Gardeners World episode 5 2020: Monty, Nigel and Nellie are at Longmeadow, discussing the weekend’s gardening jobs.
The Gardeners’ World team present seasonal highlights from across the country, visit stunning gardens, meet the gardeners and find out their secrets of success.
Gardeners World episode 5 2020
Caring for spring bulbs
Some of our favourite garden plants are bulbs, including daffodils, tulips, snowdrops, crocus, lilies and gladioli. Planted while they are dormant, it usually takes just a few months for them to grow and bloom. They really are the buried treasure of the garden.
The cultivation techniques used to grow bulbs are quite simple but, because they can be grown in containers, borders and also naturalised in grass or under trees, there are several methods for planting. They are popular for indoor flowers at Christmas.
All bulbs need adequate water while in growth, and for six weeks after flowering. Check pots to make sure they don’t dry out during the growing period. The compost should feel moist but not wet to the touch. Apply a general-purpose fertiliser, such as Growmore (35g per square metre/1 oz per square yard), to borders in late February to encourage bulbs to flower well in the following season. In containers, use a liquid high-potassium feed, such as tomato fertiliser, from early spring until six weeks after flowering.
Grow your own cherry tree
Sweet cherries produce delicious fruit and are usually grown as small open trees, or trained as fans against walls or fences. They can also be grown in large containers – and if you choose a self-fertile cultivar, they will fruit without a pollination partner. Acid cherries are self-fertile, tolerate some shade and are ideal for a north-facing wall. Their fruits are excellent for cooking and make delicious jam.
Mulch cherries with well-rotted organic matter, in late February. Feed with general fertiliser like Growmore at 100g per sq m (4oz per sq yd) from February to March. If fruiting is poor, apply sulphate of potash at 15g per sq m (½oz per sq yd).
Protect cherry flowers from frost damage: cover with horticultural fleece if frost is predicted. Keep trees well watered during the early stages of fruit development, they also benefit from a top-dressing of a general fertiliser in mid-spring.
Sweet cherries are usually grown as small trees (‘open-centred bush’ or ‘pyramid’), or fans against a wall or fence. Sweet cherries fruit on one-year-old and older wood; pruning creates a balance between older fruiting wood and younger replacement branches. Formative pruning takes place in spring as the buds begin to open, established trees are pruned from late July to the end August. For pruning of mature fan trees and for pruning of bush sweet and acid cherry trees, read more in our advice profile.
Grow your own bedding plants – Gardeners World episode 5 2020
From elaborate public garden designs and street planters to the smallest front garden, bedding plants provide a temporary decorative seasonal display for beds, borders, containers and hanging baskets. Bedding can be grown from seed, bought as young seedlings (plug plants) or purchased as pot-grown specimens, often in multi-packs and cellular trays, ready for planting.
To provide quick, easy to grow seasonal flower and foliage colour, and for ease of planning and setting out, bedding plants are usually chosen from the following:
Frost-tender half-hardy annuals (HHA) such as cosmos, nemesia, marigolds and tobacco plants, complete their life-cycle in one season. If grown from seed they are generally sown indoors and grown on.
Hardy annuals (HA) can be sown outdoors directly into the soil in spring where they are to flower. They withstand frosty conditions without protection. Alyssum, Calendula (pot marigold), Iberis (candytuft) and Limnanthes douglasii (poached egg plant).
How to grow peonies
Herbaceous and Intersectional peonies are large herbaceous perennials with attractive foliage and large bowl-shaped flowers. Choose a peony based on flower colour and shape. Colours range from white through pink to dark red and yellow. Intersectional peonies also include plants with more unusual apricot and purple shades.
Try to plant peonies in full sun and a fertile soil, which has been improved by digging in garden compost or well-rotted manure. They will grow well in a range of soils, including clay, as long as it does not get waterlogged in winter and dry out in summer. They are fully hardy so don’t need any winter protection. We have put together a guide to help you identify your soil type. Peonies are large plants and need about a square metre (yard) of space without competition from other garden plants in order to thrive.
These peonies are easy to plant and it takes just a few minutes. They are planted in the same way as other herbaceous perennials, but it’s important not too plant too deeply as this may decrease flowering.
How to grow peas – Gardeners World episode 5 2020
For best results peas need an open, sunny position with good drainage. Never sow in cold, wet soil; acidic soils should be limed. If spring is slow to arrive, warm the soil with polythene before sowing and then protect seedlings with horticultural fleece. Generally, peas prefer cooler weather and grow well in cool springs.
Make a flat-bottomed trench 5cm (2in) deep and 15cm (6in) wide – a draw hoe is ideal for this. Sow the seeds evenly in the trench approximately 7.5cm (3in) apart, cover with soil, then lightly firm. If you need a second row make this the height of the crop away from the first trench.
Make a single sowing of an early, second early and maincrop variety. First earlies are sown from March to early June and will be ready to pick in 11 to 13 weeks. Second earlies are sown from March to June and are ready in around 14 weeks. Maincrop cultivars are sown at the same time and take up to 16 weeks.