The Beechgrove Garden

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 the first 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 rhubar, 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.

George and Carole plant some blight-resistant varieties of potatao in the garden. There is spring colour from the different daffodil varieties that Carole placed in containers last year, and now that they are in full bloom, she will be highlighting the characteristics to look out for in each type. George is sowing broad beans, and there is a look at what makes the ideal tree for a small garden, including what to choose, how to plant and how to care for it in the early stages. Calum Clunie is back for the first of his updates from his productive allotment in Leven, plus the usual weekly handy hints.

It’s one the busiest times in the horticultural calendar, and there is lots to be done at Beechgrove Garden. Calum Clunie and Lizzie Schofield take a look at what you should be doing right now to keep your lawn looking lovely, and they are also up to their knees in pond water as they demonstrate how to mend a punctured pond lining. It’s time to unwrap your dahlias after a winter in the dark, and Lizzie is in the gravel garden splitting and separating crocosmia. There is a visit to a beautiful spring garden in Argyll, plus the usual hot tips and handy hints on what you should be doing in your own garden, balcony or window box right now.

As the days get longer, so does the to-do list at Beechgrove. Kirsty Wilson and Calum Clunie are busy tackling spring jobs, including a revamp of the roses in the picket fence garden. One of the biggest jobs carried out recently at Beechgrove was moving the large viburnum to the bottom of the plot. The move took five people and a lot of heavy lifting, but unfortunately, the viburnum didn’t do so well in its new location until some radical pruning was carried out. Kirsty and Calum check on its spring progress. Also in this episode, the pair tackle creating a hugel bed, a sustainable method of growing that is based around planting on a specially created mound of composting materials. If your gardening is on a smaller scale, Lizzie Schofield is in Buckie creating a perfect patio garden. Plus the usual handy hints for the week ahead and a great garden visit.

George and Lizzie combine flowers and productive gardening by creating a mini potager plot. They also kick off one of the big jobs of the year, a revamp of the herb garden.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Carole is reporting on how the successional tattie planting is progressing, and she’s also in the 8x6 domestic greenhouse, explaining what needs to be done right now to ensure the very best tomatoes and cucumbers.

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.

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. Horticultural lecturer Ruth Vichos joins the gardening team at Beechgrove and demonstrates how to expand your plant collection without spending a penny by taking softwood cuttings. There is also a great idea about what to do with your grass cuttings and what biennials to sow that will help the pollinators in your area.

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. All that, handy hints, and a visit to a great seaside garden in Fife.

The secateurs are out as Kirsty Wilson and Calum Clunie set about trimming, pruning and cutting to encourage new growth for the rest of the season and beyond.

George and Lizzie start cherry-picking the best of the summer produce from the plot.

Carole Baxter and Brian Cunningham dig into the first crop of potatoes that were planted in containers earlier in the year.

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. 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. And there are two great garden visits - one in Gairloch and another in Dumfries, two different locations with very different growing conditions .

Kirsty Wilson and Calum Clunie get their waders on to suggest some great plants that can be added to ponds or introduced if creating a new water feature.

Carole checks on how this year’s crop of tomatoes and cucumbers have measured up, and Brian looks at some newly planted apple trees.

It’s time to check on this year’s work and look ahead to autumn and the 2025 season.

With autumn fast approaching, Lizzie Schofield and Ruth Vichos pick the garden’s carrot crop, and Calum has the latest from his allotment in Leven.

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. It has been reported that there has been a drop in the number of butterflies and other pollinators in gardens across the UK this year, and Carole finds out if that really is the case and, if so, why it has happened and what gardeners can do to help.

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. Plus the latest from Brian Cunningham at Old Scone.

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.