The Beechgrove Garden 2025 episode 6
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Beach Grove Garden. On the programme, hanging baskets and what you
00:19should be pruning right now. Coming up, it's time to prune early bloomers. We tell you what and how.
00:30Planting up an old favourite, hanging baskets for summer colour. We're in Dunfermline for a community
00:36garden open to all. I love it because it's the back garden that nobody else has got. And the next stage
00:43of my garden for a rainy day. But before all that, Brian, we are here in the Heather Garden and we're
00:52replanting in memory of our old colleague Jim McCall. Yeah, it's going to be nice. A couple of weeks ago,
00:58we gave Callum and George, we gave them a ball of tape. We gave them one simple task, which was just
01:05to highlight the odd conifer that they felt we could get rid of, we could do without. There's
01:11not much left, is there? Well, they've done a really good job. They've done a very good job. I'm sure
01:14they should have just said, tag the ones that you actually want to keep. But listen, it's amazing.
01:18They've done 100% the right thing. It's so open now. The light's getting into here and lots of
01:23planting opportunities for us. Exactly. And there's these beautiful stepping stones throughout
01:27the garden, which are really pretty. And I didn't even know that they existed. But you know, the
01:33garden team have done a really good job in doing a little bit of preparation. They've taken out all
01:37the old heather, which I think you said had been here for 30 years. I know, I know. They've been here
01:42for a while, that's for sure. But you can look at all the roots that they've left behind. They've left us
01:46a wee legacy, that's for sure. Definitely. And that's what I'm going to be doing just
01:50now. I'm going to be forking over the ground and just removing all of those roots because,
01:55you know, trying to plant in rooty soil is pretty much impossible. So we want to make it nice and
02:01loose, break it up so some more soil can go in. Yep. And the more work you do just now,
02:06the easier it's going to be at planting time. I'm actually on a wee bit that the caverners have
02:10kindly prepared for me. Lucky you. They must be thinking of me. But when you start to stick the fork
02:16through it and you get a handful of the soil, it is so light. It is so powdery. It's really
02:22dry. Yep. We're really in need of something. So, we have a wheelbarrow full of this beautiful
02:28compost. This is our own homemade stuff. It's a mixture of our own garden compost in leaf mould.
02:34And that is going to be perfect for holding some of the moisture in the soil for plants.
02:39So we're just going to tip a wee load in, spread it out. So I'm looking for a layer. Gosh,
02:44a good layer. When I look at the state of the soil, about 10 centimetres thick here. And
02:49as you say, it's just going to help improve the structure of the soil when it comes to
02:55planting, which we'll be doing in a few weeks' time.
03:03Well, Lizzie, a few weeks ago, first show of the new series, I was doing a bit of late
03:08winter pruning with Carol on the hydrangeas, the willows, that sort of thing.
03:12Now, six weeks' time, we're getting the loppers out again, Brian, and we are cutting back
03:16some of the plants that have given us beautiful spring colour.
03:19So, a bit nervous about what I'm about to suggest here. We've got this wonderful
03:23penis. Look at it. It's so colourful just now. But we're at the junction of a path.
03:28And all this thing does, it's like a big lump that's blocking the view that we've got behind here.
03:33Oh, I know. I mean, you can't even tell that there is a pond hidden behind there.
03:37No. So, we're going to do a bit of drastic action here. It's a bit of pruning, renovation
03:41pruning. Don't want to lose it completely. But I know with the likes of the pieris, if
03:46we do some hard pruning, we take some of these long, thin branches down to a low framework,
03:51the plant's going to come away again.
03:52I think that sounds like a great idea, but you won't get flowers for maybe a couple of
03:57years.
03:57But it'll be worth it in the long run.
03:58Definitely.
03:59Right. Come on. Get some tools. Let's go.
04:16So, now that we've removed some of those lower hanging branches, you can quite clearly see
04:22all the new sprouts that are coming up from the base. And that's the ones that we want
04:27to keep. So, I'm going to make another cut with my loppers, just here.
04:38Now that Lizzie's identified the new growth, I can see where I'm wanting to make my cuts.
