In the Beechgrove Garden episode 16 2015, the greenhouses and the polytunnels are pregnant with produce to come. Jim is minding his tomatoes while Carole in the polytunnel is dealing with her spaghetti squash and noticing hopeful tassels on the sweetcorn.
Carole makes the first of two forays away up north to Orkney. She visits Caroline Critchlow’s garden, which is a historic walled garden a stone’s throw from the sea and completely restored in 2008. The garden is planted to withstand winds in excess of 100mph and the planting reflects its coastal location and is done in cottage style with towering alliums, many varieties of geranium and plants collected from around Europe.
Jim, Carole and George were walking through the greenhouse area admiring the hanging baskets and the lovely corridor of summer colour. They noticed that there were not many cherries left in the Fruit House. The sun hats had disappeared as it was a cool summer’s day, however, there was plenty to be getting on with.
In  Beechgrove Garden episode 16 2015:
Polytunnel crops
Carole was in the Keder polytunnel and there are also some problems with the crops in here. Two varieties of Tendersweet sweetcorn are being grown in this polytunnel – ‘Swift’ and a newer variety, ‘Lark’. There was evidence of mould on the leaves. Carole said that this was probably to do with the high humidity in this polytunnel. The plants have been treated with a fungicide.
Square metre plot update
George was in his hugely successful square metre garden catching up on progress. The dwarf peas (variety ‘Twinkle’) were ready to harvest and according to the camera crew tasted tender and sweet. After picking the small pods, George said that he will pull up the plants and sow this patch with a new crop. The cabbages were also ready to harvest.
Compost
There was what looked like a grotty market stall on display in Compost Corner and Jim was explaining what to include and what not to include when making compost. This came about from a letter sent in by viewers, the Valentines in West Lothian, who have been composting lots of material for 6 months and don’t seem to be having much success in getting it to rot down.
