Episode 2 Big Dreams Small Spaces

Do you have a small garden but a big idea?

Do you know what you'd like it to look like,

but no idea really of where to begin?

Well, you're not alone.

Over the last year, I've been working with people

right across the country

helping them to make their garden dreams become reality.

Monty Don has listened to their hopes and plans.

It's an absolutely crazy idea

and I love it.

He's given advice.

Don't be frightened to push plants into crevices.

And he's rolled up his sleeves.

Let's not talk about it let's just do it.

Talk about a lean, mean, gardening machine!

Things haven't always gone to plan.

I thought we were going to make four raised beds.

I'm a bit worried that we might have killed it.

But it's been worth it.

What a beautiful garden!

I'm so happy.

-Thank you, Monty!

-ALL: Cheers.

I do believe that however small your garden is

everybody can cultivate a big dream.

I love the way that we British are so passionate about our gardens,

and that even the smallest space

can have creativity poured into it

and this passion leads us to spend £5 billion every year on gardening.

But in this series I want to show that money isn't everything

and size really doesn't matter.

Coming up, Monty meets two sets of gardeners for whom flowers

hold a very special place.

Ah, that is beautiful!

They have monumental plans.

You need every break going, to get this done in time, don't you?

They'll get really bogged down.

We are never going to plant them in there.

It'll stretch them to the limit.

Two centimetres!

But there'll be plenty to be proud of.

It's really, really beautiful.

49-year-old truck driver Gary

has a zest for many things in life,

but one thing comes out on top.

I love being in my truck, I love my job,

I love good loud music,

especially seeing it live

but, above all, I love my plants.

This truck-driving, rock-loving, garden-fanatic

is on the road most of the week, but when he comes home

it's to this estate in Wakefield, Yorkshire,

which he shares with his girlfriend Rox.

Gary moved in with her six months ago.

Me and Rox have known each other for 30 years, since school-time,

erm, but then lost touch.

Then we bumped into each other on a night out - didn't we? -

and that was it, the spark was there

-and...

-Off we went.

-..off we went.

He's the love of my life.

He's made the last 14 months of my life very happy.

-Fate is a wonderful thing.

-Mmm.

By moving in, Gary became part of a large family,

and he's desperate to transform

this neglected and barren plot

into something they can all enjoy.

Gary wants to create something that's ours

because we're quite new together

and it will be the first thing

that we've done as a joint venture, so I'm looking forward to it.

Our second lot of gardeners

live in Swindon in Wiltshire

in this town house.

They are Sandra and her daughter Abi.

They've always lived together

but only moved into this house two years ago,

when they were going through a traumatic period in their lives

after Sandra's husband, Abi's father, was diagnosed with cancer.

When we moved here my husband was already ill, he was in hospital

erm, very ill really,

and my daughter Abi and I we created this garden

so that he'd have somewhere beautiful to look at

when he came home.

It gave us a sense of purpose

because we were doing it for him,

and it was very therapeutic.

Sadly, he died two years ago,

and now they're leaving the special garden they created

as Abi has decided to live alone.

Sandra is downsizing to this house,

which has a garden

but not a patch on her old one.

It'll be a chance for a new beginning -

new house and a new garden.

It's early autumn in Wakefield, West Yorkshire

and Monty is on his way to visit Gary and Rox for the first time.

I've met a couple of members of Queen,

I've toured with Hawkwind,

but to me, meeting a legend like Monty, it kind of caps that -

caps it all.

-Hello, there!

-Hello.

Great to meet you.

But what will his hero make of the plans

for this non-descript garden?

What is the big idea? What is this garden going be all about?

It's the Gypsy Road Garden - that's the idea behind it.

Because it's a line from a song - "my gypsy road takes me home"

which is being at home surrounded by family.

That's a very romantic idea.

It is.

Yeah, Gary gets up on a Monday morning,

leaves for work, and I don't see him again till Friday.

When I do come home, this is usually the place I come to

to erase the week's woes.

Tell me what you plan to do.

Right, we're standing in one of the main flowerbeds.

Walk me through it, walk me through it.

Itching to start his dream family garden,

Gary's already marked it out with canes and ropes.

Now, what's happening here?

This will be the main patio, the main socialising area.

In the middle of the garden?

Yes. It is a central point that everything else

kind of revolves around.

All roads lead to here - including Gypsy Roads.

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

Behind the main patio is the planned swimming pool - sorry, pond.

So here we are in the deep end.

-All this is pond?

-Yes.

-It's a whopper!

It is.

-A lot of digging out to do, then.

-Oh, yeah...!

Don't worry, I'll wield the spade,

you wield the kettle, it'll be fine.

Gary and Roxanne's plans include something for everyone -

lots of flowers,

a productive section,

a central gazebo next to a sandpit

and a barbecue area,

a pond, a fire pit

and a romantic arbour.

Their budget is £3,000,

and it's a really big project to get ready by next summer.

Have you got plans on paper?

-Several.

-I'd love to see them.

-I'd like to see them, and a plant list, if you have one.

-Absolutely.

We can go and look at that.

Gary does indeed have these in spades.

OK, gosh, I'm...

A big bundle of plans.

One of the things that concerns me

are the spaces between the spaces.

I would say, if you have a bed and a path,

they must butt up tight.

-Tight up to the path.

-Yeah.

-Right, yeah, OK.

In terms of herbs... It'd be nice to see them have more sun.

