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all states and situations. Hello,

1:24

I'm Cathy Clugston, and this is Gardner's

1:27

Question Time from BBC Radio 4. So

1:30

grab those secateurs or sit back and

1:32

relax however you like to listen and

1:34

enjoy the next 45 minutes of

1:36

great tips, advice, and dubious

1:39

horticultural humour. Hello

1:42

and welcome to Gardner's Question Time. This week

1:44

we're in Bearwood near Birmingham. We've had a

1:46

look and we can't find any bears here,

1:48

but there are a couple of woods. Worley

1:51

Woods is a 100-acre park designed by

1:54

Humphrey Repton not far from here, and

1:56

Lightwoods Park is to the west. Lightwoods Park was built

1:59

in 1934. historically the grind of

2:01

Lightwood's Hice, an 18th century grade

2:03

two listed private mansion now owned

2:06

and managed by Sandwell Council. The

2:08

park has a skateboard ramp, a bowling green

2:11

and a walled garden called the Shakespeare Garden

2:13

which was founded in 1915 and features every

2:16

identifiable plant in the bard's work.

2:19

Things like wild thyme and willow, pansies and

2:21

fennel. I'm not sure how they've labelled a

2:23

rose by any other name. My

2:26

favourite is from the Merry Wives of Windsor

2:28

when full staff says I was as crestfallen

2:30

as a dried pear. Well

2:32

no glum faces we hope today. Here

2:35

to answer our audience's questions from

2:37

Rutland garden designer Matthew Wilson, from

2:39

Oxford Botanic Garden, Dr Chris Thoregood

2:42

and from Devon house plant expert

2:44

Anne Swivenbank. Your sweet smelling garden's

2:46

question time pommel. Barely

2:57

a program goes by where we don't

2:59

talk about beneficial plants for pollinating insects

3:02

but there's another airborne garden friend that

3:04

needs some love from us gardeners. We'll

3:06

find out what and how a little

3:08

later. But for now here in Bearwood

3:11

who has our first question? Good afternoon

3:13

my name is Sue Bloomer and I'm from Hailzer

3:15

in a few miles down the road. What's

3:18

the best way to deter wood

3:20

life from hiding underneath my outdoor

3:23

pots? Excellent the

3:25

in for GQT Sue Bloomer, thank you

3:27

so much. Do we want to deter

3:29

a wood life? Personally I don't know

3:31

I'm quite happy to live alongside my wood life. I

3:33

call them diddemy dots which is what my aunt used

3:35

to call them and I

3:38

don't believe that they are doing a significant

3:40

amount of damage to my plants and I

3:42

just think they're all part of the rich

3:44

ecosystem so I leave them well alone. What's

3:46

annoying you about them Sue? Just their presence. I

3:48

decided to have a tidy up over the

3:50

weekend and I found a lot under a

3:52

lot of my pots and

3:54

I had the feeling that they've been eating some

3:56

of my heli balls but I may have got

3:59

that wrong. They have very small mouth

4:01

parts. That's something that Pippa Greenwood has

4:03

always said. And I've heard other entomologists

4:05

say that and they get blamed for

4:08

sort of chewing at things, but I

4:10

think they mainly eat rotting and decaying

4:12

things. So if they're eating

4:14

the roots and tissues of plants, they're

4:16

usually already a little bit dead

4:18

and decaying. Christa Raghoud, you were nodding along with

4:20

Anne. Do you agree? I do.

4:22

And also to put this into context,

4:25

so last November I was on an

4:27

expedition in Sumatra and we were

4:29

going through the rainforest and there they have

4:31

what they call pill millipedes. They're not woodlice,

4:33

but they look like them. Only they're the

4:35

size when they curl up of tennis

4:38

balls and they run all over the forest

4:40

floor. Meanwhile, there's some

4:42

other millipedes there that are like small snakes and

4:44

they bite and they leave a horrible smell on

4:46

your hands. So these sound

4:49

quite tame compared with those. But

4:53

actually I completely agree with Anne. I wouldn't be

4:55

worried about them at all. They're not gonna do any

4:57

harm. And sometimes they congregate in quite large numbers under

4:59

the pots, it sounds like they might be for

5:01

you, but just don't worry about them. You

5:03

agree, Matthew? Yes. The

5:06

object lesson here is Sue, don't

5:08

tidy up your garden. Oh.

5:11

We're not fans of tidying up on the programme. Live,

5:14

live, Sue. We love the woodlice. Like it.

5:16

Thank you very much for that. Let's move

5:18

on. Hello there. Hello. Another

5:21

Sue from Hailfairy. I

5:23

planted some, I had some cuttings

5:25

of hydrangeas in the summer. I

5:28

planted them in 15 centimetre pots.

5:31

And I'm wondering how I can keep them going

5:33

during the winter. Okay, are these the

5:35

regular kind of mock head type of hydrangeas? Yes, yes.

5:37

Very popular, we had quite a few questions. Can I

5:39

see a show of hands as to who is growing

5:41

hydrangea in this audience? Wow,

5:43

everyone. Yeah, pretty funny. It would have been easier who

5:45

is at least sort of 70%. So

5:48

cuttings, how do we keep them over the winter and

5:51

for the bank? It's so satisfying,

5:53

isn't it, to root cuttings from your plants and

5:55

you can make nice good patches of them and

5:58

give them away to friends. I've also. rooted

6:00

hydrangeas, ordinary mop-headed hydrangeas and I just keep

6:02

them in their pots in a fairly sheltered

6:05

part of the garden just so that they're

6:07

out of the way, usually along the side

6:09

of the greenhouse, a kind of standing area.

