Episode 5 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.

This time, Monty works with two couples

who dream of bringing far-off places into their back gardens.

They test Monty to the limit.

I can't even get my fork in.

-To your right.

-Are you sure?!

From creating a mountain and a stream...

Cold! That's cold. That's cold.

..to bringing the Far East to the South East.

That's where it wants to be, it wants to be out like that.

And they find the elements bring them to their knees.

There are times like this and you think, "This was such a silly idea."

They will move heaven...

Step away from the Buddha.

..and earth to turn their small spaces into big dreams.

-Well done.

-Cheers.

-Thank you.

Our first dreamers come from the village of Marnhull in Dorset.

Helen met Tim seven years ago when he moved to the area.

Erm, we met socially and then Tim and I started walking the dogs.

Becoming more familiar with the highways and byways of Dorset,

as well as Helen's dogs, was not the only thing on Tim's mind.

That's when you could say, yes, I did ask her out, in a way.

It was definitely love me, love my dog, though, because Tim...

The dog I had at the time, Tim said to me,

"And how long do they live for?" And I thought, "Watch it, mate."

"If you've got any ideas, the dog's staying, you're not!"

But Helen agreed to leave the dogs at home,

get herself a passport for the first time

and go on the honeymoon of a lifetime.

My overall impression of Norway was of greenery, ferns, grasses,

rocks, boulders and the movement of water going over the stones

and that's really what I want to try and get into this garden.

My Norwegian garden.

Our second gardeners live in the London suburbs of Bromley.

Joan and David have been here for nine years,

but gifts like tonnes of paving and purchases of lots of plants

has so far led to a garden looking like a dumping ground.

I work for a big international marketing company.

For me to come into my own space

and have somewhere to chill and relax is key.

Joan has a busy working life as a graphic designer

and has decided to turn her garden

into a haven of peace and tranquillity.

The Japanese-theme garden came about really cos my eye was drawn in

and I found it very peaceful and tranquil,

so I think that kind of guided me into... Down that line.

Joan isn't the only one looking for peace and quiet.

Her husband, David, has his own plans.

I had a shed out there for a long while,

but I haven't been able to get into it

because of all the... All the extra stuff that goes in there.

It'd just be nice to have a bit of room in there

to store some of my stuff.

Maybe have a little TV as a bit of a chill-out place to go

and keep out of the way sometimes.

THEY GIGGLE

It's late autumn and in Dorset Helen is anticipating a visit

from Britain's top gardener,

so a last-minute tidy-up and a bit of weeding is in order.

I'm looking forward to Monty coming.

I am a little bit anxious about what he's going to say

about my garden. I think possibly most gardeners

are a little bit precious about their baby.

Helen knows that she has some unusual plans, wild dreams even,

given the tiny space. She's worried she won't sell them easily to Monty.

-So...

-Here we are. This is the plot.

So just this area here?

Just this area, yes. It is rather small.

And what do you want to do with it?

We want to recreate something of what we saw

when we were on honeymoon in Norway.

We just saw the nice gardens they've got there

and so we just thought,

"Well, why not have a garden here from Norway and bring it home?"

Not technically, of course, but...

A Norwegian garden is pretty unusual.

-Yes.

-I mean, in fact, I'll be honest,

it's the first people I've ever met who said,

"I want a Norwegian garden."

What did you see when you were on honeymoon in Norway?

We were inspired by a walk we took.

We were in Gol and we walked down one day

from the big, white church on the mountainside

and we got these glimpses of little glades almost amongst the trees,

with streams and rocks and little waterfalls all running through.

So what we want to do really here is to have

water running over rocks and then into a pool and then a stream

-and bridge and build an arbour.

-Hang on, bridge? What bridge?

Well, over the stream, I'm hoping to have a bridge,

because I've got the water running away on the stream

and you've got to be able to cross it to get to the arbour...

-Arbour?!

-..that Tim's going...

-Tim was going to build on the back of the workshop.

-OK.

Erm...fine.

-I have big ideas...

-You certainly do.

-..only a small space!

After they've rebuilt their garage

and a remaining budget of £1,500 to £2,000

for the four-by-five metre plot,

Helen and Tim's dream is to have water falling over boulders,

leading to a pond, which will then flow from the pond to a bridge

and in turn that will lead to an arbour.

And, if that wasn't enough, they also want a bog garden and some decking.

Monty is stunned by the scale of the dream,

but slowly he begins to warm to the Norwegian theme.

You need a touch of the sinister to make it work.

You do something that is radical and, erm,

has a sort of Grimm's fairy-tale element to it, you know,

and it becomes a, sort of, Gothic, rich idea rather than a twee...

Don't want to do twee. Do not want to do twee.

If ever there was a chance or an opportunity to use dwarf conifers,

it's here. Now dwarf conifers, I don't know how you feel about them

or what you know about them, but for most of my adult life

have been about as unfashionable and untrendy as it's possible to be.

Helen and Tim need to simplify their plans dramatically.

I would drop the arbour and the decking

to avoid the small space becoming too cluttered.

And the stream must either be linked to the rest of the garden

or screened off.