Right.

I would be inclined to make one of these,

-nearer the kitchen, a herb garden.

-Yeah.

Just cos they'll grow better.

It's quite an involved, busy, complicated design.

-Yeah, it is.

-And there's a lot going on.

You've got shrubs, you've got vegetables, you've got herbs

and greenhouses and ponds and patios and fire pits and arbours and...

So I would say, if in doubt, take it out.

I would move the herbs to a sunny area nearer the house,

fill the empty spaces

by extending flowerbeds right up to the main path

and just simplify the design.

Because I think Gary is over-complicating things.

There was a great garden designer from Spain

who said that no garden needs more than seven plants.

But I would say that no AREA - no border, or piece -

needs more than seven plants.

Even the greatest gardens don't try and do everything all the time.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Whichever way they do it,

this messy garden will need a massive overhaul,

and Monty's worried they've bitten off

more than they can chew.

So the whole thing is staggeringly ambitious.

Mm.

It's fundamentally you two doing the labour,

we're going into winter.

You need every break going to get this done in the time.

Yeah. I'll spend whatever time is necessary out here

to get it done on budget and on time.

I'm going to hold you to that.

Oh, definitely. So am I!

Well, there's a lot going on there, it is ambitious -

really ambitious, not so much any one part

but the way that it's all trying to be put together.

And it could happen.

I think after talking to Monty he now knows that

some of it is not possible.

But I think Roxanne is probably

going to have to steady the ship a little bit,

and maybe one or two things have to be sacrificed.

I'm open to constructive criticism.

I'm open to other people's ideas.

And if they fit in with mine, then I'll use them.

There's only two weeks to go before Sandra moves into her new house.

Mum living by herself is hard for her, but also hard for me.

I am really over-protective of her.

Initially, I felt really quite sad

and a bit panicky, if I'm honest,

because I've never ever lived on my own.

But as time's gone on,

I've realised I will be able to cope.

Today Sandra's facing the daunting prospect

of talking her gardening guru Monty

through the plans she created with her daughter Abi.

Well, I guess this amounts to as blank a blank canvas as you can get.

-Absolutely.

-Pretty much, yes!

What's going to make you feel comfortable?

When I've got this empty patch

made into my dream garden.

What is your dream garden?

My dream garden is a cottage-style garden

where all my roses,

my wild flowers,

everything that's really special to me,

I'll just be sat in my garden surrounded by it.

Are these plants that you want to buy

or plants that you already have?

Largely plants that I already have -

especially my roses.

Any other plants in particular that have a meaning for you?

Er, bluebells, white bells...

-You want to bring bluebells into this garden?

-Yes.

Are you mad?!

No!

Bluebells will just take over

-and become the biggest weed you've ever seen.

-No...

Well, hey, what the hell?

What the hell! I like your spirit.

Sandra's dream garden features raised veg beds

and a shed at the back and is dissected by a Y-shaped path,

this creates one central rosebed

bordered by a box hedge and two large flanking beds,

which will also be planted full of roses

that she's bringing from her old garden,

and this is divided from the patio by more raised beds.

Her budget is £1,000,

but I'm surprised that such an enthusiastic gardener

hasn't included a greenhouse.

If you love raising plants -

a greenhouse really is part of that.

I really thought I would love one then I dismissed it because I thought the garden's not big enough.

If a greenhouse would improve the garden

then make it fit.

Build the garden around the greenhouse, not the other way.

-That sounds brilliant, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-Mm!

The greenhouse seems to be inspired, and a big hit.

Now all they need to do

is find a place for it in their plans.

So patio here...

This is one thing that we're not sure about -

how to make the patio really private,

which was what Mum was really worried about.

If you use quite a wide lattice trellis...

they give a sense of privacy,

and then, of course, you can clothe it as much or as little as you like

with honeysuckle, with clematis...

That's a thought.

This is what I suggested, originally.

-You did, yeah.

-So I'm thrilled that you said it!

And I was saying, no, I think it'll be too much of a barrier, but...

-I don't think it would.

-OK.

OK, well, there's...

We're winning. We've got there.

-So these are various roses.

-Yes.

You want to move your roses.

The one thing I would say is when you start a new garden

and it's a fresh start, it's no good taking your old garden

-and thinking you'll recreate it elsewhere - it doesn't work.

-Mm-hm.

You take all the good things from it

and the heart and the spirit,

but you also have to start again.

I would place a greenhouse where Sandra's veg beds sit

and intersperse the vegetables throughout the flowerbeds,

and that would fit in with her dream of a traditional cottage garden,

and make it less formal by mixing in other plants with the roses,

including ones that would bring real height to the garden

and I would replace those raised beds by the patio

with a trellis to make it feel secluded.

So you're not too keen on the idea of just a rose garden?

Would you put different plants perhaps in there?

I would if it was my garden.

-But it's your garden.

-Mmm.

I mean it's a stylistic thing.

I think if you want a loose cottagey feel, you should mix it up.

Now is a chance to try things out you've never done before.

Fine.

This is a fresh start

taking all the happy and the good memories from the past.

And I really trust Sandra's desire to make it work,

and her skill - she's a gardener.

It was just so lovely to meet Monty,

it was absolutely amazing.

It was even better than I thought it was going to be.

Over the following days,

Sandra prepares to leave the garden in Swindon

that helped her through the loss of her husband.