6:11

Well they're outside the greenhouse but they're in

6:14

a sheltered area where it's a sort of

6:16

a patio-like area so they're not being blown

6:18

by the wind and knocked over and maybe

6:21

they're not going to get quite as frosted

6:23

as in other parts of the garden but

6:25

they're very hardy they'll be absolutely fine and

6:27

then you know obviously you can either pop

6:30

them on or find homes to plant them out next

6:32

year. So most of this of common variety

6:35

is pretty hardy Chris. Yeah and actually I

6:37

think you've so you've already done the difficult bit

6:39

which is rooting them it sounds. I was expecting

6:41

the question to be how can I root these

6:43

hydrangea cuttings but it sounds like they've established for

6:45

you. Yes they've done very well. Then I

6:48

think congratulations and I would

6:50

just sort of give them a little bit

6:52

of kindness so over the winter as Anne

6:55

says put them somewhere sheltered because they're smaller

6:57

obviously than the parent plant and so for

6:59

that reason they might be a little bit

7:01

more sensitive or tender but other than that

7:03

I wouldn't really be worried about them or

7:05

do anything particularly special. If we have a

7:07

terrible winter then they might they might fall

7:09

foul of that but we can't plan for

7:11

that. So I think I would just be

7:13

feeling proud in the fact that you've got

7:15

these cuttings to root and establish and I

7:18

imagine they'll be fine. I think

7:20

the important word here is established because

7:22

quite a lot of people make the

7:24

mistake of potting things up from their

7:26

cuttings tray or potting them on a

7:28

little bit too late in the season

7:30

and then they don't go into winter

7:32

with an established root system so it's

7:34

really important to make sure that your

7:37

overwintering plants have got that and to

7:39

leave any last-minute potting until the following

7:41

year if necessary so hopefully they've got

7:43

a really good sort of established root

7:45

system in their pots. All

7:47

right thank you Sue. Thank you. Let's

7:49

take our next question. garden.

8:01

It's in the most stupid place

8:03

and you can imagine. I don't know why

8:05

I did it. So

8:08

I have to take it out now but

8:10

I do like it and I do love

8:12

the flowers and so I'd like to keep

8:14

a bit of it to plant somewhere else

8:16

in the garden which is more sensible. So

8:18

how do I take a cutting from a

8:20

Moroccan bloom? And when you say it's in

8:22

a stupid place, why is it stupid? It's

8:24

the house wall on the other side of

8:26

the road so it's south facing and it

8:28

gets loads of sunlight and I planted a

8:30

grapevine there which is

8:32

now doing really, really, really well

8:35

except for the bit where the Moroccan broom is right

8:37

in front of it. Okay,

8:39

so that needs to be moved somewhere. Yes, there

8:41

isn't room for both of them. Can you tell

8:43

us a bit about the Moroccan broom, Chris Thoregood?

8:46

We're talking about cetite scissor... are

8:48

we talking about... I can't help this. Dr Chris.

8:50

Sorry Chris. Yes, it's got

9:03

lovely yellow flowers. The one that

9:05

smells of pineapple, right? Cetices spattendieri. We're

9:09

talking about Cetices spattendieri, the pineapple-scented

9:11

broom. It's a beautiful thing. We

9:13

have one at Oxford Botanic Garden.

