Gardeners World episode 54 2021

Hello, welcome to Gardener's World. I love the way that the dahlias are starting to come out and you get this rhythm of colour regularly moving down in their pots, which then contrasts against the more anarchic colour in the borders here in the jewel garden. Of course, the bulk of the plants here at Longmeadow are grown in borders, but containers are really important, and never more so than at this time of year. This week, whatever you grow in your pots, be it ornate or edible, I've got tips to keep them flourishing all summer long. It's wonderful! Carol helps new gardeners Dan and Dom in Stroud make the most of their patio. I think this is just looking brilliant. And we visit one gardener who has containers to thank for a whole new passion in her life. If I didn't have containers and raised beds and pots in my garden, I wouldn't be able to do it at all. I think containers are definitely the way to go. Come with me. One of the great things about pots is the choice it gives you. So, for example, here in the top greenhouse, we've now got a permanent display of decorative plants based on pelargoniums. Now, for years and years, we've grown pelargoniums here at Longmeadow, stored them in the winter in a greenhouse to protect them, and then put them outside as soon as the weather is good enough. And the display varies hugely depending on the weather. But now that they can stay in the greenhouse, the display is fantastic, it's consistent. And because they're South African plants, they like lots of light, they'll cope with heat perfectly well, and then they just perform and perform. Whereas underneath the staging in the corner, the streptocarpus, also South African, but like in very different conditions to the pelargonium. They like warmth, moist shade. And tucked in under the staging, out of the sun, they're completely happy. And because we've got them in pots, we can adapt to the conditions. So by using containers and pots really well, you can expand the choices in your garden. Of course, not all the plants that spend their winter in the greenhouse spend the summer there too. It means that we can bring them out. And so you have the citrus, the lemons and the oranges, the same with lavender. In fact, two types of lavender. The lavender angustifolia is quite hardy, and that would cope with the cold here, but not the wet. Whereas the lavender stoicus, that is a bit more tender and needs to come in. Now there are times when containers form a kind of protective, practical role. This mint, it's grown in a galvanised container, doing very well. But the main purpose of the container here is not for the mint, it's to protect other plants. Because mint is a thug. There are a couple of considerations if you grow anything in any kind of pot. The first is watering, and the second is feeding. Now stashed away, because it smells so vile, is some comfrey feed and some nettle feed that I made a month ago. And I made these by stuffing the buckets full of nettles in one and comfrey in the other and topping them up with water and leaving them to decompose. Nettle feed is high in nitrogen, which is very good for encouraging a leafy, strong plant in the beginning of the year. But comfrey feed is high in potassium, which is fantastic for encouraging the development of flowers and fruits. So once you've got your strong plant, then you want the maximum number of flowers which will become fruits, and that's where the comfrey feed comes in. So we'll put the nettle feed to one side for the moment and concentrate on the comfrey. So, we need to dilute this. And I've got a watering can here. If you're feeding once a week, 20 to 1. It's plenty strong enough. Give it a stir. I'm getting out the rain to water your plants. I'm going to give these chillies a feed like that. And the reason why these are nice, healthy plants is because they've had a weekly nettle feed from April through to mid-June. But now, with the flowers here and the fruits forming, they're ready for comfrey. And likewise, the tomatoes. Now, obviously, this applies to any plant in a container that's bearing fruit of any kind. If you don't make your own, you can buy very good proprietary tomato feeds, which are good general purpose for all fruits, and liquid seaweed is very good too. For both watering and feeding, it's better to use rainwater if you can. Certain plants, like camellias or carnivorous plants, really must be watered with rainwater. That means collecting it. Now, water butts are great. Open containers, like this old cattle trough, have the great advantage that you can dip into them. And it means that you can fill a fairly large watering can in the time it takes to turn a tap on. Now, Carol has been visiting Dan and Dom over the course of this year, helping them out as they develop their new garden. And this week, she's guiding them in growing plants in containers on their new patio. Dan and Dom have spent the past few months working hard to create a lovely family garden. With the summer in full swing, it's blooming. Their veg patch, which we tackled on my last visit, is flourishing, and they've been enjoying the fruits of their labour. One of the final areas to tackle is the patio next to the house. Dan's made a brilliant start, fixing the walls, making beds with sleepers