Episode 2 Big Dreams Small Spaces

Do you dream of having your own special outdoor space?

A small garden that you can admire, enjoy and call your own?

And then you stop and think, "I have no idea how to make it."

Well, you're not alone.

Monty Don has travelled up and down the country

visiting amateur gardeners with bold ambitions.

He's scrutinised their plans,

and pushed them out of their comfort zones.

Going out into deeper, darkest unknown territory, isn't it?

It's not been easy...

THUNDER RUMBLES

I hate it.

Argh!

..but everyone's worked incredibly hard.

Both of us want to sleep for a week, pretty much!

You've had your tea break. Come on.

And the transformations have been extraordinary.

It's just incredible. It really is.

I declare this garden open!

I do believe that everybody, however small their garden,

can cultivate a big dream.

This time, Monty meets two sets of new homeowners

with different approaches to their garden dreams.

From can't garden...

You could kill a plastic flower, I think I used to say.

Yeah. I probably would, actually.

..to won't garden...

Do you want to give us a little hand?

You're doing all right. I think you're doing all right.

..they're going to need some expert guidance.

If in a week's time we get a phone call saying,

-"It's dropped half an inch..."

-Then we have a problem.

To have Monty Don help us with the garden is a real privilege.

I'm shovelling composted horse manure.

Smells pretty bad.

What have we got ourselves into?

Our first garden is in Leyton, East London.

Bankers Tariq and Sira would like a cottage-style garden

in which they can entertain guests.

They're also taking on the challenging task

of remodelling their Victorian terrace at the same time.

This is our first house that we've actually bought together.

We wanted to buy a property we could put our own stamp on.

We've been project managing it ourselves,

-which has been difficult and...

-And stressful.

-Yeah.

Fortunately for Sira, the couple have clearly defined roles

when it comes to their 50-metre-square backyard.

95% of the graft will come from me, and 1% from Sira,

and probably another 4% from tradesmen!

I want to sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of his labour!

But he's not just the work horse.

Tariq has a perfectionist streak, too.

-I do a lot of research.

-Yeah.

-Like, a lot of research.

-Research.

I'm an analyst by trade, so I put together, like,

-a list and tick it all off.

-A spreadsheet.

Spreadsheet, make sure that everything's done to...

-Meticulous.

-Yeah.

And he's also hoping to impress his horticultural hero.

To have Monty Don help us with our garden is a real privilege.

I mean, he is Britain's favourite gardener,

and to have him come to our house and help us,

we're so, so lucky to have him.

And we're going to take absolutely everything that he says on board

and try our absolute best for him, but also for us as well.

Our next set of first-time gardeners live in Bath.

Ant is a creative professional,

and Jake is the owner of a marketing business.

With demanding jobs, the pair are looking for a little bit

of tranquillity in their lives.

We both have really busy lifestyles, so coming home to a really nice,

calm, peaceful garden is very important to us.

They have a very specific style in mind

for their 100-square-metre plot.

We have been to the Japanese gardens in Monte Carlo, in San Francisco.

-Where else?

-Brooklyn, that was the last one.

Brooklyn, the last one was the Brooklyn botanical garden.

So we always visit different type of Japanese gardens,

just to get inspiration. We just thought,

"That's it, we're going to do a Japanese garden

"and bring a bit of a memory of our travel to our backyard."

The couple live next door to Jake's identical twin brother Shane

and his husband Peter.

And what's more, they also have an identical garden,

that they too are renovating.

There's a lot of sibling rivalry.

No doubt there'll be lots of looking over the fence to see

what our house is like and what their garden's going to be like.

Yeah. That's definitely unavoidable.

The difference is that Ant and Jake have decided

to do the work themselves, with some special help.

Personally, I'm not a huge gardener myself.

So we have ideas of what we want to do, but actually implementing it...

We desperately need help from Monty.

Desperate is a strong word.

-Desperate.

-Actually, we are desperate, yes.

-Desperate.

It's May in Leyton,

and Tariq is unashamedly ambitious about his dream project.

I want a garden that could be award-winning.

A beautiful garden, I really want. That's what I really want.

And I'm willing to put in all the graft and hard work

to get to that stage.

But the novices don't know where to start,

and are eager to get some advice.

It can be overwhelming, so I think that having somebody

kind of guide you through the process,

and maybe support you through the process, would be great, I think.

-Hello.

-Hi, Monty, nice to meet you. Come in.

So, here we are.

-This is the garden.

-Yup, this is the garden.

All right. Tell me what your plans are for this garden.

We quite like entertaining, having friends round,

so it'd be great to have a space to allow us to do that.

-I wanted a cottage kind of feel of a garden...

-OK.

-..rather than a formal or a contemporary.

-Right, right.

Because it's quite a narrow garden,

and I wanted a deep border to create a bit more impact

and big, beautiful flowering plants.

So, we've got a border with lots of colour.

-Yeah.

-Lots of impact.

-A lawn.

-Yeah.

-And why do you want a lawn?

I think a garden without a lawn doesn't quite look right to me,

but also when we've got people round,

you can spread out onto the lawn, sit on the lawn, eat on the lawn.

What's your budget?

£7,000, I think is what we agreed.

Yeah.

I mean, £7,000 is a perfectly doable budget.

-It's not as extravagant as you might think.

-Yeah.

-You will spend that.

But on the other hand, you should have something very nice

at the end of it.

So, that's worth it.

How much of this can you do yourselves?

Tariq's the grafter.

I'm a grafter, so I think we're going to do 95% of it myself.

And I'm going to do the project management, so...

What I'd love to do at this stage is see anything you've got on paper.

OK.

Tariq and Sira would like an elegant garden

in which they can entertain friends and family.

It will feature a patio area, with built-in seating,

barbecue and herb garden.

Beyond this, a curved lawn will lead to the back of the garden,

with a border filled with country-style planting on one side.

