Love Your Garden: Behind the scenes of episode two

See behind the scenes of ITV1 Love Your Garden!

1 Let’s start this week with a photo of Thea – she’s our associate producer. She sources all the products from all the different companies to pull together for the garden. Just before I took this, she was painting the fence with Protek using a sprayer. But unfortunately, the wind blew and there was a bit of back spray! She looks like she’s been in an explosion in a Tippex factory.

2 This is our producer-director Hayley with Katie, leaning on the wall. That is about the must luxury we get in terms of seating. A casual wall lean is better than nothing, right? Here they are busy discussing the next shot.

3 Here is Tam, one of the landscapers from Frosts Landscapes. With that hoodie and his beard, I think he looks like the wizard from Clash of Clans.

4 Here is a shot of Katie doing a sequence. She’s talking about the screening she’s putting in to cover that oil drum. Frances and I had a good laugh when she was given that job because it’s so tricky. Rather her than us! But she did it really well.

5 I am standing in front of the patio as it is pouring down with rain. We had so many different weather fronts during this episode. We had sunshine, we had rain, we had wind, it was cold, it was hot – we were really tested by the elements. And here I am, getting absolutely soaked.

6 Here is a photo of Simon, our cameraman, and Lloyd, our soundman, covered from head to food in rain protection. And it’s not only for themselves, but also for their equipment too. Don’t want any water getting into those electrics!

7 Here is camera diva Kevin, planting out some of the borders. He is always trying to get in the blogs – I hope you’ve noticed that. We put more flowers in this garden than I think we have done for any other garden makeover. And it looked absolutely amazing.

8 Here is a selfie of me and Alan. And no, before you ask – I don’t have a selfie stick. This photo was taken in the middle of all the chaos in the garden. It also demonstrates how bad the weather was. Some episodes we are just in shirts, some episodes we need coats all the time. And this was definitely a coat episode!

9 Next is a shot of Dan. He’s one of the supervisors from Frosts Landscapes. He turns up every so often, plants up a window box and goes home again! Only joking, Dan.

10 Here is a shot of Frances and researcher Guy doing the pots for the garden. It’s a big job – not only do they have to put plants in them, but first they have to paint them white to match the colour scheme. They certainly had plenty of work to do.

11 Here I am in London with Colin, our series producer. We are just about to into the Ritz to do some filming. It was a marvellous day and we had to get dressed up. You have to wear a tie to even get through the doors, so here we are looking smart (for a change).

12 In the last blog, we had a photo of Katie trying to look like a Doctor Who assistant, so I had to include this shot of Colin. With his bow tie and action pose, he looks like the next Doctor! Don’t tell Peter Capaldi.

13 Though it doesn’t look like it, this is a picture of my patio! I was trying to create something worthy of the Ritz, but instead it looks like the pits. But as always, it came right in the end.

14 Back at the garden, here is Will, one of our producer-directors, asking for a cigarette from the Frosts Landscapes guys. They aren’t having it.

15 This is our director Hayley, getting her cake hole full of doughnut. Ten seconds after this photo was taken, that jam ended up down her front!

16 This shot should give you an idea of just how much material we bring into a garden during a makeover. Here is Kevin (again – I told you!) lining up these wheelbarrows full of gravel. It’s one long production line of barrows coming through the gates.

17 Here is the planting rush. What normally happens is that towards the end of the last day, we realise we are running behind schedule. And everybody gets handed a spade, fork, trowel, tablespoon – whatever we can find. And we set to work digging and planting to get everything ready before the family come home.

18 Here is the finished garden. I was saying to Alan that the path around the tree looks like a keyhole – it’s so clever. It’s a beautiful garden and I hope the family enjoy spending time in it.

19 Finally, here is a shot of me with this lovely lady, who was the unfortunate recipient of the champagne cork. I pop open the bottle at the end of every episode and let go of the cork. Usually, it comes down somewhere in a border. This time, it dropped out of the air and hit her on the head. Fortunately, she was a good sport and we laughed about it – phew!

Hope you enjoyed the second episode!