Original subtitles

Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

I'm just putting a layer of compost as a mulch

on this bed which is ready for planting.

And what I'm going to put in is some curly endive.

Now, this is a chicory. I love chicory.

It's slightly bitter, and that can sound like a bad thing

but actually it adds a dimension to a lot of things

which I think is delicious.

For example, a salad of this curly endive

with blue cheese, walnuts and a really good dressing

is absolutely lovely.

These will grow quite quickly.

I would expect to start harvesting them

round about the middle of October

and to carry on doing so through winter.

The one thing you want to watch with all forms of chicory

is that they just don't like sitting in very wet, cold conditions,

and I do often cloche them

to protect them from the rain as much as from the cold.

On today's programme -

JJ Chalmers visits the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh

to join its thriving community of local gardeners.

My role in here is more like a community engagement.

So it's trying to create a safe space for people

to come and learn how to grow vegetables.

Nick celebrates the late-flowering perennials

that add height and colour to our autumnal borders.

One of my absolute favourite perennials

is this - Macleaya cordata.

It has to be one of the biggest of the genus.

As you can see, it goes up to about three metres,

so it's a really substantial plant.

And Nellie, Patti and myself

welcome a very special visitor to Longmeadow.

I can see she's rather keen

on the cameras.

Come on.

Good girl.

The greenhouse has been a complete success.

Everything has been a high quality as well as quantity.

The tomatoes, for example, have tasted delicious.

They've been really good.

This is a variety called Brandy Boy -

which is a modern one, it's not an heirloom variety.

But it is really, really good.

You can see that it's got quite a fleshy fruit but the taste...

..is so good.

It's rich and slightly musty.

It's sweet but got a touch of acidity.

And it's that combination, which is quite complicated,

that makes tomatoes so good.

And from now on, the days are going to be getting shorter.

The heat is likely to steadily diminish,

and so conditions for good tomato ripening and growing

are getting worse from now on, so give them a chance.

Strip the leaves off as soon as the fruit form,

and that means that these green fruit are much more likely to ripen.

Can I have the basket?

Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you very much.

Right.

As well as tomatoes, the chillies have been very good this year.

Now, we did sow some together, and the Padron have done well.

You can see here these are quite big plants.

They do need a regular water supply but they need good drainage -

they don't like to sit in water.

So these get watered every day

and we feed these every week, a liquid seaweed feed.

And the critical thing is to harvest chillies as soon as they are ripe.

They look lovely and decorative when they're on the bush

but once they're ripe

they will inhibit the production of new flowers

and if you don't have new flowers you won't have new fruit.

If you're growing a lot of chillies,

you're going to have to cut a lot.

But chillies freeze very well

and that means you never have a glut.

The crop I'm really interested in is one that I've often had

no success with at all, and those are aubergines.

You can see that that's a good fruit, and ready for the eating.

Aubergines, rather like peppers, rather like tomatoes,

like light and heat.

And the more you can give them, the better.

I water them every day.

We feed them once a week, just like the chillies.

And just let them get on with it, and I've had no problems whatsoever.

So, it's been a good year.

Now, this is the beginning of a large harvest

that will spread over the coming weeks, but we use it all.

We freeze and store an awful lot,

we share it with our extended family,

and we're very grateful for that.

But, increasingly, people are finding

it's not just the sharing of produce which is rewarding,

but the whole process of gardening.

And JJ Chalmers went to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh,

to see how they are sharing their garden with the local community.

Edinburgh - a diverse and beautiful city

that is home to over half a million people.

One of my favourite places in this incredible city

is the Royal Botanic Garden.

I can remember coming here on school trips as a kid,

and I'm really proud that a garden with such majesty and variety

exists in a city that I love so much.

But I've always felt that this place was a bit of a visitors' attraction,

although I am delighted to have discovered that

this place has become a vital part of its local community.

Over the past decade,

the gardens have been actively engaging with their local community,

sharing this vital green space to help enrich their lives.

And Elinor Leslie is key to making that happen.

So, a lot of people come here.

10,000 people come to the Botanics daily during the summertime.

But my role in here is more like a community engagement,

so it's trying to create a safe space for people

to come and learn how to grow vegetables.

So, we've got groups like people who are recovering from cancer,

or going through treatment,

or we might have groups like Indian, Bangladesh, Pakistan,

or we might have kids with autism.

So, it's a wide range of community groups.

And part of it is trying to show as well

these community groups that the garden is for everyone,

it's not just keen gardeners who know a lot about gardening.

What do you feel people get from coming here?

Connecting with people...

Do you know, if you're on your own at home,

so it tackles all that isolation.

