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1:18

Hello and welcome to the BBC

1:20

Gardener's World magazine podcast, brought

1:22

to you by the team here at the magazine. Join

1:26

us as we chat all things gardening

1:28

with the nation's favourite experts. Hello

1:33

and welcome to Garden Favourites with

1:35

me, Alan Titchmarsh. This is a new

1:38

series of podcasts about

1:40

some of my favourite things, not

1:43

whiskers on kittens and brown

1:45

paper packages tied up in strings, but the

1:47

plants that I love and think are

1:50

indispensable in a great garden. You

1:52

see, everyone gardens differently and

1:55

has their own favourite plants to grow, so

1:57

join me as I share has

2:00

become dear to me over my

2:02

gardening years. A

2:07

lot of gardeners think they can't possibly

2:09

fit in fruit. Oh, heavens above,

2:11

I've got no room for a tree. No,

2:14

you don't need a tree to grow

2:16

fruit. And if you do want a tree, you

2:19

can get fruit on dwarfing root stocks.

2:21

We're still allowed to say that. It

2:23

just means that the root stock onto

2:25

which the variety is grafted controls

2:27

the vigour of the tree, and

2:30

the dwarfing root stocks will keep it small.

2:32

But of course, there are lots of other

2:34

fruits you can grow without

2:36

needing much space at all. If

2:38

you only grow one fruiting plant

2:42

and you've got children and grandchildren, well,

2:44

you'd better make it the strawberry. It's

2:47

the most versatile of fruits that

2:49

can grow in the smallest area,

2:51

even a large flower pot will

2:53

those two or three strawberry plants.

2:55

You can get strawberry pots, which

2:57

are sort of pockets all down

2:59

the side into which a little

3:01

strawberry plant can be pushed. The

3:03

biggest difficulty with those strawberry pots,

3:05

be warned, is keeping them moist.

3:08

Don't let them dry out or the

3:10

plants will just stop growing. But in

3:12

a sunny spot and some good peat

3:14

free multi-purpose compost in a strawberry pot

3:16

with these little cups down the side

3:19

that you plant them in, you'll get

3:21

a decent little crop off that. And

3:23

the great thing about strawberries is that

3:25

grandchildren and children love going and picking

3:27

them. Planting strawberries you can

3:29

do in spring. You might have to wait

3:32

a year or so before they fruit if

3:34

they're really young. But that wouldn't bother about

3:36

pinching the flowers off, as some people suggest

3:38

in the first year. Goodness me, no. They'll

3:40

get their roots down. They'll be strong enough to support

3:43

a few fruits. And when it comes

3:45

to varieties, you know, I'm only going

3:47

to give you one because I grow several on my

3:49

fruit patch here. But there's

3:52

one which is sweeter and more beautiful than

3:54

all of them and it keeps on cropping

3:56

and its name is easy to remember. It's

3:58

a strawberry called. sweetheart.

4:01

If you grow sweetheart strawberries you'll wonder why

4:03

you grew anything else. They've got a real

4:06

proper strawberry flavour. You'll need

4:08

to keep the birds off them at

4:10

fruiting time with either some netting or

4:12

a fruit cage. If you are putting

4:14

netting over them do make sure that

4:17

birds can't find a way in and

4:19

get tangled because they get very distressed.

4:22

But finding a good strawberry-like

4:24

sweetheart at the bottom of your garden that's

4:26

cropping. Oh well you'll be lucky if you

4:28

get them because either the blackbirds will have them

4:30

if you don't net them or your children and grandchildren

4:32

will have them before you do. When

4:35

they start pushing out runners these long

4:37

stems that have plantlets at the end

4:39

which will then root and extend the

4:42

territory of the plant, well

4:44

when you've planted a round of strawberries, generally plant

4:46

them about a foot apart, cut all

4:48

those off. When you

4:50

find after a year or two,

4:52

well three years usually, your plants

4:54

are getting a bit looking invigorated.

4:56

Then you can start keeping the

4:58

runners, allowing the plantlets to root

5:01

and then digging up and replacing

5:03

your older plants with the youngsters.

