Beechgrove Garden Season 46, Episode 4: Episode 4

Episode 1

Winter is over, spring is here, and the garden is slowly coming back to life - and with it comes a new series of Beechgrove Garden. All through the spring, summer and into autumn, the Beechgrove team will be bringing their expert advice and insight into what you should be doing in your garden each week. Whether you have a window box, a balcony or borders and raised beds, there will be something useful for you to learn about or get done. In this episode, Carole Baxter and George Anderson are at Beechgrove to review how the wild, wet winter has affected the garden. If you are a beginner gardener, there is a Back to Basics look at what essential tools you need to get started. George and Carole are shifting the Beechgrove rhubarb, and Brian Cunningham is tackling the basics of gardening in a greenhouse. All that plus weekly handy hints and a visit to an allotment in Dundee. It’s the start of the gardening year, so stay with Beechgrove to keep you on track for the season to come.

28 min

Episode 2

It’s tattie time at Beechgrove as George Anderson and Carole Baxter plant some blight resistant varieties in the garden just outside Aberdeen. There’s spring colour with a look at some of the many different daffodil varieties and classifications available, Carole and George will be highlighting the characteristics to look out for. George is sowing broad beans and Calum Clunie is back for the first of his updates from his productive allotment in Leven.

28 min

Episode 3

It’s one of the busiest times in the horticultural calendar and there’s lots to be done at Beechgrove Garden just outside Aberdeen. Calum Clunie and Lizzie Schofield unwrap dahlias after a winter in the dark, and Lizzie is in the gravel garden splitting and separating crocosmia. There’s a visit to a beautiful spring garden in Argyll and tips on how to refresh any potted box hedge that is looking a bit brown and straggly. Plus all the usual hot tips and handy hints on what you should be doing in your own garden, balcony or window box right now.

28 min

Episode 5

It’s the start of May and George Anderson and Lizzie Schofield combine flowers and productive gardening by creating a mini potager plot at Beechgrove. They also kick off one of the big jobs of the year, a revamp of the herb garden. Brian Cunningham gives the latest gardening updates from his plot in Old Scone and there’s a visit to a garden in Dunfermline that has been an inspiration for local volunteers. All that plus topical tips, and Lizzie demonstrates how to save money by making plant supports from willow.

28 min

Episode 6

Gardening to give nature in your garden a helping hand is the focus of this episode. Carole Baxter is joined by wildlife expert James Silvey to answer your questions on how, and what, to plant in order to attract wildlife to wherever you do your growing There is also a visit to a community garden in Paisley that has gardeners from across the world helping out and benefiting from what they grow. Carole is at Beechgrove planting out a new strawberry bed and looking at which tomato and cucumber varieties she will be growing in her 8x6 greenhouse.

28 min

Episode 7

The weather continues to warm, the days get longer and so the gardening season picks up pace with Lizzie Schofield and Calum Clunie attending to the jobs at Beechgrove Garden. Calum plants out a bed to produce cut flowers all summer long and Lizzie continues the work on revamping the herb garden. There are ideas on what to plant in a shaded area of woodland and the broad beans sown last month are planted out. There’s a visit to a thriving community garden in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow, plus the week’s round up of handy hints.

28 min

Episode 8

There has been so much rain this spring that many plots feel like a bog. Thankfully, Kirsty and Lizzie are in Beechgrove’s own bog garden looking at plants that are specifically suited to extremely wet conditions. In a drier, warmer area of the garden, the pair are planting pumpkins and squash in the polytunnel. One of the big projects at Beechgrove this year is the revamping of the herb garden. Lizzie selected the plants that were worth keeping a few weeks ago, and now she is working to improve the soil in that area. Plus all the usual handy hints and a visit to a first-time allotment gardener, who receives some expert guidance.

