All language subtitles for Gardeners’ World 2021 S54E30

Hello. Welcome to Gardeners' World.

I'm preparing this patch of ground
where I had courgettes in the summer

to sow some broad beans
before the weather turns.

I like to sow a couple of rows
in autumn and then the majority

of my broad beans in spring

because of the high chance you'll
get an early crop from them.

Traditionally, the broad bean

that everybody sowed in autumn
was Aquadulce,

but I've sown Red Epicure before
and I particularly liked them

because, although they
have a white flower,

they have a red bean.

They should be sown in double
rows with about ten inches

between the rows,
and each broad bean

no less than four inches apart.

And each double row wants
to be wide enough apart

so you can walk down
and harvest them.

Just rake them over lightly,
label them and leave them.

And to have a good crop

of beautiful broad beans
in May is a treat.

Now, coming up on today's
programme...

Toby joins Sue in her garden

to help her with some
autumn maintenance.

I've had this row of lavender
for ten years.

It does tend to grow one-sided.

This all comes down to not
pruning it hard enough.

Oh!

THEY LAUGH

But all's not lost.

And Adam meets a head
gardener to find out

how he plans and manages
a grand and ambitious garden.

The way I approach it
is similar to a jigsaw.

Whether that jigsaw's ever
finished is another question.

It's not a jigsaw that I'd be
doing with a five-year-old.

This is a 5,000-piece one. Exactly!

And I shall be showing you
how to take hardwood cuttings

so you can make glorious
roses for free.

The Spring Garden actually begins
to look quite good in autumn,

and nothing in the whole garden
is more glorious

than the autumn foliage
of this witch hazel.

And the colours are amazing.

But I'm thinking of planning
for next spring

because anything you want to
do in a spring garden -

ie with flowers that appear
from the New Year into May -

should be done now.

So now is a really good time to
check through plants.

For example, if you've got
any hellebore leaves

that are turning chocolaty
and looking unhappy,

cut the leaves off...

..obviously weed, and plant.

And that's really what I want to do
in here today

because I've got plants
that come from North America

that will never be
the stars of any show

but make the most wonderful
supporting act

in woodland situations.

The first is tiarella.

This is tiarella cordifolia.

Now, this is the end
of its flowering season,

so it's not looking at its best.

But even so, it's still got
some flowers.

The foliage is still
looking strong and good,

and what it really likes best is
dappled, slightly moist shade.

There are a number of different
types of tiarella.

That's the straight cordifolia.

I've got here
Tiarella 'Pink Skyrocket',

and this has got darker foliage

and also a pink tinge to
the flowers as they're growing.

And also, I've got
'Sugar and Spice',

and this has got variegated foliage

and pinker flowers.

Now they're all much of a muchness,

but that kind of delicate variation

goes very well
at the base of a border.

Now, if your soil is either
a bit heavy or a bit light,

it is worth adding some leaf mould

or compost underneath it.

But all I need to do is dig a hole

big enough to take the plant,
and pop it in.

I will mulch it.

Autumn is the time to mulch
any spring-flowering plants,

and definitely the best thing
to mulch any woodland plant with

is leaf mould.

This...

..is leaf mould

from last year's leaves.

When I've planted all the rest,

I will give them a good soak.

Now, it's time to pay a visit
to a garden in Sutton-on-Trent.

This started out as a hobby -

something that pleased its owners

but wasn't really shared
with other people.

But over the last four years,
it's become much more than that.

I'm Kathryn. I live here
with my husband, Ian.

The big change in our gardening
and love of gardening

started about four years ago.

I was due for retirement.

I thought, what I'd really like
to do is maybe open the garden -

and then it just changed from
tinkering to just going for it.

The plot is an acre,
with lots of different areas.

And the planting varies
depending on the conditions

through sprites at the top,
to more tropical,

to maybe a sort of wilder
feel at the bottom.

We don't describe
ourselves as gardeners,

because I don't feel
I know enough about gardening.

I'm an amateur. A very enthusiastic
amateur - we both are.

Ian's found his stride in the
garden. I make him help me -

he has to do the digging -
but he's really found his own

in the ferns, and he now
has probably over 130 types

of fern, which is
meticulously labelled up.

I do chuckle as he
tells me the names.

Kathryn does accuse me of being
a bit nerdy about the ferns -

particularly perhaps
about the Latin names -

but I feel that they do give
something extra to a garden.

It's the whole range
of different sizes,

the whole range of different
foliages, whole range of colours.

Things they can bring to a garden
are absolutely amazing.

I suppose I am a bit obsessed
with them now.

We've got Dicksonia Antarctica -

one of the biggest ones.

Tree ferns - come from
Australia, Tasmania.

I tend to buy them as bare trunks,

which looks really odd.

It's been sawn off at the base,
sawn off at the top.

You think it's never going to come
back again, but when you plant them,

they will come back.

What I would suggest is,

if you're getting them, get
the size that you want ultimately.

They will grow maybe an inch - a
little bit more than that - a year,

but not any great growth
on them at all.

And to get the long fronds - which
is what I really like on them -

give them as much water as possible.