04:44But if I trace this long stem up here, there's quite a lot of growth. So, I think it's going
04:49to be quite weighty. And if I was to go straight in and do a cut there, I do worry there might be
04:54a wee tear. And I don't want to damage that material that's going to be staying.
04:58So, I'm actually going to do this in two passes. The first cut is going to take the weight off.
05:05And then that means when I come in to do my second cut, which is going to be here, I'm actually
05:13going to do an initial cut, just to help me out. There we go.
05:24There we are. So, that's about a foot from the ground. And I reckon that's a low enough framework.
05:28It feels a bit drastic. A leap of faith, doesn't it?
05:41What about this bit?
05:43I'll take it.
05:47So, the last thing, I know it's a good bit of growth. Does it look out of place, though,
05:52with the rest of the shrub? Yeah, definitely.
05:54Well, in that case, ooh. There we go. That's better.
05:59You can definitely see the pond now. Yeah.
06:02Right, come on. That's just the start. We've got another couple to do.
06:05Let's go.
06:11We'd rather avoid such extreme pruning every year. So, the best practice where shrubs is to get in
06:16once a year for an annual tidy-up. Take out some of that older wood. What that means is it's going to
06:21encourage all the new growth, all the new shoots, and then that's where you're going to get your
06:25regular supply of flowers from. Yeah, especially with all-spring flowering shrubs like this ribus.
06:32You know, it's produced these lovely scented flowers, but now it's time to cut it back. And I was
06:37standing over there and having a good look. It's really out of shape. It's covering this poor lamium
06:43down at the front. And, you know, also, I've noticed there's some dead and diseased and damaged
06:51wood in here and also some crossing branches. So, I'm going to get stuck into that and make it all right.
06:58Yep. Great place to start. So, I'm going to head over to a viburnum, another spring-flowering shrub.
07:03I'm going to leave you to this.
07:04With shrubs like this, viburnum bodnatens, they actually regenerate very well from the base.
07:15So, what you want to do every year is to come in and remove one in five of these thicker,
07:21older stems. And you'll probably find they're the ones that are not producing many flowers anyway.
07:26So, this one here, this looks like the biggest, the thickest. I think this is the one that's going
07:29to come out today. There's an interesting thing to point out here. At some point,
07:35the head has come out of this stem. And as you can see, all the shoots are now regenerating from here.
07:42Now, this is on top of a long, thin stem. It's not going to be able to support the weight of all
07:47those branches. So, at some point, you can just feel it's going to fall over, snap, cause a bit of
07:52wound to get in here, infections, etc. And we might even lose the shrubs. So, this one's coming out as well.
07:59OK, very last job. It's quite dry just now. So, give the shrubs that you're working on a good soak.
08:07After that, a dressing with a balanced fertilizer and then a good layer of mulch on top. And then,
08:13after that, watch out for all these new shoots growing.
08:22Now, if you don't have a garden of your own, but you fancy getting your hands dirty,
08:25there might be a community garden near you that will welcome you as a volunteer and gardener.
08:31We visited a great community project in Dunfermline.
08:37In the middle of the Tuch estate, a group of volunteers have been hard at work creating
08:42an area that not only nurtures plants, but a sense of community too. The volunteers are led by Lorna Anderson.
08:49We've started our community garden in 2020. It was a labour of love. We've gone from
08:58weed infested to this beautiful spectacle now. We got bits and pieces of funding, and then it started
09:08just this little area. And it was all plants that we begged and borrowed. We cut the grass as best we
09:15could. People would walk past and go, it's never going to last. Kids are going to ruin it, you know.
09:22And that was just from the people that lived round about, but we persevered. And actually,
09:27they just all came round when they saw how pretty it was starting to look.
09:31The oldest community gardener here is Ben, who is in his 90s.
09:35I've been here since the scheme built, and when it was originally started.
09:40And just started to come to the garden. I enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine.
09:47Because there was local building going on where the schools were getting relocated,
09:53the people that were building these new places contributed by giving us a fantastic cabin,
10:00slabbed the front, gave us a kitchen. So then it became a hub for the community
10:05to use. There's a lot of poverty about here. And there's a lot of people with drug and drink
10:12issues. And when we have fun days, these guys come out and they take part and they get food from the
10:19barbecue, they get their cups of tea. And, you know, the love comes back. You know, we give it out and
10:25it comes back in different ways. So I just love it. I love it because it's the back garden that nobody
10:31else has got. We've all suffered from mental health. There's always been a point at some point in
10:37somebody's life when they've been so down. And it's the loneliest place on the planet to be.