After he died, erm, my garden became even more special,

because it was one place where I could just be myself -

and if I wanted to cry, I could cry,

erm, if I wanted to smile at some sweet memory, I could.

Now she has to work out which plants to take with her.

This one is Shine On, the rose that we bought

just after my husband died

and memories of my husband always shine on in my heart.

The tall one over there reminds me of my mum

and the Pilgrim - that's very special, too

because two dear friends gave that to me.

So all of those, and lots more,

will be moving with her to this garden.

Sandra wants them to be transplanted before the frost sets in,

so she's called for reinforcements

to get the new beds ready.

My son and daughter have come to help me today

and that's made me feel really happy.

I just feel that the grey cloud

that was hovering over my move,

has now lifted and I just feel full of enthusiasm,

and I just want to get going and create this wonderful new garden.

It does feel like the beginning of the next stage of our lives really,

and changing the garden is quite significant for us,

hopefully, it will all go to plan.

To add a bit of muscle, Sandra's son Chris

is trying out a power digger.

After a few hiccups, he's off.

It's hard going, and the strain begins to show.

Oh, dear. It's bent.

But by the end of the day,

Sandra is beginning to see her new garden in a new light.

-It's really positive, isn't it?

-It is!

And, really... We've not been doing it for hours, have we?

Speak for yourself!

Well, no, but I mean, I think we've achieved a lot

-in the time that we have...

-We have, yeah!

We really have, and because we've worked well together as a team...

-Yeah.

-..already the garden looks much, much bigger.

-I'm beginning to visualise the borders already.

-Good.

-Yeah.

All that's left to do, is to prepare the flowerbeds for next week

when Monty will be coming to lend a hand.

Gary in Wakefield has spent hours teaching himself about plants.

His knowledge of plants is amazing.

He knows all the Latin names.

To me he has to use the common names

because I wouldn't know what he's talking about.

He would love to put every plant that he could find in this garden.

This passion for gardening started during a bleak period in his life.

Gardening... It became more of an obsession due to depression.

Being in quite a dark place for two or three years,

gardening became my focus.

It was the one thing that I WANTED to do,

and it gave me a light at the end of the tunnel

and I know it will never leave me.

But before he can indulge his love of plants,

Gary's starting the mammoth task

of digging up virtually his entire garden by hand.

The plan for today is to strip the turf from about a third

of the garden, which is most of the pond area.

Then it's a case of levelling that area.

Unfazed by Monty's warning about his over-ambitious plans,

he's ploughing on regardless with his original design.

But four hours in, he's hit a stumbling block.

Well, it definitely doesn't feel like soil.

We seem to have found a structure.

But it seems to be too ordered to have just been dumped and buried.

Just trying to work out where it all is.

It's definitely going to make life interesting.

I think that's it.

Sadly not.

At least Rox's son, Steven, is on hand to help out.

It started there and it's kind of...

Well, it's all the way along here.

I keep saying to myself, "Oh, that's the last one."

But it's not.

While you're picking all them up,

I'll get these moved with t' barrow.

To be fair, where you're digging,

there's a dimple all the way through t' middle of the garden.

You can kind of see it. It kind of goes like that.

Well spotted! I couldn't see it from down there.

It's definitely a path.

Here, pass us that spade.

We'll soon find out how far it goes.

There.

It's solid there as well.

-It's definitely a path, isn't it?

-It's got to be.

By the time Rox gets in from work,

the back garden looks more like an archaeological dig.

Decided to join us?

I have, yeah.

Er, we've found something.

What have you found?

Well, we think it's a path.

It will have been, yeah, cos erm...

Did you know it was here?

I did say.

When? Was I asleep?

No, about... Well, I moved in here 20 year ago, right?

And before that it were like a vegetable garden

and apparently there was a brick path that ran all the way up.

Yeah, we found it.

We thought we'd got most of it out but obviously not.

No, you didn't.

I wasn't expecting unearthing Constantinople.

Oh, dear!

It's a nice day. You may as well crack on. Build up a sweat.

Coffee, please. Ta love.

Monty is back in Swindon.

Sandra is going to be moving in a few days' time

and she's always made it very clear from the outset that she

wants to take all her beloved roses with her,

so today I've come to help dig them up and move them to her new garden.

Well, it's nice to see them with a bit of sunshine.

Yes. Absolutely.

And sad to dig them up but it's got to be done.

It has got to be done.

But we want to be careful about it

because these are very important, aren't they?

They are very special.

'These precious roses could go into shock with the stress of being

'transplanted so we must do what we can to minimise this

'and the first step is pruning.'

Are you a vigorous pruner? Do you prune your roses hard?

I do normally, yes.

Now, why is that?

Just something I've always done.

Well, there's no need for shrub roses and, with great respect,

Sandra, not all your roses are vigorous healthy shrubs, are they?

-No, they're not.

-One or two of them have got strong stems.

I suspect that's because you're pruning too hard.

The basic rule is if you've got any weak growth, prune it very hard.

Now, you can see here we've got branches that are crossing

and rubbing so if I cut that back hard, like that.

If you've got any strong growth prune it very little like that

and probably like that, that's it.

-Because we're going to dig these up...

-Yes.

..I'm going to prune them a little bit harder.

I'm going to take it down by half.

Cutting down the top growth lessens the strain on the roots

which are being moved and it helps to dig them up

with as much of the roots as possible.

What we're looking for is a root ball.

Then immediately bag it and tie it up to keep those roots moist.

