Gardeners World S52e21 02-08-19
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello. Welcome to Gardener's World.
00:05And for me, it's a reacquaintance with the garden,
00:08cos I've been away in America for the last couple of weeks.
00:11And the garden has changed.
00:13We've left a lot of that vibrant colour
00:16of June and very early July behind,
00:19and in its place, the deeper, more velvety colours
00:23are starting to pick up.
00:25You can see the helleniums are there
00:27and the dahlias are kicking in right now.
00:30And there has been an awful lot of lush growth.
00:33This fennel is fabulous.
00:36Everything about it is right, except it's in the wrong place.
00:40And the right plant in the wrong place is a weed.
00:43If I just cut this one here with...
00:47Like that.
00:51Now, the hellenium is starting to appear.
00:54Take this one.
00:59Yeah, that's better.
01:01And rather than take this to the compost heap,
01:04these will go in a big vase on the table for a dramatic display.
01:12On today's programme, we meet a family in Glamorgan
01:15who have set their garden alight with a blaze of summer bedding.
01:20Adam visits Sledmere House in Yorkshire
01:23to celebrate their exquisite use of colour.
01:26And I've got a whole batch of special jobs for you to do
01:30before you go away on your holidays.
01:39A few weeks ago, we did a programme focusing on wildflowers,
01:43and we had a fabulous response.
01:45It does seem that people are now really interested
01:49in both preserving the wildflowers that we've got in the countryside
01:53and also to growing them in our gardens.
01:56It doesn't matter how big the area, the technique is exactly the same.
02:01You need to cut the grass as short as you can.
02:14Wildflowers do best on poor soil,
02:18so always remove the clippings when you mow to help reduce the fertility.
02:25Next stage is to rake it really vigorously.
02:36Right, that's as much grass taken off as I can,
02:39but I'd like to see some more bare soil,
02:41so I'm going to use a different kind of rake.
02:43What you need is the aggression of a really sharp rake,
02:46and scratch on there.
02:47Look, it's really disturbing it and working up the soil,
02:52and that's absolutely perfect.
02:57Wildflower seed is now relatively easy to get hold of,
03:01thanks to the internet.
03:03So if you look for a wildflower seed supplier,
03:07and there are two or three really good ones,
03:10and then put in the conditions, your soil, whether it's shade or full sun,
03:15whether you want a wildflower meadow that will be at its best in spring,
03:20or right through to autumn,
03:22they will provide a seed mix that is perfect for your conditions.
03:25So that's fantastic.
03:26And that's what I have here.
03:28Now that seed is enough for ten square metres,
03:32and the bit that I'm preparing is about five square metres,
03:35so I only need half that amount of seed.
03:38This is a general wildflower mix,
03:40containing things like cowslip, scabious, and birdsfoot trefoil.
03:45These are grassland wildflowers.
03:49If you grow poppies or cornflowers,
03:52they belong to arable fields, and they will not grow in grass.
03:57So make sure that when you get your wildflower mix,
03:59that it is meadow wildflowers and not cornfield wildflowers.
04:04Now I've got some sand here, which I'm going to use as a base,
04:08because it's much easier if you've got more material to spread.
04:11So I'm going to mix half this packet with some yellow rattle.
04:18This mix does contain yellow rattle,
04:21but because I'm sowing into an existing lawn, I'm adding some more.
04:25Yellow rattle is a wildflower,
04:27and it's partly parasitic on grass roots.
04:30So wherever you have yellow rattle, you have less grass.
04:34It's known as the meadow maker.
04:36Flower growers of any kind revere it
04:39because it definitely helps establish other wildflowers
04:43at the expense of grass.
04:45Now mix this up.
04:52Right, follow the instructions
04:54and don't sow any more seed than is suggested.
04:59Not all of these seeds will germinate,
05:03and quite a lot of them won't germinate till next spring.
05:10I'm just going to rake that over lightly and then tread it in.
05:18Right.
05:20Now, the reason I'm doing this
05:22is to make sure that there's direct contact
05:26between the seed and soil.
05:29To germinate, the seed actually needs to be touching the soil
05:33with as much surface area as possible.
05:36Now, what I'm doing is mimicking the hooves of cattle or sheep
05:41because when you cut hay and all the seeds drop to the ground,
05:45as soon as any grass begins to grow,
05:48you put cattle or sheep in to graze it.
05:51And as they walk over, picking off the new green grass,
05:54their hooves are pressing down on the bare soil in between the grass
05:58and pushing the seeds into the ground.