Being in touch with nature, connecting with plants,

it's kind of like mindful

but in a way that you don't call it mindful

cos you're really noticing the colours of the flowers,

so it's visual.

You get to smell the chamomile flowers,

or you get to eat the produce that you have grown.

And this is an important part of it as well... It is.

..the opportunity to have a talk but kind of be distracted?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's not like this intensity of having to look at you

and having to have a conversation.

"How are you doing, JJ?" Do you know?

It's just like we're doing a wee task together, having a wee chat.

It brings people closer together

to be able to have a deeper conversation and deeper connection.

The gardens are now alive with activity

as local residents get their hands in the soil

and garden here amongst friends.

I want to discover how this green oasis

is supporting the city's residents.

Mahbub, what are you up to?

These are garlic plants. We grew these last autumn. Right.

And we're at the stage where the leaves are turning

a little bit brown and dry,

so it's time to dig them up and harvest them.

So, how long have you been coming here for?

I've been coming to the Botanic Gardens for around 20 years. Right.

You come here a lot, then? I do, frequently,

every third or fourth day.

And...seeing all these wonderful, exotic plants

in the Botanic Gardens

inspired me to learn more about exotic plants.

My family moved from Kashmir to England

when I was about five years old.

But I remember eating mangoes in Kashmir,

and I grow mango plants now. Really!

And I share that knowledge with other people.

Is this place... is this place your garden?

Of course!

I love the Botanic Gardens so much that I bought my flat here

so I can be as close as possible to the Botanic Gardens. Wow.

And I've spent years here.

And I feel... it's very much part of my life.

And it's a little paradise.

What are you ladies harvesting here?

I'm harvesting coriander.

There's nothing like fresh coriander.

I'll be making a nice chutney with it,

with garlic and green chillies and lemon juice

and, oh, it's lovely. Oh, that sounds...

You can have it with anything.

You can have it on your sandwich as well!

Right, well, keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you.

The gardens now not only offer the opportunity

to reinforce cultural bonds and shared experiences

but also offers a place to heal for people in their hour of need.

Hello, Anne. Hello.

I've got you some compost.

What are you planting up?

It's coriander. They're quite big seeds

and I've got to make sure that

they're twice the depth of the seed. Right.

How did you first discover this place, how did you get involved?

Well, I'd had a fairly serious operation...

..which was quite life-changing,

and I was recovering and going to physiotherapy.

Can I have some more of that? Oh, of course.

But I really was feeling pretty fragile.

So, my physio recommended me to the Move More class.

And I thought, "Never done gardening."

And it was just lovely.

The group we were with, we'd all had cancer.

And when you're feeling fragile,

and you're trying to be well for people,

and you're trying to be well for your family,

it's quite nice to come somewhere where nobody knows you,

and you can sort of make it your own pace.

You know, if there was somebody that wasn't going to walk very far,

we wouldn't walk very far.

So it was all very gentle but productive.

Wow.

This group is clearly very important to you.

Yeah, I think it's important to all of us.

Our NHS is remarkable and fantastic,

and they do cure you and they do take care of you,

and they do their best for you.

But when you get out, you're not healed.

And you've got to do the healing with the help of others.

Do you think you could have come as far without this place,

without that network? Erm, it would have taken me a lot longer.

And I think time is of the essence.

Life's quite precious, and you need to get on with it,

and if you're hanging around feeling miserable

and not being able to do things for long,

I think it probably becomes more of a habit.

And that takes its toll as well. And that takes its toll.

So, I think it was a great boost.

To discover how the Botanic Gardens

became the horticultural heart to the people of Edinburgh,

I'm meeting the head honcho, Simon Milne,

who's been the driving force behind it.

Simon, I heard you were here thinning out the apples.

Hi, JJ, come and help. Get these apples thinned.

Get thinning apples. Take out anything that's diseased

or not in good shape.

Where does your passion for greenery, the outdoors,

where does that come from?

Oh, it started very early on in life.

I was brought up with a family of gardeners, lived in the country.

But then, you had a fairly roundabout way

of getting here, is that right?

Yeah. I joined the Royal Marines for a bit of fun,

an organisation with whom you are well acquainted.

And stayed there for about 20 years, and then was invalided out,

and came to this passion.

So, like me, you were medically discharged from the Marines. I was.

Was this type of thing, horticulture, green spaces,

was that part of moving beyond that? Yeah. Yeah, it was.

I mean, you and I have both seen some pretty horrific things

in our times wearing our green berets,

and to come to this where you're moving away

from death and destruction, and moving into the greenness.

