Episode 7 The Instant Gardener

Beautiful gardens are one of Britain's most glorious sights,

but if your green space is more mess than majestic,

making it over can be a daunting prospect,

especially if you are short on time and money.

Well, the Instant Gardener is here.

Ta-da.

Danny Clarke is an expert at transforming gardens.

These are really bringing a smile to my face.

Each time, our gardening guru will be showing you how to create

gorgeous garden makeovers.

Doesn't that look great?

Each transformation will be packed with brilliant ideas

to help you get to grips with your own outdoor space.

Just continually deadhead

and you will keep getting that plant to flower.

'He'll be turning garden junk...'

Oh, look at that.

'..into garden jewels...'

It's going to be used as a planter

and I think this is going to look absolutely terrific.

'..and showing you how to spend a small budget wisely...'

-That's why Danny makes me bring a list.

-OK.

'..be it on shrubs or salvage.'

Would you like that in your garden?

'And because Danny is the Instant Gardner,

'everything you see will happen in a single day.'

Oh, thank you so much.

Oh, wow.

That's unbelievable.

Today, we are in Barry, a seaside resort on the Glamorgan coast

and one of the largest towns in Wales.

As well as being home to some glorious beaches,

it also boasts more than 220 acres of green countryside and woodland.

This is absolutely stunning.

If you've got something like this on your doorstep,

you are very, very lucky.

But what if your back garden is more postage stamp than picture postcard?

Well, we are here to meet a lady whose garden is tiny,

but who is planning a big surprise.

This is my favourite kind of instant garden.

We are here to makeover the garden that belongs to this house.

The lady of the house knows we are coming.

The man of the house has no idea.

He thinks he's going to work as normal.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Come on out.

-Is it Sam?

-Yes.

-Nice to meet you.

We are here with a bit of a surprise.

I've got some friends with me. Do you mind if we come in?

-No, of course not.

-Sorry.

-She knows.

-I know. Sorry. I'm sorry, love.

Fiances Sam and Samantha moved to Barry last year,

shortly after finding out they were expecting their first child together.

Sam's parents helped with the move.

Using their combined stonemasonry skills,

Sam and his dad had planned

to renovate the garden together this summer.

However, this plan was shattered

by Mick's sudden death from cancer in November.

Samantha and Sam would love a safe and playful space

for their daughters to enjoy,

but also a garden where they can reflect

and remember Sam's late father.

As a surprise for her husband-to-be,

Samantha has called in the services of the Instant Gardner.

There will be no surprises for Danny, though, because he popped

over to Barry a few weeks ago for a sneaky preview of the garden.

Oh. Ooh.

I like this. Very nice.

Quite typical of a lot of mid-terraced properties is this garden.

Very much a blank canvas.

We've got this concrete patio

and we've got these horrible, boring slabs in the middle.

We've got these skinny beds round here.

I'm not a great fan of skinny beds.

I like nice, wide beds

because as far as I'm concerned,

your garden is all about your plants.

Maybe we can add colour, some interest into the garden

and also the walls.

Now, looking at this wall, it's kind of a mixture of bricks and boulders.

And look at this.

It just shows you, where there is a way, a plant will find a way.

It's growing out of this wall and, do you know what?

I think this has given me a little bit of inspiration.

This is all hodgepodgey and I think it could all do with being unified.

We need to bring it all together.

I think Sam and Sam deserve something better.

I think we can try and make that happen for them.

A few weeks later, and with a plan in mind,

Danny is back to meet the garden's owners.

OK, Sam and Sam.

-This is obviously your garden as you know it.

-Yeah, yeah.

Come on out here and meet Danny.

-Hi, nice to meet you.

-Sam, all right?

-Yeah, well.

-This is Sam and Sam.

-Hi.

-All right?

We are going to makeover your garden today.

-Is that something you are all right with?

-Yeah, definitely.

Sorry, this is all mental.

-You had no idea we were coming.

-Absolutely no idea.

How do you feel about us being here, descending on your house?

It's fine. It's brilliant.

Talk to me about your garden as it is.

It's something that I came into this house and immediately thought

we need to change, really, just for the kids and stuff.

-It's not really safe for the children, is it?

-It's not safe.

It too grey. It's horrible.

So you've got two small children.

-Erin is...

-Erin is six.

-And Matilda is...

-Six, nearly seven months.

So how important is having a bit of outdoor space to you as a family?

Oh, it is massively important.

You know, the nice weather and stuff,

you spend half the year outside, you know,

and you don't really want to do it in this.

So what would you like to see out here?

To be honest, I was going to straight copy two doors down

because I love it. It's decking.

It's really nice and friendly and inviting.

So you see other gardens and you think, "Oh, do you know what?

-"I'd like to do something with mine."

-Steal little bits.

-Yeah.

What would you like to see out here, Sam?

If something could be done that just makes it a nicer space

for us as a family.

Somewhere where we can come and relax and sort of reflect.