06:01So that's it. We've done our work.
06:03And actually, one of the beauties of a wildflower meadow or verge
06:07is there's not that much to do.
06:10And there is so much to enjoy
06:12because apart from the pleasure and the beauty of the flowers,
06:15you're going to get wonderful butterflies to watch,
06:18interesting insects, even the birds benefit.
06:23I suppose you can't make a bigger leap in gardening styles
06:26than from wildflowers to bedding plants.
06:29But most of us use both.
06:31I certainly do here at Long Meadow
06:33because bedding plants are absolutely lovely
06:36and I have loads of them here.
06:38And we went down to South Wales, to Glamorgan,
06:40to visit a family that use their bedding plants
06:43with real panache and flair.
06:49BIRDS CHIRP
07:00The garden is probably one of the most important family spaces for us.
07:04We spend a lot of quality time here.
07:08In fact, in the summer, we hardly ever eat inside,
07:12so we have three meals, breakfast, lunch and, you know,
07:15the evening meal in the garden.
07:17I spend a lot of time with my son here.
07:21We come from Pakistan, Asia, and that's where I've grown up,
07:24which is the climate is different,
07:26the vegetation is remarkably different.
07:28Coming here was an absolute eye-opener.
07:31It was such a massive change when I moved here
07:33after I got married to Sabine.
07:35The vegetation was really different.
07:37It was beautiful, the greenery was beautiful,
07:39and I really appreciated it when I first came in.
07:42But as you get used to it,
07:44you miss those massive mango trees and the fruit trees
07:47and the bougainvilleas that extended far and beyond.
07:51You know, wherever I can, I try and embrace
07:54and amalgamate both the elements from the cultures.
07:58So I haven't got those bougainvilleas,
08:00but I've got the petunias just to add that blast of colour
08:03to give me that connection with my childhood memories
08:06from Pakistan and the climate there.
08:10We save a lot of money on buying plants in bulk,
08:13and we save them around April, May time in the greenhouse
08:16before planting them in the baskets and pots
08:19for the summer ready.
08:22We absolutely love to travel.
08:24We went to Lake Como, Bellagio,
08:26and there was this Villa Belbianello over there,
08:29and I found that amazing.
08:31They had these fantastic railings and statues
08:35with Mediterranean large pots and lemon trees
08:39and a really interesting combination of statues
08:42and the colourful flowers next to them.
08:46That trip inspired us to add some more statues to the garden,
08:51just to add some interest and focal points
08:54in different areas of the garden.
08:59The red fuchsias are just my favourite flower.
09:03They just add that exuberance to the garden,
09:06and I love the contrast of colours.
09:08The deep purple and the red,
09:10they remind me of our trip to Morocco,
09:13where in Marrakesh we went to Majorelle Gardens,
09:16and it was fantastic.
09:18So every time I see fuchsias, it brings back memories.
09:26I've got to be honest, my husband does most of the watering,
09:29but I do help out.
09:32So a garden is really my sanctuary and it is my haven.
09:36Whatever time of the day or whatever mood you're in,
09:39it just cheers you up, you can wind down and enjoy it.
09:43Because our background is more or less in art and architecture,
09:48so we understand composition, colour and all that.
09:51It's not a big issue for us to agree basically upon.
09:56They used to have these calendars back home
09:58when you see as a child of exotic places with tulips,
10:01and I used to wonder, I don't know if they're real,
10:04because I'd never seen one, obviously.
10:07So it's amazing to actually see a tulip for the first time.
10:17It's a surrounding that you've created for yourself,
10:20and it just gives you this feeling of satisfaction,
10:24and you get pleasure out of it.
10:26Every time you plant something and it comes out,
10:29it's just a surprise every time.
10:31I forget every year and then I see the plants come out,
10:34and it's absolutely an amazing feeling, it's exciting.
10:48I'm going to share with you my incredible collection of fuchsias.
10:52Probably the worst fuchsias ever appeared on Gardener's World,
10:57but actually there is a bit of a story behind them,
11:00because I put them outside to harden off in April,
11:03and they got hit by a sharp frost and killed them stone dead,
11:07or at least that's what it appeared to be.
11:09Now, I know from experience that you shouldn't treat anything as dead
11:12until it's been dead for at least a few months, if not longer,
11:16because it is surprising what will grow back from the roots.
11:20Now, I'm fairly confident that I can get these back into good health.
