Your garden made perfect

[MichaelAndEagle]

Don't think anyone else has started a thread.
I didn't realise it was starting again but its on tonight BBC 2.
I'm watching on catch up now. Anyone else?

I thought this was a strange programme. They said they wanted edibles. So where was the veg? A few fruit trees were mentioned. But very autumnal. Potatoes, lettuce beetroot tomatoes beans herbs strawberries onions peppers nope. None of these. And a pond in a garden for a couple planning kids. Madness. And goodness only knows how they spent £25000. Very disappointed in this.

i have landscaped a few gardens,in places that I have lived in, but just to my own taste. I would absolutely hate anyone else to do stuff in my garden. they are very personal to someone who loves gardening, Some of the stuff that Charlie Dimmock does, is quite horrible, just manufactured gardens.

My understanding was the veg was everywhere, just not in a traditional rows/beds neat and tidy allotment/veg patch way. They mentioned they had a chard surplus for example, it was just planted all through the beds. There’s an old Alys Fowler series on YouTube “The Edible Garden” that’s worth watching for this idea as well as the reading around the concept of “Food Forests” they also mentioned in the programme. Permaculture principles.

@LemonViolet

I'll have to watch again and pay more attention 😀. I do remember seeing chard though........

@autumntimebrowns

I thought this was a strange programme. They said they wanted edibles. So where was the veg? A few fruit trees were mentioned. But very autumnal. Potatoes, lettuce beetroot tomatoes beans herbs strawberries onions peppers nope. None of these. And a pond in a garden for a couple planning kids. Madness. And goodness only knows how they spent £25000. Very disappointed in this.

Yes, I thought the same. It was a huge amount of money, and I didn't really see any of the stuff you've mentioned, which would have made their lifestyle a bit more sustainable than a few herbs and mushrooms.

@LadyEloise1

I liked the garden in last night's episode. Both designs were lovely. Glad the new designer was chosen because it will help him in his new business. I thought sipping gin / Prosecco was discussed rather a lot by the teacher homeowner, not the best example to her pupils

How do they manage without the garden shed ?

She's a Deputy Headteacher in a school in Haringey. I'm just amazed she's not on glue.

I thought the previous week's was disappointing, £75k plus? Although if it suited their lifestyle, fair enough.
There's not really much information about plants, I'd like more of a focus on that, but I suppose it's a design programme.
I'm still surprised at how much these gardens cost.

I wish they could sort out my garden , even if it's not in such a bad way as some of these ones and only small.
I've only seen one episode the other week , but the lady gardener with the big power tools was upset she was overruled a bit and there seems to be a lot of arguing amongst the team ( unless that is just to make doing up a garden a bit more interesting)

I understand the principles of permaculture but these two were novice gardeners.

Raised beds are popular for a reason! It's going to be a nightmare keeping on top of pests in with things planted willy nilly amongst the flowerbeds. Slugs for a start - their 'crops' will be decimated.
And certain things require netting which is much easier to do with a rectangular frame and base.
Nevermind light levels amongst the 'forest'.

I spotted what looked like a runner bean wigwam but it was towards the back of the bed almost covered by tall bushy shrubs.

I didn't realise they were planning kids. They would've been better off with raised beds (in the sunniest parts of the garden), a water feature or small wildlife pond that could be gridded and a spacious, level-with-the-ground patio.
The raised seating area is a bad idea for adults, nevermind children!

@the80sweregreat

Are you commenting on Filthy Gardens SOS?

I think it was filthy gardens that I watched !
Sorry , wrong thread

I love this show, but as an allotmenteer had similar thoughts about the challenges of growing any significant amount of food crops in that garden. So much has to be netted to protect from birds and butterflies, and there is not much that will do very well with low light levels. And as for slugs / snails - I guess the theory is that you create an environment in which their natural predators keep them in check. I'm not convinced though.

I really liked the pond and the general design. Just not as a practical kitchen garden (or as a safe space for little kids).