You know, there's been things going on that we'd just like

to have a nice place that we can actually enjoy really.

You know, I come out here and I just think...

You've had a bit of a difficult time as a family.

-Not that long ago, you lost your dad.

-Yeah.

-Is that why you decided to nominate Sam for this?

-Yeah.

One of the things that they were going to do was the garden together.

That was one of the main reasons that I wanted Sam

to have somewhere nice to come and for the girls as well,

especially Matilda, who never sort of got to do much of this.

-Sorry, I'm crying now.

-Sorry, love.

No, that's family, isn't it?

But, yeah, one of the main reasons was that

that was the plan for this summer.

That's what we were going to do together.

-Well, the plan was to makeover this garden. That is going to happen.

-OK.

Danny, what do you think about this space?

It's a lovely little space.

It gives me a nice feeling, you know?

And one of the important things about gardens is not just designing,

it's how you feel within that space and it does feel good.

It ticks a lot of boxes, but what we'll do,

-we'll just make the most of what you've got here.

-Fab.

-Yeah.

-Bear in mind we've only got a day.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah, we know.

Thank you so much.

Sam, we are going to get out of their hair and let them crack on.

-So, we'll go off and get some ideas.

-Yeah, cool.

-You two are going to do the hard graft.

-Thank you so much.

-That's all right.

-Thank you.

-A pleasure.

Anything you need us to get?

Yes, if you can get what is in here for me, that would be brilliant.

No problem.

See, now you're going shopping and I've got to work.

That's the modern world, Sam. It's the modern world.

Right then, have a lovely day. Enjoy. Don't work too hard.

-See you later.

-We'll get out of the way.

-Take care. Bye-bye.

-See you soon.

-Bye, love.

With Sam out of the way,

Danny can at last reveal his plan for the garden.

We are not far from the seaside here

and this is going to be a family-friendly garden.

So, I'm thinking to myself, this is going to be a beach garden.

You may view this as an ugly wall, but I see this as a positive

because I just see a cliff

that's full of crooks and crannies and crevices,

and what we're going to do is plant that up with some gorgeous plants.

So, we're going to paint the smooth bit of the wall a lovely sky blue

and down below, we're going to have a sandpit here.

And this strip here is going to be decking

and we're going to make that out of scaff planks.

And to carry on that beach theme,

I'm thinking of the sea, and we want to do a little nod to the sea.

And I'm going to do a strip of blue here,

and we're going to do that with blue paint.

And to bring it all together, let's not forget these walls.

So, I'm going to paint that wall white

and I'm going to introduce some purple onto that wall

and just paint part of this wall the same gorgeous purple

as I am painting that wall over there.

And over here, we're going to construct a corner seat.

We can also recycle these pots,

so we're definitely going to plant them up.

So, I'm going to increase this planting area here,

increase the planting area there

and we're going to put some seaside plants in,

for example, grasses and maybe even put some sea holly in.

I think that will look absolutely great.

So, Danny is planning to add splashes of colour to the walls

and ground, and replace the old paving stones with decking.

He'll turn the ramshackle wall into a planting opportunity,

add seashore plants to the borders

and finally add a bench for the family

so they can sit and relax together.

The idea here is to make a dual-purpose garden,

a garden for the adults and their children to enjoy,

and we're going to do just that with a quirky, beach-themed garden.

It might be a small garden,

but there is still a lot to do in just one day.

Not to worry, though, as Samantha is here to help,

as well as our gardening team, AJ,

Amyrose and Luke.

With the plan in place, it's time for Danny to dish out the first tasks.

-So, what we're going to do first of all is lift these slabs...

-OK.

-..and put some decking down.

-Oh, fantastic.

-All right?

And we're going to paint the walls.

-So that wall there, that wall there and that wall there.

-Oh, wow. OK.

-And this wall here.

-OK.

-OK? So that's going to be sky-blue.

-That's going to be purple.

-Wow.

-That's going to be white.

-And that's going to be purple.

-Fan... Brilliant.

So, Sam, if you could do the painting, or assist in the painting.

OK, yeah.

And, AJ, if you can concentrate on the decking, it'd be brilliant.

OK, then.

All right, so we'd better get moving

-because before we know it, they'll all be back.

-OK.

-So let's get cracking.

-Fabulous.

-OK, cheers.

-Thanks.

But before they can do any of that,

they need to tidy up.

So, what's the news, then, AJ?

Well, we've got a fair bit of this, like, a bit of hardcore underneath there

and then it's been spotted with cement.

-Well, that doesn't seem like terrible news to me.

-No, no.

When some of these come up, we can just get some of this...

-As you can see, it's moving already.

-Yeah.

So we can chisel that out, can't we?

So, there's that and then we've probably got a bit of a flat playing surface.

OK, that's brilliant. That's good news.

Yep, so just crack on with that, then, Sam.

The thing is, you know, we haven't got X-ray eyes,

so we don't know what's under here until we arrive

and we start lifting things,

-but we kind of suspected that it might be something we could work with...

