Gardeners World 2024 Episode 24
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Gardeners World. You may have noticed that we're somewhere a
00:15little bit different. Adam and I are in Norfolk for a rather special programme
00:21that's set in the grounds that surround East Ruston Old Vicarage and it's a
00:25private garden that has been lovingly created over the past 50 years. I think
00:31we're in for a great one because we're going to spend some time with Alan Gray and
00:35Graham Robeson, the owners, plus the gardeners, some volunteers and get under
00:40the skin of what it takes to put a garden like this together and then look
00:45after it for that many years. And we'll be sharing tips and practical advice
00:51along the way. Also coming up on today's programme, we visit the Peak District as
00:58Wrecker gets to grips with the challenges of a new garden. Like many,
01:03this year has been blighted with failures. My first and second sowing of
01:07squashes were either eaten by slugs or succumbed to cold. This is my third
01:13sowing. We meet a couple from Walsall who have transformed their garden into a
01:17lush green oasis. Our garden's called Fifty Shades of Green for obvious reasons.
01:24We do love colour. Especially green. And Carol continues her mission to get us all
01:32growing plants for free with a masterclass on propagating root and leaf
01:37cuttings. This anemone in its native habitat is a woodland plant. It sends its
01:43roots out just under the surface of the soil and it's that that I want to exploit.
02:05I think one of the fascinating things about this place is just the quantity of
02:11different garden rooms and carrying slightly different atmospheres. Well
02:15there's so much to explore. I mean take this place, the Desert Wash, okay. We're a
02:20mile and a half from the North Sea, about 16 miles from Norwich, yet they've managed
02:25to create this Arizona inspired arid desert because it's so mild and warm.
02:30Yeah, I think also, I think rainfall, they have about 20 inches a year. But straight
02:36away what catches your eye is the diversity of plants. It just seems
02:40completely mind-blowing.
02:48The Desert Wash garden is vast. It's set over two acres of land and has been
02:55designed to resemble a landscape which is dry and arid. But when it rains there,
03:00there is a deluge of water that comes down and causes flash flooding, creating
03:05ravines and rocks get cast aside and that's what's been represented here.
03:10There are giant drought tolerant plants that are adding to the drama of this
03:15landscape alongside 400 tons of flint. And can you believe none of these plants
03:22are protected over winter.
03:26If you did want to create something like this, the group of plants here that
03:35fascinates me are these ones here in front of me. Things like the verbena, the
03:40Californian poppy, the verbascums. All the plants that will self-seed around your
03:46garden. Things like the short-lived perennials, the bay annuals and the
03:49annuals. Plants that years ago I used to think, well they're hard work, aren't they?
03:54They're just going to keep doing their thing, doing their thing and I've got to
03:56go out and I've got to maintain it. Whereas now, they're go-to's. Because of
04:01environmental change and we don't know whether we're going to have a cold
04:04spring, a warm spring, a dry spring, a wet spring. Some of the plants in your garden
04:09are going to suffer and you're going to lose mainstays over the coming
04:14years. But these, the seed hit the ground, doesn't really matter to them what sort
04:20of spring we have. They always seem to, at some point in the year, pop up and do
04:25their work. So for me, these are joyous. I let them do their thing around the
04:29garden. They bring a freedom, which I love and then I go in and I edit and I think
04:34they're a group of plants that we really need to go back and visit. This is an
04:41amazing space and it's just one of many here, which is incredible.
04:48From a bare scrap of land, this garden began 51 years ago when Alan and Graham
04:54brought the derelict old vicarage, which was built in 1913 during the Arts and
04:59Crafts era. Alan and Graham, without doubt this garden is a labour of love and your
05:08passion, is this all throughout the whole space? Well I think yes it is, because we
05:13do have a passion for it. We regard the garden, I think, as our kind of sheltered
05:17place against the ever more hostile world out there. It kept me sane in my life.
05:23And just tell me, how did you start with that blank canvas? What was the sort of
05:28starting point? It's an Arts and Crafts house and we wanted to make a garden in
05:32sympathy with the architecture of the house and so therefore we decided to
05:35make outside rooms. And how do you split the gardening now in terms of the
05:39role between the pair of you? What do you do, who does what? He shouts and I run.
05:46No, I think, you know, we have our roles that we fall into. I mean Graham's
05:51baby is the desert wash and he's continually working on that. And I'll
05:55design a piece of garden and there's a bare earth and you can't stand bare
06:00earth, it gets plumbed. Really? I think I can actually, I can agree with you on that Graham. I'm sort of worried about standing still in case all of a sudden I'm planted up.
06:11Well Adam and I are here today to get involved so I'm hoping that we can be
06:16of some real help to you.
06:20Set within the meadows and woodland there are over 20 garden rooms filled
06:26with plants, including the King's Walk, Catalpa Garden, Mediterranean and
06:33Exotic Gardens to name just a few.
06:38And this is known as the Dahlia Border and I think it's really wonderful. It's
06:44singing out at this time of year. It's full of tender perennials and annuals
06:48and some really old-fashioned favourites like this Phlox Superstar and then
06:52you've got the deep burnt orange of the Tagetes. But then in contrast you come
06:57across this Eucomus, really statuesque, really exotic, completely different and I
07:03think that's the magic of where Graham and Alan love having a real exuberance
07:07in the border. But it's September which means it's a perfect time to take
07:12cuttings from tender perennials and what we've got here is this yellow marguerite.
07:16So what I'm looking for are side shoots that haven't got a flower on them, so
07:22this one here, just cut above a leaf node. So by popping them in a plastic bag just
07:33helps them to stop drying out and preserve them until they go and get
07:36planted up.
07:45It's best to take your cuttings early in the morning when the plant is fully
07:50hydrated and use the material quickly. So I'm taking this to Alan and Adam who are
07:56waiting to do just that.