OK, while you're labelling I'll dig up another one.

-Thank you.

-I'm going to dig that up.

That's Elizabeth.

Right, Elizabeth, you're coming out, my dear.

As Sandra lovingly labels her plants,

Monty gets on with uprooting the roses.

But even Britain's favourite gardener

is finding the going tough here.

Sandra, I would say that your soil is some of the most unpleasant

I've ever worked with.

After weeks of rain, the earth here has become, well... Just solid clay.

The soil at the other house isn't a lot different.

To deal with this, you need to put a mulch on every year.

You don't need to dig at it, just put it on.

-On top and then it'll work down.

-It'll work down.

-Yeah.

There it goes.

It's yet another two hours before the last rose is bagged up.

Right. With daylight as it is, we ought to crack on.

As speedily as they can, they pile themselves and the plants

into a rather small car.

The new house is just down the road

so there's still enough daylight to finish off the transplanting but

the plan goes badly awry when Monty sees the state of the new garden.

We are never going to plant them in there.

-No.

-It's not ready.

No. It's just been so much rain just lately

and we've worked really hard but it's just hindered us.

A pretty good rule of thumb is

if the soil is sticking to your boots...

Which it certainly is.

..then it's... You shouldn't be planting.

The roses will need to be put in pots so they can be watered

but they have reached their new home.

OK, so are you happy that at least we've done half the job?

Oh, I'm really happy, yes. I'm just so glad that they're up safely

and they're here safely. Thank you.

It's a dismally wet winter.

In Wakefield, Gary has to wait until February

for the first dry spell to get going.

Very heavy.

Five months in, he had planned to have all the hard landscaping

done by now, but most of the garden is untouched.

I've not really got as much done as I'd like but that's the great

British weather for you. There's not a lot you can do for that.

As time ticks away you'll have the odd moment of,

"Oh, my God, am I going to get it all done, am I going to be able to

"get everything finished on schedule?"

It's just so frustrating.

Today, he's excavating the central hub,

which is now a basic square shape.

But it's back-breaking work.

With the soil all sticking together the way it is,

it's just coming off in, like, lumps of clay really so it's er...

It's not ideal, and it does make the work a bit harder.

Despite the uphill battle, Gary's not going to take Monty's

advice and simplify his ambitious design.

Even with the hiccups, the hurdles,

I'm not going to go scale back on the plans.

The garden is going to be the garden that we want, er...

And I'm not prepared to change that at all.

It's April in Wakefield, West Yorkshire,

and Gary and Rox are seven months into

working on their dream gypsy road garden.

The plan includes a pond, gazebo, sandpit and flowers.

There's something for all the family.

During his first visit, Monty suggested Gary should scale back

his plans, but so far the advice has fallen on deaf ears.

Today, Monty's come to catch up on their progress.

Gary's plans were extremely ambitious.

To be honest I thought probably over-ambitious

but if he is to achieve them

he needs to have finished the hard landscaping by now.

So I'm expecting to see the garden laid out

and I want to help him start the planting.

Monty's in for a surprise.

He's going to need waders rather than a spade to help these two out.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Hello again.

Come out your hole, come on,

come and talk to me. How are you?

So you've more or less dug this enormous pond.

Yeah.

It's at least twice as big as I thought it was going to be

but that's fine, that's good.

Well, it's kind of the focal point,

it's kind of the essence of the garden, really.

If you're going to do something go mad.

Have you had the wet winter that we all had?

Oh, yes. We have been so put back by it.

Well, I was going to say. I've got to be really honest.

I thought you would be about a month ahead of where you are now.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, I did, I thought you'd have all your beds ready.

But where are all the plants?

Er... Yet to be bought. That's going to be a...

It's going to be a weekend job, isn't it?

You're cutting it a bit fine.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

You are cutting it a bit fine.

I'm here today, how can I most help you?

Erm, well, you can help us by removing a bit more soil from

this big hole and then sticking a pond liner in it maybe.

OK. OK.

Let's not talk about it, let's just do it.

'Wildlife ponds like Gary's should have a flowing design

'and be set in a sunny position.

'They also need shells for marginal plants

'and a shallow area to attract more wildlife.

'But this is where Gary has had a battle on his hands.

'He's hit an old air raid shelter.'

Have you tried removing it?

Yes. There is just... It was built to withstand a bomb attack ,

so me and a lump hammer and a chisel is going to have no effect on it.

Gary has felt a little bit defeated, especially sort of like

when we did hit that air raid shelter.

I mean, it did sort of knock him for six a little bit

and he didn't know what to do.

It was a bit stressful.

Gary and Monty share more than just a passion for plants.

They've both taken comfort from gardening in difficult times.

How are your dark days?

I have had days when I've thought, "This isn't going to happen.

"I can't do it, I just..."

One problem just escalates in your head.

You know, I've not hidden the fact that

I have suffered from depression in the past

quite severely a number of years ago and finding this was such a trauma.

If anything was going to knock me back it was, it was this

and it did temporarily.

The fact that I've got over it, dealt with it,

and things are still progressing is of huge importance.

Like you, I know about depression and, sort of, been there, go there.

I find this work incredibly beneficial.

It's physical, it's skilful, you're making something.

It's part of the greater plan, yeah.

Do you not think the fact that YOU'VE dug this out...?

The satisfaction is immense.

-You will know that.

-Yeah.

When you see a beautiful water lily on the water

-you know what lies beneath it.

