The Beechgrove Garden

The Beechgrove Garden has only just emerged from the December snow, and the team take stock of the damage done over the severe winter and search for hopeful signs of spring.

Celebrating Scottish gardens. The team mount Project Plant Rescue, Jim and Carole investigate the alternatives to peat, and Lesley begins her garden design masterclass.

Celebrating Scottish gardens. The team decide to start planting potatoes, Lesley and Carole mount their tatties-in-containers challenge and Jim gives a self-sufficient couple tips.

Celebrating Scottish gardens. Jim and George show how to pollinate plants by hand to maximise fruit yields. And Carole and Lesley take a look at some of last year's potato trials.

Celebrating Scottish gardens. Carole and Lesley revamp the Beechgrove alpine garden, George demonstrates how to grow large vegetables, and Jim plants broad beans and sweet peas.

Celebrating Scottish gardens. Carole and Lesley plant new collections of baby fuchsias, Carole and George tackle leek rust and white onion rot, and the tulips are out in force.

For most of the country it’s waders rather than wellies that are essential kit to get gardening this spring. Beechgrove is back and Jim McColl, Carole Baxter, George Anderson and Chris Beardshaw are raring to go no matter what the weather. In the first programme the team take a look at some soggy, boggy gardens across the country and assess what can be done and they deal with our own new unintended paddling pond, in the Beechgrove Fruit House.

Carole explains how to deal with explosive weeds, Jim is splitting snowdrops and George advises us where to plant a flowering quince.

In the Beechgrove Garden Jim, Carole and George are pruning their way around the garden, through fruit pruning to Carole pruning back a very vigorous eucalyptus. The team show what we could and should be pruning at this time of the year, how to do it and why. It’s also the season for pricking-out and potting-on and George shows how to do just that with his summer sowing of the stunning blue poppy. Chris is at another new build in Portlethen this week. He’s helping the Robertson family transform the soggy turf that the developers left them with into the garden of their dreams.

In the Beechgrove Garden, Jim continues to deal with the aftermath of the extreme wet weather that we experienced over winter, and reminds us to feed perennials and woody plants, especially those recently planted.

In the Beechgrove Garden, Jim is spring cleaning in the conservatory. He takes note of the progress and care of the camellias and the citrus, and moves on to pot on the stunning houseplants - streptocarpus and saintpaulias. George is commemorating WW1 by sowing a field of Flanders red poppies.

George is revamping the very tired 'old riverbed' in Beechgrove. He is creating a new flowing stream of those spring and autumn shades of blue beauties, gentians, in place of the old and now dry riverbed. George also visits Broadwoodside steading garden in Gifford. This beautifully designed garden manages to look good all year round but in this case George goes to see their imaginative use of spring bulb colour.

Beechgrove is back! Spring-loaded and raring to grow. The sun always shines in Beechgrove, but how has the sunniest winter since records began affected growing conditions? Jim McColl, Carole Baxter, George Anderson and Chris Beardshaw find out. Carole and Jim know that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but there is an air of competition as they take on neighbouring greenhouses and pack them full of food and flowers all year round. George visits the Scottish Rock Garden Club's show in Kincardine. Who has grown the best bulbs, perfect primula or the iconic iris and how? Gardening lights up our lives, but in Glasgow Botanic Gardens they have taken that to a new level. George experiences the eerie elegance of the Electric Gardens.

In the Beechgrove Garden Chris dons his safety gear and whips off 50 shades of green (conifers) in a chainsaw-pruning frenzy. Meanwhile, in a much more sedate fashion George starts off a bite-size project to see how productive he can be in just one square metre of space. And keeping it small, Jim and Carole return to their neighbouring greenhouses to start growing. Carole also makes her first visit to Aileen Snowden's garden in Newport-on- Tay. Aileen and family moved to their new home from a flat and have never had a garden before. The garden is mature and overgrown and Aileen doesn't know where to start. Carole will work with Aileen throughout the season to tame and claim and love the plot she's got.

