The Beechgrove Garden 2022 episode 22

The Beechgrove Garden 2022 episode 22: Carole and Brian are at Beechgrove reviewing some of the projects they started earlier in the year. On the vegetable plot, they examine the results of their experiment to compare heritage with contemporary seed varieties. And it’s time for another big reveal as they delve into the potatoes grown in containers, and discover which presenter has the biggest sunflower head.Meanwhile, George is busy in Joppa, we meet father and daughter Joe and Erin in East Lothian and visit an amazing garden in Ayrshire.

Celebrating the great Scottish garden. Tips and advice to get the most out of your garden, with inspirational ideas from Scotland’s most beautiful green spaces. The Beechgrove Garden has been on air since 1978 and remains a firm favourite with audiences in Scotland. It consistently outperforms what is being screened by BBC Network in the same slot. At the heart of the series is a 2.5 acre home garden, situated on a cold, inhospitable slope west of Aberdeen, deliberately chosen to reflect Scotland’s harsher climate.

Horticultural advice in gardening magazines and on UK network gardening programmes is rarely suitable for most of the UK outside the South East of England. Beechgrove shares with its viewers the weekly challenge to work with the Scottish conditions to produce maximum yield of as many varieties as possible of fruit, flowers and vegetables.

The Beechgrove Garden 2022 episode 22

Potatoes

Potatoes are hugely versatile and a staple ingredient of many meals in one form or another – boiled, mashed, chipped or baked. They are classified as being either earlies or maincrops. Early varieties are ready to harvest much sooner than maincrops and are what we call ‘new potatoes’. Maincrop varieties are in the ground a lot longer. They produce a larger harvest and bigger potatoes.

Potatoes are grown from specially prepared ‘seed’ potatoes. These are just like potatoes you buy from the supermarket, but they’re certified virus-free. You can buy seed potatoes from late winter onwards. You then start them off indoors by letting them sprout, before they are planted.

It’s important with earlies, and a good idea with maincrops, to ‘chit’ the seed potatoes before planting. This means allowing them to start sprouting shoots. Stand them rose end up (the end with the most small dents, or eyes) in egg boxes or trays in a light, frost-free place. The potatoes are ready to plant when the shoots are about 3cm (1in) long. With early potatoes, rub off the weakest shoots, leaving four per tuber.

Potatoes can also be grown under black polythene sheets. The tubers are planted through slits in the polythene. The advantages of this method are that there is no need to earth up, and new potatoes form just below the surface, so there’s little or no need to dig. Small crops of potatoes can also be grown in large, deep containers. This is a good way to get an early batch of new potatoes. Fill the bottom 15cm (6in) of the container with potting compost and plant one seed potato just below this. As the new stems start growing, keep adding compost until the container is full.