• 3 months ago
Transcript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World.
00:18This time of year, deadheading daily is the best way of keeping the garden with all its
00:25colourful energy right through into autumn.
00:29And even plants like Helleniums, which are now really coming into their own, should be
00:35deadheaded because once the petals drop and you're left just with the seed head, of course
00:41then they will develop seed and there's no need for them to produce more flowers.
00:45Take off the seed head and more flowers will surely follow and that way this intense colour
00:52will carry on for as long as possible.
01:01On today's programme, we meet a gardener who has packed her small space with a rich mix
01:06of cottage garden and tropical plants.
01:12And we visit a garden filled to the brim with pots.
01:16More pots and even more pots.
01:28Come on.
01:34A job that I really enjoy at this time of year is the summer pruning of fruit trees.
01:40Now this tends to apply to espaliers like these pears or cordons or fan-trained fruit.
01:47Any fruit that is tightly restricted to fit into a smaller space.
01:53Because the whole point of summer pruning is to restrict growth, whereas winter pruning
02:00actually encourages growth.
02:01So all these new shoots that we've got here, whether they're growing upwards or some of
02:06the ones lower down sideways, can be cut back.
02:10And don't just trim them back, but cut right back.
02:14So if I cut just like that, then I'm not getting rid of any fruit, but I am getting rid of
02:20the growth that I don't want.
02:22But that's not something to agonise over because generally speaking, you can just go along
02:26and prune it back and next year's fruit is assured and we've kept the shape and the form
02:32that we want it.
02:43What does tend to happen is that they get bigger and bigger and bigger.
02:47Because you're always cutting back to last year's growth, which then hardens.
02:51So about once every three or four years, I get a sore out and I cut back even harder.
02:56And then it starts all over again.
02:59This has yet to grow.
03:01I want that to grow right out, so I don't prune it now.
03:05So whatever happens, we leave that.
03:07And the second is when you tie it in, don't tie it right down flat because that will inhibit
03:14growth.
03:15You get maximum growth when it's vertical and you can see that these vertical shoots
03:18at the top are much longer than any of the sideways ones because they want to go upwards.
03:23So if I leave that up like that, it'll grow much more strongly than if I tied it down.
03:30You just keep that process as it goes along, along, along.
03:32And then finally, when you reach the end of wherever you want it to go to, then you can
03:37tie it down into position.
03:39You can see that this one has reached the end.
03:41So I can just snip that off and that will remain at that size and every year I'll just
03:47keep cutting that back.
03:53Of course, one of the side benefits from creating the shape and the form you want is you're
03:59taking away all this extra growth and that means more air will get in, which is really
04:03good at resisting fungal problems like canker or scab, and also importantly, more sunshine
04:10because we want these fruits to ripen as well as possible.
04:14And the more sunshine they get, the better that will be.
04:17Now, actually, I don't need that, so I can cut it off.
04:25The beauty of train fruit is that you can grow them in a very limited space and a small
04:35garden can have some homegrown delicious fruit.
04:40Mind you, a small garden can hold an awful lot of flowers.
04:44We found when we went to St Albans to visit a garden with an amazing array of flowers
04:51of every kind.
05:00In this garden, every plant has to earn its space.
05:03And because it's a small garden, you know, they get two chances.
05:06They either do well or they're gone.
05:13My name's Frances Mason.
05:15This garden means everything to me.
05:17It's where I spend most of my time.
05:19Well, when I walk out here in the morning, it's like walking into a valley.
05:24It's almost as if the garden is welcoming me.
05:27And I suppose it grounds me and makes me feel happy.
05:31Well, I've got mostly cottage garden plants, but I do love to grow tropical plants as well.
05:38And I like the difference between the large leaf varieties and the colors and then the
05:42smaller more dainty flowers and leaves.
05:45And they all make a collage almost.
05:49The idea was to get layers so that at the front of the garden, you could see the smaller
05:55plants and far more detail.
05:57And as we went back towards the fence, the height went higher and higher.
06:02So the whole place is enveloped in plants.
06:07This one's called Melianthus major.
06:09It doesn't need to be taken inside in the winter, so that's fine.
06:12I think this is a nice structural plant for the garden and the new foliage is beautiful
06:16too.
06:17And the backs of the leaves are lovely, lovely pale green.