-Good.

..because of the way the slabs are lying.

So, yeah, that's good news, so that will save us a lot of time.

-Make the job a bit easier.

-Fantastic.

-Great.

While AJ concentrates on the paving...

..Samantha gives the tired back wall a lick of paint -

a cheap and easy way to give your garden an instant face-lift.

Meanwhile, I'm taking Sam on a hunt for some inspiration.

A stone's throw from Sam's home

is the beginning of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast,

an area of dramatic landscapes and stunning natural beauty.

It is home not only to many species of wildlife,

but also an array of coast-dwelling plants.

-Sam, here you have coast and you have woodland.

-Yeah.

You don't have either, but there is plenty here

that I think you could kind of copy and take into your garden.

-Yeah, definitely.

-Be nice for the girls to have some flowers.

That would be lovely.

This is particularly special because it is a woodland on the coast.

-The woodland can thrive because the elms are giving it a bit of protection.

-OK.

But they're not that big, so everything behind it

-can't grow that big.

-Right.

-It's still quite impressive, though, eh?

-Ah, it's unbelievable.

There's a lot going on here.

Is there anything you see here that you like the look of?

Yeah, I quite like these little guys here.

Do you do much gardening at the minute?

You know, when you've got two little kids, it's hard, isn't it?

-I guess it's just about having a family space, isn't it?

-Yeah, it definitely is.

Well, this is certainly not for toddlers, I would say,

so let's make the most of it while the girls aren't with you

-and meet a man who can tell us a bit more about it.

-Let's go, yeah.

While we go in search of some local expertise,

Danny is moving onto the next job.

He is a firm believer in marking things out before committing

to them and sometimes a second opinion is vital.

Sam, I'm trying to put this... I'm too near to it to get it straight.

Could you be a guide? If you stand there and just look,

as you can be my eyes from there.

-Is that part straight?

-No.

-That needs to come up.

-That bit needs to come up now?

Or can you just bring that one down a little bit?

-This needs to come down?

-Yeah, it needs to come down. Yeah.

-Right there?

-Yeah.

-You're happy with that?

-Yeah.

You can also use a spirit level or tape measure

to check if something is right.

-It's out about half a centimetre.

-Still out.

-I'm not offended by that.

-It could just go up a little bit, couldn't it?

Just in the middle. Just a little bit.

Worth remembering, Danny. The customer is always right.

Right. Come down, what, about a centimetre?

So if I come down slightly, like that, yeah?

How about that? How does that look?

-I think that...

-I think that's fine.

-Let's go with that.

-No, I like that.

-Great. Yep.

-Spot on. That's why it looks straight now.

-There we go.

Masking off the area you want to paint with tape and then

painting right up to it will give you a nice, sharp, straight line.

When the paint is dry, carefully pull off the tape

and your handiwork will have a professional edge.

-Sam.

-Yeah?

-What do you think of this colour?

-Erin will be thrilled with that.

Her favourite colours are pink and purple, so she will love that.

Danny is determined to make this garden a success for Sam and his family.

Back at the Glamorgan Heritage Coastline Walk,

we are keen to get inspiration for the planting element.

To ensure the garden is packed with suitable plants,

choosing the right species for a seaside spot is key,

something site ranger Paul Locke knows all about.

Tell us about this breathtaking bit of coastline.

This is the Glamorgan Heritage Coast,

14 miles of coastline stretching from an industrial

area in the east to a tourism area in the west.

Would it be fair to say this is a special part of the country

that you are paying special interest and special attention to?

That's right, yes.

Well, it is certainly working because it looks pretty impressive,

-doesn't it?

-Oh, it's beautiful.

-So what do you do to look after it?

All sorts of conservation for lots of the species,

whether it might be woodlands, grasslands or any of the protected

species that live on the cliffs, like peregrine falcons.

Tell me about what grows here because stunning as it is,

-it is also quite harsh. Are you feeling the cold?

-Yes, a little bit.

And it is quite windy. What goes well here?

Specific coastal varieties that really like to live here,

things like thrift, rock samphire will live out on the cliff tops.

And samphire is the stuff that you can eat, yeah?

-Yes, you get it in restaurants. I love that.

-Never had it.

Oh, it's great. So do you notice a difference even in this

-sort of 200m stretch of coastline?

-It is massive, yes.

There is very little on the front. The salt winds kill everything.

It trims down the grass and you have to have a real niche

species that wants to live there.

Can these coastal varieties work well in domestic

-gardens, like in Sam's?

-Yes, definitely.

Most things can be grown in gardens. Thrift is a particular favourite

because it is a nice pink colour and looks good in gardens.

Further in, it gets more herb rich.

There's some particular specialities like purple gromwell.

It is quite harsh and bare out there, yet there seems to be a lot

more going on up here. Shall we go and have a look over here

-for some inspiration?

-Yes.