And I do think they should go all out for the dwarf conifers.

Today has been a real eye-opener.

It's certainly made me think about the garden in a different way.

Well, this is a truly tiny space and a whooping great idea.

It's going to be holding on to what was our idea,

but I think incorporating some of the really good input

that he's given us today.

Watch this space and see what we come up with.

Over in Bromley,

it's Joan and David's turn to prepare for Monty's visit.

The big tidy-up is under way to turn a dump into a blank canvas.

So far, the extent of Joan's gardening

has been about buying plants.

Keeping them alive has been quite another story.

-These can go down the dump, David, they're dead.

-All right.

No, they're rubbish.

Apart from the long commute, the long hours,

we both have a responsibility to my dad, who's 91, disabled,

and we spend the evenings with him, really,

making sure he's had a hot meal.

Now Joan and David want to make time to create their dream garden...

with Monty's expert help.

Now, tell me, what's the idea?

Erm, well, we'd like to clear a lot of this

and have a Japanese-style theme.

I see, erm, three separate sections in the garden.

One area near the house for dining,

the middle section probably for more of a seating area, for entertaining,

and then the third area much more, kind of, exclusive, if you like.

-OK. That's the usage.

-Yes.

But describe to me how you think that'll look.

Well, I think I'd have, sort of, planting

coming right the way across the garden to make the sections.

Is it going to be flowers or hedge or trees or shrubs?

I mean, do you see it as spiky, soft?

I kind of like bamboos and grasses

and sort of the movement and the noise of it

is really kind of peaceful.

Why Japanese?

I suppose, I'm just really drawn to the tranquillity and

all the different colours going on.

And what will be on the ground?

Well, we've got rather a lot of paving stones to...

It's funny, I had noticed that!

I couldn't help but see that most of your garden is taken up

with piles of paving stones.

That's true.

Because David and Joan have been given 22 tonnes of stone paving,

they want to use it in their Japanese tea garden

dividing their 20-by-7 metre plot into three sections.

The first area will be a dining space, framed by planted screens,

and Joan would also like vertical, wooden moving screens

for extra privacy.

The second area has more seating, for entertaining guests,

with an ornamental acer as a centrepiece

and the third area is designed to be more tranquil and secluded,

and their budget is £8,000 to £10,000.

Are we thinking of a building at all?

-Toying with the idea.

-Are you?

-Hmm. He doesn't know yet.

That's the first I've heard of this!

Looks like the designer is keeping a few surprises up her sleeve.

Well, now we've broached the subject, let's go on with it.

-What sort of building?

-Erm, almost like a pagoda kind of thing.

I mean, you said you wanted a tea garden,

would you consider a teahouse?

-Might be nice.

-It'd be in keeping, wouldn't it?

-Yes, it would.

-Erm...

-We've got the shed down that end, though, so...

Well, you've got a shed, you've got a teahouse, there you are, isn't it?

I mean, it's...

Moving swiftly on from the shed,

Joan addresses another common feature of a Japanese garden.

I mean, we hadn't considered a water feature,

but maybe that's something that we could look at.

Why haven't you considered a water feature?

Erm, probably cos of the expense.

-Well, it's your garden.

-I know.

I mean, what is the point in having a dream of what you'd like to do

if you then nip that dream in the bud and squash it before it's even begun?

I think that Joan and David should go all out on the Japanese theme

and include a teahouse.

It should be free flowing rather than created in symmetrical blocks,

so they do need to rethink that aspect of the design.

By all means, use plants to divide the space,

but I would lose the moving screens,

although it would be worth considering a fence

to protect the plants from wind.

And to complete the Japanese effect,

it really must include a water feature.

I notice that you're not contributing to this,

-so you're just... You're just going with it.

-This is all Joan's.

That is except for the shed, but more of that later.

I'd like a garden that is very nice to look at and maintenance free.

I've got news for you...

..that garden only exists in a pie in the sky.

THEY CHUCKLE

Well, we are talking about dream gardens here.

I like the idea of the Japanese garden.

I think it'll be stylish and also Joan will get that meditative garden

that's so important to her.

I feel very, erm, energised by it.

Monty bought clarity to my plans,

because there was confusion about whether to keep it really structured

or go the more traditional Japanese route.

But they do need to do something about those slabs.

I mean, 22 tonnes of stone blocking the garden is crazy.

Looking forward to Monty coming back,

to learn more about plants themselves,

helping out with the planting will be great,

learning from an expert, excellent!

I don't know what'll happen with the shed at the end.

Will it be a pagoda?

Will it be a tearoom?

Or will David's shed just get a new roof?

A few weeks later,

to help Joan and David see what goes in to a Japanese garden,

Monty has sent them to Tatton Park in Cheshire.

It's one of the most famous examples of its kind -

a tea garden inspired by the owners' visit

to an Anglo-Japanese exhibition in London in 1910.

The head gardener, Simon Tetlow,

sets our dreamers off on their journey of discovery.

This idea that you want to take tea in a nice, quiet and restful place.

That's essentially what this garden is.

