
37:50Because apparently, you get that garlic flavour,
37:53but it doesn't stay on your breath, so you don't smell.
37:55I'll grab the Welsh onions.
37:57I love just using the leaves and cutting them like sort of giant chives.
38:03Yeah.
38:08Right.
38:08How are you feeling about it?
38:10I'm happy with the arrangement.
38:11It's good, doesn't it?
38:12Yeah, I think it looks good.
38:13I'm going to get a couple of buckets of water, I think, just to...
38:16Yes.
38:17Dunk things in as we plant, maybe.
38:19Give a soak.
38:20Yeah.
38:23I think what's lovely about this as well,
38:25it's not just that we're going to use them edible-wise,
38:28but the wildlife, the pollinators are going to come in and work really well.
38:33Well, borage is always just a fantastic bee attractor, isn't it?
38:38And then they'll obviously pollinate all your raspberries and everything else.
38:42Yeah, so it'll work really nicely.
38:44Yes.
38:49Cool, that's that one done.
38:51Right, yes.
38:53We're getting there.
38:54Yeah, we are.
38:55It's already looking good.
39:09I'll grab the water.
39:10Yeah, brilliant.
39:11I think they might need some.
39:12I think so.
39:13Even with dipping them, it's quite warm, isn't it?
39:16Here you go.
39:17Thank you, mate.
39:17Thank you.
39:22Well, thank you for having me, Adam.
39:24Thank you.
39:24It's been really nice, actually, just to sort of...
39:26Well, first of all, just show you around.
39:28It's been lovely to come and see the garden and to help out, actually.
39:31But you must come down here a lot more one day,
39:32because I have plenty of projects.
39:34It's always needing an extra pair of hands.
39:37You know, I'd love to.
39:38It'd be really nice.
39:43Now, Rachel has been to Gloucestershire, to Kiftsgate Court,
39:46to find out a little bit more about the three generations of women
39:49that have created the garden over the last 100 years.
39:58Winding woodland terraces, meandering borders,
40:02a series of small gardens, each with their own individual personalities.
40:08It's a joyful place to be.
40:11But it's the story of the women behind Kiftsgate
40:13that's really captured my imagination.
40:16Three generations of women, spanning a century,
40:20each of whom adding to the story that's made this garden possible.
40:28The first of this trio of gardeners was Heather Muir,
40:31who established the garden layout after the First World War.
40:34She wasn't a trained gardener, but she definitely had her own ideas.
40:40Her vision was to create a relaxed and natural style,
40:44totally different to the regimented style of the day.
40:54This square is divided into four sections.
40:58I can't tell you, it really takes your breath away when you walk down into it.
41:03And I think Heather had such a talent for putting together colours.
41:07They really flow.
41:09And she also was very much, I think, ahead of her time
41:12in that she mixed together shrubs with perennials.
41:16At the beginning of the 20th century,
41:17most people would have had a shrubbery
41:19and then a separate herbaceous border.
41:21So this was really ahead of its time.
41:23It is absolutely beautiful.
41:25Rather like falling into a box of chocolates
41:28and finding something delicious in every corner.
41:32And in this area, you walk past more of Heather's beautiful planting,
41:36past the hybrid musk rose called Felicia,
41:38the fantastic perfume, and that was planted in the 1930s.
41:42And then you come out into this section, and wow, what a view.
41:51Today, her granddaughter Anne, together with her husband,
41:54has taken the reins and turned the garden into a garden.
41:57Your grandmother sounds extraordinary, and very much her own woman.
42:02Yes, I think she was.
42:03My mum always said that she had a very strong character.
42:05In fact, we've all got rather strong characters.
42:07She really planned the garden without putting anything on plan,
42:11just by looking at the space, planting the hedges,
42:15dividing up the areas.
42:17And that's pretty remarkable, really.
42:19And I think that's what she did.
42:21And I think that's what she did.
42:22And I think that's what she did.
42:24I think she'd grown up in a garden, and her parents were keen gardeners,
42:28so maybe it was in the flood.
42:30She'd had no horticultural experience, none of us have,
42:32so she just had to learn on the job.
42:34Yes, best way of learning, I think.
42:37Yes, you learn with your mistakes.
42:40And we're walking along this avenue of Rosamundi,
42:44just so beautiful, I can't describe.
42:48This is the garden of Rosamundi,
42:50just so beautiful, I can't describe.
42:53This was planted by my grandmother, this rose hedge,
42:56so way back in the 1930s.
42:59And she cut it very hard, and we do as well.