Sira would like a rose arch and a bench.

And Tariq has his heart set on a topiary chicken.

Topiary chicken, perfect.

Everybody's got to have a topiary chicken.

You said you're going to have a big border.

But it's a small border and a big lawn.

What we have is a very conventional idea

of just almost full of grass with a little ribbon border

-around the outside.

-No!

-I don't think that's what we want.

I would like a big-impact, deep border.

To get the impact you want, you need volume of plants.

Now, if you want big flowers, big plants,

you will not fit them in there.

-Right.

-OK.

-OK?

Monty also has a suggestion

for making the most of their small space.

One of the things that makes a garden look bigger

-is subdividing it.

-Yeah.

Funnily enough, if you've got a long, thin garden,

-it always pays to break it up.

-Mm-hm.

And Tariq is quick to take his lead.

Maybe just have another border coming out.

Bring this a lot deeper, having another border come out like that

and having a small path leading from this garden to that garden.

And, ideally, I wanted to have a rose arch,

so would it be ideal to have a rose arch...?

There you are, you're getting there.

You could have a rose arch here dividing the two.

-I like that.

-Wow!

-How about that?

-OK, yeah.

Monty suggests breaking up the garden into distinct sections,

to make it feel bigger.

He feels the lawn should be reduced considerably.

He suggests that they should increase the width of their border,

and have one on either side.

The third section of garden should be mainly

a flower border with a path running through.

The bench should be moved to the left-hand side

to catch the evening sun.

The rose arch should act as a doorway,

separating the border area from the lawn.

-Does that make sense?

-Yeah, it does, it does, yeah.

-Can you do it for us?

-No. I'm not going to do anything for you.

This is going to be your gig.

-Yeah.

-And I tell you what, it's your money, your time, your effort.

You're young, you're enthusiastic, you've got lots of ideas.

If you want to be proud of yourselves,

-you've got to walk the walk. You've got to do it.

-Definitely.

-And you will.

-OK.

You will. And I'll help you and I'll guide you.

Do as much as you can yourselves.

What they described to me with such passion

simply wasn't reflected by the plan on paper,

which I thought was a bit boring and bit safe.

He's given us an idea of how to get everything we want in there,

but just go about it a different way.

So I think they've got to start again, get stuck in,

do the work and make sure that all that initial energy and enthusiasm

ends up on the ground.

I think I might do a bit more than project managing though!

In Bath, the boys are looking forward

to meeting Monty for the first time.

We've just been planning for so long for this garden.

We just can't wait to get cracking.

I think it's going to be weird having Monty here,

cos Monty's been here before, but only ever on the telly.

So he's always been about this big.

So to see him full-size will be quite fun.

-Ah, welcome. I'm Ant.

-Ant, hello.

-This is Jake.

-Jake.

-Pleasure to meet you, Monty.

-Nice to meet you.

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

And this is it.

It's a good it.

Oh, it goes round the corner.

-Yes.

-It's got a little bit to the side.

-And a lot.

-Yeah.

How long have you been here?

-Since October, since November?

-Yeah. October, November time.

-Effectively, in horticultural terms, this is the first season.

-Yes.

So what type of garden are you thinking of?

We want a Japanese garden.

-Right.

-We really want a Japanese garden.

We're thinking of splitting it into two bits,

-because we've got the bit down the side.

-Yeah.

So the main bit would be more like a tea garden

and kind of a strolling garden.

And then down the side, where it's shady,

we're thinking woodland streams, dark areas,

kind of green and lush and cool.

To what extent... do you want to take the influence

and make a garden of your own,

or do you want to make a "Japanese garden"?

We want to make a Japanese-influenced garden, I guess.

-OK.

-One of my main concerns is

that we don't want it to look like a halfway garden.

We still want it to look authentic enough,

and still staying true to the ethos and everything else.

And at the same time, because we have seen so many Japanese gardens,

there's so much in our head and it's very dangerous to put all of them

into our small garden.

I'm glad you're saying it, not me. Because I would say it.

The biggest mistake would be to try and cram every idea you've ever had,

every garden you've ever seen, into your back garden.

But the good thing is

there are a lot of temple gardens that are precisely this size.

Have you any idea what it's going to cost?

At the moment, it stands at £5,000.

Your original figure was £2,000.

Yeah, mine was very much a finger in the air,

not knowing what I was talking about, £2,000,

-until we looked into it.

-£5,000 is a really healthy budget.

£2,000 is possible, but you would be making compromises quite early on.

I don't think we want to make any compromises.

I'm quite impatient, and I envisage this garden when it's done,

it's going to look mature and look like an authentic Japanese garden.

But deep down, I know that Japanese gardens takes years,

-if not hundreds of years to mature.

-Can I tell you something?

-Please.

Forget the deep down.

You've got to know, right on the surface,

that this is going to take years.

OK? What you do this year is the beginning.

-OK.

-The psychology you need

is that you're not looking at that end product,

-you're just looking at today.

-Yeah.

-That's the gardener's mentality.

And, actually, there's something quite nice about growing

-with your garden.

-Absolutely. That's it.

You and the garden grow together. The garden grows you.

-Yeah.

-Think Zen.

Great. Please, yeah.

Ant and Jake's ambitious plan is for a Japanese-inspired garden,

divided into two sections.

The woodland area at the side of the house

will feature a miniature stream,

surrounded by shade-loving plants such as ferns and hostas.

A gate opens into a space as yet undefined.

Beyond that, the formal tea garden,

featuring a variety of Japanese-style planting

and stepping stones, creating a path leading to the left-hand corner.

In the centre of the garden, an acer will rest on a mound,

half surrounded by an intricate concrete patio.

Monty is concerned about certain aspects of their plans.

I am worried

by how much of that area this hard landscaping is taking.

-Right.

-OK.

-It's a relatively small space.

I would consider making it smaller, and having a journey round,

rather than just to one place.