08:04The first thing I need to say, wow what a garden. Thank you. How did you get into
08:10the gardening? Oh well I knee-high to a grasshopper at Granny's house and I mean I
08:14started gardening when I was four, five, six, something like that. By the time I was about
08:18eight or ten I had three gardens, one at each grandparents house and one at my
08:21house. Interesting, so I had my first little plot on Grand There's a Lot
08:25with my name written on it. Yeah, that's so important isn't it? Yeah, it certainly is.
08:30But I know you do go out and obviously you know you like to shop
08:34and get the new bits but also this is a bit of a passion isn't it? Yes it is and
08:38quite often when I buy a plant, I don't buy a plant, I buy two. One to look at and
08:44one to cut up. Brilliant. Well I buy the cutting and seed compost in a bag and
08:48then I mix it with vermiculite which you can see here. Which is little clay
08:52particles. Yeah and that is to actually make it much more free-draining so it
08:56stops it getting clagged together. Fill it full, tamp it down like that, give it a
09:01jolly good watering, a couple of hours or an hour before you're going to use it, let
09:04it drain and then we're good to go. Cool. Now I'm the apprentice, slightly aging
09:09admittedly, all right? But you demonstrate the cuttings and then maybe
09:12what I can do, if I've got my pencil, you can pass them over and then I will. That's a
09:17good idea. Well here we have cuttings of an
09:19Argoranthemum. Yep. This one is called Jamaica Primrose. So you take your
09:24cutting, I've got a very sharp knife here, clean blade all the time. Hygiene is the
09:28most important thing of all, so that gets cleaned and then you make your cut
09:32just below a leaf node. There we go. You've got your leaf node there. Right, remove the
09:38lower leaves and then I do a bit of hairdressing. Lovely. Yeah, interesting.
09:44Because see at this point I would go straight in there, you don't do you? Well
09:48that, put it in, it's a race between rooting and rotting. Yeah, yeah. I want to
09:53win that race. Yeah. So I'm going to use everything in my power to make that
09:57root. So I'm in this hormone rooting liquid and it's over to you. Over to you.
10:04And then we're just going centre of this. Yeah. Job done. And then I put that on a
10:08mist bench. Yeah. But before it goes to the mist bench, I do this. Good. So
10:12actually you're stopping that loss of water. Yeah, exactly. That's the most
10:16important thing because once a cutting wilts really, really badly, it's got no
10:21way of getting up again. So you've got to stop it wilting in the first place.
10:25So shall we do a few more of these? Yeah, go on, you carry on, you carry on. Well, what other
10:29cuttings would you be taking this time of year? Anything and everything that is
10:32tender perennial. Diascias. Yeah. Osteospermums. On that note, how many
10:39cuttings do you think you take in a year? Hundreds if not thousands I think. I mean,
10:44yeah, a massive amount. You know, Graham and I, we bought the old vicarage and
10:49you know, in the 1970s, two gentlemen sharing with something, something of a
10:54noblety. Yeah. You know, there was a, shall we say, a degree of interest. Yeah.
10:58And then somebody came along from the Norfolk Gardens Trust and asked us if we
11:02would open our garden for the charity. And we had a rude awakening that day
11:08because I think 1,383 people turned up. Wow, and you thought how many were going
11:12to turn up? I didn't mean anybody bothered. Was it that that sort of went,
11:18actually, you know, we've got something here, or was it later on? How did it work?
11:22All these people turned up and I just said to Graham, you know, people are going to come and visit this garden.
11:26Let them come. We'll open one day a week, you know, help pay for an extra pair of hands.
11:29And it did. Incredible thing to be able to share. Yeah. But that's the
11:35beauty of it. Yeah. That's the last one, isn't it? Yeah, it's his, man. It's his, man. Well done. Look at that.
11:38Well done. Nice uniform. Eh? Not bad for an old boy, eh? No, not bad for an old apprentice. Yeah, exactly.
11:44I'm here in the vegetable garden. It's a productive space and supplies Alan and Graham with produce all year round.
11:56In September, the harvest is plentiful and the focus turns to crops that will withstand the colder months ahead.
12:06I'm planting out oriental greens, which is going to be great in the wintertime. They're very hardy
12:12and really great in salad. So I've got some taxoy here and I'm just putting in red mustard, which is
12:18actually quite a peppery leaf. I'm going to get some mizuna in as well. These are brassicas, so
12:24they are from the cabbage family. And the great thing about them is that they are cut and come
12:29again. So through sort of autumn into winter, they're going to be able to keep providing food
12:34for the table, which I think is a really lovely idea. They are fast growing and looking around
12:41the rest of this garden. It's a good thing that they are because they need to catch up with the
12:44abundance that's in this space. Next, we visit Rekha in the Peak District and see how she's
12:51taken stock of her new vegetable garden after a very challenging season.
12:56It's summer. I'm finally lifting my potatoes and it's been a very good year for them.
13:15These are Charlotte potatoes, second earlies. Normally, you would leave them 15 to 17 weeks
13:20before harvesting. But I tend to leave them a little bit longer, just so that we get bigger
13:25size. One trick I've learned when growing potatoes is add a layer of leaf mold in the base of your
13:32trench before planting the seedlings. So I'm going to show you how to do that.
13:44I'm going to start with the seed potatoes. That provides a lot of moisture to the plant when really needed in the early days,
13:50but it also provides them a little bit of acidic soil, which potatoes love.
14:00They have romped away this year. One of the few things to love all the rain.
14:06But not all things have fared so well.
14:15Like many, this year has been blighted with failures. My first and second sowing of squashes
14:22were either eaten by slugs or succumbed to cold. This is my third sowing and I have only two
14:29squashes left. The one near the house with the extra heat from the walls is the only plant
14:34behaving itself. The other is this one. It is struggling after being hit by cold nights.
14:41My tomatoes suffered from the same extreme temperature variation. These are beefsteak
14:46tomatoes, so they should fit in the palm of my hand. I mean, look at the size of them. But I have
14:51to be pragmatic. I have to say that I'm of a very high altitude and on a north-facing slope
14:59and these beauties love heat. It's not all about me.
15:03The squashes planted in beds were devoured. Slugs and snails tend to attack weak plants,
15:09so I'm wondering if I also have deficiency in my soil. That may have contributed.