43:02She used to take shears to it, and literally just sort of chop it.
43:05Which is how it's treated now, actually.
43:07Much more, people aren't so precious about it.
43:10No, and it flowers incredibly well every year.
43:14You can see how we train the other roses on sort of different supports,
43:17so that you get the best from the flowers.
43:20Yes, that's lovely, isn't it?
43:21So you bend the stem down, and then it breaks along.
43:23Exactly, rather than just let them all grow in a sort of heap.
43:27And, of course, one can't help now but notice
43:31this most beautiful rose.
43:33I'm assuming kiss gates.
43:35Yes, it is.
43:35I mean, a complete monster, really,
43:37climbing to the top of the trees and covering a vast area.
43:41But it is spectacular when it's in flower like this,
43:44sort of a waterfall of white heads.
43:46It's just a sort of glorious monster.
43:50In 1954, Anne's mother, Dinie, was lured back from London life
43:55by her grandmother, Heather, to take over the garden.
44:01This wonderfully sinuous border, I mean,
44:03it's a really interesting take on a very classic feature,
44:06usually straight lines.
44:07So who was responsible for this?
44:09Well, my grandmother laid out the border,
44:11and my mum actually added a lot to it as well.
44:14She was a great plants woman, absolutely adored gardening.
44:18I mean, as a child, I just sort of remember,
44:20we couldn't find her,
44:20we knew she'd be upside down in the border somewhere,
44:23so we had to just sort of shout and find her.
44:26But she really spent hours in the garden.
44:28So what are some of the things here that she added?
44:31Mary Simone, these are the deciduous,
44:33summer-flowering cyanothus,
44:35as against the evergreen blue ones that you know,
44:38sort of in the spring,
44:39and that they actually add a lot at this time of year.
44:42We don't prune them until the spring,
44:44just in case it's a bad winter.
44:46They seem to thrive here.
44:48And a great melding plant.
44:49Yes.
44:50Sort of softens things like the roses and so on.
44:52Yes, very good sort of mixture with the roses.
44:56Then of course here, the little bush honeysuckle,
45:00and it just grows into that sort of small bush shape,
45:03it's not a climber.
45:05And people always sort of comment,
45:06how do you keep your honeysuckles that shape?
45:08But it just is, just buzz it.
45:11Anne followed in her mother and grandmother's footsteps,
45:14putting her own mark on the garden.
45:17She's created wilder areas
45:18because she's very keen to bring in nature,
45:21which feels very different to the established gardens.
45:25And there's something else.
45:29Oh my goodness.
45:32Wow.
45:40Just when you're beginning to feel
45:42you've got the measure of Kiftsgate,
45:45something completely different.
45:47Is this Anne in the garden?
45:49Well, it's me and Johnny, my husband,
45:51because he helped do the plans for this.
45:55And we wanted something very simple and contemporary.
45:58We had the lovely big yew hedges,
46:00and then we also decided that we needed some height.
46:03But we liked the simplicity of the stainless steel stems
46:07and the gilded bronze Philadelphia,
46:09and the water just runs up them on a sort of timer.
46:12It's such a lovely contrast to the rest of the garden.
46:16Do you feel that you've had an enormous responsibility
46:19in inheriting this incredible garden?
46:22Yes. I mean, when Johnny and I first moved down,
46:25we really knew nothing.
46:26We had to learn from my mother.
46:28It's been our life really for 30 years,
46:31and we've loved it.
46:33One garden, three female gardeners,
46:35each putting their own mark on the garden.
46:38Each putting their own unique stamp on it,
46:41all uniting in the vision of a place
46:43where plants and spaces can blend and flow
46:47in perfect harmony.
47:08That really is an incredible garden.
47:11I love the way that each generation
47:12has just added a little bit of them.
47:15You can imagine just walking
47:17through those herbaceous and rose gardens
47:19and arriving at that new area with the pool.
47:22It would just feel incredibly serene.
47:25I'm just doing a little bit of deadheading and tying in.
47:28I mean, this rose itself has been on a bit of a voyage.
47:30We inherited it.
47:31It was in a mess,
47:32but it's just a little bit of a mess.
47:34It's a little bit of a mess,
47:35but it's a little bit of a voyage.
47:36We inherited it.
47:37It was in a mess.
47:38It was full of old dead wood,
47:40and we were quite harsh.
47:41Cut it really back in hard,
47:43kept a couple of stems,
47:44but then kept adding lots of organic matter
47:47in around just to feed it.
47:48And this year, boom.
47:50It's really been incredible.
