The Great Garden Revolution (2021–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Episode #1.4 - full transcript

Spring is finally here...

Yes!
..and there's a garden revolution

sweeping the nation.

This year, it has felt
like, more than ever, people

are exploring their gardens...

Oh, wow, look at this place!

..and starting to explore the sheer

potential that they offer.

People all over the country

are experiencing this

new connection to their gardens.



And there you have it! Ooh, yeah!

So, we want to invite you

to join in.
I'm on a huge mission

to change what we put
in our gardens.

Inspiring you with possibilities...

It's gorgeous!

..and to totally transform

our ordinary gardens.
Oh, wow!

It can be a bit scary,
cutting plants...

We'll be sharing tips and tricks...

..but cutting equals good,
so just go for it.

..and the jobs to do right now.
Lick of paint and it's finished.

Over the next few weeks, we're gonna
be meeting fellow revolutionaries.

Look at this space!
LAUGHTER



People who think along
the same lines as us.

It's very pleasing to do.
I really feel like he's responding.

So, wherever you are, with whatever

you have, it's time to join
the Garden Revolution.

More and more of us are getting

excited about growing our own.

Wow!

There's nothing like using
the freshest ingredients for

the kitchen table straight from

your back yard.
Cherry tomatoes.

It's so easy to do, and
the rewards are amazing.

These are my spuds,
which are absolutely booming!

So, this weekend, we're all about

kitchen gardens.
There it is!

In West Yorkshire, we're
transforming a plot that needs

a little TLC into a kitchen garden,
ripe for the picking.

Do you know, even if you're
in a little tiny back yard,

or you've got a balcony, say,

you can always grow plants.

We'll show you how to plant
your very own eco-friendly

veg patch, without digging a bed.

The brilliant thing about this is,

you can just do it anywhere.
Instant vegetable patch.

I'm building an upcycled
stained-glass greenhouse,

perfect for year-round growing.

It's like a cathedral for plants.

We'll create a colourful
bee highway, perfect for

pollinating your new patch...

A general rule is,
nice open-headed flowers.

A nice easy way for

the bee to get the pollen.

..and we're invited into

comedian Tom Allen's family home,
getting some veg-growing tips from

his green-fingered father.

Nice to see you got dressed for it!
There's no right or wrong way

to dress for the garden.

I think we need to be thinking
a little bit differently

about gardens. You know,
we need to move away from just this

patch of lawn, with borders.

I've been designing gardens
for over ten years, and I'm

passionate about creating spaces
perfect for growing

sustainable and
eco-friendly produce.

I think we've got
a responsibility now, erm,

to give a little back. The natural
world has given us everything.

Like Joel, I have so much respect

for nature, and I want to
inspire people to understand

the importance of sustainability.

Our outdoor spaces
offer so much opportunity.

It allows us to grow food that is
organic, that's packaging-free,

that's local, that's seasonal,

but not at the price tag
that you see in the shops.

And this week, the garden
we're going to transform

belongs to this couple.

Hi, I'm James, this is Karen,

and this is our garden.

Karen and James are both chefs,
with a big passion

for fresh produce.
We've got some herbs here

that we're growing. So, we've
got some mint and some thyme.

A nice bay tree that we use

in our cooking.
This patio area is mainly, like,

when we're cooking inside, we come
out and we just pick some herbs.

But while they've mastered herbs in
pots, growing their own vegetables

has been quite the challenge.

We've definitely had more failures
than we've had successes.

We grew some carrots,
didn't we, in the bed?

But they were so small... Yeah.
..it was like, it wasn't even enough

for a meal for one of us!
No. So, that was funny!

That was quite funny.
And we just planted it and

kind of hoped for the best,
because we're complete novices at

growing our fruit and veg. Yeah.
We have no idea what we're doing!

So, James and Karen would love

to transform their overgrown

and unloved yard into

a culinary kitchen garden,
packed full of

sustainable and seasonal veg.

From our point of view
as cooks go, we want

year-round sustainability,
to be fair, and year-round flavour.

That's the most important thing.
Yeah.

DOG BARKS
And they aren't

the only ones wanting to transform
their gardens into

an edible paradise.

Up and down the country, people
are joining the Garden Revolution.

Spring is the perfect time
to start growing your own,

with our Great British weather
providing perfect conditions

for loads of yummy fruit and veg.

It's pretty big.
From soil...

We've actually just planted
our first tomatoes of the year.

..to plate, we are harvesting

the opportunity that our

outside spaces have given us.

We're getting straight down
to designing a garden

that's perfect for Karen and James'

passion for cooking.

This week, we're going to be
creating a kitchen garden.

Because Karen and James are both
chefs, we want to create

as much space as possible
for produce,

but we also want to create a garden,
you know, not just an allotment.