10:43You have to just find a space that you can call your own. And it's got to be outside your four walls,
10:50because your four walls are telling you that you're depressed. The outside world isn't.
10:58I'm Stacy Neap. I'm a local resident of Tuch. And I come along to meet new people to boost my mental
11:05health and just generally get me out of the house. Like, I'm a novice when it comes to gardening and
11:11stuff. Like, I'm not 100% good, but I'm getting there, if you know what I mean. So I come here for,
11:17like, to get tips and stuff to help with the garden and also the social aspect of it. Just to keep,
11:24just to keep going. There you go, pal. I'm going to have a wee shot. It's got me out. It's making me
11:30interact with people, which I do like. The banter as well and the teas and the cakes and the food.
11:36The youngest helper is Zach, who, at the age of 16, is on study leave from school.
11:41I'm on study leave right now. And that's when I started coming down last year on study leave.
11:45But it just clears your mind doing this. And I'm a more person who does stuff outside,
11:53not indoors. And you learn new skills every day.
12:00So the raised planters, we got the community payback team to build them. It gave us an area
12:06where anybody with any sort of disability could work it. People from the flats come down there. I've
12:16seen them, families of four, sitting, having a picnic. The kids are, you know, playing in amongst
12:21all the different flowers. It's just a joy to behold. It's just a wonderful place to be. And we wouldn't
12:28have done it for four years, hard work, volunteering, if we didn't love it. I just think it's going to be,
12:38it can only get bigger and better. We don't have a community garden. We have a garden that's for the
12:43community. And that's what it should be about.
12:50So now it's time to plant up some hanging baskets. And it's a bit of a thing that causes a little bit
12:57of a divide between gardeners. You either really love them or you find them a little bit old fashioned.
13:03But no matter where you sit on the hanging basket debate, they create beautiful color all summer long
13:12and, you know, really brighten up a drab wall or a garden shed. So there are loads of varieties of
13:19hanging baskets out there that you can buy from the shops or online. You can get these wire ones where
13:24you have the coir insert lining to make sure that the compost stays in place. You can get these little
13:32woven ones which have a plastic lining. And you can also get these lovely little wire ones which I've
13:40used in the past by lining it with moss from my scarified grass and then putting the soil in. And
13:48I planted up some ferns last year with that and it looked really effective. But today I'm using this pot
13:55here which has been specifically designed to create that spherical big ball shape of flowers that you see.
14:04And it does this by having these little holes where these gates can come out of. And if I just pop them
14:13out and that's where your flowers are going to come out. They're going to trail down and they're going to
14:19hide all this horrible black plastic. But having it inside a plastic pot, especially if you've got
14:27really long trailing plants, that's just going to keep them upright and off the table and stop them
14:32from getting smashed about a bit. So we want some peat-free multi-purpose compost in the bottom of this
14:42first. Giving it some really good. Now you want to fill it up to just level with the inside of there
14:56because that is where your plant is going to sit. So first thing in is going to be the petunias.
15:04And just very carefully, without breaking too many roots, slot them in. Getting rid of any wee beasties
15:16that you might find. You don't want any slugs in your finished hanging basket. Now you don't
15:24just have to have flowers in your hanging basket. There are loads of different things that you can
15:30plant up. You can use strawberries. I've used this one in this one, but even some salad vegetables.
15:38And it makes a really good planting place, especially if you live in a flat and you've maybe only got
15:47balcony space for all your plants. So the one I'm planting here, all these petunias are going to be
15:55hot pink. Because I just think it makes a little bit more of an impact when everything is one colour.
16:05You suddenly turn the corner and wow, you are hit by this ball of colour. And that's the effect that I am
16:14wanting. So putting those all in there. Making sure that you then have to put the gates on.