While we explore more of this wild and wonderful trail,

back in Sam's garden, Danny is turning his attention

to his cliff-inspired wall.

I love walled gardens.

Walled gardens are great and the reason they're great, is

because the walls actually acts as storage heaters.

They draw in the heat during the day and emit the heat at night.

When we look at this wall, here, all right,

a lot of people might look at this wall and think, you know,

pull it down, but I'm going to turn this into a positive.

Within this wall, there are lots of little crevasses,

lots of nooks and crannies.

Now, that's great because you can get little microclimates.

It's going to be warmer in there than it's going to be out here,

which is great for the plants and that's why a lot of plants

can survive in these areas.

Danny is transforming this unloved wall into a miniature cliff.

He's enlarging the crevasses within the wall in order to create

planting pockets, taking special care not to weaken the load-bearing

rocks on the bottom.

If you're not confident about using a hammer drill,

get an expert to help.

Back on the Glamorgan coast,

Sam and I are on the hunt for more coastal flora. What is that, Paul?

-Sea buckthorn.

-Sea buckthorn. I like the colour.

-It gets really bright orange berries on it.

-Does it?

And here we have something rather special.

Yes, this pretty little one is called purple gromwell.

It's a bit of a garden favourite, to be honest, or a variation of this.

This is a wild protected version.

There's not much of it found in Wales.

We are in a little bit of a hot spot here and it likes to grow in amongst

other foliage, if it can, so that it's not in amongst the salt winds

and it's slightly protected in amongst bramble or any other scrub.

We work hard on trying to produce just the right

amount of shade for it to grow each spring, so we'll have a month or

so, three weeks of flowers now and then it'll die back,

and then we can start to manage the area ready for the next year.

So if Sam introduced something like this into his garden,

what would he need to do to make sure it thrives like this?

The cultivated version is very much easier to look after

and it doesn't need this intensive management.

So we could just get some from the garden centre?

Yes, and it will work well in the garden.

Is this the kind of thing you'd like to see in your garden?

Yes, it is really pretty.

-I can imagine Erin enjoying those flowers.

-Yes, definitely.

You don't have any flowers at the moment, do you?

Absolutely nothing at all. Anything like this would be lovely.

Paul, thank you very much for your help, advice and assistance.

-No problem.

-Lovely to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

We might leave the brambles for today. They would take over.

-Definitely.

-You could make a lot of jam. Paul, thank you.

-Bye.

If you want to pick the best plants for a seaside spot, a good starting

point is to choose plants that gradually grow close to the sea.

To cope with coastal conditions,

many plants have crafty adaptations such as small, silvery

and succulent leaves built to withstand wind and salt spray.

When choosing plans for a coastal garden, the clue is in the name.

Anything with the Latin name, maritima, like this sea thrift,

is usually a good bet.

You don't have to have a seaside spot in order to create

a coastal style, but do bear in mind that many coastal plants

thrive in poor soil, so don't overfeed them.

-Back in Barry, Danny is rethinking that purple wall.

-Sam?

-Yep.

-I've had a change of plan but I want to run it by you.

-OK.

-OK?

-Yep.

-Don't look so worried.

-OK.

-Trust me, I'm a doctor.

I want to extend this purple up to this line here.

Because this line is not straight?

Well, it's not because the line's not straight,

I just think the whole thing would look better.

If you look at that wall there, there's quite a lot of paint there,

there's quite a lot of paint there, but there's not very much here.

-No, no, yes, I agree.

-I just feel this just needs...

I know we've done a lovely straight line

and it took a lot of debate to get it right.

What I want to do is just to extend it to up here

and just run it at an angle at about that height.

I think it would give the garden a better balance.

Never be afraid to change your mind.

It's OK to change your plan once it's starting to take shape

and you're beginning to see its effect.

As AJ sets to work on a sandpit for the girls,

Danny and the team vanquish the rest of those grey walls.

Meanwhile, Sam and I are taking a bit of a rest, which gives me

the chance to find out how much this garden makeover will mean to him.

Talk us through family life for you at the minute,

because you haven't lived in Barry for that long, have you?

No, last April, from Bristol, yeah.

Last October was amazing for you,

because your gorgeous daughter Matilda came along.

That was the best thing to ever happen. It was brilliant.

-But November was the opposite end of the spectrum.

-Yes, it was bad.

My parents came back from holiday and my dad had a big cough

and was feeling weak and just, you know, older people

don't go to the doctors and finally went and they had to take

bits out of his neck and stuff, and it came back that he had

terminal cancer and he was given six to 12 months to live

and he died nine days later.

You thought he was going to be around for a good few months,

-but in the end...

-Yeah, glad he met my daughter, so...

-How are you doing?

-All right. Up and down.

You know, my kids get me through, Sam gets me through and

my family, you know? But it's tough but, you know, we're getting there.

In terms of your dad, how much time did you get to spend together?

Were you quite close, father and son?

Yeah, I used to be a stonemason with him

and then I left, and then I came back to it,

so I was working with him

for eight years from early 20s and having that kind of rift,

father and son, and ending up being really, really close with him.