You will certainly have your five a day with Beechgrove this week. Jim is testing temperatures and hoping to sow early broad beans while Carole and Chris take a look at the fruits of their labours from last year with their containerised peaches. Staying small, George is in the fruit cage planting a new mini orchard. Hoping to prove that the fruit of your own labours is the sweetest, Jim is helping Carol Cocker in Inverurie to learn how to grow her own for the first time. Jim is like a child in a tree sweet shop as he visits an awesome arboretum in Kippen.

In the Beechgrove Garden Jim is plants 'heirloom vegetables' to compare performance with contemporary interlopers. In the first of several monthly visits to Scone Palace garden, head gardener Brian Cunningham unveils his plans for a tribute to local plant hunter David Douglas. When Euan and Jenny Maclean moved into their new build house in Linlithgow it was the house of their dreams. Over the course of this series, Chris is going to guide the new to gardening couple to turn a nightmare of a space into a garden to match their dream home.

It's daffolicious in the Beechgrove garden as Jim takes a look at his trial of new versus old daffodils to see if traditional beats contemporary in the daffodil world. Meanwhile George further tests that theory as he visits Backhouse Daffodils near Auchtermuchty who have daffodils that are the origins of many of the modern daffodils in use today. Chris reviews his climbers for every aspect and to complement them he adds roses to the cutting garden. Pruning is sometimes a thorny issue and so Carole and Jim are pruning their way around the garden to show us how to take the mystery out of it.

Seed scattered and sown, and lawns grown and mown. Carole shows us an easy way to sow flower seeds while Jim toils away on the lawn. Then it's sweet pea planting - scrambling v cordon-trained. Chris is back with Jenny and Euan MacLean in Linlithgow for a second visit to their nightmare plot and this time it's dreamy breakfast-and-teatime terraces and the perfect pergola. George is still in a tight corner tending his small-space vegetable garden. Carole visits Hamish McKelvie and his prickly friends in Houston, Renfrewshire. Since boyhood, Hamish has built up a huge collection of cacti.

Beechgrove is back despite winter storms, Jim McColl, Carole Baxter, George Anderson and Chris Beardshaw and the Beechgrove garden are all in one piece, looking radishing and ready to grow. Scotland has suffered the wettest winter on record so Jim and the team wade in to find out how that affects growing conditions. When Maggie Patience came to live near Aboyne she found winter days short on light and colour. Carole visited Maggie's garden in early winter to experience the unique way she has added year round colour. Plus Chris literally wades in to Beechgrove's newly re-vamped pond

In the Beechgrove Garden, Jim admires the colourful camellias which are conservatory confined to prolong flowering and fragrance. Meanwhile, looking at colour in stems rather than blooms, George creates an inspirational winter-interest border on a slope in Beechgrove. Carole begins a new mini-strand - Garden on a Budget. Meike and Jan Guijt and their young family moved into their new home in Kennethmont in 2015. Throughout the series, Carole will help new gardener Meike mould a garden out of almost nothing.

In this edition of the gardening magazine, Jim investigates digging. He grows two sets of vegetables side by side to compare how digging affects them. Brian Cunningham, head gardener of Scone Palace, is redesigning the alpine garden at Beechgrove, while George takes a tour of 19th-century Braco Castle garden with head gardener Jodie Simpson.

In the Beechgrove Garden, Jim is attempting to turn yellow into green as he tackles the lawn, which has turned a washed-out yellow after all the rains of winter. And continuing the theme of upgrading the 20-year-old Beechgrove Garden, Jim takes on an unloved corner of the low-maintenance garden, removing a rotting fence and pruning a wayward quince. Brian Cunningham visits the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, which is home to one of the most impressive alpine collections in the world, for inspiration as to how to recreate that in miniature back in Beechgrove.

