The Beechgrove Garden episode 21 2016

Beechgrove Garden episode 21 2016

In Beechgrove Garden episode 21 2016, Jim is thinking ahead and planting overwintering veg that will be ready to crop in the spring. 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Keep Scotland Beautiful. To mark that, Carole takes a look around Colourful Carnoustie, a relative newcomer to the Keep Scotland Beautiful campaign.


 

 



George visits social enterprise group Seedbox in Ballogie near Aboyne. The group have asked Beechgrove to help them tame two huge and very old Yew trees.

On a muggy and sultry day weather-wise at the Beechgrove Garden Jim, Carole and Chris decided to have a look at the stumpery created by Chris in 2013.
The idea was to use tree stumps from the huge conifer hedge that was felled to create a feature in an otherwise difficult corner of the garden – shaded under the canopy overhung with lots of shrubs and trees and in which nothing much grew.

3 years on, the tree stumps were starting to rot down on either side of the central path. Planted with a range of ferns and other shade loving plants and bulbs, it is now looking verdant – lots of shades of green – it really works. The added benefit of a stumpery apart from the low maintenance aspect is that it can be a wildlife haven.

They then moved on to a more recent Chris project – the Fungal Valley created earlier this year and designed to become a productive area for growing mushrooms. There were 2 different types of habitat here for mushrooms to flourish.

Beechgrove Garden episode 21 2016:

 

New Hebes

Autumn is an ideal time to plant evergreens as the soil is still warm so that the roots will establish before winter. Carole was planting a range of Hebes which originate from New Zealand. She had a collection of a dozen different varieties. There were 4 different types of Hebes in the collection. Hebes love a coastal situation – so if you live near the sea, they should survive well here. At Beechgrove a few miles inland some may be less successful.

Asters

Chris was adding more plants to the cottage garden this week. Asters are ideal for this cottage garden planting as there is lots of late flowering potential. Aster thomsonii‘Nanus’ has lavender blooms like stars in the sky. It grows to 45 – 50cm. Asters do have a reputation for mildew and wilt butthere are many species Asters which flower really well and are mildew and wilt resistant.

Overwintering vegetables

Jim was repeating a little exercise we did last year in the polytunnel – planting overwintering veg for harvest in late winter and spring next year. They did very well last year but we did have a mild winter at Beechgrove. The Pak choi did particularly well, so this year we have a range of vegetable plants which will be planted both in the polytunnel and in raised beds outside.

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