5:05

But until you actually need more

5:07

strawberry plants in say year three,

5:10

keep snipping them off. That way

5:12

you'll divert all the plant's energy

5:15

into producing little white flowers and

5:17

those yellow centres which eventually

5:19

turn into strawberries. Variety again

5:22

sweetheart, you'll bless me. I

5:25

know there is a tradition

5:27

that children, babies,

5:30

are found under gooseberry bushes. It's

5:32

my lifelong disappointment, I've never found

5:35

one there yet. I

5:37

reckon it's because they're a bit thorny and

5:39

that puts people off growing gooseberries sometimes.

5:41

They make a shrub, generally grown on

5:43

what's called a leg which is about

5:45

four or five inches of bare stem

5:48

and then the bush comes

5:50

out the top. They are thorny, they're

5:52

not easy to cultivate in terms

5:54

of getting your hand in and among them

5:56

to pick the fruit but oh it's so

5:58

worthwhile when you do. There are

6:00

lots of different varieties. There are green

6:02

gooseberries, yellow gooseberries, sometimes

6:04

called white gooseberries, and purple ones.

6:07

It makes no difference. They will all

6:09

be delicious. And my wife, Mrs. T,

6:12

makes a wonderful gooseberry fool. They

6:15

start to crop in early summer. You can

6:17

pick the fruits when they're quite tiny, if

6:19

you want, and take them

6:21

in to the kitchen or let them

6:23

get bigger, and then you'll find they

6:25

go further. Gooseberry fool, gooseberry pie, everything

6:28

wonderful. When it comes to pruning,

6:30

shorten the side shoots by about half

6:32

as they're growing and snip off the

6:34

shoot tips in winter just to try

6:36

and keep the bush a bit open

6:38

and stop it being too overcrowded. Don't

6:41

get hung up about pruning. It's really

6:43

just pruning it to shape and making

6:46

sure the center of the bush isn't

6:48

congested. Good soil with

6:50

a bit of muck or garden compost

6:52

dug in and an open sunny

6:54

spot, and you'll find that

6:57

gooseberries are really worth having. Sometimes

6:59

you'll get something called gooseberry sawfly,

7:02

which will strip the bushes of their

7:04

leaves back down to the midrib. It

7:07

generally happens after they've

7:09

cropped. And to be absolutely honest, if you're

7:11

feeding them well, it won't do

7:13

them much harm. It'll reduce the leaf area a

7:16

lot and, in theory, weaken the bush. But

7:18

I've never known gooseberry sawfly kill a gooseberry

7:20

bush. Just keep your fingers crossed. I hope

7:22

you don't get it. And if you do,

7:25

let the blackbirds come down and eat them.

7:27

Gooseberries wouldn't be without them. Fruit

7:30

in general tends to need lots of light,

7:32

bright, sunny spots in the garden the way

7:34

you grow your fruit trees and your bushes.

7:37

But if you've got a bit of shade and you'd still

7:40

like some fruit, grow raspberries.

7:42

You'll often see wild raspberries growing

7:44

in woodland, and it's an indicator

7:46

that they can cope with a

7:48

degree less light. Now, I don't

7:50

mean dense shade, where you can't

7:52

see your nose in front of

7:54

your face, but just dappled shade.

