Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh Episode 2

In Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh Episode 2, Alan Titchmarsh welcomes us to  Grow Your Own At Home With Alan Titchmarsh by telling us that 'nothing nourishes the soul like growing your own food'.

Alan along with his wife Alison Titchmarsh AKA Mrs T Cam and the Love Your Garden team of David Domoney, Katie Rushworth and Frances Tophill ,each week they let us into their gardens to show us how they grow their own.

Alan says 'now is the time to take up your trowels and join us'.

June has arrived and Alan and the team are going to tell us what we should be doing now and planning for the growing season ahead.

Alan and Alison Titchmarsh are again in their Hampshire garden, Alan in front of the camera and Alison AKA Mrs T Cam doing all the filming due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

He has had a busy week in his Veg patch and in his greenhouse.

The Tomato plant he potted up in Episode 1 is growing well and now is the time to pinch out any side shoots that have grown.


Today he is planting out one of his favourite vegetables, Runner Beans.

Runner Beans need something to climb up and he already has a classic tent structure made out of Hazel poles and tied at the top.

Shop bought Obelisks are also suitable but Alan is going to make his own structure which is also a fun activity for children.

All you need are 8 x 3 metre bamboo canes, some string and some Runner Bean plants.

Placing the canes in a circle about a foot apart and tie them at the top, leaving an entrance just big enough for a child so it forms a wig wam type structure.

This should now be quite sturdy and you can plant 1 or 2  Runner Bean for each pole which can be grown from seed or bought as plants.

They will need to be planted out by the very latest in late June and they will be ready to eat in the Summer months.

Beans will then wind up and cover the whole frame but remember to keep them moist with plenty of water.


David Domoney, his partner Adele Holdsworth and their children Alice, Abigail and Lance are at home in Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire.

He is expanding his fruit and vegetable garden to become more self sufficient to feed his young family.


The raised beds he put in in Episode 1 and filled with flowers and vegetables are doing well and his Peas are shooting up and the Spinach is spreading fast.

Today's job is to start work on adding more fruit to the garden, with a mini orchard.

In some raised beds he is growing one of his favourite fruit, Raspberries and he is using a new variety called 'Ruby Beauty'.

It is a small bush variety so good for growing in pots or a raised bed, where space is an issue.

They grow to just 1 metre and produce up to 1.5 kg of Raspberries on this thornless bush.

David's raised beds are made using old decking boards and then filled with multi purpose compost.

David has added membrane and gravel to an area and planted Redcurrants in pots and in front of this, he is planting his fruit trees.

The fruit trees are dwarf stock fruit trees, growing to a maximum of 8 foot.

He digs a wide deep hole so there is room for the roots to spread and adds compost to the hole.

One of the trees is a Blood Plum  which has a dark red flesh and the stone of the plum is very easy to remove.

Plum trees are a good beginners fruit tree as they are low maintenance.

David is also planting a Morello Cherry tree and is already thinking about the pancakes and pies he is going to have the cherries in!

To encourage more fruit you need to 'festoon' the branches by tying them down until they have hardened into the growing shape you want.

It may be too late to get fruit off any newly planted fruit trees this year but you will next year and it will be worth the wait.


Alan says 'not everything is sunny in the garden' as he talks about the downside of gardening, the garden pests.

The Blackbirds are after his Strawberries so it is time to add some nylon netting to keep them away from the fruit.

This can be attached to a framework but you need to make it properly birdproof so they don't get in and become trapped.

Brassicas like cabbages, sprouts and cauliflowers can be attacked by Pigeons.

These are best covered using a wire mesh tunnel when they are young plants but as they grow you will need a more secure structure that's easily accessible to pick them.

Growing your own doesn't have to just be on an allotment, you can make your growing area as attractive as you like even if you are short of space.


Katie Rushworth, her husband Andrew Edwards and family are at home in Balidon Yorkshire.

In Episode 1 Katie brought the garden into her stunning house and kitchen by making Pizza and Gin crates.


This week she is in her fabulous garden with some contemporary rustic planters!

Katie and husband 'Ed' put together the planter which is made to look like distressed steel.