So they're the biggest
that I've got in the garden.

I suppose the smallest I've got
would be Asplenium trichomanes -

or maidenhair spleenwort -
probably three, four inches tall.

It'll grow just about anywhere.

You can grow it in moist conditions.
You can grow it in dry conditions.

And then there's something a little
bit like a hand on the end of it,

with fingers - really delicate.

I just find it
absolutely fascinating.

I suppose most ferns fall
into this mid-size range,

and this is one that I really like.

It's Athyrium
filix-femina 'Victoriae'.

The thing I like about this one
is the way that fronds cross over.

You get this what we call
a cruciate appearance.

But generally speaking, hardy.

No issues with pests,
no issues with diseases.

Just a nice, easy fern.

I enjoy gardening.

I dislike gardening
in the summer in the sun,

so one of my favourite bits
is now the woodland area,

because in there I can
spend all day.

And although it's a woodland,
and full of the trees,

we've really raised the canopy up,

which I think sort of makes it
almost look cathedral-like in here.

Big problem with the woodland -
it looks fantastic in the spring,

but now we're trying to get it
into looking nice all year round,

finding plants that may sort
of grow and thrive in there.

That is the challenge.

We've just got the lovely lime green
of the epimedium here,

mirrored by the lime-green hosta.

Just add a little bit of lightness.

But one of my favourite finds
this time is the impatiens.

These have just
started flowering last week,

so just one or two
flowers at the moment,

but another week or two,
these will be absolutely covered

and they go on
right until the temperature

starts to drop in September.

To make sure I keep them,
I take little cuttings.

Just stick it in a bottle of water.

The roots will form within
a couple of weeks.

Then I just pop them in compost

and leave them in
a frost-free greenhouse

and then plant out in the spring.

I like this area because I have to
concentrate on what's in here.

When I walk round the rest of
the garden, I can see the colour,

it's in my face, I can see the form,

but here I've really got to
look for the small things

that really matter.
To me, this is my special bit.

This is my place.

If somebody asked me,
"Is it worth all that effort?"

I would say, "Yes, what
else would I be doing?"

I love being outdoors.
I don't like sitting.

Not a big reader.

The gardening
just ticks all the boxes.

I'm intrigued that Kathryn and Ian
don't call themselves gardeners,

cos clearly they're very
good gardeners.

And we're all gardeners -
whether we're just starting out

or we've been doing it
all our lives -

you don't need a piece of paper
to prove that.

And also, it's worth pointing out
that Kathryn's love of shade

is based upon the fact there are
so many different kinds of shade.

Back here at this side of the pond,

I'm in the full glare
of the morning sun.

But these quinces offer dappled
shade even in the middle of

the hottest, brightest summer's day.

And quinces themselves are brilliant
in lots of different ways.

I love the trees with their fabulous
blossom quite late on in May.

And, of course,
the fruits are superb.

You don't eat it raw,
but when you cook it

it's the most fragrant fruit
that you could possibly eat.

Absolutely delicious.

Now it's time to pay a visit to one
of your gardens -

and, in fact, we're going to Poland

to visit the balcony garden
of Marta Nowaska.

Hello, my name is Marta,
and welcome to my balcony.

We live in Poznan, in Poland,

and we are fortunate
to have acquired

a balcony with a beautiful view.

Gardening gives me a lot
of pleasure.

It is a way for me
to connect with nature,

to express myself, and to relax.

As you can see, I treat my balcony
like a really small garden,

and I would like to encourage you
all today to treat your balconies

in a more garden way.

This gardening approach means a
couple of things for me.

The first one is biodiversity.

And by that, I mean I use a mix of
all kinds of plants in my balcony.

I mix shrubs, grasses,
perennials, annuals,

climbers, and also bulbs.

As you can see,

you don't have to limit yourself
to typical balcony plants.

This year, we had temperatures
to minus 20 degrees Celsius,

and our plants survived
it pretty well.

We just bring them all together
and cover them with some

white gardening cloth
and conifer branches.

The second important thing
is being wildlife friendly

even if it's a balcony.

This year, my husband
made this bug hotel,

and even though we live
on the first floor,

it was a quite big success

and we have many inhabitants in it.

Thank you so much for watching,
and happy gardening to you all.

Bye-bye!

I really like the way that Marta

has made her balcony into a garden.

She's really gone for it
and embraced the whole space,

and I think that's inspirational.

I now want to take some
rose cuttings -

and I think you're going
to have to move, little one.

I'm going to put you down.
There you go.

You go down there.

Roses take very well
from hardwood cuttings,

and the whole point
about all cuttings

is that they are exact clones
of the parent.

You want to look for
a nice long stem,

and what I'm going to do is
cut right back down to there,

so I've got a long, straight stem.

That's the key to it.

So that's my cuttings material,

and now I will process them
and prepare them,

and I'm not going to do
this in a pot -

I'm going to put these
directly into the ground.

When you're preparing
hardwood cuttings -

whether from a rose
or a shrub or even a tree -

all you have to do is take the stem,

remove the leaves.

This is not going to form
any roots at all

for about six months, by which time
these leaves will be long gone,

so they're no use to it.

