Beechgrove Garden - Season 48

The days are longer and the weather is a little warmer, so that means Beechgrove Garden is back with weekly updates and expert advice for gardeners of all abilities and experience.

Carole Baxter and Brian Cunningham are back at Beechgrove to kick off the season with a range of great jobs that can be done right now and that will make your own plot both productive and attractive. It's Easter weekend, one of the most popular times of the year to get out into the garden, so Carole is planting up an Easter container that will bring colour and joy to your garden, deck or doorstep for weeks to come.

It wouldn't be a series of Beechgrove Garden without a potato crop to plant and look forward to, so Brian and Carole will be planting a number of varieties. It has now been ten years since the garden's stem bank border was started, and Brian is back in there to start some much-needed maintenance-pruning, with planting to come, that will refresh that part of the garden. The stem bank border contains plants that are known for their attractive stems and range of colours that look best in winter.

Last year, some of the Beechgrove presenters took part in a competition to see who could plant the most productive border. This year, there is a new challenge, which Brian and Carole will be revealing.

And a trip to Edinburgh to catch up with what George Anderson is doing in his own garden in Joppa, and there are the week's usual handy hints.

Beechgrove Garden is looking ahead to summer days in the garden, with Lizzie Schofield back to work in the sitooterie area she started off last year as a place ideal for sitting out and enjoying the garden. This week, she prunes and plants in the same area to get it looking great for the good days ahead.

Brian Cunningham is back to basics with a beginners' guide to starting off a productive veg plot with some spring sowing, and he also looks at what makes a great homemade compost. Lizzie takes on the tomato plants this year at Beechgrove, and she is looking at what varieties she has picked for 2026. She is also the first of the team to start work on her competition garden, which is based on planting that appeals to one of the senses.

Brian is in the 6x8 greenhouse, and there is a trip to Dumfries for the latest from Colin Crosbie's garden. This week's handy hints are all about what you should be doing with your dahlias right now.

Calum Clunie kicks off his season at Beechgrove, demonstrating what can be grown from a container in just one season. He also starts a season of productive gardening, showing what can be produced for a family of four from a medium-sized vegetable garden.

Meanwhile, as summer approaches, Brian is looking at how to keep lawns looking great and tackling a patio space around Beechgrove's chiminea corner. There is a visit to a great new allotment in Perth, and there are all the usual handy hints.

There is a lot of productive gardening going on at Beechgrove as George Anderson and Ruth Vichos both work on projects that will bear fruit later in the year.

Ruth is focusing on growing for those with a small space, returning to the vertical garden that she started last year. Vertical gardening uses structures that allow plants to be stacked upwards - ideal for anyone with just a small plot or patio. She also shows how this method can still be very productive.

George is in his beloved fruit cage, where after a clear-out last year, he plants a bed of new raspberry varieties and propagates new growth from Beechgrove's existing fig tree.

There is a Back to Basics guide from Colin Crosbie's plot just outside Dumfries, and a review of Beechgrove's gravel and grass garden, which will be thinned and replanted over the course of this season.

There is lots of planting for the plate at Beechgrove Garden as Kirsty Wilson and Brian Cunningham start growing a wide variety of edible produce.

Kirsty is the first of the Beechgrove team to kick off work on her competition plot. Each presenter has been given a sense to appeal to in each of their competition borders, and Kirsty is planting things that will taste fantastic. She is also trying something new to Beechgrove: hops.

Meanwhile, Brian provides an update on the veg he sowed at the start of the series and is in his rain garden checking on what survived this year's wet weather. There are all the usual handy hints, and there is a visit to Calum Clunie's allotment in Leven.

Planting borders and planning for cut flowers are on Lizzie Schofield and Brian Cunningham's to-do list at the garden. Lizzie is direct sowing in the new cuttings area and Brian is in the zig-zag border, planting varieties that will grow tall, making them ideal for the back of a plot without requiring support or staking.

Brian kicks off this year's collection of plants being cultivated in the 6x8ft glasshouse. This is the most common-sized domestic greenhouse, so if you are lucky enough to have one, Brian has some great ideas for this season.

Lizzie is the first of the presenters to start work in her competition plot. The theme this year is planting that will appeal to one of the senses, and Lizzie has one of the most challenging: touch. Plus, there is a report on the alpine collection at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and all the usual handy hints.

It's time for some early summer colour as Carole Baxter makes the first of her visits to classic Scottish gardens. She visits Glenarn, which has a fabulous collection of rhododendrons looking their best right now.

Back at Beechgrove Garden, George Anderson and Calum Clunie are busy refreshing the grass and gravel plot and planting new varieties. Calum demonstrates how to take cuttings from a fuchsia, and there are some ideas on how to manage your plot if you are unlucky enough to have club root in your vegetable patch. And there are all the usual handy hints.

Kirsty Wilson and Brian Cuningham show how to help the pollinators in your garden and at Beechgrove as they focus on planting that will attract bees to your plot.

Even if you don't have a garden, Kirsty demonstrates how you can help the local ecosystem by sowing a meadow in a pot. She also discusses the best summer bulbs to plant now for fragrance and colour.

Brian is back in the vegetable plot for his summer-long guide to productive gardening for beginners, and there is a demonstration of how to prune spring-flowering shrubs. All that and the week's handy hints.

Some more unusual methods of growing are demonstrated at Beechgrove Garden. Ruth Vichos attempts to produce a mushroom crop and there's a report on some of Scotland's best bonsai, with everything you need to know to start that form of cultivation. Brian Cunningham is in the Seaside Garden at Beechgrove refreshing the planting with varieties that can withstand a coastal climate and Brian turns conifers into sculptures with topiary. Plus the week's handy hints.