15:17It's not all doom and gloom. There are some things I just won't be able to grow in this
15:22climate, this altitude, but there are plenty more that I can. First, I need to take care of my
15:29soil, and this is where this comes in.
15:42Rather than leaving my soil bare over the winter months, this year I'm sowing green manure.
15:50Bare soil can cause soil erosion and wash away the nutrients.
15:55I've already sown ryegrass, which is a great ground cover,
15:59as the roots knit together and protect the soil. Today, I'm going to sow phacelia,
16:05which should have time to grow and flower before being knocked back by the frost.
16:10These may even have time to self-seed and fill the space in spring,
16:14when pollen and other insects can't get to the soil.
16:18I also love to sow field beans, which overwinter well and tolerate temperatures down to minus 10.
16:24Not only do the tops and beans taste great, they also fix the nitrogen for next year's crops.
16:33In the spring, I will chop back all the green manure,
16:36incorporate it back into the soil, and then I'll plant the seeds.
16:40In the spring, I will chop back all the green manure, incorporate it back into the soil,
16:45and it'll be ready for the next plants to take all the nutrients back in.
16:58I've had some surprise wins this year, and I intend to maximise on them.
17:03My onions are doing brilliant. Rose de Roscoff, that I grew from saving,
17:08is really doing well. But this year, I'd like to save this one, which is Bedfordshire Champion.
17:15Once I've harvested them, they'll go into the greenhouse, dry out, they'll crack open,
17:21revealing their little seeds, ready to save in little envelopes for next year.
17:30I've already harvested my garlic and it's drying. The variety was chalk white,
17:35and it has given me a bumper crop. It loved the cool, peak district weather.
17:40I'll save a couple of these bulbs to plant again in autumn.
17:48Peas and beans have done really well in my pots, but I've decided that this variety,
17:54Blouse Joker, I'd like to save seeds from. So what I've done is I've allowed each and
17:59every single plant to go to seed, and now I'm just ready to plant the next one.
18:05I'm just going to pop these into a tray, leave them in the greenhouse,
18:23allow them to dry off a little bit more, and then they're ready to store for next year.
18:36I'm going to continue experimenting too. I'll be sowing my winter salads as well,
18:44but how about sowing something different? A pot of carrots.
18:55I'm using peat-free compost in a tall pot. The reason why I've chosen that is because the
19:00variety I'd like to grow are long and slender. It's called lunar white. I'll make three rows in
19:08this pot, and in between my rows, I am going to have spring onion. Now, outside, I tend to grow
19:20the two together because they're a great companion plant. The spring onion are very,
19:25very strongly scented, and they keep carrot fly away. I don't need to really do that because in
19:31the winter months, I'm not expecting any pests. The spring onions give me a second crop. It's
19:37growing more things in a small space. I'll keep these outside until they have germinated,
19:45and as the weather turns, I shall move them into the cold greenhouse,
19:49and hopefully I'll have fresh carrots over winter. Well, that's the plan.
19:56For me, gardening is all about experimenting. With successes come some failures, and this year
20:04has been one of those years where it has challenged me. I think it has for a lot of us,
20:10but us gardeners are made of stronger stuff, and next season can only get better.
20:25Verity Holden-Oates is one of the gardeners tasked with developing the vegetable garden
20:30and keeping it productive. Verity, I love this frame. You're creative to protect the veg.
20:36Thank you so much. Yeah, it's all recyclable. I just keep the pigeons off,
20:40while these are still young, especially. Very good idea, I'd say. So, how long have you
20:44been gardening and been here? I've been gardening probably about 10 years just at home,
20:50and then I started volunteering here about a year and a half ago,
20:54and then, yeah, work came up, so I took it and absolutely loved it ever since.
20:58Well, I have to say, it looks amazing here, so you're doing a really, really good job,
21:03and there's no-dig principle here, isn't there? Yeah, so we're doing the no-dig method. It's new
21:08to this particular part of the garden. It's working really well. This year it's been fantastic.
21:13The plants have been so healthy. One of the benefits is the no-dig method,
21:17so healthy. One of the benefits is the no weeds. You will get some find in their way,
21:23but the ones that you do get, they come out a lot easier.
21:26We had a big chicory problem. We're not getting that anymore, so a lot less work for me.
21:29A lot less work, which is really good. Yeah, yeah.
21:32So, obviously, that's not turning the soil over and keeping the soil structure very good.
21:37The water retention's better, the drainage is better. All does lead to higher yield.
21:42Yeah. Well, the yield in here, I have to say, looks really amazing,
21:46so I think it's definitely working. Do you need some help getting the net over?
21:49Lovely, thank you.
21:59The flowers in this garden, Verity, are just beautiful. They're doing a good job as well,
22:05aren't they? Yeah, so they're going to attract in all the pollinators, like our bees, and we've got
22:10things like the garlic chive here, which not only do they look good, they've got a really strong
22:13smell that keeps pests away from things that they want to munch on, otherwise. So, the more
22:19flowers you can get in here really, really helps. It makes a difference to the
22:22biodiversity of the garden. Yeah, well, that's companion planting for you. It certainly works.
22:28As you move from space to space, the magical thing is the atmosphere changes. Now I'm in the woodland,
22:37there's all these wonderful greens, and you just want to slow down, and there's real
22:41calmness, but at the same time, nothing feels classical. And what I mean by that is there's
22:50this huge eucalyptus, they're just pushing their way up through the undergrowth.
22:56They really are incredible. We also think about a woodland garden, especially in this country,
23:02as a classic spring space. But look at those, the hydrangeas, the hydrangeas,
23:10the hydrangeas, the hydrangeas, the hydrangeas, the hydrangeas, the hydrangeas, the hydrangeas,
23:16but look at those. The hydrangeas this time of year look incredible, and they've been given the
23:22space to do their own thing, so you've got these various different callows that sort of wallow
23:27and move their way through the area, and it's, yeah, it's special.
23:39I wasn't expecting that. Feels like you've come through the wardrobe in Narnia.
