This episode comes from the Malvern Spring Gardening Show at the Three Counties Showground. Monty Don, Joe Swift and Carol Klein go behind the scenes to meet the show garden designers and the nursery men and women who make this event so special. Monty takes a sneak peak at the floral marquee before the show opens and then he searches for the perfect plants to add to his cottage garden, as well as checking out some of the ideas for sustainable gardening at the show. Carol hunts for rare and unusual plants being showcased at Malvern and discovers what it takes for smaller growers to get their plants to the show in peak condition. Meanwhile Joe will be in the show gardens on the lookout for design tips that could help us all transform our gardens.
Monty is in his Longmeadow garden - he takes a moment to see the growth in the last few weeks. All hedges are now in leaf, the cops are full of bluebells and narcissi. The Jewel Garden is full of colour with tulips and euphorbias and the Spring Garden has cow parsley. This is his favourite moment...
Monty plants up a very large pot which he stands on chocks which will help with the drainage. The pot will have a lot of plants and will make quite heavy nutritional demands, therefore Monty advises that it is important to think about which compost to use. Monty uses peat-free potting compost, si...
Monty's tulips are going over and they do need attending to - this is an issue for a lot of people. Monty reads out a viewer's letter from Nick Shearme who asks what to do with tulips after they have flowered. One solution is to lift and store them somewhere warm and dry. In the autumn, they can ...