Gardeners' World 2020 Episode 4: 10 April 2020

Adam Frost welcomes us to the programme and to his own garden.

Adam been busy working on the border he mulched on last weeks programme, but the ground is still very wet.

In areas that were too wet he just turned the soli to let the air get to it and dry it out.

His Peonies are coming up and the Euphorbia is looking lovely.

Angelica
Adam is digging up some Angelica, a biennial, after flowering the second year they die but first they send out lots of seeds.

After thinning them out he will plant some elsewhere and the rest pot up.

Queue for the cat Ash to walk into shot again.

Gravel Garden

Next stop for Adam is his Gravel Garden.

Queue the cat again ruining the shot!

Santolina
Jobs for today in the gravel garden is a Santolina that is not looking too healthy.

He rubs back some of the stem to see if the plant is still alive, if it is brown it is not.

The stem seems alive but the plant is not looking very good and it is very wobbly so the best thing to do is to did it up.

It may have been a victim of the wet winter so he will replant something else in its place.

Korean Mint
Adam has another space after removing a Lemon Verbena and is planting Korean Mint which will grow to a metre tall.

They have either white or blue flowers and are loved by the wildlife in the garden.

They have a soft minty liquorice smell, it makes a nice tea and cures hangovers too apparently.

Adam next job is at the far end of the gravel garden in an area he usually has a seat in.

He admits to a problem a lot of us suffer from buying too many plants for the area and jamming them all in!

Phlomis
He is going to use his Phlomis shrub that needs a good prune as the main plant in the area.

Adam cuts it back by about a third, he plans to look out for any frosts he will then fleece the plant to protect it.

Phlomis as a group of plants include perianal that will die back or shrubs, they come in a range of colours from yellow to purple and have a lovely soft foliage.

As well as reshaping Adam is cutting out any dead or damaged stems.

This is the 3 D principles of pruning, Dead, Deceased and Damaged.

The Amelanchier behind Adam is just about to spring into life.

He says this is his 'go to' tree for a small garden.

Damson Blossom
Frances Tophill went to Lyth Valley, Cumbria last year to see the spectacular Damson blossom.

The valley farms are full of Damson trees that were once a significant income for the farmers.

The Westmorland Damson Association are bringing the Damson orchards back to life and popularity.

She meets Hartley Trotter at his 3 acre orchard with 150 trees which has been handed down the family for 3 generations.

Frances quotes 'He who plants a plum plants it for his son. He who plants a Damson plants it for his Grandson'.

To produce a good crop will take about 20 years and they are really at their best at 50 years old!

Some of the trees in his orchard are 60 years old.

He started picking Damsons when he was 8 years old.

Hartley thinks they have gone out of favour as they take so long to produce its not viable.

Frances next stop is Flodder Hall farm the home of Edward Sharp another Damson grower who uses them to sell to ketchup makers, hotels, gin. ice cream as well as jam makers.

Frances has of course has to try the produce so has some Damson cheese and gin for lunch!

Adam is by his walled kitchen garden looking at the blackberries he tied up to the wall they are a thorn less variety.

They will hopefully produce in June / July.

They are in a border of slightly unusual edible plants including Myrtle, Quinces and Alpine strawberries.

Strawberries
Adam wants to add some more strawberries and has chosen 'Cambridge Favourite' he will then propagate the runners and move it to other places in the border.

Strawberries like a well drained, sunny position and can be grown in a container or even a hanging basket.

If you don't fancy strawberries how about a Blueberry in a pot, all can be bought on-line.

As the fruit come through he will add straw underneath to protect the fruit from the ground.

Raspberries
As the border is lacking height Adam is planting a Raspberry called 'Glen Coe'.

Its a good vertical variety and has purple fruit which fits in well with his border of unusual plants.

Adam adds manure to the hole but compost will do and plants them.

Primroses
Carol Klein is in Cornwall to see the National Plant Heritage Collection of Double Primroses at Glebe Garden.

Primroses are part of the Primulaceae family.

Carol favourite is 'Marie Crousse' it is a double Primrose as it played an interesting part in their development.

Florence Bellis had a Nursery where she started Hybridizing Primroses called Barnhaven Primroses.

A lot of the modern double primroses started from her nursery.

The ideal spot for a primrose is a cool, damp bank, a hedgerow or a forest glade and are an ideal woodland plant.

57 Million years ago Primroses divided into 2 separate types.

Frum-eyed Primroses the Stigma is enclosed by anthers.

Pin-eyed Primroses the stigma rises above the anthers.

To create your own Primrose hybrids it is very simple.

You take a small brush and move the pollen to another plants and dab it on the stigma.

This will go into the ovary behind the flower, which will swell and be full of the seeds of the new flower.

Every 2-3 years your Primroses will need dividing.

The best time to do it is when the flowers are dying back and they can then be divided to replant.

Carol trims the roots first to the length of her palm about 10cm this will encourage the plant to make feeder roots.

'Bon Accord Purple' is one of the few remaining double Primroses.

Carol calls Primroses 'the star of April'.

Adam is praising his Euphorbia again.

Potatoes
Adam is in his glorious walled kitchen garden putting his potatoes in.

He tells us they are probably one of the easiest vegetables to grow and fall into 3 categories.

First earlies, second earlies and main crop.

You need to rely on what you know about your own soil and frosts and not the planting dates they tell you in books.

If the soil is cold and wet don't plant yet.

Adam is planting his first earlies and he has already had the chitting on a windowsill in an egg box.

He digs a 8 inch deep trench but they can be grown in bags or pot even if you don't have a garden just a balcony.

Some people add manure to the trench but Adam likes to use Chicken Manure Pellets.

You really need to use properly bought seed potatoes as these are free from disease.

He is planting 'Red Duke of York' a heritage variety of potato.

Adam plants them with the chits facing upwards about a foot apart.

If it was main crop he was planting they need to be further apart as the potatoes are bigger so that would be a foot and a half distance.

The distance between rows for earlies is about 2 foot but for main crop potatoes it would be 3 foot.

His technique is to only cover the potatoes with about 4 inches of the soil and leaves the rest for when they start coming through.

He will then cover the foliage and keep repeating that until they are ridged up to about a foot high.

Now is the time to feed roses to replenish nutrients that may have been lost over the winter.

Use a general purpose fertilizer just scatter over the soil.

Hardy annuals like Poppies and Marigolds are easy to grow from seed and now is the time to plant them.

Rake the soil well and mark out your sowing area, scatter and lightly rake over.

Water them lightly if no rain is forecast.

It is not too late to plant out onion sets in a sunny spot.

Plant in rows, 4 inches apart with the pointed end upwards.

Adam ends the show saying how he is on a mission to 'Dig for Victory' for his family.

He wants to encourages us all to get outside in your garden, to just enjoy it, whether gardening, or just listening to the birds sing.

Previous Episode 🍓 Next Episode

Gardeners' World 2020 Episode 4: 10 April 2020

No comments:

Post a Comment

TV Gardeners

Gardening TV Shows