Now, each cutting ideally
is about nine inches long,

so I'll make two from
this length here.

And the only really important thing

is that you put it
in the right way up.

And to know that
the bottom is the bottom,

you cut it at an angle.

Obviously,
when you're dividing it,

you then have an angle at the top.

So the first thing I do
is square that off.

OK. A couple more
and we'll be there.

Now these have to go
into a slit trench.

Take a spade,

sink it in to its full depth

and just pull the soil back.

And now I'm going to add some grit.

Sharp sand or normal sand
will do fine,

but what you're
really trying to do is ensure

you have really good drainage.

Just place a fairly generous amount
along the bottom of the trench...

..like that...

..then place the cuttings on
the vertical side,

making sure they're
the right way up -

and they only need to be a few
inches apart -

and push them in quite deeply.

And then once they're in the ground,

just pull the soil back over
to fill the trench again.

And just the tops of the cutting
will be sticking out.

And there is nothing more to do.

Leave them.

The only thing that
you need to think about

is to keep them weed-free
next spring and,

if it's very dry, to water them.

And resist the temptation
to dig them up

and see if they've formed roots

when you first see signs of growth.

Wait till this time next year -
THEN you can take them out.

And if they've got a really good
root system,

you can plant them
in their final position.

Although what I do is I pot them up,

grow them for another year, and
THEN put them out into the garden.

Now, a couple of weeks ago,

Toby went down to Swansea
to visit Sue Kent

to help her prepare
her garden for winter.

It's that time of year
when things are going over,

and there's a lot to get done
in the garden.

I'm ready to tackle some of my
trickiest jobs.

And, luckily for me, Toby is
visiting to give me a helping hand.

And while he's here, I'm also hoping
to pick his horticultural brain.

I've had this row
of lavender for ten years,

and although
I've pruned it quite well,

it does tend to grow one-sided.
It's not a nice, rounded shape.

This all comes down to not pruning
it hard enough. Oh, wasn't I... No!

No, you've got to be
quite mean with lavender.

There's quite a good saying that
you cut them back by an eighth

in the eighth month of the year.
Ooh!

I just haven't been hard enough. No.

And if you do that every year,
you rejuvenate it.

Oh, I think we could do it, then!
Do you think they're worth it?

No - you can't do it to these. Oh.
HE LAUGHS

The sad thing is, once they get long
in the tooth like this, that's it.

What we CAN do is take cuttings

and create new plants
to replace the old.

I don't know about you,
but I'm easily distracted.

And when I go out into the garden -
one task -

I start on that
and then I find myself

drifting off onto something else.
So when I'm taking cuttings,

what I always do is take a bag with
a few drops of water in it.

And that way, when the cuttings
go into there, if that's sealed up,

because it's 100% humidity
in the bag,

they'll last all day.

Lovely. So it doesn't matter

if you've left them under a bush
somewhere. No, it doesn't.

It doesn't. It's a life saved,
if you like.

They're dead easy to do.

Just take a non-flowering stem.

Yeah. Nip it below a bud.

Because that seals then,
and then you get roots growing

from where the buds were.

And then it's just strip off
the bottom half. Yeah. That's it.

And that, stuck into compost,
roots within weeks.

I did take a few cuttings earlier in
the year, but not enough. Really?

And it was my first time I've been
successful. Oh, they took?

Do you know,
there's safety in numbers -

with any of these grey-leaf plants,
you're always better off

taking loads of them,
sticking lots of them in a pot,

because they mop up the moisture.

It's wetness that kills them off. If
you have just one cutting in a pot,

it's never good. You want loads.
Yeah, and also I lost a load

when I overwintered them,
so I do need loads.

I love lavender so much.

I just... It just stops me.

It's the one thing that stops me
from working too hard,

and sit down and smell it
and enjoy it. Oh, lovely.

It's my go-to cup-of-tea plant.

Let's pot them up.

Sue and I are pushing the cuttings
into gritty compost.

We're not making a hole,
because if you push them in,

they root much better.

We squeeze as many in as we can -
without the leaves touching -

and give them a good soak.

Then we cover with
a clear sheet of plastic.

This can come off in three or four
weeks' time when the cuttings

have started to grow -
a sure sign they've rooted.

And finally, we'll move them
to somewhere sheltered,

like a cold frame or greenhouse
for the winter.

Right, what else you got for me?

I've got a really tough job for you
next, Toby. Oh. Really tough.

Where is it? It's at the end
of the garden there. Right...

Ah, here we go.

This is my huge phormium,
which I love,

but the only problem is -
as you can see -

it's coming over the steps,
causing a bit of a health hazard -

poke you in the eye -

and my husband's idea
of sorting the situation

is just to hack off where
he doesn't want it.

You've got to watch
the husband, Sue!

What's your suggestion
to remedy his work?

Do you know,
I live with this at home

cos I've planted phormiums
in haste...

..right near paths,
and there's a rule of thumb

with any shrubs - including big sort
of grassy subjects like this -

is that you always have two metres
of space between them.

Now these have got two metres
between them, but not two metres

between the roots
of this and the path,

and so you're always going to have
this tumbling-over effect.