It's kind of looking at linking long views up in a very small space.

What's behind that tree, you know?

It could be the road to a mountain top,

it could be the road to a wellhead or back to the town.

It's kind of hiding things, it's revealment and concealment.

This is exactly what you can do in a relatively small space.

And some good news for David.

It is about the very simple arrangement of plants.

There's nothing very complicated about the planting,

-you'll be pleased to here.

-Yes!

It's a very, very limited kind of palette of plants

used in a Japanese garden.

It's just kind of learning a very few simple things

on how to shape them and position them.

What are the kind of things that you'd like to take away with you?

What are the kind of elements of it?

I'd love the water, I think this is fabulous and the bridge,

it's exquisite.

The lanterns, everything, it's just absolutely beautiful,

so if I could wrap it up and take it with me, that would be super.

A tea garden, perhaps its most important thing is water.

The idea that you were to draw pure water for the tea ceremony.

It's that retreat to the mountains -

you're disappearing off into the woods for meditation

or a spiritual experience.

The shady, dewy path through the trees.

And in case Joan was thinking

she could get away with a Japanese tea garden

without that water feature...

Being in the space that we are now,

it's more about the sound of water

than it is about the actual water itself and if it is the tea ceremony,

it's that thought that somewhere behind the bushes there

is a well with spring water coming in

that we can make a pure cup of green tea from.

It's that illusion that it may be there.

Ever the practical one, David brings them down to earth.

What was maybe putting us off was

-the actual construction and maintenance.

-Yeah.

-Do you need a main water supply?

-Yeah, yeah.

I'm in the building business, but I'm not a plumber.

Fair do's.

No, it's as much illusion as it is reality, you know what I mean?

It doesn't have to be there as a big pool.

It could be something that's just moving water from one place

to another and a simple pump will do that for you.

Joan is blown away by it all.

I feel very inspired. It's been a great trip,

talking to Simon has put a lot of things in a bit more clarity.

Really loving the idea of the water feature.

-Yeah, that's good.

-Bit more research, I guess.

David is realising just how much work is involved.

You could do a roof like that, couldn't you? Or we'd buy one.

I'm certainly going to go back home, look at our plans again.

I've really got a flavour now of, you know,

the winding paths and everything.

Before I was trying to be much too structured.

I think this is much more free flowing, if you like,

and that's the look I want to achieve now.

With Joan's plans crystallising in her head,

it will now be up to David to get on with some of the hard graft.

In Dorset, Helen and Tim are starting on their big project

to turn their small patch of lawn into their Norwegian dream garden.

But they're having to contend

with one of the wettest winters on record.

The flooding was in the Somerset Levels,

which are about 20 miles north of us.

The water levels has made it very difficult this winter

to do any gardening.

Helen was so determined to get going on the garden,

she decided to rebuild the workshop in January,

during the worst of the wet weather.

We got terribly tired, desperately tired trying to do it.

Back and forth, back and forth.

Well, Dad mixing the concrete, I mean, they got a cement mixer,

but they had to mix everything by hand.

We reckon he shovelled

something in the region of 2,000 shovels of sand and cement.

And Tim's dad, Terry, a bricklayer, is back for more.

It was a long punch

and if it wasn't my boy, I wouldn't have done half that.

Along with Terry,

Helen has pulled in the help of friends and a neighbour

to get fences painted,

the turf up and the stream design laid out.

You know, watch out, head gardener's on site.

If I just give you that, please, and just roll it out.

Tim, whose day job is being a plumber,

gets to work with his father

and together they find a way to get the water feature installed.

This is a good way of plumbing, this is.

We've got it. Roger's got it.

Ta-da.

Well, that's that bit done.

Next Monty suggested Helen should mark out

exactly where the new stream should go using a garden hose.

Don't worry, we'll put it out roughly then.

The head gardener knows exactly what she wants.

I could hear Helen coming out

and it sounds like the foreman coming on site,

directing the labourers at work.

So are we left a bit or right a bit, Sue?

Getting her plans to match the space isn't so easy.

No, I know, it's just getting the curve in at about 18 inches.

Right, well, that looks a lot smaller than I was anticipating!

Working in this small space

means the boulders that are part of the overall plan

are now getting in the way.

An ancient solution is the only way to go.

Are you sure this is how they did Stonehenge?

I wasn't there, I'm not actually that old.

-You've got to be quicker than that.

-Now stop pushing.

What direction are we going?

We just need to get it out of the way at the moment.

Right, up a bit. That's it, now leave it like that.

-That's a good idea.

-And walk away majestically.

We can drop it back on them later,

when you want to put it in a place

where Madame's made up her mind where it's going.

I knew this bit was going to be the interesting bit -

it's whether we can all stay friends.

Whoever said creating a dream garden was easy?

I don't think they'll talk to us if we've got this wrong, so...

The head gardener keeps her team on the job.

Finally, she has the space to go on designing

her Norwegian-style stream.

Over in Bromley,

pressure is mounting to get the hard landscaping done

before Monty returns to give them a hand with the planting.

And with wet weather delaying progress,

Joan and David need all the help they can get.

