Prue Lieth’s Grand Garden Plans! | Prue’s Great Garden Plot | EP 1 | Luxury Living

Prue and John move into their home and wrestle with the layout of their new garden, as they get to grips with problem cherry trees and create their very own grand design garden feature

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[Music] I’m PR Leaf, cook. Duck fat is very delicious. Caterer, rest, campaigner, and writer. But I’m also a dead king gardener. Oh, it smells so good. My husband John and I Could I have something for the weekend, please? Are moving to a new home and building a brand new garden from scratch. Yeah, there. There. There. Perfect. That’s the sort of thing that happens. Everybody thought we were helping a drunk. Bit for a one inch more. We’ve done it. We’ll seek inspiration from Britain’s best gardens. This is perfection. Gosh, look at that view. That is so good. As I’m determined to create a beautiful outdoor space. It’s fantastic. That’ll give us a new lease of life. Oh, thanks. It’s all yours. Take it away. Well, it’s interesting cuz when you put him here, which was 25 years ago, a while ago, you had to take down the fence, but now you’ve got a fancy machine that can do it all from the field. After 10 years as a couple, five of them married, I’m uprooting my entire life and transferring it to a new house we’ve built from scratch nearby, leaving behind my home of many decades. So, this is where I have lived for 45 years, where my children have lived all their lives. This former rectory of 18th century origins I bought with my first husband, Rain. It has 5 acres of lawns, a walled garden, herbaceious borders, and a lake. We shared it with our two children, Danny and Lita. Now that they’ve grown up and left, it’s time for me to do the same. I really believe every 25 years, you should have a sort of revolution in your life and do something completely different, and which is what I’ve done all my life. So, there’s a different chapter. I don’t think I’m going to live 25 years to to enjoy my whole new revolution, but I do want it to be different. Pru said to me, you know, God, I’d love to build a new house for us together. And I said, um, you know, God, I would like to do that. And she said, have you ever built a house from scratch? And I said, no. She said, let’s build one. Well, I think the key to a successful marriage is to have a mighty project that you both want to do. And it’s it’s the thing that’s kept John and me sane throughout the pandemic is building a house, making a garden. I don’t think of myself as an expert gardener at all. I am very enthusiastic and I do tend to do things well. I want trees to be properly planted and plants to be fed and I can’t bear to see plants lacking water. So I I think it’s like cooking. It’s about nourishment and care. I’m lucky John shares my enthusiasm for gardening. I’ve always loved gardens and I’ve spent uh a fortune on creating gardens, but they are so immensely labor intensive. We’re both excited at the thought of creating a new garden together. Whether that will be straightforward is the challenge. [Music] Now, on a cold November day, we’re moving the Buddha, who’s watched over us for many years, to our new house. He’s looking strangely happy, you know. He’s very serene. He takes everything in his stride, but he’s not going far. In fact, he’s literally only going down the lane to our new house, the farm. [Music] This is what our new home looks like as it nears completion. It’s a far cry from the heap of rubble it was 3 years ago when we took down the original crumbling building to then rebuild from scratch. The farm’s clean, modern lines could not provide a starker contrast to my former home, although inside still has a way to go. But it’s the outside that John and I are most excited about. The whole site is about 4 acres, and we have big plans. large areas of grass, two borders of perennials and ornamental grasses, a grove of graceful silver birches, a grand gazebo covered in climbing roses, and an orchard with cherries, pears, apples, quits, and damson. By the house, the courtyard will be a riot of containers filled with flowers and veg in a cottage style. And I have plans for lots of flower filled containers up on the roof terrace. [Music] Despite the house still being under construction, John wastes no time getting stuck into the rubble strewn landscape. [Music] All the land has to be cleared so that we can create the garden that we want. I’m definitely the grunt. Uh because I do all the rough and hard work and she keeps claiming to do the brain work, but uh I would like a little discussion on that. [Music] Jesus Christ, that’s the sort of thing that happens. Steady on, darling. [Music] After five months of