47:52So I'm just gonna keep deadheading now,
47:53just so it keeps flowering.
47:55And then on top of that,
47:56just tying in some of the shoots,
47:57because for me,
47:59I love the way that actually it's hanging.
48:01It feels quite romantic.
48:06Now we go back to our Landschaftpark in Germany
48:09to find out a little bit more
48:11about that fascinating place.
48:18Walking around the landscape park,
48:20it's remarkable to think that up until 1985,
48:23this was an ironworks that was then abandoned
48:26and left to decay.
48:28Thanks to the vision of landscape architect,
48:30Peter Latz,
48:31this industrial landscape is now the unique backbone
48:34to over 400 acres of parks,
48:37gardens,
48:38waterways,
48:39and green space.
48:45This is Piazza Metallica,
48:49and I think you can see why.
48:50These huge, enormous, great slabs
48:54that were found in the foundry,
48:56Peter has repurposed them to create this open terrace
48:59in amongst all of the architecture.
49:01And what I really love about it
49:03is that you're almost in some sort of theater set.
49:06I know that people have events here,
49:08and I could really see why.
49:10It's just genius.
49:16While it was Peter Latz who designed the park,
49:18he was supported by several community groups
49:21who were passionate about preserving
49:23their industrial heritage
49:25and reclaiming the land as a people's park.
49:29Through the creation of the landscape park,
49:31their dream was realized.
49:34And today, judging by how busy this place is,
49:38there is something here for everyone.
49:41I'm intrigued to know why you come to the park.
49:44Oh, it's one of my favorite places, actually.
49:47I live nearby.
49:48My family background is miners and steel workers.
49:51This is one of the few places left
49:54where you can actually see what it looked like
49:5620, 30, 40 years ago.
49:58Are you glad that they've preserved this space?
50:02Yes, it's very special
50:03because it's a part of the history of the area.
50:06I've been here with my children.
50:08We, you know, climbed up that big...
50:10Big furnace.
50:11Yes, yes, and everything.
50:12So it's really special,
50:15and it's really important for the area
50:16to keep, you know, spaces like that.
50:18Wish I could come every day myself.
50:20Yes.
50:23What brings you to the park today?
50:24We are studying architecture.
50:25We're coming here for, like, this industrial architecture
50:29to do some sketches.
50:31What do you think of what you've seen so far?
50:33I like it really much, like, this old industrial area
50:37where the nature popped in and did what it used to be,
50:41like, don't care about the buildings.
50:43I like how the nature find its way through it.
50:46I think it's beautiful like this.
50:47Yeah.
50:50Nature really has taken hold
50:52since this park first opened 25 years ago.
50:56Let's remember, none of these trees
50:59would have been at this height.
51:01None of this would have been grown over at all
51:03because, obviously, the foundry was still pretty derelict.
51:07These great big girders are covered in all of this greenery.
51:11This is nature completely enveloping it.
51:15Underneath all of these layers,
51:16there will be biodiversity
51:18that wouldn't have been able to have survived here
51:20if this foundry was still working.
51:22It would be still billowing out loads of soil.
51:24It would be still billowing out loads of smoke.
51:26So this is absolutely archetypal for me
51:29of how we bring nature into our built environment.
51:38Across this 400-acre site,
51:40there are all kinds of different green spaces.
51:43Dr. Peter Kahl, who monitors nature in the park,
51:46has brought me to a wild meadow
51:48on the site of the Ironworks colliery
51:50to explain how a place of such intense industry
51:54could turn into a rich habitat.
52:01We have a great variety of different soils here.
52:03We have a lot of different soils.
52:05We have a lot of different soils.
52:07We have a lot of different soils.
52:09We have a lot of different soils.
52:11We have a lot of different soils here.
52:13We've got rubble.
52:15We've got mining materials from the colliery.
52:21That's why we have different plant species
52:23growing in different areas.
52:27I'm interested to know
52:29how much was here originally
52:31versus how much you may have
52:33slightly intervened with.
52:35Hardly anything was originally planted,
52:37apart from the old trees that are still here.
52:43The wild plants we can see here,
52:45especially the herbs and perennials,
52:47they all came here by themselves.
52:51Nothing was planted at all.
52:53Each plant managed to find its way
52:55into the park on its own.
52:59Tell me specifically about some of the plants
53:01that are here,
53:03that make it different to anywhere else.
53:07This is a special place
53:09where we've got plants
53:11that wouldn't naturally grow
53:13in an ordinary park.
53:15For example,
53:17the Echium vulgaris,
53:19which comes from the flood plains
53:21and is settled here.