06:20It's just a very nice plant and it's a good foil for other plants.
06:23Here I grow it with just a basket of begonias coming over.
06:27What I like about this area is the fact that we have Nicotiana, which is this beautiful
06:32deep purple, and it goes with the canna, which is lovely.
06:36And then the fuchsia has these most beautiful lilac petals.
06:42I just love this color grouping together.
06:45Very pleasing, that one.
06:46I like that.
06:50This is the canna, which I got this year.
06:54It's a new one.
06:55Beautiful variegated foliage, which I love.
06:58And it picks up the variegations from the nasturtiums down here.
07:01So I just like these colors.
07:02I don't know what color this is going to be when it flowers.
07:04It may be orange, which would be just perfect for this section.
07:08You know, people say, well, you shouldn't put orange and red together.
07:11Any colours you like go together, in my book anyway.
07:16Across here, I've gone for a more muted cottage garden look.
07:20All of these delphiniums have grown from seed this year, and they've all come up nicely.
07:25But in order to get this tiered effect, I will throw in sort of a dark red dahlia here,
07:31just to draw the eye.
07:33And then at the back, we've got hanging baskets, which slope up towards the fence.
07:40I don't really want to see anything outside the garden.
07:43I want a complete cavern.
07:50These are tree lilies.
07:51The first year, they came to about here, and they flowered in about three months.
07:56And this year, well, you can see the height of them this year.
08:00They're much taller than I am.
08:02And I've got a little trick to deter the lily beetle.
08:06I pick curry plant leaves and make a concoction, make a tea,
08:11which can be diluted into a spray with water.
08:15So this is the one I made yesterday.
08:17So now I'm going to spray the lily plants.
08:23This should really be sprayed on the plants twice a week while they're in the fast-growing stage.
08:28Well, there don't seem to be any lily beetles here, so maybe it's working.
08:32These little fellows live in tropical climates, and they're an epiphyte.
08:37Air plants, tilandsia, they're called.
08:40So here, I have them glued into shells.
08:43This is a special air plant glue, and it just takes a little tiny dot.
08:47And then eventually, they will hold on on their own.
08:49They do have roots.
08:50But you can see, they flower.
08:52And this one is about to flower.
08:54They need very little care.
08:56In the springtime, they start to bloom.
08:59And this one is about to flower.
09:00They need very little care.
09:02In the summer, they can go outside.
09:04The rain will look after them.
09:06And I love the idea of using the fishing line, because you can't see it.
09:10It looks as if they're floating in the air.
09:16I like to take cuttings, because people who know me know that I do very well with cuttings.
09:21I take cuttings of almost everything.
09:23I'll have a go at anything.
09:25Brugmansia are one of my favourite plants.
09:28I think it's probably because they're quite like people that you can meet.
09:32Quite blousy people.
09:34If you take a cutting from up here, where the growth has branched,
09:39then above that, the growth is much quicker and it produces flowers.
09:44So I'm going to take a cutting from here, like that.
09:50These plants are toxic.
09:51If you wear gloves and you wash your hands when you finish dealing with them, everything's fine.
09:55Prepare the cutting by taking off unnecessary leaves.
10:00So there, that one.
10:02And the large leaves, instead of taking them off completely, cut them in half.
10:07That gives the plant a little bit of leaf, but not so much that it dies trying to support a big leaf.
10:12So there's the cutting.
10:14And I will do a clean cut underneath the node.
10:18That's a leaf node.
10:20And if I take the cutting under there, it will take much better.
10:25So I'll be putting some drainage in, because these plants need a lot of drainage.
10:29So the soil goes in.
10:31Make it nice and comfortable in the pot.
10:33There we go.
10:34And that's just left alone, watered and put in a shady, warm spot.
10:37And that way it will root very quickly.
10:46I feel that I'm part of this garden.
10:49And somehow it just allows me to be here.
10:54I suppose every garden runs out of space at some stage, but I never really want to believe that.
10:58But I suppose we could start to build upwards now.
11:02But who knows?
11:04I do sympathise with Frances.
11:08Because there isn't a gardener in the land who doesn't secretly wish that they had more space,
11:12whether it was upwards, sideways or longways.
11:16And I loved her lilies.
11:18I have to say, I'm loving mine, too.
11:20This is cappuccino.