28 min

Episode 9

There is more spring colour to enjoy in the garden, and Carole Baxter is looking at bedding plants, which are safe to plant out now that the risk of frost has hopefully gone. Carole also has an update on the yellow rattle that was sown last year. Yellow rattle inhibits grass growth and is a great way to encourage and assist other wildflowers to progress in a grassy area. It is also time to plant out the dahlias, and new Beechgrove expert Ruth Vichos is tackling pests in the greenhouse. There is a visit to East Lothian to visit the plot of father-and-daughter gardeners Erin and Joe Armstrong, while Brian Cunningham has the latest from his garden at Old Scone. Show less

28 min

Episode 10

The flurry of planting and sowing in spring is over, and it’s time to check in and enjoy the results of all that hard work at Beechgrove Garden. After a cold, wet start to the season, some warmer weather means that there has been some growing progress as Calum Clunie and Lizzie Schofield find out when they check in on the garden's vegetable-producing areas. Meanwhile, Lizzie revisits the new potager plot - an area of plants that are both decorative and edible - and also starts choosing varieties for the new herb garden she has been working on over the last few episodes. There is more planting in the calendar border with shrubs chosen for their scent, plus the usual weekly tips and hints. Show less

Episode 11

If you want to attract more bird life to your garden, deck or window box, then this episode has some top tips for you. Kirsty Wilson is discussing just what to sow and plant in order to attract birds to your area and give them a helping hand at the same time. Lizzie Schofieid continues her work refreshing the perennials in the zig-zag garden, there is a look at the garden’s loofahs, and Kirsty is planting on the hugulkultur bed, a sustainable way to create a fertile growing area that she and Calum built in April. All that plus advice on growing delicious summer melons and autumn pumpkins.

28 min

Episode 12

It’s all about alpines as Brian Cunningham and Carole Baxter offer tips on these plants, which, although found on mountain tops, also look great at Beechgrove Garden. Brian and Carole also take another look at an area they were forced to replant two years ago because of disease - dwarf bamboo and decorative stumps from a fallen alder were used to create a new look for the space, and they're assessing how it’s coming along and what to do next.

28 min

Episode 13

It’s all about the joy of going into your garden and picking something fresh and sweet this week at Beechgrove Garden as George Anderson and Calum Clunie are tending vines, fig plants and fruit bushes. George is in the fruit house explaining how to get the most from your vine, and he will also be in the fruit cage planting new cultivars of gooseberry, blackcurrant and redcurrant, as well as pruning Beechgrove’s plum trees. Calum is in the vegetable patch with the latest on this year’s successional sowing. All that plus the week’s handy hints.

27 min

Episode 14

In this episode, the Beechgrove team show how to create the scents and flavours of a herb garden even if you don’t have much space. Lizzie Schofield has been developing the programme’s herb garden this year, and this week she discusses and sows the herbs that are ideal for container and window box cultivation, perfect if you don’t have access to a larger area to plant in.

28 min

Episode 15

It's the taste of summer, so Beechgrove Garden’s own strawberry crop gets some attention - and maybe some picking - from George Anderson and Carole Baxter. The pair also work in the Garden for Wildlife, a plot specifically designed and planted with species that are beneficial to the local ecosystem, with George boosting the garden’s collection of meconopsis. Carole picks some of the fantastic salad crops that have been growing in her collection of quirky containers - proof that you don’t need a lot of space to grow some of your own vegetables - and reveals the top cropping plant of the year so far.

27 min

Episode 16

The secateurs are out at Beechgrove Garden as Kirsty Wilson and Calum Clunie set about trimming, pruning and cutting to encourage new growth for the rest of the season and beyond. Now is the time to prune the wisteria if you have one, and Kirsty demonstrates just how to go about it. She also talks about what you should be doing to the laburnum right now. Both Kirsty and Calum tidy up the garden’s topiary, and Calum is in the flower bed cutting anything that is ready for the vase and tending to the varieties that will deliver scent and colour later in the season. There is a check on the pumpkins that were planted in the newly created Hugelkulture bed, plus the week’s handy hints.

28 min

Episode 17

It’s time for summer fruit salads as George Anderson and Lizzie Schofield start cherry-picking the best of the summer produce. There was a cold and wet spring, followed by a cool start to the summer, so how has that affected this year’s produce? George is in the fruit cage, where he is pruning the loganberry and tayberry that he planted last year, and he and Lizzie pull the best of what has grown so far from the vegetable plot. All that plus the latest from Calum Clunie’s allotment in Leven and the usual handy hints.

28 min

Episode 18

A steady supply of tatties from Beechgrove Garden starts as Carole Baxter and Brian Cunningham dig into the first crop that were planted in containers earlier in the year. Planting continued at regular intervals through the spring, which means there will be a succession of potato production in the coming weeks. Carole is in the seaside garden checking on the plants that got a heavy cutting back last year, and she also has advice on what to do with any hanging baskets and containers you might have. Brian demonstrates what to do with one of the most common and attractive garden shrubs right now. Plus all the usual handy hints.

