Plantsmans Diaries...An English Country Garden 10

As usual....sorry for the delay....Here is some stuff from February at Sunniside, some recent bits from Eggleston Hall Gardens and a section on cleft and rind grafting and making a shady frame from roofing laths (battens)....I hope there is at least something of interest for everyone in this hour.....and my apologies for the wind noise.

[@DeirdreHickey-nx8nt]

Poor Tucker, I’m so glad he is feeling better ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@angela64355]

I hope you’re all doing well, Malcom. Sending all my best wishes xx

[@artistlovepeace]

Fantastically honest and truthful channel full of wonderful stories and facts.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

That’s quite a recommendation to live up to Be Kuma. Thank you and best wishes….Malcolm

[@beryleccleston4593]

I love your show I’ve been gardening in zone 6 in Rhode Island for 55 yrs and I have killed a lot of plants trees shrubs also had a lot of problems starting seeds . Worked as a gardener in a large golf course and also in a nursery greenhouse I have learned more from your show in the last months please keep showing and advising different ways to garden

[@gigi3242]

Thanks for the video Malcolm, and thank you Lisa for risking the garden bench to get the shot of grafting for us. So happy that Tucker is ok, that had to be heart wrenching. Take care, be well

[@browpetj]

Many happy ones for the other day Malcom and many more to come!

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Thank you Peter…..I hope to see one or two more. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@PamsMountainGarden]

Good god I’m glad to see you back you old so and so!!

[@Goshtkub]

Great video Malcolm please keep them coming more regularly. We missed Thomas and Clara...

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Thank you Goshtkub….I am sure they will making an appearance in the near future. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@PaulOutdoors]

Great to have you back Malcolm and to hear that Tucker is on the mend. A marvellous watch and listen from start to finish. I have a beautiful Prunus Serrulata Amanogawa that I is seeding profusely. I am growing on the seedlings and realise that it will be a lottery as to the blossom type that will be eventually produced so your grafting masterclass was very interesting and informative. Thank you. Paul 👍😊

[@shaneintheshade]

Greetings from Tennessee, Malcolm. Im glad to see your little friend pulled through. I lost mine many years ago due to poison of some kind and it's a horrible way to watch them go. Thank you for your efforts and time. Don't worry about repeating a topic from years ago. Some things are important enough to cover more than once, I think. Good health and fortune to you and your wife.

[@NickSBailey]

that annual border sounds like it'll bring every bee in the area be interesting to see what the results are, Cuthberts brings back memories they were still around in the 90s and always used to grow their sweet peas and cosmos from woolies

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I am hoping it be interesting, amusing or a complete disaster Nicholas…..either way we’ll all see what transpires together! Best wishes…Malcolm

[@helenwilliamson7099]

Great vlog, lovely poem Amanda, ha ha I used to wear that perfume myself when I was younger, glad your wee doggy 🐕 is OK again. Take care all ❤

[@mrcogginsgarage7062]

Welcome as the arrival of the spring Allways a pleasure never a chore Malcolm ,I'm glad to see our little four legged legend is doing ok. Try not to leave it so long before the next one cheers.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I will try Mr Coggins……I just don’t always have the enthusiasm and it’s hard after doing so many videos not to repeat oneself or find new ways of putting essentially the same thing…..I simply can’t do all the smiley happy faced stuff the younger ones on KZbin do and end up feeling like a crust old twat. Which is probably true. But thank you for the kind comment and very best wishes…Malcolm

[@lenaolivetti9366]

What a treat to see everyone. And the content very educational….

[@flowerfairy1950]

Happy to see you back as I had started to think you should be popping in soon. Very much looking forward to watching you create the Annual Patch. I have just discovered Autumn sowing of cold annuals rather than Spring sowing so am giving that a try (Autumn now in Oz). I too miss having Nurseries to visit. The Nursery looked wonderful you can see the work and the love.