11:22It's got a bit of a tang.
11:24It's got a bit of a tang.
11:26It's got a bit of a tang.
11:28It's got a bit of a tang.
11:30It's got a bit of a tang.
11:32I'm loving mine, too.
11:34This is Casablanca, and it's been a very good year for lilies.
11:36But this one has stood out.
11:38It's enormous.
11:40It's flowered for weeks.
11:42The fragrance is heavenly.
11:44And I'm growing them in relatively small pots.
11:46Three bulbs to a pot, and they're doing fine.
11:48If you've got a border with nice, loose, friable soil with a cool base,
11:52then it will be very happy planted out, too.
11:54A really cracking lily.
12:02Come on.
12:08Here we go.
12:10Come on, in you come.
12:15This is the wildlife garden,
12:17and from day one, it's always trod a fine line
12:21between being ideal for wildlife
12:23and yet being a proper garden.
12:26Because if you really want to maximise all forms of wildlife,
12:31then just let it go.
12:33Leave it, and they will be completely happy,
12:36although it won't look much like a garden.
12:39Now, I haven't been in touch for a few months,
12:41and I want to add a few more plants.
12:44And to do that, I've got to make space.
12:46And the plants I'm adding are sedums.
12:49In fact, sedums have got a new name.
12:51They're one of these plants that have been reclassified.
12:55And they're now called Hylotelephiums.
12:58That's a bit of a mouthful,
13:00but I have to say that, as a gardener rather than a botanist,
13:03they will forever be sedums to me.
13:06And these four sedums are showing signs of mould,
13:10and the reason for that is they've got too wet.
13:13Sedums are succulents.
13:15They like dry conditions, hot sun and really good drainage,
13:20if they're to be completely happy.
13:22So I'm going to pop them in here,
13:24because their flowers are absolutely irresistible to butterflies.
13:29I love them.
13:31And come September, even into October,
13:34they are covered in butterflies.
13:37And, of course, they don't care if the plant isn't performing well.
13:41They'll be just as happy in a mangy old plant as a prized one,
13:45as long as it's got flowers with the nectar in it.
13:49So I'm going to plant them in.
13:51But first, I've got to make some room.
13:54I'm clearing the edge,
13:56because sedums need as much sunlight as you can give them,
14:00so I don't want them lost in amongst the other planting.
14:04Now, this comfrey is a bit of a weed in this garden,
14:08and so actually it pops up all over the place.
14:11The bees love the flowers,
14:13but I'm going to dig that one out,
14:15because we've got plenty of it in the garden.
14:18I've brought some grit with me
14:20to help the drainage for the sedums.
14:23Sprinkle some grit on.
14:25If you want to improve drainage,
14:28rather than adding a layer of grit beneath the plant,
14:32dig it in to the soil.
14:34And that's because a layer actually can actually help
14:37the sedum to grow.
14:39So I'm going to dig it in.
14:41I'm going to dig it in.
14:43I'm going to dig it in.
14:45I'm going to dig it in.
14:48Actually can act as a summit,
14:50whereas if you dig it in,
14:52the water can then flow away from the plant.
14:55Let's plant the first one.
15:08One of the ways of ensuring
15:10that a sedum like this doesn't get too wet
15:13is to plant it slightly proud of the soil,
15:17so the top half inch or so of roots
15:19are actually above the ground level.
15:21And that way, there is some element of drainage away from it.
15:26Now, just because they like good drainage
15:28doesn't mean to say they don't need any water.
15:31And at very least, even succulents,
15:34when you plant them out, water them in really well.
15:37Give them a soak.
15:42Now, I know these sedums are not in the best of nick,
15:45but they will recover.
15:47And by next year, I think they'll be completely healthy.
15:50And for the rest of this summer and well into autumn,
15:53they're going to provide a feast for butterflies.
15:56And as a bonus, I freed up four really good terracotta pots
16:00that I can now use to give myself an extra splurge of colour
16:04for the rest of summer.
16:06Talking of which, we went down to Goudhurst in Kent
16:09to visit a garden which is positively exploding with colour,
16:14and mainly grown in pots.
16:22Seeing the colours dance every day,
16:25this garden makes me smile.
16:28I had a friend once who was always saying,
16:31Annie, you wear too much black.
16:33And then suddenly, I've just gone into colour.