Some botanic gardens, when you come to them,

they feel a bit like a museum,

and it's sort of look but don't touch.

Not this one, JJ. No, it isn't.

I mean, I've had the most wonderful day here,

met the most wonderful people.

How are you creating that? Cos it feels a bit unique.

It's making sure that we are always relevant to society,

helping to meet society's needs.

The people of Edinburgh,

people of Scotland, view this garden often as theirs.

And they may have taken their first steps here,

they may have had their first date here, get married here.

So, you know, it is very much part of the community.

So, although it's one of the world's great collection of plants,

it's got its top science, top education,

it's about people, people are the heart.

Right, where is this amazing bounty

headed off to, then?

It's going to a community project.

They do a food bank every other week.

When the pandemic hit, people were unable to come into the garden,

so we decided to continue growing our vegetables

and be able to connect with the community groups out of the garden.

It's been such a success that we've decided

to continue that relationship of growing more vegetables.

That's fantastic. So, when people

couldn't get to the garden,

you took the garden to them?

Yes. Right, well, in which case,

don't let me hold you back.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Do you know, I have been to these Botanic Gardens

countless times in my life

but I've never experienced them like this before.

And it's made me realise that if people are allowed,

in fact, if they're empowered to take responsibility

for green spaces like this,

then it's not just the gardens that thrive, it's the communities.

There are quite a few community garden projects around the country,

and that's fantastic, and there's room for lots more.

But I think it's especially inspirational

when one of our great gardens embrace the communities

so expertly, and with such commitment,

then that really is inspiring.

Now, the Writing Garden has gone from being loosely tousled

to frankly shabby and chaotic.

And that is one of the prices you pay

for a very informal style of planting.

But it's not too late to do something about it.

A little bit of judicious cutting back,

and maybe some replanting can carry the display well into autumn.

Now, certain plants, like Ammi majus -

which is an annual - are easy.

These come out, and that's it, they've done their stuff.

The trick of this kind of tidying up at this stage of the year

is not to see it as clearing the mess left

after a party that was high summer,

this is all part of the continuation.

Now, this will take me a little while

but let's go and visit one of your gardens.

And it's a special visit, this,

because we have a gardener that not only has skill,

not only has enthusiasm,

but he also has youth on his side.

Hello, Gardeners' World.

My name is Anthony, and I live in north London.

My gardening adventure began last year

while I was working towards my gardening badge for Beavers.

Today, I would like to show you my wildlife garden.

This shady, uneven spot by our shed

is pretty much left to itself,

in the hope that it will become a haven for wildlife.

But we didn't have any pond.

So, we decided to change that.

We built it, and they came.

Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. Bye!

I think Anthony definitely deserves his badge,

and he's completely right - if you make it, they will come.

And after a pond, long grass is almost as good,

and if you've got both, then you are going to share your garden

with such an interesting array of wildlife,

all of which will make your garden healthier

as well as more fascinating.

Now, in this bit here, we have crocus,

followed by narcissi in spring, and they look fantastic.

Last year, I sowed yellow rattle and some wild-flower seed,

and some of it has come through.

But there's a long way to go

before this gets anything like what I want it to be.

And if you can stop the grass overwhelming the other plants,

they will in turn come in.

And the way you do that is by cutting the grass

any time after the end of June,

but August is normally the best sort of time,

and taking it away. So, that's what I'm going to do now.

WHIRRING

The whole point of making a good wild-flower meadow

is based upon depleting the reserves of the grass.

Cos grass will always win any battle with any other wild flower.

At the moment, it's much too strong here, so I want to remove it.

The crucial thing is to cut it to expose soil

because the seed from the wild flowers

needs to be in contact with soil in order to germinate.

And over the next few years, the grass will weaken and die back,

and the wild flowers will come forward

and we'll get that lovely floral tapestry

which we all want from our wild-flower meadows,

let alone all the lovely insects and butterflies that will flock to it.

But if you feel you need outside inspiration,

then go and visit one in its full glory,

and that's exactly what I did a couple of years ago.

I went to Highgrove, the home of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,

to visit his wild-flower meadow at the height of summer.

The meadow surrounding the house at Highgrove

was created over 30 years ago.

During early summer, it's filled with a wild variety of wild flowers

including yellow rattle, ox-eye daisies, red clover,

and a range of grasses.

Debs Goodenough has been the head gardener here for 11 years,

and one of her many tasks is to maintain this wonderful expanse

which is now in its full summer glory.

What prompted His Royal Highness to make a meadow on this scale?

Because it wasn't the normal thing to do back then, was it?

