Monty Don's Real Gardens episode 5

[Music] [Applause] [Music] hello welcome to real gardens well it's been the wettest april since records began but that won't have deterred real gardeners and it certainly hasn't deterred us this week anne-marie is walking the plank with mike and alison let's plant a few carol is practicing floral pest control in diana's vegetable patch and brownie and i are stuck in the mud in her duck pond this house in stockport and its rather muddy back garden belonged to allison buckley and her fiance mike woodall they'll be moving in together after they get married next year on her last visit anne-marie powell helped them to build a raised semicircular vegetable bed out of woven hazel rods as alison is a trained chef a vegetable garden was high on her agenda since then they've already planted it up and made a second matching wattle bed on the other side of the garden this is the first time that ann marie has seen the finished result these look absolutely stunning don't know did it take you a long time to do this uh well actually i didn't have anything to do with this it was mike and my dad but um apparently they did this one probably you'd not slap dash like that one that you did cheeky sod so apparently you did that all by the eye and not leveling it with the spirit level but anyway you've got these potatoes here yes plants these potatoes what's this sticking out here what's that what is it in the soil yeah we panicked so much because we knew he was coming back we didn't have enough time so mike said we'll just drop the bags of compost with the potatoes in and then i would you're not supposed to know that's there where is he anyway is it work he's got to work today yeah he's coming down later so i love him yeah before mike gets back allison is keen to make a start on the wet and wild end of the garden your muscles up to it oh definitely you can see that this area is really boggy and wet isn't it yeah it is and i know you wanted a seating area somewhere down here so i've had to think of a way of actually getting you from here down to there so i thought that we could maybe build a boardwalk a boardwalk what's that well you know that song under the ball you're besting to gardening but what it is really is it's a timber frame and actually raises you above the ground so you don't have to worry about all this boggy and uneven ground all around you but there's tons of ways of doing it so i've had to scratch my head a bit and i think i've come up with a solution right yeah brilliant and that's where your muscles come in right come on the plan is to make the boardwalk out of scaffolding planks cut in half the planks will rest on these large logs partially embedded in the ground so if you just grab one i'll show you how we'll do it do you want me to put this next to this one next to that yeah yep [Music] we'll be laying the planks in pairs side by side but in each junction we'll stagger them to create a slight curve at the garden do you know what i mean so it will wiggle up through like that you see i've had the top cut off this timber so literally you can just screw into a flat surface so but this will really distribute the weight so it's quite heavy and it won't sink because it's long enough right so it's quite nice quite pleased with this [Music] first we're going to work out our curving route by laying out single planks so where am i going then now i think you should go there up here yeah we could have used recycled timber these planks are new but they'll soon weather to a lovely silvery gray so if you come up here and have a look i know they're a bit wonky but you can see you've got that really elongated s kind of shape yes lovely just as the hard graft is about to start the cavalry arrives in the form of mike and his old friend john nice to meet you get a kiss as well hello oh hello lovely darling [Laughter] mike and john's first job is log lugging what about sir emily wherever you are everywhere where two boards meet basically these bricks while the boys lay each log in its place i'm bedding in the first one at the bottom of the garden this will determine the exact position of the others here's that level you wanted tiny little one i can't find a big one pull it do you each log needs to be level and firm otherwise the walk will slope to the side and wobble so we'll have to dig out and build up the uneven ground beneath each one until it's securely embedded can i just ask you what are the planks being laid that way yeah because they always imagined a boardwalk that the planks should be lay that way yeah i mean you can have it either way it doesn't matter there's no rules you can do whatever you want but this way there's far less cuts so it's quicker and you've got much more sort of resonance as you come down here i mean it's pointing your way down into the garden isn't it what's resonance [Music] that looks better doesn't it it's time to bed in all the other logs and align the boards can you just help us line these up yeah just with your eyes bitter john each pair of planks must be kept straight so that our gentle curve takes shape as we planned [Music] the boards are all no longer than six foot to ensure the walk is pleasantly springy without being dangerously bouncy what do you think from up here i prefer a step take the last two planks out and put a step in yeah i'm happy with that it's fine so we'll lose these planks you smack it across this log will mark the beginning of our walk so unlike the others it'll look smarter if the planks are centered on it it'll look even better with mike's step now alison is it lined up that's nice isn't it that bark there right at let's have a look yeah that is not going to get it any better than that right because we need a gap in between these planks otherwise they'll warp what we'll need to do is we can just move them apart there and then put this stick in and that'll keep all the gaps the same we can mark a line so when we screw we won't lose the lines so if you go up there and start doing those then you can drill behind can't you okay and i'll screw billy thanks we have to use screws because nails would work loose with all the bouncing these screws are galvanized to avoid rusting this boardwalk will be the perfect pathway through the jungly bog loving planting that mike and alison are planning especially when it's weathered to a softer hue i reckon we should try it out don't you you're good for some all right then it's good isn't it brilliant angry yeah the only thing missing is there's some really big luscious bog planting in there love to get some how does that mean we get a day out shopping [Music] bryony jaclyn spends every spare moment in her norfolk garden her children also give her a hand from time to time and she's constantly taking on new projects in her three acre plot fortunately she can combine gardening with her role as carer for her musician husband martin who suffers from a debilitating spinal injury last time i was here briani and i began the job of creating what she calls her randall in the lawn alongside her driveway and with the help of her son christopher we dug up the inner beds and began planting box in the center circle oh you've done a lot more yeah it's all dug and ready no i don't mean doug i mean you've added to it there's more of it yeah stood back at the end of the afternoon and it it needed an extra ring you're power mad you are crazy big mad are we going to plant this today no this is going to wait now first flush of weeds they'll germinate hoe them off and then we're going to have a look at the pond today okay what are we going to do well a lot of weeds come out and things to go in briana's pond is in a low-lying area of the garden which floods naturally when she moved in it was just a boggy area surrounding a willow which is enlarged and transformed into a proper pond now it's time for a spring clean is this the best time to do this i think it's a wee bit early but there's a duck sitting on a clutch of eggs and she's about to hatch any day she won't mind me pottering now but she will do when they all hatch so the first job is to remove the weed is it yeah it normally dies down in the winter but it's been so mild it's um become a bit of a nuisance really well i hope i look as fetching as i think you're gonna look wearing those she told me she said that my bum looks bigger than this whereas when i put mine on i will start a fashion craze how about that oh i think mine belonged to someone else do you normally wear rubber is that how deep is it it's not very it's a thick layer of sludge on the bottom so what is this weed i don't know it's some kind of willow herb do you compost this yeah i do well first i let the bugs crawl out so we'll leave it here for a little while all these little lymphs how does it take them to crawl back in well a few hours right but they're all part of a greater food chain you don't want to no no i'm not anti-nymphs at all i like a nice young limb oh look at this that looks like a turd it's a water lily it's growing absolutely yeah i've never grown a water lily in my life well you've got a pond i failed to see the attraction of a pond you know watching a few beetles scum around on a bit of scummy water it's not my idea of fun i think you think a bit rude now that the dragonflies are this big i like really big ponds i mean you can make this twice the size couldn't you actually i'd love to start again with the knowledge i've got now i found that one of the hardest things was to think on this huge scale because i had a tiny garden in london bryony clears her pond out three or four times over the summer and although we've made it all muddy in a few hours the mud will have settled again okay we've entered it now what are we going to put in what we've got we've got some lovely things here it didn't look very lovely to me this is really interesting are you trying to tell me that that looks lovely it's fred mighty's the norfolk breed for some strange reason the rhizomes clean the water not only is it lovely but it is virtuous as well so i'm going to cut this up what else you got well this is glyceria right the same effect yeah and then we've got a deep water one this is a waterhall thorn these leaves float on the surface so it got