Tag: TV Gardening

Love Your Garden Episode 7: Five things we learned and how to get the look

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It was another great Love Your Garden episode for series 4 – here’s what we learned from the show this week. Plus find out how to create that formal look at home!

1 Formal can be fun

Hands up who thought formal gardens were just for stately homes? I hope we showed you otherwise! The formal style is just as effective in everyday gardens, and it is great for people who want things clean and simple.

Use symmetry and sharp lines, and keep the shapes simple and well-defined. The result is plenty of open space, making the garden feel calm and balanced. It’s modern and yet timeless too.

Use strong focal points to pull the eye through the garden, and keep the colour scheme simple. Make triangles – three is a visually pleasing number because it’s strong and even.

Get the Love Your Garden look

We created a green and white garden, in the style of Sissinghurst. The white flowers included star jasmine, white lavender, White Cloud climbing rose, Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, Agapanthus africanus ‘Albus’ and Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’.

Then we used green foliage like Cupressus totem and Buxus sempervirens alongside green and white foliage like Hosta patriot and Euonymus harlequin.

2 There’s a science to steps

Many gardens have a slight incline that is best broken up by steps. But if you want to install some new steps, make sure you do the maths.

First, measure the incline. Hold a piece of string horizontally from the top of the slope to measure its height and length. Then divide this figure evenly to decide the number of steps and their size. The minimum tread (length of the step surface) is 250mm, and the minimum rise between steps is 150mm.

3 The best gardens have year-round structure

There’s nothing worse than a garden that looks great in summer and bare the rest of the time. Permanent plant structures give the garden height and shape, even in the depths of winter. Trees are ideal for this, as are conifers and hedges like laurel.

You can also take a tip from Alan and use topiary structures. Box is easier to shape than people think! Use one in a pot, so you can put it up on a table and turn it round to check it looks even. You can buy metal cages that help you define the shape, or use Alan’s string guide trick. Prune in early summer and again in autumn to keep it looking neat.

4 Edging is the icing on the cake

Edging is the easiest way to give your garden a professional finish. If your lawn edge is curved, used a plastic strip. It’s easy and inexpensive, and it stops grass growing into your border. Dig a trench slightly deeper than the edging, push it into the soil and backfill the trench.

If you want something broader, use edging tiles. They are very shallow bricks, meaning you don’t have to dig too deep to get them in. Aim to get them flush with the lawn, so it’s easy to mow over. And remember to point them properly or the grass will grow between them and make it look unkempt!

5 Building a border is just maths

Build a cohesive border by using repetition. Borrow forms from other parts of the garden. If you have lots of circles, use plants with spherical forms like alliums and hydrangeas.

Now repeat the colours. Different shades of the same colour is more effective that lots of different colours. And don’t just think in terms of flowers – there’s a huge range of colourful foliage out there.

You can also repeat plants too. Using the same varieties again further up the border, or in the border opposite, will bring the planting scheme together.

Finally, don’t forget about seasonality. You need to have a mix of plants that flower at different times. If the entire border flowers in June, it will look bare in September. Mix in evergreens and long-flowering varieties to make sure it always looks good.

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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August 6, 2014
Love Your Garden series 4 episode 7: Before and after photos

So what did you think to last night’s Love Your Garden show? (If you missed it, get on ITVPlayer now!)

Here’s what the garden looked like when we got there!

And here’s the finished article!

August 6, 2014
Love Your Garden series 4 episode 7: Behind the scenes photos

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

(Missed it? Watch it on ITVPlayer now!)

Here’s Frances with her sister Charlie. They do look very similar. When Alan was introduced to her, he said “I used to work with a Charlie!” I replied that it was very confusing, asking Frances to do something and finding out that I was actually talking to Charlie! They had a great day helping out together. In the background you can see bags and bags full of soil, and our catering van which is ready to dish out those bacon butties.

This is Max, who’s in charge of product sourcing on this episode. He’s standing proud with one of these cypresses. His job is to order all the plants, and he’s grinning with relief that something’s actually turned up on site on time! But that smile was soon wiped off his face when he realised he had to unload all those trees.

