Just like starting over

As Gardeners’ World returns, Monty Don unveils his new plans for Longmeadow’s iconic Jewel Garden

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In rethinking and revamping the Jewel Garden, our first step was to take it apart. This meant that as soon as filming stopped at the end of October, we started to systematically lift all herbaceous plants, splitting any that were more than three or four years old and planting out the new divisions in nursery beds. Hundreds of plants were lined in rows, spreading into the veg garden and filling scores of pots.

As space began to get short, we became increasingly ruthless about what we kept and what went to the compost heap. Even so, we still have hundreds of plants waiting to be replanted in spring.