9:16

It's got... Silvery leaves. Silvery leaves,

9:18

exactly, which helps it cope

9:20

with hot and dry conditions that it

9:23

faces in its native Morocco. And it's

9:25

a lovely shrub. You've got it in

9:27

a good place it sounds like, even though you

9:29

don't want it there, Jane, because it's south facing

9:31

and it will love all of that sun. I've

9:34

never taken cuttings of this plant but

9:36

I've taken cuttings of similar things. And

9:39

my approach to that would be

9:42

to take semi-ripe

9:44

cuttings next early

9:46

summer, probably. I wouldn't take them too

9:49

woody, nor would I take them too soft

9:51

and sappy, somewhere in between. And

9:54

then I would be quite scientific and

9:56

meticulous about this. So I'd follow the

9:58

rules of good hygiene. a clean knife

10:01

and I'd cut at a diagonal where

10:03

you meet a leaf node and you

10:06

take a cutting about yahai sort of

10:08

20-30 centimeters and I

10:10

would take off most of the foliage

10:13

because the cutting of course doesn't

10:15

have any roots and therefore it's not able to

10:17

service those leaves so you'll want to chop off

10:19

most of the leaves and be quite barbaric about

10:21

that take most of them off and

10:24

the other advice I'd have for you with these

10:26

cuttings is to take lots of them because the

10:28

likelihood is that if you take one it

10:30

won't work and sometimes when I've taken cuttings

10:32

of difficult shrubs or calcigent things that don't

10:34

want to root I've taken 20 or 30

10:36

if you've got enough of them

10:38

in the hope that one or two might might root

10:40

and then you can establish them so so I think

10:43

safety in numbers for this one so

10:45

you could as well as taking

10:47

cuttings and layering you could also

10:49

when I've done this on a

10:51

few occasions you could espalier your

10:54

cytosis so you could reduce

10:56

the height and you could take

10:58

out quite a lot of the stems leave

11:00

a few and train them in horizontally on

11:03

on bamboo or you know

11:05

stake them down with wire and

11:07

that way you don't need to dig it out and move it yeah

11:10

and you have the conscience only

11:12

espalier Jane's not impressed

11:15

by this you

11:17

want some I don't

11:19

know why sometimes no the first side of

11:21

the house is mainly glass there's very little

11:23

actual oh

11:26

well thanks for trying Matthew it's

11:28

an idea fine we need to get up you can

11:30

send it my way thank you send

11:32

it to Matthew and tick coming from the

11:35

rest thanks Jane who's next good

11:37

afternoon my name is Sue Devall from

11:40

the St Mary's Bearwood gardening group we've

11:43

got a sizable east facing flower

11:45

bed at the church adjacent to Bearwood

11:47

high street it's been

11:50

dominated by four rows of Sharon

11:52

bushes blocking sight of the whole bed

11:55

and we're moving them back to create

11:57

space what would the panel recommend

11:59

to provide year-round interest for

12:01

all the passers-by on the high

12:03

street. So Matthew, what would you do

12:06

in this space? Well I'd completely get rid of the roses, I

12:08

wouldn't move them back, I'd get them, I'd

12:10

lose them, sorry. That's

12:12

fine. I'd be in the most

12:14

dreadful, awful, awful. Say

12:17

what you mean, Matthew. Well, I can't help myself,

12:19

you know me. You know, I mean, you know,

12:21

they're just about passable in a supermarket car park,

12:24

but that's only because they get trodden on regularly

12:26

and it stops them getting too big. So

12:30

you're moving them somewhere out of sight perhaps? I

12:33

mean, the issue that I have with them

12:35

is that they spread. And so, you know,

12:38

if you move them, you're going to find

12:40

probably in four or five years' time, you're

12:43

back in another GQT audience asking what you

12:45

can do about your hypericums that

12:47

are spread and completely filled your bed. But

12:50

I understand that if your budget doesn't allow you

12:52

to, you know, you have to recycle, then so

12:54

be it. But I wouldn't just move the four,

12:56

I'd actually chop them up and divide them, because

12:58

they will divide. They've got, you know, quite sort

13:00

of fibrous roots, and that will

13:02

help to reduce their overall vigor for

13:05

a while. In that sort

13:07

of setting, I'd like to see, I suppose,

13:09

almost kind of woodland edge

13:11

plants, like hellebores and ferns,

13:14

things like Dryopteris rethrosaurae, which

13:16

has bronzy footage and fronds rather,

13:18

and always looks wonderful with the

13:20

sort of darker hellebores, of

13:23

which there are many. I mean, you

13:25

could go crazy with hellebores. Onfaloides

13:27

cherry ingram, which is a beautiful

13:29

ground-covering plant with wonderful

13:32

blue flowers, vibrant blue

13:34

flowers. What else would I put

13:37

in there? You could put things like some

13:39

of the early flowering dwarf cherries,

13:41

you know, the cherry,

13:44

the shrub type, I kind of never remember the name

13:46

of it, one with a long Japanese name. Oh,

13:48

I know the one. You know the one you mean? In price for

13:50

Kojo Nomai. First, a fella. Yeah.

13:53

There we go. Is this very well behaved, doesn't grow fast? It

13:55

doesn't grow fast. Exactly. So perfect.

13:58

Yes, that's right. I would

14:00

go down that route, I think, lots of bulbs,

14:02

because bulbs are such great value and they're not

14:04

going to stretch your budget. They're pence to buy,

14:07

and you can get a long season of interest

14:09

out of bulbs. Write the word up to alliums,

14:11

because even though it's east facing, one

14:14

of the more vigorous alliums will do perfectly

14:16

well in their nectar of scaldum, which is

14:18

a relative of allium with nodding heads,

14:20

with sort of almost cuter-colored flowers.

14:23

That's really how we'd go down. And if your

14:25

budget will allow, get rid of the rose of

14:27

Sharon. Antwerpen

14:30

bank. I always think that I should hate

14:32

rose of Sharon until they flower, and I

14:34

look at their flowers, and I think, actually,

14:36

just because you're common, do I really need

14:39

to hate you? Because the flower is quite

14:41

extraordinary, isn't it? And a bright yellow, I

14:44

might keep one, because you do need

14:46

a bit of shrubbiness in there. Otherwise,

14:48

I totally agree. I think going the

14:50

woodland style is

14:52

going to suit that east-facing site really

14:55

well. Okay, you might not get

14:57

a sort of bank of color, but the plants

14:59

will like it. So yes, the ferns,

15:01

and I thought Solomon's seal, nice big

15:04

patches of that. Geranium phaeum, which is

15:06

the morning widow type of Geranium quite

15:08

high. Honesty, big patches of

15:10

honesty that will then sell seed through

15:12

the border. They like it in a

15:15

east-facing situation. Digitalis lutea, which

15:17

is a very modest kind of

15:19

foxglove that will again sell seed

15:21

and also likes that kind of

15:23

situation. But it's not as big

15:25

and showy and doesn't need as

15:27

much replacing as the ordinary type

15:29

of foxglove. That sort of light, I can

15:31

imagine it with that sort of early

15:33

morning light slanting through it and things

15:35

glinting, bowls golden grass, that would be

15:37

another one, nice to have weaving through

15:40

it. Yeah, that kind of very light

15:42

airy would be lovely. So

15:44

if it was a bit sunnier, I know someone

15:46

who's got a fine Moroccan broom going. You could

15:48

put that. Anything

15:51

else you would add to this lovely list of

15:53

woodland plants? I love the suggestions

15:56

we've heard, particularly the digitalis, actually

15:58

the digitalis lutea. couple

16:00

more to that list. So there's digitalis grandiflora,

16:02

which is, it's like our purple foxglove, but

16:04

it's a sort of pastel lemony yellow colour

16:06

and you don't see it very often actually in

16:08

gardens, but I think that one's beautiful as a

16:10

woodland plant and there are others as well, digitalis

16:13

ferroguinea, which has a sort of rust coloured

16:15

spike of flowers and I think it will

16:17

really attract attention. It's the kinds of plants

16:19

that people walk past and think, gosh, what's

16:21

that? I really want to know what that

16:23

plant is. Hope that sounds good,

16:25

Sue. Great, thank you. Thank

16:27

you and thanks, panel. More questions from

16:29

our audience here in Bearwood in the

16:31

Midlands soon. All our expert

16:33

panelists here on GQT, as you know, are

16:36

horticultural superheroes, but there's one in

16:38

particular that santies himself as a bit of a

16:40

Batman. Matt Biggs is crazy

16:42

about bats and worryingly their numbers have

16:44

declined over the last 50 years. Matt

16:47

went along to the bat conservation

16:49

trust in, where else? Buster C,

16:52

to discover how gardeners can help.