You two had big plans for the backyard, didn't you?

Yes, you know, we were going to strip it all back

and completely redo it together.

How difficult is that then, looking at that backyard thinking

you were going to do something really good with that,

with your dad?

It must be heart-breaking to kind of think it's not going to

achieve its full potential as you wanted it to, is it?

No, definitely not because my dad knew what he was doing and I don't.

If I tried to do it, it would be terrible.

-What would you like to see in your garden?

-You know what?

Anything is going to be a brilliant improvement,

so I'll be happy whatever happens to it, really.

You know, bit of decking would be nice but if not, it's fine.

So we're never going to get our job done in the garden today

-if we don't actually get to that garden centre.

-Yes, let's do it.

-Let's hit the road.

-All right.

While we had to do some shopping, back at the garden, the

walls are painted, AJ is busy prepping the decking and Danny

is turning his mind to planting his own miniature cliff face.

What we're doing today, we're treating this cliff face

-as a rockery.

-OK.

-It makes sense, doesn't it?

-It's a vertical rockery.

-Oh, fab.

For that reason, we've chosen alpine plants.

Now, these alpine plants, they will grow in these crevices.

They don't need much maintenance, which is good for you.

That is fantastic for me because maintenance isn't my biggest

thing in the garden, so that's fantastic, yeah.

OK, now there's one here. You see this in a lot of gardens.

-Do you recognise it?

-Yes, I do, I have definitely seen those before.

That is called Aubrieta and that's quite common.

You see this in a lot of rockery gardens,

so I thought that would be a good idea for this wall.

Planting up a wall like this couldn't be easier.

Simply press the plants into the nooks and crannies.

Just make sure you've given each plant a good soak in water first.

-There's some thyme here.

-Oh, I love thyme.

-Just smell that. All right?

-Will I be able to cook with this?

Yes, no reason why you can't. that will cascade down.

So, in time, this wall will be covered with lovely plants.

-Brilliant.

-There is a little tip here.

-OK.

To get these plants in, you're not going to get it out

because the roots have grown through these holes,

so what you do here is just tear these roots.

-So, that doesn't matter?

-Doesn't matter.

-Oh, OK.

That will just slide out.

Sometimes what happens is you still won't be able to get it out,

you know, so just squeeze the pot like that and it just

dislodges the soil and should just slip out.

We've got some sedums here.

These are truly well adapted to these conditions

because you can see these fleshy, glossy leaves.

These retain the water in their leaves.

Planting up this wall is a cheap

and easy way to turn a boring wall into a blaze of floral colour

and whilst Sam carries on with that, AJ has also come up with a cheap

way to make the decking using low-cost scaffolding boards.

We're going to put these wooden treated

posts down as sort of the framework.

They're on this surface here, which has got great drainage anyway

because it's that sub-base that's there.

We're going to put new scaffolding boards on top, which are like

really fresh and clean, to give that driftwood look

because we're doing a beach garden.

Scaffolding boards, here, they do make good decking

because of the thickness of them.

These are 38mm thick, so the thicker the wood, the less it's

going to bend, so in theory, the less of the framework you kind of need.

I like to have these smaller gaps anyway

because when you're standing on it, there's absolutely no

way, between these two posts here, is this bending.

I love fresh wood and as these scaffolding boards are brand-new,

it will look amazing.

Danny's seaside vision for the garden is coming together nicely.

Now it's my turn to contribute to the theme by finding

the plants on Danny's shopping list.

Sam, I have brought you here

because Danny would like some coastal plants, including sea thrift.

I know we can get that here.

Now, we've seen a few other things like the periwinkles and some of

those flowers, how do you feel about getting some of that for the garden?

-Yes, that's good.

-OK. Let's see what we can find.

If you have a particular theme in mind for your garden, it's a

good idea to research the right plants before you go shopping,

then make a list and stick to it.

If you can't find what you're looking for,

ask for help as an expert may be able to suggest alternatives.

-Steve, good to see you.

-You OK?

-This is Sam.

-Hi, how are you?

-We're in search of some coastal plants.

-OK.

Now, we've been sent for sea thrift in particular,

but to be honest, we'll have a look at anything else you've got.

-OK, I can do sea thrift right away. If you'd like to follow me.

-Cool.

I like those. So, what have we got here?

OK, so we've got two types of sea thrift in at the moment.

We've got the Armeria maritima Rubriofolia,

and then we've got the maritima Alba.

Alba means white, so this is the lovely white flower

and then you've got the pink flower here.

-What can you tell us about the sea thrift?

-It's a good coastal plant.

It gives you a nice sort of matted carpet of evergreen foliage

and you get these beautiful spikes of flowers on top.

And will this give you something all year round?

Yes, the foliage is actually evergreen,

so you've always got a bit of interest all year round.

-How easy are they to look after?

-Pretty easy.