John’s hard graft, the garden’s beginning to emerge from the building site. What I wanted was not only a simple lawn that would be automatically mowed and and flower beds that are not going to be too much trouble. These are my nod to herbaceious borders. Informal in shape and filled with bold clumps of grasses and perennials. I’m hoping they’ll give me flowers from midsummer to late autumn. I also wanted to sort of showcase the oak trees because they’re a lovely shape. But being on the site of an old farm, we’re hemmed in by empty barns and farm machinery which should have all gone by now. the farmer. He’s now promised to be gone by the end of June, which means that we can then knock down the barns. When we finally get that last barn down, you’ll be able to see right the way to the horizon. And I have a vision of us having a we drram on this terrace and looking out over the countryside. [Music] While it’s early days for our new garden, one corner is already bedding in. What I was really pleased with is John got stuck into planting the orchard about 3 years ago. We started planting this orchard slightly before we actually got permission to build the house. We found an old map of this whole area from the 1920s showing there had been an orchard here 100 years ago. So, we thought we’d put it back. There’s 167 assorted uh rare breeds, mostly dwarf fruit trees. Dwarf being so that in our old age at least we can still put pick the fruit. As fruit trees can take several years to crop, we wanted to speed things up by planting as soon as we could. As exciting as creating a new garden is, John is no spring chicken and I’m now into my 80s. You know, I don’t like kneeling down anymore. I can’t get up again. So, to help us keep on top of things, we’re lucky to have the trusty Ratty and head gardener Philipper. She is so enthusiastic and she’s knowledgeable. [Music] I wanted to bring a little bit of my old garden to the new one. So to that end, Philipper with the help of John is planting one of my favorite trees in its new position. So why did Prew choose this tree and what type of tree is it? Um it’s actually a a cornous cousa China girl. So that’s the gravel. Just dig it in a little bit. I’ve grown this cornice before. First for its showy white bracks in summer and then for its autumn color, fiery red and orange. It’s brilliant. Right, so we’re putting a nice mix of compost in here. Little bit of manure. This would get to about a 4 m height with a potential 3 m spread. So it’s a it’s a substantial specimen tree really. Again, it’ll look lovely looking out from the kitchen. As we prepare to move into our new home, John has bought us a very special kind of tree as a housewarming present. John, it is amazing. I love it. I absolutely love it. I love the way he just moves the copper leaves around. Being made of copper, the leaves will change color over time as the air oxidizes the metal, turning them green or verdigree. You can choose your orange where you would like to have it cuz this tree is a magic tree. It grows oranges and lemons. Well, I think uh things that make you smile as soon as you see them are just a little moment of magic. And then when the water pumps through, it’ll it’ll rain as well. Press that. That No, that one there. That one. Yeah. All right. Look, it’s doing it. So, that’s a little island of loveliness in the building site of our new home. A thrilling glimpse of things to come, I hope. Our excitement over the magic copper tree is somewhat dampened by some troubling news from the orchard. Well, I’m pretty sure it is dead. It’s just I suppose the problem with this soil is cuz it’s so wet. There was an example yesterday where we we pulled out the steak and I’m not joking. As we pulled it, it went the joys of having clay, I think, and a particularly wet winter. Heavy and wet in winter, hard and dry in summer, clay soil can be challenging. Some plants like roses don’t mind it. But if the drainage isn’t good, then plants will struggle, particularly in winter. Here you go, Pru. This is the uh the last tree that we’ve left you for you to have a look at. This one is another one that got caught by the frost. And it’s really dead. It really is. Yeah. The easiest way to check if a plant is alive is to scrape the bark with your fingernail. If underneath it’s green, it’s alive. brown. It’s dead. Extraordinary that a dose of frost late in the year gets right through to the Yeah, it’s gonna have to go. I’m afraid. I’m afraid it’s for the compost you brewing. Yeah. Clearly, this corner of the orchard with its clay soil could be a nightmare. Should we dig a little bit of the grit in first? Adding grit to the planting hole will improve the drainage for the replacement cherries, and I’m