2023 Season 45

Season 45 · 2023 · 26 episodes

Gardening show that celebrates Scottish horticulture and growing conditions.

1Episode 1Carole Baxter, George Anderson and Diana Yates assess the state of the garden after a long, cold winter, and launch into the many jobs that need to be done at this time of year, including tips on seed-sowing and planting your own garlic supply. Meanwhile, Calum Clunie sends the first report from his allotment in Leven, and Brian Cunningham provides an update on his garden at Old Scone. There is also a list of top tips to save money in the garden - with household budgets feeling the pinch, how do you plant without spending too much?
2Episode 2Carole Baxter and Calum Clunie provide more gardening tips and advice from Beechgrove Garden. It’s a busy time in the garden, with sowing and planting taking place for the approaching summer. The year’s first early potatoes get started, and there is a trial of tomato plants suited to windowsill growing. Calum checks on the progress of the variety of supermarket bulbs he bought last year, and Kirsty Wilson starts the first in her series by looking at the selection, care and display of houseplants. And George Anderson provides the first update from his allotment in Joppa.
3Episode 3It’s time to make the vegetable bed at Beechgrove Garden. There are top tips for making your garden as productive as possible, whether you have a border, a balcony, or a window box. Lizzie Schofield and Calum Clunie guide you through one of the busiest times of the year on the horticultural calendar as the days get longer and the weather warmer. There is another great selection of Handy Hints, and the team tackle the major project of taking down a fence damaged in the high winds of January and coming up with a creative alternative. If you have moved into a new house and are wondering what to do with that bare garden, there is the start of a new series following the development of a newbuild patch of grass into a great family space. We catch up with father and daughter gardeners Joe and Erin Armstrong in East Lothian, and there is another great garden visit.
4Episode 4The season is speeding past and as we come to the end of April the warmer weather has woken the garden, meaning more jobs to tackle for Carole Baxter and Diana Yates at Beechgrove just outside Aberdeen. This week, the main tattie crop goes in the ground, ready for harvesting later in the year for a home-grown supply in months to come. Carole is planting Yellow Rattle plug plants on the lawn. This is a great plant to help encourage wildflowers, as it inhibits the growth of grass, thereby helping other species develop. Calum Clunie is updating us on developments at his own allotment in Leven in Fife, and Kirsty Wilson has another in her series on houseplant care. That, plus the weekly handy hints and great tips on jobs to tackle this week, all from Beechgrove Garden.
5Episode 5Ahead of the coronation weekend, there is a slight royal theme to the work going on at Beechgrove Garden. Carole Baxter and Calum Clunie will be planting delphiniums, reportedly one of the favourite flowers of HM King Charles III. Elsewhere in the garden, Carole starts to refresh the planting in the Garden for Wildlife with a selection of varieties known to help pollinators and other species. Calum replants some of his underperforming roses from the end of last year, and Brian Cunningham sends another report on the work he is doing at his garden in Perthshire. And there is the next in Beechgrove's Back to Basics skills guide.
6Episode 6Blooms, veggies and fruit all get the expert treatment from George Anderson and Calum Clunie. George is trialling new blueberry bushes, and Calum is demonstrating even more garden produce to plant at home. One of Scotland's favourite flowers - the sweet pea - gets planted out, ready to bring colour and fragrance wherever they are cultivated. Lizzie Schofield starts working with a family that has just moved into a new-build estate, with a new house and a new garden that needs to be turned from turf to terrific.
7Episode 7Beechgrove Garden is planning for a colourful summer, planting for pollinators and caring for dahlias. Kirsty Wilson and Lizzie Schofield will have the usual half hour of great gardening advice, including a follow-up on how the dahlia tubers planted in pots in April are coming on, and what to do if you want to get some free plants by taking dahlia cuttings. Kirsty is sowing a bed around the viburnum that was moved last autumn and this new area will be home to plants that are particularly good for pollinators. George Anderson is in Joppa and it's the start of a garden renovation for a family who have recently moved into a new-build house.
