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Private Notes
Finally the gardening season has begun and it’s back to Longmeadow to join Monty, Nigel and Nellie for the first programme of the series.
This week there’s advice on how to plant spring flowering perennials for instant impact and recommendations for planting bare root roses full of fragrance in borders and pots. Monty will also begin planning the vegetable garden for the year ahead.
Carol Klein visits Norfolk and the stunning Winter garden at Bressingham where she celebrates the beauty of conifers and discovers their perfect planting partners.
We find an inspirational and small garden in Kent bursting with colourful flowers and foliage, most of which are grown in pots.
Monty Don recommends varieties of seeds to sow now for months of summer colour, and with conifers enjoying a revival, also plants up a pot to give interest all year round. Adam Frost visits York Gate in Leeds, a place famed for the use and manipulation of plants to give structure to the garden, and feeling inspired shows how to replicate parts of its design for domestic gardens. Annual climbing plants are an easy and inexpensive way to fill gardens with colour, and the head gardener at Parham House in Sussex reveals which varieties have proved to be a success in his trial at the gardens there.
As spring begins, it is not just the borders that need a boost - it is the wildlife too. Monty gives tips on what to do now, as well as planting a tree to provide a nectar source for bees and other insects.
In Cornwall, Nick Bailey revisits a first love as he celebrates the fleeting beauty of one of the most ancient flowering plants. With champion-sized trees and goblet-shaped flowers, magnolias are one this season’s star performers.
And meet a woman who has maximised the growing space available in her small garden and created her very own piece of prairie-inspired planting.
Monty Don gets busy on the vegetable plot and takes the next step in planting up his new Paradise Garden. With Mothering Sunday around the corner, he also provides some timely inspiration for planting up a spring pot as a present. Frances Tophill is thrilled to have her own allotment this year, and here shares her plans for the season ahead, making a start on getting it shipshape. The programme also visits the alpine house at RHS Garden Wisley to find out from the experts how they care for some of the smallest and most colourful spring gems.
Monty Don turns his attention to the pond at Longmeadow, adding a splash of colour to the planting with some perennial springtime favourites, as well as giving advice on pond maintenance that can be carried out now without disturbing wildlife. Nick Bailey travels to Lincolnshire to meet a family of daffodil growers celebrating 100 years of growing one of the nation's most iconic spring flowers. The programme also meets a Somerset woman, passionate about peonies, to hear her tips on on how to grow them in borders and in pots.
Monty Don inspects the annual climbers he has been growing from seed, as well as planting out sweet peas. He also gives his recommendations on perennial plants that can be grown from seed now for late summer colour. Joe Swift is in West Sussex visiting one of the nation's iconic Victorian gardens, which has undergone a major restoration after being closed to the public. Plus, the programme catches up with a couple from Norfolk who transformed an uninteresting space into a garden full of tropical plants enhanced by scrap metal objects washed up on the nearby coastline.
Monty Don gets going with a new planting project as well as giving plenty of tips on getting lawns and plants into tip-top condition for the season ahead. For those viewers with dry shade, dappled shade or deep shade, Carol Klein is on hand to show the spring planting partners that grow happily together, Plus, Adam Frost meets a woman who has created seven individual gardens around her home in Worcestershire, and Joe Swift and Florence Headlam visit an allotment in Walsall to help out on a community growing project for children with special needs.
With warmer weather on the horizon, Monty Don makes a start on getting some tender vegetables underway, recommends plants which thrive with very little water and gives tips on the spring maintenance of houseplants. Nick Bailey spends the day at Kew Gardens exploring its cacti and succulent collection, Adam Frost helps family members in Lincolnshire transform their front garden into a more interesting and usable space, while Arit Anderson travels to Faversham in Kent to find out how the town has used innovative ideas to reduce its plastic use.
With Monty Don taking a well-earned week off, Adam Frost presents from his home in Cambridgeshire, where he gets to grips with planting up his gravel garden with spring colour, sows some unusual vegetables and starts work on a new project. Carol Klein is in Surrey where she is in the midst of a dazzling display of thousands of tulips, Frances Tophill gets inspiration from the allotmenteers on a site exposed to the elements in Anglesey, north Wales, while Nick Bailey makes the case for trees should be planted with bees in mind. Plus, Mark Lane visits Denmans Garden, West Sussex.
At Longmeadow, Monty Don plants out his tomatoes, continues work in his paradise garden and reveals plans for a new project. At the Malvern Spring Festival, Adam Frost, Carol Klein and Frances Tophill explore the show gardens and highlight the very best of the plants and flowers in the floral marque. The programme also visits a city garden in Peterborough where lack of space has not proved a problem for a couple who have created a woodland garden, and hears from a Cambridgeshire man who has devoted his gardening life to the preservation of rare and heritage plants.