hoping that that’ll be enough. But I think I need some expert advice. [Music] It’s a new year and John and I have moved into our very first home together. Should we do me first? Oh, we’re doing it here. Yeah. Right. Okay. The word you don’t want to hear is whoops. Okay. But no sooner are we in than we’re all back in lockdown. When we first started doing this, the first time I cut a big bald patch out of John’s head. He used to have his hair cut for £9 and it was awful. So I sent him to my hairdresser and the hairdresser charged him £9. So he was so horrified by that he went out and bought this kit. And then when lockdown happened, of course, I couldn’t get my hair cut. So he has been responsible for the style of my hair and I now quite like it. There we are. Missed a bit. Right. Are we good? It’s got to be a Boris. You know, I don’t like it when it’s all like that. Okay. Is it professional to blow down your customer’s necks? And could I have something for the weekend, please? No. I’m bringing some of my favorite plants from my old garden to get our new garden started, like these snow drops. They are one of the first bulbs to flower as early as January. And today, Philippa is transplanting some to the farm. So, I’m just going to dig out some pockets of um soil here, complete complete with grass, create a hole. Just going to take a handful of these, pop them in the hole, have a little bit of soil, and then literally put the the cloud that I unearthed. and they are past their best now, but come next year, you’ve got an established plant. And uh again, they’re a great naturalizing plant, so they’re going to spread out into the garden. Snow drops move best if lifted and planted when they’re in full leaf or in the green. Then you let the leaves die down naturally so the bulb has time to store energy for next year’s flowers. [Music] In another corner of the garden lurks a rather necessary evil of rural living. A masserator or septic tank. Pretty, it may not be, but as ever, my creative husband may have an interesting plan to solve this garden saw. Have you got a m? Have I got a m? Yeah, sure. Okie dokie. Look, um, I’ve been thinking about hiding the merator. Maybe designing a feature to cover it would be a good idea. He’s full of ideas. Most of them are good. Um, and he is very creative and he likes to physically do things. We could create a gazebo. Um, I think that if we had a dome, Arab style arch. Yeah. And then on here like a nice top knot on the top. Um, how high this is? 12 ft. That’s enormous. He is in fact extremely ordered and organized. I mean, if he does anything, um, he does it beautifully. So, this is a a blacksmith’s catalog then. I mean, blacksmiths would buy these things in. Yeah. Oh, there we are. That’s the one. This is one I’d like to put on the top. Um, so this would have leaves pyramidically down, but I’d like it on a sort of almost like a bouquet. I know. It’s lovely. I like it. John’s gazebo design to hide the cespit is not exactly subtle. It’s a bit of an attention getter. Let’s just hope that no one tries to sit inside it. [Music] Spring is here and it’s the perfect time to plant shrubs. Philip and I are trying to work out where to plant what. I’d like to confine our um treel like shrubs Yeah. Yeah. To this area. And this is a y e y e y e y e y e y e y e y e y e y eonymous, isn’t it? And I think it’s got the yellow edges, isn’t it? Yes. Eonymous or burning bush is a native plant which when in full leaf I just love for its striking red autumn foliage. Yeah. Down. Yeah. There. There. There. Perfect. Well, I think we should put the wila here exactly where I’m standing. Right. This lovely wila has deep pink flowers in June and if you’re lucky they come again in late summer. So that one about there. Can Can we just try it here? Yeah. Don’t be in a hurry to plant though in case you find something’s in the wrong place. Instead, leave them unplanted in their new positions for a day or two to check that you’re happy. I think that’s good. I I think we’ve done okay. John’s grand gazebo is almost ready and he’s popping into the blacksmith to give it his seal of approval. How are you getting on? It looks great. It’s being painted. Uh, and how’s the Is that it underneath there? It is. Come on, let’s have a little look. Oh, that’s fantastic. Oh, the powder coating has uh really done such a good job and I love the golden top. Of course, John being John, our gardener Philipper is the last to know. So, I’m off to break the news to her. I’ve come to tell you about a new plan of John’s, right? Which guess what will mean lots more work. But I’ll tell you, it’s um Well, this is the new idea. Okay. Wow. That’s very grand. There’ll be six uprights and I thought we’d grow