16:57

I'm here at the bats

16:59

conservation trust with the honorary

17:01

education officer, Shirley Thompson, MBE,

17:03

to find out more about

17:05

Britain's bats and what gardeners can

17:08

do to help them. So, Shirley,

17:10

let's start off with numbers. How

17:12

many British species are there? Well,

17:14

in the UK we have 17 breeding

17:17

species. Worldwide there are an awful lot

17:19

more and different ones will

17:21

be living in different places. One

17:24

thing that's fascinated me for

17:26

years is echo location.

17:29

Tell me more about it. Well, if

17:31

you just listen to the word itself,

17:33

locating things by their echoes, which is

17:36

exactly what bats do. As they fly

17:38

they send their pulses of

17:40

sound and they listen to the echoes

17:42

that come back, just as they found it on the railway

17:44

bridge you would hear an echo back, and

17:47

they can judge from those echoes

17:49

distance speed. They can even amazingly

17:51

select the insects that they're trying

17:53

to find, because of course that's

17:55

what they need. I mean

17:57

their echo location is both for five years.

18:00

for finding their food and for

18:02

finding their way. So

18:04

if they hear an echo, that from

18:06

an insect is quite different to

18:08

the echo from a tree. They're incredibly

18:10

agile in flight, I've noticed. And

18:12

they're always seem big. They

18:15

do, yes. Now, you say they're agile, they

18:17

are, but again, that would depend on species.

18:19

You're probably thinking of pippa shells, which are

18:22

the ones we most often see in

18:24

the garden, and they do. They

18:26

dodge around, dodge around really quickly.

18:28

When they look, the pippa shells look about the

18:30

size of a sparrow. And

18:33

it's quite difficult, and it still amazes

18:35

me. And if I see one in

18:37

the hand, you could actually put an

18:39

adult pippa shell in a matchbox.

18:43

Because what you're seeing when they fly is

18:45

nearly all wing. When you mention

18:47

bass to people, they might not necessarily

18:49

want them in their gardens. I mean,

18:51

you think of horror films,

18:53

and they've got quite a stigma. Is

18:56

that justified? Not at all,

18:59

no. You should welcome them to garden. And

19:01

especially these days when we're much more

19:03

conscious of that we shouldn't

19:06

be using pesticides and insecticides and that

19:08

sort of thing. Bats

19:10

are our natural predators on the

19:12

insects that we don't want there.

19:15

So we should welcome that. And also,

19:17

as a typical, the joy

19:19

of just knowing that you're

19:21

opening up your garden to these amazing

19:24

creatures. Think

19:26

about the gardening side of things, because we're all pretty gardeners. Oh, yes,

19:28

for me as we head all back. That's

19:30

trouble with that, you see. There's so much

19:33

we don't know, and we're still learning all

19:35

the time, that it's great. But yeah,

19:37

gardeners are so important because we

19:39

go back to insects again. So

19:42

what should gardeners be providing for

19:44

them? Well, they need to grow

19:47

the plants that will attract the

19:49

insects. So think, what

19:51

can you grow in your

19:53

garden? You know, Baguinia, Snowdrops,

19:55

Cocosys, really early flowers. You

19:58

tend not to think of that as a flower. flower

20:00

time, but it's so important that

20:02

her flowers that would attract

20:04

the insects at that time of year.

20:07

Are there, say, like the Kumpasite family,

20:09

you know, all the Daisy family, are

20:11

they particularly good or the Unbelifers? They're

20:14

particularly good. You want to grow

20:16

some light peoposites that

20:18

will attract the tiny insects and

20:20

the umbellasites, they're like landing capsules

20:22

for tiny insects. Perfect. Now that's

20:24

just right for Pippa's girls. What

20:27

you're really saying to us is grow

20:30

as wide of a variety of plants

20:32

as you possibly can from as early

20:35

in the year to as late in

20:37

the autumn that will

20:39

attract insects. That's right. And if

20:41

you can have some water there

20:43

as well, that expands the number

20:46

of species you can attract too.

20:48

I would like people just to realise

20:51

how much joy people get

20:53

just from watching bats to go

20:55

out in the garden in the

20:57

evening and see them in the

20:59

half light sitting about, get

21:01

wonderful messages from people, how exciting

21:03

they found it to watch them.

21:05

And bats are so much a

21:08

part of our, you know, our

21:10

natural environment and gardeners can play

21:12

a huge part in encouraging them

21:14

and conserving them. Matt

21:18

Biggs with Shirley Thompson, MBE of the

21:20

Kent Bat Group and author of the

21:22

first ever book on gardening for bats.

21:25

You're listening to Gardener's Question Time on

21:28

Radio 4 and BBC Signs with me,

21:30

Kathy Klugston on the panel today are

21:32

Dr Chris Thoregood, Anne Swithenbank and Matthew

21:34

Wilson and we're with an audience of

21:36

gardeners in Bearwood near Birmingham. Hello audience.

21:46

I hope you have our next question for the panel. Hello,

21:49

I'm Sharn Williams from Bearwood. First

21:52

they came from my potatoes, then

21:54

they came from my lawn, then they

21:56

came from my tulips and then

21:58

my courgettes. We have

22:00

a camera and so we know it was badges. Any

22:04

suggestions of how badges and gardeners can really

22:06

live happily together? I thought you were going

22:08

to say it was your neighbour's, Sean. I

22:10

was getting worried. OK,

22:13

we've been welcoming bats. Perhaps

22:16

we don't want to be quite so welcoming to

22:18

badgers. What do you think, Anne? Oh,

22:20

dear. Well, I do have badges in my

22:22

garden as well, but I've not lost a

22:24

lot of stuff to them. I can hear

22:26

them snuffling around at night and they've set

22:28

us right at the bottom of my very

22:30

large garden. And they did come

22:32

through the kitchen garden once and they also

22:34

ate some allium bulbs, but that was all.