and creating a deck. But with a party imminent, they want it to look its best. So I've taken Dan to the garden centre to get some seasonal colour. Because today, we're going to be planting summer pots. I think this terrace is just looking brilliant. I know, it looks good, doesn't it? Just like everybody's patios or terraces, you've got one area that's in sun most of the day, and you've got definite, defined shade. So I think it's a great idea if we plant these pots, so they're appropriate. Let's have something like this big pot here as the centrepiece of your sunny bit. Right, let's get cracking. Now, this is sort of multipurpose compost. It's only got to last for the summer, and it's got enough nutrients to do that. So let's start with the canna. Love the sun. Everything should be just under the surface of the pot. Don't plant things deep down here because they can't see the light or anything. Now, dahlias are fabulous plants. They're from Mexico, so they're tropical. One of the things you must remember to do is deadhead. Keep on doing that all the time, you get masses more flowers. And then if you've got something to sort of fill in, how about these osteosperms around the edge? So we can put even more in then? Oh, cram it all in. Oh, wow, yeah. But you want something that's draping over the side. Now, this lantana, you see it all over the canary isles. Yeah, the flowers on these are absolutely stunning. When you're creating a pot like this, there's a certain element of flower arranging. And how about a coleus? Yeah. This is a plant you grow for its foliage. It'll do equally well in sun or shade, so it's a plant that we could use in your shady pot as well. We'll give this a really good drench when we've finished everything. Shall we do the shady? Yeah, yeah. These are new pots on the terra cotta, but they've been soaked thoroughly and it's really vital that you do that. Because they're porous, if you haven't soaked them, they'll pull all the water out of your compost on your plants. Choose something for your centrepiece. Coleus in the middle. Fantastic. That one's been well watered. I've got the pot. So more compost around the edge. I've got some over here. Now, all these plants are things that are going to thrive in the shade. They'll flourish, in fact. I mean, there are a limited number of plants you can use in shade. Begonias are a really good choice. I'm angling this out a bit, is that right? Oh, it's perfect, yes. And I think this nicotiana would go brilliantly well with it. Do you? Yeah. And they hardly need pressing in, do they? Cos the level's just about right. We need a trailer now, don't we? Yeah. And, I mean, there are all sorts of things you could use. You could have ivy or fuchsias are really great shade plants. I like the colours of the bacapa. You can already see their habit, so they're going to drape themselves right over the top of your pots. I think that looks pretty good, don't you? It looks great. And it'll just go on improving. Now, are you going to stand it down on you? Gravel. Ready? I think you really do need little groups of pots. You know, this should be a cluster, a colony. So if you're going to go off and do some more pots, I'll probably go and start firing up the pizza oven. Earlier in the year, we rescued a thyme. We layered a few little pieces too. And now we want to see if they've succeeded. It's done brilliantly, hasn't it? Yeah. It really has. It's flowered like mad. But I want to see what's happened underneath here. Look, these little layers really look like they've worked. Really good root system. That's fantastic. I think you ought to pot these up. But don't you think it'd be nice if we just fill this with different herbs? That would be lovely. So we're going to top all this up with this. It's just your topsoil. It's not particularly rich. Obvious choices are things like lavender. Lovely. And that's a sage. Now, this is the one that's ideal for his pizza. Yeah, it's marjoram. So oregano. The only other thing was a chamomile. It should be a nice random kind of arrangement. So it just looks like a chunk of Mediterranean hillside. I think we'd better go and get ready for this pot. Shall we take a bit of marjoram with us? Now that Dan and Dom's garden is a growing success, the thing to do is to plan for the future. And that's just what we're going to be doing next time. Any food that you grow yourself always tastes better than anything you can buy. And you don't need a garden to do that. If you use a container, you can grow something to eat on a windowsill, in a porch, on a roof garden, on a balcony, perfectly well. All you need is a container of some kind with drainage holes. Drainage holes, by the way, are absolutely essential. Get some compost. Just a normal, peat-free compost will do the job perfectly well. You don't need to add anything special to it. Spread it smooth. Then buy a packet of salad seeds. You can either use a cut-and-come-again variety, or you can get mixes. This is a mix called salad bowl, and it's a variety of leaves. And sprinkle them on the surface. Now, the key to this is don't be tempted to sow too thickly. So one packet of seeds like this will do ten bowls of that size. And ideally, you would run two or three bowls and sow them at two-week intervals. And you could keep these going