11:26There's a side shoot coming from there,
11:28so if I cut just above it, it should be OK.
11:34And that is completely dead.
11:38And this one needs less dramatic surgery, more of a trim.
11:43This would very quickly re-establish as a standard on a nice straight stem,
11:49and then an explosion of flower at the top.
11:52But what I'll do is plant it,
11:54and then I'll prune it back in a couple of months' time.
11:58This is a fairly shaded spot,
12:02and fuchsias will be very happy.
12:06In fact, they grow best for me in light shade.
12:11All right.
12:13Should be a big enough hole.
12:17Now, that should come out.
12:21Now, that is very dry.
12:23Fuchsias don't like me.
12:25Fuchsias don't like being dry.
12:27They like moist air,
12:29and they like moist but well-drained soil.
12:37There we go. Perfect size.
12:40Perfect.
12:56If it gets really dry, I will give that a soak weekly.
13:03Now, fuchsias only just creep into the jewel garden
13:07because it does verge on pink,
13:09and pink is a no-no in this part of the garden,
13:11although it is saved by the intensity of the purple.
13:15And I like these colour games.
13:17Of course they're arbitrary, the rules are made up.
13:19But it is a great help
13:21if you're trying to make a colour game
13:23and it is a great help
13:25if you're trying to create a really good border.
13:28And colour discipline is something that is both fun
13:32and takes great skill to do properly.
13:35And Adam has been to visit a garden
13:38where colour is used with real finesse.
13:48As a garden designer, I find it absolutely fascinating
13:51to how we use colour in our gardens.
13:53We chase those perfect borders.
13:56But also, it can be difficult to understand
13:59and feel like you just can't get it right.
14:05So if you arrive at a garden that you think's got it just right,
14:09if you're anything like me,
14:11you just want to find out a little bit more.
14:16Sledmere House is in East Yorkshire.
14:19Within a walled garden of 2.5 acres,
14:22head gardener Andy Karavich
14:24has been building a series of smaller gardens
14:27over the last nine years.
14:31His love of colour stems from the Cambo Estate in Scotland,
14:35famed for its naturalistic, colour-filled plantings.
14:39Was that the garden that kicked everything off?
14:42Completely, yeah.
14:43It was a fabulous experience. It really was.
14:46Suddenly I realised how important colour was
14:49and how much control you can have over it as well
14:53and how much you can control people's views
14:55and how they perceive borders
14:57simply by how you manipulate the colour.
15:00This is a big space, but it is on a slope,
15:03so it must have taken some understanding
15:05of, I suppose, the climate of the place.
15:07As we walk down here, we're in a giant frost pocket
15:10and there's no way out for the frost down the bottom.
15:12So you created a tropical border?
15:15Which comes with its challenges,
15:17but it also proves you can, doesn't it?
15:19Completely, and the beauty of this garden now
15:21is we've done it so it evolves week on week,
15:23it's changing, and through the season
15:25it almost softens as the planting gets going.
15:27Yeah.
15:31Andy uses colour in each of his gardens
15:34to create different emotions.
15:36His favourite fills a long space just eight metres wide,
15:40but the feeling he wanted to bring was simple.
15:45You love those words, you know, to drive that emotion.
15:48What was it in here?
15:50To me, pure joy, just kind of loving life,
15:53soft as well, but just lovely, really.
15:56It's strong. It drives all the way through the middle.
15:59Yeah. The idea is your eye is drawn right into it
16:02and it's more of a walk and a stroll.
16:04It's maybe not a garden you would sit in so much.
16:06Yeah.
16:07It flows right through to the side.
16:09It's an immediate impact garden.
16:11It's broader sweeps of colour as well,
16:13so the distance, it hits you quicker.
16:15Yeah, and the relationship with the copper beech
16:18you've got through the middle,
16:20it gets picked up as you go down through the space.
16:22Yeah.
16:23And I love the way that you're not just running down one side,
16:26you're bouncing it from side to side,
16:28but it's not quite formal, is it?
16:30Though the centre is formal.
16:32Yes. The planting is...
16:34There's ten drifts of each thing,
16:36five out of the side, but it's not symmetrical.
16:39So it's unsymmetrical balance.
16:41So your eye will come in, you don't pick up the symmetry at all,
16:44but you pick up the garden's balance.
16:46But even the estrantias, they're just about to change, aren't they?
16:49So some of them are going over, some new coming.
16:51But you're not in their dead heading,
16:53you're just leaving that and letting it be.