Five months on, the burning question is...

how much of that paving do they really, really need?

So far, it's 2 tonnes down, only 20 tonnes to go.

We still might have a bit left over.

I'm sure someone else might want it.

David is smiling,

not least because he's come up with a cunning plan to save his shed.

Why not build a new summer house or is it a teahouse?

Joan's happy to go along with this idea.

The boys are starting the teahouse,

so they've been studying the plans this morning

and I think it is a bit of the blind leading the blind,

but we'll see how it goes.

So I reckon the walls go straight onto here.

The paving has made a good floor for the new structure.

Now all they have to do is figure out

how 1,000 pieces of wood fit together.

It is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle but, erm, I think once we get the...

the base set up properly and then the rest of it should, erm,

should all fall into place, really.

Joan looks on encouragingly.

Do you know what you're doing now?

David just has to keep remembering

that this is how he's having his dream shed

and let Joan pursue her fantasies.

We're going to have a bridge, not an arched bridge,

but a sort of zigzag bridge

that you quite often see in Japanese gardens.

We're going to have a waiting area,

which is traditional before you go to the teahouse

and after, sort of, speaking to Monty

and also after the visit to Tatton Park,

we realised that we absolutely must have a water feature.

Down this side, mate.

That's it, that all looks straight.

I think I kind of underestimated the budget.

I hope it doesn't go into five figures,

but you never know, especially when I go shopping.

To achieve the traditional Japanese look,

Joan will have a good excuse to go on a spending spree.

There are lots of new things

that she can legitimately add to her shopping list,

including lanterns and other statuary.

And there's the all-important plants,

including acers, which produce the most stunning colours,

especially in autumn.

Joan heads for a specialist garden nursery

for that greatly anticipated shopping spree.

I've come to buy a lantern, some plants

and I want to do a small water feature.

That's £135.

The snow lantern, £315.

Joan picks out trees and shrubs, which she has seen in Tatton.

She's in her element. Money no object.

Acer, £325.

So beautiful.

So far, so good,

but it's what happens to the plants next

that may not come quite so easily.

It's spring and time for Helen and Tim to work out exactly

what plants will give their garden the Norwegian look.

Monty has sent them off to Longstock Water Garden

near their home in Dorset.

It was all dug by hand in the 1940s.

The main features are islands and bridges

and it has lots of interesting planting

around the edges of the water.

It's a rich and stunning mix of flowers, trees and shrubs.

The grounds manager, Rob Ballard, gives them some interesting tips.

Certainly from our water garden's point of view,

we try and grow things over the edges of the ponds

to soften the feel of them.

They can immediately see the wonderful effect of the plants

being reflected in the water.

Wherever possible, we try and plant in big, bold groups,

because you have this giant mirror and it'd be silly not to use it.

Over there, we have the Iris pseudacorus,

which is actually planted in a planting pocket

on the edge of the lake and, as you can see,

-they're quite happy there and they give really good reflections.

-Yes.

Looking at the tricks used to make the most of this garden

has given Helen new ideas.

As we've walked around,

we've really appreciated the power of reflections and colour,

the colour into the water.

Cos if you look at the acid yellow with the dark green behind.

Yeah, it really shows itself.

Which is what will happen for us with the conifers.

And there's nothing like some instant gardening.

Helen and Tim head straight for the nursery to complement their design.

-Where do we start?

-Right, here are the astilbes.

Oh, look, there's a...

-We've already got those.

-Yes.

-OK.

I think that'd make quite a good clump

and then we'll have blue and yellow.

Would you put yellow and purple together?

No, I'd have just yellow to one side,

and the purple, so big, big clumps of each.

-I got one of these the other day.

-Too much varieties.

The trip has left Tim's head spinning

but he and Helen manage quite quickly

to run up a trolley full of plant purchases.

Meanwhile, it's time for Monty's next visit to Bromley.

I came away from here last time with some real worries,

because although I knew that Joan and David had lots of enthusiasm,

a bit of money and a good eye,

I didn't feel that they really understood

what they wanted from a Japanese garden.

Hello. How are you?

Very, very nice to be back. You've clearly been busy.

Yes, very busy.

And you've clearly been buying plants.

Yes, I've been shopping.

With a vengeance, good for you,

That's the way to go.

Remind me what the original plans were,

cos it looks slightly different to as I imagined it would.

I have a memory of three sections and sliding panels, is that right?

Oh, yeah, I had some wild and wacky ideas at the beginning.

I think I wanted this idea that it could be sort of multi-functional,

really, but not practical in the slightest, so...

No.

Joan's first plan was to pave over the whole garden with stone

and divide it into three sections. It was very ambitious,

with moving wooden screens,

but it just didn't feel like a Japanese tea garden.

I haven't been here for, what, six months?

So what I'd love you to do is to walk me through.

-OK.

-This was going to be a seating area, wasn't it?

Yeah. Completely changed that.

And it was going to be a plain path running down the side which was...

So all this will be planted?

-Yes.

-Beautiful.

I'm pleased to see that Joan has freed up the design

and let it evolve asymmetrically and has been shopping for plants,

but I think they won't get the protection they need without a fence.

