Gardeners' World 2020 Episode 8: 08 May 2020

Monty Don Welcomes us to a very wet, soggy Longmeadow and Gardeners' World 2020.

Monty is busy putting plant supports on his peonies because of the heavy rain.

Annuals
Monty is on the mound planting out Nicotiana 'Lime Green' a tobacco plant that he has grown from some old seeds.

It has a musky smell and yellow flowers.

He is also planting Marigolds 'Alumia Vanilla Cream' with its pale yellow flowers.

Wisteria
Chris Lane from Sittingbourne in Kent grows the most amazing Wisteria.

Gardeners' World visited him last year.

The Chinese Wisteria and 'Yama Fuji' Wisteria from Japan produce the most amazing scent and flowers.

They are members of the Legume family along with Sweet Peas.

The flower stem is called a raceme and start flowering from the top to the bottom.

There are 4 different species of Wisteria, the commonest being Wisteria Sinensis that originally came from China and is an early flowerer.

The mound
Monty is back on the mound admiring the 2 planting beds he put in last year when he removed the paving.

In the Autumn he planted out 'Honky Tonk' and 'Budlight' Tulips which are both pale yelow and look amazing growing through the blue of the Forget Me Nots.

Vegetable Garden
Monty in his vegetable beds digging up some carrots he planted last year.

Because of the wet Winter they are still fine, they have not gone woody and they have found them to be very tasty.

Rachel De Thame has been making her own Kitchen Garden.

The last time we visited her new walled garden she was planting her Apple Cordons in Episode 3 and they are doing well and are in flower.

She is going to remove the baby apples when they appear to make sure all the energy goes into the new trees.

Rachel has started off lots of plants in her cold frame but her Tomato plants have been a disaster.

She has been using old seeds and has the same problem with her sweet peas, another disaster.

Rachel now has the garden of her dreams and after a lot of hard work the raised beds are all in and ready for planting.

She has the Sugarsnap Peas that she sowed in her old guttering.

They are not sliding out as easily as she hoped so gets some out in bits, before sliding the rest out.

They just need some twigs for them to cling to and can add some netting if the pigeons spot them.

Rachel has grown some Shallots that are ready too.

Next she has some random seeds, we are all having that problem this year.

First she sows 2 rows of Little Gem Lettuce and will stagger sow some more in a few weeks.

Those and the other transplanted plants all get watered in.

Rachel wants a traditional kitchen garden so 2 beds will be for flowers she can cut for the house.

A whole bed is devoted to Dahlias, Rachel has grown to love them and they will do well in the sheltered walled garden.

'Bishop of Oxford' is her first choice as its quite short with single orangey red flowers.

She plants the tubers in rich soil in rows.

Plum Tree
In the Cottage Garden Monty is going to add a 'Gold Dust' Plum Tree which has yellow fruit and usually is grown in a pot.

This means its suitable for a small garden but Monty is planting his in the bed.

In the area he already has Crabapples, gooseberries and Rhubarb.

Fruit trees that are grown on dwarf root stock need good drainage as the roots do not spread far, so in a pot they will need grit.

The graft is high on the stem meaning it is a miniature standard and will be a maximum of 5 foot tall.

Acers
Monty planted his Acer last year and it has survived the Winter.

Acers do not like drought or wind.

He is giving it a much that is ericaceous, composted Bracken but pine bark would work too.

Maples prefer Acidic soil.

Zinnias
Monty sowed his Zinnia 'Orange King' seeds in Episode 5 for the Jewel Garden.

They do come in lots of different colours they are great in borders and for cut flowers.

They are tender though so need to be sown and grown on under cover, finally they can be pricked out before planting outside when the weather is warmer.

The plant has to have its true leaves before they can be pricked out and you need to hold them by these and not by the stem.

You need some sort of tool to ease the plant out with, Monty uses an old knife and you need to make sure you get all the roots.

He puts the seedling in a half filled pot and fills it up, you shouldn't firm this with your fingers as it will damage the roots.

Let it settle in the pot and water it and put in the cold frame.

They will be ready to plant out in 3- 4 weeks time.

How to build a cold frame
Nick Bailey shows us how to build your own cold frame at home from a past programme.

To make your own budget cold frame you need some old pallets and some polycarbonate sheets.

The hard job is breaking up the pallet, once this is done you lay them out in your design, with the tallest section at the back and the sides angled so the rain runs off.

Nick has made battens out of the scrap wood to hold it all together.

He cuts the side panels so they slope and joins them all together with brackets.

He drills through the poly carbonate sheet and secures it to the frame with cable ties, he also makes loops of cable ties at the front to secure on a screw to keep it closed.

The best place to site the frame is against a south facing wall in a sheltered area.

Ventilation is important as they can get very hot and a simple block of wood to hold the lid open works well.

Planting out Tomatoes
Monty is mixing compost using a bought in peat free compost, sieved garden compost and some grit.

He is using this mix to plant out the Tomatoes that he started off in January.

Monty sowed some other tomatoes in last week programme Episode 7 and they will be ready in 6-8 weeks.

The leaves are starting to turn yellow so they are more than ready to be planted out as it is sign they are suffering.

