Go behind the scenes of ITV Love Your Garden 2015! Here are all the photos of the team, showing how we create the gardens you see on TV.
1 This has got to be one of the most spectacular views that we’ve had working in a back garden. It’s always nice when you’re grafting and laying paving to come out and see that view. Unfortunately while we were filming the farmer decided to come and cut the field, making it challenging for the soundmen and for continuity. But what a view!
2 Here is a shot from the beginning of the makeover. Before everyone gets in, Frosts Landscapes come and prepare the garden. But trying to get everything level on this plot was a nightmare. It always starts with heavy machinery and here’s Matt on the digger.
3 You can’t tell from this photo, but it was pouring down with rain. It was before we had chance to put up the marquee so we’re all standing under the eaves of the house trying not to get wet.
4 Frances is taking a rest on our traditional garden seating that is reserved for Love Your Garden presenters: the kerb. We’re just about to get filming on the first day and we’re waiting for everything to arrive.
5 I’m carrying the wood into the garden here. We needed lots of planks to shore up the back of the garden and get it as level as possible. Now I’m looking at the picture I think it seems quite biblical, as if I’m holding a crucifix! I promise it wasn’t planned that way.
6 It was a sisterly episode this week. Here is Frances and her sister who came to help out with the show. It looks more like a pose from the Kray twins than the Tophill Two! But it was nice to see her again.
7 Katie gets given the front garden on this show and here she is marking out the space. All of us end up with boots that have white or yellow toes and people ask us: what’s that on your shoes? It’s when you mark out lines with these spray cans and always end up painting your own feet.
8 Look at these – actual seats! I don’t know where these came from! But Frances and I nabbed them sharpish to put our feet up and relax. It was a very hot day so we had a little chat during our tea break. Lovely.
9 This is a picture of Storm Bringer! Lloyd is our soundman and whichever episode he is working on, we always get rain. In this photo it is one of the hottest days of the year in July. Storm Bringer turns up and look those black clouds following him! Typical.
10 These are our caterers. They cook the food for us for breakfast and lunch. They do a great job and we all (especially me) love the food – it’s marvellous.
11 In fact, here is Katie getting caught stuffing her face! Look at what she is eating – bananas on toast! And there’s Tam acting as her bouncer while she tries to scoff it down. Nice try Katie, but I saw you.
12 Even more food-related photos now. Kevin is always trying to get on these blogs and here he is chowing down on a bacon sarnie. That’s going down a treat!
13 This is Andy, Alan’s driver. What a coincidence – the portaloos were called Andy’s loos. Yes, you can do your poos in Andy’s loos! He’s not impressed that they’ve copied his name.
14 This is a shot of producer-directors Natalie and Will. This is when we went out filming for the garden shading, looking for the right style to take back to the makeover. It was a boiling hot day and we needed some shade!
15 Here are Kevin and Marcus carrying a pallet. Kevin is quickly realising that it’s heavier than he thought. And no wonder – look at that cheeky monkey Thea in the middle! She’s our associate producer and she’s snuck into this pallet for a ride.
16 Poor Marcus. He went in there to try and fix part of the roof and can you believe it – some of the other Frosts Landscapes lads locked him in! What a cheek. Still, time for a photo before I let him out.
17 Here is Alan instructing everyone on where to be planting with the camera crew at the back. The garden is just starting to come together.
18 Here is a picture of the alleyway. This gives you an idea of the challenges I face as a landscaper. That is my barrow in the foreground and Marcus is just in front. We’re trying to wheel some compost into the garden but we can’t get in! Cameramen, soundmen and directors are all in the way. It’s a constant battle to navigate your wheelbarrow around the whole production crew.
19 This is a shot for the girls! It’s carpenter Sam. He’s licensed to thrill – or drill. He’d better get a move on and do some work instead of posing for the blogs all the time – he’s worse than Kev.
20 Frances and I are modelling some sunglasses for Macular Awareness Week with the Macular Society. It’s a great charity and we love to help raise awareness. Plus I love those glasses! I wish I could keep a pair.
21 Here is Matt helping put together the beautiful bird bath feature with the glass. It looked amazing when it was finished.
22 Hayley is here with Frances’ sister putting together the framework for the picture. That took us a long time. It was supposed to be a nice easy job but we ended up spending hours and hours on it. Even our director had to get down on her knees and get stuck in!