Just nice drainage, even multipurpose compost,

-they'll be fine.

-Full sun. How sunny is your backyard?

It is like a little sun trap, really.

What do you think about the white version versus the pink version?

-I think the pink.

-Let's take these ones.

-Brilliant.

-What about periwinkle?

-OK, that's something else we can do.

-If you'd like to follow me.

-This way?

OK, these are periwinkles or Vinca, as you know them.

Again, lots of different varieties.

We've got the Ralph Schugart there.

Lovely variegated foliage. A mauve colour I guess.

Then there's the alba, which is the white again.

-What do you make of these, Sam?

-Yeah, they're nice.

-If you could pick any of those, which would you go for?

-That's hard.

-What would you say?

-What would you recommend, Steve?

OK, I'd probably like to choose something that is a bit

complimentary of the Armerias that you've already got,

so I would maybe go for the Vinca bowles variety.

Is that important, to think about what flowers are going to come

out, so that you can make sure your plants complement each other?

Yes, it is always important to think about what colours go together.

Sometimes, this would be what you'd consider, maybe a section of

the colour wheel which is all pinks and purples all together,

or you could go for something a bit contrasting as well.

There's no rule about it. It's up to you, essentially,

but I think it's a nice thing to do. All-round interest.

Aren't there some with more flowers in?

There will be much more flowers than that.

Nice flowers but actually that's quite big.

That's offering a lot, isn't it?

Yes, they're a nice sizeable plant and considered a sub shrub,

so they would be ground cover or low-growing plants.

-So that's going to grow out?

-That's going to spread, yes.

Can you have these plants if you live inland?

-As in coastal plants?

-Yes.

-OK, yeah, there's no problem with that.

It's more down to the tolerance of the salt air.

These plants are OK with the salt air.

Yes, there's no reason why you couldn't grow them.

OK, if you live on the coast and you want an interesting garden,

obviously plants are a key thing,

you need hardy plants that can cope with the conditions.

Is there anything else you can recommend?

You could think about maybe creating a windbreak.

If you plant a hedge line around where your garden is,

you can essentially create a windbreak and a microclimate

as well within your garden, so you can grow a wider variety of plants.

Brilliant. That's all good to bear in mind. Shall we grab another one of these?

-Yeah.

-I'll grab these. Sam, you grab the sea thrift.

-Steve, thank you for your advice.

-Pleasure. Enjoy.

-See you again.

The decking is now taking shape

and as AJ has kicked Danny out of the garden, he's found

a quiet spot in the lane to start planting up Sam's old pots.

The plants we're going to put in is some lovely plants here

-and these are called scabious.

-OK.

-They're really beautiful, and they will flower.

-Really pretty.

They're really pretty, aren't they?

Going with that mauve theme that we've got going in your garden,

which is brilliant, and what's great about these, they do

attract the bees and we do like bees, don't we?

-Definitely, yes, they're all for the bees.

-They're all for the bees.

I think if we put them in the centre of these pots and then

plant around them, these could be the good sort of feature plants.

So I think what we'll do is we'll dig away the top layer of soil

and we'll do a bit of arranging.

So, if we put the scabious in the middle,

that's going to be the centrepiece in there.

Rejuvenating old pots is a quick

and easy way of breathing new life into your garden.

So, these are now, we've done these, they're in good shape now.

-What do you reckon?

-Yeah, I think they're going to look fantastic.

-Shall we take them in?

-Yeah, definitely.

-OK, we'll do that.

-OK.

Another job completed and now Danny

is turning his attention to something

that will make Sam's surprise garden even more special for him.

It'd be nice to put a memorial in the garden, wouldn't it?

-Yes.

-For Sam's dad.

-Yeah, Mick.

-Mick. And have you any ideas?

Mick was really into sort of family tree and ancestry, so a tree.

Personally, I think that would work for us as a memorial

because it would mean something to everybody and it can grow with us.

If we did something like that, it just meant that there's something

in here that means something more than just having the garden done.

Do you know what? I love that idea, I think it's great.

-It might be an idea for me to give Helen a ring.

-OK.

-And see if she can bring one back.

-OK, brilliant.

-Great.

-Well, I think Danny will be happy with these.

-Yeah, definitely.

A nice little bit of colour. Oh, hang on, talking of Danny.

That'll be him.

-Hello!

-Hello, Helen.

-There's one thing I'd like you to get me, if it's possible.

-OK.

-A tree.

-A tree?

-Yes. Preferably an amelanchier.

OK, so if not an amelanchier, what else would do?

I'll just leave it to you.

I'm sure we will find an amelanchier, if not something similar.

Or something similar, that'd be fine. Don't bring an oak back.

You know me well. All right, then, some sort of tree. How big?

-I would say it's about two metres high.

-OK.

-Yeah? So that's the idea.

-OK, cool.

-OK, see you soon.

-All right. Bye.

-OK, you don't currently have many trees in your garden?

-No, I don't.

-How do you feel about having one?

-Let's do it.