It's just something you can't
really get rid of.

I think your instincts are right -
this has just had a bad haircut.

The game plan is to whip away
all the stuff around the edge,

but right back
to the base of the plant.

And then, if I can, I'm going to get
into the middle and that should stop

the side ones flopping down
as the middle grows.

The fibres of this
get right in the blade.

Oh, Sue, look at this.
This is good news.

You see in there,
where the plant's mounded up?

And it's grown into itself and big
chunks of it, as I hoped...

Oh, gosh, yeah, I can see the roots.

Yes. Yeah. It's rooted.

If I can cut that away through
there, we'll get a whole

new section of plant that can be put
into the ground somewhere else,

two metres away from a path!

OK, OK. And then this won't be such
a problem in future.

I'll have a baby phormium!
Yeah, you will.

There's two things to look for

when phormiums get a bit long
in the tooth.

One is when they revert -
like that one -

so it starts to flower,
you lose a lot of the colour.

And the second is when you see these
roots growing up in the crown.

Yeah. It means it really is on
borrowed time in many senses -

or certainly borrowed time
for looking good

because it's just going
to start to splay.

So, yeah, we're catching it
at the right time, I think.

Oh, that is great.

Oh, look at that.

Wow! That is superb!

Yeah, we've got a new one there.

Look. Look at all these roots.

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I'm
going to chop some of this off.

Obviously, there's a lot less root
than there is a top on here.

There you are, Sue.
So what do you think of that?

It's pretty cool, actually.
Very architectural.

It works, doesn't it? Yeah! Yeah!

Sue's phormium has had a good trim.

And, if she wants to, she can
replace it with a new plant

grown on in a pot until it's big
enough for planting out.

Wow, so this is impressive.

Yes, this is my new build -
my raised beds and cold frame.

This craftsmanship's incredible.

This is... My son's a carpenter,
and occasionally I manage

to persuade him to come and help me.

And what's quite...
It's all made of recycled stuff

left over from my potting shed.
And so it's lightweight.

It's made from corrugated plastic
and... All the mod cons!

Look at that!
When he built it and put it on,

we realised I couldn't
reach over it,

so he's made me this
sliding entry system.

That is something all cold
frames should have, actually.

The thing about cold frames is,
the main thing is to stop

the temperature peaking
when the lid's down,

because if you forget to open
it up, what happens is,

on a winter's day when you're
protecting plants from frost,

the temperatures really rise
and the plants start to grow.

And that makes them vulnerable for
the next time it's cold. Right.

So that front coming off there
means you can have this down,

got air circulation,

so, rather than overheating when
you get warm days in winter,

they just stay nice and warm
and even, which is just perfect

for plant growth and getting things
to survive the colder months.

Well, I've never had
a cold frame before,

so I didn't know that I've
designed a perfect thing!

Well, you have, yeah!

We're lining the cold frame with
plastic - to stop the plants

rooting in the soil below - and
covering it with locally sourced

white cockle shells to reflect
as much light as possible

during the winter.

I've got some foxglove seedlings -

I think that's what they are -
over there.

Can they go in the cold frame?
Yes, they can.

And they ARE foxglove seedlings.

And, do you know, I reckon, growing
in there with the lid put down

when it's particularly cold, and if
they're potted up before Christmas,

these will flower next year.
Do you think so?

Cos I thought I'd left it...
They were so tiny!

They are small, but it's amazing
how they catch up

in an environment like this.
You can just really steal a march.

And do you know what
colour they are?

Well, I'm hoping they're white,
but I got my labels mixed up,

so I don't know how to tell.

Well, purple foxgloves
have very glossy green leaves

that are often pointed
and they're smooth.

Whereas ones like this that are pale

and have this little
furry top to them -

you know they're going to be a
white form or perhaps an apricot,

but certainly lighter
than the purple.

So that's a really useful tip.
Furry ones are light.

That's... That is really gorgeous,
isn't it? I'm very proud!

Well, thanks for helping with that,
Toby. Thanks for inspiring me.

This is brilliant. Yeah.

And you can put it on top
of any raised bed you've got -

you can turn it into a cold frame.
Yeah, genius. Genius.

I've long been a fan
of cold frames -

although I have to say I have
nothing as fancy as that,

but the beauty of cold frames

is that, as long as light
can get in and the cold

by and large stays out,

it's incredible what you can
grow in them

and what you can protect
over winter.

So do consider getting
a cold frame -

it transforms what you can grow
in the garden.

Now, still to come
on today's programme...

Adam admires the design
of a garden that embraces

the surrounding countryside.

I love the way that you've got
the control of the clipped yew

against the softer background of the
landscape. They look incredible.

Yeah.

And I'll be potting up
some amaryllis bulbs

to decorate the house
in the new year.

But first, we're going to Banbury
to visit another of your gardens.

I'm Rosie, and I want to show
you my autumn garden

cos it's busting with colour.

I've been gardening for about
42 years here, probably,

so the garden's matured a lot
and everything's spread out.

And so there's much less gardening
needs doing these days,

which is absolutely fantastic.