23:43where I've been gnawing here.
23:45And you really have arrived in a different world.
23:51Incredible.
23:53Now I'm thinking tropics, nice hotel,
23:56Benicolada, but you've got a big water feature
23:59that pulls you in, classic design.
24:02And then look behind it.
24:04Look at the size of those.
24:05That's tetrapanics.
24:07If I grew those at home, the first winter,
24:09frost, bang, straight back to the ground.
24:13I think as well, we come to gardens like this
24:15and we walk in a space like this,
24:16and yeah, that's all right because they've got the space.
24:19How can I do that at home?
24:21But I think you can.
24:23A lot of these I would grow in pots.
24:26Look here, gingers, bananas, cannas, castor oil plants.
24:32There's a fig, tetrapanics.
24:33You imagine arranging all those
24:35in some nice maybe terracotta plots.
24:37And then we've got things like the salvias, the cosmos.
24:40Just working their way through
24:41and bringing that summer color.
24:45As well, it's worth looking at shapes, forms, and finishes.
24:50I think this is a garden that Anne-Marie
24:53and Andrew Swift from Walsall would definitely approve of.
25:04Andrew and I met online, didn't we?
25:07We got together in 2008.
25:09Yes, we did.
25:10And we clicked straight away.
25:12But the one question I forgot to ask Andrew
25:15was, do you like gardening?
25:17So it wasn't until Andrew moved in-
25:19That you asked.
25:20That the question came up.
25:22Yeah.
25:23And I said, are you a gardener?
25:24Do you like gardening?
25:25Should have seen her face when I said,
25:26never done any gardening in my life.
25:32I got a little bit precious about the garden then.
25:34I'd already been here since 97,
25:36so I'd got an established garden.
25:38Although it was just lawns and borders.
25:41And everywhere I stood on the garden,
25:43don't stand there, there's some bulls under there.
25:45Don't stand there.
25:49You tagged on to my interest in it really, didn't you?
25:52It was almost like, well,
25:54if I don't go out in the garden and help and join in,
25:57then we probably weren't going to see each other very often.
26:00It is a shady garden, but we built it with that in mind.
26:04We wanted shade.
26:06We're not sun worshipers.
26:08We both have a passion for trees,
26:10a passion for hostas, and-
26:12Ferns.
26:13An enormous passion for ferns.
26:20We've got over 200 ferns in the garden.
26:22This one's a little bit smaller.
26:24It's a little bit smaller.
26:24It's a little bit smaller.
26:25It's a little bit smaller.
26:26It's a little bit smaller.
26:27It's a little bit smaller.
26:28It's a little bit smaller.
26:29This one here is my absolute favourite.
26:33This is a Ethereum Felix Femina.
26:35Common name is Dre's Dagger.
26:37The crisscrossing on it is very unusual.
26:40How can nature make something so complicated as that?
26:45We love the shade.
26:46Yeah, we do.
26:47We like the shade.
26:48Yeah.
26:53This is another fern
26:55that doesn't actually look like a fern.
26:58It has a white line down the leaf.
27:00The common name on this is Cretan Brake.
27:03And what's the Latin name?
27:04Don't ask that.
27:07Thanks, Duck.
27:10Terris critica albulinita, albulinata, albulinata,
27:16white line, albulinata, albulinata, albulinata.
27:23What's the Latin name of this fern?
27:25The Latin name is, oh, come on.
27:31I like to learn them.
27:32I just can't remember them.
27:33That's why we have so many plant labels.
27:38The Latin name of this fern is Terris critica albulinata.
27:44Who's the head gardener?
27:46Anne-Marie.
27:46Who's the head gardener?
27:47Is definitely the head gardener.
27:49She tries to play it down and say that she isn't,
27:51but she is the head gardener.
27:53She's got the most knowledge and experience of us both.
27:56Very kind of you to say so.
27:58Yeah, I'm the apprentice.
28:01We love trees.
28:02Yeah, we do.
28:03That's why we've got so many.
28:04Some are in pots, but most of them are planted in the ground.
28:09We chose a cedar especially.
28:11In fact, that's my favorite tree,
28:13just because of the form of it, how it splits into two.
28:18It's just a beautiful tree,
28:19but it still lets the light through.
28:21The honey locust, that's very airy.
28:24Yeah, beautiful color, light canopy.
28:27We've got about 65 trees in the back garden.
28:32Of them, this is one of the most beautiful ones.
28:36This is the Acer conspicum.
28:38These are the seeds.
28:39Stunning, the color of them, the lime green.
28:42And the leaf, when they come out,
28:44when the new ones emerge,
28:45they've got a pink tinge around the edge of the leaves.
28:52A lot of people think we're mad, don't they?
28:55Because every time we pull up in the car,
28:57there's a boot full of plants, trees.
28:59We've started doing it in the dark now.
29:01I often say trying to reverse up to the drive
29:05so we can open the boot in the dark.
29:09And that's not a lie.
29:11We did it the other day, didn't we?
29:12Yeah.
29:21This is my favorite tree.
29:23This is a Korean oak, Quercus dentata,
29:27Carl Ferris Miller.
29:28It's probably about 10 years old now, maybe 11.
29:31It would grow to be a huge tree,
29:33but we keep it contained in a pot
29:35so it won't grow much wider than this,
29:37but it can grow taller.
29:43Our garden's called 50 Shades of Green
29:45for obvious reasons.
29:46Yeah.
29:49We do love color.
29:49Yeah, we do love color,
29:50especially green.
29:51Yeah.
29:53Yeah, but we do use color in different ways
29:55to probably normal gardeners would use it.
29:57Yeah, we've got coleus scattered about the garden
30:00to give color because coleus will grow in the shade anyway.
30:03Yeah, lilies.
30:05We have lilies.
30:06Yeah, they grow in the shade really well.
30:09They're a bit slower in coming out
30:10than if it was in the sun.
30:11But they do come out.
30:13And they stay fresher for longer as well
30:15because they're in the shade.
30:21This is my favorite part of the garden.
30:24We decided to get rid of the shed.