22:37

I really not sure how you dissuade

22:39

them. Yeah, it's a tricky one. Matthew?

22:42

The only thing that I can

22:44

suggest, they form these very clear paths that

22:46

you can see. I can see where they

22:48

come through the paddock at the end of

22:50

our garden. But fortunately, they

22:52

find enough to eat that they don't trouble

22:55

us. However, I think

22:57

what you have to do if you're if you're if

23:00

you find where they're coming through and you're putting

23:02

a fence panel in place, you've got to go

23:05

down as well because they will dig underneath it.

23:07

You know, they've got the incredibly powerful diggers. And

23:10

if they're used to coming through, if that's because

23:12

your garden might just be on the route to

23:14

somewhere else, you see. So you're

23:16

going to be diverting them around.

23:19

They're going to be probably a little bit upset that you're

23:22

diverting them around. They might try and go underneath. I

23:25

would say contact your local wildlife trust

23:27

because I'm sure whatever I would say would be

23:29

incorrect. But that would be my that would be

23:31

my suggestion. Yeah, it's tricky. Shani for doing some

23:33

expert advice on that. But thank you so much

23:36

for the question. Let's move along.

23:39

I'm from West Midlands Gardeners.

23:42

I have a long, narrow,

23:44

west facing garden, typical Victorian

23:47

garden. The bottom half

23:49

is dominated by a very

23:51

large, very beautiful

23:54

cherry tree. It

23:56

has now really taken over to

23:59

an extent. The

24:01

canopy extends over both my

24:03

garden and the two neighbours'

24:06

gardens, so I have to

24:08

have it cut back quite regularly. I

24:10

can't grow anything underneath it because it's

24:13

very, very dry shade. I

24:15

do grow some ferns, some brunnera, not

24:18

much else. Should I

24:20

bite the bullet and have the tree removed or

24:22

should I persist in trying to grow in

24:25

this dry shade? OK,

24:27

so you want to grow something under

24:29

it. I can imagine what you're going

24:31

to say to you should we have the tree removed.

24:33

Matthew Wilson. How old is it? Did

24:35

you plant it or was it there? No, it was there

24:37

when we bought the house. We've been in the house

24:39

for about 12 years. And what

24:42

colour are the flowers? They're

24:44

beautiful pink, they come out white,

24:46

they turn pink, blossom, cherry, blossom.

24:48

OK. I think it could be

24:50

Mount Fuji. OK, OK. The

24:53

trouble with, I mean, whatever answer I give you, you

24:55

know, there's going to be a

24:59

lot of people that are loathed by some people. But I am going to say

25:01

get rid of it. I'm going to say take it out. And

25:04

the reason I'm going to say that is because cherry trees

25:06

are relatively short lived trees. I've never, if you were saying

25:08

if it was an oak tree, well, I wouldn't be saying

25:10

anything because it's probably going to probably have a tree protection

25:12

order on it. But cherry

25:14

trees are relatively short lived. Their lifespan

25:17

is only around the same as a

25:19

human lifespan, which in tree terms isn't

25:21

much. And it's

25:24

preventing you from enjoying your

25:27

garden to the fullest. Well, I'm

25:30

saying that actually that's the judgment call I

25:32

think you need to make. Is

25:34

that tree, is the moment

25:36

when it's in flower and presumably also has reasonable

25:38

autumn colour as well because it is Mount Fuji

25:40

it would. Is that enough

25:43

to warrant keeping it and you're

25:45

effectively not being able to enjoy

25:47

your garden in the way that

25:49

you might like? If

25:51

the answer to that is actually yes, it is,

25:54

then keep the tree. If

25:56

the answer is I'd really love to do something

25:58

else with my garden. garden and do

26:00

you know what life's too

26:03

short to think that I've got to

26:05

spend the next 20 years cutting this

26:07

tree back every year and not enjoying

26:09

my garden then get rid of it. There

26:12

we go. Where you go you have it. Anne for

26:14

the back what do you think?

26:16

I would keep it. I think especially in an

26:19

urban landscape and a

26:21

row of houses because you know I don't

26:23

know how many other people have got trees

26:25

but where birds visiting gardens they like the

26:27

access of going from tree to tree as

26:30

they pass through and I might

26:32

sort of put some sort of a surface

26:34

underneath and obviously sort of like a surface

26:36

material. Maybe some sort of mulch underneath

26:43

so it looks tidier than just bare earth and

26:45

then I might stand some pots on it and

26:47

as long as you're not getting dripped from aphids

26:49

or anything under there you could have pots of

26:51

bulbs for the spring and you could

26:53

have pots planted up for

26:56

the summer so there's something going on under there.

