The Beechgrove Garden

Forty years of the Beechgrove Garden. The Beechgrove Garden has been a perennial fixture on the mantlepiece of Scottish life since 1978. To celebrate, we have dusted off old tapes and unearthed treasures from the past 40 years to create a one-hour special programme that takes us down the garden path of Beechgrove's growth. In this special programme, we return to Beechgrove's humble beginnings in the back garden of BBC Aberdeen, when the garden was a small, difficult to manage patch of land. This reflected a familiar scenario faced by many first-time gardeners in 70s when they moved out of multistorey tenements and flats. The down-to-earth knowledge and banter of Beechgrove's first presenters Jim McColl and George Barron helped take the programme to phenomenal success. Jim and George's use of their own dialects particularly endeared them to a huge Scottish audience, attracting one million viewers in those early days. The programme also looks at how Carole Baxter broke ground by becoming the first woman to co-present a TV gardening show in the UK, as well as revisiting the hilarious antics and expert makeovers of the Hit Squad. There are embarrassing audition tapes and stories of presenters past and present, all mixed with a good dose of Beechgrove's gentle, good-natured humour. This special programme is introduced and narrated by Elaine C Smith, who also visits the garden at Beechgrove and meets today's presenters. The Beechgrove Garden, 40 years and still growing.

Over a period of two years, using unique drone footage, we see Saughton Park transformed from being a neglected site into being a model educational facility with a physic garden with the longest flowering border in a public park in the UK.

Janie Gall shows Carole some easy-to-follow and bargain-basement ways of making flower arrangements that look like they have cost the earth.

Chelsea Gold Medal-winning garden designer Chris Beardshaw makes over Susan and Brian Duthie's new-build garden in Cove, Aberdeenshire. Together they transform their tiny 10 x 10 site from the nightmare of rough builder's rubble to their dream garden in just one season.

Gardeners are said to be generous people who love a bargain - none more so than Mairi Reid in Ardersier. This is the story of how Mairi gardens for pleasure and to feed her family for almost no cost. Mairi doesn’t have the space in her own garden to grow food so has struck up a fruitful and inspirational partnership with friends and neighbours to share land, knowledge and produce. Get your notepads ready for a programme full of tips of how to garden beautifully on a budget.

Garden art can take many forms - from the plants themselves to the clever pruning of shrubs to full installations. In this episode, we visit gardens and people who see the garden as an artist’s palette - from a topiary zoo to the woman who makes her art out of other people’s rubbish. We also visit EA Hornell’s garden, in Kirkcudbright, to appreciate how the garden inspires the artist and the artist inspires the garden.

The Beechgrove garden is situated on an exposed Aberdeenshire hillside and is often regarded as a litmus test for what you are able to grow in Scotland. In this episode, we meet gardeners in Orkney, Shetland and the Black Isle who laugh at Beechgrove’s so-called difficult conditions as they show how they have created the most stunning sites right on the very edges of Scotland.

Growing your own fresh produce is one of life’s great pleasures, but many don’t have the space at home and turn to taking on an allotment. In this episode we visit two unique allotment initiatives that take growing together to a whole different level. Moncrieff Allotments, in the middle of Perth, is also in the middle of the River Tay on a 100-acre island. This multicultural allotment brings a diverse group of people together to garden in the middle of the sometimes-flooding Tay. Tillicoultry Allotments, in the shadow of the beautiful Ochil hills, looks like a series of beautifully interlinked back gardens. Here we discover that community connectivity can move mountains

Most gardeners know that gardening is good for us, from appreciating our surroundings to growing our own produce. Gardening increases both physical and mental well-being in so many ways. In this episode, we take a look at some extraordinary projects that have taken this to a whole new level. From unique community growing projects in Dundee combating poverty and giving escape from addiction to the very stylish, but profoundly moving, Horatio’s Garden in the Scottish spinal injuries unit we discover the healing power of gardening.

In this episode, we celebrate those gardens and gardeners who encourage and work alongside wildlife. With some unique wildlife footage from badgers to butterflies, we learn more about gardening with wildlife and see that you don’t have to have a wilderness to be wild about wildlife.