16:25And they should just easily click into place there. I'm also going to be planting on top of here,
16:36some verbena and also a geranium. Now the geranium, I did a little bit of thinking about this and the
16:44effect that I wanted to create. So the geranium is going to go into the centre and it's going to create
16:52this lovely blooms on top. And then around the sides, we're going to put some verbena, which is only
17:01about 25 centimetres tall, which makes it just slightly shorter than the geranium.
17:08So pop that in there. Now all the gates are done. I'm going to put my geranium,
17:19nestle him into the centre just there. Just have a wee check round to make sure that all the plants are
17:26looking okay. Yep. Happy with that. Now, what you want to do is when you've finished planting it all up,
17:35you want to make sure that you water this really well. You also want to make sure that you water it
17:43well throughout the summer because the hanging baskets do have a tendency of drying out. You'll
17:51also want to make sure that you have a good feeding regime. Now, a high potassium fertiliser like a
17:59tomato food or a liquid seaweed will be perfect. And if you keep doing that all summer long, you'll get
18:10beautiful blooms. If you also keep on top of your deadheading, that is going to prolong the flowering
18:18as well. So just filling that up with compost. And I'll go find a watering can to water it all in.
18:31But I think in a few weeks time, that will all have started to fill out beautifully,
18:44and we'll get some good colour from it as well. Now at this time of year, you can begin to spot
18:51gaps in your borders that need to be filled. And the easiest and most straightforward way of doing this
18:55is to lift and split what you've already got. And to show us two very simple ways of doing that,
19:04here is Craig Cameron, who is head gardener on the Thesis Estate in Fife.
19:12So here we are amongst our orchard, and we have this wonderful under-planting of geranium
19:20wargrave pink. That's a fantastic flower. It flowers all throughout the summer. This lovely pale pink
19:27attracts and so many honeybees, which is great for our fruiting trees. It looks after itself incredibly
19:35well. It's quite compact. And when it dies back in the winter, we're left with this really nice straw mulch.
19:42So we really have to do nothing for it. But from time to time, we do have patches that will die off,
19:50or be weeded out. And so we like to use what we've got. We're not spending any more money.
19:56We're going to dig up this geranium. I'm sure you've done division like this at home yourselves,
20:01but we do it all of the time. You get nice healthy plants which you can pop straight into the ground,
20:07or you can pot up and grow on. So I'm going to show you how to do that. It's really straightforward.
20:12Using a nice sharp spade, we're just going to dig around the plant,
20:16making sure to get all of those roots which are essential for us to be able to do the divisions
20:26that we need to.
20:33And then just lift it out.
20:37And there you see, we've got a nice big root ball, which is going to give us lots of divisions from
20:42this one plant. Now, the traditional way to do this is to use two spades or forks back to back,
20:50stab in and prise it apart. But actually, the soil here is nice and soft. We've got quite a robust plant.
20:58I'm going to be able to do it just with one spade and you should be able to do that at home too.
21:03So nice and flat on the ground.
21:05And we're just going to go straight through the middle.
21:13Like that.
21:15So straight away, we've created two new plants. So now we just have to find somewhere to put it.
21:21So the best thing about doing divisions is that you can very quickly fill these gaps in your borders.
21:35Just making sure that we get the soil in contact with that new root ball.
21:55Now the soil here is nice and moist, but we'll make sure we give them a really good drink to get
22:02them properly established and they'll take off in no time.
22:13So another little trick that I want to share with you is my handy bulb planter trick.
22:21Again, this is a really useful tool. You probably paid for it to plant your bulbs in the autumn,
22:28but we're going to make money on it by using it in the spring.
22:31Nice sharp edge to it. And all we're going to do is select a perennial that's just coming through
22:37the ground. In this case, we're going to use this agapanthus and I want to split it up. Now I could use
22:44the spade, dig it all out, divide it as we do with other perennials. But in this instance, I just want
22:52to take a little plug out of this one, which I can then plant anywhere in the garden. So it's really
22:58straightforward. We're just going to choose a clump of leaves, making sure they go inside the bulb
23:08planter. And then with a little bit of force, we're going to keep digging down, pushing into the earth
23:19until you hear a crunch. That's the root plate breaking. And we're going to pull it out.