So Monty gets to work and he begins with a bamboo screen,

that will at least give a little protection from the wind.

It will also give Joan the privacy she is after.

OK, we've got some Phyllostachys nigra here.

Phyllostachys is a Chinese bamboo

that makes beautiful, tall, quite dramatic plants.

They can spread,

but people worry much too much about bamboo spreading.

There are certain types that are very invasive - sasas, pleioblastus.

Getting it out the pot can be fun and games.

You see, look, it's completely splitting up.

-It was the roots, yeah.

-We're going to have to cut that out.

Joan admitted to Monty that she bought these online.

This was definitely not one of her best buys.

See look at that thing - it's really woody.

You should always be able to take the plant out of the pot and

inspect the roots and if you can't,

-or they won't let you, don't buy.

-Don't buy it.

Those roots are never going to grow out in a good fashion,

and what we can do, and it wouldn't hurt to, is just take that off.

You see, look that's where it wants to be,

it wants to be out like that.

And we're going to plant it a little bit deeper,

which will lose you some height, but roots will grow from the culms.

So you're going to strengthen it and also stop it rocking so much.

The happy shopper may have made a mistake,

but she fares better with her next, more extravagant purchase.

she's bought not one, but nine Japanese maples or acers.

If you haven't worked out exactly where you want things to plant,

a good idea is to get all your plants and start placing them.

Right at the stepping stone - do you mean over here?

-Erm...

-Here?

-No, the other side of the path. Towards... Yeah.

-Here?

-Round about...to your to your right.

-Here?

-No, that's not going to work, is it?

-I was going to say, are you sure?

I was thinking a bit closer in but it's not going to work there anyway.

All that shopping - that was easy next to this.

My instinct would be to put it there.

That's what I thought.

-You can't see the big rock then.

-Well, you can from here.

Erm, no, I prefer that...

Right, go on, David, you take some grief now. I've suffered.

Right.

This has to be decision time for Joan - they haven't got all day!

-Can you swivel it round, please? The other way.

-Other way round.

That's it, so it faces the...

That's lovely, look at that.

Not many people plant what,

one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine Acer palmatums in one go.

Most people, it would be the biggest event in their gardening year,

just to do one, Joan!

Next, a vital lesson for Joan about something

she hasn't managed to do so far -

how to keep these expensive plants alive.

You need to keep them watered, so if it gets too dry,

the crucial thing is try and keep them out of wind.

A harsh warm wind, a harsh cold wind will do them no good at all.

But other than that, they're easy plants to grow -

if they're happy, they're happy.

-Wind is the enemy.

-Yeah.

There's yet one more extravagant Japanesey purchase that Monty

helps them with.

I see you've bought yourself an example of cloud pruning.

-Yes.

-This is again typical Japanese, where everything is controlled,

but nature is revered.

So you have this funny relationship between man absolutely controlling

literally every last leaf, but trying to make it look natural.

So the very idea of cloud pruning, you know, how do you prune to the

clouds, the clouds shift?

-So there's no set shape and it's called "Niwaki".

-Niwaki.

The time to prune this is sort of middle of May to beginning

of June, so it's growing strongly, lots of new growth,

and then you cut into that and shape it,

-and then again probably in September.

-OK.

-Oh, nice.

-How's that?

-Perfect!

You have a very, very Japanesey feel evolving.

Getting there.

When I come back I want it all finished.

And I want to sit in your nice garden and I'll have a cup of green tea

and maybe something a little bit more celebratory.

Sake and sushi maybe.

Sake and sushi! I'll tell what - I'll hold you to that!

That is an absolute promise. I love it.

It's nice to be proved wrong sometimes because last time

I was here, I suspected this would be a bit of a mishmash.

I think the lessons of Tatton Park have come home -

they know what they want to do,

but they're expressing it in their own way.

-Still quite a bit to go.

-Yep.

Yeah, a fair amount really.

The only thing, perhaps, I would worry about is that Joan has bought

a mass of plants without really thinking where they're going to go.

I'm not going to rush anything. I think we'll take our time.

Getting the planting right will make or break this garden.

In Dorset, spring is well under way and so is Helen's dream garden.

She's been working flat-out to get the landscaping done

ahead of Monty's visit in just a few days' time.

She has dug the entire pond, bog and stream by hand and by herself.

I don't know how many tonnes of soil I've moved,

but it's been very hard work. And then laying stuff over it

and not really being able to see the pattern, and then the rocks have

gone in and you can see the form a bit better.

Helen is nothing if not a perfectionist,

but she is desperate to be ready for Monty.

When the plants go in, it's going to be a huge difference.

I'm really looking forward to it.

This garden is one that intrigues me

because I really don't know what to expect.

I left last time pretty uncertain that they knew what they were

trying to achieve and I certainly wasn't absolutely sure, but there

seemed to be a germ of something genuinely interesting in there.

The hard work has clearly taken its toll on Helen.

If he's not impressed with that, I shall sit down and bawl my eyes out.

Tim, do you want to lead on?