With the arrival of mid-May it's time to get tender plants out into the garden at Longmeadow, so Monty Don plants out his dahlias as well as dividing ornamental grasses. Frances Tophill is in Anglesey, north Wales, getting tips and hints from a group of allotmenteers, Adam Frost finds design inspiration in a garden in Leicestershire, and Joe Swift and Flo Headlam travel to Darlington, Co Durham, to help transform an unpromising space into a garden to benefit people whose lives have been changed by head injuries. The programme also meets a gardener in Kent whose passion is foliage.
Monty Don gets going on a new project as he begins planting a colour-themed, fragrant border and he offers on successional planting in the vegetable garden. Nick Bailey begins his ultimate guide to growing clematis, while Arit Anderson visits a new, free, public roof garden in London, which soars above the city space below. Plus, Carol Klein travels to Arundel Castle in West Sussex where alliums are taking centre stage and Joe Swift finds out about the restoration of one of country's most historic woodland gardens.
At Longmeadow this week, Monty Don turns his attention to the tender annuals he has grown from seed, including climbers and sunflowers and plants out beans for a bountiful summer harvest. Nick Bailey celebrates the rhododendron, one of our most colourful spring flowering shrubs and, on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, there's a feature on the Second World War veteran who has planted an orchard for peace to commemorate those who lost their lives during the war. Carol Klein, Frances Tophill and Joe Swift travel to Derbyshire to focus on the floral highlights from the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.
Monty Don, Joe Swift and Adam Frost tour the annual Gardeners' World Live event in Birmingham, gleaning design tips from the show gardens. Carol Klein seeks out the best plants in the floral marquee, while Frances Tophill, Nick Bailey, Arit Anderson and Mark Lane look at inspirational planting ideas. Plus, the team addresses gardening and planting problems brought to them by visitors to the show.
Monty Don revels in the roses in his garden, harvests honey from his bees and gives advice on the maintenance of hardy geraniums as well as planting others for summer groundcover. Rachel de Thame shows how the most ordinary of spaces can be transformed by adding seasonal containers, Joe Swift heads to Cornwall to meet musician and actor Will Young who reveals his love of gardening, and Frances Tophill visits an allotment in Oxfordshire to meet a gardener who is growing her crops alongside plants attractive to pollinating insects and other wildlife. Plus, the programme catches up with a garden historian who has incorporated elements of period gardens into her own town garden.
At Longmeadow, Monty Don cuts back and divides spring flowering plants, gives advice on the pruning, dead-heading and staking of roses and shows how to keep ponds looking good. Joe Swift and Adam Frost meet up in Leicestershire to see how they can help a couple of novice gardeners turn a neglected area of their garden into a usable and useful space. Plus, Nick Bailey reports on the problems posed by box tree caterpillar, Arit Anderson finds out about the concept of rewilding and how cultivated and wild plants can be combined harmoniously and Mark Lane shows how he adapts tools to garden.
Monty Don catches up with summer maintenance in his wildlife garden and recommends plants for dry shade under trees. Carol Klein travels to Aberglasney Gardens in south-west Wales to explore the best planting partners for that most ephemeral of perennials, the Thalictrum, while Joe Swift is in Devon meeting a plantsman who has used plants from all over the globe to create an extraordinary garden. Plus, Adam Frost joins a group of gardeners in Worksop where gardening has helped to create a sense of community and wellbeing, and Nick Bailey finds out more about the lily beetle.
Monty Don and the team focus their attention on the loss of wildflower habitats in the UK and the part that gardeners can play in averting the resulting loss of wildlife. In Lincolnshire, Adam Frost finds out how crucial meadows are to supporting the ecosystem, Arit Anderson visits East Sussex to discover the results of a recent wildlife survey carried out in the gardens there and Nick Bailey travels to Staffordshire where meadows are being grown in gardens for the benefit of wildlife. Plus, Carol Klein identifies plants that can help increase insect and bird populations.
Monty Don demonstrates how to produce a medley of vegetables from a small space. He also lifts and divides irises and adds spires of summer colour to his borders. Frances Tophill visits an allotment on the Isle of Man where plants are grown and harvested as ingredients for cosmetics, while Adam Frost is in Northamptonshire finding out about the design and planting at Cottesbrooke Hall. Plus, an interview with a woman whose passion for bees is inspiring young beekeepers at a school in Huddersfield.
Adam Frost dispels the confusion of the summer pruning of wisteria, and demonstrates an ingenious solution to planting in dry shade under trees. Arit Anderson is in Germany finding out about the incredible transformation of a disused industrial site into a thriving and beautiful park, beloved by visitors and the local community. Rachel de Thame heads to Gloucestershire to find out about the 100-year history of the gardens at Kiftsgate Court, and Nick Bailey profiles the many varieties of summer flowering clematis.