roses up them. Yeah, sounds fantastic. And the two roses that look to me as if they might work is Emily Gray and Princess somebody. Yeah, Crown Princess Margarite. Both these roses will happily scramble 12 feet or more. So, they should easily get up even John’s gazebo in a few years and hide the septic tank. Okay. Well, we can we can get on an order of the horn beam to go around the edge and we’ll probably do um a double double row so that it’s quite dense planting because you don’t want to see anything anything behind, do you? So, the whole idea is to is to hide all that. Yeah. Well, you’ll have a job for life. Thank you. [Music] A week later. Are we good? And it’s a big day for John. We need to swivel round if we’re mar marrying them up as his grand plan to cover our septic tank with a rather understated gazebo comes together. It’s a lovely day today. The weather’s forecast is good, but it takes more than willing helpers to put this together. So, come up on that. No, no, you don’t want it to come up on a leaf. No, go back a bit. Bit one inch more. Rest that end down. Yeah, bit more. And I’m scared stiff the guys will get their fingers caught. Which way round, Johnny? John, twist it round a bit. All right, it’s there. You’ve done it. [Applause] Look at that. Look at that. I think it’s perfect. I thought it was huge, but in this great landscape, it doesn’t look enormous. I think it’s an absolute triumph. Very good. I think you have a new career. The gazebo is a huge success. But our orchard is still a worry. Smarting from the recent loss of our cherry trees, we realize a little expert guidance wouldn’t go a miss. Clearly, growing cherries is a lot more complicated than we thought. So on a rare sunny April day, John and I are visiting Brogdale in Kent. You must be mine. Nice sunny day. Welcome to Brogdale, where volunteer Mike will be our guide. In 150 acres of farmland, this living heritage site is home to over 4,000 varieties of fruit trees, apples, pears, quinces, and plums, and of course, cherries. This is the the new cherry collection. Two trees of each variety. 300 varieties of cherry tree. So 600 trees altogether. So how old Mike are these trees? These are now roughly 5 years old. Okie do. So darling, these are two years no a year older than ours. And they are a bit older than ours, aren’t they? We suffered from frost. Five cherries we’ve planted three times because every time we’ve got hammered by frost. Now, is it the frost or is it the soggy clay? Could be that. That can be a problem with with clay. It goes very very wet in the winter and then it cracks and opens up. The whole of our land was soggy for about 4 months. If you plant into very wet clay, the roots will drown. So they they rot away. With the very dwarfing rootstocks, they really must have the better soils. With the more vigorous rootstocks, they can put up with less good soil. When do you start pruning them? Never prune in the winter. In the winter, you get more rainfall. The spores that infect the cuts are in the rain. All right? So, you’re always going to prune uh plums and cherries in the summer. I’ve been cutting off the fruit so far every summer. Uh is that a good thing or not? You can eat the fruit virtually when they’re they’re about 3 years old. Three years old. Yeah. Oh, good. Oh, good. That’s I I thought we were doomed to never not eating the fruit because it helped them grow. This is the collection that is being replaced by the young trees you you saw. So all of these are coming out. All these are coming out in a few years time. Yes. A fruing cherries have a relatively short lifespan of around 40 years. So replacing the old trees with new keeps a healthy stock. I must say this looks like a wonderful impressionist paintings. I just love the the bottoms, these sort of bulbous bottoms. That is where the grafting union is. And the rootstock is holding the tree back. So the there’s a battle going on in there. The tree wants to grow and the rootstock’s holding it back. And that creates that fold. Ah, four little rootstock. It must be much smaller generally than the tree. [Music] We wanted to have bees on our orchard. Yes. I I mean I sort of feel it fundamentally need something like that. It’s just a a small orchard. You’re probably fine. You’ve got enough homegrown bumblebees that will do the pollination. I thought you wanted bees cuz you wanted honey and I I could see you dressed up in this stuff and and looking after them. I thought it would be your old age project. Look, where bees are concerned, I’m a born coward. So, okay. So, you have plans for other people to do it. I I’ll learn, but I’d like to have peace. I be nice. How about a little sit down? Huh? I think that’s a very good idea. I’m