Beechgrove Garden

The Beechgrove Garden has only just emerged from the December snow. Jim, Carole and Lesley find out exactly how the weather has affected the plants.

Jim is in the Family Orchard, which was devastated by waterlogging and then snow damage last year. Head gardener Don and his team have revamped and replanted the orchard.

Over the next ten years peat-based composts are due to be phased out so Jim tries new peat-free composts. Lesley plants herbaceous perennials in the redesigned Cutting Garden.

Jim is planting potatoes in a traditional manner using both unconventional and new varieties. Carole visits Abriachan Gardens, a stunning hillside garden on Loch Ness side.

It's finally warming up and that's good news - mostly. But it also means that garden pests are on the prowl. Jim tests out what claims to be a catch-all new biological control.

Jim is in the fruit house tending to the vines, planning for the bunches of grapes to come. He also takes a look at the fig which he hard pruned in the autumn.

Jim and Lesley are sowing those extraordinary plants that flower from seed to transform a brown patch into an all colours of the rainbow patch in just a few short weeks.

Carole has her thigh waders on and is up to her middle in our big pond at Beechgrove. She discovers a new way of draining the pond and attacks the blanketweed.

The Beechgrove team is at Gardening Scotland, the biggest gardening show north of the border, which bursts into bloom at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, near Edinburgh.

Jim, Carole, and Lesley are looking forward and tending to some of the really big late season produce. They also give their take on the best way to tie up plants.

Jim is taste testing the first of our large and luscious cherries, and he also tends to the vines. Carole compares two new types of runner bean.

Jim is in the greenhouse assessing how the grafted vegetables are doing. Lesley revisits her Year in Containers in her Tuscan garden, and Carol demonstrates how to get rid of weeds.

Carole is joined by Deborah Long of Plantlife Scotland to highlight a campaign called Pond Alert, while Carolyn helps Derek Fish choose the best plants to sustain his busy bees.

The team are in the Ayrshire town of Girvan to help the community revamp a forgotten space in the centre of the town. The Secret Garden is designed to increase local biodiversity.

Jim, George and Carole look at how the more exotic crops - the melons, pumpkins, honeyberries and blueberries - are coming on, safe in their polytunnels.

Jim is back in the vegetable plot harvesting and, of course, sampling some of the wonderful vegetables that have grown despite the difficult early season conditions.

Jim, Carole and Lesley assess how Beechgrove's bedding plants have been faring over the summer. Jim also meets Anna Baker Cresswell, who runs the charity called Gardening Leave.

The team are in the Morningside area of Edinburgh where they help to create a pioneering community garden in a forgotten space on the grounds of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

It's all about propagation this week. Jim, Carole and Lesley show us how to take cuttings of perennials such as osteospermums and penstemons to overwinter for next year.

The Beechgrove Garden lawn has suffered from the 2010 summer's conditions. Jim McColl makes a few boreholes to analyse the symptoms and prescribes remedies for sick lawns.

Gardening series. Jim sows a range of winter lovelies with an oriental twist in the deep bed plot - winter greens for warming stir fries or chilly winter salads.

In the Beechgrove Garden this week it's a tale of beans and bulbs. Carole takes a look at her runner bean trial, comparing yield and of course the taste of the beautiful beans.

The Beechgrove team visits a garden for the new Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies at Easter Bush, Midlothian, situated on a vast site overlooked by the Pentland Hills.

The gardening season is coming to an end but there is still a bumper harvest at Beechgrove. Jim compares the performance of standard potatoes with the blight-resistant varieties.

The Beechgrove team are starting to put the garden to bed for the winter. Jim, Carole and Lesley demonstrate how to lift, pot up and store half-hardy perennials.