26:58

Not matters and matters of them that's just two

27:00

or three. That's what I would do. I'm not

27:02

saying that selling it would be wrong but it's

27:04

just a personal decision for you to

27:06

make. Yeah any other things we could do in

27:08

this space underneath Chris that we haven't mentioned? I

27:10

mean I'd be inclined to keep it if you can and

27:14

then it's a question of so what

27:16

do you do on underneath it so

27:18

it's not the most exciting of plants

27:20

although I like it which is iris

27:22

fetidissima which is a native iris also

27:24

known as the the roast beef plant

27:26

because if you crush the leaves they

27:28

actually smell exactly like beef flavour crisps

27:31

which is just bizarre but anyway Chris

27:33

is giving it its jazzy common name

27:36

because the other common name I know

27:38

where this is going. It's the stinking

27:40

iris. Thank you Matthew I was avoiding

27:43

using that but yes the good part

27:45

that the stinking iris which

27:48

it doesn't smell that bad but it has

27:50

these lovely sort of creamy yellow purple flushed

27:52

flowers I mean it's not gonna blow your

27:54

socks off it's not like an iris germanica

27:56

bearded iris but it's nice and it will

27:58

look well under there because it grows

28:00

in those conditions. The other thing is

28:03

vinca, periwinkle. If you want something, you

28:06

know, again, it's not gonna set the world

28:08

on fire, but it will cover the space

28:10

and it won't look scrubby, it will look

28:12

good. Ruska, Succuliar, Tisbutch, Brum, that's another one

28:14

that will thrive in those conditions. So I

28:17

think if you want to grow something really

28:19

exciting or unusual or

28:21

challenging, I think it won't work

28:23

and you'll hit roadblocks. But I think if you go

28:25

for the plants that in

28:27

that environment would cope well, then

28:30

I think it will be okay. Not cichlomons as

28:32

well. You know, I mean, they won't be giving

28:34

you much color or interest for a long period

28:36

of time. But actually, if you planted a whole

28:38

carpet of cichlomons, you'd have in the

28:41

autumn months, a carpet of pink underneath the tree.

28:43

And then in the spring, you'd have all that

28:45

lovely cherry blossom. Snowdrops might work

28:47

as well. Yeah, a few things to think

28:49

about there, Anne. Well, this very difficult decision.

28:53

Best of luck. Thanks. Let's move along.

28:56

Hello, good afternoon. My name's Kelly Butler

28:58

from Bellbroughton, Little Village, just outside Birmingham.

29:01

Please, could you recommend some colorful hedging

29:03

varieties and trees that would add interesting

29:05

color all year round to a very

29:07

green looking garden, which has very sandy

29:10

soil. Okay, sandy soil,

29:12

some lovely colorful hedges, please, panel.

29:15

Maggie Wilson. When you

29:17

say colorful, you mean colorful foliage or

29:19

hedges of flower or? Foliage

29:21

mainly, because our garden's very, very

29:24

green all year round. I love green. And

29:28

I'm not that bothered about variegated

29:30

foliage or colorful foliage. Matt Potage would

29:32

be going absolutely crazy now. He's shouting

29:34

at the radio. I know

29:36

what you mean. I've seen some nasty muddles with

29:39

furtinias and things and hedges. I don't like it.

29:41

In fact, I like a plain green hedge really.

29:43

Unless it's a wild hedge. Wild

29:45

hedges I would put in a different category. So

29:48

could you consider a wild hedge rather than

29:50

a formal hedge? Yeah, I mean, we've got

29:52

a mix of laurel one side, a pivot

29:54

hedger on the other and a bit of

29:56

hawthorn. And then we've

29:58

got loads of conifers. around us and

30:01

apple trees. It's all quite formal and sort

30:03

of fairly urban. Yeah, we've got quite a

30:05

very large garden for us and we've been

30:08

there 10 years and we've cleared it and now

30:10

we just want to add some colour into it.

30:12

I mean I can't understand why Laurel and Privet

30:14

aren't floating your boat. No. I mean they have

30:16

their place but they're not the most exciting. No,

30:18

one a bit of... I mean Tamarix might work

30:20

because it's a sandy soil. I suppose that could

30:22

give you a little bit of colour. They can

30:24

look a bit messy and I don't think they

30:26

look great after pruning either but I suppose if

30:28

you wanted a bit of colour on that. Yeah.

30:30

I mean Escalonia because it

30:32

flowers and it has lovely glossy

30:35

foliage. It's not colourful foliage per

30:37

se but it's aromatic too. Does

30:40

it need to be a particularly high hedge? Well on

30:42

the one side it's about 8 foot and

30:45

the other it's about 3 foot. What about

30:47

abelia grandiflora? That might be an option.

30:49

That's nice and also what might work

30:51

well with that is clorodendron bungie. I

30:54

don't know if you're going that one.

30:56

It suckers so once you plant it

30:58

you know you want it because otherwise

31:00

it will spread places where you don't

31:03

but it's got sort of almost nettle

31:05

like but nicer dark green leaves and

31:07

these almost like sort of

31:09

upside down umbels of mauvey pink flowers

31:12

that are out now actually. They come out very late

31:14

in the summer and into the autumn. So you'll see...

31:17

Oh sorry. Never seen that grown as

31:19

a hedge. No. The reason I was

31:21

thinking about it was that at Oxford Botanic Garden

31:23

we plant it at the back of the

31:25

autumn border and it sort of has made a

31:27

self-formed... Well I'm not sure. That's

31:31

a brandy old

31:33

hedge. Okay well a

31:35

few ideas there for you Kelly.

31:38

Thank you very much. Thank you.

31:40

Who's next? Good afternoon my name

31:42

is Val Rach-Baines from Smethic and

31:44

my question is at the end

31:46

of the growing season is it

31:48

preferable to cover your veg patch

31:50

with cardboard or plastic sheeting or

31:52

leave it uncovered and occasionally hold

31:54

the surface to keep weeds

31:56

down? Okay do we need to

31:58

be covering this um... obviously here

32:00

in the Midlands, do we be covering the

32:02

veg for winter? I personally wouldn't know. I

32:05

would plan it differently. I think

32:07

you need sometimes to do something to hold

32:10

your soil together because in nature you don't

32:12

often get bare soil and is the

32:14

rainfall fairly high where you are? Do you get a lot

32:16

of winter rain? We do

32:19

get. So that would be sort of really

32:21

almost destroying the soil surface if you like,

32:23

isn't it? Sort of making it wetter and

32:25

forming a kind of a surface

32:28

pan if you like potentially. So

32:31

there are several things you could do. One

32:33

of them would have involved a bit of

32:35

forward planning and that is by sewing green

32:37

manures onto the empty soil, but you would

32:39

really have had to have done that a

32:41

little bit earlier unless you use something. You

32:44

could still do field beans. There

32:46

are a couple of things you could use.

