In the Beechgrove Garden, Jim is observing different types of watering systems for tomatoes and this week he begins the feeding regime.
Carole shows how to rejuvenate winter interest shrubs by pruning. George visits Jean Knox who has a hidden treasure of a garden in Hunter’s Tryst in Edinburgh. This is a secret town garden packed with plants that are survivors.
Carole has alpine expert Ian Young with her in Beechgrove’s own alpine garden. Ian shows how to take some pretty uninspiring materials normally discarded and turn them into a convincingly old stone-looking alpine troughs with rocky mini-mountain alpine landscapes that would grace any size of garden.
In The Beechgrove Garden episode 11 2015:
 1. Fruit House
Jim was in the Fruit House, which he described as a temperate Fruit house, housing grape vines, a large cherry espalier, a fig and a selection of potted fruit trees.
Some of our viewers have asked ‘why are these plants in pots in a greenhouse?’ Jim explained that as far north as Beechgrove, although these plants are hardy, they can suffer over winter and need shelter.
 2. Decking Crops
It has been a few weeks since Carole last visited the Decking Garden and there was lots happening. It’s amazing how productive a small space can be and all in containers. Carole was planting the small-hearting Lettuce ‘Tom Thumb’ into a container. This matures quickly and it is important to sow little and often as far as lettuce is concerned so that you get a succession of crop to harvest.
 3. Alpine Troughs
Carole was with Ian Young in the Alpine Garden at Beechgrove. Ian is an alpine and rock garden expert and has created alpine troughs from recycled polystyrene fish boxes for many years. Real, old, stone farmyard troughs are expensive and sometimes difficult to come by. It is these that we are trying to replicate. We have had some at Beechgrove for over 15 years and although they have done really well they are now looking a little worse for wear at the edges.