I think the really beautiful
thing about kitchen gardens

is that they're really accessible.
Any of us can do them in our homes.

You don't need masses of space.

And you can just kind of fit in

what you can, where you can.

So, our plan is to extend

the kitchen into the garden,

transforming the way
they cook and eat.

We'll be building and planting

raised beds full of low-maintenance,

sustainably-grown
vegetables and herbs,

all pollinated by
a beautiful bee highway.

And we'll take upcycling
to the next level,

with a reclaimed
stained-glass greenhouse

and cold frame to give their
seedlings the best start in life.

And a modular seating system,

so Karen and James
can kick back and relax

in any part of their garden.

This should allow them to mix

their passion for sustainability

and love for cooking their own

produce, and inspire YOU to try

these ideas to create your own

kitchen garden at home.

Over the next few days,
our team of gardeners

and builders will be
transforming this garden.

We're going to rescue as many plants

as possible,
before clearing the plot

and building
the raised vegetable beds.

Hello! Good morning!
Hiya, Poppy.

How you doing? I'm all right.
Good. Just having a little

rummage in the shed. It's gorgeous
in the sunshine, isn't it? Yeah.

I've been looking forward to this
garden, anyway. I know. Me too.

That's what got me into gardening,
food, so... Same as me!

Erm, they just... That sort of
miracle of putting these seeds

in the ground, I think it's just
one of the best ways, isn't it,

to get people started? It is, and
then, when you get to harvest it

and eat it... Yeah, it's just,
like, such a brilliant thing.

Yeah. Exciting. Yeah.

With the raised beds built and ready
to be filled with amazing crops,

it's important to take stock
and make sure we aren't

getting rid of anything that can be
relocated to a better position.

This garden was full of
some quite beautiful

and well-established ornamentals,

so some of them that can be saved,
we've dug up

and we're going to put them in
the front of the garden instead.

Ooh-pah!

October to March are good months
to move shrubs.

But if, like this holly, they need
to be moved now, you can rehome them

at any time of the year.

As you can see, above ground,

we've got a lot more growth than
we do below ground, so we're just

going to shrink this right down, so

that these roots can still support

what is going on up here.

It's called the root-to-shoot ratio.

Cutting down the shoots of the shrub
closer to the size of the root ball

will allow the roots to support
the top growth effectively.

For me, learning that cutting
stuff wasn't necessarily bad

was one of the kind of like biggest
learning curves as a gardener.

And even now, I find it a bit, like,
emotional, I suppose, because

you're, yeah, you're removing a bit.

And if this was a human,
they wouldn't be happy at all.

But plants are different
to us, they regenerate,

and they actually respond
really well to being cut.

So, I'm just gonna go for it.

Generally, when you're cutting
plants, you want to be cutting

down to a stem.

You'll be encouraging new growth

and it encourages more bushiness.

Rehoming a healthy plant
is an essential

skill for a beginner gardener,
so if you've got a shrub

that needs shifting, be brave
and give it a go this weekend.

That's good.

But to really transform this plot

into a foodie's paradise,

we'll need help from our
carpentry wizard, Bruce Kenneth.

I, er, made a greenhouse

for the back yard. Wow! Wow!
I've done it with some

old stained glass. Stained glass?
Yeah. Wow, this is gonna be

incredible! Going up in the world.
I know, we are.

The whole idea of this
Garden Revolution is to actually

start pushing what we can do
and getting people

to think about their
gardens differently.

You might see a piece of
pub glass and I say,

"Oh, that'd be a nice light inside
of a greenhouse," and every piece of

glass here has a story behind it,
and this isn't just like purchasing

a greenhouse off the shelf. And
you at home can do the same thing.

You can take your time and you can
put your own mark in your garden.

As well as a great greenhouse,
we're hoping

our raised beds will encourage
James and Karen to grow

all kinds of different vegetables.

So, shall we do some planting, then?
I'd love to, yeah.

I've got some potatoes here.
I love potatoes, you know.

They're just such an easy way in

for people to start growing.

You've got some earth chestnuts
there. Right, OK.

Have you grown them before? I've not
really come across these before,

I'll be honest. Really interesting
plant. You're basically

gonna harvest the roots.

The thing that excites me
is actually getting to

grow things that are
either really expensive

in the supermarket... Yeah. ..or
that you can't get, and take them

into the kitchen and cook with them,
and they're as fresh as possible.

With summer just around the corner,

it's a great time to start
a vegetable patch...

Wee!
LAUGHTER

..and I want to help Karen develop
her veg-growing skills

by showing her a revolutionary

new technique.
DOG BARKS

This is gonna be a no-dig bed.