When in a garden centre in South Wales, get a tree.

Danny has been keeping the reason he's chosen a tree secret,

until now, but he still needs to find a place to plant it.

Maybe AJ can help.

Oh, one that I follow everywhere, who's my hero.

I just need to ask a favour. It's a big favour.

I've just come up with this idea.

It's going to mean a little bit more work, but I want to run it by you.

Well, crack on.

OK. We've got this memorial tree coming

and I'm struggling as to where I'm going to put it.

-I think a great place to put it would be here.

-Oh.

-Yeah, I know.

How much of an issue would that be for you if we put it here?

I know you'd have to do some cutting.

-Do some cutting, that would be it.

-So I can do it?

-Yeah.

-Thanks, AJ.

-I'm here to help. I am here to help.

-Brilliant.

Nice one, AJ!

Now the memorial tree can take pride of place in the decking area.

Back at the garden centre, Sam and I are on the hunt

for the tree that Danny has added to our list.

Sam doesn't know what it's for it yet,

but let's hope he can find one he likes

and I know just the person to help.

-Steve!

-Oh, hello again.

-Sorry, we're back.

-Hi, how are you? OK?

-Yeah.

I know we said that we were done, but we actually want a tree.

OK, that's no problem.

-A small garden tree, ideally an amelanchier.

-OK.

But if not an amelanchier, something similar.

-Now, Sam's garden isn't huge, is it?

-No, it's pretty small.

OK, I can do one amelanchier for you.

There are some other options though,

if you're looking for a tree for a small garden. These, for example.

Oh, that's lovely, isn't it?

This is Syringa, or lilac, as it's commonly known.

That's lovely.

It's also grown as a shrub, it flowers between May and June.

It tends to have a nice perfume to it too.

The foliage is a nice shape as well,

a nice heart-shaped foliage to it, so that could be one option for you.

-It doesn't get too large at all.

-It smells nice and looks nice.

-Heart-shaped leaves.

-Mm-hm. Yeah.

-It's...

Another option could be your salix.

Let me just bring this over for you.

Because your backyard, it's not a massive, is it?

It's not massive at all, no.

I wouldn't have thought a tree

is something you could have back there.

Yeah, there's plenty of trees you can choose from,

or some shrubs that have been grown into standards

that would look like a tree.

This one, for example, this is Salix Kilmarnock.

-Is it a willow?

-It is a willow.

You get late winter, early spring some lovely, lovely catkins,

so that's one interesting point.

So this would be covered in all those nice little white fluffy bits?

-Nice little fluffy bits, yes.

-Interesting.

-Yeah.

-Or not!

It's not going to get too large.

You can see there's a graft union, so what they've essentially done is

they've taken the root stock from one Salix that's not too vigorous,

and put a different type of Salix on top. The top is going to fill out

and you've got a nice architectural shape there as well.

-Not feeling a lot of love for it.

-No, not really.

-OK, it's a no from Sam on this occasion.

-OK.

What about that amelanchier?

-If you're after an amelanchier, then we have one here.

-OK.

-OK, well, that looks lovely.

-It is lovely.

Springwise, you get these lovely white flowers

followed by this bronze foliage,

which emerges first of all.

The flowers obviously fade and then the foliage turns a darker green,

and then these lovely flowers will turn into blackish bluey berries.

-Nice.

-Which are also edible as well, so no problem there with anything.

Because you have small children, you don't want them

pulling things off the tree that are going to be poisonous.

I don't think they're necessary palatable, but they use it

-as an alternative for sloe gin, for example.

-OK.

Are the berries good for attracting wildlife?

Berries tend to be good for attracting wildlife all-round,

yes, so that's always a good option.

OK, so flowers, foliage, loose habit, I like that term.

And gin-making berries.

Is that easy to manage in a small garden?

Because what you don't want is something big and overbearing

and that'll cast a big shadow over the garden.

Yeah. It's not going to block out all your light.

-OK, we'll go with the amelanchier.

-OK. Lovely.

Thank you so much for your help.

-No problem.

-I'd like to say this is goodbye but we'll probably be back.

-I'll possibly see you again.

-Until next time, thanks, Steve.

-I think that's lovely.

-Are you all right with that?

-See you!

-See you!

I think Sam's happy with that.

Back in the garden with time running out,

AJ is constructing a corner bench using timber off cuts from the deck.

He's already got a pair of batons screwed to the wall,

but he's hit a problem.

This wall isn't solid, so I've I drilled a hole into it

and there's nothing for a plastic plug to actually grab onto

to make this solid, so what I'm doing is, because I know this one

is solid, I've put two screws in there which will hold this end

into that one there, then I've just put that there just to keep it in place.

I'm going to measure the distance there.

In this case, we'll just have a supporting beam on there,

which won't look out of place.

If you wanted to make it pretty, you could do it on the other side.

It just depends how much spare timber you've got.

While AJ sorts out the seat of his bench,

Danny is focusing on his plants.