30:27We thought we've got four meters square there
30:29of potential planting.
30:32I got to pick my plants,
30:34what I wanted to put in there.
30:35I had permission.
30:38So I put a nice tetrapanax in there,
30:40which I'd always wanted to put in the garden,
30:42but didn't have the space.
30:43I'm really looking forward to seeing that develop.
30:46There's a couple of new bananas in there as well.
30:50And I built a new water feature.
30:55Really love our garden.
30:56Yeah.
31:01Just knowing that we've created all this ourselves as well.
31:05I do know about the plants now.
31:06Yeah, I do.
31:07Which you didn't.
31:08Yeah, but I do know a lot about the plants now.
31:10Yeah.
31:11And I knew nothing before.
31:12So I'm really pleased about that.
31:13But you're definitely the head gardener, boss.
31:20Yeah.
31:24We've still got plenty to come on today's program.
31:29Carol continues her propagating masterclass
31:33to show us how to grow plants for free.
31:36All the plants that we're propagating from leaves
31:39are really sort of woodland plants.
31:41They all grow in shade.
31:43So it's vital that they don't go into direct sun.
31:46And now it is created a late summer container with Alan
31:50to keep the color going well into October.
32:07I've come to the Diamond Jubilee wall garden
32:10to meet garden coordinator, Ian Roof,
32:12who has worked with Alan and Graham for many years.
32:16And he's discovered a botanical oddity.
32:20Ian, this is it.
32:22This is what you found then?
32:23This is, this is our Bistorta, our persicaria,
32:26which has sported.
32:27It's produced some variegated shoots on a green plant.
32:30And it's something we're going to do something with
32:32later in the season.
32:33So do you like it?
32:34Well, I've got to be honest,
32:36I'm not normally a variegated girl,
32:39but this is actually quite delicate.
32:41I could actually, I mean, I love persicaria,
32:43but it's quite delicate.
32:45So what will you do in order to be able to sort of
32:48keep the longevity of it going?
32:49Well, because it probably won't come true from seed.
32:52Like most variegated plants,
32:53this will need to be propagated either by cuttings
32:55or by dividing the rootstock.
32:57The important thing to remember is that
32:59all variegated plants you buy
33:00from garden centers and nurseries
33:01are clones of their parents.
33:03They're genetically the same material
33:05that's passed through
33:06in order to keep that coloring in the leaf.
33:08So we've got a bit of work to do,
33:09but I think it's got great potential.
33:11Well, the pressure's on
33:12because we'll be expecting to see this now,
33:14not only here,
33:15but hopefully in other gardens around the country.
33:17Hopefully in yours.
33:18Well, that would be really good.
33:20So come on, get it going.
33:34So I'm just helping the volunteers here,
33:37going through the borders, deadheading,
33:40just to see if we can squeeze
33:42a little bit more out of the flowering season.
33:49While I finish this off,
33:50we're catching up with Carol,
33:52who's been very busy
33:54delving into the world of root and leaf cuttings
33:57to carry on that masterclass
33:59in providing plants for free.
34:12I've been longing for you to see this bed
34:15and this sort of collection of wonderful plants.
34:18This is my plants for free bed.
34:21So all season, I've been propagating all sorts of plants
34:24by many different methods.
34:27I've done division, I've taken cuttings,
34:30grown loads of stuff from seed.
34:32And one of the things I've grown from cuttings is this.
34:38I'm really quite proud of this Nepeta
34:40because it was tiny little basal cuttings.
34:43If I tip it out, can you see,
34:45that's where the original cuttings were.
34:48And it's just made such a beautiful root ball now.
34:51And I know as soon as I put it in here,
34:54it's going to absolutely go for it.
34:57I'll be taking cuttings from my cuttings
34:59before you know where you are.
35:01Well, just over the other side of this bed,
35:03some plants have popped up
35:05that I'd completely forgotten about.
35:07It's an anemone, but it's very fortuitous really,
35:10because it's going to help me to demonstrate
35:13how you can grow new plants for free
35:16from parts of the plant that you'd never ever dreamed of.
35:20Roots in that case, and also from leaves.
35:28This anemone in its native habitat is a woodland plant.
35:32It sends its roots out just under the surface of the soil.
35:35And it's that that I want to exploit.
35:39From little slender roots like this,
35:42that's the ideal sort of size
35:44that you want those roots to make brand new plants.
35:48Now there are two kinds of root cuttings,
35:51and these I like to call horizontal.
35:55All along these roots, there are nodules.
35:59And every so often, up will come a brand new shoot.
36:02And that is going to make a whole separate plump.
36:06So we're going to exploit
36:08exactly what the plant does in nature
36:10and use it to our advantage.
36:12I'm going to cut it into sort of bite-sized pieces.
36:18Just about an inch long, that's all you need.
36:22I'm just using a half seed tray.
36:24It's full of really good compost, lots of extra grits.
36:29Always when you're trying to take cuttings
36:31of whatever kind, it's a good idea to incorporate more grit
36:35because it makes the whole mixture more open,
36:37more freely draining.
36:39I'm going to put them in a nice warm place,
36:42reasonably bright, but out of bright sunlight.
36:46Keep it reasonably well watered.
36:48As soon as you see new shoots coming up,
36:51hesitate, wait another couple of weeks
36:54because the shoots will come up first
36:56and then the fibrous roots, the feeding roots, come later.
37:00So a couple of weeks after that,
37:01take them out individually, pop them on
37:04and then keep growing them on
37:06and eventually put them out in your garden.
37:09Now, you might think from what I've been saying
37:11that the only plant you can propagate
37:13from root cuttings in this way are anemones,
37:16not a bit of it.
37:17This geranium sanguineum will make the kind of roots
37:21that you can use for root cuttings
37:23and you can make more geranium sanguineums
37:25from these roots in exactly the same way
37:29as you made the anemone.
37:31So those are all horizontal cuttings,
37:33but there are some completely different root cuttings
37:35you can take too.
37:37They're vertical cuttings.
37:39Instead of going across, they go up and down.
