Tag: Love Your Garden

Love Your Garden Series 4 Episode 3: behind the scenes photos

You’ve seen the show, now check out what happens behind the scenes!

(Missed it? Watch it on ITVPlayer now!)

These are the guys from TV Times that came over to interview us. I hope you all picked up a copy – it was a brilliant article and had some great photography to go with it!

Here’s a photo of just what we were up against on site. It rained non-stop and the soil quickly turned to sticky mud. Not only does it make everything damp, cold and miserable, but it’s also really slippy, which slows everything down. It’s just not a comfortable thing, so we removed it when the rain stopped.

This is how wet I was.

Here is Ben with Natalie, who has got her foot stuck in the mud! It had rained constantly and turned to sticky mud! The first day on site is usually a nightmare trying to get the groundwork in. It’s just as chaotic as it looks.

Natalie is also quite a good stylist, and put some of that troublesome mud to good use – by making a mud face of Martyn. I think the resemblance is striking!

Here’s Ben really getting down and dirty! Everyone gets caked in mud on Love Your Garden. Here he is getting those important shots under the decking framework, where we’re going to put the hot tub.

This is a good indication of how much soil we took out of that garden! We ended up shipping out a good ten bags full. We moved tons and tons and tons of soil. It was just so muddy. Unfortunately, it was my suggestion that we take it out, which didn’t make me very popular!

And here is the fresh soil we brought back into the garden. We put about ten bags worth of topsoil and four bags of mushroom compost back into the garden. It was hard work, but the plants will thank us for it!

Here’s how the shot was done with the mud in the wheelbarrow. As you can see, Kevin from Frosts is pushing the wheelbarrow, and the camera is actually sat in the mud! Luckily, it’s not an expensive piece of kit, right…?

Here’s a shot of Alan to show how you’re never alone on Love Your Garden. When you’re digging, eight or nine people are standing watching you.

Alan was getting a lot of stick for his super clean wellies! But it turned out that his old wellies, which were covered in years’ worth of mud, are currently in the Garden Museum near Lambeth. So it wasn’t that he had been skiving off! He’s busy breaking those new ones in now.

Here’s a shot from where I am, digging in plants in the corner. I can see Katie across the garden in the rain, starting to plant up one of the first raised borders. It always feels like an uphill struggle when the first border goes in, because you realise just how much planting there is still to do.

This is a great photo of Katie and Frances. Katie has just heard the bad news – we’re going to have to work until at least 9pm tonight to get everything done! She doesn’t look very happy about it.

But it’s not all bad – I got a special mug. Cheers, guys!

Here is a fantastic shot. We’re just doing the handover when we let the family into the finished garden. Steve in the background is drenched to the skin, and this cheeky chappy is producer Phil telling me to stop taking photos for the blog and enjoy the party! I hope you appreciate the sacrifices I make for you, dear readers.

Here’s Alan and the family – everyone wants a photo with him! Alan stays behind when the garden is finished to take hundreds of snaps and selfies with the family, their friends and relatives, and the neighbours. He’s always very accommodating and the family were very deserving of such a great makeover.
July 8, 2014
Love Your Garden episode 2 – Get the garden look at home

We love showing you how to make over your garden. The transformation is always incredible, and it’s great to see people finally enjoying it.

But I know the prospect of a revamp without a team of experts can seem daunting, so I’ll show you the insider secrets to get the look at home. It really is doable.

And I’m not just saying that – I really do want you to Love Your Garden!

Potager veg garden

Potager is a traditional French kitchen garden that mixed veg, fruit and ornamental flowers in the same beds. It’s a great way to jazz up a veg plot and harmonise it with your other garden beds.

Start with espaliered fruit trees at the back – apple and pear thrive in Britain. Espaliered trees are high-yield because they have so many fruiting side branches, so they give loads of fruit without taking up too much space.

Then in the beds below we mixed rhubarb, beans, chard and lettuce with flowering plants like cosmos, alliums, lavender and calendula. Check the spacing for each veg crop to make sure it has room to grow into.

Herb wheel

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A circular herb wheel is a great addition to a veg plot

These were traditionally planted in old cartwheels laid on the soil, though ours was on a bigger scale. Again we added blooms like sunflowers and nasturtiums for extra colour.

Try a mix of chives, sage, basil, rosemary, lemon thyme and French tarragon. We also added Pineapple mint, but you have to keep an eye on mint plants because they spread quickly!

For the circular paving, use small carpet stones to get a round look, and add a central focal point like our mosaic. Arches or wooden wigwams covered in climbers will add height to such a low-growing feature.

Flowering hedge

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Escallonia looks great in flowering hedges

If you want to cover a new fence, or just try something other than an evergreen hedge, use flowering shrubs! The key is to use varieties that flower at different times mixed in with evergreens. Shrubs that produce berries are great for winter colour too.

We used Lilac, Osmanthus, Ceanothus, Escallonia and Viburnum opulus. If you want a long hedge, repeat the shrubs for more cohesion. Prune them just after flowering for the best regrowth.

Child-proof planting

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Mexican feather grass is football-proof and has great texture and movement

I always think footballs come with a homing device for prize blooms! Embrace the danger with tough plants that will survive the occasional crushing, or that respond well to hard pruning when bits get broken off.

We used Mexican feather grass (Stipa tennuissima) and Japanese Holly (Ilex crenata) throughout the garden. Box, lavender, Alchemilla, Choysia ternata and Salvia ‘Ostfriesland’ are also fantastic options. Good shrubs include lilac, Cotoneaster and Euonymous.

Looking for the garden features? Check out the Love Your Garden blog for our amazing suppliers and the products we used.

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July 2, 2014
Love Your Garden episode 2 – five things we learned this week

It was another great show for series four – here’s what we learned this week.

1 Gardens aren’t just for children

It can feel like the kids’ play area is taking over the whole garden, but there are ways for the grown-ups to reclaim the space. If you have enough room, make two separate areas. This way you have your own space, but you can still keep an eye on the children.

If not, make their play area a feature! Choose fixed structures that fit in with the garden design – for example, choose wood that matches your fencing or garden furniture.

You can also hide it from view with some clever planting! Trees and evergreen shrubs can be used around the structures, or nail in a trellis panel and grow plants through it to act as a shield.

2 Awkward shapes can still work

People think that odd-shaped gardens are difficult to design, but the trick is to let the shape define the areas. Separate it across natural angles and break points to create different areas. Then use shapes within it, for example circles and curved beds to soften angular corners.

It’s also important to work out how the garden looks from each of the main viewing points. These include patios and seating areas, but don’t forget kitchen and bedroom windows too! Add in a few strong focal points and use plants to disguise any eyesores.

Read about how to get the look at home!

3 Anyone can create a perfect circle

Patio stones are nearly always square or rectangle, which means people build square or rectangular shapes. But you can make a circle with them! The trick is to use smaller blocks, which give you more flexibility.

In the show I used carpet stones, which are rows of blocks that have been linked together. You simply lay the ‘roll’ and cut it to shape! It saves so much time on placing individual stones, and helps keep your spacing regular too. Find out about the planting here.

4 Mixed planting is better

Flowering hedges look fantastic, but you don’t want a whole row of the same plants. Mixing the varieties means you have different types of interest all year round. Try combining evergreen shrubs with species that flower at different times.

Choosing shrubs that also offer berries mean you’ll get colour well into the winter season, plus birds will love you for it.

5 You can eat lilac flowers!

We’ve got Katie to thank for this little gem. Apparently they taste a little bitter and a bit like cucumber. Katie also recommends that you put some in a gin and tonic to add an extra flavour – now that’s my kind of gardening tip!
July 2, 2014