These lovely plants are called eryngiums,

or the common name is sea holly.

The reason it's called a sea holly

is because it's got holly-like leaves.

Just look at these, nice and fleshy.

The thing about this plant is that

it's got a very long taproot in here.

You can't see it because this is an immature plant, but on more

mature plants, the taproot can be quite substantial.

The reason it's got a long taproot is that it's searching out water

and once it's searched out that water, it will hold on to it,

so that's its mode of survival.

It's a very clever plant, isn't it?

What you've got to make sure, because this has got a long taproot,

is to make sure that you know where you're going to put it

because once it's got that taproot established, it's not to be moved.

What you will find is that these do self seed.

Really, this garden is mimicking the seaside big-time.

Sea holly flourishes in sandy soil,

so it will be right at home in this garden.

There you go, a very simple corner bench...

for two.

Now AJ can move on to fitting a sandpit for the children,

leaving Danny to create their very own pool of water.

So, this blue strip is going to represent the sea.

And it's about time to add my contribution to the garden.

SHE SINGS

-Hi!

-Hello, Helen, watch that hole. Don't go falling in it.

-I love it.

-You like it, do you? Good.

-Do you know what?

When I left here this morning, I thought, "Wouldn't it be good if they had a sandpit,"

-but you've got one.

-We've got a sandpit, yeah.

-I love it! I really love it.

All day, Sam has kept saying, "Oh, I'd love some decking,

"but it doesn't matter if we don't get any."

I've got to be honest, I'm glad there is some decking.

And your sea thrift's there.

Aren't these beauties? Aren't these gorgeous? Do you like them?

I know. I do, I love them. Actually, Sam picked them,

he was quite happy with them.

And I've got a tree. You're going to love this. Danny.

-Look at that, that is a beauty.

-Thank you, what about the tree?

-And the tree!

-Chosen for its loose habit.

-Yes, I love it.

What's great about that, you know, it's not going to grow too tall.

It will be easy to maintain.

-Berries in the winter, flowers in the summer.

-Exactly.

What's not to love?

I think it's superb and it's a great choice.

As evening approaches, it's time for the all-important finishing touches.

I'm adding a few seaside knick-knacks

I slyly picked up on my shopping trip,

while Danny and AJ plant the memorial tree through the decking.

Absolutely perfect.

I can't wait for Sam to see what a difference we've made in a day.

-It looks so different.

-It really, really does.

Before, this tiny back garden was a boring

and neglected space with nothing but uneven paving,

sad and unloved plant pots and dull, grey walls.

But now Danny has transformed it into a bright,

fun beach garden that the whole family can enjoy.

With colourful walls, a safe decking area and seating options from

where Sam and Samantha can enjoy the garden and watch the girls playing.

But as always, the stars of the show are the plants.

The beach theme continues with Danny's choice of sea holly,

thrift and coastal grasses.

Plus, his ingenious creation of those planting pockets creates

bursts of colour which in time will spread over the whole wall.

What's more, this thoughtful, family-friendly garden was done on a shoestring,

in just one day.

Well done, Danny!

It's high time to get the family in

to see what they make of this amazing transformation.

OK, team, we have a very excited Erin

and a slightly nervous Sam and Sam.

Come right out here. Come on out.

-Come on out.

-Ah!

-What do you reckon?

-That is wicked, man. This is ridiculously good.

-What do you think?

-Yes. That is amazing, yeah.

-Cast your mind back to this morning. Your backyard was...

-Horrendous.

Just ridiculous, yeah. And now it's brilliant.

We'll get to spend time here now. That's great.

Talk us through what you've done, Danny.

Yeah, so we just concentrated on the sea really

-because we know you like the sea.

-Yeah.

We thought we'd bring a bit of the Barry seaside into your garden.

-You've probably noticed there's a cliff over there.

-OK. Yeah.

Then the sandpit is also the beach.

And then obviously, most beaches have a bit of decking somewhere,

so that's your decking.

This is your sea here and you've got plants in here that represent

-the sort of plants you might find at the seaside. OK?

-And the tree?

Oh, and not forgetting the tree, yeah.

-That's a little memorial to your father.

-Yeah.

-What do you think, Erin?

-It's lovely.

-Do you want to come out here now?

-Yeah!

Sam, the team said you have worked so hard.

I was so pleased with it, absolutely just over the moon with it.

It wasn't what I was expecting, so much in one day.

Has this been better than the normal Tuesday?

Yes, the average Tuesday isn't like this at all.

-Good, well, thank you for your company today.

-Thank you so much.

Thank you for letting us take over your garden. Good job, Danny.

-Yes, thank you.

-You're most welcome.

-Have a seat in the deckchairs.

Erin, go and make the most of that sandpit.

-Your new garden!

-See all the plants?

This morning, this yard was unusable, it was dangerous,

they didn't do anything out here.

They now have a space that they can enjoy as a family for years to come.

Good job.

Join us next time for another instant garden.