Have you heard of no-dig beds
before? No. No, OK, cool.

So, that's exciting. So, typically,
when we start a vegetable patch,

we get digging!
LAUGHTER

And we remove the weeds, we get
all sweaty, trying to turn the soil

and get everything aerated.
And in doing that,

we're actually releasing carbon.
So, by not digging,

we're not going to be releasing
carbon. The carbon is gonna be

staying in the soil.
So, level one is the cardboard.

Adding a layer of cardboard
kills any weeds in the ground

by starving them of light, meaning

no back-breaking weeding
or digging to be done.

That's stage one done!
Wow, that's easy! Super easy!

I know, yeah!
LAUGHTER

All we've got to do is just
pour the compost on top

and then it's ready to plant into.
And the brilliant thing about this

is that even if you don't have
a raised bed, like this,

you can just do it anywhere on
the lawn. And you just lay down

the cardboard, put about ten
centimetres of compost on top

and just start growing,
and instant vegetable patch.

We're using peat-free compost

to keep this no-dig bed as
eco-friendly as possible.

Even for, like, complete novices
like us, it's, like, you know,

a really good weekend project
that you could sort of do.

Yeah. Yeah.

Keeping the ground undisturbed
protects the vital

carbon-based microscopic life
that keep the soil healthy,

which our vegetable crops
will reach down to

and work with to access nutrients.

All that life contributes
to healthy plants. So you get the

best-tasting vegetables... Yeah.
..and you're doing the right thing

for the planet. Yeah. It's
win-win, isn't it? Exactly.

All you need to do is pull apart
the soil to make a little hole

and plant in your veg or seeds.

It's as simple as that.

Better plants, less digging,

more carbon in the soil -
I love no-dig.

Sounds good to me!
LAUGHTER

Up and down the country,

no-dig gardening has revolutionised

the way people are
growing their veg.

It's really simple, and something
you can easily try in your

garden this weekend.

Across the UK a revolution
is taking place

as more and more of us reimagine
what our gardens can be.

I've got an old pallet here,
I'm going to be using that to build
a raised bed

for a strawberry patch
which is just going to go over here.

For many of us,
planting our own crops

and reaping the rewards
has become a new passion.

This week we're all about
kitchen gardens,

and in Wakefield we're
transforming James and Karen's

back garden into an outdoor larder.

The planting party is in full swing,

well, for some anyway.

People are always working,
aren't they?

They forget to sit down and
relax and enjoy

and this is, this is like...
I love to watch people work.

Do you? The vegetable overlord.
Yeah.

There we go.

While the planting has begun,

I'm busy building the frame of an
incredible upcycled greenhouse.

I decided to get
a bunch of old windows

and also incorporate
some stained-glass windows.

I paid about 30 quid
a panel for every one of them,

so they weren't terribly expensive.

It's a great way to re-use
some old materials

and bring a bit of colour
and a bit of style

into the greenhouse.

As the building continues,

I want to see how fellow
revolutionaries

are growing their own.

So I've come to the historical
estate of Mount St John

in nearby Felixkirk in Yorkshire.

Welcome to the kitchen garden.

Wow, isn't that incredible?

Thank you.

Here, Liz Allen is in charge
of its amazing culinary gardens,

which provide the freshest food to
local pubs and restaurant kitchens.

And then you've got your asparagus
just poking through in that
bed there. Oh, yeah.

And your broad beans behind you
ready to go in.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, they are very ready to
go in aren't they're?
They are very ready to go in.

This is exactly what we're trying to
achieve on a smaller scale

in Wakefield.

Like Karen and James,
the team at Mount St John

are also after
year-round growing.

Oh, my goodness.

And just like our reclaimed
greenhouse

Liz and group chef Jason

have a special place
to keep their veg

sheltered from the cold
Yorkshire frosts.

So this polytunnel is kind of
I guess all part of extending
the season.

You're right, it does help us
extend the season

because it magnifies
the sunlight that comes in.

So on a lovely warm day like today

you can get up to mid-20s in here

but it just gives that extra bit
of heat, extra bit of protection.

So what have you got in here?

We have sunflowers.

A lot of herbs, the next bed
has got things like parsley,

coriander, chard,

spinach, kale,

radishes at the end

which are about ready, actually,
ready for Jason and his chefs.

As a chef do you prefer using
seasonal ingredients?

Absolutely, it's really important

that, you know, you're cooking
with things that
are at basically at their best.

For somebody at home you can
achieve this, can't you?

A small, little, sheltered
way of growing produce

earlier in the season?

Yeah, even a warm windowsill
in the sun,

as long as you remember to
water it well.

You can grow your micro-herbs
especially,

some of your regular herbs,

even things like lettuces,
they'll grow quite happily there.