Monty zeroes in on a vague bit of the plan.

And then as we come round here, into what is alarmingly called

-"No-man's-land"...

-Yes, we were hoping you'd spot that.

We have no idea what to do about that area.

You can tell where the ideas ran out.

No-man's-land is always a disaster.

You know, incoherent, unresolved areas

remain incoherent and unresolved.

-Right.

-You have to resolve it.

Monty suggests they reduce the size of the patio

to accommodate more planting on the right-hand side of the garden.

He also thinks they should bring

the different sections of the garden together,

by extending the path throughout.

Rather than having no clear purpose,

no-man's-land would become a third, separate section of the garden.

The path should then continue through the woodland,

and lead to a small teahouse that would serve as a bike shed.

That probably would be the only bike shed

-that looks like a Japanese teahouse in this country.

-Well...

And I think it would both be funny...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-..and practical.

-Practical.

-Yeah.

But Ant and Jake are worried that their soil is very waterlogged,

so Monty suggests a way to find out how big a problem they're facing.

I would expect, in a new build like this,

for there to be the thinnest layer of topsoil.

-Right.

-Just enough to support grass.

And all kinds of rubbish underneath.

-OK.

-So we take out a square of turf.

-However wide it is, it must be at least as deep.

-Right.

-So, if it's two foot wide, it should be two foot deep.

-OK.

-Fill it full of water.

-Yeah.

And leave it, ideally, overnight.

Let it soak away at its own pace.

Whatever that takes.

As much as drain away, it will be absorbed by the soil.

Then you fill it again...

knowing that the soil is saturated.

So what goes then is proper drainage, as opposed to absorption.

And depending on the rate of that fall,

will give you a pretty good indication

of the drainage of the soil.

Monty says that anything more than ten hours is very slow drainage.

Ideally, he'd want the water to drain within four to five hours.

What we hope...

-..is that tomorrow morning it's gone!

-We do hope, yeah.

If in a week's time we get a phone call saying

it's dropped half an inch...

-Then we have a problem.

-And I'm off.

I'll be seeing you.

For all the knowledge and enthusiasm for a Japanese garden -

and I love that -

it pales into insignificance until they tackle the problem of the soil.

We knew the drainage was an issue to tackle,

but we just didn't realise the scale of it.

This is a classic new-build problem.

Horrible soil which has been compacted

and really is unsuitable for planting.

So until they sort that out, they really can't progress at all.

What have we got ourselves into?

Our supercompetitive dreamer, Tariq, wants an award-winning garden,

but Monty didn't award him any gold stars

when it came to his original plan.

So, to help him and Sira get a clearer vision,

Monty has invited them to the biggest gardening event

of the year - the Chelsea Flower Show.

After all, it's where the top names in the gardening world

compete for the title "Best In Show".

And Tariq has already found something he has his eye on.

Definitely need one of these in our garden.

-Oh, what, instead of the topiary chicken?

-No, as well as.

I think we should have a steel chicken, a topiary chicken,

maybe a wood one, and have a flock of chickens in my garden.

Oh, I don't know. I'm not really sure if I like it!

Much to Sira's relief,

Monty guides the pair away from poultry and to the LG Smart Garden -

a contemporary take on the outdoor room.

He really wants them to up their game

to find their own style and colour scheme.

I've brought you here because it's very hi-tech, very modern.

Unashamedly so.

But it does use the vernacular of conventional gardening.

You know, the plants are plants that could be in any garden.

The way you grow them is exactly the same way

as you would grow them in any garden.

So, have you any immediate feedback?

As soon as I walk into this garden, it feels really serene and calm,

modern. What's really incredible about it is the planting scheme,

and they've really thought about the thickness, the depth of the borders,

the height of the plants, how full it looks,

the colour scheme. Everything is just...

Looks really spectacular, so it's really blown me away.

And this is from someone who said that you weren't going to be

-involved in the garden itself.

-No, I know!

-What are you thinking?

-I think it's fantastic.

I love it. Bringing the inside out,

-and also the outside coming into the house as well.

-Yes.

This is a space to live in as much as to garden.

It is an outdoor room.

And that is something that more and more people are using and doing.

If you look at the planting, the colour scheme is actually very soft.

-Yeah.

-It's very pretty.

The colour palette is actually quite modest and pared down.

But that's always a good thing.

Originally, I was thinking I just wanted lots of bright colour

-in one place.

-Yeah, I know.

-And which I've said.

The one thing I've noticed that all the gardens we've seen at Chelsea,

is the palette, like how amazing just a palette can look

with a few colours, rather than throw too much in there.

-Some of the gardens are very, very subtle indeed.

-Yeah.

How many plants do you have to get to make a garden?

It has often been said, the fewer the better.

But, at the moment, just think of colours and shapes,

and how you want to use the space.

Monty also wants to show them another garden,

designed by Charlie Albone.

It's a relaxing space

that provides a retreat from the speed of modern living.

What I thought might interest you is, one -

-it's very different to the other garden.

-Yeah.

-And, two - it's got much more structure.

-Yeah.

You know, ranging from the fact that he's dug down

to have a lawn down that you have steps down into,

the stepped box hedging that makes it create the structure,

and then, of course, the colour scheme -

-totally different...

-Yeah.

-..but just as controlled.

-Yeah.

-If you look at it, it's within a very defined palette

of rich plums and purples,

and these silvery colours with touches of white.

-I love this garden.

-Yeah.

-Absolutely love it.

I like the small lawn area which we could incorporate into our garden.

-The height is really interesting.

-The height's important, yes.

Really interesting. They've got these amazing hedges on stilts,

then you've got the amazing colour palette, and it...

It's very striking.

Both these gardens, in their very different ways, have taken a theme.

They're both about people relaxing.

They're both modern.

They both have a limited colour palette.

And they do it in a very different way.

-Yeah.