And another thing - does anyone else wonder about the trend for dragging the "dining area" away from the house?

Maybe I'm just lazy, but transporting everything from the kitchen to a patio adjacent the kitchen is generally too much effort for me! And I don't want to sit looking towards the back of our house - the view away from the house down the garden is much nicer.

'@FlossieF I agree re the patio being close to the house is so much more convenient and the view is usually better.
Why did nobody on the show question a pond and small children issue ?
Angela S now has two children, surely she could gave said something ?

The shows seems to give license to the designers to spend the clients mo et however em they want, trying out various design “techniques” to show off. But not actually provide a suitable garden to the family

I don’t know, the very well off family with the massive plot and young son with autism, the design was all about providing sensory experience for him and ensuring sight lines so his parents could supervise him properly.

I honestly think the vegan couple didn’t brief properly about wanting it child friendly/are very naive about what child friendly actually means.

I also suspect they select the participants who want fire pits, dining areas, bars and entertainment spaces to maximise the fancy hard landscaping opportunities. People like me who want the garden to be mainly about plants and who would take great exception to the patio being moved to the middle of the garden and the mature trees and shrubs being dug up, aren't ideal candidates for the show. The transformation wouldn't be nearly radical enough.

I'd still love to have the planting redesigned by Tom Massey or Helen Elks-Smith.

I actually looked up Helen Elks-Smith a week ago as I have a large garden to redesign from scratch! Currently a large patio hugging the house, a sizeable traditional brick base greenhouse (staying) and the rest is fairly well kept lawn!

I expect she'd be out of my budget but I love her designs.

I think you're right FlossieF

What's the obsession with firepits? They're so antisocial to neighbours

The seating area was terrible. Looked like it would topple off any minute.
I also thought the garden looked dark. I think it will look overgrown and scruffy by next year rather than wild and abundant.

I've got a pond and there's no way I'd be dipping my feet in it!

I really can't imagine anyone's first comment on seeing the garden was "oh, you've got a floating deck! Lovely!" It's just not worth the money and a potential rat hotel I thought.

Part of the deck was some old doors from Tom's house and the shed was £250 from Gumtree? With a £25k budget I'd want more than that! You could tell the first architect was thinking, "how does this design fit the budget?" - especially in relation to the climbers on the shed. By ditching the massive boulders, that's how!

I loved the writing room in the first pitch.

In relation to the bicycle shed garden, did they seriously have no back access at all?

The roof was lined but there didn't seem to be any drainage at all, and I would have thought after heavy rain it would just be a pond. I didn't like the lolly pop planters at the front door. They were unnecessary, and what happened to their lovely roses?

I think the point of any of these shows is to showcase rather than make everything only relatable/realistic. I mean very few of us would ever completely scrap the entire garden and redesign every single pathway, patio and bed from scratch in one go, let alone spend such astronomical sums of money doing it. But modern tv is all about the makeover and big reveal, that’s what gets viewers.

There’s an old Monty Don series you can watch on the Channel 4 All4 app, called “Real Gardens” where they followed people working on their own gardens over time, slowly overhauling one bed here, adding a new feature there, themselves, without teams of builders and a designer telling the poor clueless garden owners what to do. Monty and co would turn up occasionally to help them out for an afternoon whilst dispensing his great Monty wisdom and you’d get to see how the gardens developed over the season. I don’t think that kind of show would get made now.

@GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat I actually looked up Helen Elks-Smith a week ago as I have garden to redesign from scratch!

Do it! Do it! Get Helen to sort your garden out, and then post pictures to us to criticise! I’m jealous - I’d love a large garden with a brick based greenhouse.

@LemonViolet. You’re right. Still going to carry on watching people blowing huge amounts of money on hard landscaping though! But Real Gardens sounds like my sort of gardening show - I’ll look it up.

LemonViolet I remember that program! The participants were always so in awe of meeting Monty. I've never seen a similar reaction to any other celebrity.

I also want to see your Helen-designed gardened FlossieF. Please do it!