23:30And here we have a perfect little plug that we can go and plant anywhere in the garden and it'll grow
23:38away nicely. Or we can pot up and grow on in the greenhouse. You can do this with all sorts. We
23:44use it for agapanthus, but also mechinopsis, primulas, really anything that's coming through the ground
23:52at this time of year. It saves you a lot of cash and it means you can multiply your chosen plants pretty
23:59quickly. Rainfall in Scotland is increasing and with it we're getting more intense periods of rain.
24:16That's why this year I've been keen to develop a rain garden. Rain gardens are areas of plantings
24:23and it's designed to capture the water runoff from our hard surfaces. So with the likes of our conservatory,
24:29previously when it rained, the water would run down the drain pipe and then go into our drainage system.
24:36But now we have it coming down the drain pipe. First of all, it goes into the water butt. Once the water butt's full,
24:44it's now going to be captured by this rill and diverted into the heart of our rain garden. Once it's in here,
24:50it's going to be held just for a short time before it's then slowly released back into the drainage
24:56system, helping to reduce flooding and protect our rivers. When making a rain garden, there's a few
25:02things you need to consider. First of all, where you site it. It needs to be slightly lower than the point
25:08where the water first is going to enter your rain garden. We're also working on a wee slope here,
25:13so that's going to help us even more. After that, you need to think about how close it is to the building
25:18that you're going to be capturing the rain water from. I would say it needs to be at least five
25:23metres away because we don't want to affect the foundations of the buildings in any way.
25:28Then we have the size of your rain garden. Well, for that you're going to need to do a wee bit of maths.
25:34With our conservatory where we're going to be capturing the rain water from, we need to measure
25:38the surface area. For this it's 35 square metres. A rain garden needs to be 20% of that, so seven
25:46square metres, which we're very lucky that's what we have. We've also got a nice natural shape. It's
25:52approximately four metres by two metres, so actually we've got a wee bit of comfort zone as well.
25:58And then the last thing we need to understand is how good does our soil
26:02drain away. And for that we'll do a wee test. I've dug a wee hole 25 centimetres deep and we're going
26:10to fill it with water. Fill it right to the top, let it drain away and then let it fill up again.
26:19After that, over the next hour, we're going to measure just how quickly or slowly the water drains
26:24away. If you're getting somewhere around about one and a half centimetres to five centimetres,
26:30then well done, you've got the perfect soil for your rain garden. And we're quite lucky because
26:34that's what we've got here. After that, it's all about the shape of a rain garden. What we're looking
26:40to create here is a shallow saucer round about 15 centimetres deep. As you can see at the top end,
26:46it's slightly deeper and that's because we're working on that wee slope. We've taken the extra soil that
26:52we've got up here, dragged it down at the bottom end just to get it nice and level and then we've got our
26:58spirit level that goes over both sides. We don't want any water going over either side. And then
27:04give the soil at the sides a right good firming with your size 10 boots. We don't want any water leaking
27:09away there. But I'm quite sure during those intense periods of rain that this is going to get full pretty
27:15quick. So we have left a wee gap down at the bottom for that water to escape. For us, it's into this gravel
27:22area. But if you're really clever, you can put it into the drainage system. Now, I'm not looking to
27:28create a bog garden here. I do want to put this plants in here that are going to cope with dry and
27:33wet conditions. So just like what we're doing earlier on, don't be afraid to get some leaf mold
27:38compost into it just to improve the structure of the soil. And then comes the next bit, the best bit,
27:44that's when we put the plants into the ground. And for that, you'll have to come back in a couple of weeks.
27:52Oh Lizzie, it's nice to finish up in the alpine garden. I feel at home here.
27:58It looks fantastic and this Daphne smells amazing. Now, next week, Carol is visiting a fantastic garden
28:05in Arbroath, which has been on a site occupied for over 700 years. George and Callum will be here.
28:12George is going to be giving us some suggestions if you want to grow fruit trees, but you're short of
28:17space. And they're both going to be planting sweet peas to give us the best results.
28:22But you can watch all the episodes so far on BBC iPlayer. But for now, it's bye from us. Bye.
28:47Bye.
28:56Bye.
28:56Bye.
29:11Bye.