We'll take you round and you can see what we've been up to.

I don't know if you'll be insulted or pleased

but I genuinely had not expected this.

-Really?

-No. And I'm very impressed, very impressed.

Now, so where are we now? I mean, obviously you've rebuilt that...

-Yes.

-..you've bought all this stone in.

I hadn't really taken on board the extent to which the water was

-going to work through here, which is fantastic.

-Good.

And you have built that wall up there,

-which I was worried about the division...

-Yes.

-..with the rest of the garden.

-We took that on board.

We mulled over everything you said to us,

and basically trying to do mountainside stream on a flat plot.

It looks as though Helen has gone quite a long way to creating

a natural mountainous landscape.

And now the important thing is to make sure that the planting

fits in with this and maintains that naturalistic look.

Top of Monty's plant list for this new project

were those dwarf conifers,

and Helen certainly pushed the boat out.

-You've got a lot of dwarf conifers.

-I have.

-That one.

-Good.

-That one.

And another.

-And another, right.

-You've got larger arms than I have.

Let's get going along here for a bit.

Next, Monty uses the large selection of plants to begin to

populate the space.

-If you want to create a landscape rather than a rock garden...

-Yes.

..then you've got to think how do landscapes work -

where are the tallest trees? Tallest trees will be lower down.

Yes.

The whole point about doing this - we can move them round endlessly.

But Helen decides to put a very tall plant in amongst the carefully

-choreographed small ones.

-Just sneak it in whilst he's not looking.

Well, that's interesting.

This one might be too big.

-What's he said too big? What's too big?

-That.

Babies. It was going to go in that corner.

-Well, I think that would be better.

-Good.

-I think it's beginning to fall into shape.

-It is, it is.

Next, a top planting tip for Helen.

They need to be planted surprisingly deeply these.

You've got to remember that they are trees

and they will behave like trees, so they don't want to get waterlogged.

-No.

-You see that looks better - much better instantly.

I can see what you mean -

the density of planting really helps to give that feel of...

Well, it gives you the feel of your Norwegian fjord

and forest, as opposed to a rock garden.

Now, advice on the bog garden.

The thing to understand about bog -

-bog is simply ground that never dries up.

-Yes.

-There's no more or less to it than that.

-Right.

Helen has created a careful lining which would be watertight,

but Monty introduces some offcuts, which he scores.

-That's going to make a huge difference.

-Right.

That's going to transform it as a bog.

Now already the water is going to go under there

and drain away, but most of it's going to be held.

And so what you see is you've got these fundamentally holding the water

but not nearly good enough for a pond.

-If it was a pond it would leak.

-Yes, yeah.

But because it's going to be full of soil,

the soil will act like a sponge - we want wet soil, not a puddle.

Yes. OK.

So we just make some holes, like that and like that

and like that and like that...

20 wheelbarrows of topsoil later,

some compost and Monty is ready for the fun part.

So, plants. A perfect bog plant - hostas.

-I have some.

-Well-prepared as ever, Helen has not one, but five

different varieties of hostas, ready to go.

There's a rule with hostas -

the sunnier they are, the more moisture they need.

So the shadier they are, the less moisture they need.

But they thrive in sort of half shade, half sun moisture.

Right.

And lots of other plants bought at Longstock too.

Let's get the geums, let's get the primulas, let's get 'em in.

I wonder how many more she's brought.

Right, how are you feeling about this?

Looking pretty good.

Obviously we've got your hostas,

-which are essentially foliage plants, but have flowers.

-Yes.

And quite dramatic, beautiful flowers at that.

They're herbaceous perennials so they will totally disappear

-until March.

-Yes.

-Your primulas are going to come and then go.

-Yes.

Even Tim is getting into the swing of the planting now.

Every time you water it,

what should happen is that you'll reach saturation point.

And of course the reason you mulch, even though it's a bog garden,

it's always the same three reasons -

it is one, to suppress weeds, because you're blocking them of light,

two, to stop evaporation, which keeps water in,

and three, if it's organic material,

it will work in and both feed the soil,

depending on what you use and really importantly, improve soil structure.

That should be the garden finished.

From a hole to this.

Monty leaves our dream gardeners satisfied.

Now, I've got a confession to make - of all the gardens that I've

been visiting, this is the one that I had least expectations of.

I really couldn't see how they could make anything

out of their proposals.

We've looked at their landscaping for so long,

and been planning and working on it for so long,

or that's how it seems, to actually have some...

-Life into it.

-And some plants in it, yes, it was amazing.

I think what they've done has shown real vision, bags of energy -

Helen after all has dug that all out herself, by hand.

They've got on with it, they've expanded on their original ideas,

and yet they've been true to what they've wanted.

The thing I've learnt today from Monty is he's given me

more confidence in planting, in playing around with ideas,

looking at plants in relation to one another, so probably make me

bolder into trying other things for the rest of the garden.

It looks good already, but in five weeks' time when I come back

to see the final thing, I expect to see it looking spectacular.

After that exhilarating day with Monty, Helen felt she was on track

and all that time she'd battled with

the elements to prepare her dream garden had been worth it.

