Video Documentaries

It's the final programme of the Beechgrove series, and Jim, Carole, George, Chris and Brian are all battening down the hatches, preparing the garden for winter but with a barrowload of hopeful hints to anticipate spring. Jim and Carole have succumbed to a little tulip fever as they go a little crazy with bulbs, planting in containers, in spring displays and naturalising in the lawn. Sandy has a lifetime of experience to impart from how to keep tartan patterns on the lawn, through to keeping your shrubs in beautiful shape.

This week in Beechgrove Garden episode 25, the whole Beechgrove team head to what has been Jim McColl's adopted home for the last 40 years, the Aberdeenshire town of Oldmeldrum, for the penultimate programme of the series. Jim takes us on a tour of the horticultural highlights of the area, including visiting the magnificent Haddo House, whose gardens have been recently restored to their 1830 heyday. Haddo House is also the venue for a Beechgrove question-and-answer session, where Jim, Carole, George and Brian attempt to answer some of the local gardening queries from the gardeners of Meldrum as it is affectionately called. In Beechgrove Garden episode 25:  1. Haddo House Terraced Garden Set in the agricultural heartlands of north-east Aberdeenshire, Haddo House has been in the family of  the Earls and Marquesses of Aberdeen since the 1730’s and has now been in the care of the NTS since 1979.  2. Q&A The historical accuracy of the newly restored Haddo Terraced garden is obviousl

The Beechgrove Garden is a blaze of early autumn colour and Jim and Carole show off some of the very best for this time of year from dahlias to hydrangeas. Scone Palace Gardens are overrun with rabbits and deer. At the start of the series, we saw head gardener Brian Cunningham setting up an observation to see what methods, if any, work to deter them and to find out if there really are rabbit-proof plants. Brian pulls a rabbit out of a hat with some surprising results. In Beechgrove Garden episode 24 :  1. Small Fruit Bed At Beechgrove we have an expanding collection of mini fruit – or dwarf fruit suitable for anyone who has a limited space to grow fruit in their garden. Last year many of these plants were in pots and weren’t doing that well, so they were planted into this mini fruit plot in front of the decking. Since then there have been mixed results.  2. Camellias Inside It did seem like a fine summer’s day at Beechgrove this week but Jim had been checking the overnight temperatures

In Beechgrove Garden episode 23 2017 it is hedge-clipping time and Jim, Carole and George trim their way around the garden. Chris finishes the planting in the heather garden to help create the windswept, top-of-the-mountain look, adding a range of tough grasses and ferns. From prodigious parsnips to dinner plate-sized dahlias, Jim visits the showers and growers at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival. Earlier this year, the Beechgrove team visited some of the entrants to the show to see how preparations were going. Jim catches up with them again at the show to see if their labours have borne fruit. In Beechgrove Garden episode 23 2017:  1. Propagation of summer bedding We have had a lovely display of summer bedding this year. However it was now time to decide which plants to keep, which plants can be propagated from and which ones to get rid of. Lobelia sown from seed would go on the compost heap and new plants sown next year. Geraniums, on the other hand, can be kept and dried off indo

The whole Beechgrove team are on the road again, this time to the Fife county town of Cupar. Renowned for its award-winning floral displays, the Cupar in Bloom team have invited Beechgrove to come and take a look at their efforts, as well as hosting a Beechgrove Gardeners' Question Time in the Corn Exchange. Jim, Carole, George and Brian attempt to answer as many Cupar gardening questions as possible. The team also visit some of Cupar's outstanding gardens and tee off with a visit to Elmwood Golf Course.

Jim takes a final tally and taste-test of tomatoes in the greenhouse. Carole is in Ardersier for Vegetable Garden on a Budget. Carole catches up with Mari Reid for harvest and a picnic on the beach, and to hear how much three families have saved and gained by growing their own.   Tourists and townspeople often stop to admire the front garden of James Findlay in Carluke. Jim joins the crowd and James explains how he took over his neighbour's garden to increase the kerb appeal in Carluke. In Beechgrove Garden episode 21 2017:  1. Pond Maintenance The pond has been really successful year. The gardeners have managed keep the algal bloom at bay so that all the plants have put on a huge amount of growth. The water lilies were starting to bloom. Last year Chris propagated some of these water lilies and planted them up, placing them on a shelf near the pond’s edge. It was now time to move them deeper into the pond as their stems were getting too long for their position. He gently floated t

They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Well, this week in the Beechgrove Garden, Jim and Carole munch their way through the veg plot as they taste-test turnips, a new broad bean and some blight-resistant potatoes.   Chris takes a look at the new rose garden and has a new take on some age-old remedies for common rose problems. George visits the grand Drummond Castle Gardens near Crieff in Perthshire. The formal garden and parterre are among the oldest in Scotland and reputedly some of the finest in Europe. In Beechgrove Garden episode 20 2017:  1. Turnips Jim and Carole were at the raised beds beside the vegetable polytunnels looking at the salad turnips. Jim sowed a range of new varieties to observe. Half way through the season the turnips were decimated by pigeons so a second sowing was done in the middle of June. Within 8 weeks they were now ready to harvest. As they are quick maturing crop (like lettuce and radish) you could get up to a succession of 3 sowings dur

The whole team travel deep into Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song country, to the Howe of the Mearns village of Arbuthnott. For anyone who drives the A90, the red clay soils of one of the most fertile and productive areas in the country will be familiar and are the dominant feature of the area. Jim, Carole, George and Chris explore the area horticulturally and also solve some gardening problems for the gardeners of Arbuthnott gathered in the Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Centre for a Q&A. Jim and George visit one of the oldest gardens in Scotland at Arbuthnott House, while Carole visits the contemporary gardeners of Milltown Community. In Beechgrove Garden episode 19 2017:  1. Arbuthnott House Garden This 17thC historic 5acre garden at Arbuthnott House is reputed to be one of the oldest in Scotland. The whole creation of the walled garden owes its origin and design to XV11th century pattern and practice. The garden is on an incredibly steep slope and so was divided up by three ma