[@williammorrison5678]

So glad found this vlog. Very interesting about the splicing the tree with the cuttings but what I want to know is know know is what is the tree behind you when you're sitting at the garden table? The bark is beautiful.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Well spotted William….It’s a seedling I grew about 30 years back. It’s from Betula albosinensis ‘septentrionalis’……..because it’s a seedling it’s not the true form because of the variability of seeds…..however if I gave it a name and propagated it by cuttings or as would be more likely by grafting, then it would effectively be a clone. Because this is a chosen selection it would become a “cultivar” meaning it is a cultivated variety……as opposed to a naturally occurring seedling being propagated which would be a “variety”…….hope this helps. ….Best wishes….Malcolm

[@heidisider577]

That hour went by so fast! Is it sacrilege to say your vlogs are far superior to any Gardener's World I've ever seen? So much useful information, entertaining banter & history, poetry, music, gorgeous scenery, and of course Tucker on the mend! Can't wait to see the annual bed take shape. I hope it won't be so long till your next video! Thank you from New York!

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I will try Heidi…..but I’ve promised in the past and feel like I’ve let folk down. I am always concerned that after doing so many of these videos I am just repeating the same stuff. However gardening is very cyclical/seasonal/repetitive, we tend to look forward to the return of everything over and over again. I genuinely just don’t want to bore anyone by saying the same thing, and in all honesty these days I forget what I’ve done before anyway. Thank you for your kind comments. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@heidisider577]

@@plantsmanscorner128 You are never boring or repetitive - & even if you did repeat something, we'd never remember anyway! 😂 Always good to have reminders as well! Thanks again for your hard work!

[@marshmenne8657]

Your a breath of spring. The floater talk was interesting. Thank you.

[@briansgardenandpolytunnel8172]

you're bringing back some old memories now, malcolm. i remember the days when i used the ddt- lindane tablets in my old greenhouse...................brian

[@joynicholls1997]

Greetings from Australia! So glad to see you back again,missed you Malcolm.🎉

[@laurenb6451]

I have a new comment while I patiently wait for your next video! In your new workshop you have beautiful garlic hanging on the wall. I just dug up my garlic today and I will spread it out to cure tomorrow. I was hoping you would show how to braid it sometime…💚💚💚puleeze.

[@patdelaney191]

So glad to see Tucker back on his feet. My little dog ate a poisoned mouse and she also went through everything Tucker went through, though she always suffered from delicate skin ever afterwards. I think the trouble with the Hamamelis colour is it disappears amongst the background, it needs a solid colour behind 😊 👍

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I think you absolutely right about the background Pat, however I think it’s worth keeping for the autumn colour as well. It is awful with dogs They look at you with such trust and hope that you’ll make everything right, but they just express it through eye contact and it’s absolutely heart breaking…..I’m far too connected to my dogs than is good for me, perhaps like a lot of folk. I have always found dogs and plants easier to relate to than fellow humans. When my mother died it was sad, she was old and had been unwell and all that stuff…….but I’m embarrassed to say every dog that I’ve lost has been far more painful to cope with. Perhaps that says more about me than anything else…..perhaps I lack empathy, I don’t know. But there is is. Very best wishes to you…..Malcolm

[@laurenb6451]

I think it’s because people know what’s going on but the dogs are so innocent and their lives arein our hands.

[@Zincink]

Yes, one of my fav gardening shows has granted us a new episode. Hello from NJ (the garden state). I'm third generation taking care of the garden and your little planning book looked super familiar. It's fun to look at old photos to see how the garden looked. It doesn't look all that different, just added a few new things.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Is NJ New Jersey zincink? I don’t know where that is….I’ve always assumed somewhere near New York. I was invited to do some talks in New York and Boston and somewhere else last year but was unable to make it. Hopefully if I get invited again in the future I’ll maybe get there. Thank you for kind comments and I hope the plan in that little old book will be at the very least interesting and not a complete disaster! Best wishes….Malcolm

[@pegsbarton6353]

Lovely to see you posting again Malcolm, but when you told us what's been happening with Tucker I can totally understand your mind has been occupied elsewhere. So pleased he's made a full recovery, and it would be nice to hope that he won't be eating poisoned rubbish again, or at least any time soon, but he's a terrier so we all know what that means!😆 Egglestone looked lovely as always and as you say Thomas and Lisa are doing a fantastic job, but it's all in the training isn't it Malcolm? I'm hoping to visit there again before too long, though we have moved even further away now, but the plants we bought there are such sturdy, vigorous plants, I can't fault them at all. And very reasonably priced, which was a lovely surprise. I wish you all well and happy and I'm really enjoying watching Sunniside come back to life. The grafting was a treat, I've never heard of, or seen, the cleft method before, so thanks again. Looking forward to next time.👋PS I forgot to say to John, congratulations!! That little tool cart he's made is ingenious! He ought to contact the tool company see if they'll pay him for the blueprint...I'm sure people would buy one, and in a nursery it's invaluable, well done John..