At Longmeadow, Monty Don catches up on jobs to keep the garden looking good all summer long. Adam Frost visits Sledmere Gardens in East Yorkshire where the borders have been planted with specific colour schemes in mind. The programme also catches up with a family in the Vale of Glamorgan whose members pack their small garden with colourful bedding plants for maximum impact.
Monty Don advises on essential summer pruning, and offers tips for preparing the garden for time spent away on holiday. Plus, Nick Bailey breathes in the beauty of evening scented plants and finds out why they are so important for moths, and Kate Bradbury discovers more about solitary bees.
As Longmeadow radiates colour in the height of summer, Monty Don takes a range of cuttings to get plants for free and also shows how best to prune lavender. Carol Klein visits a garden in Devon to revel in its eryngiums, while the programme also meets a passionate gardener and his partner in Wiltshire who use their garden as inspiration for art.
With the bank holiday weekend looming, Monty Don has plenty of inspiration for gardeners from planting for late summer colour to tidying up herbs and pruning soft fruit. Nick Bailey concludes his journey into the clematis world by looking at the late summer-flowering varieties and the programme travels to Devon to meet a retired biology teacher with a passion for houseleeks.
At Longmeadow, Monty Don adds some ornamental grasses to his borders for late summer impact and gives advice on how to look after pumpkins for a bountiful autumn harvest. Adam Frost discovers a colourful garden in Gloucestershire where hardy, tender and tropical plants jostle for space in both borders and containers, while Frances Tophill visits an allotment in north London where the main harvest is flowers for floral displays.
Adam Frost gives advice on how to prune overgrown evergreen shrubs and adds to his borders to create height. Rachel de Thame shows how to maintain containers and refresh with plants that will extend the display into autumn, and there's a feature on a gardener whose frequent absences from home have influenced the design and planting of his garden.
An extended edition sees Monty Don add autumn perennials to his borders, show how to take root cuttings and reveal plans for next year when he plants bulbs for spring colour. On her Kent allotment, Frances Tophill catches up on some seasonal sowing and invites a special guest to help her with a small building project. Nick Bailey visits Cambridge University Botanic Garden, where he finds out how and why some plants produce their scent at the end of the day. The programme also returns to the wildlife garden of Kate Bradbury to find out about the lives of solitary bees.
Monty Don assesses the progress, successes and failures of the paradise garden he planted at the start of the year. He also sets about sowing a meadow of wildflowers in the orchard and gives advice on what to plant now in the vegetable garden. Frances Tophill travels to Glasgow to meet a gardener whose hands-off approach to his garden has reaped rewards for wildlife, Adam Frost visits a garden in Wales where a potentially unpromising and rocky site has been transformed, while Mark Lane explores Nymans in West Sussex to find out how the garden is managed with sustainability at its heart.
A look at the role that plants and gardening play in people's mental and physical wellbeing, exploring the idea that gardening is a good and positive pastime. Arit Anderson travels to a medical centre in Kent where gardening is prescribed by doctors, to help patients cope with long-term mental and physical problems. Adam Frost is at a community garden in Oxfordshire, created to provide ongoing support for sufferers of Parkinson's disease. Back at Longmeadow, Rachel de Thame joins Monty Don as they plant bulbs for spring and catch up on some seasonal tasks.
At Longmeadow, Monty Don is celebrating the berries of the season and plants up potfuls of colour for spring.
Frances Tophill meets the gardeners on an allotment site in Birmingham and harvests some unusual vegetables, while Adam Frost and Arit Anderson join forces to transform a front garden in Hampshire into a haven for the owners as well as wildlife.
In Nottinghamshire, we meet an enthusiast who has amassed a collection of over one hundred varieties of rhubarb and in Scotland we find out why we should all grow herbs from a grower with over six hundred different types.
Monty Don gives tips on moving plants which are in the wrong place or have outgrown their space, shows how to store chillies and harvests the last of his tomatoes. Rachel de Thame heads to Longmeadow to talk to Monty about her return to health and to plant up pots for spring colour, while Nick Bailey travels to the Highlands in Scotland to find out about a project which is contributing to worldwide plant conservation.
Monty Don plants out berried shrubs to help feed wildlife in the winter, harvests pumpkins and shows how to make use of fallen autumnal leaves. Carol Klein shows the planting partners still making an impact in the borders of the Bishop's Palace and Gardens in Somerset, while Adam Frost is in the Cotswolds finding out about some surprising planting schemes designed with animals in mind. Frances Tophill summarises her first season on her allotment in Kent and Rachel de Thame updates her containers to ensure that they give interest for the upcoming seasons ahead.
Last in the series.