for months, as long as you keep them watered and give them plenty of light. That's it. The easiest gardening you'll ever do. Now, even if you don't grow salad in bowls, here's some jobs you can be doing this weekend. Sweet peas can produce a steady flow of fresh flowers all summer if you prevent them from going to seed. The best way to do this is to cut them all regularly. I've found about every ten days is ideal. And if you miss a few, remove the seed pods as soon as you see them. Heavy rain, let alone summer storms, can wreak havoc in a border. So check your supports, adding new ones where you think necessary. I use homemade metal ones, but anything will do the job, as long as you follow the golden rule to provide support before the plant needs rescuing. It's time to cut your losses on autumn-sown broad beans. Pull up the plants and harvest whatever pods you have, and this will create space for another crop to follow them. Brassicas are ideal because they enjoy the nitrogen left in the soil by the beans. This area of the garden, which used to be our dumping ground, has been redeveloped. So we've got an embryonic wildflower meadow on the top layer, which is coming into being, and made a terrace. And I've moved the big pots that used to be in the jaw garden along the front, and now it's time to plant them up. Now, obviously, we've put a hard surface on this area as a place to sit. It's a sun trap. But also it means that it's brilliant for pots of all kinds. Now, these big pots need a big statement, and I want to use them for topiary. And the plant that I've chosen for all four is perhaps a little bit unusual. Hawthorn is a native that is used by the thousands of miles as agricultural hedging. I don't think it's really appreciated enough as a garden plant. It has endless virtues. It's got lovely flowers in spring. It's got superb berries in autumn. It's very easy to grow, very adaptable. It's cheap to buy. Birds love it. Insects love it. It can be clipped tight as a hedge, or I'm going to clip it as topiary. So I think it will be a perfect plant for these pots. I'm going to use soil, partly to give it bulk, partly to save using expensive compost, which are only accessed by the top 12 inches or so of the feeding roots, and also because hawthorn will be very happy in good Herefordshire soil. You could just buy a peat-free general-purpose compost, and that would be fine for the first few months. But if it's permanent planting, buy a John Innes No. 3 type of compost. If you can, add a little bit extra. Leaf mould, garden compost, and a bit of grit, and that will help the texture and the nutrition. And as with any plant where the roots are growing up inside the pot, just gently tease them. You're not trying to pull them out. What you're doing is breaking them to stimulate new growth. Before I add any more, I'm going to add the companion plants that I'm going to plant underneath it. And I've decided, keeping with the wildflower meadow theme and keeping with native plants, to add a grass. This is one of the most common grasses in the British Isles. It's called Dyscanthia septosa, and I've grown it from seed. So if I just put four round each of these four hawthorns, they'll soon fill out. What I like about this is I'm going to make a dramatic display, and the tree is about the cheapest tree of this size you could possibly buy, and the plants underneath, pence. If you underplant it, to a certain extent, you're taking nutrients and water away from the main plant. I think as long as you're prepared to water it regularly and perhaps feed it, that's not something to worry about. Now, of course, the next thing to do is give these a really good soak, and they will need watering regularly for the rest of their lives. But it won't take long with these hawthorns to get the mushroom shape I want. There's a mushroom sitting on a bare, clean trunk. Now, I guess that when people are planting up pots, whatever they're putting in them, the first consideration is just that they're beautiful, and they want them to look as attractive as possible. As Nicky Preston shows us in her garden in Peterborough, that whatever your needs, they have incredible flexibility too. Which I lovingly cared for for four years, and that's the first time they've flowered. Gardening for me is very new. James and I, my husband, we moved here four years ago. It was the first house we brought together, and the garden was much bigger than both of us had ever had before anyway, but it was very green, quite uninspiring. James really wasn't that bothered, so I had to take up that challenge and just learn fast and get to grips with it, and everything's led on from there. Being in the garden makes me feel normal. It's a rubbish word to use, but I can't think of any other way of doing it. Your garden doesn't judge you, your garden doesn't look at you and go, mm, you look a bit strange. I can just be me, and I can just lose myself completely in the garden, and I don't have to worry about not having hands and fingers the same as everybody else. Having a disability definitely makes gardening harder, definitely makes it harder, but it makes you more inventive as well. The trowels and forks that I have are actually children-sized ones, so they're lighter, but they're proper tools, they're not the little