not sure I’m utterly um confident about our cherry trees. I have a feeling they’re been planted in a damp bit. However, we’ll see if they live this winter. But um it’s been such a lovely way to spend a day sitting in a cherry orchard. All we need is a margarita. But that I would agree with you. [Music] A few weeks later and there’s good news in our orchard. Very healthy. Um, not I can’t see a dead one. Very pleased about that. Looking at all the blossom, we might have some third year we get a lot of fruit. Yeah. And we can pick it. Look at this. If this takes off, we we’ll be inundated. Well, we could we could pick most of them. Just leave enough for us. Anyway, maybe we’re counting our chickens. [Music] While much of the garden has yet to wake up, the daffodils we planted last autumn are putting on a decent show. These are lovely. These are rounds. You know, all Scots plant a round. It’s rather like a cat marking its territory, but there we are. I just love trees and they’re an integral part of our garden, both old and new. Luckily for me, John shares this enthusiasm. It’s been a lifelong obsession. Wherever I’ve been, I’ve planted trees. I must have planted hundreds of trees in my lifetime. And uh I must say when I’ve gone back to houses that I’ve lived in and I see the trees have grown up, I do have mixed feelings cuz they look so glorious now. Well, I think you know everything that Prew and I’ve done uh with this new build here, we’ve rarely considered what future generations are going to do. And the the garden very definitely has been planted with a with a future in mind. [Music] While at one end of the garden, the barns are still rather an eyes saw, over in the other corner, what was once an ugly blot on the landscape is now miraculously transformed with the addition of John’s rather grand gazebo. However, I feel it needs some planting to soften the edges. So, Philipper is on the case. Would you like to um grab me a hornbeam, Ratty? That would be great. These plants may look dead, but in fact, they’re dormant and are called bare root as they’re grown in the ground and lifted when fast asleep in the winter. Going to make a slit approximately the width of a spade. As the whole area is covered in an anti-weed membrane, a cut is made through which to plant. Bare root plants are best planted from November to March and will benefit from a handful of organic fertilizer. We have got 200 in total. So, we we just decided to make sure it’s nice and dense. There you go. Was it 198 to go? Then a final prune to reduce the height helps create bushier plants with stronger roots. [Music] It’s May and as lockdown eases, my daughter Lita has come for her first visit. She wants to say hello to an old friend who’s currently looking rather misplaced. [Music] Why he sitting here? Yes, I’m sorry about this. He does rather look as if he’s sitting between a sort of slag heap in a abandoned wasteland. The drive is going to come down there, but then it’s going to swing around here in a kind of semicircle. That barn will be gone. And we thought that the Buddha could sit in the curb. He’s really good. Well, you can’t touch him. Why not? Females in Buddhist culture cannot touch holy things. Sacred holy things. It’s very sexist. Anyway, well, I’m not sure I approve of that. There’s one more thing I have to confess to while Lita is here. For her wedding six years ago, we bought her a beautiful large red as tree that took center stage at her reception. However, today, hiding behind the garage, it looks like this. How small is that tree? No, it was huge. Um, it was a huge tree. No. And it was so full and healthy. There are not many leaves on this tree. No, because I remember it at the wedding. It was it was really I mean the branches went like this and there were the leaves were big, weren’t they? Yes, they were. And if you think it was exactly this time of the year, right, that you you were married and I’m beginning to get fed up with it. I’ve been cherishing it and it doesn’t respond to li love. So, it might have to respond to unkindness. Probably if I put it on a compost he or No, please don’t do that. In search of advice about aces and a much needed day out together, Lita and I head to nearby Batsford Arboritum where head gardener Matthew is to be our guide. Created in the late 1800s and set in 60 acres, this arboritum has some 1,300 different species of trees and shrubs. Many are from Japan and China where the ever popular Aca now grown in so many people’s gardens, though not so well in mine, originates. Oh, here’s an Acera. Looking pretty healthy. Look at this. Isn’t it beautiful? Yeah. Isn’t it lovely? Are you a good great fan of aces? Do you know I absolutely love them? But we have a small