to try and get the level right for that okay all these plants have to cope with ducks trampling over them so they need to be secured if they're to become established so where are we going to put these well i think birds will appreciate a bit of cover here and it's you can feel it's quite shallow so just up against the bank like that yeah if they're half in and half out then they'll always stay moist and just pin them with these literally peg them in yes that does work i like that do you think she's going to tolerate me getting so close probably she's just not really fussing at all she's a good girl brownie wants to use glyceria to strike mana grass to help prevent the ducks from treading down the banks i see we're quite shallow again here oh right up here yeah no big hole i want to plant this one directly in okay so yeah anywhere along here be fine did you puddle this when you made it what do you mean cuddle it put clay all over no so what's stopping it just drain away it's actually spring fed from the corner so once it was dug it just literally filled up do you want to split that well we could do could actually get through it for that but i think with the disturbance of the ducks we're better as one you're right we want the weight now what we're going to do is stick this through the middle like that aren't we yeah like an anchor it'll sit in the ground without pinning it to it and you won't see any of that in the water okay do you want another sticker is one in there no that's fine that's absolutely great that's it right that's in place lovely the water hawthorne needs to be raised up on a log so that its leaves can reach the surface it's surprisingly floaty that's on the bottom now okay right we've got the gravel on top of course to stop the ducks and the fish nibbling away at the roots provided the ducks don't knock it over the water hawthorn will have white flowers by the autumn i'm out so this is the pog gun yeah it's just starting to perk up yeah it is isn't it but the uh kalphas look fantastic yeah they're lovely i like the ligularia is that desdemona yes it is and what's under here gunnera now this poor thing has been disturbed by the ducks and it's just been caught by the frost i always thought norfolk was a warm place it is it's not it's bitter it's freezing never normally like this you use straw i use fleece is there a reason for that yeah you buy fleece i have straw free because i know a lot of people find it difficult to get hold of straw yeah well anything would be the important thing is is to keep it covered until frost has passed i can tell you next time i'm not coming if it's cold no i should just stay in bed i don't want you to come because we're going to think about summer next year really what we're going to do we're going to look at grasses and make a summer meadow carrots are beetroot after the break it's time to sort out the vegetable patch with carol and diana and their little band of helpers thank you very much indeed welcome back at this time of year the weeds are growing faster than anything and if you're an organic gardener like i am there's nothing else you can do about it but just hand weed and i use a hoe a lot this is a dutch hoe which just slices through the weeds but it will only do that if it's kept sharp and i always carry a file with me whenever i ho and just every few minutes just sharpen it up like a knife and then it will cut through the weeds really well there are a number of different types of hose you could use this is quite good because it's got three edges and that means you can get in there amongst the plants and delicately work around them but if you've got plants that you really value and they're very close together i find this one's really good it's an american one it's called a circle hoe and the cutting edge is there and you work it like that pulling it towards you and because of this outer ring nothing else but the weeds inside are going to get cut now carol is off to felixster where she's seeing diana harold plus a few members of her family diana is a retired teacher but she's always busy whether it's working in her garden or looking after her granddaughters who love spending time with her tess that's a plant those long ones on her last visit carol helped diana make a path through her woodland area with bark chippings and timber stepping stones it's helped to create a magical playground for the girls they love it they love that path push chairs have gone round the wheelbarrow has gone round the children have gone round i don't feel too precious about my garden they can do what they like because of course i love them desperately so if something gets broken off it'll come again next year i'm not too worried about it since carol was last here diana has started work on the paths around her vegetable patch she's enlisted the help of her son conrad and her daughter becky who spent most of their easter break shifting hardcore but then they're used to being called in to help with the heavier work in their mum's garden if you come around to visit she's normally in the garden as opposed to in the house she calls it pottering pottery