-They're coming at the same problem from different angles...

-Yeah, yeah.

-..to make a relaxing urban space.

The key thing is to try and sort of find out what, really, you want...

-Yeah.

-..and then make it happen. Rather than what you ought to want,

-or what other people want, or what...

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's got to come from inside you.

-Yeah.

-Or else it won't work.

Today's been fantastic.

It's been really great to come to Chelsea.

I think one of the main things I've taken away is the interest

and depth you can create with height and having a colour palette,

and not confusing the colour palette,

keeping it quite clean and thinking about the feel of the garden,

like how we want the colours to make us feel.

I think they're beginning to see what they like

without necessarily knowing why they like it,

or how to achieve it in their own garden.

And that's a really important step.

So hopefully, they will leave here

not trying to emulate the professionalism of Chelsea...

..but having found a place in their hearts

that they can then follow wherever it takes them.

In Bath, the plan for a Japanese garden has been stalled

by the drainage issue.

Monty was here a week ago and he gave us some homework to do.

We did some digging of holes.

Yeah. And he left us with a hole full of water.

And by the looks of it, it's still there.

Has it gone up?

No. But it doesn't look like...

That's seven centimetres it's gone down in a week.

So if that was in an hour, that would have been perfect.

-Yeah.

-But this is in a week.

-This is a week.

The boys have dug several holes around the garden,

to see how widespread the problem is.

Gosh, this one is too fast!

It's only been an hour, and all the water's gone.

So we've got one hole on this side that's actually too fast.

There's another hole on the other side that's just standing still.

Right.

This is going to call for an extreme solution,

especially if they are to keep up with the now-not-so-identical garden

fast taking shape next door.

So they call on some heavy-duty machinery

to remove most of the garden, and start again from scratch.

Plan for this, tomorrow, is to put in the drain,

take the water out of it so it doesn't become a big sump.

And then gravel.

8 tonnes of gravel and 18 tonnes of soil on top.

And then we can do some landscaping and gardening.

So, you know, it's...

Mammoth task.

It's June in Leyton,

and hard-working Tariq has been busy clearing out the garden.

We've taken out two skips' worth of rubble.

We've dug out concrete blocks.

So that is a huge amount of work that we did.

I haven't really done anything, in fairness.

Tariq's been doing all of the hard graft.

This runs all the way to here.

Yeah, but you haven't measured it.

How are you going to fill that out with plants?

You haven't measured it, so I don't know how you know that.

The idea is that we get the path shape of our garden,

so we're just trying to peg out and map the flow,

and how the path meanders along.

You need to measure these bits, don't you,

so that it's brought in enough?

We need to do this, actually, and get it right.

Seems like Tariq isn't the only perfectionist in this relationship.

And we need to measure those bits, actually.

Shall we start measuring those as well?

-And then we can get this bit right.

-All right.

And that through that one.

Yeah, it looks better now.

What do you think?

With the path laid out and the project manager appeased,

it's time to move on to the rose arch.

I'm going to be in charge of the instructions,

and Tariq's going to be in charge of the labour.

This is the way that we work best together -

with me directing and him doing.

Sira isn't the only one keeping Tariq in line.

Their neighbour, Leon, is watching closely as well.

Can't wait to see the finish, you know, getting so excited.

I just hope that Tariq does it good and proper,

otherwise I'm going to tell him off!

I think before today, to me, it just looked like a big pile of muck.

I could probably just see all the negatives,

rather than see it as a space where you can actually do something.

And now we've started to map it out, I can kind of see Tariq's idea,

I can kind of see it coming to life a bit more.

Yeah.

In Bath, with the drainage issue sorted,

the boys are taking delivery of their brand-new,

and - fingers crossed - problem-free soil.

It's like we're starting afresh.

We had a hole that you could have

actually buried two elephants in there, no problem. For sure.

We've got a lot of soil in.

I think we've got...

-29 tonnes.

-29 tonnes. There we go.

But the hard work hasn't even started yet!

They're now running a month behind,

so the boys have called on their friends and family to make a start,

finally, on their garden.

To add salt to the wound, their competitive neighbours,

Jake's twin and his husband,

have already completed the work on their garden.

Our garden's fabulous, yes.

It couldn't be more different.

We paid someone to just do it.

It's, in comparison, a lot easier.

It's certainly not the relaxing experience our dreamers had in mind.

But they're trying to stay positive.

Many hands make light work,

and it's been so good to have so many friends frantically digging

and helping our dreams become reality.

Overall, really good day.

At least you can actually see the shape of it now...

-Yeah.

-..which is really exciting.

After some extensive research,

Tariq and Sira have come to Provender Nursery

to pick up some plants.

That's pretty. I really like that one.

-It's got some nice red foliage on it as well.

-And some pink as well.

And grab that other one at the back there. That's quite nice, too.

-What ones do you want?

-I want the pink ones.

Sira is in charge of the list, but, true to form,

she's letting Tariq do all the heavy lifting.

Want to give us a hand?

You're doing all right. I think you're doing all right.

All right.

At least marketing manager Liz offers to help

with some horticultural advice.

-Foxgloves.

-Yeah.

Otherwise known as digitalis.

Well, the most common foxglove is Digitalis purpurea alba,

which gets white flowers with little dots of pink and purple in it.

-Flower spikes will get to this high.

-Yeah.

Great plant for structure. Will self seed.

How many is good to get,

if you don't want them to overpower the whole garden?

With something like a digitalis, because it's a woodland plant,

you never see just one in the wild,

you always see, sort of, like a little grove.

It's best to try and emulate what you see in the wild,

so at least three.

Sira and Tariq are keen cooks,

so, next on the list, they're looking to fill up their herb bed.

Sage on your list.

-That's a good one.

-OK.

It's got a nice big leaf. It's a good, earthy plant.

-How big does it grow?

-If you're picking it,

to continually cook from it,

always take the younger leaves, rather than the older leaves,

-they can be a bit tough.