In the Beechgrove garden, Jim is hoping that the soil is now warm enough to plant tatties in the main veggie plot, while on the decking garden Carole is also planting tatties on a tiny scale. Chris and Carole are going on very different fungal forays in Beechgrove this year. Chris is creating a whole Jurassic Park fungal valley with ancient timbers and all manner of edible mushrooms. Again on the other end of the scale, Carole tries out some windowsill mushroom-growing kits. George visits Alan Shamash's impressive hillside garden full of an extensive collection of rhododendrons in Kirkudbright.

Carole continues with her windowsill gardening and sows herbs and salad leaves, which can be used to produce tasty, foodie salads for weeks. In Garden on a Budget, Carole is with Mieke Guijt in rural Kennethmont, helping to mould a garden out of almost nothing. Carole takes Mieke on a budget shopping trip to buy materials for easy-to-make compost bays and shows her how to have plants for 'free'. George visits the painterly garden of Broughton House in Kirkcudbright. The house and garden belonged to EA Hornel, artist, collector and 'Glasgow boy'. George discovers how much the garden influenced Hornel's paintings.

The best sign of spring is when the Beechgrove Garden returns and Jim McColl, Carole Baxter, George Anderson, Chris Beardshaw and Brian Cunningham are all back in the garden dispensing sage advice to keep growing. At this time of the year, we are normally bemoaning winter storms - so what do we have to talk about after one of the mildest winters on record? Jim and team look at the signs of spring and see if it really has come early this year. Jim also takes a look at the progress of the overwintered veg, while George has already set himself a challenge to produce a weekly salad. Carole has been in search of early signs of spring as she takes an up close and personal look at the tiny world of snowdrops. She also visits Helen Rushton in Rothienorman to discover why these tiny beauties excite such passions.

Winter hasn't been too cruel this year, but Carole is still hoping to find out how hardy the plants are that she deliberately left in the ground last year to test their resilience. Meanwhile, George takes a look at his winter stem border that's full of plants that have been shining out in the darker months. Undercover, the glasshouse is a hive of activity at this time and Jim is sowing for Scotland. Chris continues to work on the pond area of the garden, planting a range of grasses on the banking but it's perhaps a little too early for the waders. Carole visits retired doctor and artist David Hawson, who has created a fascinating topiary garden in Monymusk.

To dig or not to dig, that is the question on Jim and George's lips in the Beechgrove Garden. Two side-by-side veg plots, both preparing to grow, but one has been dug over and the other untouched. Scone Palace is overrun by rabbits like many Beechgrove viewers' gardens. Head gardener Brian Cunningham sets up an observation to try and find out if there really is such a thing as rabbit-proof plants. George is no shrinking violet when it comes to floristry and as Jim would say, every day is a school day. This week, George goes back to school, not just any school but flower school in Edinburgh, where he learns tips and tricks to put together some unique arrangements with spring flowers.

Carole and Jim are also both planting potatoes; Jim is planting new blight-resistant varieties in the main veg plot, whereas Carole tries cheap and cheerful potato bags on the decking. The typical size of a UK garden is 14sqm, which provides little space for planting trees. Jim has asked the team to each choose their best tree for a small garden and is planting them all in Beechgrove to compare and contrast. Saughton Park is a faded, hidden garden gem in the south west of Edinburgh. The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, or the Caley, as it's affectionately known, has taken up the challenge of renovating this once-grand park and garden. George will visit the project on a regular basis during its design and build.

Jim is planting a selection of swedes and turnips for later in the year. Meanwhile, Chris is attempting to create a rose garden at Beechgrove, but how will they cope with exposed Scottish conditions? Carole is in Ardersier for Vegetable Garden on a Budget, with recent research suggesting that a family of four could save roughly £1,500 a year growing their own vegetables. Mari Reid lives and gardens in Ardersier and has come up with a clever way of helping others to grow their own by using community-minded land or garden share.