No, His Royal Highness had found out

that 95% of all wild-flower meadows were lost

in the years between the Second World War and the early '80s.

Things were ploughed, sprayed, you know, change of management,

and he wanted to stop that, halt the decline,

and start to put back what had been lost.

When he came to Highgrove,

it was the opportunity that he could do something,

recreate a meadow, and start to show people that this can be done.

In order to develop the meadow,

His Royal Highness began a collaboration with

the naturalist and conservationist Dame Miriam Rothschild

who, for many years, had campaigned to introduce wild flowers

to gardens, parks and motorways,

using a seed mix that she had created.

His Royal Highness took her advice,

and she gave him a mix which was called Farmer's Nightmare,

and that was... it's primarily an annual mix,

but His Royal Highness had some perennials mixed in with that.

And it's all the things that farmers don't want in their crop fields.

And it gave you that sort of real flush of annuals,

so poppies and things like that.

And so, that really gave that first blast of colour

and interest in the meadow.

The seed mix contained different species

that were typical of the natural flora of Gloucestershire.

Taking her advice, this was done almost as a showpiece,

to show people what they were missing.

That's right. Dame Miriam Rothschild reckoned that she could put

a fairly good meadow back in about 15 years.

This is providing pleasure and inspiration to many, many people.

But what's the plan for the future? Because we have lost so much.

For the Queen's Jubilee, for her coronation,

His Royal Highness set up the Coronation Meadow Scheme

which was picking 60 meadows across the country, in 60 counties,

to create and use them as donor meadows for 60 new meadows.

And these were meadows that were unspoiled and full of wild flowers?

That's right.

As a result of the Coronation Meadow initiative,

88 new wild-flower meadows have now been created across the country.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the countryside

could look a bit more like this,

and less like a sort of industrial agricultural estate?

I hope we're around to see it, Monty!

Highgrove is a major garden full of lovely things,

but nothing in it is lovelier than its wild-flower meadow

in its summer pomp.

The Highgrove Meadow is really exceptional.

But you don't need that sort of space

to have something that is really special for you.

And I don't think you need 15 years, either.

It certainly will get better and better,

but from year two, they become really interesting.

Now, take this strip here.

The yellow rattle has developed beautifully,

and the seed has now dried, that has fallen, and that will spread.

Now, the wild carrot is flowering.

Now, this has got not just a beautiful flower,

but it has one of the best seedheads of any wild flower.

So, if I cut this now, like I've cut the mound,

I would lose the wild carrot.

So, there's no perfect time to cut, there's no perfect mix,

there's no perfect situation.

You can have it in slight shade,

you can have it on heavy soil or light soil.

You can buy floral mixes for almost every situation.

Work out what you want, enjoy the process,

and just remember there's one constant

that ties all wild-flower meadows together

which is that they are cut and cleared -

just like this which will go to the compost heap -

somewhere between midsummer and autumn.

And if you do that, it will develop, and it will be a glory.

Now, having had the privilege

of visiting His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales' garden,

later in the programme, I receive a visit

from another keen royal gardener here at Longmeadow.

In an ideal world, I'd like to be in the garden all day, every day.

But when I get a moment, I just... I'm there all day long.

We joined Nick as he gives us his guide

to the very best tall, late-flowering perennials

for your borders.

But first, we visit one of your gardens, in Scunthorpe.

Hello.

My name is Mercy, and I came from the Philippines.

My father was a farmer, and I think I got his interest -

and this is the result.

So, this is our garden, and we call it The Meadows.

And every morning I feed the fish,

and it makes me so relaxed and happy.

And here, I planted some lavender because I love them.

I collected some little plants which grew from seed,

from the mother plants,

and I will put them around the pond next year.

We also created a walled garden, and making use of a pallet.

This side are the vegetable patch.

They are all in raised beds because easy to manage.

On this side of the house, we planted some runner beans,

and we had a good harvest.

So, thank you very much for giving me the chance to show my garden,

and bye!

Well, thank YOU, Mercy,

for letting us have the opportunity to enjoy your garden with you.

Now, you can see that, having cut the grass,

I've raked it up, taken it to the compost heap,

and what I'm left with looks pretty desolate.

But that is fine. That's exactly what I want.

But I am making a change now I've cut it back.

So what I'm planting is a hedge, and I'm going to put lavender in.

The reason why I'm planting it here

is because lavender needs good drainage

which is hard to get here at Longmeadow.

But because it's a slope, and it's south-facing,

I figure that it should have a fighting chance

of not just surviving but thriving.

Lavender is a Mediterranean plant,

and it has evolved to thrive on very poor soil,

very good drainage, and hot sun.