-OK.

As you can see, if you nip out the top...

it'll regrow from here.

If you're continually picking it, it'd probably get about this size,

-all in all.

-OK.

-And a nice, decent bush about that sort of size across.

Sage crossed off, it's time to move on to the next item on the list.

There are lots of various different types of thymes,

but one the best ones for cooking is actually this one.

That's got a really good, tough little smell to it.

The thing to do with thyme is, once it's flowered,

treat it a bit like a lavender

-and just cut it back to past the flowering.

-OK.

And, again, you'll get all this lovely, fresh, new foliage,

-perfect for cooking.

-Nice.

-Yeah, that's lovely.

I'll tell you what I've got at home, which is a great plant,

is parsley.

And the only thing with parsley is not to let it flower.

It does go a bit bitter if it flowers.

-But that overwinters really nicely.

-Oh, right.

Everything we've looked at is perennial,

so it will die down each year and come back.

Things like the rosemarys and the lavenders, obviously, are evergreen,

but there are a few things to consider, like basil.

-Yeah.

-Great in a salad, but that is an annual

so it won't overwinter.

Having selected their plants,

Liz helps the novices work out whether they have bought

the right ones to create their dream garden.

You've got a lot of lovely, strappy foliage,

so you've got some good structure.

You've got the flowering height with the verbenas,

and also you'll have the digitalis.

You've got the erysimums, the evergreen wallflower.

You have everything here, really,

herbaceous-wise, that you could possibly need.

So it's a really, really good selection.

In Bath, the Japanese-garden lovers had a complex plan for a tea garden

and a woodland glade.

And, to add to the challenge,

they now want to build a Zen garden on their no-man's-land.

Monty has sent them to the Japanese Garden in Cornwall to meet owner

Robert Hore, who began developing his meditative garden in 1991.

Robert shares his experience of how to achieve

the elegance and deceptive simplicity of a Zen garden.

They were first built by Zen Buddhists,

and it was part of their sort of meditation process -

the raking, the cleaning.

It is a spiritual experience, if you like.

There is an energy that people pick up on.

This is very calming.

We've had virtually every reaction you can imagine from this.

-Yeah?

-Some people have cried.

What was the theory behind the rocks,

in terms of the position of them?

And do they symbolise anything for you?

If you saw it, sort of, man is the smallest part to the earth,

to the universe, it does put it all in perspective.

Wow.

Robert explains that stones have played an important role

in Japanese culture since ancient times.

In Zen gardens, larger stones can symbolise mountains,

islands or waterfalls...

..while gravel and sand replace water.

It took ages to get the rocks here.

But it took a lot longer to actually get them to sit together.

-Right.

-And there's nothing really tangible you can say,

-until it's right.

-Yeah.

-That's interesting, cos it looks right.

-Yeah.

-I can't describe why it looks right.

-Yes.

-It just looks right.

I would love to know how you create the lines in the gravel.

Well, would you like me to show you how to rake it?

-I'd love to see that.

-Fine.

So, it's a relatively simple dowelled wooden rake.

And I use a wavy line around the stones,

to almost symbolise waves around islands.

Yeah.

-This gravel does show the lines really well.

-Yeah.

-Are you putting much weight on it, or are you just dragging it?

-No.

Literally, you're just dragging it through.

When you first started,

how did you know where to rake and what lines you're going to make?

-I played with lots of different designs.

-Yeah.

But this is the one I've actually used now

-for about the last 20 years-ish.

-Wow.

And it's a new day again.

Great.

The only thing I would say is,

see here, where you've come

to meet the other one?

-Yeah.

-If you just

blend it in, it becomes complete,

and you can't see

where you've stopped and started.

Today was brilliant.

I loved it. I learned quite a lot.

Yeah. It's really impressive.

We were actually blown away, just how authentic it looked,

and how much attention he put into every detail in this garden.

And how much work that he actually put into this place!

-Yes!

-So much commitment.

-Years and years of work.

In Leyton, the hard landscaping for their dream award-winning,

cottage-style garden has been completed.

And while Sira has been busy ordering even more plants,

Tariq has a characteristically organised plan

for looking after them.

I think we bought so many plants that it's going to be difficult

to keep track of it all.

So we're going to have to create some sort of spreadsheet,

or like a booklet of plants and how to look after them.

The plants haven't arrived yet,

but what has arrived is a whole lot of manure -

two tonnes of it.

Monty had told Tariq he needed to do something about the bad soil.

I'm shovelling...

..composted horse manure in preparation for hundreds of plants

that are going to arrive next week.

Smells pretty bad.

It's got to be done, cos our soil's not very good.

I need to enrich it.

And as ever, neighbour Leon is keeping an eye on his handiwork.

I know, I know it smells.

Sorry, Leon.

-Is that all you're digging in?

-Yeah.

That's not enough, is it?

Well, two, nearly two tonnes.

-Oh, over there, yeah.

-Yeah.

In Bath, following their inspirational trip,

Jake and Ant have been working hard to get things to the next stage

before their mentor's visit.

Monty's curious to see how the boys have been getting on.

I've been thinking about this garden quite a lot.

Japanese gardens are not easy,

and especially ones as complex and as ambitious as they've done.

So I do hope that they've got the soil sorted

and they've made a bit of a start,

because otherwise they're going to be cutting it fine.

MONTY WHISTLES

Hello!

-Hello.

-Hi, Monty.

And I thought perhaps you wouldn't have done much.

-Good to see you again.

-Nice to see you, nice to see you.

-Welcome.

-I'm really, really impressed.

-Welcome back.

OK. I left you...

..walking away thinking, "Ooh, they've got a problem."

-Yeah.

-How big a problem was it?

In the end, we had to... get the whole garden dug out.

And then put in two gigantic soakaway boxes,

and then 21 more tonnes of soil on top of that. Yeah.

