The Beechgrove Garden

Beechgrove is back, re-potted, with a new look in a new home on the new BBC Scotland channel. Springing back onto our screens just in time for the Easter holiday gardening weekend, Beechgrove provides trusted tips for the growing season and has sprouted some new faces and facets. In the first episode, despite a stormy spring, the ground is warm enough to start planting, and in true Beechgrove fashion, tatties are the order of the day. But this time, Jim McColl and George Anderson have decided to turn the whole veg plot over to ‘no-dig’ techniques. Meanwhile, Carole Baxter is spring cleaning and pruning, and new shoot/recruit Kirsty Wilson shows Brian Cunningham how to make an easy Easter wreath.

Brian Cunningham and Carole Baxter set up neighbouring luxury greenhouse versus cheap and cheerful polytunnel to see what undercover growing they can achieve. There are over 500 million plastic plant pots in circulation in the UK. Carole and Beechgrove new face Rosa Bevan take a look at the plastic issue from a gardener’s perspective and look at the alternatives. Rosa shows Carole how to make practical pots homemade simply from old newspaper. Willow grows particularly well in the north of Scotland, and Carole visits Karen Collins at her willow farm near Forres. Carole tries her hand at some willow weaving to create a decorative plant support.

This week on Beechgrove, Carole shows how to create easy, instant mass flower colour in just a few weeks by sowing the right seeds now. Meanwhile if space is at a premium, then the way to go is up and so Kirsty creates a lifestyle look with a living wall, made of pallets and plants. Sophie McKilligan is by far the youngest allotmenteer at Garthdee Allotments in Aberdeen. Drawing on her memories of time spent in her grandparents’ garden, Sophie set about reclaiming her newly acquired over-grown patch of potential. Despite her pedigree, Sophie is a learner in the allotment world, and Carole will be there to help her get started with crops that Sophie has previously had problems with: sweetcorn and carrots.

Beechgrove is looking forward to exceeding our “five a day” this week. Carole is tending to the fig, cherry and grapevine meanwhile, Brian and Rosa are planting brassicas and beans in the new back-saving, no-dig veg plot. Brian is also at home in Scone with his children Ben and Eilidh. Brian, Ben and Eilidh are keen to encourage families to garden together and this week they are showing how to make; an edible wigwam, a veg plot out of an old paddling pool and fun flower seed bombs. George visits Mike Thompson’s traditional, Scottish country cottage garden overlooking the Tay Valley in Abernethy.

From the large pond to a tiny puddle, having a pond in your garden is a source of pleasure for humans and is a haven for wildlife. The wellies and waders are firmly on this week in Beechgrove as Carole, George and Brian are all playing in the ponds. Carole tackles the sticky problem of blanket weed in the main pond, George dredges and renews the wildlife pond and Brian creates a tiny, low-maintenance burble pool. Carole also visits Alasdair and Carole Maclean, who live on the edge of Nairn in a bungalow surrounded by a garden they have created over 20 years. In it, they have amassed a collection of over 100 colourful rhododendrons, many of which they raised themselves from seed and cuttings.

This week on Beechgrove, George is in the fruit cage rescuing the raspberries, while Carole plants brassicas and beans in the veg plot. A garden that needs little attention while still looking attractive is a constant request. Brian takes an in-depth look at what makes the Low Maintenance Garden at Beechgrove. Following the theme of low maintenance in a very different way, George visits Iris Jarret’s unconventional garden in Wormit. Iris’s garden is an unashamedly untamed, self-maintaining but delightful garden overlooking the Tay.

At Beechgrove, competition is hotting up between what’s being grown in Carole’s immaculate 6x8 greenhouse compared to the Heath Robinson atmosphere of Brian’s polytunnel. Carole returns to Garthdee allotments in Aberdeen to see how the youngest allotment holder, Sophie McKilligan, has fared after Carole’s first visit. Carole helps Sophie create an easy wildlife pond to attract wildlife and pollinators. And George visits Waterside near Kilmarnock and Clover Park garden. The garden is an eclectic mix of architectural and ornamental features including a woodland and azalea walk, a fernery, a gunnera bog and is also home to a small herd of pygmy goats.