The Beechgrove team are in the Mar Policies area of Alloa to kickstart a garden makeover with the Wimpy Park Community Group. Over the space of just a few days, the Wimpy Park community, together with just a little help from Beechgrove, transform a neglected walled garden and make it into an accessible space built by the community, for the community. At nearly three acres it’s a massive site, and with four areas in need of TLC, it’s a challenge that requires everyone to be mucking in, but the team are determined that the project makes it from design to done.

As any keen gardener knows, it’s not just the leaves that pile up in the garden at this time of year, so do the autumn and winter jobs. With that in mind, Beechgrove is back with a special series to help guide you through everything you need to tackle as the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop. In this episode, Carole and Calum are at Beechgrove with information on what to do with dahlias now that the flowering is finished. They also list the top five plants to have in your garden to help wildlife through winter months and reveal how to top up your plant collection for free. Meanwhile, George is taking hardwood cuttings at his garden in Joppa and there is a visit to a fabulous garden planted to look its best in winter, showing that a growing area isn’t just for summer interest, it can look great all year round.

The winter work continues at Beechgrove as Carole Baxter and Kirsty Wilson guide us through all the jobs that make this a busy time of year in the gardening calendar. They show what to do with fallen leaves, while in Joppa, George Anderson demonstrates how to keep this year’s bumper apple crop fresh for weeks to come, as well as coaching us through compost creation. Calum Clunie is at his allotment in Leven, taking a look at his winter veg in the polytunnel and saving money by taking carnation cuttings. Lizzie Schofield takes us around her prize-winning garden in Buckie, and Kirsty has some brilliant container ideas for gardeners who only have a window box or small space to grow in and who want some brilliant winter colour to brighten up the darker months.

Carole Baxter and Diana Yates are at Beechgrove to guide us through just what needs to be done for autumn and winter. They show how to plant garlic and take a look at some great species to plant if you are looking for something with colourful barks and stems. There is also pruning to be getting on with, with the garden’s buddleia getting some attention, and there is some great advice on caring for heathers. George Anderson is in his garden pruning hydrangea, and Brian Cunningham is lifting the gladioli he planted earlier in the summer. Plus the usual round-up of handy hints and tips for the week ahead.

Beechgrove Garden in Winter covers all the jobs in your garden that need to be done at this time of year, with all the usual expert instruction to help everyone, from beginners to experts. In this episode, Carole Baxter and Scott Smith tackle the garden jobs that need to be done at this time of year. They insulate a greenhouse to protect precious plants from the winter to come, and Carole looks at a range of evergreens to bring year-round interest to your borders. Carole also be talks tulips, a wonderful way to remind us all of the colourful spring to come. Meanwhile, Scott explains why leaves change colour at this time of year, and Kirsty Wilson demonstrates how to give the wildlife in your garden a hand by building a five-star bug hotel.

Scott and Calum have planned ahead in terms of providing colour, which will come from the winter bulbs planted late in the summer. It’s time to bring the containers out of the dark and introduce some light to the growing shoots. The lawn needs some winter protection, so Scott and Calum discuss what to do now to make sure the grass looks great next year. Scott also demonstrates how to care for a yew hedge and Calum lifts and splits some herbaceous plants for more free planting in your garden. Lizzie Schofield visits the new-build garden she designed and planted in the summer and helps the new gardeners there care for the plants.

George Anderson and Carole Baxter tackle viewers' questions from Beechgrove Garden. Carole also looks at how to deal with bare spots in a plot with ideas on evergreen ground cover, while George has the secateurs out and demonstrates how to prune gooseberries and redcurrants. Meanwhile, Kirsty Wilson is planting up a conifer container, and there is a visit to father and daughter gardeners Erin and Joe Armstrong to find out what's on their to-do list this month.

It’s the last chance to get your fix of Beechgrove advice for the year as George Anderson and Lizzie Schofield bring more seasonal tips from the garden. On the to-do list this week is a look at planting a bare-root hedge in a perennial border, while George is winter pruning the grapevine. Lizzie takes a festive look ahead and harvests willow for some homemade wreaths, while head gardener Scott Smith explains all the factors to be considered when laying out a new garden during winter.