Loving glow in the garden

If you’re a regular viewer of Beechgrove Garden then you’ll know we’ve now laid the groundwork for this season.

I love grabbing a piping hot cuppa, sticking my feet up and settling down to watch this week’s episode.

I always have done, long before I began working on the show.

Admittedly now it feels a bit more surreal to watch it as a viewer, knowing I was a person standing behind – or occasionally in front – of the camera.

Working here has genuinely been a dream come true.

I was a long-time fan of the show and now, being a big part of it, I still feel like pinching myself.

I can honestly say everyone both in front of and behind the camera is brilliant to work with – professionals who just prop each other up and support each other to get the show made.

It’s such a team-spirited atmosphere that leaves a loving glow at the end of each work day.

I wake up looking forward to getting into the garden. That surely is anyone’s sign that things are good – when you can’t wait to get to work!

WILDLIFE

There is plenty going at the Beechgrove Garden – a big theme of the year is gardening for wildlife.

Carole is revamping the garden for life to become the garden for wildlife.

Alongside ecologist James Silvey, Carole is planting up both shady and sunny areas with specialist plants to help out all shapes of fauna in the garden – from bees to butterflies and lacewings to long-tailed tits.

Carole is also doing a large mix of flowers for drying in the trial beds.

We hope to harvest these flowers and dry them for lovely floral displays in the home, long after the rest of the garden is dying back into winter hibernation.

TOMATOES

Another exciting topic is windowsill tomatoes.

We acquired a number of cultivars from Camilla Fredrikson, from Camillas Countryliving. We hoped to show we can successfully grow a dozen different types of windowsill tomatoes on a small staging area in the greenhouse.

This is in order to prove you can have a bountiful crop of delicious home-grown, fresh tomatoes even if you have no garden at home.

Rounding off Carole’s exploits? Well, it wouldn’t be Beechgrove Garden without the usual sweet peas and tatties.

FEELING BLUE

As it’s the 45th anniversary of Beechgrove Garden being on air, we are hosting a blue theme.

This extends from the tasteful spring bedding mixes of various blue shades of pansies and primroses up to the usual veg.

The tatties I’ve chosen this year include main crops of Blue Annalise, Blue Danube and Salad Blue.

I’ve gone for blue chillis like Christmas Blue and Blue Filus. The sweet peas are various shades and mixes of purple-blues – including Allbutt Blue and Ballerina Blue.

George planted blueberries – Bluecrop, Chandler and Liberty. The blue delphiniums – Blue Lace, Cliveden Beauty and Delphi Hollands Glorie – were planted to mark King Charles’s coronation are thriving and thankfully not too munched by slugs!

BACK TO BASICS

Back to basics has been a running strand of the year where we dive into some important basic skills such as sowing and pricking out, splitting herbaceous plants, and I’ll be showing how and when to pot on.

Diana Yates has taken on an area of Beechgrove terrace to transform the small space into an area that is both productive and beautiful.

By maximising the use of the walls, hanging baskets and containers, Diana has shown how to pack in maximum crops and flowers.

Lizzie Schofield has taken on the bare triangles in the box alternative hedging trials area and implemented a border which is designed to deal with drought and still provide a stunning, flora rich display.

She also has been busy redesigning and transforming a bland new build into dream space.

Brian Cunningham has been keeping us abreast of developments down at his place at old Scone.

Kirsty Wilson has been educating us all on houseplants this year with her very trendy set full of glorious houseplants that I’m very envious of!

Calum Clunie has been revisiting his garden for a young person up on Beechgrove terrace.

We’ve sorted out a few drainage issues, got the roses back and will soon be looking into lawn issues.

He also keeps us up to date with his allotment in Leven, while just down the road in the perennially sunny Joppa, George does the same.

TUNE IN

Plenty more still to come and plenty to keep checking in for!

Catch Beechgrove Garden on Thursdays at 8pm on BBC Scotland.

It’s on BBC2 on Fridays at 7.30pm and repeated on Sunday morning at 8.30am on BBC2. It can also be seen anytime on BBC iPlayer, too.

Take care and happy gardening.

DREAM JOB: Scott, above, at the ready to teach us garden skills, while Beechgrove team members Kirsty, Lizzie and George give advice on houseplants, a dream new-build garden and fruit and veg.