-Yeah, yeah.

I know what went into that there.

'Once the inside is smooth,

'we need to check that all the sides are even.'

If I mark that, it's literally spot on.

You know what you're doing, don't you?

I do try.

That's done, so we can start putting the underlay in.

Right. So this is to protect the liner.

'Gary is using a shop-bought one.

'You can use a carpet, turf or felt as cheaper options.'

All right. Good, that's the easy bit.

Right. Cup of tea and then the hard bit.

'Next comes the liner.'

So we're going to open it right out along this fence

and then fold it over that way.

And take it over that way.

'I'd recommend a butyl liner as it'll last for decades.'

This is a flexi liner, it's more of a polyurethane tarpaulin

type, which is a lot easier to use.

A lot easier to use but not quite so flexible.

The whole point about butyl is it stretches so it goes in the nooks

and crannies, but it's incredibly heavy and incredibly expensive.

-Yep.

-This is cheaper, much easier to put in,

but will be difficult to get...

-But a lot less workable.

-Yeah, yeah.

'Gary may have saved money but getting it smooth

'so the pond looks good is going to be a struggle.'

Straightaway, can you see, you've got a wrinkle?

We're going to take all this up and work back again.

Get that end and I'll pull this way.

'To get the last creases out,

'it helps to weigh the liner down with water.'

With the pond filling up, Monty's bought baskets to give Gary

a quick lesson with the only plants he's managed to get so far.

You've got some lovely plants here. Caltha palustris alba.

-So it's a buttercup, but with white flowers.

-White variety, yeah.

Fantastic.

OK, well, let's plant up. So you need an aquatic basket.

It's got holes in and that means that the roots can get out.

A piece of hessian. Not essential but not a bad idea

because it holds the soil and stops it leaking out.

This is a special aquatic compost and you have to use it.

It's very heavy and very low in nutrients.

The only acceptable alternative is a sub soil.

Really all this is doing is anchoring it.

Uh-huh.

So that goes in there like that.

This one here, it's pretty root pot bound.

Yeah, yeah.

You can just gently tease it.

You don't need to open it right out.

If it's a fleshy root like this, go steady,

if it's fibrous roots, I'd break.

Pull them, like pull them out.

Just give them a bit of a break

and that stimulates fresh growth.

And we'll just top up round them.

And pop that in the water so that...

These are marginal plants

so ideally the water will come just about to that level there,

so the roots never dry out but the top is never wholly submerged.

You're going to need quite a lot of plants.

-Going to need an awful lot of plants.

-Yeah.

'These can't be planted straightaway as the water needs a week

'to settle, which gives the chlorine time to evaporate.'

If you're stuck for space you can still have a mini pond

by planting aquatic plants into a container. It needs to be at least

35 centimetres deep and positioned in as much sun as possible.

With Rox on final pond duties it's been good progress in Wakefield.

Thank you so much for your help today,

I would have struggled on my own doing this.

The truth is not many people tackle a project like this in their lives.

No, exactly.

You know, so to be part of it and just to help out a little,

a tiny bit is fun.

There aren't going to be many more times in my life where I'm

-going to put in a pool like this.

-Same here.

THEY LAUGH

Gary is tremendously enthusiastic, he's good fun,

he's hard working but there is one truth that remains that

if he is to have any chance of making his dream come a reality

he has still got to work flat out every day from now till mid-summer.

Back in Swindon, Sandra is ready to get planting.

She's creating a traditional cottage style garden which will

include the 30 roses she brought over with Monty.

Now the mud has subsided it's time to get them out of the pots

and into the soil.

I think I am going to put this one...here.

They are in position. She's got some root grow powder to hand

but what she wants now is some last-minute advice from Monty to

make sure she's doing it correctly.

I bought that mycorrhizal powder you suggested

so what exactly do I have to do with it?

The key thing with mycorrhizal powder

is that it must be in contact with

the roots. Sprinkle it onto the roots themselves...

-Yes.

-..and also sprinkle some into the bottom of the hole.

Right, the bottom of the hole and on the roots.

Do you think they might flower this year?

I would be very surprised if they didn't. I would expect them to flower.

Oh, that's wonderful, thank you very much, that's brilliant.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

He's quite confident that they will flower this year

so I'm really confident now to go out and get them in.

The first rose to go in is the most important one.

The Shine On rose she bought in memory of her late husband.

That's it. That's the first rose in, sun shining,

birds singing, first rose in my new garden.

Her daughter Abi is coming to check that the design is going to plan.

-Yeah, so it looks a little bit clearer, Abi.

-Well, it's getting there.

I've placed the roses in approximate places.

Is there going to be any room for any other plants?

Yeah, can't you see all the empty soil?

It looks as though Sandra has forgotten Monty's advice to

mix in other flowers to create the cottage style garden she dreams of.

I think we've probably got too many roses, haven't we?

Well, you think I have. You said, "You're going to have to get

"rid of half your roses, Mum." And I said, "No, I'm not," and I was

quite upset with that and I thought I can't get rid of half my roses.

Some. I still think you're going to have to get rid of some.

No, two or three are going in the front garden. You can

have one or two duplicates.

-Didn't you want ornamental veg and stuff?

-Yes.

-Is that still happening?

-Yes.

We'll have one or two dotted in-between,

that's what they used to do.

-So that will be fine.

-OK.