As a painter, I really like
to make scenes in the garden.

For a raised bed, I sometimes
use an old wheelbarrow -

preferably one the builders are
finished with, cos they're strong.

And so here you can see
it's planted up with

heucheras and osteospermum.

And then this old fuchsia's decided
to have a second life here,

looking absolutely stunning.

This is a weeping
silver-leafed pear tree.

I planted it about 30 years ago.

It's like having a beautiful,
huge bonsai tree in the garden.

The Michaelmas daisies
and the rudbeckias

have grown and grown and spread out.

It's time to pick some bits up
and plonk them in different bits

of the garden to make
the garden join together as one,

instead of just having
a splash in one place.

Lots of heucheras, of course.
Fantastic colour.

If you plant them in a bed with
the sun shining through them,

you're going to
have beautiful colour

in the garden all the year through.

So, from me, the sumac tree

and the apple tree - bye!

I really like the way
that Rosie spoke about

creating scenes in
the garden as a painter.

Now I've been slowly assembling
these new borders on the mound

and now it's time to add bulbs.
And there's a daffodil that

I've grown many times before,
called Pipit.

It's small, so I'm going
to have it near the front.

Now, the rule of all bulb planting

is you can never go wrong

if you plant twice the depth
of the bulb.

Now, for planting these...

..just make
a hole and just push them down in.

That's fine.

Now, another daffodil, which is

a much bigger daffodil, is this.

This is Yellow Cheerfulness, but,
again, that good soft yellow.

Now, that's daffodils.

We want to add some blue in too,
and I've got here a bulb

called Scilla mischtschenkoana.

It's got lovely icy blue flowers.

I think these are best planted

as a group rather than individually.

Make sure the soil is nice
and loose...

..and take a handful like that..

..and scrape some soil away

and then just pop a group

of three in there.

My final blue is muscari.

Muscari is one of the best
blue flowers

that you can get,

and this is Muscari Valerie Finnis -

a really good, clear, strong blue.

The truth is there are many
different types of muscari

with many, many different shades

of blue and size and even form.

And in spring, we went to Norwich to
visit the garden of Richard Hobbs,

who has a wonderful collection
of every kind of muscari.

The wonderful thing about
spring bulbs is that they take

you by surprise, really.

They just pop up from nowhere.

These little jewels scattered
about the garden.

I'm Richard Hobbs, and with my
partner, Sally Ward, we've created

this garden just outside Norwich

in Norfolk, and we hold the national

collection of grape hyacinth -
that's muscari

and their relatives.

There are almost 70 species of grape
hyacinths, and they come

in a surprising range of colours.

There are some lovely dark blue

black ones that are sort of ice

blue, pale ones, white ones
and the odd yellow and brown

one as well.

So when we first got the collection,

there were about 30 plants in it.

It's grown up to 185 by now,

so we're always looking for

new places to put them.

So we've got I should think about
60 pots in the greenhouse.

We've got about 90 pots
in a raised bed in the allotment.

So we've got them
all over the place, really.

We grow most of our grape
hyacinths in the front garden,

but we've had to change
it quite a lot,

so the soil has been improved

by the incorporation of literally

tonnes, not just a few bags,

but tonnes of organic matter,

and there's quite a lot
of gravel as well,

so we now have raised beds

and good drainage, and the one thing

that most grape hyacinths
really like is to be well drained.

So, this is one of my favourites -

a lovely form of Muscari neglectum.

And it just shows you why
grape hyacinths are called grape

hyacinths, because they just
look like small bunches

of really ripe grapes.

And they're a lovely, lovely dark
colour, and, talking of colours,

here's one that's yellow.

It's a violet grey.

It's got brown tips to it

and it smells of bananas.

A real oddity - comes from the Greek
islands, where it grows

in cracks in rocks.

It's early flowering, unusual,

and the bulbs can get to the size
of tennis balls,

so a really interesting thing.

And then look at this -

it's called a Touch Of Snow
for obvious reasons.

So you've got your normal blue
flowers, the fertile flowers,

and then these little sterile tufts
of flowers on the top are pure, pure

white, and those sterile
flowers are there

to attract pollinating insects.

But it's a really striking plant
with that lovely contrast.

Grape hyacinths grow well
with things like pulsatillas,

the pasque flowers, species
tulips - and species tulips

are just delicate, lovely things.

You don't have to dig them
up every year, ripen them off.

They're easy.

Very different from those stiff
things that look like hard boiled

eggs on sticks.

Grape hyacinths have got something
of a reputation for being thugs

for seeding around and also
producing lots and lots of little

bulbils and getting all over
the place where you don't want them.

Out of the 70 species, only two
that are like that - one is Muscari

neglectum, which has these really
dark, lovely, dark bells

with white teeth.

And then the second one
is armeniacum, which is a mid-blue

slightly paler round the mouth
of the bell.

Both lovely things, but thuggish.

It's a shame because many
of the others are such

lovely garden plants.

When you have a national collection,
the thing you're trying to do

is to keep a particular plant

true and pure, so you mustn't

let them seed.

So we go round, it's
a hands-and-knees job with a pair

of scissors, and we take
off all the heads.