32:48

So you would have sown those and they'd

32:50

get turned into the soil just before they

32:52

flower in the spring. A good

32:54

mulch would work. So that's what obviously the

32:56

no digging people would be doing. They'd be

32:58

putting a nice thick mulch on the

33:00

soil in the autumn and that would

33:03

be worked down by all the worms

33:05

and it would be capping your beds

33:07

and protecting the soil. And

33:09

you mentioned keeping the weeds down. In

33:11

fact, allowing just a small cover of

33:14

weeds, especially if there was something like

33:16

forget me knots which are really easy

33:18

to pull out, isn't a bad idea

33:20

because they're knitting. If they're better than

33:23

nothing, I think. So if you haven't

33:25

done anything, letting a very small amount

33:27

of weed knit together over the surface

33:30

that you can very easily pull out in

33:32

the spring before you want to work it,

33:34

at least is knitting the soil together, protecting

33:37

the soil and it's actually going to

33:39

be something to put on your compost heap. So there

33:41

are several things you could do, but I don't think

33:43

I would be covering. The only reason

33:45

I might cover soil in

33:48

the spring with something like polythene

33:51

is if I wanted to try and dry

33:53

it out for some reason. So if you

33:55

had, say, a raised bed and you wanted

33:57

to do some early potato planting and it

33:59

was saturated. You might have some

34:01

hoops and you might have something like

34:03

a plastic cloche that you put over

34:05

the soil, but there'd be air travelling

34:07

underneath and that would dry it ready

34:09

for some early planting. But I

34:11

wouldn't routinely just cover it on the ground

34:14

now. Hope that answers your question,

34:16

Belle. Thank you. Thank you. Let's

34:18

take our next. Hi, good afternoon.

34:20

My name's Andre Walker from Barewood.

34:24

I have a hibiscus bush and I

34:26

want to know how I can encourage

34:28

it to flower more abundantly. Every

34:30

year it puts out one solitary flower.

34:34

Oh, Andre, you've brought a picture

34:36

of the one solitary flower, which is very

34:38

beautiful. Yes. But you would like some

34:40

more. I would. I would love it. Just

34:43

describe what you're seeing there in the photograph. Thank you. It's

34:45

really helpful, Andre, because you've given us a photograph

34:48

of the habit and also the

34:50

flower. What we're looking at here is a

34:52

fairly mature shrub. It looks

34:54

like it's been pruned occasionally. It's quite

34:57

compact. And then we've got

34:59

a photograph of the lonely flower, which is

35:01

a very beautiful flower. And I suppose one

35:03

is better than none. And it is lovely.

35:06

It looks to me like it

35:08

could benefit from a feed and

35:11

feeding with the right kind of fertilizer

35:13

as well. Okay. So

35:15

I would be tempted to use

35:18

a high potash fertilizer

35:21

and not a high nitrogen fertilizer. And

35:23

so when you look at the fertilizers

35:25

in the garden center, it will tell

35:27

you on the back the ratio of

35:29

the nitrogen to the phosphorus

35:31

and the potassium. And

35:34

what you don't want to do is give

35:36

it too much nitrogen because that encourages leafy

35:38

and sappy growth. And so if you were

35:40

to simply feed any old plant any old

35:42

thing, you might get the wrong result because

35:44

I think if you fed this, hibiscus with something

35:46

high in nitrogen at the beginning of the season,

35:49

you get lots of leafy growth, but

35:51

not much in the way of flowers. Have you fed it

35:53

before, Andre? I mulched it

35:55

with some manure and stuff. It's next to a

35:57

rose bush. And it's also next to your

35:59

compound. It is at the moment, but

36:02

I've moved the compost in it. So I

36:04

think it might actually be getting quite a

36:06

high concentration of nitrates in the soil that's

36:08

encouraging a flush of leafy growth. So

36:11

I think the compost bin paradoxically

36:13

might not be helping and

36:15

I think a high potassium

36:18

or potash fertiliser in

36:20

the summer might benefit this. You agree,

36:22

Matthew, a bit of potash? Definitely,

36:25

yes. I think you've got some

36:27

magnesium deficiency there looking at the yellowing and the

36:29

leaf. What time of year do you prune it? Do

36:32

you prune it after? No,

36:34

not really. I mean, I think I've cut it

36:36

back a little bit because it was growing into

36:39

the rosebush. So

36:41

you don't have a pruning regime

36:43

as such? No. Because

36:46

often we get asked questions

36:48

about poor flowering and it turns out that the flower

36:51

buds are being removed because the pruning

36:53

is happening at the wrong time of year. So

36:55

if you're not pruning it, you've answered the question.

36:58

So I think it is probably down to the feeding.

37:01

And of course, this hardy hibiscus is a

37:03

lake flower. They're very late into growth as

37:05

well, aren't they? They hang back and their

37:07

leaves don't grow very quickly in the spring.

37:10

If it was mine, I think I would, in

37:13

addition to the feeding, perhaps

37:15

just thin it out a little bit in the

37:17

spring. It looks as though it

37:19

needs to make some fresh growth from deeper into

37:21

the bush, but I don't think I'd prune it

37:23

all over. I wouldn't take my secateurs to it

37:26

and sort of just reduce it by a third

37:28

or round. I would just target some of the

37:31

longer, older looking stems and go quite

37:33

a long way down into the plant and just cut

37:35

a few of those out to perhaps let some light

37:37

and air in and encourage a bit of new growth

37:39

from lower down. It's quite compact, isn't it? It

37:41

is quite, yes. It looks, the bit that's

37:43

flowering is on a nice long new shoot

37:45

that it's made. But right against

37:47

the fence where you can't see it. Typical, but

37:50

also where perhaps somebody wasn't snipping with their secateurs

37:52

because it's out of the way of a road. And

37:54

where it's warm as well and has lots of light. Yes,

37:56

warm and has lots of light. So, yeah, I think

37:58

we need to get some. fresh growth coming

38:00

out of it. Bit of a haircut and maybe some

38:03

feed on. Yeah thank you so much. Who

38:05

has our final question today? Good

38:07

afternoon, Rich Joinson from Kingsheath in South

38:09

Birmingham. I've lost my gardening mojo. Can

38:12

the panel suggest how I get it

38:14

back? Oh Rich please

38:16

elaborate what's happened? I'm fed up

38:18

with fighting the war against slugs

38:20

and snails and squirrels and pigeons

38:23

and all the other pests that seem

38:25

to like to eat my tomatoes and

38:28

courgettes and everything else I planted

38:30

this year. Please help. Are you just not doing

38:32

any gardening at all? I am doing but not

38:36

in my own garden. Oh

38:38

right the mojo is missing. What can we

38:40

do? I'm

38:44

fed in the bank.