7:56

Raspberries will do fine there. There

7:59

are two distinct kinds of raspberries. There

8:02

are the summer fruiters which fruit on canes

8:04

that are one year old. We always call

8:06

raspberry stems canes. We tend to grow them

8:08

in a row and tie in

8:11

the cane, spacing them out on horizontal wires

8:13

so they're about a foot apart. And

8:15

then there are the autumn fruiters. That's

8:18

a bit of a misnomer really because they

8:20

flower in late summer and they flower on

8:22

wood which has grown that year. The big

8:25

difference between summer and autumn fruiters lies in

8:27

the pruning of them. Autumn

8:29

fruiters in February you can cut

8:31

right down to the ground. The

8:34

summer fruiters cut the canes

8:36

off the moment you've taken the fruit from

8:38

them and those new ones that are coming

8:40

up are to be tied in because

8:43

they're the ones that will carry fruit the

8:45

following year. So summer fruiters fruit

8:47

on that one year old would

8:49

the autumn fruiters on current seasons

8:51

growth. For artists I

8:54

love malingue for a summer fruit

8:56

and then there's autumn bliss which

8:58

I like for autumn or

9:00

ziva. If you want to

9:02

make sure you get them all yeah grow them under

9:04

a fruit cage. If not be prepared

9:06

to share them with birds

9:09

and with anybody else's going past

9:11

who just wants to pop one

9:13

in their mouth. But really the

9:15

thing about raspberries is they're easy to

9:17

grow provided you're not too greedy and

9:19

you do remember to thin out those

9:21

canes so they're about nine inches to

9:23

a foot apart on the support framework

9:26

and with your autumn fruiters chop them right

9:28

back to the ground come winter

9:30

and then you have

9:32

the wonderful delight of the

9:35

postponement of gratification until

9:37

the following summer. I

9:39

do like raspberry thyme. When

9:42

you're trying to get an apple

9:44

tree into a garden well if

9:46

your garden's big it's fine and

9:48

it makes a lovely thing a

9:50

good big solid apple tree to

9:52

fasten a swing on the lower

9:54

branch and go underneath

9:56

it when the blossoms there coconut

9:58

ice pink or then

10:00

in late summer and autumn when

10:02

the apples are fruiting and it's

10:04

carrying its bumper harvest but not

10:07

every garden's got room for an

10:09

old apple tree that size. What

10:11

every garden does have room for is

10:14

step over apples. These are

10:16

single tiered espaliers. Now what that means

10:18

is there's one single stem that's grown

10:20

up to about a foot and

10:23

then a bud is allowed to grow on

10:25

each side of that stem when it's cut

10:27

off at a foot and you train one

10:29

to the right and one to the left.

10:31

So you end up with a T-shaped plant

10:33

and those two side branches, all the side

10:36

shoots on it, can be cut back to

10:38

about finger length in summer and

10:40

the fruits will form on those

10:42

two laterals as they're called, the two

10:44

branches and they're great for planting a round

10:47

of edge patch. You can literally step

10:49

over them. Now you are not going

10:51

to be self-sufficient in apples but

10:54

what you will do is have one or

10:56

two, well more, you'll probably have about a

10:58

dozen on each tree that'll amuse you and

11:01

to go out and pick your own apple

11:03

and have it with a bit of cheese

11:05

is lovely. Varieties entirely up

11:07

to you. I love Ashmead's kernel.

11:09

I like Agramont Russet too which

11:11

isn't a rosy apple but its

11:13

flavor is absolutely wonderful. So

11:15

if you've no space but you'd like

11:17

to grow an apple tree, think about

11:20

snapovers. They're grown on dwarfing rootstocks, they

11:22

won't eat you out of house and home and

11:24

they're a bit of fun if nothing else around

11:27

your veg patch. They always say,

11:29

you know, plant pears

11:31

for your heirs. Well

11:33

what a load of rubbish that is. If I'm planting a

11:36

pear tree I want to eat

11:38

the pears. I don't want to save

11:40

them all for my children. They're not

11:42

nearly as slow growing as you might

11:44

think. You can buy pear trees on

11:46

rootstocks which are quite vigorous or just

11:48

slightly more dwarfing rootstocks. Find one that

11:51

suits your garden and the space you've

11:53

got. The nurseryman or the garden center

11:55

should advise on the right size tree

11:58

and then you can plant it. in

12:00

a good open spot where it's got

12:02

room to grow. The biggest thing about

12:05

a pear is choosing the right variety.

12:08

There is one variety and one variety

12:10

only that I would always put at

12:12

the top of my list. It's a

12:14

juicy pear. It's a fat

12:17

pear. When you bite into

12:19

it the juice will dribble

12:21

down your chin and it's

12:23

called doyenne ducomice. Now

12:25

the most common pear and one of the

12:27

easiest to grow in the best crop is

12:30

conference. Conference makes quite a long

12:32

pear, not as dumpy and as

12:35

fat as doyenne ducomice, but I

12:37

wouldn't spurn it completely quite simply

12:39

because it's what we call in

12:41

gardening a good doer. It

12:44

will generally crop quite well. You

12:46

can even grow comice, as it's

12:48

generally shortened to, and conference

12:50

as step-over pears. I've got a couple

12:52

on my veg patch. I only get

12:54

half a dozen pears off each but

12:56

to a great eat at home gives

12:58

me that added frisson. So if you

13:00

want a pear tree for your garden with the best variety

13:03

go for doyenne ducomice or

13:05

if you just want a good solid pear

13:07

for cooking or for dessert

13:09

when it's ripe go for a conference.