8Episode 8Carole Baxter and Diana Yates are at the garden outside Aberdeen where they are continuing to mark the show’s 45th anniversary by planting blue-themed varieties. This time, it’s container planting. At the garden, they demonstrate how to produce homemade fertiliser using comfrey. George Anderson has an update from his own garden in Joppa, and Beechgrove’s head gardener, Scott Smith, has a back-to basics guide on how to spot when your seedlings are ready for potting on.
9Episode 9It’s the jobs a lot of us will be tackling in the garden at this time of year as Lizzie and Callum dish out advice on bedding plants, hanging baskets and lawn care, all common gardening tasks at this time of year. Bedding plants will be going out now that the frost risk is over, even in Aberdeen. Hanging baskets are a firm favourite, and Calum and Lizzie will be looking at both traditional and more contemporary planting ideas.
10Episode 10Flaming June sees Beechgrove Garden burst into colour, with lots more jobs to be getting on with. In this episode, Carole is in the 8x6 greenhouse to assess progress so far, and Scott is in the picket garden taking away an ornamental arch and replacing it with a yew tree alternative. Brian Cunningham has the latest from his own garden in Old Scone, too.
11Episode 11There’s a focus on productive gardening in small spaces this week at Beechgrove Garden, presented by Carole Baxter and Calum Clunie. Carole will is in the 6x8 greenhouse checking progress on the range of tomatoes chosen because they would grow well in the small space of a windowsill. Calum is on his own Beechgrove plot sowing a clover lawn. George Anderson is on his allotment in Sunny Joppa where he is planting out his pumpkins and there’s a visit to an amateur gardener who has been inspired by her volunteer work at Cowden Japanese Garden.
12Episode 12Wildflowers and houseplants are at the heart of this week’s Beechgrove Garden. Carole Baxter is out and about visiting the garden of a specialist in the sowing and cultivation of wildflowers, and Kirsty Wilson is back with the latest in her series on houseplant care. This week, she is upcycling a second-hand cabinet and turning it into a display case for your houseplants, complete with specialist lighting. George Anderson and Calum Clunie are working at the Beechgrove Garden, where they will be checking on progress in the fruit cage, specifically the loganberries and tayberries that were planted last year. There is also work to be done in the vegetable plot. All that plus the week’s usual handy hints.
13Episode 13Flaming June is almost over, and gardens in Scotland are definitely in top gear, so there is lots to do and review at Beechgrove Garden. There is a visit to one of Scotland’s top tourist attractions - Culzean Castle - to find out what they are growing in their famous walled garden. There is also some advice from one of the show’s regulars, who now works as part of the garden team at the castle. Carole Baxter visits another garden, this time in Huntly, while at Beechgrove Garden itself, there is more information for beginners in Back to Basics.
14Episode 14It’s viewer question time this week at Beechgrove Garden as Carole Baxter and head gardener Scott Smith tackle some of the topical queries they have received. Carole is also back in the garden for wildlife, planting species that suit sunny conditions and that also give nature a helping hand. Brian Cunningham has his eye on his favourite iris, and it’s back to this summer’s project of creating a garden for a new-build home.
15Episode 15There’s nothing better than harvesting what you have planted yourself, and that’s what Scott and Calum are doing at Beechgrove Garden in this episode. Way back in November 2022, Diana planted a range of garlic varieties, and now is the time to lift them for drying and to store them for future use. Calum reviews the hanging baskets he planted up a few weeks ago, and George has the latest from his own garden in Joppa. There is a visit to Nairn to find out more about a viewer’s garden, and there are the usual top tips and handy hints for the week’s activities in your own garden.
16Episode 16Last year, the Beechgrove team scavenged the local charity shops and tracked down a range of containers that were turned into fantastic planters. These upcycled boxes and hampers have been used again this year, and a range of salad crops were sown. In this episode, Carole and Kirsty harvest what has grown and also thin out the bamboo next to the pond, before planting up a hanging basket full of herbs. Calum Clunie provides an update from his allotment in Leven, and George Anderson teaches more Back to Basics, which this week features a different way to propagate new plants. And father and daughter gardeners Erin and Joe Armstrong work and garden together at their plot in East Lothian.