Not only do the team at
Mount St John grow ingredients

the traditional way,

they also make
the most of nature's wild larder.

It's like Pride and Prejudice.

LIZ LAUGHS

And the next stop on our tour proves
kitchen gardening

doesn't always need to be so
structured.

Is that a whole planted up woodland?

This is the Valley Garden, yes.

Oh, my God!

Oh.

In the middle of summer
this is my favourite part of the
garden. So beautiful.

Round all the ponds you can just see
them coming through, all the irises.

This woodland is as full of produce

as the more formal areas,

you just have to know where to look.

And then obviously you've got all
your garlic in the hillsides there.
Yeah.

It's so nice having
this, like, ornamental area.

We've got flowers and the bees
and the wild garlic to forage

earlier in the year to complement
the kitchen garden. Yeah.

I mean not everything has to be
grown in such a formal setting.
Uh-huh.

Coming out like this to just
peacefully

gather a plant like wild garlic that
just springs up of its own accord,

it's quite a lovely, comforting
feeling, isn't it,

that nature's providing. It's quite
therapeutic. Yeah, exactly.

Peaceful.

Back in Wakefield I want to add
a bit of that wild spirit

to Karen and James's garden.

I loved foraging in the woods
with Liz,

so we've created a little kind of
mini woodland, forageable spot here.

So we've got a plum tree
underplanted with wild garlic

to create just that feeling.

And you might want to put
it in a container

cos it does love to spread,

but it is a really fantastic
early plant

to harvest in our gardens.

For us, this garden
is all about working

with what is already here.

I'm having a nosy in the shed

to see if there's anything
I can make use of

and maybe give a cheeky upcycle.

I love a good old-fashioned rummage,

especially in a shed.

But I reckon I can do
something with this thing.

Poppy.

Hello.

Can I ask your advice a minute?
Yeah.

What's up?

I've got this old barbecue. Ah-ha.

Make a worm bin, that'd be perfect.

Interesting.

I've made them out of buckets,
baths.

Er, what's it called where you
wash your hands? A sink.

A sink.

Don't use them very often, no?

No, no, clearly not, and to be
honest they just need drainage,

a lid and bedding for the worms

and it's totally fine.

Upcycling something you
no longer use

and giving it a new purpose

is not only incredibly rewarding,

it's a great way to
reduce your carbon footprint.

I've sanded back the barbecue,

taken down the rust spots,
things like that,

so just going to
paint it with a bit of metal paint,

which is going to help to
preserve it.

I love to upcycle things.

Found things in my garden,

in other people's gardens.

Say, "I'll have that,
thank you very much,"

and give it a new life.

Every kitchen garden needs
feed for the soil.

You can, of course, buy compost

but composting yourself
is way cheaper

and if you have lots of food waste,

a wormery is a great alternative.

There's a very good
explanation for why

I've lugged this barbecue

into the field.

We're going to make a bit of a sort
of worm lasagne thingy.

We're going to put in all of this
bedding.

So, in this case we've got
coconut coir,

which is coconut husks

that have been blended up

and it's basically what
they just sort of hang out in.

You can easily find this online,

but alternatively you could use
straw, hay or shredded card.

Now, the worms that you get,
you can order them online.

You don't want to put into this
the worms that you dig out
of your soil

because they're
a different kind of worm.

These are red wrigglers,
brandling worms, tiger worms.

Trigger warning.

If you don't like worms,
look away now.

But these are the worms.

The worms will be really
happy in their little home

cos you'll be keeping them nice
and safe and sheltered,

so, yeah, they're totally happy.

And now we're going to give them
some food.

This is some kitchen scraps
that we got from Karen and James.

The worms will slowly break
down the food waste

into a nutrient-rich compost
called worm castings

and a super-powered liquid
fertiliser called worm tea.

We've fitted a tap onto this

so that the liquid can be drained,

but you can just put
a hole down into it,

with a bucket below the hole,

and the liquid will filter
out of the hole

and everything will be fine,
so you can do it really simply.

You'll need to wait about three
months or so

for the worms to
work their magic.

So we'll pop the lid on.

But when they do, your veggies
will be thanking you

for this boost of fertilising power.

An equally important part of any
culinary garden

is keeping it pollinated

and I'm using a simple
planting trick

that you can try to give your veg
the best chance to thrive.

I'm planting some flowers

in this vegetable-herb bed.

The idea is to create a bit of a...

..a bee highway.

By mixing flowers
and produce together,

bees and other pollinating insects

are going to have an absolute feast

and keep this kitchen
garden super healthy.

They're getting something
out of all of this

and I'm getting something out of
it because

if they're persuaded to
go from flower to flower,

they're also going
to help to pollinate the vegetables.