Two weeks later, however, and everything has gone pear-shaped.

The rain is back and progress is really slow.

It's like, uh, January all over again.

There are times like this and you think, "This was such a silly idea."

It hasn't actually filled my wellies yet, so that's quite good.

He's going to brain me. Just a minute. Yes, he nearly got me.

So this is only a light shower but we had heavy rain overnight,

I could hear it, and it just makes it so difficult to work.

It's not just the elements conspiring against her.

Tim's working solidly for the next six weeks,

so today is our last day - we've got to do all the construction

today because it's the last day I've got him here to help me.

You all right, because that's a slippy board?

The first job is to disguise their reservoir pump by creating

a log pile.

It's precarious work, not helped by all the mud from the constant rain.

Ooh! It's going to pull me in!

Next, Helen wants to copy the waterside planting at Longstock,

so there's nothing for it, but a dip in her new stream.

Cold! That's cold, that's cold.

That is cold.

It's very heavy now.

There's a whole area still to go

and muddy patches of earth where plants should be.

We're just going to move the plants, Tim, and then I think

we can get the patio up.

Finally, Helen and Tim are now back on track,

and Helen even has a confession to make about the bog garden.

When Monty was here, I forgot to give him

the grasses that I planned for the bog garden.

So we've put a lot more, erm, bog-loving grasses in there,

so it looks more like a woodland glade now with some flowers.

I have to admit I pulled everything out and started again

and I don't know what Monty's going to say about that.

Summer is finally here, and in Bromley, Joan is adding her

own extra flourishes to the new garden.

They're like little bird feeders. So these can hang up.

-Oh, dear.

-Do you like them? Look!

Yeah, lovely!

Yeah, it does seem a bit of a long road.

Some points, I didn't think we were ever going to make it.

They're still nervous about one thing.

Time to show Monty, yeah.

I think the critical thing for Joan and David is whether they've

managed to pull together all the disparate elements of this garden.

Whether Joan has managed to resist

plonking in plants just because she's bought them,

and whether David has transformed the summer house into a teahouse,

and the whole thing comes together in

the Japanese dream that they originally conceived.

Last autumn, Joan and David's

outdoor space barely resembled a garden.

With overgrown grass, covered in rotten apples, paving stones

piled high and no fence, it looked like a forgotten building site.

It's been many months of hard work - time for Monty to give his verdict.

Well, well, well. Wow!

What a change.

That's a transformation, that's a real transformation.

There is a spacious patio with seating and dining table,

this leads out into the Japanese tea garden.

The unsightly paving stones have been elegantly refashioned

into a zigzag path and the Japanese theme has been extended everywhere.

The lily of the valley bush complements the many

varieties of acers on display.

Lush green hostas are surrounded by pebbles, lanterns and rocks.

The water feature and waiting area complete the

traditional Japanese tea garden, en-route to Joan's teahouse.

This is a big area now, isn't it? I don't remember this being so big.

And then you're looking out on a very complete theme.

Having spent around £15,000,

that's nearly double the budget,

Monty has to ask the all-important question.

-Are you happy? Are you pleased?

-So glad, very happy.

-Very happy.

-Yeah.

-When was the moment when you knew it was going to come good?

About ten o'clock last night.

So it's been a last-minute thing?

Yeah.

The trellis looks great.

And the fact that on both sides balances up, it makes the space

what I think every garden has to be - it feels private and personal.

And I like the way that you look through the planting and you want to

see what's round the corner, you can't see everything.

That's really nice.

-I can hear water.

-Yes, our little water feature.

-Ah, you've rigged up your water feature.

-Yes, yeah.

It's great!

-And I love the ferns around the back.

-The ferns are beautiful.

-They work well.

-It's fresh, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-And the water just makes it feel fresher.

Really, really nice.

Monty can't resist giving Joan and David a last bit of friendly advice.

Plants mainly need the water at their roots,

which then goes off to the leaves.

A little bit of moisture around leaves is not a bad idea,

but it's a very inefficient way cos at this time of the year,

most of the water that goes on the foliage will evaporate.

Oh, I see, yeah.

Far better to direct the water absolutely at the roots,

and water enough so that you see the water puddling around it.

-Right.

-And do that once a week is plenty.

Zigzag twisting path. Is this representing a dry river?

The dry river running through here, yes,

and down the side of the teahouse.

Joan has even indulged her love of shopping inside the teahouse.

It's very nice. It's got a good feel in it, and you can look

back on the garden.

And I bet you look back with pride, do you?

Yeah, I've got a smile on my face when I look at it.

Yeah, I'm really pleased.

David, I know that you went along with this to please Joan.

Yes, but I'm really pleased with the outcome.

Joan could see a vision.

I couldn't see a finish and now I'm really pleased.

But there was one more question Monty has been dying to ask.

Did you did you ever get your shed done?

It's, er, still a work in progress, but it's started.

Let's go and have a look. Let's have a look.

My little sign.

OK.

Oh, yeah that's...

Oh, look at that! Look at that!

It's getting there.

I'll tell you what, what else could you need?