17Episode 17Head gardener Scott Smith heads for the Picket Fence Garden to check on the roses. He will be looking at feeding, how to deal with diseases, explaining the differences in types of rose available, and sharing some propagation know-how. Lizzie Schofield joins him in the garden to revisits her perennial border. George Anderson is on his allotment in Joppa, where he will be updating us on the sweet potatoes he planted last month. He also checkis out his pumpkin and sweetcorn, and the apple trees will be getting a summer prune.
18Episode 18It’s a big day at Beechgrove Garden as George Anderson and Carole Baxter harvest the first of this year’s potatoes. At the garden just outside Aberdeen, they pick blackcurrants and gooseberries as well as giving an update on summer lawn care. There is a visit to a remarkable garden in Glasgow that is designed to assist people who have experienced spinal injury, and Brian Cunningham sends his latest update from Old Scone, where he is looking at ways to control garden pests and getting ready for some tree planting.
19Episode 19It’s a tale of high summer and mid-winter at Beechgrove Garden this week. Kirsty is checking on her hot border, designed to be a riot of colour in high summer. Meanwhile, Calum is at his allotment in Leven, where he is planting potatoes to serve up for Christmas dinner. Back at Beechgrove, Scott demonstrates how to prune a rambling rose.
20Episode 20This week at Beechgrove Garden, there is preparation for the months to come as well as reaping the results of planting earlier in the year. The windowsill tomatoes are in full fruit and have been ideal for anyone with only a windowsill to grow on, producing plenty for summer salads. Looking ahead, Calum is sowing a selection of tasty winter vegetables, while Carole is harvesting the blooms planted in the spring with a view to being dried and used for dried flower arrangements. Elsewhere, there is a report from a community garden in the Cranhill area of Glasgow.
21Episode 21Carole Baxter presents the latest Back to Basics feature, and she’s talking about the many bugs, blights and diseases that can attack plants: what they are, what damage they can do, and how best to stop them. Diana Yates and Calum Clunie are also at the garden. Diana reviews her own 'vertical garden' area at Beechgrove that demonstrates planting ideas for those with small gardens and balconies.
22Episode 22Carole Baxter is checks in on Beechgrove’s sweet peas, planted this year with a blue theme to mark the programme's sapphire anniversary. Lizzie Schofield joins Carole in the garden as she looks at propagating strawberries, and there is the weekly round-up of handy hints. There is an update from Calum Clunie at his allotment in Leven, and Brian Cunningham is at Old Scone looking at plant names. And there is a visit to a fabulous garden in the south west of Scotland.
23Episode 23It's the first Beechgrove Garden of September, and although autumn is knocking on the garden gate, there is still lots to do for Kirsty Wilson and Calum Clunie. Kirsty is dealing with the dahlias and showing us how to take hydrangea cuttings. Meanwhile, Calum is reviewing the clover lawn he sowed earlier in the year and catching up on the sweet corn planted in the polytunnel.
24Episode 24All summer, Beechgrove Garden has had a focus on planting and gardening that is beneficial to wildlife. Pollinator-friendly plants have been spread around the whole garden, but there is one area with a particular focus on wildlife-friendly planting, and Carole is there to review its progress. She is joined by George Anderson, who will be tackling some important pruning. There is also a visit to Skye to find out more about a great community garden in Portree.
25Episode 25It’s time to review the season’s growing successes so George Anderson is looking over the plants and produce of 2023 in sunny Joppa. At Beechgrove, Diana Yates and head gardener Scott Smith are in the polytunnel and cutting the garden’s extensive beech and yew hedges. There is a garden visit to an amazing plot on Skye and a tropical garden in Moray
26Episode 26It’s the last episode of Beechgrove Garden’s summer series, so Carole Baxter and George Anderson are in a reflective mood as they look back at how the 2023 growing season has been. It was a hot, dry June, a damp August, followed by a bloom of hot weather in early September - so what has that done to the garden? Carole and George dig up the crop of blue potatoes planted earlier in the year, there are bulbs going into the ground for spring 2024, and there is a back-to-basics demonstration of how to take hardwood cuttings.

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