16:55Yeah. Well, the estrantia and the alliums were my bridging colour,
16:58I call, between my spring colour and my summer colour.
17:00Yeah.
17:01So they hold the garden for a period while everything's catching up,
17:04but they're actually still adding to it.
17:06Yeah.
17:07Almost in their death.
17:08So no, we don't look at dead heading very much.
17:10Yeah.
17:11And what did you tell me?
17:12You sort of weren't very good at designing, that's what you said.
17:14Yeah, not very good at designing.
17:16Come on.
17:21Just below the long garden, the colour palette changes completely
17:25around a striking circular pond.
17:31This feels very different.
17:34Andy's created a completely different mood in here
17:38The hairs on the back of my neck have gone up
17:40and I've got goosebumps.
17:42He's calling it a reflective garden,
17:44but it feels quite moody, it really does.
17:51You get a sense that this garden instantly means something to Andy.
17:55The dark water really sets that tone.
17:58Picked up in a heucheras,
18:00and not a plant I'd go to first time round,
18:03that feels like it's been just rippling out into the rest of the planting.
18:07You've got dark roses on both sides of you
18:11and then it's picked up in a cotinus.
18:15But then actually if you stand up and just take a moment,
18:18the lighter colours start to play their part.
18:20I've got hemerocallis and softer roses and the mood lifts.
18:26Interesting talking to Andy about designing with plants
18:30and music has come up more than once.
18:32I think this is driven by something quite deep and meaningful.
18:37My kids laugh at me at home.
18:39They think I'm a bit soft to be honest.
18:41I can play an album when I'm creating planting plans
18:44and I'll keep doing it on a loop.
18:46I've even got music with me sometimes when I select the colours I'm going to use.
18:51It's amazing how powerful colour can be.
18:55The exotic border is a real feat.
18:58It sits really comfortably and the use of colour is pure craft.
19:06Yellow's been used to great effect here,
19:08not only to lift what could be a dark space,
19:11but it draws your eye all the way down the border.
19:14You could do that in your own garden, moving from side to side,
19:17but what I like is that it's got a bit of depth to it.
19:22What's clever about this, not only are these plants
19:25being chosen to flower at the same time,
19:27but they're all different shapes
19:29and we add that extra layer of interest.
19:52You really can see Andy's heart and soul in this place.
19:56He's used various pallets of plants to affect mood and atmosphere
20:01in different spaces, but it's all personal to him
20:05and I think that's the key.
20:07If you want to create maybe a new border or an area around the terrace,
20:12first of all work out how you want it to feel
20:15and then after that choose a pallet of plants
20:18that affect that feeling in you.
20:43The subtlety of the colours there takes real expertise,
20:47but at this time of year, at Longmeadow,
20:50subtlety gives way to real intensity of colour
20:55and none more intense than these agapanthus on the mound.
20:59They'll last for a few weeks more
21:02and at their best they are radiant.
21:07A few weeks ago, I sowed this bed with a variety of vegetables
21:12that could be done in the middle of July
21:14and get a decent harvest before the end of the growing season.
21:17Well, these are the results so far, which are mixed.
21:22We've got some good germination,
21:24there's a row here of little plants,
21:26and we've got a row of little plants
21:28and we've got a row of little plants
21:30and we've got a row of little plants
21:32Next, we've got some good germination,
21:35there's a row here of little gem,
21:37half a row of salad bowl,
21:40half a row of spinach
21:42and so far the French beans are fine.
21:45But three of the four climbing beans have been eaten
21:48and I think the culprit are slugs.
21:52What's interesting is that the row of little gem nearest the edge
21:57has almost entirely been eaten
21:59and yet they haven't touched that.
22:01If you do get a decent row like this,
22:04the thing to do is to thin them
22:06and that can seem hard but is essential
22:09if you want nice, big, healthy, finished plants.
22:12So I just go along and just pull out every other one.
22:16Now what you can do is use these thinnings
22:20to replace the gaps elsewhere.
22:22So if I just pop these straight into the ground
22:26at a decent spacing,
22:29it may be that they will survive.
22:31Now they won't grow at anything like the same rate as the other row.
22:35Well, so far, not ideal, but that's real life.
22:39That's what it is like growing vegetables
22:41and you learn from every failure.
22:44But we'll keep an eye on this.
22:46However, I want to just fill up another bed
22:49with plants that I have prepared earlier.