Now, before I plant, I'm going to add some grit.

And when I say "some grit", quite a lot.

If, like me, you have a clay-based soil, it's too rich for it,

and what you get is soft, sappy growth

that then often gets affected by the weather,

particularly in cold and wet combined, so drainage is the key.

So, the best thing to do is to mix it in with the soil.

Now, the plants.

It's a variety called Folgate which I've not grown before,

and I've chosen this because the colour looks fantastic.

It's a nice strong plant, upright,

and the smaller the plant, the quicker it will establish,

and the quicker it will grow.

So, be brave, buy small.

Now, as far as spacing goes, I'll be looking at about a foot apart.

The only thing to bear in mind is don't plant them too deep.

So, just...

..no deeper than the height

of the top of the compost.

And that's absolutely fine.

Of course, what I haven't mentioned is the fragrance.

Now, my own sense of smell is very limited.

But even I love

the incredible, musky, oily fragrance of lavender.

Although they need really good drainage, do water them in.

And if it's dry, water them weekly until they're growing strongly.

And if you do have any plants, when you go to plant,

that have got flowers on them, cut them off.

And that may seem counterintuitive

but what it will do is put all the energy of the plant

into growing a good root system,

and it will be bigger and better and healthier next year as a result.

But the lavender season is over.

It's been and gone, and we're planning for next year.

We've entered a whole new range of plants for our gardens

for the next month or so.

And Nick went down to Dorset to visit Knoll Gardens

to explore that new plant potential.

Around the end of August, you start to sense a change in the garden.

Autumn is in the air, and with summer colour fading,

the borders can start to look depleted.

Here at Knoll Gardens, they have the solution

in the shape of some stunning, soaring plants.

What I'm talking about are the tall perennials -

those wonderful plants that almost imperceptibly inch their way up

at the back of your borders throughout summer,

when the rest of the garden is looking fabulous.

And as the rest of the garden starts to fade as we hit autumn,

suddenly, the tall perennials come into their own

and give that last vibrant burst of colour

at six- or eight-foot high, before we move into winter.

And here is a perfect example.

This is the vernonia.

It comes from North America, it's a prairie plant.

About two metres high, so it's coming well above me.

And what's fantastic about it is that

when the rest of the garden is fading,

things are coming out of flower,

it is bursting into bloom.

Now, it's part of the asteraceae family

which you can see from these flower structures

has this beautiful kind of lilac-y pink tone.

What I find particularly useful about it is that

it has a very small footprint,

so even if you've got a narrow border,

you can use it to get that height and colour at the back

right at the end of the season.

And it gets better because, once these flowers have faded,

the stems take on a black tone,

and there are a big, fluffy, beige seedheads

which last all the way into the winter.

Now, you may think that this is an aster,

and you wouldn't be entirely wrong.

It had that name up until about three years ago,

but now it's doellingeria,

It's a brilliant plant for border backs

where you've got lots of space.

I think it's got this lovely wild feel to it,

and it's great if you can let it rampage.

It's not particularly fussy when it comes to soils.

It's very happy in full sun or light shade.

It works well as a cut flower

and has one particularly useful trait -

it doesn't get mildew at all, which is brilliant.

So all those lower leaves stay on and stay very, very clean.

And I think one of the best things about it is that

it's in full flower now but you can see it's absolutely covered in buds.

So there's probably another six weeks or two months of bloom.

Brilliant for pollinators,

and a great splash of colour that will go all the way into autumn.

If you're looking for a bulky herbaceous plant

for the back of your borders, then you can't go far wrong with this.

This is Persicaria alpina.

Now, it comes from the Himalaya.

In summer, it has white flowers but at this time of year

they slowly transition into pink.

Now, it's about two-and-a-half metres tall, so it's a real beast,

but actually it also works really well as a hedge

and one of the easiest ways to do that

is just with some simple spring propagation.

So you can just bite out chunks of soil

with a good amount of root and stem in there,

and then plant them as you wish.

Something I think that's going on here which is really lovely

is the association between the two plants here.

So, this is Veronicastrum Fascination.

Now, it had its moment in the middle of summer

where it had these beautiful lilac flowers.

But now it's got this fantastic structure

that will last all the way into the winter.

So I think the combination of these two forms,

this wonderful spiked form,

and then the fluffy form of the persicaria

just look beautiful together.

What a fabulous combination.

One of my absolute favourite perennials is this -

it's Macleaya cordata.

It's sometimes referred to as the plume poppy,

and the reason for that, believe it or not, it's in the poppy family.

But it has to be one of the biggest of the genus.

As you can see, it goes up to about three metres,

so it's a really substantial plant.