This indulgent planter complements her Corten Steel water feature beautifully.

Katie has got her steel sheet planter kit from a local metal works for £20.

She is distressing it herself to make it look rusty using a mix of deionised water and copper sulphate, it will then weather and rust.

Rust can stain surfaces so she has made sure it is standing on some plastic sheeting.

Katie wants statement and contemporary veg in her planters so she is using the very decorative Globe Artichoke.

Artichokes have scales and you eat the bases of these scales as they are the tender parts.

She likes to eat hers with herbs, butter and olive oil and will be ready in July to eat as she is planting a biggish plant.

If your not a fan of Artichokes they also make an attractive display in a vase.

Next is an Angelica Gigas, which is another statement plant and the stem is candied for putting on cakes.

For low growing interest Katie adds Thyme and an inedible plant Iberis Sempervirens that smells wonderful.

Katie has a shady area she also wants to plant in and she is using a planter and adding shady loving plants.

Welsh Onions are perennial so will keep coming back and can be used like Spring onions.

She is also adding Chives and Wild Garlic which unless contained can get out of hand in the garden.

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With her shady loving but fragrant tub finished it just time for Katie Rushworth to stand and admire the garden with Husband Andrew 'Ed' Edwards!


Alan with his new haircut, courtesy of Mrs T (is there no ends to her talents) video conference calls, David, Katie and Frances.

Frances is out in her garden and says she is enjoying the garden makeover, Katie says its glorious weather in Yorkshire and David shows off his peas.

Alan says their mission is to persuade everyone to grow their own.


He is sending everyone a task, to make their own Veg Trug that they all have to individualise and show what can be grown in a small space.

They all accept the challenge. Frances who has a very small space anyways has no idea where it will fit in! Alan wishes them luck.


Frances Tophill and her partner moved in to a new house in Folkstone, Kent and in Episode 1 built a wall planting shelf and planted some Apple trees.

She has been busy building more shelves and making some home made macramé hanging planters.

In the planters she has chillies and strawberries and patio Tomatoes.


The apple tree is now in blossom and loads of bees have been attracted to the garden.

For the back of the garden Frances has chosen a fig tree to plant. 

She checks the planting depth by measuring the hole using the spade and comparing it to the pot the tree is in.

To restrict the trees roots from spreading too much she is planting it still in its pot, this has the bonus of producing more fruit.

Fig trees like a sunny spot against a south or east  facing wall.


Frances next job on the list is a DIY Beer Garden as she is planting some hops up an old ladder she has painted.

The ladder came with the house, so after a lick of paint she has cemented it into the ground.

Hops are traditionally grow in Kent for beer and it will happily grow up the ladder.

They are also edible, if you eat the leaves and the small shoots that come out of the ground.

The hops are ready in June and dried out and used for Beer in September.

Frances wraps a couple of shoots around some twine she has attached to the ladder and trims the rest off the plant.

Next she is planting a popular herb for cooking with, French Tarragon.

It has an aniseed flavour and usually not available as a supermarket bought herb.


Strawberries are a very popular summer fruit with the British and they are easily grown in whatever size garden you have. 

Alan and Alison's Grandchildren love them and they cannot grow enough of them.

Alan is planting even more strawberries but first he prepares the soil by adding some organic fertilizer that he lightly digs in.

He waters the pots well so they slide out easily and plants them about a foot apart, then gives them a water.

Once the flowers have appeared the fruit quickly forms afterwards but they can get ruined by sitting in the mud and become a target for slugs and other pests.

Usually you place straw under them but Alan has some old carpet underlay that he has cut in to squares to fit round the bush to keep the fruit off the ground.


Alan also has a strawberry planter to show that all you need is room for a pot to be able to grow your own.

The pot has room for about 6 plants and he fills it with multi purpose compost before planting each pocket and then adding a plant to the top leaving room for watering.

Alison manages to nearly fall over whilst filming this, I think another Strawberry Daiquiri for Alison!

Alan hopes 'he has inspired us all to get out there and give it a go'. And don't forget the watering!


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