Following on from its success at Sparsholt College near Winchester, Gardeners Question Time. the BBC's radio four's popular long running program, is to create a new garden in the grounds of the RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Harrogate.
The garden will be used to record material for the program and host an annual garden party which, if Sparsholt is anything to go by, will attract thousands of visitors.
What will be extremely interesting for gardeners in the UK is the difference in approach to how the north deals with the vagaries of the weather compared to the more temperate south. By experiencing the creation of the garden from scratch we can see how plants develop in real time.
Chris Beardshaw adds "The site is typical of conditionsin the north. It will enable us to demonstrate the differences between growing in the south and north. Gardeners' Question Time is on Radio 4 on Sundays at 2pm with a shortened repeat on Wednesdays at 3pm.
is it safe to cut back trees and shrubs now, as my garden has gone wild with all the rain, and is closing in on me?
Posted by: mary | Jul 29, 2007 at 03:34 PM
Hi Mary
It really depends on which particular trees and shrubs you mean.
Anything that has flowers in the spring or early summer can be normally be pruned because it will put on new growth for flowering the following year but if it has not flowered yet then you need to either be a bit selective or leave well alone.
One rule of thumb I adopted as a commercial maintenance gardeners was the 3-5 year plan.
If you are working on a 3 year plan then remove one third of the growth from a shrub in season one (after flowering)and then another third the following year - this means you will have old wood, new wood in year two - the following year, take out the remaining old wood - this will leave you with one year,two year and old wood and repeat the cycle from then on.
In years four and five the shrub will always have no more than three year old wood on it and the flowers will remain fresh and strong all the time but the best bit is you will always have flowers.
Posted by: Philip Voice | Jul 30, 2007 at 09:20 AM
Hi,
love your programme , very informative.
Can you please advise me? You have heard of Manuka honey? proven antimicrobial properties and used in NHS to treat wounds and MRSA resistent.
Any way Very expensive £20 - £30 .
I am interested in bee keeping and wish to grow the shrubs around our apiary.
I have a choice of either buyinh seeds from New Zealand (home of shrub) or from Scotland were there a re shrubs there. Can you recommend where to get seeds and best way to start populating area around apiary.
many thanks
Elaine
Posted by: elaine Pitt | Jun 02, 2008 at 09:14 PM
I hope someone can help you here Elaine.
It might be a good question to pose on the network.
http://landscapejuice.ning.com/
Posted by: Philip Voice | Jun 05, 2008 at 08:16 AM
Its great they are thinking of building a garden in the north, but if recent weather patterns are anything to go by it is the south and south-west that are truly showing the vagaries at present
Posted by: David Aylieff-Sansom | Jun 05, 2008 at 08:37 AM