22:52And this is the way that I normally grow vegetables
22:55if I possibly can, which is to sow them in a seed tray,
22:57prick them out into plugs,
22:59and then plant them out when they're growing strongly.
23:02Whenever I clear a bed,
23:04I always give it a top dressing of compost.
23:08And what this does is add beneficial bacteria and fungi to the soil.
23:18I'll just level this out.
23:28First in, other collyx flowers.
23:31This is a variety called Snowball.
23:34Nice white curd.
23:39So the plugs look like that.
23:43Quite a small plant, but a decent root system,
23:47and they're dead easy to plant.
23:49Just make a hole and put it in like that.
23:53So like that.
23:56And then here like that.
24:02And the sort of spacing, about the same spacing
24:05so they are on a natural grid.
24:07So that one will go in there, for example.
24:20In fact, the spacing between the individual plants
24:23is really relevant to the outcome of the final cauliflower.
24:28Put them closer together and you'll have smaller curds.
24:31Give them lots of room and you can have whopping great show ones
24:35that look magnificent.
24:39There's plenty of room to plant another crop
24:43that you can harvest and enjoy before the cauliflowers get too big.
24:49This is Red Salad Bowl,
24:51which tastes really good and also looks good
24:55because the red will turn a really rich burgundy
24:59and breaks up the almost ubiquitous green of a salad.
25:05Now I'm planting these quite close together
25:08because I'm not wanting them to mature fully.
25:12I don't want their maximum size
25:15because the cauliflower are the main crop.
25:18So I'm going to be picking these quite small.
25:22Right, that's a bed planted,
25:25but they won't grow successfully unless I keep them watered.
25:29Absolutely essential. Don't let them dry out.
25:31And the other thing they need doing
25:33is protection from cabbage white caterpillars.
25:37So after I've watered these in well,
25:40I will construct a frame and put netting over it.
25:43Right, that's going to keep me busy.
25:45Here are some things for you to do before you go away on holiday.
25:58If you grow sweet peas,
26:00be sure to pick every last flower and give them away
26:04because if you don't do that,
26:06there's a real risk that you'll have far more seed pods than flowers
26:10when you return.
26:16If you've got plants in pods,
26:18grouping them together closely side by side in shade
26:22will create a protective microclimate.
26:25And if you can put them in a tray half-filled with water,
26:28that's ideal.
26:30Then if someone can come and check them once
26:32while you're away to top up the water,
26:34everything should survive until you get back.
26:46It's not the ideal time for a vegetable grower to go on holiday,
26:50but you can mitigate the damage by harvesting as much as possible.
26:54So any lettuce that might go to seed,
26:56picked beans, peas, courgettes,
26:59give them to friends and family
27:01and then on your return you can start to harvest for yourself.
27:16BIRDS CHIRP
27:32One little word of warning.
27:34If you are going on holiday overseas,
27:37resist any temptation to bring back plant material,
27:40be it plant, cutting or seeds,
27:42because the risk of importing a pest or disease
27:46is just too great.
27:48Enjoy the holiday, visit gardens
27:50and then come back to your own garden
27:52without risking that possibility.
27:55And talking of your own garden,
27:57the Paradise Garden here
27:59has been a real success for me personally
28:02because it's exceeded what I wanted from it.
28:05I always knew that the elements of symmetry
28:08and water gently flowing,
28:10fruit and fragrance were important,
28:13but it's gone beyond that.
28:15We have the steepers which are now getting really fluffy,
28:18the verbena which has doubled in size since I've been away
28:21and the cornflowers are just popping through.
28:23So, so far, this has been a real success.
28:26It made us very happy.
28:28Well, that's it for today.
28:30We'll be back here at Longmeadow at the same time next Friday.
28:33So until then, bye-bye.
28:40Actor James Norton reads Sweet Sorrow,
28:43the new coming-of-age novel by David Nicholls,
28:46on the BBC Sounds app.
28:48New drama next on BBC Two explores the partnership
28:51between two greats of musical theatre, Fossey and Verdon.
29:05This week on Proms Encore,
29:06Sheku and Isaac Akane-Mason give an exclusive performance.
29:09We've got tenor Stuart Skelton and violinist Pekka Kusisto,
29:12plus Notre Dame organist Olivier Latre pulls out all the stops
29:15for Reverend Richard Coles.
29:16Join me tomorrow, BBC Two, at seven o'clock.
29:20Something's going on, Faith.
29:21Gail's been visiting the prison.
29:23The body in the dunes.
29:25Am I safe?