16:36It lifts you.
16:38It's about a vibrancy of life.
16:40My name is Annie Warner.
16:42I knew from a very early age
16:44the importance of being surrounded by greenery,
16:47being immersed in plants.
16:52In my garden, I have three terraces.
16:55I have 150 pots.
16:59I love this feeling of things erupting out.
17:03I've got geraniums, cosmos, margaretes.
17:08But planted into the soil,
17:10I have got euonymus,
17:13pachysandra and ivies to make a sort of ground cover.
17:18Evergreen, whether it's the ivy or the euonymus,
17:22grows up and sort of surrounds my pots
17:25and makes them part of the earth,
17:27so that you don't know where one begins and the other ends.
17:31And I love it that some of my pots I can't even see anymore.
17:35I haven't seen them for a couple of years.
17:38Even longer, because they're now encased with ivy.
17:42It makes them feel part of the ground.
17:45I wanted the vibrancy of bright pings, bright oranges,
17:50reds of different hues,
17:52because of the vibrational quality of it that I love.
17:56It merges with the green.
17:58They spark each other off.
18:01This is the first time I've had hanging baskets,
18:04and I love that feeling of flower and tendrils
18:07draping, falling down, meeting other plants coming up.
18:12Two different worlds sort of merging together.
18:17I think of it as my living painting.
18:20It moves from season to season.
18:23The colours change because I might think,
18:26oh, that colour's not working quite right there,
18:28so I'll move the pot.
18:30Here I have a very vibrant pink geranium,
18:34which I'm going to put in one pot,
18:36and these two impassions, great colours together,
18:40they will go into another pot.
18:43These are the two pots I'm going to use.
18:46Both very light, so I can move them around the garden
18:50if there's another bald patch somewhere.
18:54So I'm getting a handful of compost from last year's pots,
18:59which is now nice and fine.
19:02And then on top of that, I'm going to put this year's compost.
19:07You want a plant to go into damp soil,
19:09and it also helps to bed down the compost into the pot.
19:13And you need, after two or three weeks,
19:16to keep checking that compost hasn't gone down too far,
19:19and if it has, then top it up with more compost.
19:24I love having things slightly crowded,
19:27compact, all being together.
19:34Never fill it completely up to the top,
19:37because then in watering,
19:39if it's right up to the top,
19:41the water drains over the side,
19:43and the compost goes over the side.
19:45I think these are lovely,
19:47and they're going to fill those gaps in my garden
19:50that suddenly were without colour,
19:52and I don't like being without colour.
19:54To water this garden,
19:56because there is a lot of watering to go on,
19:59I have a watering system,
20:01but it's a drip irrigation system,
20:03so water is not wasted.
20:05You are using water very economically.
20:12I've always been fascinated by paths.
20:16It's something about the mystery of where do things go?
20:20I wanted to make an area that was slightly mysterious,
20:24so I set it like a stage with an arch.
20:28I wanted to introduce the helicrytons into the lanterns,
20:32so that, again, you've got movement.
20:35I used the mirror,
20:37because I think it throws light around.
20:40So it's my little area for sitting,
20:43quietly contemplating life.
20:45The colour green is...
20:48I feel an essential part of my life.
20:51A number of years ago, I got terribly ill.
20:55I was under an immense amount of stress,
20:58and I looked out at my garden,
21:00and the phrase that went through my brain was,
21:03you cut yourself off from this at your peril.
21:07And it still goes through me, you know?
21:12I know it is an essential part of my life.
21:16And I think the other thing, great thing about gardening,
21:20is it's a step into the future.
21:24You are taking a step into your future life,
21:28because if you're planting things,
21:31you have to be there to care for them.
21:34It's something that takes you forward.
21:37It's just a wonderful space.
21:40It feeds me every single day.
21:43For me, it is... it's wonderful.
22:01I completely share with Annie
22:04that love of putting colours together that you want.
22:07And whilst my palette may not be the same as hers,
22:10that doesn't matter.
22:12We all know what we like individually in our gardens.
22:15And what I really like at this time of year
22:18is although we've lost the freshness of June,
22:21August has the richest colours.
22:23The clematis, for example, are absolutely fantastic at the moment.
22:27And how you combine those colours and work them through your borders
22:32is one of the really strong elements of pleasure in gardening.