37:42So this is a very handsome acanthus.
37:46It's acanthospinosus and it is really spiky.
37:50All I'm going to do is take these roots off.
37:55I'll go in like that.
37:58There are several plants you can do this from
38:00and chooser is one of my favorite
38:02with those brilliant blue flowers and big, thick roots.
38:06Verbascombs, all those perennial verbascombs,
38:09the verbascombs chaixii,
38:11there are all sorts of gorgeous hybrids of them.
38:14So you want these cuttings to be maybe a little longer
38:17than the ones that were horizontal,
38:20maybe about inch, inch and a half.
38:23The key bit of information that I haven't given you
38:27is that you should always plant these cuttings
38:29the right way up,
38:31and the right way up means exactly the way
38:34they grew in the ground.
38:35So always the bit that's closest to the soil
38:39is the top of the cutting
38:41and the bottom of the cutting
38:43is always the bit that's going downwards.
38:46Now I'm pushing these straight down
38:48until they're completely flush.
38:51The top of the cuttings is flush with the compost
38:54and all that remains to do
38:56is put some grit on the top of them.
38:58A nice warm place out of brilliant sunshine,
39:01make sure that they're reasonably well watered
39:04and you'll have a whole load more acanthus plants.
39:17Another unexpected way
39:19of actually making more plants for free, leaf cuttings.
39:23Now it's very often used with house plants,
39:25begonias, streptocarpus, all these gorgeous things
39:30which are grown either for their foliage
39:32or for their delightful flowers.
39:34Fewer and fewer people have got their own gardens
39:37and this is a way of bringing the outside inside
39:41and enjoying something green or very flowery.
39:44I want to start with this glorious begonia.
39:47This is a form of begonia rex.
39:50This one's called dark eyes.
39:52What I'm after, what I want to select
39:54is a leaf that's full grown, it's properly mature
39:57but it's still fresh and young, like that.
40:06It's really important where you cut.
40:09All plants have the ability to change
40:11one kind of cells into another.
40:13In this case, we're hoping that leaf cells
40:16are actually going to become root cells
40:19and capable of producing new leaves too,
40:22so a whole new plant.
40:24And the hormones that actually help that process
40:27are concentrated where the veins meet the leaf.
40:31So I want to expose lots and lots of those veins
40:34and plunge those into some compost.
40:37If I actually turn it over,
40:40it's much easier to see where these veins are,
40:44much more clearly visible.
40:50Now, I'm going to turn the board right round
40:54because I want to cut across this way now
40:57and make all these into squares.
41:02These cuttings have got to actually sit in the compost
41:05but not too far.
41:06So I'm just using a plant label, it is, a bit of old oak.
41:11And I'm just going to make a cut
41:14and then I'm going to put it in the compost.
41:19I'm going to make these little furrows.
41:21Now, I'm working from the outside of the leaf,
41:24which means that the base of the cutting there
41:29is going to be the closest to that central midrib
41:32because that's where the greatest concentration
41:35of those hormones is going to be.
41:37So make sure you keep your leaf in the same place
41:41whilst you're doing this.
41:43Don't go and answer the telephone in the middle.
41:46All the plants that we're propagating from leaves
41:49are really sort of woodland plants.
41:51They all grow in shade.
41:53So it's vital that they don't go into direct sun
41:56and keep them moist, but not wet.
41:58So this is what you're aiming for.
42:01This is one though that's been done
42:03by basically the same method,
42:05but this time using a whole half a leaf
42:09cut just below the midrib
42:11and pushed in, inserted into the compost.
42:14But I like doing these individual pieces
42:17because then when you come to separate them
42:20and pop them up, they're much more easy to move.
42:23But either way, it doesn't matter.
42:25Depends how much time you've got.
42:28And it only takes a few weeks under ideal conditions.
42:32If you've got one of those propagators
42:34with a little top on it, then all the better
42:37because it'll keep in that moisture.
42:40Isn't that just absolutely beautiful?
42:45It's a streptocarpus called polka dot purple.
42:49Now my mum loved streptocarpus
42:53and she was always propagating them.
42:55She did it in such a straightforward way.
42:59Just taking a leaf, cutting it up in sections,
43:03but there's an even easier way.
43:05And that is to take a whole leaf
43:09and just divide it in two,
43:11leaving the midrib in the middle.
43:13So you've got two equal slices
43:16and then just inserting them into the compost.
43:26Little plants will start to form.
43:28Once you feel they're big enough to handle
43:31and you've got several of them along there,
43:34you can take them out,
43:35detach them very carefully from the big leaf,
43:39which by that time will have started to fizzle out
43:42and pop them on individually.
43:47People talk about folk having green fingers.
43:51Well, I don't believe that.
43:53I think everybody's got green fingers.
43:55I think everybody can propagate plants.
43:59After a whole season of propagating plants for free,
44:03that growing cycle comes full circle.
44:06In the spring, we started sowing seeds,
44:10but next time we're going to be collecting them
44:13from some of the plants
44:14that bring us so much joy in the garden.
44:18Maintaining the borders at the old vicarage
44:20is a monumental task.
44:22I'm out with some of the volunteers
44:24that come to help each week.
44:27And on top of discovering botanical rarities,
44:30Ian also manages this team.
44:34I think I've just walked in,
44:36and I've got to say,
44:37I've got to say,
44:38I've got to say,
44:40I've got to say,
44:41I've got to say,
44:42I've got to say,
44:44I've got to say,
44:45I've got to say,
44:47I've just walked in to my favourite part of the garden.
44:49Yeah, I can see why you love it.
44:51It really is a good space.
44:52But interestingly,
44:54this is a huge garden
44:55that doesn't seem to be looked after
44:57by a huge amount of people.
44:59No, it's not, actually.
45:01I mean, we don't have many full-time staff.
45:03There's actually one full-time gardener.
45:05But I run a freelance team that comes in regularly,
45:08and I run a team of volunteers as well.
45:10So what are we doing here, then?
45:12Well, we're going to take back some of this fennel.
45:14We're going to thin it out.
45:15We love self-seeders here.