53:23The Hypericum perforatum,
53:25which we know from dry meadows.
53:29But dry meadows have become
53:31very rare now here in the Ruhr region.
53:33So that's why this habitat
53:35is so important.
53:37In terms of the amount
53:39of species of insects
53:41that have come to this park,
53:43how important are they?
53:47The park is incredibly important
53:49for urban biodiversity in the Ruhr region.
53:55We know an awful lot about insect decline
53:57in Europe,
53:59and this place is really a refuge
54:01for wild plants and insects.
54:07And the variety of plants
54:09attracts the many insects we have,
54:13like bees,
54:15butterflies,
54:17moths,
54:19but also the beetles
54:21and the ants you can find
54:23here in the park.
54:25That's basically the food source
54:27for these insects.
54:31That's pretty special.
54:33Nature for nature
54:35and nature for the people.
54:45What's happened here
54:47is that nature has been remembered
54:49and allowed to come in
54:51in all of its wildness
54:53with minimum formality,
54:55making this place so special.
54:59In the future, with our cities
55:01ever-expanding,
55:03it's going to become even more vital
55:05to build green spaces
55:07into our urban environment
55:09for our health and well-being.
55:11Is it time to take inspiration
55:13from this landscape park
55:15and think again
55:17about our own industrial landscapes,
55:19not as decaying places
55:21to be forgotten,
55:23so that we can thrive?
55:35Wow.
55:37Think, 25 years ago,
55:39the creation of that park
55:41must have been so forward-thinking.
55:43I loved the wildflower meadow,
55:45but also a couple of weeks ago
55:47we made the wildflower programme
55:49and your reaction has been amazing.
55:51We really do seem at a point
55:53where we're understanding
55:55that these resources,
55:57the natural landscape,
55:59are so important to us.
56:01And water is another one.
56:03I suppose as a designer,
56:05I love coming up with creative
56:07but fun ideas.
56:09These were left over from a show.
56:11I brought them home, put some plant in.
56:13They've worked well for the greenhouse.
56:15They can come out and dunk pots in.
56:17Then they're a wildlife habitat.
56:19Birds have come in and used it.
56:21And also, the habitat that's created
56:23around it, all that wildflower
56:25is naturally seeded,
56:27so as the tanks fill and the water overflows,
56:29and it's going off
56:31and feeding what ultimately is another habitat.
56:35If you were thinking about
56:37sitting down this weekend and having a rest,
56:39here's a few jobs that might
56:41just stop that.
56:49To keep your salad
56:51going through the summer,
56:53sow rocket now.
56:55Fill a pot with peat-free compost.
56:57Smooth off the surface
56:59and water it well
57:01before you sprinkle on the seeds.
57:03Make sure not to sow
57:05too thickly.
57:07Cover the seeds lightly
57:09and water gently.
57:11If you keep it somewhere shady,
57:13you'll be picking it for weeks.
57:19As gardeners,
57:21we are always planning for next year.
57:23And a good thing to do
57:25is to take stock of what's happening
57:27right now.
57:29Mark up any plants that you want to move
57:31or divide later
57:33by putting in a cane next to them.
57:35Make sure you label the cane
57:37so you know what you need to do with it.
57:39I also take a few photographs
57:41to remind me.
57:45Now's the time of year
57:47when lots of seed heads
57:49are starting to ripen.
57:51If you want to save some seed,
57:53keep an eye on your plants
57:55and make sure you catch them
57:57as soon as the seed heads open.
57:59On a dry day, cut the seed heads
58:01from your most vigorous plants
58:03and carefully place them
58:05in a labelled paper envelope.
58:07Put this somewhere cool and dry
58:09until it's time to sow.
58:17This is what we all should do
58:19a little bit more of.
58:21Just sit for five minutes
58:23at the end of the day,
58:25enjoy the sun on your back.
58:27You can smell the scent in those roses
58:29and listen to the wildlife.
58:31What could be more wonderful?
58:33That's about it from us.
58:35I hope you've had a lovely time,
58:37because I definitely have.
58:39But next week, Monty will be back at Longmeadow
58:41on Friday at 8.30.
58:43Bye-bye.
58:48And if you're just discovering your green fingers,
58:50try Gardener's World,
58:52the veg grower's almanac.
58:54Planting tips aplenty.
58:56Stay put next here on 2.
58:58We go beneath the surface
59:00to delve deep into the world of the hippo.
59:02Utterly dependent on water,
59:04yet unable to swim.
59:06David Attenborough elaborates next.