Planting each flower around
30 centimetres apart

will give the bees a nice
colourful road to travel down.

General rule I like to follow is
nice open-headed flowers.

A nice, easy way for the bee
to get in

to get the pollen.

And at the end of the day,

those little moments
that you've spent in nature

where you have a nice cup of tea,

you watch nature, they're the
moments that you remember,

you know, when you go to sleep.

It's as if your brain is saying,

"This is the valuable part
that you need,"

and it gets rid of all
of the stuff, all the work,

and gets rid of that, as if to say
it doesn't need that,

because this moment in the garden
is so valuable

that's the bit you remember.

Kitchen gardening does require

a bit of work and knowledge,

but even if you do have a busy life

I have an easy way of growing
lower maintenance produce.

So, typically in a kitchen
garden we've got mainly annuals,

which are plants that live for one
year then they go to seed

and they die and you
plant their seed the following year,

but in this garden I've
incorporated perennials as well

which are plants that live
upwards of two years and more.

Strawberries, raspberries
and blueberries

are all great perennial fruit.

Herbs like chives, sage and mint

and vegetables like artichokes,

asparagus and some varieties
of onion

are perfect beginner
perennial crops.

So this is a type of
perennial onion,

which is called
the Egyptian walking onion

and it's named that
because it basically has

little bulbils,

so tiny little bulbs that develop
on kind of flowering stems.

They get quite heavy and then
fall to the ground,

root and then the plant just sort of

walks along through the garden
spreading.

You can find Egyptian walking
onion top sets online

and once harvested the entire
plant can be eaten.

For me, understanding how we can
produce food in a way that is

ecologically sound is really
important,

and perennial plants are one
of those ways

because they demand so much less
in terms of input.

They don't require as much watering,
as much feeding,

you put them in the ground and off
they go, you don't need to raise
them year on year fromseed.

And so perennial veg is one
of those things

that is just really great as a kind
of environmental practice in the
garden.

Kitchen gardens aren't
all about hard work,

so I want to create somewhere
to relax

and watch nature take its course.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going
to make some modular seating,

so they can move
around anywhere in the garden.

Say if it's just you and one other
person you guys can have a footstool
and lounge out,

but if you had a company over,

one person could have a chair, or
somebody could sit on the footstool

and they're not going to be that
heavy so they can move around
in the garden.

So it's a very simple design

and I think it will really work
well in this garden.

I've based my design on standard
4 X 2 timbers

which you can easily
find at any DIY centre.

The first process is to machine
the timber into pieces

that are going to form the legs.

I love working with timber because
it's like such a tactile thing

and cutting timber down and making
it nice and square

and usable and flat and straight

is one of my favourite things to do.

The actual physical
making of furniture I find

is always just relaxing.

If I could just make furniture
all day, I'd be happy.

Each chair costs less
than £40 to make,

and they can be arranged in whatever
way suits Karen and James' needs.

Let's have a seat for a moment.

Oh, yeah.

This is what it's all about, sitting
down, enjoying the gardening.

Absolutely.

I mean, what a view that's
going to be for them.

It's beautiful.

It'd be great to just stay here
and have a nice coffee

and just, like, take it all in.

This is the perfect little spot

to enjoy my bee highway...

..at work. Yeah, I like it.

Still to come...

It is rocket, isn't it?
Yeah.

We'll be gardening with
comedian Tom Allen,

and his green-fingered father.

Oh, yeah, it is rocket, yeah.

It's not a good idea to eat it
from our garden without washing it.

Why? Well, we've got
foxes roam round, don't we?

And they like to
mark their territory.

And I'll be showing you the perfect
way to introduce

a low-maintenance and surprising veg

into your own back yard.

This is my dream day.

We're growing shiitake mushrooms

in the sunshine.

Across the nation, the seed
of a home growing movement

has turned into a kitchen garden
revolution.

Good luck, broad beans.

This is my old wheelbarrow.

What I've done is I've turned
this into a raised bed.

In our garden transformation
in Wakefield, we are turning

Karen and James' plot into
a bountiful backyard.

It's nice that
you're both into the veggies

because my partner hasn't quite
got the gardening bug

and I've got the windowsills just
full of seedlings and he finds

it such a nightmare, just these
little plants everywhere and I'm

obsessing over them every day, I'm
running downstairs, have they grown?

While we're cramming as many crops
in the garden as possible,

I want to show you a really
fun way of growing a fungi

that you can try out this weekend.

Today we're going to be making
a mushroom log.

It's a really exciting area
to be delving deeper into.

We're growing shiitake mushrooms and
when you think of the price

of these mushrooms, they can be
really quite expensive for

some of these more exotic varieties,
so why not just grow them yourself?

