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.