When it comes to planting, plant
them in the autumn, though

if you don't get round to it till
Christmas, that's not

going to be a problem.

The depth of planting worries
people, but just get them in.

A couple of inches of soil
over the top is fine.

Grape hyacinths - like a lot of
other bulbs - have what's known

as contractile roots.

They look a bit like a concertina

when you look at them closely

and they will pull themselves

down or push themselves up.

I know it seems hard to believe,

but, honestly, it does happen.

Anybody who grows a lot
of bulbs will know this.

You plant them at the top of a pot,

and all of a sudden when you
repot it

they're sitting on the bottom.

They'll get to where they want,

so don't worry too much about that.

Growing them in pots is a very good
way with grape hyacinths.

They look lovely, but also it keeps
them contained.

You know where you've got them.

They need a well-drained mixture,

so what we use is one part grit,
one part organic matter.

That's a peat-free compost,
if you like, and then one part

of a loam-based compost,

so it's just one of each.

I think some of these tall ones

that have been bred for the cut

flower industry look great
in these long pots

because they're really quite
elegant, dainty things.

And then there's a little one there,

which if you grew it in the open

garden, it would just get
lost, you know,

so wonderful subject for a pot.

It's got a rather interesting name.

It's called Maxabel, but there's
nothing "maxa" about it.

It's a very, very tiny, gorgeous
little thing that'll be out in a day

or two's time.

I'm really proud of the way,
from small beginnings, just 30

plants, we've got this collection
now so that it represents the whole

range of plants that are
available to people to grow.

And it would just be lovely
if more people grew them,

if many of them got firmly
into cultivation.

I was just thinking about dahlias,
you know, 30 years ago,

a dirty word.

Now everybody's growing them

and they're, you know,
top of the pops.

Let's do the same with these
grape hyacinths.

They're gorgeous things.

They're not just blue, they flower

over a long period of time.

Some of them have got a lovely
scent, and they're just

magical spring flowers.

I love muscari, and I don't mind
the way they spread -

quite like the way that, rather like
bluebells, they start

to carpet the ground.

And what I would say about
a national collection like Richard's

is the important thing is you go
along and see them in flower,

see what they look like growing
under garden conditions

and, with a wide collection like
that, you are bound to find some

that will be perfect
for your garden.

Every garden should have
some muscari.

In the garden at the moment

one of the great stars is
this rudbeckia.

It's a Rudbeckia laciniata,

but I confess I've long forgotten

what variety it is.

There are lots of different
laciniata Rudbeckias,

but all of them grow really strongly
late in summer.

And this doesn't really get going
until the beginning of this month.

But throughout October and into
November, it flowers with real

exuberance while the rest
of the garden is fading

all around it.

Now we're going to pay our last
visit to one of your gardens today,

and it's taking us to Welford
and the garden of Andrew Miller.

Hello. I'm Andrew.

Welcome to my garden
in Northamptonshire.

It's been designed by my partner,
Tim, to be fully accessible for me

in my wheelchair.

Come and take a look around.

We moved here nearly 20 years
ago, drawn by the garden's

accessibility and privacy.

It's also given us some
creative challenges to make

changes and improvements.

We lost an old leylandii.

We kept the stump and planted three
clematis, which have already

nearly reached
the top of the old tree.

We needed some instant height
where that conifer

had previously dominated.

This pergola was ordered
online and was assembled

over the Easter weekend -

just the two of us -
whilst we were still shielding.

It's planted up with passion
flowers and akebia,

and these Cobaea scandens.

Still waiting for them to flower.

The new-found light means that we
now have a productive raised bed

that I can reach.

We always wanted a vegetable patch.

It's placed under the old trees
overhang in front of the shed.

After planting seeds since
the spring,

we've been self-sufficient
in salad leaves all summer,

and the sculptural bolting
Lollo Rosso looks great

even if they taste horrid.

Well, all these developments
have given us creative challenges

to solve during this very difficult
time, which, for disabled people

like me, has also been really scary,

but our garden has been our
safe space.

It's constantly evolved
and this made us think

about the future.

We hope you've enjoyed taking
a look around.

Goodbye.

It's worth reminding ourselves,

as Andrew pointed out, that gardens

have become so important

over the last 18 months and
two years

as a place of safety,

of comfort

and of entertainment and excitement

and inspiration in a way

that perhaps they haven't

been for a very long time.

I'm now going to plant up a pot

with a combination that I love

and that is of tulips
and wallflowers.

Wallflowers you can grow from seed.

I've got some here that are really
quite small still, but you can buy

them in a very old-fashioned way

wrapped in damp newspaper.

They're bear root, you get

them in bundles. In fact, they're
very cheap. They're very good value.

But if you do get them like this,
you either need to plant them

straight away or heel them in - line
them out individually in a spare

bit of ground.

They will go on growing a little bit
and get a little bit stronger,

and what you're after is
a really strong, bushy plant.

Now this is a wallflower called
primrose with pale yellow flowers.

And of course, with wallflowers,
they are wonderfully fragrant.

But if you're going to grow them
with tulips, you need to plant

the tulips first.