[@gilliansmyth7167]

Hello Malcolm from Harpenden which I think you know well. So enjoy your video's I learn so much thank you so much. Love to all the family. 🤗

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I do know Harpenden well Gillian, I had 9 years at Rothamsted and lived in their lodge house on Hatching Green for six of them. It seems like a lifetime ago rather than 26 years…..but it has passed so quickly. Glad you like the videos, they are something of an acquired taste I suspect…..anyway, thank you for your kind comment. Best wishes……Malcolm

[@klemensjakubowski8160]

Lovely to see you back Malcolm! Love your films! Despite I'm professional botanist and gardener every time so many new informations! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. Spring greetings from Poland. :)

[@VancouverIslandgirl]

Welcome back , you are a wealth of knowledge.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Thank you Diane…..about plants maybe quite knowledgable…..but life in general? I might as well be looking up a badgers backside as I haven’t a clue what it’s all about. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@karendavidson394]

You are a joy to watch !

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Your very kind Karen. Thank you….I just don’t see it myself. Best wishes…Malcolm

[@christopherhills1609]

Love this….the best yet Malcolm

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Thank you Christopher. Best wishes…Malcolm

[@kerrilee9651]

Good to see you back.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Thank you Kerri. I’d like to do more but don’t always get round to it. Best wishes…Malcolm

[@bentaylor338]

Thank God you're back, the wife was suggesting Gardeners World!!! I would rather have a bit of what your dog ate than that.

[@cjminor6429]

So glad that Tucker survived! Good to see you back as well! Would like to see more new vids- informative and hilarious!

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I’m glad he did as well CJ……I have a deep rapport and affection for my dogs and while losing them is heartbreaking….always….the manner of their demise is less tolerable when it’s through human carelessness. Just my feeling on the subject…..I will try and be more productive with the videos but it depends if I feel there’s anything worth saying that I’ve not said before…..or it’s all just words for the sake of it. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@kaybloomfield4785]

Hi Malcom missing your videos hope you are ok hope to hear from you soon love your sense of humour xx

[@VerdantSoul]

Thanks Malcolm. I am now looking forward to see that annuals bed of yours growing 😊

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I’m quite taken aback by the interest people are showing in this little project Verdant…..There’s a bit of pressure now not to balls the job up! Best wishes…Malcolm

[@timgoodin42053]

It is good to see everyone is doing well, thank goodness for spring and hopefully more great content coming up. I always enjoy seeing what is going on across the pond. Take care.

[@sheilaackers3854]

Thank you Malcom I have missed you.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

It’s nice to have something worth uploading Sheila. Best wishes…Malcolm

[@laurenb6451]

A hearty and thankful welcome back, Malcolm! I’m so sorry you all had to deal with the horrible experience of Tucker’s near demise but at least he survived! I had to watch other crap while waiting for your next video and everybody is moaning about their destroyed echiums but waiting to see if they rebound in some way. As far as Witch Hazel bloom colors…the reds always look sort of raw to me. I prefer yellow especially the creamier ones. I really like when you teach us how to do stuff like that grafting. Thank you! My Acer griseums have not sprouted so if I find a maple seedling could I try grafting scions of that? And I would really like to know how to braid the onions and garlic like what was hanging up in your workshop.💚

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Acer griseum is a difficult one Lauren. It is best to grow from seed….but slow….I have never found anything particularly compatible. They have varying degrees of shedding bark from seed, I have in the past grafted scions from a good form onto their own seedling that don’t look so promising in that respect, thereby effectively cloning them to a degree. It is an interesting question and I will look into it further when I meet up with some friends later in the year and see if they’ve found any compatible rootstocks….griseum is a pain as it’s very slow growing as well generally…..but worth it. Furthermore so many trees do not produce viable seed, or if they do it’s about one in a hundred seeds, but occasionally you find a very good tree though they are few and far between. Tucker caught his first rabbit today since his illness, so hopefully his recovery is complete. Thank you for your comment and question Lauren. Best wishes as ever…..Malcolm

[@laurenb6451]

But all this time I couldn’t get any info on whether A. griseum was wind or insect pollinated.but I saw in a John Lord video some kind of bee was pollinating. I was wondering if the right kind of insect from China was extinct and that makes the # of viable seeds very limited?