My only concern at the moment is that there's

so many roses, which I know Mum loves, but there are a lot

and I think maybe we're losing a bit of the design of it being

a cottage garden. I think we just need to see if we can just

tighten it back into a cottage garden again but I'm sure mum will

ignore me entirely and there'll be roses everywhere but that's fine.

When Monty first met Gary and Rox he thought their planting plans

were too complicated to achieve in one year. So he's sent them

here to Great Dixter in East Sussex to get some tips.

This 15th-century Tudor house was restored in 1910

and is surrounded by a wonderful Arts and Crafts style garden.

Each corner has a profusion of plants in a fluid

but structured design.

Fergus Garrett is the head gardener and CEO who oversees the gardens.

Hiya, Roxanne. Come on, I'll show you a bit in here.

Oh, that would be fantastic.

He's happy to give Rox and Gary the inside track on border design.

Here in the sunken garden we've got this very cottage-y

planting which is multi-layered

because we want this garden to look good next month and the month after

and the month after so we practise what we call succession planting.

Fergus's team under plant each bed so that

when the current ones die others come into season and take

their place but it's essential to get these combinations right.

So you've got some tulips that have got big fat leaves

and very broad leaves.

-Look at that, look at the size of that.

-Yeah.

You have that densely planted throughout your bed it's going to kill...

It's going to smother it, isn't it?

Whereas you've got other tulips which have got much narrower leaves.

Look at that lily flower tulip there,

so that's easier to plant through a border so

you have to think about those sort of things.

It's complicated, though, isn't it? Because I started off on paper.

I've taken lists of plants that I love and thought, "Right.

"I want that, I want that, I want that." But then you have to look

at it realistically and think, "Well, right. Is that going to work with that?"

I think what you do is get over enthusiastic

and you throw the kitchen sink at it but I think it's important to

start simply first of all. You know, get those main groups right.

To stop Gary throwing everything but his kitchen sink into his

flowerbeds, Fergus wants to show him how to get the basics right.

If we take that bed as an example, let's put a hosta there

so if you just stay there and I'll show you.

Fergus uses canes to mark out the area he'd plant with hostas, which

are large architectural plants, and stands back to look at the effect.

Big bold leaf. So is that too small a group, too large a group?

-No, I think that's about right.

-I think that's about right, yeah.

So that's that bit done.

So we're going to see the hosta from here, as well.

OK, so how many hostas do we want in this space?

So one hosta here. That plant will cover, you know, an area

like this. OK? So the next one needs to be here to cover that area

and the next one in here.

That's three in there, then four, five, so

look we've got five plants in here and that's the right spacing.

Whereas if I did it on paper I'd probably end up with

11 or 12 or 13, you know?

Which is absolutely what I've done exactly the same thing myself,

-that's, such good advice.

-Such a common mistake, really.

That's it, your pen and paper's gone. I'll tell you now.

Fergus was trying to make us aware of the fact that you need to

keep things simple. Which is also what Monty's mentioned. There's

still that bit of me that wants to do it my way but now it's like,

"Yeah, listen to what people are saying to you and follow their advice."

You're a big list person, you write everything down

and the fact that it says, "Look at the border first and then put

"it to paper," that makes more sense than what you're trying to do.

Back in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Gary's returned from his trip

to the Great Dixter gardens and he's tackling his main bed.

I've not quite decided yet but I'm thinking.

The big question is, is he using Fergus' method to figure it all out?

It is a really good way of working out the amount of plants you

need for a particular spot. So, yeah, it's been very beneficial,

it was very helpful.

Gary is in his element.

Oh, this is by far my favourite bit. This makes all the blood, sweat

and tears that's gone into everything else worthwhile.

The garden is finally beginning to take shape.

Coming on, isn't it, Gary, now?

It's just getting a bit of colour in as well, isn't it?

I like those.

His neighbour Doreen has witnessed first-hand Gary's struggle to

get where he is now.

Gary's been there every moment he possibly could

when the weather's permitted.

And there has been blood, sweat and tears.

When he found that air raid shelter I went in and cried

because he was so, so despondent. He didn't know which way to go.

He's spent hours, has that kid in that garden.

Gary has followed Monty's advice and eliminated dead spaces

in his design by butting the flowerbed up to the path.

Though he can't quite bring himself to follow another important suggestion.

To prune back his plant list.

His idea is less is more. It's kind of all right saying that

when you've got a garden the size of his and you can do different things

in different areas. Well, I've just got one area to indulge my passion

for flowers so I want to try and cram as much in as possible.

I know I did promise Monty that I'd rein him in

and I have to some extent but I think he's probably

got about 50 variations in this garden at the moment somewhere.

Gary wanted this garden to have something for every member of

his family and Rox's granddaughter is already testing this out.

She won't have to play in soil all her life,

she will have a sandpit eventually over in that corner.

This isn't the child's play area.

Well, it is at the moment.

In fact, nothing is finished yet and though Monty's final visit

is looming, Gary's still not heeding advice about scaling back his plans.

There's the patio to lay, there's the pergola to build,

there's a balcony to deck and fit railings to, there's a fence to put

in, there's a greenhouse to move, there's a bed to finish planting.

There's still lots and lots to do but he'll get there

because he's a determined young man.

This is my playground and I'm going to play out here as much as I like.

I'm going to do what I want with it.

I like those two, they'd be lovely together.

With just four days before Monty's final visit,

where else would Sandra go to put the finishing touches to her

cottage garden but to a specialist nursery for roses?