-Whole new garden!

-Yup.

When I said you need to get the soil sorted out,

I certainly didn't think that would mean

essentially carving out the hillside and replacing it.

It's quite rare for people to go to such lengths to make a garden.

And you have got going in a way that I hadn't begun to anticipate.

We took on your suggestions.

And we changed a bit of it. Most notably, I think, the paving.

-Right.

-You called it crazed paving.

It was slightly crazed,

and we reduced it down to the minimum size we could.

-Right.

-And a table and chairs.

And you've been aggressively planting.

Well, what you're looking at is the 1,560 camomile,

-individually planted.

-Yes. We've done the camomile.

You have done the camomile.

You've really done the camomile!

Time for Monty to get to work.

And tell me what your volcano is doing.

That is where the acer is going to live.

And that's something we need help with.

Normally, with an acer,

you'd say plant, ideally, between October and March.

The reason for that, even if it's in a pot,

is that the roots will grow to a certain extent,

but the leaves won't,

so therefore not making demands upon the roots.

Planting now, especially if it's hot and dry,

-quite a lot of demands on the roots.

-Yeah.

So you may well have to water much more than you otherwise would.

-OK, right.

-But let's get it in the ground.

Yeah, that's good.

-Yeah, I've got...

-OK.

That's too low in the hole.

OK, so the top, that point, I want to be

about an inch above the soil level.

So about like that. OK?

So if I lift this out,

can one of you two get enough soil to put underneath it, OK?

Because they are moving the acer

outside of the normal planting season,

Monty advises using mycorrhizal fungus,

which he says should help to extend the root system

and increase absorption.

Now, what you have to do with this is put it onto the roots,

and also put it on the soil. So...

Turn it a bit again. One more.

That is pretty much...

Right. Next step is for you to stand back and tell me

-where to position it so you're happy.

-OK.

-OK.

-What I'd like is the longest arch to come over here.

-Yeah.

-Come about 90 degrees around.

-Like that?

-Little bit more.

-Perfect.

-So, we'll water that thoroughly.

You want to get right down to the roots at the bottom.

That should do it. That should do it.

Finish all watering before you mulch,

because otherwise the mulch acts as a blotting paper

and soaks up moisture, and you want the water to go down to the roots

and then the mulch keeps it in.

Let's stand back and look at the handiwork.

-I think that's pretty good, don't you?

-It's perfect.

-It transforms the garden, I think.

-Yeah.

Although the tea garden is nearly complete,

the pair still have two more sections to tackle.

When I said that it's all about the soil, it's going to be a big job,

I didn't realise it was going to be as big as it turned out.

And they've created a completely new garden.

It amasses, and it looks good.

They've got to do this side section.

And there's a lot to do, but all the evidence is that they'll do it...

..and they'll do it well.

We've planted a load of stuff together.

You quite like doing a bit of gardening now.

-I like parts of it.

-Parts of it.

-Yeah.

-But that's better than none.

I wouldn't do...I wouldn't do this hard work for other people,

but for your own garden, it's worth the hard work, definitely.

Yeah, for sure.

In Leyton, Tariq and Sira are looking forward to moving on

to the next stage of the garden.

I feel like all the hard work has been done.

All the digging, the patio laying, putting up the fence and the shed.

This has been a really hard work,

-like, for Tariq.

-Yeah.

But Sira has been thinking hard about their colour scheme,

taking inspiration from the gardens Monty showed them at Chelsea.

We tried to, like, have some more confidence

in putting the garden together and, like, choosing the plants.

-And I hope that he can see that we've tried to do that.

-Yeah.

Topiary chicken, we haven't got that yet.

Any sort of chickens or goats, we don't have in our garden yet.

We wanted them, but...

This is a garden where I really don't have to worry

how much work they've done since my last visit.

I know they will have been at it like a bull at the gate.

Tariq and Sira are desperate to show how well they're doing

and get approval. And whilst that's completely admirable,

I do hope that they're learning to enjoy the process.

And, both figuratively and literally,

learning how important it is to stop and smell the roses.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. You've been busy, Tariq.

So you have done a huge amount.

Have you done it all, or have you got people in to help?

Probably about 90% of it I've done.

You have come on leaps and bounds. I mean, this is really a lot.

We're pleased with it, yeah.

There's one big question that I'm burning to know is -

have you enjoyed it?

It's been a really good experience and process

and I've enjoyed it, like, so much.

Going to the garden centre...

Because both of you are very outcome-orientated, aren't you?

-It's all about achieving goals.

-Yeah.

-Hitting marks.

-Yeah, exactly!

-Winning, being best, coming top, all that sort of stuff.

Seeing the progress, from seeing it look like an absolute derelict,

horrible garden, to seeing it start to take some shape

and start to look pleasant, I think has been an achievement.

-Yeah.

-So we've kind of got the satisfaction from that,

and now the rest of it is learning.

I see you've been buying plants...

-..in a biggish way.

-Oh!

-Sira's been buying plants.

Yeah, I enjoyed doing the plant shopping.

So we took, like, lots of inspiration from

-what we saw at Chelsea.

-We went for a purple and white...

-And pink.

-..kind of hue.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-There is a distinct colour theme emerging in that.

-What would you like me to help you with?

-We've got lots of jobs,

but I think one of the biggest ones

is getting those plants in our big border.

So we want to be able to dot them around.

So Monty and Tariq's mum, Sheda, get straight to work.

You can control him, because you're probably the only person who can!

So if we start, say, with the box.

How do you see that shaping up?

Where had you thought of these?

We were thinking along here.

-OK.

-Three boxes along here.

-One...

-To try and draw your eye into...

Two... And what about the cones?

The cones, we were thinking to have one here.

-Yeah.

-One here, and one here.

-OK.

-Yeah, to create a kind of gateway

-as you're going through here.

-So, start over this side.

-So you think one there?