I'm drilling holes in rows
roughly ten centimetres apart

into a hardwood beech log
we got from a local tree surgeon.

This is my dream day,

drilling holes into a piece of beech
in the sunshine on a spring day.

The way we're gonna get mushrooms
into this log is to hammer

these dowels, which are soaked
in the spawn of the mushroom,

and they just get hammered in.

Oh, that was nice.

You can easily order these mushroom
dowel kits online or just

pop down to your local
garden centre to find them.

I mean, it's not unlike assembling
flat-pack furniture really, is it?

We're gonna seal these holes
with a little bit of wax.

This is gonna stop bacteria

and things trying to get into that
hole and outcompete the mushrooms.

The perfect home for the log
is one that replicates mushrooms'

natural woodland environment,
so the sheltered foragable section

of the garden next to Poppy's wild
garlic and plum tree is ideal.

This is gonna create its own
little microclimate.

What the mushrooms want is humidity.

What the mushrooms don't want
is direct sunlight or direct wind,

because that's gonna
dry out the log.

So we're just gonna
leave that there now,

six months to a year, they're gonna
have a lovely crop of mushrooms.

Plant knowledge is key for any
beginner gardener and knowing that

some crops grow well together can
help you create the perfect patch.

In this instance we're going to be
doing the three sisters,

which is a really old
three-way relationship.

Um...

Companion planting is a great trick
to try at home, as using plants

that work together in a beneficial
way means they take less looking

after and give you more time to tend
to other parts of your garden.

As part of these three sisters,
we've got corn,

providing the structure, then
we've also got the beans,

which are gonna be climbing up the
corn and then we've got courgette

which are gonna be spreading out
and creating a ground cover which

reduces evaporation so you don't
have to water them as much.

Along with that, the beans have this
incredible superpower where

they are able to take nitrogen from
the air and get it into the soil.

So that means that the plants
that are growing alongside them

benefit from that.

It's pretty incredible.

So, Poppy, I've heard something
similar like that with trees.

They can actually even detect
their own offspring.

So if they see that their offspring
is struggling, they'll pump

nutrients and water
back into the soil and it gives

their offspring a fighting chance,
a better fighting chance to live.

It's so fascinating,

the relationships happening
under the soil.

They're a lot more advanced than we
think that they are. Yeah, yeah.

They are having little chats.
I feel left out.

THEY LAUGH

And the three sisters aren't
the only plants that can form

companionships in your garden.

The lovely thing about
companion plants is

so often the plants that go together
actually taste brilliant

together as well, so for example,
tomatoes with basil and garlic.

That's just like a delicious
pasta sauce that's growing

together in one pot
or, you know, in a bed.

So what goes together
grows together.

Karen and James are after year round
growing, so having stable

and warm conditions
is important for that process.

That's it.
That's it, yeah?

So for their greenhouse
at the back of the garden,

Bruce has been busy upcycling
materials like stained glass

to create an incredible
growing environment.

Bruce, mate.
Yes?

It's a thing of beauty.
Thanks, Joel.

Look at this thing.
Where did you pick these up from?

I found those online and they
open up too so, thinking you could

sit here, have your cup of coffee,
looking out into the yard.

The upper windows here, I got from
Old Mill House over in Manchester,

and these bar lights here are out of
a pub over in Barnsley, up the road.

Nice. Local.

It's like a church
or something where you can

worship your seedlings.

Yeah, exactly.
It's like a cathedral for plants.

It's so useful to have
a little space like this,

a greenhouse to bring some of
the seedlings on, give them

a little bit of protection for
that first frost, isn't it?

Well, what's a kitchen garden
without a greenhouse?

This greenhouse will be perfect
to nurture the newest

additions to the kitchen
garden... Sweet! ..as Karen

and James have been busy planting
seedlings ready for their new home.

Look at those, so good.
They look brilliant.

Thank you. So we started off
with some chickpeas. Yeah. Nice.

And also some dried peas as well.

And you'll be able to save
the seed from them as well.

That's, I think, a thing that James
really is interested in.

So next year we can harvest
our own seeds and use that

and just keep redoing it that way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One of the keys to seasonal growing
is looking after your seedlings,

and as Karen and James have already
germinated their own, I've got

to work making sure they have
a place to slowly introduce them

into the elements.

I've built a cold frame here,
just a little bit of 2X2

and some 6x1 screwed to it.

I bought this old window online
and I love actually the way it

ties in with a general upcycling,
recycling theme for this garden.

Here we've got some tomatoes,
chickpeas,

artichokes and some sweetcorn.

We're going to start
the seedlings off in the greenhouse

and then you can put them
into the cold frame, which is gonna

get them used to the elements before
planting them on in your garden.