Life really is a bowl of cherries at Beechgrove. George reviews progress in the fruit house, while Carole properly appreciates the crop of ‘sweetheart' cherries. Brian reviews his no-mow lawn and counts the extra wildlife thriving there. Fresh from gold medal winning at Chelsea Flower Show, Chris Beardshaw is back at Beechgrove to smell and tend the roses. Meanwhile, Kirsty Wilson visits a young plant enthusiast in Limekilns. David Durie has amassed a collection of the weird and wonderful Carnivorous plants and Kirsty gleans the secrets of success with these pretty ugly on-trend plants. Carole visits Trish and Andy Winton’s modestly Mediterranean Montrose garden. Trish is an artist and Carole learns how the garden inspires her but also how her art inspires the garden.

This episode sees George gardening in tiny places and huge spaces. He revisits his tiny, but hugely productive, 'small space’ garden to see what’s ready for harvest. In 2017, he visited the historic but dilapidated Saughton Park to hear plans for a future facelift, and now he returns to see the extraordinary regeneration of this once-great park and how Edinburgh Council, the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and many volunteers have created a national garden treasure for this century. Meanwhile, Chris demonstrates how pruning can be more than just restorative and shows how to prune in creative and fun ways, making an ancient bonsai tree out of a scrubby old shrub.

Kirsty shows how to make a miniature patio pond, proving that no matter how small your space, anyone can have a water feature. Meanwhile, Carole, George, and Kirsty get creative with Janie Gall, who shows how to make an easy-to-do-at-home cut-flower arrangement using some clever hacks that make efforts appear professionally done. George visits Laraine and Colin Lambie in Livingstone in their award-winning hidden gem of a back garden that is both child and especially hedgehog friendly. Carole visits Tom Williamson and partner David Gallagher in Bonnybridge. A neat lawn in the front with a mixed perimeter border of shrubs and herbaceous gives just a hint of what awaits in the back, and all in great condition thanks to the secret ingredient Tom adds to his garden compost. Tom has impaired vision, but it doesn’t stop him gardening, especially helped by his partner David

Potatoes taste best when you grow your own and straight from the ground. Carole harvests three varieties of tiny potatoes from the container garden and Brian and George form an orderly queue to taste them. Brian visits The Field Project in Dunkeld. An all-inclusive community project with people of all ages and backgrounds, it is a collective where they say 'we grow everything for everybody'. George visits the garden of George and Christine Porteous in Lockerbie. The garden is much admired by passers-by, who draw up outside in cars and even tourist buses stop to take photographs of this colourful, award-winning garden. George joins the tourists stopping to admire the garden.

It is buzzing in Beechgrove as Brian and ‘butterfly man’ Anthony McCluskey attempt to count the butterflies in Brian’s no-mow meadow. George takes a look at the summer bedding flower display. Meanwhile Carole starts sowing over wintering veg. Kirsty shows how to create a permanent, evergreen hanging basket - a succulent sphere that can hang indoors or out. Vera and Jimmy Chisolm have gardened on the edge of Nairn for 38 years and they have created an award-winning Scottish cottage garden with views towards the beautiful Cawdor Hills. Carole goes to take a look.

From huge hornbeam to bijoux box, it's hedge-clipping time in Beechgrove. It is also the final analysis of Carole's greenhouse v Brian's polytunnel, with Judge George adjudicating. Lucy Dalgleish is a gardening and plant enthusiast on a high level, literally, as she gardens on her Maryhill balcony. Kirsty visits Lucy to help with her aim to grow overwinter vegetables and become self-sufficient from her bountiful balcony during the colder months. Carole travels to Little Loch Broom in Wester Ross to visit the garden of Sue Pomeroy and Will Soos. Sue and Will have created a coastal garden full of plants from all around the world.

'To mow or not to mow' - that is the question as Carole looks at traditional lawn care, while Brian continues maintenance of his no-mow meadow. Kirsty shows some on-trend indoor plant ideas to keep green fingers busy throughout the autumn and winter months. At 25, Sophie McKilligan is the youngest allotment holder at Garthdee Allotments in Aberdeen and throughout this season, Carole has been guiding Sophie's growing. In this programme they access the harvest. George visits Philip and Jennifer Bradley's garden in Newton Stewart. Over 20 years the couple have transformed a field into a garden of informal rooms full of year-round colour. Including a 'room' packed with exotic specimens surprisingly thriving in the Scottish border's climate.