38:47

I mean Anne stunned in

38:49

silence. Yes, she has a

38:51

very ideal mojo. No I

38:54

haven't. Is growing vegetables really your

38:56

thing? Do you grow ornamental plants as

38:58

well? I grow ornamental plants and I

39:00

grow fruit and veg. I did have a good yield

39:03

of gooseberries. My husband keeps

39:05

saying yield and that's the only yield I've

39:07

had this year. Probably

39:10

because they were able to get their fruit

39:12

out before all the slugs and snails kicked

39:14

off. It has been a really bad year

39:16

for slugs and snails so I am sympathetic.

39:18

What about broad beans? You

39:21

can do some autumn sown broad beans. I don't know if

39:23

they work here in the Midgham. Oh

39:25

broad beans are lovely though aren't they?

39:28

They're without the Claudia and the

39:30

wonderful green podded ones. And when they

39:32

come up through the soil as well it always gives you a thrill.

39:35

That's right and they don't look

39:37

as if they should be. You can get

39:39

a good crop by sowing in the autumn.

39:41

Don't give up. I mean nothing to eat

39:43

them in the winter is there? It's

39:46

just like you know a bit like Ryder's block

39:48

if you just feel like you can't. It's like

39:50

Rachael's got Gardner's block and a sort of loss.

39:52

Is there something we could just sort of jump

39:54

start his enthusiasm again Chris? I

39:56

think I mean I understand the pain.

39:59

It's really frustrating. where you put

40:01

so much investment into your garden and then

40:03

it just gets all undone by these pests

40:05

that you described and we all feel that

40:07

and it is difficult. I'd give yourself a

40:10

bit of a break this winter, I wouldn't

40:12

rush into growing something and then as

40:14

the weather picks up and it's you know

40:17

the start of the new season, I think

40:19

about growing something to cheer you up Rich,

40:21

it looks like you need cheering up and I've

40:23

got just the plant to do it. I think

40:26

Ipamoea heavenly blue is just

40:28

the most beautiful thing that

40:30

we can grow in our garden so it's, I

40:32

don't, are you familiar with this plant? No. So

40:36

if you can imagine and bear with me here,

40:38

if you can imagine a bindweed, I

40:41

promise this gets better. Not a great start

40:44

in the sentence. I promise it gets better.

40:46

These white trumpet-shaped flowers, I actually quite like

40:48

a bindweed anyway, but

40:50

Ipamoea heavenly blue is as

40:53

its name suggests a

40:55

sky blue version of a bindweed, if

40:57

you can imagine something so sublime as

40:59

that and this is a showstopper

41:01

of a plant. So you grow it from

41:03

seeds at the beginning of the season and

41:05

if you have a good year and a

41:08

warm sort of damp summer it will really

41:10

thrive and as you get into mid to

41:12

late summer it will be absolutely covered in

41:14

this blossom that is like holding a mirror

41:16

to the sky and I think that will

41:18

lift your spirits rich no end. Yeah

41:21

this could be it, just finding something Matthew that

41:23

will kick start with Mojo again. What do you

41:25

think? Well I think that you

41:27

and your husband should fly to California,

41:29

go to Santa Barbara, go to the

41:31

most eclectic, wonderful, exciting, imaginative garden that

41:33

I've ever been to which is called

41:36

Ganowalska Lotus Land, created

41:38

by a Polish opera singer through the

41:40

80s, 70s, 80s and

41:42

early 90s. You will

41:44

be enchanted,

41:47

entertained, delighted,

41:50

surprised, everything that

41:52

you would imagine that a garden can't

41:54

possibly do. You will

41:57

go through those emotions, you will go to some

41:59

part and go, this is in the

42:01

worst possible taste I've ever seen. You

42:04

know, there's a pool created out

42:06

of giant clam shells, which is

42:08

so blindingly white in the Californian

42:10

sunshine. It'll make your eyes water.

42:12

There's herbaceous borders made out of

42:14

barrel cacti instead of herbaceous plants.

42:16

There's topiary that looks like it

42:18

should come straight out of Alice

42:20

in Wonderland. You can visit it

42:22

by appointment. It's done brilliantly in

42:24

the way that Americans tend to

42:26

do with gardens like that. You're

42:28

taken around in a small group. If

42:31

it's a lovely day, the doors

42:34

will be open and there'll be

42:36

opera playing on a record player

42:38

and you will be in love

42:40

and mojo. Bah! I

42:44

guess it'd be broad beans then.

42:46

Yeah. This

42:48

is California or Broadbeige. You take your

42:50

pick. I think California. Thanks

42:53

so much for the question. That's all we've

42:55

got time for on this visit to Bearwood

42:57

near Birmingham. Thanks so much to everyone at

42:59

Warley Woods Community Trust and Abbey Junior School

43:01

for looking after us today. Next

43:04

week, Peter Gibbs will be in the chair

43:06

in Wokingham in Berkshire. Until then, from me,

43:08

Kathy Clugston, today's panel, Matthew Wilson and Swivel

43:10

Banc and Dr Chris Thoregood and all the

43:13

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