The variety is Merveille Des Marches and is a beefsteak Tomato it does well in a greenhouse and outdoor tomatoes should not go out until mid June.

He has a bucket size plastic pot that he has reused for years.

Tomatoes do need to be planted deep right up to the first leaf.

As they get bigger they will be staked and tied up and will be ready to eat at the end of July.

Runner Beans
Monty is in his potting shed sowing his Runner Beans and he is using the variety Scarlet Emperor.

Runner beans like the British climate and do well other than frosts and being too dry they will put up with all weathers.

He plants then one per plug on their edge and Runners have a long taproot so they do not do well in a seed tray.

You can sow direct but not yet as too early and there is still the risk of frosts.

When these are ready to plant out Monty will put them outside but also plant some seed direct, that way he gets a more staggered harvest.

They will germinate quickly in a greenhouse, coldframe or windowsill and will be ready to plant out in about 4 weeks.

Squashes and Pumpkins
It is now also time for Squashes and Pumpkins to be sown.

There is a huge variety of these available online, of all different shapes, sizes and colours so there will be one to suit you!

If you are growing for Halloween Monty suggests Blue Hubbard which is a very large pumpkin growing up to 20 pounds with an eerie blue skin.

All of these need to be grown in pots, to ensure a good germination rate he sows 2 seeds per pot.

He then will take out the smaller of the 2 seedlings to give the stronger one the best growing conditions.

After putting them somewhere warm they will appear in 10-14 days.

Will Young's Garden
Joe Swift last year went to visit singer and actor Will Young at his parents garden in Cornwall.

Will welcomes Joe and so do his many dogs, he studied at Exeter University so fell in love with Cornwall.

His mother is a garden Designer and moved into the house he bought 6 years ago and she designed the garden.

Will also has a love of garden that started when he was taking his A levels and has gardening jobs to earn money.

Will takes Joe on a tour of the garden, first to his gravel garden that she has grown from cuttings or other plants.

The Clematis is growing on the wire bottom of her mum old cot!

A Dachshund is also planted on the gravel enjoying the heat.

His Dad makes lots of bird boxes that are all around the garden.

He describes himself as a cavalier gardener and just throws things in.

The local Cornish stones makes for some stunning walls and steps.

They sit in one of Will favourite areas with stunning views across the Cornish Valley. They chat about how gardening helps with Will anxiety disorder and his mental health and wellbeing.

When Will was having treatment for his anxiety he self prescribed gardening to himself and took to growing and the nurturing side of it he has found very healing.

Will says 'don't be afraid just start with 1 plant even' its all part of life if it fails just try again and keep going.

He finds the garden calming and inspirational and writes songs in the Shepherds Hut.

His favourite thing to do is to grow from the beginning whether its seeds or bulbs, its so rewarding.

He quotes a friend 'when in doubt garden'.

Dam Garden
The Dam garden with its pond in the centre is looking good despite the heavy rain, the colours are really bright and the pink quince blossom is out, so are the Camassias.

The Viburnum Plicatum Mariesil is outstanding and its layers of white flowers flower for a long time. In Autumn the leaves go a chocolatey burgundy colour.

A few years ago he underplanted it with Solomon's Seal which is now looking great.

Viewers Videos
Aaron Kampe from North Carolina America is an avid viewer.

He shows us his Ground Orchid and a Baby Bigleaf Magnolia which is a large tree when fully grown.

He shows us his tropical area and Catalpa tree he grew from seed.

Aaron shows us his homemade hanging pots he made with a clothes line and terracotta plant pot.

Robyn from Pembrokeshire West Wales has lived in her house for 6 years and previously it was her Grandmas.

Robyn is planting Quinoa, its good for small gardens as it produces a lot.

She is sowing direct, 30cm apart, 1cm deep.

She is also growing Loofahs for the second time and all her friends are expecting them as gifts!

Last year was a disaster but she is trying again!

The Reynolds family from Lutterworth have been doing a lot of gardening with their 3 children.

Mum Vicky welcomes us to their garden, her favourite part is the greenhouse.

They have a lot of vegetables already growing but today they want to share their bean experiment with us.

Using a glass jar, water, kitchen roll and beans, you place the piece of kitchen roll in the jar and use more kitchen roll to fill the centre of the jar.

You pop the bean between the glass side and the kitchen roll and water.

Place on a sunny windowsill and watch and wait for the bean to start growing.

The children have had fun growing them and they are now ready to plant out.

Pinch out Dahlias
Now is the time to remove the leading shoots down to a pair of leaves if you are not ready to plant them out yet.

This will give you more flowers, although delayed but will flower into the Autumn.

Earth up Potatoes
To protect the potatoes from frost or the light they need earthing up with soil or even straw or grass clippings if in raised beds.

Sow Biennials
Flowers like Wallflowers and foxgloves are biennials that flower in their second year so now is the time to sow them for next year.

Sprinkle onto a seed tray or compost and cover lightly with Vermiculite, water and once germinated will overwinter until next year.

Patti, Nellie and Nigel
Patti and Nell have been hiding from the cold and wet all day and now the sunshine is out, so are they.