problem here. When Lita was married in the middle of the marquee tent for her party, we had this beautiful palmatum. Well, you have a sample which you prepared earlier and it was the most wonderful thing. Then I planted it in the garden. Okay. And it didn’t like it where I first put it so I moved it to somewhere else. Wow. You You haven’t got a happy Acer, have you? No. Um, and everything starts with trees from the ground up. And if the roots are healthy, you know, the top will be healthy. Um, they need to be in a good pot, a decent size, some nice compost. If it’s in the sunlight, remove it from the full sunlight and a nice sheltered spot. That That’s the real sheltered spot. It’s lacked. Um, and you know, if they’ve been moved, they they’ll resent being moved. That’s the problem. And keep moving it because it’s unhappy. not fussy then these things. Well, there’s the end result. That is exactly what we’re after. Now, there’s a challenge, but I just need to follow Matthew’s advice and there may be hope for my Acer yet. This tree is amazing. It’s an oak tree, isn’t it? Beautiful, isn’t it? Yeah. It’s the um Quirkus Robo um English oak. support owls, bats, various insects. I thought you just said fairies. Sorry. There could be. There could be fairies in there. The odd gnome as well. How old is would this one be? This could be anything up to 150, 200 years old. Um, we can actually measure them to find out. As look would happen. I’ve actually got a tape measure on me. Roughly that’ll grow two and a half centimeters per year. Right. A single oak tree can produce 25 million acorns in its lifetime and supports over 280 species of insects and birds. Not called the king of the forest for nothing then. Well, I’ve never taken the vital statistics of an oak tree before. And then what I’ll do, I’ll take that off you and we’ll go 3 m 70. Okay. 3 m 70 divided by 2.5 148 years old. Brilliant. That’s just about what you thought. Yeah. God, isn’t that amazing? Do you know this is just lovely for me because I mean I’ve hardly left either of those houses. The house I left and the new house for a year. Oh wow. Look at that Buddha. This is exactly the sort of feel I want to create back at the farm with our very own Buddha surrounding him with an Asian inspired planting of exotics like bamboo. When you think of our poor Buddhist sitting there, you know, on a building site, kind of a slacky slaggy back at the farm, just as I’ve strategically planted my shrubs in the garden, this is an idea that’s become into remarkable fruition. John has come up with another of his impromptu schemes. I just had the idea about a week ago that a bull’s court for us coffin dodgers would be absolutely wonderful. We can have drinks just there at the situ or in the kitchen, open all the windows. Uh I was quite amazed when I muted it with my digger friend. He was here the following evening. And so uh they had the laces out and uh they’ve cut it. It’s wonderful. So I reckon two more evenings of 3 hours and we will have a really good bull’s court. It’s 40 foot long and 10 foot wide. And since I’ve mentioned it to quite a few friends, they’ve all said bulls. Yes, we love doing bulls. So I feel as I’ve hit a little gold mine for um entertainment. There are a few things here that that that just happened. He built a bull court and of course he’s done it properly. He mugged up about it and a bull court has to have a foundation that deep and the bottom layer is packed, you know, beaten down earth. And then you finally get a thin layer of gravel on the top and he’s built a perfect bull court which is actually rather good fun. The trees are finally bursting into growth and our old oaks are just coming into leaf. I think these two trees are what makes it not look as if it’s a brand new garden. Yeah, cuz they’ve obviously been here a while. Have you got a tape measure on you? You usually have. I do. What do you want a tape measure for? I’m going to teach you how to tell how old an oak tree is. Oh, okay. You got it. 11t. 11t. Yeah. Pretty wide. It’s dead on. Oh, do you want it in meters? 11t. It’s uh 3.36. Uh 336. 336. So um got to write down three mters in centimeters. So it’ll be 30. No 336. 336. Hang on. No 336. No d. It’s not 336 cm. It’s 3 m. 3 6 36 cm. I’m not going to go there. She’s on her own. Okay. It’s nothing to do with me. Thick as 3 m uh I don’t you can see I’m not good at arithmetic. 336 divided by 2.5 = 134 years old. Well, it’s a bit older than me, but not a lot. [Music] With work beckoning, taking me away from home and garden, I have just one thing to ask of John. My hope is by the time I get home, there’ll be a road, a drain, and no farm vehicles. What about If that happened, I would be promoted. I would have so much gold brain, it would go up to my elbow. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. We shall see, John. We shall see. [Music] It’s all go at the farm. Big changes are a foot as the old tractor barn we’ve stared at all winter is finally coming down. When they bring in these enormous machines, it’s amazing what they can do in a very short space of time. For the first time, the view beyond is revealed. This is a revelation. I’m absolutely delighted. I can’t believe it. Also looks much bigger. Oh, look at that. I’m just loving it. You could just see so much. I can even see Stow Church, which uh is meant to be the highest point of the Cotswwells. It’s just opened up everything. Uh, as soon as this is gone, uh, even better. P is going to be jealous that she can’t be sitting and watching the view herself. It’s tough love time as Philippa tackles leaders Acera in a final attempt to save it. We’re hoping that this will generate growth. Yeah, that’s definitely dead. So again, I’m going to take that back. Bold pruning done. Now to repot the tree with some help from Ratty. That is not going to be helping. There’s a steel cable all around it. Is it steel or string? I don’t know if it’s string, but that’s going to be cutting into its root system. Or should I try and cut it? I think I should. Don’t you? [Music] With fresh compost and a larger pot, the Acer is moved to a sheltered spot where I hope it will thrive. It’s um it’s a bit like a cat. It’s got nine lives, I think. And this is definitely the last one. [Music] The barn’s finally gone signals a huge change, making it at last feel like a garden. There are also big changes in our orchard as our young trees bear fruit. I’m back home and itching to get into the garden. Starting with the orchard. We have paths. John has been mowing. So, which one to take? This should be cherry time, but I bet you the birds will have had the lot cuz we didn’t we didn’t cover them up. This tree here, three and a half years old. And of course, there’s not a cherry on it. This is one that the birds missed. Actually, they didn’t miss it. This is just the stone. What the birds have done is come and taken all the flesh off it and left me with the stone. At least the apples are doing well. I’m getting on. I need to make apple pie soon. Not cherry pie, though. Next year, maybe. [Music] It is lovely and hot. I mean, the South African me in me just adores a heatwave. Our mini grove of silver birches we planted last year has been battered by recent winds. One in particular needs the support of ropes. And I think they’ve got a bit loose. So if I um if I just tighten them. I was never a girl guide and I don’t know my knots, but I think as long as I make it so I can do a slip knot like we used to do for horses. I see this is quite quite good for if this program is about old ladies gardening. This is a very good little sequence because my problem is getting up. I can get down all right but in order to get up I have to get on my knees. This is also by the way how I get out of the bath. turn over and put my hands on the ground and then push up. The only way I can do this. I bet you use that. I think what we did wrong was maybe we just bought two big trees. You know, honestly, the older I am, the more I realize the younger the trees are, the more chance you have of them living. What a year it’s been, and we’re both thrilled with how far we’ve come. What was once a building site and old farm fields, is now starting to look like a garden, complete with flower borders, eyes transformed from septic tank to John’s grand gazebo, now planted up and settling in. And at long last, the last traces of the old farm are gone. And it feels like the whole garden is finally coming together. Now, here we are. The sight of the old barn. It was a fantastically big barn, wasn’t it? Let’s turn that bench round. Okay. And then we can sit there and contemplate the view to be happily. It’s not too heavy. So, I’ll just turn it around all by yourself. There we go. It really does feel, darling, as if we’ve got a garden now, doesn’t it? It makes such a difference, doesn’t it? Having that barn gone. And it means we’ve got a huge new space. And the view, total peace, peace and quiet. So quiet. Ah, this is heaven. That was heading in the right direction. That was uh And as lockdown eases, even John’s surprise booze court is a success. Hey, you’re all useless. Next time it’s flowers galore. Lesson one, cram them in. Upstairs goes green. They could take the top off an egg without any damage. John and I have a color clash. I wanted to talk to you about these chairs. Love them all over them. I’m slightly on the lo side and I’m on the hunt for a climber. It’s astonishing perfume. [Music]