27 min

Episode 19

Bamboo is a very popular plant and a great way to create structure in gardens or to provide a screen from neighbours. However, it can be a huge problem if it starts to spread. Lizzie Schofield and Ruth Vichos take a look at the different varieties available, how to plant it and, most importantly, how to stop it taking over. The pair also demonstrate just what to do with a drumstick primula in a garden’s plant collection, and have a timely chat about a very common garden pest - slugs. There is also an update from George Anderson’s allotment as he reviews the impact the cold, wet, not-so-sunny growing season has had on his plot’s output.

28 min

Episode 20

Ponds, large or small, are a great way to encourage wildlife to your garden, and Kirsty Wilson and Calum Clunie get their waders on to suggest some great plants to add to your pond if you have one, or to introduce if you are creating a new water feature. In the spring, Calum set himself the challenge of producing cut flowers every month of the growing season. In this episode, he checks in on what is available in August, while Kirsty demonstrates how to care for citrus plants. Plus the usual handy hints and an update from George Anderson’s garden in Joppa.

28 min

Episode 21

It’s the time of year when all the hard work earlier in the season begins to pay off. Carole Baxter is in one of Beechgrove Garden’s greenhouses to record how this year’s crop of tomatoes is measuring up. Along with Ruth Vichos, another crop that will be checked is this year’s planting of blight-resistant potatoes. It has been a damp summer, which can mean ideal conditions for the disease that can affect the potato plants - but will the varieties that are meant to be blight-resistant pay off this year? At Old Scone, Brian Cunningham looks at some newly planted apple trees and has some practical training advice on when is best to buy bare-root plants.

28 min

Episode 22

It’s time to check on this year’s work and look ahead to the autumn and the 2025 season at Beechgrove Garden. Lizzie Schofield and Calum Clunie try some of the rhubarb from the plant that they shifted in the spring to a spot that had better growing conditions, but did the move pay off? Calum builds a hot bed, an area packed with manure to generate heat that will then be used to grow produce through the autumn when the temperatures drop.

28 min

Episode 23

It’s the first episode of September and, as we head into autumn, it’s time to check in on some of the successes at Beechgrove Garden this season. Lizzie Schofield and Ruth Vichos lift the garden’s carrot crop and, after weeks of growing, find out if it’s a bumper harvest or if the dreaded carrot fly has done any damage. Lizzie’s big project this summer has been to rejuvenate Beechgrove’s herb garden, so she will be back amongst the sage and thyme to make sure all her new planting has settled in. Meanwhile, Ruth explains that, even though summer is almost over, you can still have lots of interest on your doorstep with containers planted for autumn colour.

28 min

Episode 24

It’s time to enjoy the best of late summer at Beechgrove as Carole Baxter assesses how the dahlias have delivered this year. They are great for cut flower collections, but has the weather affected the results? There is more garden colour from Kirsty Wilson as she looks ahead to the autumn and plants some late-flowering perennials. Kirsty also checks in on her attempt to grow melons in the polytunnel and takes a look at the pumpkins in the hugel bed, a method of growing based on planting on a mound of decomposing timber and other organic material.

28 min

Episode 25

It’s every gardener’s dream - weed-free growing! In this episode, George Anderson and Calum Clunie help cut down on those unwanted plant pests. The pair select varieties that provide great ground cover as they grow, and that ground cover will help limit the spread of weeds in future seasons. Calum takes on the next stage of developing his hot be. A few weeks ago, he built the frame and filled it with organic matter that will be a natural source of heat, and this week he plants winter veg that will keep growing as the autumn temperatures drop. Calum also provides the last update of the season from his cut flower bed to find out what new blooms have appeared now that we are more than halfway through September

28 min

Episode 26

It’s time to measure and enjoy the fruits of Beechgrove’s efforts as George Anderson and Carole Baxter weigh up the season’s successes. Carole has the scales and calculator out as she assesses which of the tomato varieties has been the most productive. She has also been counting the cucumbers, which have been this season’s bumper crop from the 8x6 greenhouse, and George checks on the trees suitable for small gardens that he planted earlier in the season. Calum Clunie has the last of this year’s updates from his allotment in Leven, and there is a report from a plot in Aberdeen that used to be a bowling green and is now a fantastic community garden.

27 min