45:17We love the fennel.
45:18We love all the other plants that seed about.
45:21But they can get a bit too heavy sometimes,
45:23and the fennel in particular can go
45:25from being a lovely mist
45:26into a thicker fog.
45:27It's about just going out there,
45:29paying attention,
45:31and there's a right moment.
45:33And it's about balance, isn't it?
45:35Yeah.
45:35Right, we'd better get on with this.
45:37Get it trimmed back?
45:38Yeah.
45:41I think
45:43that one there,
45:45is that the long one here?
45:46I think we're good.
45:54Hello, Alison.
45:55Hiya.
45:57So what are you doing?
45:57Just trying to add a bit of light colour to the border?
45:59That's right, so that the gardens look good
46:01right up until October.
46:03Yeah.
46:04And I suppose as well,
46:05I mean, we're sort of adding tender perennials
46:06to the garden.
46:08Most people will be thinking,
46:09why are we doing it this late?
46:10But actually, for you,
46:12your weather will roll on, won't it?
46:14Exactly, it's really important
46:15that the gardens go on looking really great.
46:17It seems the volunteers do play
46:20a huge part in the garden here.
46:23I think so, but I'd be biased, wouldn't I?
46:25No, no, no.
46:26Just talking, just sort of hearing and whatever,
46:28I think, you know,
46:30things would struggle without them.
46:32Yes, I think so.
46:33Yeah.
46:34Yes.
46:34So how long have you been here volunteering?
46:36Oh, it's getting on for two years now.
46:37Yeah.
46:38I've always had gardens.
46:39Yeah.
46:40So this is just such a magical opportunity.
46:43Yeah, I mean, it is a magical place.
46:44It's such a privilege to be here all year round.
46:48So you're telling me you're even here
46:50on the days when that wind comes from the east.
46:52Absolutely.
46:53I'd take my hat off to you.
46:55Yeah.
47:03Josh, it seems like we've been sent to tackle
47:07a never-ending job.
47:10Indeed.
47:11You've got marestail all the way through here.
47:14Yeah.
47:15Which is a real pernicious weed.
47:16People get this in their gardens at home and panic.
47:20All we can really do is just to get rid
47:23and lift up as much as we can.
47:26Unfortunately, this is pretty much going to be
47:27more or less like a job, just probably a job for life.
47:30Like painting a fourth bridge.
47:32Yeah.
47:32You just finish and you start again.
47:33So literally all we're doing is constantly lifting it
47:36and then that's going to weaken the plant.
47:38I suppose as well,
47:39this is a job you do little and often
47:41rather than trying to do too much at once.
47:45Yeah.
47:45It's a big garden all to itself.
47:48So how long have you been volunteering here?
47:51It's been around, I want to say 10 months.
47:53So do you think now is it something
47:55that you would quite like to do for a career or?
47:57If anything, I'd like to eventually be part
48:00of an established gardening team,
48:02especially after my experience here.
48:03Yeah.
48:04That's brilliant, mate.
48:05It's brilliant.
48:07So we could come back in years to come
48:09and you could be running the place.
48:11I mean, who knows?
48:12That would be a dream all to itself.
48:14Exactly, yeah.
48:15We won't tell Ian at the moment, eh?
48:17Yeah.
48:22Across the garden, there are over 10 miles of hedges
48:26that need to be cared for,
48:29as well as some impressive topiary.
48:40There is loads of hedge cutting going on around this place
48:43and it's the right time of year, September.
48:46Topiary, there also seems quite a lot of that.
48:48And from what I understand, you're the man.
48:50Well, I certainly do an awful lot of it, yes.
48:53It starts early in the spring.
48:55We'll spend the winter months crown raising,
48:58shaping trees, which I really enjoy as well.
49:01So you've always got a pair of cutters or a saw
49:04or the shears in your hand for 12 months a year.
49:07So how did you get involved?
49:09I volunteered about seven years ago
49:11and quickly established that I'm rubbish at weeding,
49:16which I thought was a good move.
49:18But having done, what, 50-odd years hairdressing,
49:21I swapped my scissors for a pair of shears and I love it.
49:25Be honest with me though, when you were clipping away,
49:28are you asking them what they're doing for the weekend
49:30or any nice holidays coming up?
49:31Absolutely, but the advantage is they don't talk back.
49:35So now in a sense, everything gets a short back in size?
49:38Absolutely, yeah.
49:39Brilliant, I'll leave you to it.
49:41Nice to see you.
49:42And you.
50:00Alan, here's some more of your Pelargoniums.
50:02Oh, thank you very much.
50:03We were fairly lucky to get those at this time of the year.
50:05Because normally they'd finish by now.
50:08I must say to you, the containers across this garden are phenomenal.
50:13The amount, number one, but they are planted so beautifully.
50:18You must have containers for every aspect.
50:21Oh yeah, I mean, North, South, East, West and then, you know, then some.
50:24Yeah, yeah.
50:26I guess it starts with the compost.
50:28Yeah, the compost, yeah, and we make sure that it's in the right place.
50:31Yeah, the compost, yeah, and we make that ourselves.
50:34It's actually made of green waste.
50:35And what I also add to that, here comes Gray's list of secret ingredients.
50:40Never waste a molehill.
50:42Gather up your molehills.
50:44And I mix it in with this.
50:45OK, I don't have molehills, so I could use a cologne-based compost.
50:49Exactly, exactly. Equally as good.
50:50Yeah.
50:51Put half your green waste in there, half molehill.
50:55And then I scatter my bits and pieces on.
50:56You can see that there's vermiculite in here.
50:59And then there is a scattering of blood, fish and bone,
51:01which is a wonderful organic fertiliser, as you know.
51:04And the last one of all is wood ash.
51:05Ah.
51:06And wood ash also is quite a good deterrent for the escargot.
51:09Ah, l'escargot, and we know about l'escargot.
51:12Right, well, today I'm going to be using this little butylon here,
51:15which is a beautiful orange colour, lovely red throat there.