It's especially useful if you get
that freak frost that comes in,

in April or May,
and puts an end to the seedlings.

So, you give them some protection

and it creates its own little
microclimate in there.

Being locked in has made us
see our gardens in a new light.

And now more and more of us
are getting outside with our family

and sharing the experience
of growing our own produce.

Hello, I'm Tom Allen

and I joined the Garden Revolution
about a year ago.

This is my dad.

I'm Paul Allen, and I joined
the revolution about 70 years ago.

Well, this is the garden at Mum and
Dad's house, where I've been living.

I guess it's a suburban garden,
would you say, Dad?

I would. It's got a lawn.

It's got all sorts of bushes.

I've got a bit of a vegetable patch.

I don't tend to get involved
when Dad's gardening

because he's quite bossy.

I'm going to get you to plant
some spring cabbage.

Tends to shout at me a bit,

so I don't really get involved
with the vegetable patch.

Do another couple, Tom.
Oh, more than one? Sorry.

Nice to see you got dressed for it.

There's no right or wrong way
to dress for the garden.

You might be in the middle
of something else,

maybe you're presenting
a quiz show or something,

and then you fancy doing
a bit on the garden.

Well, that's fine. That's your time.
You enjoy it. Well done.

Don't water on my shoes!

How long will these take to grow
into actually something good?

Two months. Two months?

It can be cheaper to just go to
the supermarket and buy it,

but it never tastes the same,
does it? Yeah. That's true.

One of my favourite parts
of the garden are these little guys,

our crack herbs,
herbs that grow in the cracks.

The chives, you mean? You like them
with your scrambled egg. Yes.

I think it's a lovely garnish
on a scrambled egg, actually.

It's sort of an oniony taste,
but easier than chopping an onion.

Just pick up some crack chives.

Then we've got rocket here.

It is rocket, isn't it? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, it is rocket, yeah.

It's not a good idea to eat it
from our garden without washing it.

Why? Well, we've got foxes
roam round, don't we,

and they like to
mark their territory.

I think the garden was
a big help during lockdown.

Certainly was.

I get a great deal of satisfaction
out of growing things.

It's very relaxing for me.

If you are worried about what's
happening in the wider world,

if you just focus on the garden,
what's growing today

and what's doing well
and what's not,

and tending to it, then actually,
it puts things in perspective a bit.

It's quite nice, isn't it, out here?

Sit and be quiet, for a change.

Unless there's a helicopter
going over.

Probably looking for crack herbs.

Making use of every surface
is a brilliant way

of increasing your yield,
and I've spotted

the side of James's shed as
the perfect place for a green wall.

There's no excuse
ever for not growing

things, you know, even if
you're in a little tiny backyard or

you've got a balcony, say,
you can always grow plants.

These are just some old
tin cans from the kitchen.

Upcycled containers are a fantastic
way for beginner gardeners

to give growing a go.

They're perfect for veg,
herbs and even fruit.

Strawberries are such a great plant,
they're so easy to grow.

These are actually a heritage
variety called Bumble Berry,

and they're supposed to be the very,
very most tastiest strawberry

known to man.

All that's left to do now is
to pot up all of these cans

and job's a good 'un.

As the final touches go
on this garden ready for Karen

and James to take over
growing their own,

people up and down the country
have been

turning their gardens
into home-grown heavens.

If you want to share what
you've been doing in your garden,

use the hashtag

As the garden revolution
takes hold across the country,

you've been putting your gardens
to good use -

as we get ready to start living
life again in our back yards.

This is where I've been growing
all of my tomatoes, aubergines

and chillies this year.

On this side, I have all of
my companion plants, which I'll be

using to attract beneficial insects
and pollinators to the garden.

In West Yorkshire, all
the elements of our kitchen garden

are coming together.

The turf is being laid.

New plants are being watered.

And the modular seating is
getting a final protective coat.

Brings out the grain.

They're gorgeous, Bruce.

Love that razor-clean
finish you've got there.

And as we're in Wakefield, which
is situated in the middle of

a nine-square mile patch of land
called The Rhubarb Triangle,

what better final addition to
their culinary garden than

this perennial veg?

This is a really nice nod to the
kind of heritage of where we are.

I've got two varieties.

One which is called Timperley Early,
which is a really fantastic one

to force earlier in the year.

Forcing rhubarb is preventing light
from reaching the plant's crown,

which triggers the production
of yummy pale stalks,

perfect for cooking.

Pop something on top.
For example, we have got here

an old chimney pot with
a lid on top.

You can use a plant pot.

It's basically something
to exclude light.

You can do this from December
onwards for an early harvest.

And then this variety here
is called Rosenhagen,

and it's less acidic, and
that means it's less tart,

and so you need to add less sugar
to it, which is brill.