[@nathanpickett7224]

Here he is!

[@daviddoyle5480]

Pleased to hear tucker is on the mend, and you are back on here. The section on grafting was informative as I have a grafted tree that the gales last year broke the graft on. I was going to dig it out but now I will try the grafting technique you have shown. Also looking forward to going back for a look around Eggleston maybe next month. Great video as always 👍

[@plantsmanscorner128]

It’s worth a try David. Make a nice clean cut across the trunk. Remember to find some decent scion wood of the same species…..a trip somewhere with a pair of secateurs might be useful….Sorry, I never said that! Best wishes…Malcolm

[@lenaolivetti9366]

Holy Shite !!!! So happy your back and tucker what a shame!!!!

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Glad to be back Lena…….Hopefully Tuck will be ok now. Best wishes…..Malcolm

[@becmckinlay5073]

I was going to bed but not now😂. Glad dog ok. I'll shut up and watch properly.

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Don’t you be missing your beauty sleep on my account Bec…..I’ll still be here in the morning waffling on about nowt much in particular. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@eileentarrant9876]

Lovely to see you again me ode duck 😂 where’ve you been ?glad you’re all ok ,look forward to see you soon xx ET good laugh at the end .don’t scratch it Malcom you’ll make it worse 🤣🤣🤣

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Thank you Eileen, hope your well and I’ll try to stop scratching it….or at least keep my fingernails scrubbed. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@angela64355]

Amanda’s sooooo funny 😂😂

[@stevemindham520]

You finally got that fingert out of from wherever it was.then! Happy little Tucker still in land of the living .Fish blood and bone will have to do in that marked out spot.

[@alpinegardeners]

Hi Melcomb how are you? bit worried it’s been 2 months x

[@neildickson833]

What have you done with your hair ? You look like my Nan ! Love the downloads , been a fan for years !

[@plantsmanscorner128]

😂😂😂 Your Nan was obviously a highly attractive woman Neil. I’m not sure if you mean before Lisa took the sheep-shears (I kid you not) to it, or after…..I prefer the before but get accused of looking like a porky version of Worzel Gummidge ….Best wishes….Malcolm

[@gadget4047]

He's a lucky little Tucker

[@plantsmanscorner128]

There was a small child in the village Gadget who used mix up Finn and Tucker….it came out as Tinn and Fucker much to his mothers embarrassment. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@pegsbarton6353]

😆😆😆😆

[@grahamarnold8433]

Brilliant video thanks 👍,thinking of grafting tomatoes have you tried it before ?

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Yes I have Graham, but not for commercial or varietal reasons, but usually when tying them in and I’ve snapped the growing point. They are actually very easy but I’m not sure why it’s necessary with so many varieties available today….interesting though. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@laurelsayer7557]

Hurray, you're back! So nice to have a decent, informed BRITISH horticultural channel. PS. How come your Pittosporum Tom Thumb survived in the North, while mine all perished here in the South East?!😥

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I don’t know Laurel. All I can say is that from the start ours have been grown hard without heat. Sometimes garden centres buy in plants that have spent their lives in ideal conditions, many are imported from Holland who in turn have in the past imported their stock from China….I’m not saying that’s the case with your plant, but provenance has a great bearing. I’m glad you like the Channel Laurel, I hope to keep it going for a year or two yet. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@sallynolan5928]

Well that’s interesting to know. I’m in the South East and lost 9 Pittosporums Tom Thumb - I expect they originated from Holland too. The Hillier garden centre near me also said that all their Pittosporums perished last winter 😏.