And it also spreads as well,

so it's not the sort of plant you put in a very small garden.

Now, in summer, it produces these fantastic spikes of flower,

and they have lovely little powderpuff white blooms

that last for several months.

But now, it's still got that height,

but you've got this fabulous foliage as the focus.

It's got a really special quality to the shape,

it's an almost oak-like leaf.

Very glaucousy blue on the surface,

so it's a great contrast for other plants.

And then, as it blows around in the wind,

you get these incredible white backs to the leaves.

Now, I think one way to really set it off at this time of year

is to pair it with another tall perennial,

and I think this is one of the ideal plants to do it with.

This is Eupatorium purpureum, and it flowers at about this height

so you get that lovely association

of the two colours, the two forms, and the contrast of the foliage.

What a lovely pairing.

Of course, eupatorium can stand alone, too,

with its great structure, rosy flowers, and superb burgundy stems.

Plus, it's not a hybrid, so it's likely to remain upright

and not need any staking.

Many of the perennials here are teamed with grasses

and other prairie plants.

And as you can see, it's a truly fantastic combination.

Growing behind me is Miscanthus Roland.

It's a lovely grass, it goes up to about three metres tall,

and it's got that really distinct white stripe

through the centre of the leaf.

But the flowers are beautiful, too,

they've got a sort of zigzag quality to the inflorescence

and that lovely sort of pinky-beige tone.

I think they make the perfect backing to this

which is Helianthus Lemon Queen

and this has to be one of my favourite

of all the perennials.

It's one of those really interesting plants that comes into bloom

right at the end of the season, so it's looking super-fresh now.

And these blooms will go on and on and on.

Now, it comes up to about two metres high.

It's a clumping plant, so it stays fairly tightly together.

And then you've got these beautiful typical daisy flowers,

those little black details in the centre there,

and a lovely kind of deep buttery tone.

This will keep blooming from now all the way up to November.

I've come to love late summer for its colour palette,

play of light, and textures.

But to make the most of it,

you need plants that come into their own at this time of year.

And, for me, the most important are these magnificent, tall perennials.

Nick is right.

These really vigorous,

generous plants at this time of year are a joy.

And the Jewel Garden, of course, depends upon that scale of planting.

And it's not just hardy perennials.

The cannas,

annuals like sunflowers,

tithonias, the cardoons,

and of course, all the late-flowering clematis,

create this sense of exuberance and colour

and joy, even though summer is waning.

And actually, even though the days are getting shorter,

I'm still adding plants.

I'm going to put a little group of gladioli in here

that will give a real burst of colour.

This, I think, with this richer,

sort of deep blood red, is perfect.

I've got a little bit of a gap here, and I want to pop them in.

Of course, gladioli come from South Africa and like sunshine.

You can see, poor thing, that's pot bound, but it'll be OK.

It'll be fine.

Now, it might need a bit of support.

But hopefully not, because...

..the idea is that there are enough plants all around it to hold it up.

This will add a flare of colour over the next few weeks.

It's not too late to keep developing, taking out

and adding and fine-tuning your borders

for at least another four or five weeks to come.

Now, it's time to visit the last of your gardens today.

And it takes us up to Manchester

and a garden that is focusing very much on sustainability.

Hello, my name's Seth Ormsby.

And I'm from Levenshulme in south Manchester.

It's raining, of course!

Erm, I have a communication disorder,

as a result of a brain infection.

So please bear with me.

Today, I'm going to show you my garden.

Gardening for me is freedom.

Behind me are my especially made raised beds.

As you can see,

they are unusually high.

That means that I don't need to

bend down when I work.

What I want to show you are my planters.

They're made out of leftover guttering.

I like to re-use anything I can for the garden.

For me, that's what gardening is about.

Being sustainable.

As we say in Leve,

the revolution will be fertilised!

Thank you very much.

Goodbye.

I think we're all now very aware of the complexity

and the enormity of the problems of climate change,

and the way that sustainability is becoming so important.

But it can feel overwhelming.

But then, when you see the way that Seth is addressing that

in his own back yard, in his own way

and doing something about it, that is inspiring.

And actually, I think that if all of us

did what we could in our gardens, however small, however modest,

between the millions of us gardeners,

we could make a big difference.

Here in the Jewel Garden,

the colours are now reaching their maximum intensity

and this will hold for the next few weeks.

And that's because the colour palette is actually changing.

And you've got blends of colours,

rather than just bright, clear primary colours.

You have the cosmos, and of course the sunflowers and the tithonias.

And then the rich purples of salvia and buddleia, and actually,

we've still got a purple delphinium in flower.