Rhubarb is actually a really
lovely crop to harvest.

First year, you leave it alone
so that it can find its feet.

And then, from then on in,
you can harvest the stems -

you don't eat the leaves,
you just eat the stems -

and they're delicious.

When choosing plants for the garden,
it can often pay to do a little

bit of research and figure out
which plants were actually grown on

a sort of hyper-local scale, rather
than just in the UK generally,

because it basically demonstrates
they're going to do well

in your area.

So it's a nice way to kind of, yeah,
keep the history of a space alive

through its plants.

A few days ago, Karen and James'
back garden was not giving them

the produce they wanted,
and it needed some TLC.

This food-loving couple were
desperate for a space to

grow their own crops sustainably,
all year round.

Now this space is transformed...

..into a stunning kitchen garden!

The no dig raised beds are filled
with a mix of herbs and vegetables,

companion plants and
a pollinating bee highway,

which will provide Karen and James
with the fresh, organic food

they're after.

The unique upcycled greenhouse
can nurture any new additions

for the kitchen garden,
and will enable Karen and James

to grow throughout the year.

Also using upcycled materials,
the cold frame will allow

the young plants to transition
from the greenhouse to the garden.

Making the best use of the space
available, the green wall will

provide this kitchen garden
with even more produce.

The relaxing modular seat
with footstool

doubles up as a table
for outside dining.

And the wormery is ideally placed
just outside their back door

for composting their kitchen waste.

Oh, it's great in here,
isn't it?

This is definitely... Wonderful.
I love the light.

All the colours reflecting in,
fantastic.

I love it. I love it, love it.

It's just above and beyond
anything James and I

could've wished for. really.

Beautiful. Yeah.

The whole idyllic sort of thing -
you come out with a basket

and you pick a few bits of this,
a few bits that, a few herbs,

go into the kitchen, and
20 minutes later you've got

a lunch, and it's barely been
out of the ground.

I can't see how we can't love that.

I have loved making this
kitchen garden!

Karen and James are chefs
first of all, so it's...

It was a crime that they didn't
have a place to grow their own food.

Just nice to see all
the different things growing.

I think the whole premise of this
is just to give it a go and see

what happens. Yeah, yeah.
And if it works, great.

If it doesn't... Try something else,
learn from your mistakes. Yeah.

Just, literally, coming out here,
digging up a carrot

and cooking it in the kitchen
that night is just going to bring

a whole new dimension to our
cooking, really,

and you can't beat it.

It's really lovely because Karen
and James are clearly really

enthused by the whole thing,
and because they work with food

anyway, it's just so lovely that
they'll actually be able to use

the garden so much, and it's quite
infectious, that kind of excitement.

It's fantastic.

I couldn't have wished
for anything better than what

we've got right now.

The way it's been thought out
is amazing,

and the best part about upcycling
is you can be creative,

and you can put your own spin
and your own take on everything.

So I would encourage many of you
to get out in the gardens,

find something that's tatty and
think about how you can re-use it

and how you can reimagine that thing
and how it can have a second life.

Like the rest of the country,
Karen and James have loved

the community spirit that
their neighbours have created

during lockdown...

Hey!

..and what better way of
thanking them than to share

the fruits of their labour?

How do you like your new garden?

Oh, it's fantastic.
It's superb, innit? It's amazing!

I love that house there, that build.
The greenhouse?

Yeah, I love it.
It's beautiful, isn't it?

We've got a couple of plants
we'd like to give you as well.

Shall we put them in your garden?
Oh, lovely. Oh...

Are they money trees?
LAUGHTER

No! Seeing as we're in Wakefield,
we thought we'd best go with

some rhubarb. Some rhubarb.

Oh, thank you very kindly.

And some wild garlic.
Wow, that's heavy!

Well, if we come round in a month's
time, I mean, we can have us

dinner with vegetables, can't we?

Yeah, you can come round and
dig up your own veg!

LAUGHTER

I love kitchen gardens, and I love,
yeah, the practice of growing food.

And it's the perfect time to just
plant a seed and, you know,

in the next few weeks, few months,
you'll have food to eat from it.

So, yeah, it's just such
a rewarding process.

It's brilliant.

I think it's a fantastic job.

I just love every bit of it.

It's unrecognisable, isn't it?
It is. Oh, it is, yeah.

Well, it's a work of magic.
KAREN LAUGHS

In't it? You know. Yeah, definitely.

A kitchen garden is a really great
way to start gardening,

because you put these
seeds in the ground

and you experience this...
This miracle of growing

this produce, so I would urge
everyone just to start growing.

Do it now.

Get some stuff in the ground
and start gardening

and start joining this revolution!