13:11

The only thing about pears is

13:14

getting the right point of ripeness.

13:16

They ripen from the inside out

13:19

and that makes it difficult to predict when they're going

13:22

to be ripe. If you've got them and

13:24

you're storing them check them every couple

13:26

of days just a gentlest of squeezes and

13:28

they will suddenly go and that

13:31

is the moment to eat them and

13:33

let that juice dribble down your chin.

13:36

When I was a boy on my granddad's

13:38

allotment, as well as his sort of water

13:41

for his cabbages and his sweet peas growing

13:43

up wigwams of canes, he

13:45

also grew blackberries. Blackberries

13:48

on my granddad's allotment had

13:50

the classiest of supports. Not

13:53

for him some post and wire

13:55

framework. No, granddad gave up

13:57

his brass bedstead for his blackberries. and

14:01

there they grew with the shiny

14:03

brass knobs sticking out of the

14:05

top of the thicket of branches.

14:08

I've never forgotten it, I can still see it in my

14:10

mind's eye even though I was an absolute

14:12

nipper when my granddad was alive.

14:15

But blackberries are great things to grow at

14:17

the end of your veg patch. If

14:20

you haven't got a brass bedstead heating stick out

14:22

there, grow up a post and wire framework and

14:24

train the long arching branches

14:26

in. Don't let them turn

14:28

into a thicket like brambles in the

14:31

wild which we used to go raiding

14:33

for blackberries in late summer when I

14:35

was a boy on Sunday afternoons. You

14:37

go black bring in Yorkshire they call

14:39

it blegging, don't ask me why,

14:41

but we go black bring every

14:44

late summer Sunday afternoon with me

14:46

mum and dad and a little

14:48

tin, an old biscuit tin in which to put on

14:50

blackberries. We come home stained to

14:52

heck you know but there we are we have

14:54

some lovely blackberry and apple pie. They're really easy

14:56

to grow stick one or

14:58

two at the end of your veg patch

15:01

over a post and wire framework train those

15:03

stems in and in mid to late summer

15:05

you'll harvest a smashing crop. They

15:07

are thorny unless you

15:09

grow variety like Oregon thornless and that

15:12

makes picking even easier. The leaves are

15:14

that much more lacy than the normal

15:16

rough leaved bramble but Oregon thornless will

15:18

give you a great crop and it

15:21

won't scratch you to pieces when you

15:23

go and harvest it. In

15:25

my garden there are various old trees that

15:28

were here when I arrived. There are a

15:30

couple of damnsons and

15:32

also a couple of plums,

15:34

Victorias and I do

15:36

love Victoria plums. They're quite generous

15:39

with their fruiting plum trees. They

15:41

don't make too big a tree perhaps four

15:43

or five meters high but they don't take

15:45

up a huge amount of room. If you've

15:48

got a sunny corner where you can grow a

15:50

plum come mid to

15:52

late summer. You love harvesting,

15:55

Victorias. And of course it

15:57

is the king's favourite fruit. How do I

15:59

know this? or you only have to listen

16:01

to the words of the National Anthem. Send

16:03

him victorious. You see, he likes... I'm sorry,

16:05

but I had to sneak that one in,

16:08

didn't I? Do grow some

16:10

and enjoy them picked fresh from the

16:12

tree. The important thing to remember about

16:14

plums, and damnsons for that matter, is

16:17

the time of pruning. Generally speaking,

16:19

except in the early stages of training,

16:22

they need no pruning at all. But

16:24

if you do want to cut branches off, do

16:27

it in late spring and summer, not

16:29

during the winter. There's a nasty

16:32

thing called silver leaf, which attacks plum

16:34

trees, and if you prune in spring

16:36

and summer, it's far less likely to

16:38

affect them than if you

16:41

prune in winter. Just think

16:43

about it. A plum, or a gauge,

16:45

or a damson in the

16:47

corner of your garden. You

16:49

have an instant cottage garden

16:51

and glorious fruit. Yummy.

16:55

That's it from me. Until next time, enjoy

16:58

your garden, whatever the weather.