Here is Frances and Katie helping Max by getting the trees down and carrying them. Kevin is lending them a hand too. I got into trouble taking this photo for you, dear blog readers, because I ruined Steve’s camera shots. He is filming in the background and caught me on camera snapping away with my phone instead of helping. I was in a bit of trouble for that! The things I do for you.

That was a brilliant kids’ summer house. It was fully equipped – it even had a little phone on the wall! The things kids have nowadays. There was also a little cooker and sink for them to play with. It’s marvellous. I couldn’t wait to get in there and, er… make sure everything was working okay.

We had a big discussion over whether or not we should stain the wood, but in the end it was decided that we should. It took ages. And I mean ages. But it did look good, and I’m sure the kids will get loads of enjoyment out of it.

Kevin is always trying to get in on stuff, and here he is doing his best Usain Bolt impression. Frankly, it looks more like he’s trying to direct traffic! All he needs is a lollipop sign saying ‘Kids cross here’. Grant and Alice are having hysterics next to him, and Matt is in the background wondering what the heck is going on!

This is Eleanor and Amy. Eleanor is our production co-ordinator and she does things like our hotel bookings and Amy is the hair and makeup artist. The two of them apparently couldn’t resist getting hold of those trees and giving them a cuddle.

Here you can see the modern special effects for television. We were filming the chat that we do every episode to discuss the garden plan, but the sun was shining too brightly on the table. Fortunately, no expense was spared in finding a suitable solution, and a delightful cardboard box cover was brought in to add a touch of shade! Frances’ sister Charlie and series producer Phil were roped in as box-holders. I had to dash out to take that photo for you.

Here is series producer Phil disciplining Guy, our runner, who failed to bring a cup of coffee to our sound guy Matt in time. You can Matt there on the left, standing with his arms folded. He was waiting ages for that coffee. He is not impressed.

This is a typical scene of direction. I was just about the present a piece to camera about the agapanthus, and I asked where it should be planted. You can see the confusion of pointing arms. Which one should I follow?

I had to take this shot because it meant so much to me. Having dug into horrible, solid clay soils for ages, it was so nice to get to dig in decent soil. It was really easy because it had a high sand content. Alan found out in the end that sand was put in the soil because of the nearby railway line. Back when trains were coal-powered, the coal store would sometimes catch fire. The crew had to jettison the burning coal out of the train, so sand was added to the soil around the lines to make sure the fire didn’t spread. When people bought up the land around the old train lines, they ended up with more sand than they bargained for. Fascinating, eh?

Here is Katie just about to get her dinner. Jon and Shaun are in the background waiting impatiently for their turn. We always have good grub from the catering van – it keeps up going when we are doing these makeovers with impossible deadlines.

This is a cracking shot. I was asked to do some work inside the summer house, and I was really pleased because it was pouring down with rain outside. I took a photograph because I was inside, nice and dry, while poor Alan was out there getting soaked while the sodden crew are filming him. In the background you can see all the Frosts guys keeping dry under that gazebo. But I wasn’t laughing for long because I was soon called outside and I got soaked too.

This is a great shot. Steve called us all together for a group photo. Frances, Alan, Katie and I started nonchalantly leaning on the wall. Unbeknownst to us, Steve ran around the back and photobombed us! You can see him there, stealing the shot by jumping in the air. Disgraceful.

Here are the guys from Frosts having a rest at the end of the makeover. They were absolutely tuckered out. I normally sort them out with a glass of something when I’m getting the champagne ready for the family, but as you can see someone has already been round and given them some cocktails. Look at the cheeky smiles on their faces! There’s Sam, Shaun, Jon, Matt, Martyn and then that other guy. He’s new.

Here is another picture of the new bloke. He came to help us – he’s in charge of Frosts things. He hadn’t done a TV makeover before, and here he is looking up at the heavens and asking, ‘How the hell did I get involved with this lot?’

Look at the state of my hands! They are filthy. What I normally do when I get the bottle of champagne is to give it a really good shake ready to pop it open.

It seems funny but out of the whole garden that we built for them, the girls absolutely loved those little mounds that we made for them to climb over. It was really moving to see them enjoying the garden again. They were also very intrigued by that camera that was filming them.

August 5, 2014