plastic ones that break. I'm quite resourceful, and I don't let anything faze me, definitely not. This raised bed is definitely my favourite raised bed, cos I can reach all the way round it, I don't have to stretch too far, cos although this arm's longer than this one, I have to be able to reach with both hands, cos I do everything with two hands. I can't garden at ground level because I can't get off the floor. If I didn't have containers and raised beds and pots in my garden, I wouldn't be able to do it at all. I'm so impressed with what Nikki's managed to do, and what she's turned this garden into since we moved in. It's difficult to put it into words, really, how impressed I am with what she's achieved. I think the raised beds have given us both a greater enjoyment of gardening, because it makes everything so much easier, and it makes gardening a joy and not a chore. There's nothing I like more than when Nikki comes up with a problem, and we both sit down together and work out how we can solve this. And then, by hook or by crook, we usually get to where we want to be. I love hanging baskets in the garden, cos they're really a good injection of colour and really brighten everything up on the patio. But with James working away during the week, I couldn't water them, I can't lift a watering can, and they would just wilt and die. And then we came up with the solution for the watering system in the trolley with a water pressure, and then I just have to press the little button down, and it pretty much does it for me, really. The biggest thing that gardening's given me that I never, ever thought would be a new job, really, becoming a garden writer for several magazines. It has just given me a whole new lease of life to be able to write about something that I really love. When I end up in a wheelchair, which will definitely happen, there's no two ways about that, we will just adapt the garden to cope. I'll never stop gardening, cos it gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Having a disability, it does make it difficult, but you just have to give it a little bit of thought, and, you know, if I can garden with two fingers, I think anybody can garden with ten. Come on, come on! Nicky and I are showing that, whatever your circumstances, you can make a beautiful garden, especially if you use containers in a really creative way. And it's funny it's raining, because, actually, I want to do some potting in the pond, although not necessarily in the pouring rain. And to do that, you use a very particular type of pot. Most pots, especially if they're lovely terracotta pots, are designed to look beautiful. An aquatic pot is designed not to be seen and has a particular function, which is to let the water in from the outside and to let roots out, so it's a basket, essentially. And when you're planting any aquatic plant, whether it's a marginal or a deep-water one, you need to use aquatic compost. Normal garden compost won't do the job. And I've got a little bit left over here, and its main feature is it's very low in nutrients. I've got a ranunculus here, ranunculus flammula, which you can see has got small buttercup flowers that will spread in a very loose way, will work well in a wildlife pond. And it's a marginal plant, so it will sit just underneath the water. And the reason why you use a low-nutrient compost is because you don't want to increase the general nutrition level of the pond, because the plants that will flourish most will be the weeds, which, in the pond case, mean that the surface can be coated in weed, and you get all sorts of problems. Most aquatic plants get all the nutrients they need from the water alone. So the compost, the soil, is solely acting to anchor the roots. And you can see I've got a bare-root plant here. When you buy a bare-root plant, it is worth just checking to see that there's no weed attached to it. And the easiest way to do that is just rinse it under a tap. And then just bury them. Right, this needs soaking outside and planting outside. There is a theme here. I'm going to get wet. I'm wet already. I'm going in a pond. I might as well do it. Good night. I filled this trug with water from the pond, and all I have to do is just soak this in it for a few minutes so that it's really saturated before I plant it. Right, that should have absorbed enough water to hold it in place. Now, the soil has really compacted down, which means that it gives me room to put a layer of grit over the top, which will just hold it in place. The grit stops the soil floating away and effectively polluting the water. So all I have to do is just plug it in the water. Right, this is all slippery, and the chances of falling in are high. I'm going to pop this down, just lower it into the water so it sits on the bottom. Now, that will grow and spread not very far, about a foot, two foot at the most. And, of course, all the plants in the pond here, every single one is in a container. This is a container garden, just as much as if it was on a patio. And it looks as natural and established as though it had grown itself out of the soil and the water. Well, that's it for this week. We shan't be back next week because the proms are on. But I'll be here at Longmeadow at a normal time in two weeks' time. So, see you in a couple of weeks. Bye-bye.