-Ah, that is beautiful, smell that one. That is beautiful.

-Oh, that is.

Oh, I think that would look lovely on the arch.

Her daughter Abi is on hand to stop her getting carried away.

Look that's what I've got.

It's huge.

Well, Mum's looking for some climbing roses

and I'm here to make sure she doesn't leave with about ten.

THEY LAUGH

Ever the enthusiast, Sandra is checking out the catalogue.

I'm looking for two roses to go on the arch.

I've ticked a few that I'd like particularly to look at just to

check the scent and this is one of the ones that I've actually ticked.

Your arch is about here, isn't it? So it would get there.

There are four different gardens displaying the roses

that can be bought in the nursery.

This is nice, Mum.

Oh, this is lovely. That's really nice, isn't it?

Sandra is like a child in a sweet shop and she's taking it all in.

Oh, look at that one, I love that one.

That's nice.

The enthusiasm is infectious.

Yeah, it's lovely, it's beautiful.

Yeah, I like that.

It's going to be tough choosing only two special roses.

Look for colours and then we can look at the name.

Yeah, OK.

No, that looks awful. What about that one?

Go for this one, that's beautiful.

Oh, there's more down there, there's plenty down there.

Abi seems to have quite forgotten her role as rose control.

-Look how nice and bushy it is.

-OK.

And over £100 worth of roses later both ladies leave contented.

So we've ended up with six roses even though we were only meant to

buy two and I was meant to keep Mum in check but actually, you know,

they are all really lovely and my concern was having too many roses

in the garden but these are going to be probably mostly on the patio.

Ah, the patio. Well, that's not the garden, is it?

I think it's still going to be a cottage garden.

It's still going to be a cottage garden and in fact it doesn't look like there are

so many roses in there because of our selection of companion plants.

Possibly the patio may look a bit rosy but then that's what

I love so why shouldn't I have plants that I love on my patio?

In our Wakefield garden,

Gary and Rox have only four weeks left to finish their garden.

They should be putting in their final touches or maybe not just yet.

What next?

Er, well, I suppose I could get these brackets bolted down.

Yeah. Are they all measured in the right place and everything?

Well, I think so.

Not ideal.

Need a better drill bit I think, a better drill.

They are building the gazebo

but the drill bit doesn't appear to fit their drill.

You could use that. That's an old one.

It needs to be the right width, obviously, for the bolts but it

also needs to be long enough to go 100 mil down into the sleepers.

Try this then, I don't think you'll get it in that, though.

I don't know how to use it.

We're running out of drills.

Desperate to make use of one of his last weekends, Gary calls his dad.

Oh, good. Can you stop him? I want him to fetch his drill down.

It's like a drill graveyard.

It's definitely a minor setback, again something that's such

a simple job has turned into a bit of a nightmare.

At last, Gary's dad arrives armed with a drill.

Yay, the cavalry's here.

But, unfortunately, it's a case of out of the frying pan into the fire.

We've got fire.

The family come up with a solution to combine two drill bits.

-Don't kick it.

-One down three to go.

And they're away but not for long.

It might need wangling that way a bit.

Oh, a tape measure, whoo-hoo.

Let's do it right for once. It's a gnat's.

Is that a smaller post?

That would suggest that those poles are further apart.

Yeah, that's well out. Ah!

It's still two centimetres out.

I'll have nightmares about that tonight, two centimetres.

The weekend, on the whole, has been a bit of a wash-out.

It's another setback, we're not as far as we wanted to be

but we'll catch up.

Over in Swindon the time has come for our mother

and daughter team to show Monty the culmination of months of hard work.

Today, I feel excited because I'm proud of what we've achieved

but I also feel a bit anxious.

It's almost like that feeling you get

when you bump into a teacher that you've admired ten years

after leaving school and you have to tell them what you've done

and you're waiting for that kind of judgment from them.

'When you leave a much-loved garden there's always a temptation to try

'and replicate it in the new site'

but I do hope Sandra's resisted that.

What I'm looking to see, and hope she's achieved, is

the combination of all that is exciting about making a new garden

but all that is treasured and retained from her old.

Eight months ago Sandra moved house and inherited this garden,

a bare strip of grass that lacked privacy and soul.

Now, it's totally unrecognisable.

-Hello.

-But what will Monty think?

-Well, this is something, isn't it?

-It's not bad, is it?

A slight transformation.

A complete transformation.

The lawn's gone completely. It's been replaced entirely by flowers.

The design is loose, wild and vibrating with colour.

There's something interesting to look at at every level.

With tall plants like foxgloves interspersed through

the beds as well as small flowers like Canterbury bells that

nod over the path.

New flowers have been mixed in with Sandra's many roses.

And dotted here and there are vegetables like cabbages.

Pride of place at the back of the garden sits the new greenhouse.

Now, after all the trials and tribulations of the weather

and moving your roses, have they survived?

Yeah, each one survived and they are coming on really well

and they aren't spindly because after all

the years of pruning them, you told me how to prune them properly.

What's interesting is it doesn't feel like a rose garden,

they are just worked in, aren't they?

Yes, they are and I think then when you look at each rose you look

at them as an individual rose and appreciate each rose in its beauty

rather than a bed of roses where perhaps one overshadows the other.

I'm intrigued to know how much of your old garden you've brought

with you in spirit or is this a completely fresh start?

-This is a completely fresh start.