A few weeks ago, I was delighted to welcome

Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cornwall to Longmeadow

to show her around the garden.

I knew that she herself is a keen gardener,

and I wanted to find out what she most enjoys growing.

I grow almost anything.

It's sort of... I just like things sort of evolving in a bed.

Lupins, I never really took in lupins much before

but I've suddenly developed a sort of passion for them.

And if you keep deadheading them, they keep on popping up.

They've been very good this year. Brilliant.

I love delphiniums.

My goodness me, they are a problem.

What's your problem with them?

You know, I put in all the pea sticks to keep them going,

but if you stake them, I don't know,

they just look a bit false. I agree, I agree.

I mean, I always feel with supporting,

it should look as though you haven't done it. Exactly.

It's just some of them get so big. But then do you cut them back?

I cut them back, but this year they've shot up.

Then we got that monsoon the other day and they snapped off.

I could hardly bear it.

They're friends, you know, and they've had their heads chopped off.

And as well as those garden favourites, I discovered that

the Duchess also shares my own love for dahlias.

Do you grow a lot?

I grow quite a lot.

They're a lovely... there's a huge one, I think

it's called Black Knight. Yes, I know, yeah.

And it grows and grows.

I didn't put it in very long ago and I was away two days,

I came back and it was the same size as me.

Once you put them in the ground, and they get going, they shoot up.

But you take them in in winter? I take them in.

Do you get much time to garden?

Not nearly enough.

In an ideal world, I'd like to be in the garden all day, every day.

But when I get a moment, I just... I'm there all day long.

Yeah. But I just... I like...

Well, like here, I like things spilling into.

I'm not a very neat gardener.

If you're confident, you can let things do what they want to do.

Because nature is so clever, isn't it? You know, it just happens.

And presumably, you garden organically?

You'd probably be in trouble if you didn't!

I'd been dead trouble if I didn't.

I just love being outside, you know.

And smelling everything is so lovely.

Certainly a garden without fragrance is an impoverished place. I know.

And what I love is when the orange blossom,

you get that first smell of the... Yeah.

That to me is the sort of sign that spring is on the way,

and everything's getting better.

The Duchess has a keen interest in growing good vegetables.

But as we headed towards the Longmeadow vegetable garden,

someone couldn't resist stealing the show.

Come here! What is it?

Are you being naughty?

Where's your bally?

What have you done with your bally?

I can see she's rather keen

on the cameras.

Nellie! Now she's forced to pose!

What is it? Come here.

Nell, what is it?

NELLIE HOWLS DEEPLY

Come on, then, come on. She's got a few words to say!

So we grow everything in raised beds here.

And it seems that the Duchess faces exactly the same challenges

that all gardeners do.

I'm very lucky, I've got a big vegetable garden,

but you get the mice, the voles this year,

all ate the asparagus roots and then they've got into the strawberries.

So you can never win... No. ..there's always something.

I think you just have to accept that there are some things

that are just not going to go for you this year, whatever it might be.

Having seen Nellie get royal attention,

Patti wanted to get in on the act too.

Hello, Pat. Hello!

Have you come to see us?

Come here. You are very sweet.

I might take you home.

She's a huge character.

Very little, but you keep everybody else in order.

Good year for courgettes. Do you eat all your courgettes?

We grate them. We have them with pasta.

They make a very good salad.

We slice them and then put them on a dry griddle.

Yeah, that's really good, isn't it? Which is very good.

Beetroot, chard. We love chard. Chard is delicious.

I prefer it to spinach, really. Oh, do you?

I love...I could live on spinach.

If you get your timing wrong, spinach bolts very fast.

Oh, I know, all mine's bolted at the moment. It will in this weather.

Yeah, it's just gone.

Carrots? Carrots.

Celeriac? Have the carrots been quite good this year?

Yeah, not too bad. Carrots, as you know, can be very hit and miss.

Oh, God, I know. I know.

Last year, they all went but I think they got eaten.

I sort of gave up last year.

There's always next year. Exactly.

I wanted to show the Duchess the Paradise Garden

which is inspired by Islamic gardens,

as I've always admired the one at Highgrove

created by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales.

Nice just having the bit of water in the middle.

It's very restful to come and sit in here.

There's a calming influence.

There is something very calming.

I could sit in here for hours.

And as we enjoy the tranquillity of the water,

the Duchess shared her thoughts

on how important gardens and gardening can be

for our wellbeing.

I think gardens got people through Covid.

They realised how special a garden was and what they could do with it.

They could become inventive.

Even if they hadn't before,

they could start growing vegetables.