So you've got your armchair, you've got your telly - brilliant.

And as promised, a Japanese-style celebration.

Well, well done! To happy gardening!

Cheers. Thank you for your help. Thank you.

I think this garden is a really good example how collaboration can

produce something that is greater than the sum of its parts,

cos neither David nor Joan would or could have done this garden

without the other's help.

David, who trusted Joan's vision and faithfully executed it,

and Joan who trusted David to do the difficult things, to make it happen.

Everybody's worked really, really hard on it,

but, erm, you know, I think you've done a fabulous job.

Joan's never had a garden before.

She wanted her dream garden and now I can see why...

..because I think it looks beautiful.

And best of all, they have each got their quiet retreat.

David will be in his annexe.

I've got to get a lock on the indoor, on the inside.

But I can lock you in there too, think about that.

So for now at least the doors stay open.

In Dorset, Helen and Tim now face the daunting prospect of

showing Monty their ambitious garden.

Will it live up to the dream they presented to him?

It's a bit intimidating having someone visit your garden

that really knows what they're talking about.

I think I know what I'm talking about,

but I probably don't half the time.

So it's...

I think it's why I'm

a little bit anxious about him seeing the garden, as to whether

I've I have got it right or whether I've done something really stupid.

On my last visit here, I was really impressed by the energy

and effort that Tim and Helen have put into making their garden.

But for all the hard work, energy and effort don't finish a garden.

It's what it looks like, regardless of how much work you've put in,

that really matters.

Last autumn, Helen and Tim's garden was an unloved patch of grass

with a border, running up to an old garage and workshop.

It was neither used, nor appreciated and every day they would look

out at this dull space from their living room windows.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-How are you? Nice to see you.

-And you and you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Well, it's finished.

-It is finished.

It is finished and utterly transformed.

Using plenty of dwarf conifers to give the effect of a forest

sitting against a rocky bank,

they have created the Norwegian mountain landscape in miniature.

Large boulders form a waterfall

leading into a beautifully clear pond.

Iris and marsh marigolds softens the edges.

The flowering hostas mingle with grasses,

and there is already a water lily.

A picturesque and natural-looking stream gently flows to the bridge.

The bog garden is full to bursting with hostas, geums and astilbes

and the whole scene has been enhanced with small,

but bright flashes of colour in the gravel bed.

I'm sort of digesting the changes

because it's got a really established feel to it.

I did not see this coming...

Did you not? Oh, right.

..when I first came here.

I wasn't quite sure how the

idea of Norwegian garden was going to translate.

It's probably a bit misleading to call it a Norwegian garden

because people assume it's going to look like the gardens of Norway,

but what we've tried to reproduce here is what

we saw in the countryside that we so enjoyed.

Monty's professional eye soon spots something's changed.

I can see you've actually

done some re-planting and re-jigging, haven't you?

I have. The bog garden, I have to say - rearranged.

-Right.

-Um...

-And why was that?

It was lovely as it was, but we actually want it to look more like

a woodland glade.

So I'm afraid we took everything out

-and I added in some more grasses.

-Right.

So you've got your boggy woodland glade.

I have my boggy woodland glade, yes.

So that was a total rethink,

but Helen can point to advice she has followed.

One of the things when you first talked about a design,

which I was worried about, was delineating the edge,

so you're glad that you built a wall?

You said we needed to have a boundary

and it would make the space seem bigger.

It has, of course, given us the added advantage we've been able to

get some height because we can build up against it.

So it's become a very useful boundary.

Helen ditched the arbour, as Monty suggested,

but she did build a stone seat to give another view of her garden.

It's looking great now and you've got plenty of flowers coming

through from the water lily - I'm very impressed you've got

that flowering straightaway,

and the yellow loosestrife,

and those pretty, pretty foxgloves in the background.

But this is essentially a green garden with touches of colour, isn't it?

Yes. I didn't want vast patches of colour.

It is supposed to be a woodland glade.

But there is great scope for bulbs -

you could have quite delicate bulbs coming through here.

Helen and Tim have already spent nearly £3,000,

almost double their estimate. Still, Monty is impressed.

You've dramatically changed your garden.

You've created something that is meaningful to the two of you.

Yes, well, we have we have a long-term Norwegian holiday here.

Yeah.

And after all the months of hard work, it's now time to relax

and celebrate, Norwegian style, of course!

That is an extraordinary,

magnificent cake - or is it a cake or biscuit?

Well, it's the traditional Norwegian wedding cake.

I think it's pronounced "kransekake".

Well, cheers!

Here's to a very, very successful garden.

Thank you very much, Monty.

Well, they've come through triumphantly.

They've made a garden that works really well for them

and is superbly finished and completed.

He was pleased, so I'm pleased.

It is just amazing, you know, suddenly this whole new vista

is out there instead of that boring lawn and the back

of a very grotty old garage.

It is amazing to wake up and see that each morning.

I think of all the gardens I've seen, this one exemplifies

the fact that it doesn't matter how small your back garden might be,

and how big the dream you might have,

if you've got the energy and the determination,

you can make it come true.