51:18I hope when I've grown it for a year, it will sort of kind of open up
51:21and smile a little bit, because to me, it's a little bit tight and a bit nipped up.
51:25Yeah.
51:26Well, so that is your sort of main style plant that's going to be in here.
51:30Yeah.
51:30So what are we going to start with?
51:31The salvia, I think.
51:32Yeah.
51:34Do you see these lovely red flowers here?
51:36Yes.
51:37Well, when the red flowers are gone, you've got these calyx that are left behind, look.
51:41So you've still got a bit of decoration.
51:43Calyx lasts longer and longer.
51:45And when I put this in here, once it's sort of got its roots free,
51:49what I'm going to do is I'm going to just scrunch this up.
51:51Because this obviously looks quite brutal,
51:52but really, it's stimulating the roots, isn't it?
51:55Yeah, exactly that.
51:56Which will make it go out into this lovely soil mix I've made.
51:59And every little node here is going to produce a new shoot.
52:03And this will take us right the way through until the end of the season.
52:07See, this is it. This is all about longevity for you, isn't it?
52:09Yeah, it is.
52:10And never putting that garden to bed.
52:12Oh, ha!
52:14It's an anathema, dear.
52:16How could I ever say something so awful?
52:19Well, it's what people used to do, because, you know,
52:21people used to think you get to the end of September,
52:23Jack Frost would come knocking and, you know,
52:25your bedding plants would get frosted.
52:27That's it.
52:27Today, they don't.
52:28Well, of course, and also as well,
52:29you've got a nice mix of perennials as well that are in here.
52:33So that kind of will keep things going.
52:35This plant is Ageratum petiolatum.
52:38And I'm going to put this next to the salvia.
52:43Well, here we have Helichrysum petiolatum.
52:45This late in the season, I'm going to plant it on the back edge here.
52:49OK.
52:50And that will allow some to trail over.
52:52But what I'll do is I'll train some of these.
52:55Oh, nice.
52:56So they then come out the top.
52:58I think we have a bit of contrast.
53:00Let's have that Persian shield on the end there, shall we?
53:03Oh, look at that leaf.
53:05Isn't that amazing?
53:07Shall we have that Plectranthus on the end there?
53:09OK.
53:10Foliage always lasts longer than flowers.
53:13So, you know, flowers are ephemeral.
53:16They can go over fairly quickly.
53:18But foliage is important.
53:19And this plant here in particular will make a great rush of foliage
53:24that falls over the edge there.
53:26Tradescantia maidensplash.
53:28So this is a granny's windowsill plant, I call it.
53:32Because she had that when I was growing up.
53:35Now, shall we have some of those Pelargonias?
53:36Shall we? Come on.
53:37It seems a shame not to use them, doesn't it?
53:42Yeah, I love that now, because now it's talking to the Butylon.
53:45And this is an Oxalis.
53:48I think that the one colour that enlivens any group of planting is lime green.
53:53So, because these are complementary colours on the other side of the colour wheel.
53:56Yeah, exactly.
53:57So you get that real sort of zing, they play off each other.
54:00And you've got some nice red stems, pinky red stems in there as well.
54:03In shade, that would be perfectly lime green.
54:06But here, it'll get some sun and it'll be absolutely lovely.
54:08And that is my pot.
54:09There you go.
54:10All done.
54:11Looking good.
54:12There you go.
54:13All done.
54:14Looking great.
54:15But the onward care is the key bit, isn't it?
54:18What do you do?
54:19With a container this size, I water it every other day.
54:22Because everything is jammed together, they're going to use the nutrients very quickly.
54:25And it's fed at every watering, but at half strength.
54:30OK.
54:31Probably somebody's going to shoot me down on this.
54:33But my theory is that if this pot has access to nutrients on a continuous basis, it's going
54:41to continue to grow.
54:42If it doesn't, it may go stop, start, stop, start a little bit.
54:46And I don't want that.
54:47So I want to keep it going for the rest of the season.
54:49And I think this will happily take me right the way through until the end of October when
54:53the garden shuts and beyond.
54:55Oh, I'd love to come back and see it.
54:58Open invitation, Harriet.
55:00That's what I was hoping for, really.
55:10It's incredibly difficult to walk from A to B in this place without something stopping
55:16you in your tracks.
55:18Look.
55:19I've seen that done with auriculars, also pelargonians, the idea of a theater.
55:25But never with begonias.
55:28That's something.
55:31But also you need to look at this.
55:34This is what I call a potting shed.
55:40So I'll put these tools away.
55:45Here's a few jobs you could be doing at the weekend.
55:59Autumn is a key time for dividing plants.
56:02And we're moving this hardy geranium to a different spot.
56:07Cut off all the top growth.
56:09This may look drastic, but trust me, it will help.
56:14Dig up the plant, taking care not to damage the roots too much.
56:18Then, using two forks back to back, split the clump into two.
56:24Move it to its new home, making sure it's planted at the same depth as before.
56:30And keep watering over the next few weeks, especially if the weather turns dry.
56:42Agapantha seedheads can look rather attractive in a border, adding an extra layer of interest
56:47as they turn brown.
56:49But in a mild winter, they can become prolific self-seeders, and named varieties won't come
56:55true from seed.
56:58If you want to avoid this, cut each stem right back to the base.
57:04Once you've done, gather them up and add them to your compost bin.
57:15Apples are starting to ripen now, and while the timing of this will depend on where you
57:20live and the variety you're growing, it's worth keeping an eye on their progress.
57:26Hold each one in the palm of your hand, and without applying any pressure, just gently
57:31twist.
57:32If it comes away easily with the stalk still intact, your apples are ready to pick.
57:52What an incredible day.
57:54I have absolutely loved it.
57:56Just fantastic.
57:57So good.
57:58Yeah, I totally agree.
57:59But I'm afraid that is it from us this week.
58:02We have to say a huge thank you to Alan and Graeme and all the volunteers for inviting
58:07us into the garden.
58:09But next week, Monty will be back at Longmeadow, slightly later time of nine o'clock.
58:14But from Norfolk, bye bye.
58:17Bye.