22:57A couple of days ago, we harvested the last of the broad beans,
23:01cut the plants, added a little bit of compost,
23:04and now it is ready for another batch.
23:07And not of broad beans this time,
23:10because we've got climbing French beans there,
23:13we've got dwarf French beans,
23:16and now I've got another batch grown from seed,
23:19which I'm going to plant out,
23:22and these will be ready in about three weeks' time.
23:25Now, I've sown these dwarf beans into a large seed tray.
23:28You don't have to cut the beans, because they develop well,
23:31but you have to cut them individually.
23:34It's like cutting brownies, if you bake a block,
23:37and then cut them up and then plant them out as homemade plugs.
23:40And as long as I don't damage them as I untangle them, they won't mind.
23:43This is quite a vigorous variety. It's called purple teepee.
23:46It has lovely purple pods that turn green when you cook them.
23:49And as far as planting them goes,
23:52just make a hole, pop them in, push them in firmly, and you're away.
23:57I bought this tool back from America, by the way.
24:00It may look like a knife, but actually it's not.
24:03It's a glorified trowel, and you use it for planting.
24:06And it's really useful.
24:23With French beans, you don't need particularly wide spacing.
24:26The major downside of doing this is, of course, they've grown floppy,
24:29whereas if they were outside, they would be slightly more self-supporting.
24:32But they're not difficult to support,
24:35and in principle, they don't need support.
24:42So now I have climbing beans, Eva,
24:45that we've been eating for about two or three weeks,
24:48the yellow bean, Helios,
24:51that is just about ready for harvest,
24:54and I'm expecting, profusely, over the next four or five weeks,
24:57the purple-potted young plants,
25:00which should begin to produce beans in about three weeks' time.
25:03And I've got some seeds in my pocket,
25:06also of purple teepee,
25:09that won't give me a harvest till the end of September, early October.
25:12But it will mean that we get this continuity and succession of harvest
25:15rather than one big glut.
25:18And, of course, sowing them is as easy as pie,
25:22and you just push them in the ground.
25:27And these go a little bit closer together
25:30than the ones I've planted.
25:33About three or four inches apart is good.
25:36Right, that's set me up for beans right through into autumn,
25:39but the next thing to do, and this is really important,
25:42is to soak the transplants,
25:45because they will flop, and I must give them a really good drink.
25:48But while I'm doing that,
25:51I've got something else for you to do this weekend.
26:03To keep your containers looking as good as possible
26:06for as long as possible,
26:09it's important to give them a weekly feed until the end of summer.
26:12I use homemade comfrey or liquid seaweed,
26:15but if you can't get either, a tomato feed will do the job as well.
26:19Dilute it according to the instructions,
26:22and there's no virtue in making it too strong.
26:25And then feed weekly over and above any watering that you may do.
26:32Many shrub roses will have finished flowering,
26:35but they will also have put on a huge growth spurt,
26:38and it's a good idea to check them over and remove the extra-long shoots,
26:41particularly if they're blocking a path,
26:44and also if there's potential damage to be done
26:47by the wind catching them.
26:50This is not a proper prune.
26:53Just trim them back to shape.
26:56The caterpillars of cabbage white butterflies
26:59can wreak havoc on any brassica plants.
27:02It's a good idea to net them,
27:05but also, at least once a week,
27:08check over each plant carefully, removing the caterpillars.
27:11The yellow and black ones of the large white are easy to see,
27:14and the black and white are very well camouflaged.
27:17But when you find them, dispose of them.
27:28It doesn't matter how many jobs you do,
27:31how efficient you are, or how rigorous your attention to detail,
27:34there are always going to be plants
27:37that pop up in unexpected places
27:40and sort of defy your will.
27:44This box is meant to be
27:47a perfectly green baysward,
27:50and certainly not intended to have
27:53rogue plants popping up through them.
27:56But I wouldn't dream of cutting it.
27:59I love the fact that it's refusing to bow to authority.
28:02And all over the garden,
28:05there are plants like that, here and there,
28:08just where you don't expect them,
28:11and they're all part of the garden,
28:14and I love them for that.
28:17That's it for today.
28:20I'll be back here at Longmeadow at the same time next week,
28:23so join me then. Bye-bye.
28:41© transcript Emily Beynon