23 These are the singers rehearsing. They really looked the part when they were dressed up in their vintage clothes.
24 As soon as the girls had finished, the Frosts Landscapes lads thought they would have a go at some singing. They were trying to do some Arctic Monkeys numbers – well they certainly look like monkeys. Matt was definitely getting into it! Sam is rocking those glasses and Kevin is looking soulful.
25 Here is the finished garden. I loved this design – it had a lot of fluid movement. The paving was amazing and there were loads of features. It was also a pleasure to see the two lovely ladies enjoying their new garden.
26 This picture cracks me up. I love these two dog cushions. Little touches like this give a garden such a lot of personality. It was lovely to be part of this makeover.
The garden makeovers on Love Your Garden are total transformations, designed to make a real difference to our families.
But we hope too that you find inspiration for your own garden.
Whatever your budget, or the size of your space, you can give your garden a new lease of life.
Here’s how to get the look from the first episode of series five.
1 The primary plant list
The whole garden had a woodland theme, and it really worked with the playful children’s area. It featured the great Betula utilis jacquemontii tree, with its stunning white bark. We also planted Acer griseum and Amelanchier lamarckii trees in the garden.
Other woodland plants included muscari, dog tooth lilies and viburnum tinus. And we used different varieties of primula: Primula veris (cowslip), Primula rubens and Primula denticulata alba for those white, globular flower heads.
We also put in a beautifully scented low hedge with osmanthus burkwoodii.
Elsewhere around the garden, we planted lungwort, aquilegias, tiarella, tellima grandifolia, wood anemone and ‘Brunnera Jack Frost’.
Raised beds are a great way to grow crops because you can create soil depth without digging. Plus, you don’t need to bend over as much!
You can make them at home by simply nailing planks of wood together to form a rectangle. Many people use old scaffolding boards from reclamation yards for the timber.
Grow whatever fruit, herbs and vegetables you like in them. Just make sure to keep everything well watered.
We planted the herbs sage, thyme, chives, fennel, rosemary and marjoram. We also put in carrots, garlic and rhubarb as crops, and Alpine strawberries for the children.
One of the great things about the garden is that it’s miles away from the technology that distracts us inside the home.
It’s a great place for the family to reconnect with each other and with nature. Plus, there is nothing worse than a house full of kids complaining that they are bored.
So I’ve come up with some easy garden projects to do with the kids this summer.
Get the kids to fill up the troughs with the compost. Use general-purpose compost for containers. Make a hole in the centre of the compost with your hands for the first plant.
Start with the centrepiece plant for structure. Pull the plastic pot off and put the plant in the hole. Try and plant the root ball to the right depth, so the top of it sits at the surface of the compost. Backfill with compost to cover the root ball.
Add smaller bedding plants around the outside for colour. You can buy these on trays for a range of colours to plant up a rainbow, or keep everything in one or two colours for a themed container.
Put the plants into the soil in the same way: make a small hole, bury the root ball and fill in any gaps with compost.
Press the compost down gently to hold everything in. My top tip is to try and leave an inch gap between the compost and the top of the container. If it’s too full, compost will spill out everywhere when you try and water it!
Move the containers into position before you water them. Deadhead the flowers of bedding plants to keep them producing more blooms.
The kids can watch their containers grow and continue to flower. And in autumn, you can replace the plants with evergreens and winter-flowering varieties.
Tip! You can also choose plants with fun scents like herbs, or plant soft fruit like strawberries among the flowers.
How to make fat balls for the birds
You will need:
Lard
Muesli
Dried Fruit
Mixed seeds
String
This is a great project to make your own rich, tasty food for garden birds. Plus it’s a fun, messy job. Many fat ball or suet cake recipes need you to heat everything but this no-cook version is perfect to do with kids.
Give each child a bowl and put a blob of lard into it. Add muesli, dried fruit, mixed seeds or mixed bird feed. You should aim for one part lard to two parts feed.
Then get the kids to use their hands to mush everything together. Try to push the feed right through the lard until the two are really well mixed.
Shape the mixture into a ball. Push your thumbs into the top of the ball and gently break it in half. Add a loop of string in the middle and squish the ball back together. It should make a ‘bauble’ for the birds!
Hang the fat balls up on a tree or shrub for the birds. And make sure to provide a shallow dish of fresh water too for the birds to drink.
Tip! Put up bird boxes and nesting pouches to get birds to move into your garden.
Press the compost down gently to hold everything in. My top tip is to try and leave an inch gap between the compost and the top of the container. If it’s too full, compost will spill out everywhere when you try and water it!