-Yeah.

So, we have structure either side of the path, there...

-Yeah.

-..structure either side of the path, there...

-Yes.

-..and line it up.

Fine. Good. That makes sense.

So now, thinking of more structure, the biggest plants...

Let's get these agapanthus out.

-Yeah.

-How had you thought of them working?

We wanted to have the height kind of maybe in the centre,

and then we were kind of thinking of having grasses around,

so you could look through.

Seems to be going well.

But perhaps Sira hasn't done quite as much research as she thought.

See here?

Agapanthus flowers best when it's crammed into a container.

-Right.

-Put this into this nice, rich soil -

you'll have lots of leaves and no flowers.

Oh, right, OK. We don't want that.

So, either they've got to go somewhere with poor soil,

-and preferably a bit stony, or in a pot.

-Right.

Having worked so hard up to this point,

Tariq is not going to be deterred.

Can we plant them in a pot in the ground?

You could. You could do that.

We've got six of them. Do we stick them all together in one big pot?

Yeah, because these are quite small. I mean...

Because they like to be crowded, you can cram them into a pot.

Probably what you'd do is have two pots and have three in each pot.

-Yeah, that's what we'd want to do.

-And you would pack them tight.

Don't give them too much room.

They need only about an inch round the outside of soil.

And that would work.

Alongside the agapanthus,

Sira has chosen verbena and echinacea to add height...

..while fountain grass and Mexican feather grass

soften the overall look.

This is a plant which you grow, as much as anything else,

-for its texture.

-Yeah.

-You know, it's...

-And the one thing they need and they like is good drainage.

-Right.

So this is... You know when we saw the garden in Chelsea?

-Yeah.

-And it had the silver bits that were in with the purple.

-That's where I got the inspiration for these ones.

-So many plants.

Here's a thought.

-You could do that.

-That's nice, actually.

What we're trying to do is build up a rhythm, of colour and texture

and shape, that feels natural

but has actually got a very distinct colour palette...

..and texture. This is all quite light.

And soft. Both in colour and shape.

There are no spiky plants.

-No.

-There's nothing too rigid or hard,

and the grasses make it softer like that.

I think this is progress.

The progress to me is that you're thinking about how plants work.

There is no right and wrong way about this,

it's what you want and what works well.

Well, initially Monty's approval was the only thing we ever wanted.

And his blessing, and him saying how great we were doing.

What I think is beginning to happen,

is they are learning to exercise their own judgment,

and not see the garden through the eyes of other people,

and looking for their approval.

And that is a huge step.

I think we've got the confidence now

to just get on with it and do it ourselves.

In Bath, Jake is relishing his new-found love of gardening.

Before this garden, cactus died in my office.

I was that bad with plants.

You could kill a plastic plant, I think I used to say.

Yeah. I probably would, actually.

But it gives you confidence to think, actually,

the camomile that I planted,

they're thriving and they're growing into a lawn, so that's quite nice.

That's a nice feeling, something I didn't anticipate.

Today, they're starting on the shaded woodland area of the garden.

They're making interconnected ponds,

which will be surrounded by a variety of ferns and hostas.

Things that I dreaded

actually now doesn't seem that big of a deal any more.

When we talked about moving tonnes of soil, or rocks,

or aggregate from the front of the house to the back of the garden,

I was like, "Oh, my God, how are you ever supposed to do that?"

I mean, that's not something for a human, it's for machinery.

But now, like the other day, we're like,

OK, let's get two tonnes of rocks.

We're just going to place them around the pond.

I was like, "OK, we'll just do it one at a time."

And things don't seem that big a deal for me any more.

We've still got quite a lot of work to do.

-Yeah.

-Behind us.

-Oh, I'm confident that it's going to be done.

And I'm quite excited about seeing the whole...

whole three gardens together, really, when everything's done.

It's September in Leyton, and the big day has arrived.

Monty is on his way to see

if all of Tariq and Sira's hard work and ambition has paid off.

We're not looking for grades.

We're not people who look for grades any more.

We used to want a grade.

We wanted to be A star students.

Despite their energy, enthusiasm and willingness to work really hard,

all the way along they wanted my approval.

So above all, I hope that THEY like it,

THEY approve of what they've done and don't really care what I think.

It'd be great if he - as, like, the top gardener in the country -

thought that it was a nice garden.

I'm extremely proud of what we've done,

but mainly extremely proud of what Tariq's done.

He's just been relentless with his, kind of,

being motivated to do the project.

-Hi.

-Hi, Tariq.

Just four months ago,

this shabby back yard was nothing but a dumping ground.

But now, it is a charming and welcoming space

in which to entertain guests.

A well-stocked herb garden will keep the cooks busy.

And a pastel colour palette and soft grasses

provide a warm and relaxing atmosphere...

..while striking topiary and bold paving add structure.

And Tariq has even managed to include an iron chicken.

-Grasses are looking great, aren't they?

-Yeah.

They're coming into their own.

They'll look better and better over the next few weeks.

-Yeah.

-The topiary looks nice and crisp

and the verbena is still holding up right and good. That's fantastic.

And your herb garden, which is bathed in sunshine.

-It's baking hot.

-Yeah.

-It's the Mediterranean section of...

-Yeah, that's good.

-Yeah.

-No problems there at all.

Let's talk about money. What was the notional budget?

-I think we said seven.

-I think we said seven.

-Yeah.

-Right.

We just said £7,000 was a reasonable amount to spend.

And what did you base that on?

Percentage of what we spent on the house.

OK, well, that's not a stupid idea.

-Yeah.

-So, what did you spend?

-About ten, I think.

-Right.

I'd say probably just like, maybe close to nine, actually, but...

OK, so it was a bit over the notional budget.

-Yeah, but not...

-But not massively.

-No.

-No.

And what ate up most of the money?

The fence cost a lot of money.

The patio paving cost a lot.