Gardening magazine. Jim has set up a replica of his own greenhouse at home and this week he is adding some half-hardy plants with colour. Meanwhile, Carole is starting off her hanging baskets early and is trying 3-in-1 plug plants. Chris continues development of the new rose garden, which has been planted with every variety of rose - but how will they cope with exposed Scottish conditions? George visits Dr Tony Toft in his garden at Hermitage Gardens in Edinburgh, which is a showpiece display of unusual species mixed tastefully with specially commissioned pieces of art and sculpture.

2018 marks the Beechgrove Garden's ruby anniversary. This week there are sweet signs of spring as Jim, Carole, George and Chris are surrounded by April's peach and cherry blossom. George revisits Sheila Harper's ancient apple trees in Banchory. After a severe prune last year, George returns with slightly less sharp secateurs to show how to deal with the old trees this year. Carole visits Rosie Nixon in Perth. Rosie is a passionate wildlife gardener and photographer who creatively uses her all-seasons organic garden as her own green studio. Throughout the 2018 series, Jim and Carole will be digging in the abundant Beechgrove archive to root out hints and tips from the last 40 years.

Jim and Carole celebrate Beechgrove's ruby anniversary in true Beechgrove style as it's tattie time. Both Jim and Carole are planting a range of ruby or red potatoes, and they also dig up an archive tattie tip from the late George Barron. Brian is back in Beechgrove revisiting his alpine garden and reviews the winter damage, as well as doing a bit of weeding and feeding. Last year Carole met almost-nonagenarian garden hero Sandy Inkster in his immaculate and award-winning Cults garden. Carole will visit Sandy several times throughout the 2018 series but this time meets him on his allotment on the south side of Aberdeen. Chris is adding to the rose garden at Beechgrove. Roses and clematis are a classic combination but you do have to choose carefully, Chris explains, as they have to be able to be pruned at the same time.

Jim is planting with Beechgrove's ruby anniversary in mind, sowing red veg from beetroot 'Bulls Blood', courgette 'Midnight' and lettuce 'Moonred' to spinach 'Red Kitten' and spicy mustard 'Red Giant'. Last year Jim began an observation choosing a range of trees for small gardens. This year he is adding to that with a range of fastigiate trees, which are perfect for a small garden as they don't create much shade and have a small footprint. And Brian, who is used to modest swathes of daffodils at Scone Palace, visits Grampian Growers near Montrose to find out how six million bunches of daffodils find their way from the fields of Angus to neat bunches ready to buy

In the Beechgrove Garden, after the success of the no-dig observation of last year, Jim is extending the trial into the polytunnel, comparing conventionally grown vegetables with easy-grow no-dig vegetable plots. Brian is in Armadale, helping Lesley Welsh and her two children to create a bespoke vegetable plot for the family. Lesley wants the children to be able to easily grow their own and take their own home-grown produce from fork to fork.Brian is also in Tranent, visiting Wattie Russell. Wattie was nominated as one of Scotland's Garden Heroes, and Brian visits to see why. Wattie's inspirational, but tightly packed, garden in Tranent is full of spring beauties with around 500 different pots of colour.

In the Beechgrove Garden, it's tomato time as Jim is growing a range of viewers' recommended favourite tomato varieties, using viewers' best methods for growing them.Carole visits young farmers James Reid and Rosa Bevan near Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, to see how they use permaculture techniques to grow veg in the most environmentally friendly way possible. And Carole is also in Garelochhead to take in the annual Scottish Rhododendron Society show, where she sees competitors showing off the best blooms from the vast range of vibrant varieties.

Carole and the garden team are in their waders while Jim supervises annual work on ponds of all sizes at Beechgrove. Salvia expert Brian Young joins salvia fanatic Jim in Beechgrove to salivate over salvias. George visits North Berwick in Bloom to see what they and the local school are intending to create for their entry to the popular and hotly contested Pallet Garden competition held at the upcoming Gardening Scotland Show.