Now you can see I've got a good
drainage hole because with tulips

you absolutely
must have good drainage.

It's the key to growing good tulips,

so we will put that over the hole

to stop the compost coming out.

A really gritty compost mix...

and fill your pot to about
a third full.

And I'm going to plant a tulip
called Friendship.

Now, I have to say this has been
known to me for years as Limelight.

It's a triumph type, which means
that it's got a traditional goblet

shape and will flower in April
and early May at the same time

as the wallflowers.

Put them quite close together, not
touching, but much closer together

than you would if you were planting
in the soil.

There we go.

Cover them over.

And now the wallflowers,
and we'll plant

those in and rather like the tulips

quite close together.

Don't be frightened of filling
the pot.

Put a little bit of soil
around them.

When you've planted them up, water

them and then put them somewhere

outside. The cold won't hurt them
at all, and you certainly

won't need to water them
before Christmas.

If it's very wet and you can't keep
them dry, put the pot

up on something - blocks, chocks,

bits of wood - anything just to keep

it up off the ground so the water

can drain out and then drain away.

And these will perform next April.

They'll look good. The combination
is great, and the wallflowers

will smell heavenly.

Now, last September, Adam went

to visit a very special garden.

This was Broughton Grange,

where he met the head gardener,

Andrew Woodall, who has been part

of the long and ambitious process

of making a large garden

over a long period.

We all know that a garden is never
really finished, and, when it comes

to big gardens, they can be complex
to manage and evolve.

So it's great if you've got a head
gardener that is busy plotting

and planning, and that is exactly
what's going on here.

Broughton Grange in Oxfordshire

is a massive dream of a garden.

There's four acres of award-winning
herbaceous borders...

..woodland garden...

..contemporary walled garden...

..and a brand-new 80-acre arboretum.

The owner wanted to build his dream

and Andrew Woodall is the head
gardener bringing it to life.

All set in this amazing landscape.

The way I approach it is similar
to a jigsaw. Whether that jigsaw

is ever finished,

it's another question, but I aim to
have it finished so that I'm happy

with where it is in my head,
so that's important for me.

Easier said than done.

It's not a jigsaw that I'd be doing
with a five-year-old.

It's like a few thousand piece
jigsaw that's going to take a long

period of time, isn't it?

This is a 5,000. Exactly.

Tucked below the front lawn

is an early parterre filled
with Andrew's planting.

That's interesting, isn't
it? From back there,

you're looking straight
over this space.

Yeah, we've got an aerial view here.

And then as we make our way around,
we've got this rose parterre

that we've created.

All of a sudden you're exposed
to it, but you've got that lovely

connection with that landscape.

Together with the obelisks,
there's simple, repeated colours

of cosmos and verbena that zigzag
through the beds.

They help lead the eye
up and out of the garden.

I don't think you need to actually
plant up these obelisks.

They actually stand alone by
themselves so well. I totally agree.

They're just lovely little
sculptural elements,

and, actually, the tone -
just that timber silvering -

it sits comfortably, doesn't it?

Yeah. You've got to be content
with what you've created.

To help that contentment,

Andrew's been trialling
an alternative to box here.

It's called Euonymous Jean Hugues,
and it's working well,

which is helpful as he needs
it elsewhere.

It's lovely. Again, it's in it
just through. And the way your eye

takes you from vista to
vista... Yeah.

One of the owner's dreams was
a wall

garden, so it was built
from scratch.

An exquisite and very clever

three-layered design
by Tom Stuart-Smith.

It absolutely uses the view.

From the top layer with
prairie planting...

..to the huge ornamental pond.

I've looked at these photographs,
you know, and I always wondered

what it would feel like walking
over that.

Well, as I said, you have to see
it to believe it.

You're obviously used to it.

You walked faster than me then.

And below the pond,
a complex parterre -

all framing the countryside beyond.

I love the way that actually you've
got the control of the clipped

yew against the softer
background of the landscape.

They look incredible. Yeah.

But getting back to
the head gardener,

how do you manage this, mate?

Because I know some of these plants
start to take over.

They all want to be the stars.
Do you let them?

We have the same problems and issues
that every other gardener

has with a lot of this
prairie-style planting.

Yeah, it does throw up a few
challenges, but it's designed

to sort of flow with the landscape.

It is, but I know these are a little
bit more complicated to manage.

I walk around with the assistant
head gardener, taking notes, trying

to keep it to the original
planting plan.

We take out those ones that are
becoming a bit too invasive

and maybe replant it with something
similar, but it's sort

of keeping that balance.

You can see here we've got
this miscanthus,

and, even though it's very gracious,
it can become out of control

a little bit. Got a lot of geranium
sort of seeding around a bit

too much, and that's what we do
in gardening, and that's

what it's all about. Exactly.

There's lots of gardening
about to come to the lower parterre.

The sinuous lines of box echo
the microscopic leaf structure

of three trees in the garden.

But these complex shapes
have box blight,

which is heartbreaking to see.

Heartbreaking for me as well.

We've decided to rip it all out
and replace it with

Euonymous Jean Hugues. Which is what
we saw down there. Exactly.