[@marilynsmith8054]

I love my Wolf Garton tools. Having just one long handle and being able to switch tools. Those Germans make good stuff.😤

[@plantsmanscorner128]

They are generally very good tools Marilyn……apart from their secateurs which I found hopeless. But then they are not meant for commercial work such as ours. I only ever use Japanese secateurs because of their simplicity and steel quality. Niwaki is a good site for them, they’re expensive but keep their edge beautifully. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@Nicktgrief]

my dad had a thing that was like a light bulb made out of ceramic and flattened on the top ( well dished) and that was for Nicotine, he used to put it in the dish and switch it on and fumigate his greenhouse. And most of your annual border plants I've got for my allotment plot does this make me old too? Nick (aged 65 1/2 )🤣

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Absolute old fucker for sure GE……a few years ago you could retire at 65, so at least the government doesn’t think your old for another 6 months….I am 68 in 2 days but I enjoyed growing up in the early 70s….I feel we had the best of it without all the pressure technology brings to the young today to conform to ideals of beauty etc…I find it sad actually…….When I was in research growing plants for scientific boffins like my wife to experiment with, they were susceptible to pests like aphids but we couldn’t use any pesticides because any residual or systemic action would screw their data…..so we used nicotine shred, they were like thick sweet tobacco (the sweetie) we had as kids….we also had sweet pretend cigarettes (can you imagine that now) ……anyway you lit the shreds and got out pretty quickly but there were no side effect on the data…..there was also a fatty acid soap to control whitefly…..which perversely was used in hospitals for enemas……I never met a constipated whitefly. Best wishes….Malcolm

[@laurenb6451]

🎂🎂🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALCOLM! TO 120! I’m a couple of years younger than you and I remember those candy cigarettes! Once I decided to look cool and inhaled with one in my mouth and they’re filled with some kindmof white powder that made me think I was dying for sure. I couldn’t stop coughing for a day 😵

[@johnocallaghan7830]

Fun fact: in med school I had a written exam case, where a gardener had been exposed to malathion poisoning. It works as a blocker of the nerve impulses to the muscles, much in the same way as curare-poison that the Amazon indians would use on their poison darts. The curare would be extracted from a Strychnos toxifera or Chondrodendron tomentosum plant. I still remember the first line treatment back then was atropine.

[@laurenb6451]

And I am happy to report that winter aconite seeds I planted two years ago have sprouted (and have now disappeared).

[@mariapascualy2598]

MALCOLM!!!!!!!! Time for another video.

[@trueamnisias]

'horticulturally, it's fucked' - 😉Been there, thought that.

[@kdjones-q3p]

Been to long you all OK??????

[@MDA-rs4uf]

How cold did it get for you all??? It got in the single digits (5 fahrenheit) here for us for 3 days, which would be very negative in degrees C for you all...some things will not come back.... a fatshedera for instance...osmanthus is hurt as well...m

[@plantsmanscorner128]

It got to -14C here in the dales on one night MDA…..probably about the same as you. At Eggleston a lot of alstroemeria and phormiums and Cordylines have taken a battering….and some osmanthus I believe, though the latter may recover. Not sure. But there’s not been a great deal of useful persistent rain so I expect drought restriction pretty early in the year…..worse in the south though…..not that those here in the north would enjoy the southerners discomfort 😂😂😂……best wishes….Malcolm

[@browpetj]

What a shame on those echiums! They look old, alot of work there lost! Hort felt every year would surely do the trick. A bit of work though. In Qatar they felt whole trees with 70% shade cloth in summer just to keep them alive ffs 🙄. Even then they die sometimes. I bet ppl wonder how you keep a garden like that relatively immaculate... I figure two things, optimisation and consistency 🤔 Anything that dies is an optimisation! 😂😊😂

[@gilliansmyth7167]

Missing your video's Malcolm you remind me of Jack Hargreaves. ☹️

[@briansgardenandpolytunnel8172]

i'm not a fan of your hamamelis. sorry mate. it just looks like the flowers have a serious case of rust. is this another name change in the world of plants? looks like what i used to know as hammemollis..................brian

[@plantsmanscorner128]

Hamamelis mollis I know brian….and Hamamelis x intermedia…….Generally grafted onto H.virginiana root stocks. I am not keen now either but the autumn foliage colour can be outstanding, especially in acidic soil. Best wishes…Malcolm

[@briansgardenandpolytunnel8172]

@@plantsmanscorner128 i stand corrected with the name. it's called old age. lol...............brian

[@plantsmanscorner128]

I can’t remember my own name some days Barry…….old age is definitely to blame!….Best wishes, Melvyn

[@karlitobergkamp8082]

Is Malcolm still making these videos?