-Yeah, I think it is.

I love the way that you've packed the borders,

-you've packed the garden.

-Yes. I remembered what you said.

And, you know, you've mixed in vegetables with flowers

and climbers and trees. This feels like joy.

I'm absolutely delighted. I just sometimes

I have to almost pinch myself to think this is really my garden.

Remind me what your budget was.

Well, originally it was round about 1,000.

I've probably gone over,

I would say, 800 to 1,000 more but that's not all on plants.

A lot of it was just hiring skips,

lots of those big dumpy bags with top soil, grit.

I love the mixture of common sense and just bravura. You go for it.

I just think it's a triumph. Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

And what better way to celebrate a beautiful cottage garden

but with a traditional English cream tea on the patio that's been

screened off with a trellis as Monty suggested.

It's enormously peaceful, isn't it?

-Yes. It is.

-Do you think that it works?

Yes. I do.

Even now I think it affords some level of privacy and the

beauty of it is you can sit here and still look out on the garden.

How does it feel living on your own?

It feels quite different. It has taken me quite a long time to adjust

to it but I think it's really helped having my garden project because

I can just spend so much time, I just lose track of time out here.

It's the end of one chapter and the beginning of another

so it's all good.

It's been a fantastic experience and it's given us, all of us,

a great focus and that will only continue as the garden develops.

This is absolutely a new beginning for me and if this is just

the start of my new beginning it can only get better, can't it?

I love this story and the result is a beautiful garden that will

only get better, only give more and more pleasure for years to come.

It looks as though summer has arrived in Wakefield but Gary

and Rox aren't enjoying it just yet.

They are about to reveal their garden to Monty

and emotions are running high.

I feel quite a bit butterfly-y. You know, my stomach's turning

a little bit but I'm sort of, like, thinking, "Well, we've done enough."

My only concern about today is not

whether Gary will have done the necessary work to complete it,

I'd bet my last dollar that he would have done everything

he possibly can. It's whether the garden will match up to Gary's

expectations. Whether the dream in his head will be made reality.

I'd like him to see that we've taken on board what he said,

we've put the work in, my God have we put the work in, and we've,

we've achieved this. And I think it does deserve a bit of recognition.

Ten months ago this garden was like a muddy football pitch.

Now, after hours of painstaking work it has been completely rejuvenated.

Well, look at you, no wonder you're smiling.

No wonder you're smiling.

Plenty to smile about.

Yeah, this is fantastic.

The centrepiece to the garden is now a raised wooden gazebo

complete with a dining area for family gatherings.

Gary's main flowerbed is a mass of colour.

An assortment of blooms carefully choreographed for the space

with room to spread as they mature.

The enormous pond is already teeming with wildlife and contains

a variety of thriving plants like

irises, pickerel weed and water crowfoot.

Well, first impressions it's lovely and well done.

BOTH: Thank you.

How do you feel about it?

Fantastic.

-Absolutely, just love it now.

-We're over the moon with it.

Well, that's 99.999% of all that matters.

When we met for the first time, you had a big bag of dreams.

What have you had to compromise?

Erm, we've, we've cut a few corners, haven't we?

For instance the greenhouse isn't in place yet.

The arbour in the corner and then there's a length of fencing

and a gate needs putting in across there.

This barrier to the pond is top of Gary's to do list

and will keep it child safe.

You know as a gardener that this is just the beginning.

Absolutely. I've been saying, "Wait till next year."

It's going to look incredible next year.

Show me the plants, come on let's talk through the plants.

Let's look at some plants.

Now, I know for you, Gary, that this is the heart

-and soul of the garden, isn't it? Flowers.

-This is.

Flowers and more flowers because your original plant list...

Was extensive.

I was going to say was barmy actually and one of the anxieties that I had

was that it was just impractical, it was just not going to happen.

To what extent have you had to modify that?

Yeah, I've taken your advice on board

and I have restrained myself, pulled myself back to a degree.

But there will be additions but there will be removals, as well.

Yes and I see you've also planted in good clumps and groups,

it's not dotty.

No, I think you, you need to make a statement with plants, don't you?

Fantastic. Right, let's go down to the pond.

When I last left you this was filling with water, there was

a mound of soil both sides to be removed so it really has transformed

but what's interesting is the way it's gaining a life of its own.

In quite a short space of time really.

This is what we wanted cos it's like, there's nothing more

natural than showing your grandchildren what's growing

and the tadpoles and everything else that's coming into it.

Well, I think it's lovely, it's fun, it's beautiful

and you must be really proud.

-Exceptionally.

-So proud.

It's a thumbs up from Monty but now it's time for family

and friends their verdict on Rox and Gary's dream garden.

What a beautiful garden.

Absolutely stunning, it's really, really beautiful

and it's a credit to them.

I especially like the pond and the fact that you have

dragonflies in the pond. That is very cool.

Brilliant, isn't it?

Thank you and congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

I'm stoked, I'm absolutely happy as hope, you know? I've got

a garden that isn't a football field.

I have absolutely created my gypsy road garden. It's...

No, I'm...

I've created an environment for...

We've created an environment for the family to enjoy.

Soppy bugger.

This is a success story and it has been hard work,

really hard work I think. I think it's at times pushed them

to the limit but they've come through and they've come

through together. And as a result the satisfaction and sense

of pride is even greater. And I think not only has this garden changed

their back yard but it has probably changed their lives forever.