And you're right, it's a challenge
because I'm looking at it,

you're going to rip it all out,

but, actually, the shapes
are very, very complex.

How are you going to lay that
back out?

I have a template in the office.

I've taken numerous photographs.

We will mark it out in one metre
lengths here in a grid system.

We've got 4,500 plants to put in.

Is that what it's going to
be, 4,500?

It's going to be probably the most
challenging part of my job

over the last 14 years
is going to be planting that. Yeah.

The garden opens for the National
Garden Scheme for visitors to see

the new areas that are still
evolving, and this is one of them.

It's a stumpery, set at the edge of
the formal garden,

stocked with stumps

from here and nearby
Blenheim Palace.

This garden celebrates trees
in all their forms.

This is my favourite part
of the garden, whether you want

to call it an elephant's graveyard
or architectural chaos.

For me, this tells everything
about what trees

are and what they breathe.

The more ornate stumps are pressure
washed to reveal the intricate

roots before they're arranged.

These things are heavy.

Once they're in place, you don't
want to have to move them again.

So I sort of have this picture
in my mind

about the way I want them to look.

And, then, once they're in place,
then we create the borders around.

So it's...it's sort of... They're
doing the work for me, in a sense.

This is about putting them in place.

As ever, Andrew is totally
playing down his role.

But the stumps are fabulous.

If these could talk, you know,
how much they could tell you,

you know, there's so much history.

The one you're holding there,
you know,

they come from a sweet chestnut,

which was cut down
for the First World War.

So, you look at the history
that's there and they're still,

in a sense,
creating life for other plants.

There's masses of new
life in the Arboretum.

It's been planted in two sections
with 1,500 trees apiece,

as well as creating new views.

It's providing information
about which trees

will flourish in our
ever-changing environment.

I mean, already we're finding trees
are doing better than others,

so it's quite interesting to see
how this whole biodiversity

out there is balancing out.

It's rare, but really heartening
to see planting on this scale

in a private landscape.

This is truly a landscape for now

and the future.

We've gardened for long enough to
know that we're not going to see

that come to its full glory.

What does it feel like to be
planting for another generation?

I feel privileged to even be part
of it in the first place.

The garden and the Arboretum
will outlive me and all my family

and everybody else I know.

But being part of that is gardening.

Just to know that I've been part of
that just warms my heart completely.

There was a period when gardening
was seen as something

you could finish and it was
make over and it was transformation

and there was the glorious moment.

But actually, it's never like that.

The whole beauty of gardening
is that it's a long process

that you just happen to join
in with, and it's enriching.

That's what makes it
so powerful and strong.

I'm preparing Amaryllis
sort of for Christmas,

although it is actually
running quite late.

Most Amaryllis bulbs will flower
about eight to ten weeks

after planting, and
they're lovely any time of year.

I've got a number here.

This is a variety called "Ambience".

This has got a white,
sort of creamy base

with really strong red markings.

Look at that.

It is really quite something.

Massive bulb.

But of course, it's going
to have a huge, long stem,

sometimes as many as four stems on
some varieties,

and they will each have
huge trumpet flowers.

Now when you're planting,
you may think that a huge bulb

like this needs a big pot,
but the opposite is true.

They do much better if their roots
are really constricted,

and that sort of size pot is ideal.

So fill it almost the top
and you just sit it on the surface.

Just add a little bit more compost
like all bulb compost, well drained,

gritty, and that's just simply
to hold it in place.

You certainly should never bury
Amaryllis more than half the depth

of the bulb,

and sitting on the surface
like that is perfectly OK.

Put this somewhere warm and light,

water it once a week,

and it will steadily grow
without any trouble at all.

OK, I am going to pot
the rest of these up,

and while I'm doing that,

here are some jobs for you
to do this weekend.

It's a good idea to bring
all your house plants

outside at this time of year on a
fine day and give them a once-over.

Cut off any dead material, check
them for any pests of disease,

clean them and then give them
a good water,

making sure they drain well.

And when you take them back indoors,

your house is going to be warmer
and drier throughout winter.

So if you possibly can,
give them a good misting.

Evergreen Agapanthus are not
frost hardy, so we'll need bringing

indoors so they are protected
from the cold over winter.

I bring mine into the greenhouse,
but a cold frame

or a frost-free shed
will do the job as well.

Herbaceous Agapanthus
are much hardier,

so as long as they have
good drainage,

they should be OK left outside.

Chicory grows in two phases.

The first is to establish a lot
of green foliage,

which feeds into a
strong root system.

And, then, after that, they start
developing their characteristic

red delicious leaves.

So now you should remove most
of that green foliage

so that light and air can freely get
around each individual plant.

Well, that's it for today, and
that's it for our weekly programmes

this year, too, although we do
have three brand-new programmes

that will be going out
towards the end of this year

celebrating the seasons.

And as we come to the end of another
quite difficult and strange year,

I don't think gardens have ever
been more important

or given so much pleasure and
comfort to so many people

than they do now.

And we'll all be back next spring,
as usual.

So from Nellie, Patti and myself...

..bye-bye.