It was a sort of spiritual experience for them.

They discovered a sort of affinity with the soil, didn't they?

You can go into a garden, you can completely lose yourself.

You don't have to think about anything else,

you're surrounded by nature,

you've got birds singing,

you've got bees buzzing about.

There is something very healing about gardens.

Is there any particular job you like doing? I love pruning.

My mother taught me...

She taught me how to prune.

At the time, I thought it was the most boring thing.

My goodness, how boring,

having to sit for hours with the secateurs and watch her.

Now I'm so grateful.

To prune properly is quite difficult, isn't it?

I mean, you don't learn it overnight. No.

And actually, I love actual planting.

You actually like the connection with the soil?

Oh, I love the connection with the soil, yeah.

Is there anything that you plan to do in gardening

that you haven't done and yet you would like to do?

I've got a little bit of a woodland garden

that I started and I would love to build that up more,

and I'd love to put down swathes of bulbs,

and I'd also like to have a proper wild-flower meadow.

At the moment, I've got a bit

but the grass has sort of taken over

and we're going to have another go this year at planting more seeds

because I think, especially now,

it's evermore important to have these wild flowers.

If we're going to keep on attracting, you know,

butterflies and bees,

I think that's very important.

And I suppose I have to ask you,

do you watch the programme?

Of course I do, Monty. Do you do the jobs?

Sometimes. Sometimes, yes.

No... If I've got time, I do.

The thing about gardening

is you're never going to know it all, are you?

You just learn every day. I'm sure you learn every day.

People love that and they go to your programme

and they learn something new,

and they rush out into their garden and they put it into practice.

You must lead the most incredibly busy, sort of regimented life.

I imagine the garden is a solace. It's a complete....

I mean, it's my sanctuary.

A couple of hours in the garden

and all is well with the world.

Well, obviously that was a great day

but I have to say that, in the days preceding,

and even the whole week, the weather was awful.

Luckily, on the day,

the sun is shone and it all went well.

But it does show that it doesn't matter who you are,

what sort of garden you have, what sort of life you lead,

we all share exactly the same pleasures from our gardens

and sometimes the same tribulations.

I've got some cuttings here.

These are blackcurrant cuttings

that I took last year,

so if I just tip them out, like this,

and I suspect there are massive roots.

There we go.

Now, the thing to do is to break them up,

put your thumb in and just ease them apart,

and actually, if you look there,

you can see that the potting compost

that I've used for the cuttings

is full of grit

and if you're taking cuttings,

make it gritty.

Add perlite, grit, even sand.

Nice and loose, so the water can flow through it

and also the roots have a nice easy root run.

And I'm recycling some long pots

to allow for that

sort of length of root.

The compost that I've mixed up is really rich and

this has got 50% sieved garden compost

so they'll have a real boost.

So, if I put that in like that,

that will now grow on, nice and strong.

When you plant out blackcurrants,

put them in the sunniest spot you can.

They're a plant that responds

to good treatment

really winningly.

So lots of sunshine, lots of goodness, lots of water,

lots of blackcurrants.

So keep them outside over winter,

store them and then, next spring,

as soon as the ground feels warm enough and dry enough

to handle, you can plant these out

any time really from January onwards.

While I finish this one off,

here are some jobs for you to do this weekend.

To prevent the buds of camellias, azaleas or rhododendrons

falling off before they open next spring,

it's important to make sure that these plants are well watered.

Now and for the next six weeks or so.

Use rainwater if you can and

give them a good soak once a week.

Beetroot are a crop that should be harvested

regularly over quite a long period of time.

I like to gather up the largest ones now, use them

and leave the smaller roots to develop in the ground

where they will store quite happily over the winter months.

Now is a good time to cut any kind of hedge

because you won't be disturbing nesting birds

but evergreen hedges in particular - like yew, holly, box or privet -

will stay crisp and give good structure to the garden

all winter long if you give them a quick trim now.

Although the Jewel Garden, with its rich colours,

grabs the attention when you come in,

actually the grass borders are starting

to really hit their stride too

and they will go on looking better and better

after the Jewel Garden has faded and sometimes almost till Christmas,

and the range of colours is much more limited.

You've all those bronzes and ochres,

and golds,

but it's the linear quality,

the vertical lines

and then the leaves just falling elegantly and arching off them,

and I do love it.

It's not as operatic as the Jewel Garden

but it's certainly, in its own way, just as rich.

Well, that's it for today

and I will be back here at Longmeadow next week,

and Adam, Frances and Carol

will be at Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham.

So join me here, them there at eight o'clock next Friday.

Till then, bye-bye.