apart from bits we do quite stressful aren't they yeah yeah hard work that is with the new path done diana and carol can now get on with planting into the vegetable beds but first they're digging in lots of well-rotted manure look at that super i mean this is the whole idea of these deep beds that you just take out yeah take out a spitter soil break up that subsoil yes and then incorporate any bulky organic matter and it's going to give your vegetables this fantastic deep root run we're putting back the topsoil that we removed earlier being careful not to dig it in so that the rich manure remains at a deeper level and will draw the roots down once diana has planted her vegetables now you won't be able to plant in this for at least a week maybe a little longer these deep beds mean no compaction never ever walk on it just let it get on with it so all those little air pockets will just have to gradually disappear and settle diana's got one bed which she prepared a couple of weeks ago which is now ready for planting surrounded by its new path what a difference it makes they must have taken it forever they did a very aristocratic looking path oh they are suitable for you so what are you going to plant where well that beautiful bit there is for the more delicate right fine tilth the fine till and i want to put some potatoes in right and because it's a deep bed i can put quite a lot in you can put them very close together that's a great advantage of deep beds they can be really intensively cultivated let's go and have a look what you've got yes you're not going to be ever so thrilled i'm afraid not all of diana's seedlings have been successful but a beetroot and carrots look very hopeful right carrots are beetroot madam i think speak truth if you can get them out of those modules theoretically it's it's easy it's a cinch diane has sewn her beetroot in multiples of five or six into the modules we're planting them in a clump not bothering to thin them out they'll simply jostle for space well you've grown these beautifully that's a good job something beautifully isn't it so what we're going to do next the carrots yes long carrots tend to fork if they come into contact with manure but these patio carrots are small and round and the roots will stay close to the surface it's really important with carrots that you minimise any sort of bruising of the stems or leaves because it's a smell that attracts the carrot fly i've heard that you can put boards up at the sides because they fly low and don't get the scent you can do all sorts of things physical barriers are the best mesh or um fleece special sort of agri fleece that you plonk on the top next into the bed are seed potatoes diana's encouraged them to sprout by chitting them leaving them in a cool light place for about six weeks dug a trench about eight inches deep and we're adding a bit of extra muck to increase the yield no passes are spud loose thank you how many do you think we'll get in this trench about four sprouty end up as long as you sprouts up you're okay these are first earlies aren't they yes these are pentlum javelin right well we're not very early but i think i think we're in time and they'll give you a crop of really good new potatoes which is all i'm after not too many yeah just a few delicious ones delicious straight out of the ground into the pot so this should be a little raised because we've put all that extra muck underneath and then as the potatoes develop and you start to see the shoots protect them by earthing them up a bit more and they won't go green the organic way to control pests is to use companion planting the theory is that these chives will not only look pretty around the vegetable bed but the smell will deter the dreaded carrot fly from attacking diana's crop here come the girls with the flowers wonderful and i've got these tajitis they're not my favorite flower no they're not terribly you are they no but they have this wonderful smell don't they that puts bugs off the marigold's large open flowers will also attract hoverflies whose larvae are predators of the gardener's number one enemy the aphid come on girls never mind passing them come on let's plant a few that's it put your troll down and use your hands put them in all along the edge that's it and then those pretty flowers are actually going to stop all these nasty bugs chomping on your non's potatoes well what a fantastic job you've done that's absolutely brilliant that's all we've got time for this week and we shall be back next week because you're getting a double dose of brookside but in a fortnight's time we'll be back as normal when anne-marie is going to go shopping for plants with lisa the rhs show at westminster and carol is getting all fruity with adrian and debbie down in devon and i'll be back here with brownie who's throwing things at me where we're making a wildflower meadow i'll see you then bye-bye

Channel: Gardening HDclump

Views: 83,951

Keywords: gardeners world 2021, garden, gardening, monty don, Monty Don's Real Gardens

Id: xhZN29zHe3k

Length: 23min 31sec (1411 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021