And the plants cost a lot.

-Yeah.

-Could have cost twice,

-three times as much if we didn't do it ourselves.

-Yeah.

I was very impressed by the way that you did get stuck in

-and you did it. Did you enjoy that?

-I thought it was great.

-Good.

It's brilliant. It's our garden and it's a place for us to enjoy.

-Yeah.

-We've got everything that we want in it,

and we can enjoy every single aspect of it.

So it doesn't really matter if you don't like it or others don't.

-Music to my ears.

-We're enjoying it. It's fantastic for us.

That's what I want to hear.

This garden was built for entertaining,

so it's time to get the tea party started.

Tariq and Sira,

you've achieved a huge amount,

and the real success, the biggest reward,

the biggest thing you can ever win is a little bit of quiet pleasure.

So, to a garden with a long life of quiet pleasure.

-I wish you every success.

-Thank you.

-ALL:

-Cheers!

Oh, I think the garden was in a terrible state.

Considering it was growing brickwork before, now they're growing flowers.

Everything's come together really well.

You've got a lovely variety of plants here, and colours.

You know, it's looking a really lovely place to sit out and relax.

After all the hard work, it looks stunning.

It's perfect, really, for them. You know?

I think all the hard work's paid off.

I love the garden. I think it's just...

I can't stop looking at it. I'm like, "Wow, we did this."

-Yeah.

-It's amazing.

It's lovely. It's lovely. I love my garden.

The garden is a success on many, many levels.

It looks great, it completes the house.

Tariq and Sira are winners.

But they haven't defeated anybody.

They're winning because they've made something lovely.

And that's real success.

In Bath, the boys are nervously awaiting Monty's final visit.

It feels like exam day,

so I'm a little anxious.

I think the biggest transformation is standing next to me,

in terms of gardening.

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself on a Saturday,

not going to the garden centre any more.

I think he will like it.

I hope.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this garden has ended up.

And I know that these guys will have researched it very thoroughly,

and put a huge amount of work in.

To take this brilliantly executed concept,

and then make it alive and live for the future is the real challenge.

Four months ago,

this dull and uninspiring back garden was riddled with problems.

Mmm...

But now, it has a brand-new lease of life.

The iconic Zen garden provides a serene area for contemplation.

In time, the woodland pond will be covered

in a canopy of lush, green foliage.

The Japanese tea garden, swathed in a camomile carpet...

..with a glorious acer centrepiece -

the perfect place to reflect on many fond memories of far-away travels.

That has really grown.

It's matured surprisingly.

-The acer that we moved.

-Yes.

-I like the way that it's looking.

-It's looking very healthy.

-I'm really happy.

-Yeah.

It seems to have settled down.

And I like the screen that the bamboo is forming.

-Yeah.

-And that will grow and spread.

-Yeah.

-And your cherry is flowering.

-Yes.

-Hey, you've got your Japanese cherry flowering.

It came out for you!

Let's go through the trials and tribulations.

-Oh, God.

-How long have we got?

Was that catastrophically expensive?

It was very expensive,

even though the developer very kindly picked up the bill

-for a large part of the work.

-Yeah.

-We had to bring in a lot of soil.

-So it was very expensive.

-So it did blow the budget.

-Yeah.

-I mean, that alone...

is beyond most people's lifetime experience

-of dealing with problems like this.

-Probably.

To dig out to a seven-foot depth

across the whole garden and replace it.

-I'd never come across that before.

-Oh, really?

No, I mean, that is really extreme.

So you began... in the most dramatic way possible.

Actually, it was stressful at the time, for sure.

But now, it actually gives us comfort and confidence knowing

exactly what's underneath there. We know the soakaway's working,

we know the topsoil is good quality.

That actually is quite nice to know.

How much over budget are you? Now that you've finished.

The original was £5,000, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Altogether, it was 14.

-Ooh!

-Yes.

Gosh, I wasn't expecting that. It's a lot of money, isn't it?

We looked at how much we spent on holidays to Japan...

-Yeah.

-..for one thing. How much time we'd spend in the garden,

how much time we'd spend enjoying it with friends.

What you get back is bigger than the cost of it.

I think you can't possibly spend money better, in a better way.

So, you know, I'm with you.

-Now, I want to go and have a good look at the gravel garden.

-Please.

And I want to see around the side, which I haven't seen yet.

-So the path comes up here, and leads us through.

-Yeah.

It's very pure. Very pure.

-And I like the gravel very much.

-Thank you.

And into the shade garden.

And it's cool. Really cool.

I think the sort of monochromatic effect works.

-It could be lusher.

-Yes.

-Yeah, yeah.

-But that'll come.

Well, I think you should feel very, very pleased with yourselves,

because you've made a great garden. You've made a lovely garden.

-Thank you.

-Thank you so much.

Hi, guys!

And with the Monty's seal of approval,

it's time to welcome friends and family into their dream garden.

It looks amazing!

I've seen lots of gardens in my life,

all over the world.

But I've never seen a garden rebuilt from seven feet down.

I completely admire the combination of hard work, but also artistry.

So, raise your glass and let's celebrate it.

-And well done to both of you.

-Thank you so much! Thank you.

-Thank you!

-Cheers.

Very, very proud.

When you see it all together, yeah, extremely proud.

And you see their faces as well. They're so happy.

I'm very proud of Ant for having that vision

and actually realising it.

I came here and was absolutely gobsmacked.

I think the work they've done here has turned the house into a home.

Bye-bye.

I'm really pleased how it turned out.

It's amazing.

I can't believe it, at times, when I look at it.

I think I'm beyond pleased, actually.

I'm kind of amazed that we did actually manage to do it!

To me, that is a dream garden.

-To me, that is...

-It's our dream garden.

Yeah, it's our dream garden.

This is a garden that will go on to give them pleasure

and will get better and better.

It's a garden that, like a fine wine, is going to age well.